Oliver

I burst out of the library onto the city street, head swinging in both directions, combing the pedestrians for those brown waves, so like her mother's, for a flash of her father's golden brown eyes. She was gone.

I slammed my fist into the library's brick wall, startling a passing little boy into tears. Taking his hand, the mother shot me a glare, and I murmured a sincere apology, embarrassed by my own outburst. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I dialed Renee.

"Hello?" Her voice was warm on the other end.

"Renee, it's me. I lost her." God, if I'd just managed to catch her outside the library, I could have maybe explained the whole thing, but with that added dose of paranoia coursing through her veins, (as if she needed more of that) there was no way that I'd be able to engage in conversation if I followed her somewhere. She'd kill me.

Or at least, she'd try.

"Are you sure?" Renee's voice jolted me back to the present. "She's just a kid, Oliver. She probably didn't get very far."

I snorted. "Trust me, you wouldn't be saying that if you had seen what she did to that hit-man this morning."

"She's kind of fiery, huh?"

"Just like her old man," I affirmed.

Renee went a comfortable kind of quiet, probably recalling all the time she spent with Robert back in the day. But then I heard her grin fade.

"Oliver, she doesn't... enjoy it, does she?"

At first, I didn't understand, but then it clicked. "Oh, Jesus, Renee, no! She only vomited twice after this morning. She's just doing what she has to do."

"Oliver, there are other ways to get money in a pinch."

"At age fourteen? Get your head out of the gutter." Renee laughed, so I decided it was a good time to jump in. "Renee, plan B is our only option, in my professional opinion."

This stifled her laughter immediately.

"No." Her voice had gone icy.

"Renee, you've seen the file. She's paranoid, and that makes people dangerous. And after what just happened in the library, there's no way she'll talk to me. I had one chance to make contact, and I blew it."

"Yeah, you did. At least try to talk to her first. That's an order."

I frowned. She was serious about this. Renee hated giving orders. But then again, Jamie's mom, Lisa, had been Renee's best friend. I'd want the kid brought in as painlessly as possible, too.

As soon as Renee hung up, I checked the tracker I had planted on Winchester in the library. Vinegar Hill. Interesting choice. I hailed a cab and gave him directions, praying that I was making the right choice tonight.