Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 30

In theory and on paper, it made no sense she felt secure when she was close to a beast. His fangs should have made her fearful and his snout should have made her grimace with disgust - but they held comfort in their familiarity. No, she could not say with a straight face that the man holding her was handsome but he had been kind. He was patient with her, made her laugh and had demonstrated time and time again, he would do anything to keep her from harm. With amazement, she realized he was the only person she knew that could make her feel safe after the night's events. 

"Of course, I'll stay with you." He reached over her to grab the quilt at the end of the couch and draped it over them. "I'll stay as long as you want." 

~The Hunter~

"So, what's the theory, Sherlock? You bragged to me about how long you've been in this field the other day! Your mind must be bursting with theories about the array of events that took place tonight!" 

Grayson was fully aware he was raving like a lunatic. He decided to give himself a break and not feel bad about it. It had been a very long night. He didn't make the effort to control himself either. Instead, he sat at the detectives desk, playing with the baseball player bobblehead. 

The detective - Detective Chaser - blinked at him. "From my understanding, it's eight am and you haven't slept a wink. Buy one of those chocolate milk beverages from the vending machine over there and a pack of cookies. Eat 'em and then lay your delirious self to sleep." 

He sat back, crossing his arms. "I don't like chocolate milk." 

"I don't like teenagers." 

Ever since he had lost Bethany for what felt like the millionth time, he felt like his brain had froze him in a state of delirium. Therefore, he didn't fully blame the detective for rubbing him off. When he let Bethany continue to run down the hall without him, he had expected her to get someplace public, find an officer, and wait with them until he got himself away from who he now knew was Tyler Daniels for good. Instead, he hesitated on shooting him, shot the wall next to him, and got slammed against the concrete so hard he had blacked out for a few minutes. He awoke to a chaotic scene of the police gunning down Tyler with no sign of Bethany. 

In the midst of everything, Grayson had thought that Tyler Daniels was the Beast. However, the staff at the party quickly identified him as the electrician for the museum and witnesses had claimed to see another man dressed similarly who wasn't identified. It was safe to assume that the actual beast had run off with Bethany again. 

Again. 

Again. 

Rolling his eyes, Grayson walked over to the most even tempered and professional detective in the case. Detective Sheila gave a sigh upon seeing him but at least had the decency not to turn away from him. She ran her tongue over her pearly white teeth. 

"You didn't hear it from me, Li," she warned. He smiled, eagerly nodding.  "We have two eyewitness accounts. Three in total counting yours but Detective Brendan wants to sweep yours under the rug because he thinks you're a loon." 

He couldn't spare the energy to be angry at the statement. "Am I?" 

She shrugged. "Not my field of study. Anyways, first eyewitnesses, a couple attending the party, said they recognized Bethany after they first saw her in the elevator. They described her as appearing a little nervous and noticed the man beside her was gripping her hand pretty harshly. They saw the man looking desperate as he looked for her later when he had lost her in the crowd. The other eyewitnesses, a group of students interning at the exhibit, said they spotted Bethany dancing with said man, looking and I quote, 'Giddy with infatuation'.  They said they suspected nothing because they gave the impression of two people in love." 

His face went sour. "Excuse me?" 

She covered up her notes. "I know. Detective Brendan has a theory you're going to love just as much. I'm only telling you this because I think it'll motivate you to stop wasting your years of youth with grumpy cops." 

He covered his face. "What is it?" 

"He thinks Bethany has run away. He thinks this was all an orchestrated, 'fake my own death and start a new life' scenario." 

If it hadn't been for his empty stomach and empty fuel tank, he would have been flipping tables. "I'm sorry, how does that make sense?" 

"Mom's an addict, her scholarship had a good chance of getting revoked due to budget cuts, father's dead, rest of family in another country. She has ample motive to leave it all behind. He thinks that Beth might have met the Beast a while ago, fallen in love or whatever, and here we are following her around like a bunch of dummies." 

He took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That milk and cookies meal sounds good right about now." He gave her a passive wave. "Thanks, Detective." 

His mother and little brother were waiting outside the police station, surprising him. He didn't know how they had caught wind of what happened yet. For all they knew he had gone to a party and ended up staying the night at someone else's place. He straightened his wrinkled tux and smoothened out his disheveled hair. 

"You should help them pay rent," his mother said, jerking her chin at the building. "Do I even want to know?" 

He shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry, mom." 

"We're going to see a movie." His little brother was bouncing on his heels, either entirely unaware of the tension or choosing to ignore it. "Do you want to come? I'm pretty sure the bad guy gets defeated in it so you'll probably like it." 

He tousled Jason's hair. "Why not?" 

His mother squinted at him, a scowl on her face. 

"Shouldn't you rest? You look awful." 

"I'll rest afterwards. Right, Jay?" He looked for his brother's support and felt a twinge of guilt. He wished he was insisting on coming because he truly cared about spending time with his family and pleasing his mother. The sad fact was, it wasn't so. Grayson was holding on to the delirious state he was in for as long he could. He knew that once it wore off, he'd be plummeting off of the cliff he had been steadily approaching for months now.