Free Grind Their Bones by Drew Cross Page A

single kiss an hour ago, but for once the rest of the world was allowing me to have the night off.
    ‘Where the hell are you, sis?’
    My breath formed the suggestion of a cloud as I muttered to myself and rubbed at my bare arms in a feeble attempt to restore some warmth to them.
    ‘Fuck this.’
    Mind made up, I went back inside and starting retracing my route back to our spot on the dance floor in case she’d missed the point and decided to stay put.
    I was greeted by a sauna-like wave of heat and the rhythmic bass thump-thump of a track that sounded exactly like the last dozen or so that I’d heard since we’d arrived. Two tanned and shirtless young guys with matching short Mohawks moved into my field of vision, treating me to pelvic thrusts presumably designed to impress me, as I was forced to squeeze in between them to pass. I looked from side to side intently, scanning the sea of unfamiliar faces as I moved, but Emily was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t quite tall enough to see as far as the bar, but I decided that I’d head for where we’d been first before doubling back that way if she wasn’t there.
    I fought hard to keep the rising sense of unease inside me in check, but I could feel the tension forming knots in my back and neck as I started to lose my cool. She wasn’t dancing and after skirting back around I couldn’t see her in the crowd at the bar either. I checked my phone again, nothing, and horrible considerations began jostling for attention in my head. 
     
     

Chapter 27
     
    I hesitated and weighed up the options, eventually deciding to check out the ladies loo's before I started causing a scene. Perhaps she'd had more to drink than I'd realised, and was washing her fringe in the toilet bowl right now. There was quite a queue developing when I arrived, so I was forced to loudly explain myself half a dozen times as I negotiated my way towards the front to look inside for Emily, and even then I had to endure a sea of hostile stares.
    'Emily . ..? Are you in here , Sis?'
    My voice echoed back off the tiled walls, but there was no response. Unsure what else to do I pushed on the nearest one of the cubicle doors and it swung open to reveal a rough looking redhead snorting a line off the top of the cistern.
    'Do you fucking mind?'
    She scowled and kicked the door back shut in my face. Count yourself damn lucky that I'm otherwise engaged, missy, or I'd have you in the cells tonight for that.
    I took a deep breath and moved on to the other two with no luck on either, then gave it up as a bad job and decided to head back out towards the door staff I'd seen lurking in the lobby.
    As a general rule I try to avoid prejudging the diverse range of people that I meet, having long since learned that they have a tendency to spring all manner of surprises on you when you're least expecting it. However, as I approached the group of bouncers for help, all of whom had no necks and shoulders that appeared to sprout from out of their ears, watching them nudge each other and snigger, I doubted somehow that they were discussing the finer points of neuroscience and astrophysics, and my guard shot straight up.
    'Hi, my sister Emily was in here with me and now she seems to have disappeared from view, I was wondering…'
    Before I could finish what I was saying the head doorman cut in.
    'She probably went home, or to somebody else's home, but I could always keep you company now if you're left all alone?'
    He leaned his arm across behind me in a move that could be interpreted as either protective or as preventing my retreat, and my inbuilt moron detector virtually exploded.
    I pulled out my warrant card and thrust it up into his face, holding it there for long enough for him to register that I was no mere beat bobby, and catching him wilt slightly as he took his arm back out of my way.
    'That's better. as I was saying, she looks like me, but brunette with shoulder length straight hair and wearing a tight red dress. I'm sure