What Is Right
by shana0809
Esteban can't help but feel something for the man sitting across from him. It's easy to tell he's upset, but he's been hanging onto his composure valiantly since he first entered. Still, he's obviously deeply shaken and upset.
"Why not go to the police?" Esteban finds himself asking. He's been a police officer, and they have more resources for this sort of case. "This is really more their thing than mine. They have the resources to properly check into possible leads. I mainly find cheating spouses here in Madrid and that sort of thing."
"I picked you because you graduated top of your class from the police academy, Granero. The only reason you're not still a police officer or a detective is that you didn't have a head for politics. You were more interested in solving cases. I need this solved. That's why I've come to you. The police have looked. They tell me I killed him. My private security firm has looked, and they've found nothing. But you, you don't find nothing. You'll find me answers."
Esteban flushes. "You did your research into me."
"I have money. I have a lot of money, but I don't have time to waste. I'm looking for my lover, the man I love. I'm sick of the police looking at me like I'm a monster who killed him and the pitying looks from my security."
"How am I supposed to help with that, Mr. Casillas?"
"I want you to find my lover. You have the ability and drive to do that. Money's not a consideration. I'll pay for whatever you need and however much time it takes."
"Money's always a consideration. As is time. What happens if this search takes years? It could you know."
"Then it takes years. Money's not a consideration. I have more than I can ever use."
"All right. Money doesn't matter, but what about time? I doubt I'll find him right away, not if your security couldn't. What if it takes longer? Are you still going to want me to find him in a year, or will you have moved on?"
"I was a complete idiot, and I don't know what I can ever do to make it up to him, but I want the chance to try. I want to be able to look onto his eyes and tell him I love him and I know I was wrong. I understand that now."
"All right. I hope you have a picture and some basic information about him for me to look at."
"Of course. I had it all prepared for you when I decided to come here."
"How could you be sure I would take the assignment?"
"You're good, Granero. You're also young. You left the police force under difficult circumstances, and you work on your own. You barely make enough to stay in business. If I made the offer big enough, I knew you couldn't afford to refuse. You can't hope to stay in business."
Iker Casillas stands, pushing his chair back. "I have a great many things to work on. My business doesn't stop. And you need to be working on finding him. Don't worry about me. I'll show myself out."
--
Esteban Granero looks at his contact within the police department with hopeful eyes. Jose Maria Gutierrez, Guti to those who know him, is a hardened police detective. Esteban had the misfortune of being his rookie when he started on the force. If there's one thing Guti hates more than any other, it's rookies with the stamp of the academy still on them.
"So what have you fallen into this time, kid?" the blonde asks around a cigarette, cradling a coffee. They're standing by a coffee stand outside of Guti's precinct.
"I had Iker Casillas walk into my office and practically force me to help him find his missing lover."
"Tell me you turned it down, kid. There's nothing good that can come from that disaster."
"I didn't get a chance to. I can't afford to."
Guti takes a deep drag. "I saw that case when it came in. It doesn't look good for Casillas. There's a broken window. His things are all still there, and they'd been seen fighting in public a lot. Besides, Casillas has a well-known temper and has been known to engage in acts of violence. He's the Perez security firm's number one client. He could pay to make it all disappear."
"Who's case was it? If you just saw it, who actually got it? It would be helpful to know what they thought of it."
Guti shrugs. "I got pulled off my case to work with some officer who was new to our precinct. Good guy, I remember that much. I'll find you his information."
Esteban smiles, but it's grim. "Now I know why Casillas was sure the police thought he'd killed his lover."
"It was never formally a murder investigation, and he was never formally charged. He was a person of interest in regards to the investigation. He's too powerful and well protected to be anything else, but I still think he did it."
"I'll take that into consideration." Esteban tosses his paper cup at a trash can. "Thanks, Guti. I owe you one."
"You owe me more than one. I'll get you his information. His name was de la Red. He's a bit older than you, but he's got more potential than most of the sorry bastards in there. Reminds me a lot of you."
"Maybe I'll be flattered. You're still thinking of me after all." Esteban winks and starts walking away when he hears Guti's retort.
"All I've got to say is with a face and body like he's got, it's a wonder he's not working vice."
--
His first meeting with Officer Ruben de la Red takes a while to arrange. Esteban spins his wheels chasing leads provided by Casillas's security personnel. He comes to understand why they never found the young man quickly. They were never really looking. The groundwork is all pointless and focuses around Casillas. If the lover-one Sergio Ramos-ran from Casillas, focusing a search around him makes no sense.
He's so relieved he could practically cry when Guti calls with the meeting time for de la Red. The place is a common meeting place for both on-duty and off-duty officers. He nods the officers he knows as he enters the old diner. It's the very definition of a greasy spoon, but they all love it. Hell, he still loves it, and he's not technically on the force any more.
When he asks a waitress for de la Red, he's pointed towards a back booth. There's a young looking man sitting in it. The Formica countertop is cracked and looks like it hasn't been replaced since the seventies, and the seats are a cracked, red vinyl. There's absolutely nothing appealing about the booth.
Except the man sitting in it.
Officer Ruben de la Red is beautiful. There's no other way to describe him. Long hair is pulled back into a no-nonsense tail at the base of his neck. The strong angles of his face are clearly on display, and his eyes are a deep brown that reminds Esteban of chocolate. Guti's comments about him working in vice make a hell of a lot more sense now.
He's got perfect features and could do dark, shaggy hair. He'd be the perfect bait for both sexes.
"Officer de la Red?" Esteban keeps his voice soft. He doesn't need every officer, detective, and paper pusher in this place knowing what he's about. The only man not looking at him is de la Red, and even though he doesn't want to startle his contact, he doesn't need everyone knowing.
De la Red still jumps a bit when he slides onto the bench opposite of him in the booth. "Yes, I'm Ruben de la Red," he says after a moment to regain his composure. "You must be the investigator Guti warned me would come looking for me. I'm still not sure why he set this up."
"Because he doesn't want to have to deal with me himself. I just need a few moments of your time to talk about a missing persons case you worked."
"All right, but the clock's started."
"The Casillas case. You worked with Detective Gutierrez?"
De la Red frowns. "I know which case you mean, but technically it's the Ramos case. Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas's lover, is the one who disappeared. That case was a disaster from the moment we got it. Guti and Casillas were almost always at each other's throats. Captain Gonzalez had to separate them more than once. I wouldn't be surprised if complaints weren't filled. To be honest, I was glad when it was declared cold, and I was moved to other cases with higher priority."
"Nothing about it bothered you?"
"Everything about it bothered me. Casillas was hot and cold by turns, Guti was off the rails half the time, the Captain had God only knows who breathing down his neck, and the whole thing was just too convenient. I've never seen anything that screamed set up more. We couldn't make any headway. Everything we tried was blocked by Casillas's damn security firm. They were too busy protecting their client to let us do our job. To be honest, if Ramos just ran, they weren't in a hurry to find him. In fact, I'd say they wanted him to stay gone."
Esteban slides the file he got from Casillas across the table for de la Red to have a look. "I got this file from Casillas when he came to my office. Is there anything you can think of to add to it? Anything they might have missed?"
"He's from Sevilla. That's not noted here. All of his closest friends are from there. Most everyone he knows in Madrid, he met through Casillas. He's very into fitness. Personal trainers and that sort of thing. What I could access of his phone records showed a lot of calls back to Sevilla. I'd start there if I didn't have to worry about jurisdiction. Maybe you'll have more luck. I hope you find him if he's alive, but try to remember that if there's a body and Casillas doesn't want it found, it won't be."
"Thank you for the information." Esteban rises, leaving some money on the table. This is a dead end. He can practically feel the frost coming off de la Red. He can use Sevilla. He'll start looking for his own leads tomorrow.
"Oh, and Granero?"
Esteban turns back to the table. "Yes, Officer?"
"Be careful. Casillas's security were some very serious men. Ex-military and the like. If they don't want him found, you won't find him. If you do find him and they don't want you to, there's no guarantee we'll find you."
Esteban can't help but smile as he turns to head out back out to his office. "Thank you for the advice."
--
Esteban's trek back to his office is a long one, and he stops at the door, which is ajar. It shouldn't be open. He locked up before he left to meet with de la Red. He keeps his case files in the office, so he's always thought he can't afford not to lock up. He needs the best security possible. His reputation counts on that.
He stops in front of the door, but doesn't nudge it open or anything else foolish. He knows better. He did all the training courses when he was part of the force, and he was actually a very good officer.
He dials dispatch on his mobile and asks for the closest patrol because his office has been broken into. Then he sits down to wait for whoever is suppose to come to arrive.
It still takes a couple of hours. A break in where the perpetrator is no longer on the premises is low priority. Eventually, when his ass is numb, a car arrives. Esteban watches the officers get out from the window by his office.
A few moments later they appear at the other end of the all, where the stairs are located. There are two of them, and one comes to take his statement while the other opens the door to his office and checks inside.
The officer taking hid statement has a very, very serious look on his face. That's the first thing Esteban notes. The second is that Ruben looks very different when he's in his full uniform. His long hair is still pulled back into a tail though.
"You found your office like this?"
"Yes." Esteban keeps his answers short. He's not happy to see de la Red so quickly after their last meeting was so strained.
"Have you been inside yet?"
"No. I understand police procedure. I never suffered a lack of understanding of how things were to be done." The comment is bitter, but the request to leave the force is still a sore spot with him. "I've stayed out in the hallway so the evidence isn't contaminated by my presence."
Esteban watches from the doorway as the officers look through his ruined office. He's been a private investigator for over a year and nothing like this has ever happened before. It has to be connected to Casillas's job.
Finally, the officers come back out. "Whoever did this was professional," Ruben tells him. There's a meaningful pause. "Nothing appears to be missing, but your files have searched and scattered throughout the office. They were obviously looking for hiding places as the furniture has been overturned, and of course, you noticed the door was pried open. It was cleanly done though, and that makes me think it's the work of a professional."
Esteban nods. "Thank you. You'll keep me informed as the investigation progresses?"
"Of course."
"Thank you. Can I go in now?"
"Of course. You can start to clean up. We'll just need to take an official statement from you."
Esteban nods and lets them lead him through the questions they need answered. They go through his whole day. After they've covered anything that could be relevant, they finally leave, and Esteban heads back into his office.
He doesn't let himself start to absorb the situation until he's closed the door as much as he can. It doesn't close all the way, but it's enough to ensure privacy. It's also late. He starts to sort through the files and tries not scream. Curses flow from his lips every time he picks up a file and sees that half of it is scattered across his floor.
A year of work, of cases, of his searches into other people's lives is scattered across his floor, pinned under chairs, ripped, and mangled. He built himself a new life out of the ashes of the old one, and some asshole just broke in and turned it all upside down.
It takes hours of carefully piecing things back together for Esteban to bring some order to his poor office. Files are slowly put back together and returned to the restored filing cabinets.
The office finally looks like his office again when a knock sounds on the broken door.
"Granero? Are you still here?”
"Yes." He knows whoever this is won't believe he's not here. They can hear him moving around in the office.
Officer Ruben de la Red, just about the last person he'd expect, pushes open the door. He's carrying two coffees, and that's the only reason Esteban doesn't toss his ass right back out.
"I warned you the Ramos cases was trouble. This is what happens to people trying to find people that Casillas, or his security, don't want found."
"You could have been a little more specific, you ass. Something more along the lines of 'Oh, and you might want better locks because they're going to trash your office' would have been more helpful. Besides, I was hired by Casillas. This doesn't make any sense. Why hire me, at great personal expense, only to try to scare me off," Esteban murmurs.
"Image. He needs for us to believe he didn't do it."
"I don't think he really needs to care about that. He can just buy the commissioner."
"Okay, since I can't shake your delusions, allow me to escort you home. I don't want to see you get hurt because you're stupid."
"I'm also a decorated former police officer, de la Red. I'm more than capable of seeing myself home under any circumstances."
"Guti likes you, Granero. I don't know why. You're a fool. I'd just hate for him and the Captain to have to deal with your body at a scene."
"Oh? So all of this petty bitchiness is about some misplaced longing for Guti? Is it because I was his partner?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I respect Guti. I'm not looking to get into bed with him. I don't like blondes, and I hate divas. I'm seeing you home whether you like it or not. I have a duty as a police officer to you as a citizen. I'm not going to let something worse than this happen to you because you're foolish enough to run where angels fear to tread."
"I'll be fine."
"You obviously have no real clue about what you've gotten yourself into with this."
"That's simply your opinion."
"Evidence suggests I'm right. Besides, you're too pretty to die young. You'd break all the girls' hearts."
"The boys' hearts, de la Red."
"The boys' hearts then." The voice is infinitely patient.
Esteban rolls his eyes. "Fine, since I'm obviously not getting rid of you. First though, you get to help me figure out some sort of solution for my door until maintenance can get here to fix it."
It takes them a few moments and a little sloshed coffee, but eventually they get the door securely wedged shut.
--
Ruben follows Esteban out of the ruins of his office. He knows it could have been worse.
Whether or not Casillas had anything to do with this, Ruben has no idea. He knows that if he doesn't keep a careful watch, something else is going to threaten Granero. His style is too straightforward and effective. He's going to get himself killed at this rate.
Ruben got a series of threatening calls when he and Guti started to take the investigation in a direction that focused on Casillas. He knows Guti got the same even though they never talked about it. So Ruben wouldn't be too surprised if there's another gift waiting for the vibrant young man at his apartment.
The drive is quiet. Esteban owns a car, but he only uses it for work, and so it's kept at the office. Esteban actually lives in the same neighbourhood as Ruben, but then a lot of police officers just starting out live there. It's cheap and clean.
Ruben's partner, an older man with two children and a failed marriage behind him, gave him a lecture about becoming involved when he figured out what Ruben had planned. Esteban is a case now. He can't become involved.
He can't help it though. Esteban Granero is too pretty to die young.
And he's sure it could happen.
Ruben follows Esteban up to his apartment and watches him slip the key in the lock. The door turns easily, and from the outside, it doesn't look to be tampered with. It's immediately apparent to Ruben whoever destroyed the office hasn't been here. Esteban Granero should be safe here tonight.
"Did you want to check and see that it's secure?" Esteban mocks.
"No," Ruben bites out, then he smiles. "I trust a man who graduated at the top of his class to be able to secure his own apartment."
"How generous of you," Esteban growls.
Ruben feels the kick of attraction he felt the first time he met those fiery brown eyes. Esteban Granero's beautiful, lively, and understands the importance of the job. Those are the only major criteria he's ever had for starting a relationship. Where it goes from there is up to God.
It's too bad that trying to start a relationship now would only lead to more trouble. When Esteban closes the door, Ruben retreats across the street to the small take away place. He sits in the front window and watches the street as he waits for his food.
No one appears to be to be keeping watch on the apartment in which he just left Esteban. Still, he eats slowly before he heads home, scanning the street the whole time. He doesn't want to leave Esteban unprotected.
--
Esteban wakes up shaking and covered in sweat. It's been a long time since he woke up this way from an erotic dream. Normally, he just works all his frustrations out in the shower and the gym. Worse yet, all he can remember about the guy from the dream is long, dark, silky hair, perfect, pouty lips, and dark eyes.
He doesn't remember the details of the face, but somehow he just knows it must have been beautiful. The man in his dream was beautiful. He's feeling vaguely dissatisfied when he manages to get to the office. The fact his mystery lover is lacking a face bothers him. He wants to know who it was.
Sergio Ramos's, Iker Casillas's missing lover, file is pulled from its hiding spot. It contains the young man's phone number but none of his phone records. Nothing about who he was calling. So Esteban spends his morning trying to track those down. As tempting as it is to call Casillas, he can't risk that right now.
Instead, he finds out who Ramos's phone contract was with, and he goes to work. His days as a cop left him with more than one favour owed, and it might be time to call some of those in.
It's a thankless task because he needs to talk to one specific customer representative. He went to school with her, and he helped her get a lesser sentence for an charge involving some sort of recreational club drug. He needs her to do it because she owes him. Despite the fact it should have been easy to get the records, Casillas paid, and he has Casillas's written permission, it hasn't been. He's going to have to call in favours for something that should have been simple.
It wasn't. It wasn't anything it was supposed to be.
Esteban's head snaps up when he hears his broken office door creak. Standing in his doorway a moment later is Officer Ruben de la Red. He's wearing jeans and a knit sweater. He looks like sex standing up.
"What?" Esteban can't help but snap. The ride home last night still rankles.
A foam cup of coffee is held out in explanation or as bribery.
Esteban makes a sweeping gesture that encompasses his guest chair in return. A sort of favour for favour. Ruben settles in quickly and pushes the coffee across the desk to him. It's divine.
It might be something in the way the sun hits his unwanted guest's hair, but Esteban can suddenly vividly remember his dream. It's too bad this is comically bad timing. Esteban is too busy fighting not to blush by concentrating solely on his coffee to hear what his visitor starts to say the first time through.
"Pardon?"
"I have today off so I decided to help you with your search. I don't like leaving cases incomplete. This one has been bothering me for a long time."
"Why? What's in this for you? Closing a case can't be all it is."
"I'm also positive you don't understand how dangerous this is. I'd rather not see your stubborn ass in the morgue. We have enough bodies there already."
"Oh?"
"I'm a police officer. I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to see anyone hurt."
"And I'm a professional and an adult. I don't need a keeper, Officer."
"Then accept my help because I know the case. You need help, and you won't find anyone any better. You can't afford any help, so you might as well take mine."
"Fine. You can help, but if we can't get along, you're not helping past today. No promises you get to solve the one that got away."
--
The gym isn't one to which Casillas's credit cards ever authorized a payment. It's taken them over a month to find the damn place. It's a little boxing gym, a bit run down, located in a staunchly middle class section of town. They wouldn't question Ramos's presence because he looks middle class, he acts middle class, and he is middle class. He came here because he wanted to work out without any problems.
He might have been a little more talented than many but nothing really special. Still normal, just another one of the weekend warriors. One of the boys.
Esteban only found this place because Ruben used his connections to get Ramos's bank records after this number kept appearing on Ramos's phone records. Esteban traced the number back to the gym, and Ruben found the money trail that came out of Ramos's private account.
Esteban doesn't even want to think about the laws Ruben must have bent, the reasons he fabricated, and the favours he called in.
He owes Officer Ruben de la Red more favours than he can count. Maybe he'll accept dinner instead.
Especially if this lead works out. Esteban probably owes Ruben his unlikely first-born child if they can makes something out of this.
Ruben may piss him off and turn him on every moment they're not working the case together, but when they're looking for Ramos, that's it. He's focused, and it's easy to see why so much praise has been heaped upon him. He's good, and he might even be as good as Esteban.
That smarts a little to admit. Even to himself.
It takes a couple of moments to find the man in charge, but it always does in these situations. The photo of Ramos is the one with which he was provided. "Yeah, he used to come here. He was real regular and damn good, but he was too concerned with protecting that pretty boy face of his. He could have been something great, you know, but he wasn't willing to take the punches it takes to get there."
"He left?"
"Yeah, pulled up roots real quick. He was here one day and gone the next. It was real disappointing. He was a good sparring partner for some of my serious guys."
"Did he left a forwarding address?"
"Didn't left anything with me. Maybe he left it with one of the boys with whom he sparred. He was close with a lot of them. They'd go out for drinks after a hard session and that sort of thing."
"How do I get in contact with one of them?"
The man gestures to the gym floor below the office in which they're standing. "They're all out there. Ask them if you want to."
--
Ruben watches Esteban rub at his eyes. "So I talked to all of them. They all had different ideas of where he went, and they were all sure they were right."
Ruben sips his coffee. "Of course they do. Any common threads in those?"
"A lot of people thought Sevilla, but no one had anything specific."
"Have you heard anything more from Casillas or his people?"
"No. Perez owns and runs the security firm that protects him. He's their number one client, and they're very serious about protecting him. He's some sort of numbers genius. They don't want to lose their investment in him."
"Makes sense. What do you want to do with the leads you got? I'm assuming you got more than just Sevilla for all of this."
"Track down as many viable leads as I'm able to. It's what Casillas is paying me to do."
"Any leads in Madrid?"
"One."
"Well, let me see it. I can find out anything using the police databases. It should narrow down the search some. Also, where's the lead in Madrid?"
"Some brothel, of course. I don't know why everyone turns him into a whore."
"Because he was a kept man."
"Ruben?"
"What?"
"Couldn't you get in trouble for doing this for me?"
"Don't worry about it, Esteban. I thought you understood I have my own reasons for this. Everyone has cases that haunt them and things they need to put right. This is one of mine. I don't prod you about your demons, and I'd like you to leave mine alone."
Esteban always looks a little shocked whenever Ruben loses a little bit of his iron control. It's like Esteban forgets he has a temper, and he's not quite sure why. Does Esteban think he's the only one that gets to be indignant, upset, and angry?
They're similar enough in age and temperament Esteban should expect to see many of the same characteristics in Ruben unless he's completely thick.
"Ruben?"
"Yes?"
"I know this is something you don't want to answer, but why are you helping me?"
"Because Sergio Ramos, wherever he is, is a person. He deserves to come home, even if it's just to be laid to rest."
Esteban looks at him, blinks, and then smiles. "There's something about you, Ruben. You're going to become one hell of a detective."
Ruben blushes. "Just give me the lead. I'll get back to you just as soon as I have something."
Then he leaves. The station is quiet when he slips in to start running down any links to Esteban's leads. He finds the brothel fairly easily, but it's still a dead end.
He heads down to check despite what his gut says. He enters and is met by the owner of the house. It takes only a few moments, a couple of threats, and him flashing his badge to get an answer. Sergio Ramos is not here. He's never been here.
Another dead end.
He heads back and fills out the forms for his vacations. They're going to have to travel to Sevilla. If Ramos is still in Spain, he's surely there. They won't find him somewhere he doesn't feel safe, and he feels safe in Sevilla.
Ruben has learned a little bit about human nature. Now he just needs to convince Esteban of this fact.
--
"It was a dead end, Esteban. I went, and they've never seen him."
"You're sure they were telling the truth?"
"Esteban, when you flash a badge at them and tell them if they don't answer you, they're going to jail, they tend to tell you everything."
"You flashed your badge?"
"It was the quickest way to get what I needed."
"I so have to take you to dinner for this."
"I like Italian food."
"I'll remember."
--
Esteban Granero is sitting beside Officer Ruben de la Red, watching the countryside go by. "We don't know that he's in Sevilla. It's a bit much for both of us to catch a train down with no concrete evidence. The leads aren't much stronger. You couldn't turn anything up," Esteban protests.
He barely had time to pack when Ruben showed up with tickets for the AVE to Sevilla and told him they had to hurry. He definitely hadn’t had time for coffee or food.
"He's in Sevilla," Ruben grits out.
"All right. So which of the three not horrid leads we've got from Sevilla did you want to try first?"
"The gym. It worked last time."
"All right."
Silence reins for a few moments as Esteban tries to think of anything witty to say.
Finally, he settles for stupid instead. "Is something wrong, Ruben?"
"Everything is fine, Esteban. I just want him to be here. I want to find him, and I'm sure he's here. We've finally reached the end of our journey together."
"I'm not sure I want this journey to end. I like having you in my life. You're good at this."
Ruben smiles. "Who would have thought we'd ever end up sitting on a train together when we met over a broken door and a whole lot of scattered files?"
Esteban frowns, his eyebrows coming down. "We actually met over coffee, and you were like a dashing bit of ice. You didn't have your uniform on though."
It's one of those moments, moments where as soon as the words leave his mouth he wishes he'd never said them. They sound stupid, juvenile, and love-struck. Not at all professional. Besides all that, who even says dashing now? He sounded like an idiot, and even the lack of coffee can't explain this level of idiocy.
"Dashing?" Ruben asks, one eyebrow raised.
"I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. I feel like a complete idiot saying it, and I'm sure that I'm bright red right now, but it's still true."
Ruben laughs. "You're a bit pink, but thank you, Esteban. It's been a long time since an attractive man showed any interest in me. It's only too bad we're stuck on a train. There are too many people watching for me to show you just how much I appreciate your interest."
Esteban flushes an even brighter red, but he can't help it. His mother is a God-fearing woman, and he can't believe Ruben just said that. "I can't believe that you said that! We're on a train! With a lot of strangers. Strangers who are judging us now."
"My mother used to say to me that you could burn bright or burn out. She had a very unique way of looking at the world, and she thought the brighter your light, the longer you'd live. Happiness was a key component to life for her."
"She sounds like a very beautiful person."
"Only when you've had a half a bottle of rum. Otherwise, she's a bit much."
Esteban can't contain the laugh, but he wants to because some lady three seats over is sending them unpleasant looks. Ruben may try to pass his relationship with his mother off with a joke, but his determination, will, and strength are because of the way she raised him.
She taught him to burn brightly, and he does. People are drawn to him because of it.
Esteban is glad for it.
And for the company.
Ruben is almost scary when they reach Sevilla; he's like a man possessed. They drop their bags at the Hotel Simon. It's a simple hotel, but it has good location. They can get to a lot of places very easily, and Ruben doesn't give them a lot of time to rest. He makes them set out for the gym almost as soon the bags are set down.
Esteban thinks Ruben has probably done the most research into the gym. Ruben had background checks on the owner and regulars in his bag. They spent the rest of the train ride looking over them.
Once they’re inside, the gym is actually very much like the gym they found in Madrid. It was the only lead of which more than one person had thought. Unfortunately, no two people had been able to confirm anything.
This gym was one the people he sparred with the most remember him mentioning. It's the one he apparently trained at before he moved to Madrid. This is the place that Sergio Ramos is most likely to be training at if he's in Sevilla and still training, which no one can confirm.
There's a good chance he's not. He may have completely changed his life when he disappeared. But if it's a dead end, it's not even close to the first one they've hit. By now, it would honestly be more surprising to Esteban if they didn't hit a wall.
The gym smells unpleasantly of years worth of sweat and something else. Whatever it is, Esteban finds it very unpleasant. They're met by a burly man who's had his nose broken one too many times to be considered attractive anymore. He probably was once though.
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" he growls.
"We're looking for someone," Ruben states boldly. It's not the opening Esteban would have used given the man's unfriendly demeanour.
The burly gym manager snorts. "Well, whoever you're looking for, he's not here. And you're not welcome."
"He's not here right now," Ruben agrees calmly. "But he has been."
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." The man is nervous now. Esteban isn't sure if it's sweat from nerves, or if he was sweating while working out.
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
Esteban catches it this time. The man is twitching ever so slightly when he lies. He's nervous about something, and it's not just the lies. That tell is the blinking.
"We're not the first people to come and ask questions, are we? They've come before and asked questions about where he is?"
The man outright flinches, and Ruben pounces.
"These men don't like to take no for an answer, do they? They've been back several times." Ruben reaches into his pocket and pulls out his badge. "They didn't have one of these though. I investigated his disappearance from Madrid. We don't work like those people. I work for the police department. My colleague is a private investigator. Casillas, and not his security, hired him."
The man in front of Ruben blinks. He doesn't say anything.
Esteban finally digs out a card. "If he happens to come in, please let him know we're here. We'd just like to talk."
The card is quickly pocketed, and Esteban is pulled out of the gym before he can even figure out what happened. They’re walking away from gym before he can figure out what the hell just happened.
"Why?" he gasps.
"Because he needs to come to you."
"How do we even know he knows the right man?"
Ruben turns, puts his hands on his hips, and frowns. "A little trust. I've only been doing this since before you started to actually get leads. He knows where Ramos is. We just need to be patient."
"And what do you suggest while we patiently wait for him to phone my mobile?"
"Let's go get some coffee and dinner. Maybe we can see the sights. We're in the middle of them."
Esteban frowns. "Are you trying to make this a... date?"
"Sort of. Why not? We don't have anything else to do. I like you, and I think you like me. You did call me dashing."
"Because we're here on a case. I'm getting paid to find a man. I wish I was being paid to take you out."
"We are finding him. You're not listening to me. I don't remember you being hard of hearing."
Esteban frowns. "Still, it doesn't feel right. I should be doing more."
"I can see why you had such trouble working with the police department. You're determined, stubborn, and you never quit. You can't let anything rest. Oh, and besides that, you've got no political ability. If you think it, you say it. You were probably the best disaster to ever join the force."
Esteban frowns, hurt. The words are fine, but he feels like Ruben is mocking him. He might have been a bad police officer, but he's a damn good detective.
"And you? What do you have that I don't?"
Ruben shrugs, a practical thing. "I'll never have the solve rate you did, but I still have a job."
"Fine," Esteban grouses. "You may have a point. I've still done a lot of good with my life. I still have a lot more good to do."
Ruben smiles. "I don't doubt that for a second. Now dinner is the next thing we have to talk about. Where should be go? What do you feel like?"
Esteban throws his hands up in air. "You're impossible."
"I think you need a little impossible in your life."
Part 2
Esteban can't help but feel something for the man sitting across from him. It's easy to tell he's upset, but he's been hanging onto his composure valiantly since he first entered. Still, he's obviously deeply shaken and upset.
"Why not go to the police?" Esteban finds himself asking. He's been a police officer, and they have more resources for this sort of case. "This is really more their thing than mine. They have the resources to properly check into possible leads. I mainly find cheating spouses here in Madrid and that sort of thing."
"I picked you because you graduated top of your class from the police academy, Granero. The only reason you're not still a police officer or a detective is that you didn't have a head for politics. You were more interested in solving cases. I need this solved. That's why I've come to you. The police have looked. They tell me I killed him. My private security firm has looked, and they've found nothing. But you, you don't find nothing. You'll find me answers."
Esteban flushes. "You did your research into me."
"I have money. I have a lot of money, but I don't have time to waste. I'm looking for my lover, the man I love. I'm sick of the police looking at me like I'm a monster who killed him and the pitying looks from my security."
"How am I supposed to help with that, Mr. Casillas?"
"I want you to find my lover. You have the ability and drive to do that. Money's not a consideration. I'll pay for whatever you need and however much time it takes."
"Money's always a consideration. As is time. What happens if this search takes years? It could you know."
"Then it takes years. Money's not a consideration. I have more than I can ever use."
"All right. Money doesn't matter, but what about time? I doubt I'll find him right away, not if your security couldn't. What if it takes longer? Are you still going to want me to find him in a year, or will you have moved on?"
"I was a complete idiot, and I don't know what I can ever do to make it up to him, but I want the chance to try. I want to be able to look onto his eyes and tell him I love him and I know I was wrong. I understand that now."
"All right. I hope you have a picture and some basic information about him for me to look at."
"Of course. I had it all prepared for you when I decided to come here."
"How could you be sure I would take the assignment?"
"You're good, Granero. You're also young. You left the police force under difficult circumstances, and you work on your own. You barely make enough to stay in business. If I made the offer big enough, I knew you couldn't afford to refuse. You can't hope to stay in business."
Iker Casillas stands, pushing his chair back. "I have a great many things to work on. My business doesn't stop. And you need to be working on finding him. Don't worry about me. I'll show myself out."
--
Esteban Granero looks at his contact within the police department with hopeful eyes. Jose Maria Gutierrez, Guti to those who know him, is a hardened police detective. Esteban had the misfortune of being his rookie when he started on the force. If there's one thing Guti hates more than any other, it's rookies with the stamp of the academy still on them.
"So what have you fallen into this time, kid?" the blonde asks around a cigarette, cradling a coffee. They're standing by a coffee stand outside of Guti's precinct.
"I had Iker Casillas walk into my office and practically force me to help him find his missing lover."
"Tell me you turned it down, kid. There's nothing good that can come from that disaster."
"I didn't get a chance to. I can't afford to."
Guti takes a deep drag. "I saw that case when it came in. It doesn't look good for Casillas. There's a broken window. His things are all still there, and they'd been seen fighting in public a lot. Besides, Casillas has a well-known temper and has been known to engage in acts of violence. He's the Perez security firm's number one client. He could pay to make it all disappear."
"Who's case was it? If you just saw it, who actually got it? It would be helpful to know what they thought of it."
Guti shrugs. "I got pulled off my case to work with some officer who was new to our precinct. Good guy, I remember that much. I'll find you his information."
Esteban smiles, but it's grim. "Now I know why Casillas was sure the police thought he'd killed his lover."
"It was never formally a murder investigation, and he was never formally charged. He was a person of interest in regards to the investigation. He's too powerful and well protected to be anything else, but I still think he did it."
"I'll take that into consideration." Esteban tosses his paper cup at a trash can. "Thanks, Guti. I owe you one."
"You owe me more than one. I'll get you his information. His name was de la Red. He's a bit older than you, but he's got more potential than most of the sorry bastards in there. Reminds me a lot of you."
"Maybe I'll be flattered. You're still thinking of me after all." Esteban winks and starts walking away when he hears Guti's retort.
"All I've got to say is with a face and body like he's got, it's a wonder he's not working vice."
--
His first meeting with Officer Ruben de la Red takes a while to arrange. Esteban spins his wheels chasing leads provided by Casillas's security personnel. He comes to understand why they never found the young man quickly. They were never really looking. The groundwork is all pointless and focuses around Casillas. If the lover-one Sergio Ramos-ran from Casillas, focusing a search around him makes no sense.
He's so relieved he could practically cry when Guti calls with the meeting time for de la Red. The place is a common meeting place for both on-duty and off-duty officers. He nods the officers he knows as he enters the old diner. It's the very definition of a greasy spoon, but they all love it. Hell, he still loves it, and he's not technically on the force any more.
When he asks a waitress for de la Red, he's pointed towards a back booth. There's a young looking man sitting in it. The Formica countertop is cracked and looks like it hasn't been replaced since the seventies, and the seats are a cracked, red vinyl. There's absolutely nothing appealing about the booth.
Except the man sitting in it.
Officer Ruben de la Red is beautiful. There's no other way to describe him. Long hair is pulled back into a no-nonsense tail at the base of his neck. The strong angles of his face are clearly on display, and his eyes are a deep brown that reminds Esteban of chocolate. Guti's comments about him working in vice make a hell of a lot more sense now.
He's got perfect features and could do dark, shaggy hair. He'd be the perfect bait for both sexes.
"Officer de la Red?" Esteban keeps his voice soft. He doesn't need every officer, detective, and paper pusher in this place knowing what he's about. The only man not looking at him is de la Red, and even though he doesn't want to startle his contact, he doesn't need everyone knowing.
De la Red still jumps a bit when he slides onto the bench opposite of him in the booth. "Yes, I'm Ruben de la Red," he says after a moment to regain his composure. "You must be the investigator Guti warned me would come looking for me. I'm still not sure why he set this up."
"Because he doesn't want to have to deal with me himself. I just need a few moments of your time to talk about a missing persons case you worked."
"All right, but the clock's started."
"The Casillas case. You worked with Detective Gutierrez?"
De la Red frowns. "I know which case you mean, but technically it's the Ramos case. Sergio Ramos, Iker Casillas's lover, is the one who disappeared. That case was a disaster from the moment we got it. Guti and Casillas were almost always at each other's throats. Captain Gonzalez had to separate them more than once. I wouldn't be surprised if complaints weren't filled. To be honest, I was glad when it was declared cold, and I was moved to other cases with higher priority."
"Nothing about it bothered you?"
"Everything about it bothered me. Casillas was hot and cold by turns, Guti was off the rails half the time, the Captain had God only knows who breathing down his neck, and the whole thing was just too convenient. I've never seen anything that screamed set up more. We couldn't make any headway. Everything we tried was blocked by Casillas's damn security firm. They were too busy protecting their client to let us do our job. To be honest, if Ramos just ran, they weren't in a hurry to find him. In fact, I'd say they wanted him to stay gone."
Esteban slides the file he got from Casillas across the table for de la Red to have a look. "I got this file from Casillas when he came to my office. Is there anything you can think of to add to it? Anything they might have missed?"
"He's from Sevilla. That's not noted here. All of his closest friends are from there. Most everyone he knows in Madrid, he met through Casillas. He's very into fitness. Personal trainers and that sort of thing. What I could access of his phone records showed a lot of calls back to Sevilla. I'd start there if I didn't have to worry about jurisdiction. Maybe you'll have more luck. I hope you find him if he's alive, but try to remember that if there's a body and Casillas doesn't want it found, it won't be."
"Thank you for the information." Esteban rises, leaving some money on the table. This is a dead end. He can practically feel the frost coming off de la Red. He can use Sevilla. He'll start looking for his own leads tomorrow.
"Oh, and Granero?"
Esteban turns back to the table. "Yes, Officer?"
"Be careful. Casillas's security were some very serious men. Ex-military and the like. If they don't want him found, you won't find him. If you do find him and they don't want you to, there's no guarantee we'll find you."
Esteban can't help but smile as he turns to head out back out to his office. "Thank you for the advice."
--
Esteban's trek back to his office is a long one, and he stops at the door, which is ajar. It shouldn't be open. He locked up before he left to meet with de la Red. He keeps his case files in the office, so he's always thought he can't afford not to lock up. He needs the best security possible. His reputation counts on that.
He stops in front of the door, but doesn't nudge it open or anything else foolish. He knows better. He did all the training courses when he was part of the force, and he was actually a very good officer.
He dials dispatch on his mobile and asks for the closest patrol because his office has been broken into. Then he sits down to wait for whoever is suppose to come to arrive.
It still takes a couple of hours. A break in where the perpetrator is no longer on the premises is low priority. Eventually, when his ass is numb, a car arrives. Esteban watches the officers get out from the window by his office.
A few moments later they appear at the other end of the all, where the stairs are located. There are two of them, and one comes to take his statement while the other opens the door to his office and checks inside.
The officer taking hid statement has a very, very serious look on his face. That's the first thing Esteban notes. The second is that Ruben looks very different when he's in his full uniform. His long hair is still pulled back into a tail though.
"You found your office like this?"
"Yes." Esteban keeps his answers short. He's not happy to see de la Red so quickly after their last meeting was so strained.
"Have you been inside yet?"
"No. I understand police procedure. I never suffered a lack of understanding of how things were to be done." The comment is bitter, but the request to leave the force is still a sore spot with him. "I've stayed out in the hallway so the evidence isn't contaminated by my presence."
Esteban watches from the doorway as the officers look through his ruined office. He's been a private investigator for over a year and nothing like this has ever happened before. It has to be connected to Casillas's job.
Finally, the officers come back out. "Whoever did this was professional," Ruben tells him. There's a meaningful pause. "Nothing appears to be missing, but your files have searched and scattered throughout the office. They were obviously looking for hiding places as the furniture has been overturned, and of course, you noticed the door was pried open. It was cleanly done though, and that makes me think it's the work of a professional."
Esteban nods. "Thank you. You'll keep me informed as the investigation progresses?"
"Of course."
"Thank you. Can I go in now?"
"Of course. You can start to clean up. We'll just need to take an official statement from you."
Esteban nods and lets them lead him through the questions they need answered. They go through his whole day. After they've covered anything that could be relevant, they finally leave, and Esteban heads back into his office.
He doesn't let himself start to absorb the situation until he's closed the door as much as he can. It doesn't close all the way, but it's enough to ensure privacy. It's also late. He starts to sort through the files and tries not scream. Curses flow from his lips every time he picks up a file and sees that half of it is scattered across his floor.
A year of work, of cases, of his searches into other people's lives is scattered across his floor, pinned under chairs, ripped, and mangled. He built himself a new life out of the ashes of the old one, and some asshole just broke in and turned it all upside down.
It takes hours of carefully piecing things back together for Esteban to bring some order to his poor office. Files are slowly put back together and returned to the restored filing cabinets.
The office finally looks like his office again when a knock sounds on the broken door.
"Granero? Are you still here?”
"Yes." He knows whoever this is won't believe he's not here. They can hear him moving around in the office.
Officer Ruben de la Red, just about the last person he'd expect, pushes open the door. He's carrying two coffees, and that's the only reason Esteban doesn't toss his ass right back out.
"I warned you the Ramos cases was trouble. This is what happens to people trying to find people that Casillas, or his security, don't want found."
"You could have been a little more specific, you ass. Something more along the lines of 'Oh, and you might want better locks because they're going to trash your office' would have been more helpful. Besides, I was hired by Casillas. This doesn't make any sense. Why hire me, at great personal expense, only to try to scare me off," Esteban murmurs.
"Image. He needs for us to believe he didn't do it."
"I don't think he really needs to care about that. He can just buy the commissioner."
"Okay, since I can't shake your delusions, allow me to escort you home. I don't want to see you get hurt because you're stupid."
"I'm also a decorated former police officer, de la Red. I'm more than capable of seeing myself home under any circumstances."
"Guti likes you, Granero. I don't know why. You're a fool. I'd just hate for him and the Captain to have to deal with your body at a scene."
"Oh? So all of this petty bitchiness is about some misplaced longing for Guti? Is it because I was his partner?"
"Don't be ridiculous. I respect Guti. I'm not looking to get into bed with him. I don't like blondes, and I hate divas. I'm seeing you home whether you like it or not. I have a duty as a police officer to you as a citizen. I'm not going to let something worse than this happen to you because you're foolish enough to run where angels fear to tread."
"I'll be fine."
"You obviously have no real clue about what you've gotten yourself into with this."
"That's simply your opinion."
"Evidence suggests I'm right. Besides, you're too pretty to die young. You'd break all the girls' hearts."
"The boys' hearts, de la Red."
"The boys' hearts then." The voice is infinitely patient.
Esteban rolls his eyes. "Fine, since I'm obviously not getting rid of you. First though, you get to help me figure out some sort of solution for my door until maintenance can get here to fix it."
It takes them a few moments and a little sloshed coffee, but eventually they get the door securely wedged shut.
--
Ruben follows Esteban out of the ruins of his office. He knows it could have been worse.
Whether or not Casillas had anything to do with this, Ruben has no idea. He knows that if he doesn't keep a careful watch, something else is going to threaten Granero. His style is too straightforward and effective. He's going to get himself killed at this rate.
Ruben got a series of threatening calls when he and Guti started to take the investigation in a direction that focused on Casillas. He knows Guti got the same even though they never talked about it. So Ruben wouldn't be too surprised if there's another gift waiting for the vibrant young man at his apartment.
The drive is quiet. Esteban owns a car, but he only uses it for work, and so it's kept at the office. Esteban actually lives in the same neighbourhood as Ruben, but then a lot of police officers just starting out live there. It's cheap and clean.
Ruben's partner, an older man with two children and a failed marriage behind him, gave him a lecture about becoming involved when he figured out what Ruben had planned. Esteban is a case now. He can't become involved.
He can't help it though. Esteban Granero is too pretty to die young.
And he's sure it could happen.
Ruben follows Esteban up to his apartment and watches him slip the key in the lock. The door turns easily, and from the outside, it doesn't look to be tampered with. It's immediately apparent to Ruben whoever destroyed the office hasn't been here. Esteban Granero should be safe here tonight.
"Did you want to check and see that it's secure?" Esteban mocks.
"No," Ruben bites out, then he smiles. "I trust a man who graduated at the top of his class to be able to secure his own apartment."
"How generous of you," Esteban growls.
Ruben feels the kick of attraction he felt the first time he met those fiery brown eyes. Esteban Granero's beautiful, lively, and understands the importance of the job. Those are the only major criteria he's ever had for starting a relationship. Where it goes from there is up to God.
It's too bad that trying to start a relationship now would only lead to more trouble. When Esteban closes the door, Ruben retreats across the street to the small take away place. He sits in the front window and watches the street as he waits for his food.
No one appears to be to be keeping watch on the apartment in which he just left Esteban. Still, he eats slowly before he heads home, scanning the street the whole time. He doesn't want to leave Esteban unprotected.
--
Esteban wakes up shaking and covered in sweat. It's been a long time since he woke up this way from an erotic dream. Normally, he just works all his frustrations out in the shower and the gym. Worse yet, all he can remember about the guy from the dream is long, dark, silky hair, perfect, pouty lips, and dark eyes.
He doesn't remember the details of the face, but somehow he just knows it must have been beautiful. The man in his dream was beautiful. He's feeling vaguely dissatisfied when he manages to get to the office. The fact his mystery lover is lacking a face bothers him. He wants to know who it was.
Sergio Ramos's, Iker Casillas's missing lover, file is pulled from its hiding spot. It contains the young man's phone number but none of his phone records. Nothing about who he was calling. So Esteban spends his morning trying to track those down. As tempting as it is to call Casillas, he can't risk that right now.
Instead, he finds out who Ramos's phone contract was with, and he goes to work. His days as a cop left him with more than one favour owed, and it might be time to call some of those in.
It's a thankless task because he needs to talk to one specific customer representative. He went to school with her, and he helped her get a lesser sentence for an charge involving some sort of recreational club drug. He needs her to do it because she owes him. Despite the fact it should have been easy to get the records, Casillas paid, and he has Casillas's written permission, it hasn't been. He's going to have to call in favours for something that should have been simple.
It wasn't. It wasn't anything it was supposed to be.
Esteban's head snaps up when he hears his broken office door creak. Standing in his doorway a moment later is Officer Ruben de la Red. He's wearing jeans and a knit sweater. He looks like sex standing up.
"What?" Esteban can't help but snap. The ride home last night still rankles.
A foam cup of coffee is held out in explanation or as bribery.
Esteban makes a sweeping gesture that encompasses his guest chair in return. A sort of favour for favour. Ruben settles in quickly and pushes the coffee across the desk to him. It's divine.
It might be something in the way the sun hits his unwanted guest's hair, but Esteban can suddenly vividly remember his dream. It's too bad this is comically bad timing. Esteban is too busy fighting not to blush by concentrating solely on his coffee to hear what his visitor starts to say the first time through.
"Pardon?"
"I have today off so I decided to help you with your search. I don't like leaving cases incomplete. This one has been bothering me for a long time."
"Why? What's in this for you? Closing a case can't be all it is."
"I'm also positive you don't understand how dangerous this is. I'd rather not see your stubborn ass in the morgue. We have enough bodies there already."
"Oh?"
"I'm a police officer. I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to see anyone hurt."
"And I'm a professional and an adult. I don't need a keeper, Officer."
"Then accept my help because I know the case. You need help, and you won't find anyone any better. You can't afford any help, so you might as well take mine."
"Fine. You can help, but if we can't get along, you're not helping past today. No promises you get to solve the one that got away."
--
The gym isn't one to which Casillas's credit cards ever authorized a payment. It's taken them over a month to find the damn place. It's a little boxing gym, a bit run down, located in a staunchly middle class section of town. They wouldn't question Ramos's presence because he looks middle class, he acts middle class, and he is middle class. He came here because he wanted to work out without any problems.
He might have been a little more talented than many but nothing really special. Still normal, just another one of the weekend warriors. One of the boys.
Esteban only found this place because Ruben used his connections to get Ramos's bank records after this number kept appearing on Ramos's phone records. Esteban traced the number back to the gym, and Ruben found the money trail that came out of Ramos's private account.
Esteban doesn't even want to think about the laws Ruben must have bent, the reasons he fabricated, and the favours he called in.
He owes Officer Ruben de la Red more favours than he can count. Maybe he'll accept dinner instead.
Especially if this lead works out. Esteban probably owes Ruben his unlikely first-born child if they can makes something out of this.
Ruben may piss him off and turn him on every moment they're not working the case together, but when they're looking for Ramos, that's it. He's focused, and it's easy to see why so much praise has been heaped upon him. He's good, and he might even be as good as Esteban.
That smarts a little to admit. Even to himself.
It takes a couple of moments to find the man in charge, but it always does in these situations. The photo of Ramos is the one with which he was provided. "Yeah, he used to come here. He was real regular and damn good, but he was too concerned with protecting that pretty boy face of his. He could have been something great, you know, but he wasn't willing to take the punches it takes to get there."
"He left?"
"Yeah, pulled up roots real quick. He was here one day and gone the next. It was real disappointing. He was a good sparring partner for some of my serious guys."
"Did he left a forwarding address?"
"Didn't left anything with me. Maybe he left it with one of the boys with whom he sparred. He was close with a lot of them. They'd go out for drinks after a hard session and that sort of thing."
"How do I get in contact with one of them?"
The man gestures to the gym floor below the office in which they're standing. "They're all out there. Ask them if you want to."
--
Ruben watches Esteban rub at his eyes. "So I talked to all of them. They all had different ideas of where he went, and they were all sure they were right."
Ruben sips his coffee. "Of course they do. Any common threads in those?"
"A lot of people thought Sevilla, but no one had anything specific."
"Have you heard anything more from Casillas or his people?"
"No. Perez owns and runs the security firm that protects him. He's their number one client, and they're very serious about protecting him. He's some sort of numbers genius. They don't want to lose their investment in him."
"Makes sense. What do you want to do with the leads you got? I'm assuming you got more than just Sevilla for all of this."
"Track down as many viable leads as I'm able to. It's what Casillas is paying me to do."
"Any leads in Madrid?"
"One."
"Well, let me see it. I can find out anything using the police databases. It should narrow down the search some. Also, where's the lead in Madrid?"
"Some brothel, of course. I don't know why everyone turns him into a whore."
"Because he was a kept man."
"Ruben?"
"What?"
"Couldn't you get in trouble for doing this for me?"
"Don't worry about it, Esteban. I thought you understood I have my own reasons for this. Everyone has cases that haunt them and things they need to put right. This is one of mine. I don't prod you about your demons, and I'd like you to leave mine alone."
Esteban always looks a little shocked whenever Ruben loses a little bit of his iron control. It's like Esteban forgets he has a temper, and he's not quite sure why. Does Esteban think he's the only one that gets to be indignant, upset, and angry?
They're similar enough in age and temperament Esteban should expect to see many of the same characteristics in Ruben unless he's completely thick.
"Ruben?"
"Yes?"
"I know this is something you don't want to answer, but why are you helping me?"
"Because Sergio Ramos, wherever he is, is a person. He deserves to come home, even if it's just to be laid to rest."
Esteban looks at him, blinks, and then smiles. "There's something about you, Ruben. You're going to become one hell of a detective."
Ruben blushes. "Just give me the lead. I'll get back to you just as soon as I have something."
Then he leaves. The station is quiet when he slips in to start running down any links to Esteban's leads. He finds the brothel fairly easily, but it's still a dead end.
He heads down to check despite what his gut says. He enters and is met by the owner of the house. It takes only a few moments, a couple of threats, and him flashing his badge to get an answer. Sergio Ramos is not here. He's never been here.
Another dead end.
He heads back and fills out the forms for his vacations. They're going to have to travel to Sevilla. If Ramos is still in Spain, he's surely there. They won't find him somewhere he doesn't feel safe, and he feels safe in Sevilla.
Ruben has learned a little bit about human nature. Now he just needs to convince Esteban of this fact.
--
"It was a dead end, Esteban. I went, and they've never seen him."
"You're sure they were telling the truth?"
"Esteban, when you flash a badge at them and tell them if they don't answer you, they're going to jail, they tend to tell you everything."
"You flashed your badge?"
"It was the quickest way to get what I needed."
"I so have to take you to dinner for this."
"I like Italian food."
"I'll remember."
--
Esteban Granero is sitting beside Officer Ruben de la Red, watching the countryside go by. "We don't know that he's in Sevilla. It's a bit much for both of us to catch a train down with no concrete evidence. The leads aren't much stronger. You couldn't turn anything up," Esteban protests.
He barely had time to pack when Ruben showed up with tickets for the AVE to Sevilla and told him they had to hurry. He definitely hadn’t had time for coffee or food.
"He's in Sevilla," Ruben grits out.
"All right. So which of the three not horrid leads we've got from Sevilla did you want to try first?"
"The gym. It worked last time."
"All right."
Silence reins for a few moments as Esteban tries to think of anything witty to say.
Finally, he settles for stupid instead. "Is something wrong, Ruben?"
"Everything is fine, Esteban. I just want him to be here. I want to find him, and I'm sure he's here. We've finally reached the end of our journey together."
"I'm not sure I want this journey to end. I like having you in my life. You're good at this."
Ruben smiles. "Who would have thought we'd ever end up sitting on a train together when we met over a broken door and a whole lot of scattered files?"
Esteban frowns, his eyebrows coming down. "We actually met over coffee, and you were like a dashing bit of ice. You didn't have your uniform on though."
It's one of those moments, moments where as soon as the words leave his mouth he wishes he'd never said them. They sound stupid, juvenile, and love-struck. Not at all professional. Besides all that, who even says dashing now? He sounded like an idiot, and even the lack of coffee can't explain this level of idiocy.
"Dashing?" Ruben asks, one eyebrow raised.
"I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. I feel like a complete idiot saying it, and I'm sure that I'm bright red right now, but it's still true."
Ruben laughs. "You're a bit pink, but thank you, Esteban. It's been a long time since an attractive man showed any interest in me. It's only too bad we're stuck on a train. There are too many people watching for me to show you just how much I appreciate your interest."
Esteban flushes an even brighter red, but he can't help it. His mother is a God-fearing woman, and he can't believe Ruben just said that. "I can't believe that you said that! We're on a train! With a lot of strangers. Strangers who are judging us now."
"My mother used to say to me that you could burn bright or burn out. She had a very unique way of looking at the world, and she thought the brighter your light, the longer you'd live. Happiness was a key component to life for her."
"She sounds like a very beautiful person."
"Only when you've had a half a bottle of rum. Otherwise, she's a bit much."
Esteban can't contain the laugh, but he wants to because some lady three seats over is sending them unpleasant looks. Ruben may try to pass his relationship with his mother off with a joke, but his determination, will, and strength are because of the way she raised him.
She taught him to burn brightly, and he does. People are drawn to him because of it.
Esteban is glad for it.
And for the company.
Ruben is almost scary when they reach Sevilla; he's like a man possessed. They drop their bags at the Hotel Simon. It's a simple hotel, but it has good location. They can get to a lot of places very easily, and Ruben doesn't give them a lot of time to rest. He makes them set out for the gym almost as soon the bags are set down.
Esteban thinks Ruben has probably done the most research into the gym. Ruben had background checks on the owner and regulars in his bag. They spent the rest of the train ride looking over them.
Once they’re inside, the gym is actually very much like the gym they found in Madrid. It was the only lead of which more than one person had thought. Unfortunately, no two people had been able to confirm anything.
This gym was one the people he sparred with the most remember him mentioning. It's the one he apparently trained at before he moved to Madrid. This is the place that Sergio Ramos is most likely to be training at if he's in Sevilla and still training, which no one can confirm.
There's a good chance he's not. He may have completely changed his life when he disappeared. But if it's a dead end, it's not even close to the first one they've hit. By now, it would honestly be more surprising to Esteban if they didn't hit a wall.
The gym smells unpleasantly of years worth of sweat and something else. Whatever it is, Esteban finds it very unpleasant. They're met by a burly man who's had his nose broken one too many times to be considered attractive anymore. He probably was once though.
"Can I help you, gentlemen?" he growls.
"We're looking for someone," Ruben states boldly. It's not the opening Esteban would have used given the man's unfriendly demeanour.
The burly gym manager snorts. "Well, whoever you're looking for, he's not here. And you're not welcome."
"He's not here right now," Ruben agrees calmly. "But he has been."
"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." The man is nervous now. Esteban isn't sure if it's sweat from nerves, or if he was sweating while working out.
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure."
Esteban catches it this time. The man is twitching ever so slightly when he lies. He's nervous about something, and it's not just the lies. That tell is the blinking.
"We're not the first people to come and ask questions, are we? They've come before and asked questions about where he is?"
The man outright flinches, and Ruben pounces.
"These men don't like to take no for an answer, do they? They've been back several times." Ruben reaches into his pocket and pulls out his badge. "They didn't have one of these though. I investigated his disappearance from Madrid. We don't work like those people. I work for the police department. My colleague is a private investigator. Casillas, and not his security, hired him."
The man in front of Ruben blinks. He doesn't say anything.
Esteban finally digs out a card. "If he happens to come in, please let him know we're here. We'd just like to talk."
The card is quickly pocketed, and Esteban is pulled out of the gym before he can even figure out what happened. They’re walking away from gym before he can figure out what the hell just happened.
"Why?" he gasps.
"Because he needs to come to you."
"How do we even know he knows the right man?"
Ruben turns, puts his hands on his hips, and frowns. "A little trust. I've only been doing this since before you started to actually get leads. He knows where Ramos is. We just need to be patient."
"And what do you suggest while we patiently wait for him to phone my mobile?"
"Let's go get some coffee and dinner. Maybe we can see the sights. We're in the middle of them."
Esteban frowns. "Are you trying to make this a... date?"
"Sort of. Why not? We don't have anything else to do. I like you, and I think you like me. You did call me dashing."
"Because we're here on a case. I'm getting paid to find a man. I wish I was being paid to take you out."
"We are finding him. You're not listening to me. I don't remember you being hard of hearing."
Esteban frowns. "Still, it doesn't feel right. I should be doing more."
"I can see why you had such trouble working with the police department. You're determined, stubborn, and you never quit. You can't let anything rest. Oh, and besides that, you've got no political ability. If you think it, you say it. You were probably the best disaster to ever join the force."
Esteban frowns, hurt. The words are fine, but he feels like Ruben is mocking him. He might have been a bad police officer, but he's a damn good detective.
"And you? What do you have that I don't?"
Ruben shrugs, a practical thing. "I'll never have the solve rate you did, but I still have a job."
"Fine," Esteban grouses. "You may have a point. I've still done a lot of good with my life. I still have a lot more good to do."
Ruben smiles. "I don't doubt that for a second. Now dinner is the next thing we have to talk about. Where should be go? What do you feel like?"
Esteban throws his hands up in air. "You're impossible."
"I think you need a little impossible in your life."
Part 2