Season 1, Episode 9:
Wreckage in a Winter Wonderland
Part 2 of 6
A brief tour of the apartment where Yu-Na had
stayed revealed nothing substantial.
There was crime scene tape across her door, and a flash of his
credentials allowed Nick to compare notes with the police detectives who were
there investigating. So far, no evidence
had been found.
“I don’t think we’re gonna find nothin’ here,”
Nick arched an eyebrow, taken aback by the
rookie’s sudden assertiveness. “Sounds
good…” he said slowly. “You heard the
man, Lancy. Who should we talk to, and
where would we find them?”
Lancy beamed.
“The ladies short program is in two days. Any girl within medal contention will be at
the Coliseum, practicing.”
“Then back to the Coliseum we go!” announced
Diamond, hooking her arm through Lancy’s elbow, as they led the way back out
into the cold Canadian air.
It was a short, four-mile ride to the Pacific
Coliseum, where Lancy said all of the figure skating events were hosted. “We were just here Friday night for the ice
dancing compulsory dance – and we have tickets tonight for the original dance!”
Lancy gibbered excitedly as they entered the building. “The free dance is tomorrow night – oh, I
hope Tanith and Ben pull through! They
got the silver in
“Lancy’s favorite ice dancing pair,” inserted Diamond,
as Nick and
“Tall, dark, and handsome… the Greek God of the
ice,” sighed Lancy.
“Yeah, Lancy practically creamed himself when he
won the gold the other night,” added Diamond.
“And for the ladies…” continued Diamond.
Lancy whispered just one word: “Kimmy.”
He bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, sniffling back
tears. “My exotic ice queen. She’s… so lovely. So much talent and grace…”
“So much to be jealous of. Ain’t that right?” put in
Lancy shook his head, regretfully. “Well… of course, there’s Mao Asada, of
“Then we should start with her. Who else?”
“There’s also Miki Ando, Mao’s teammate. She was the 2007 World Champion and came in
second at this year’s Grand Prix – behind Yu-Na, of course.”
“So if Yu-Na hadn’t competed, she would have
won,” supplied
“But
“Joannie Rochette is the home favorite,” Lancy
replied at once. “She’s been the
Canadian champ six years running.”
“What about us?”
“It’s a toss-up between Rachael Flatt and Mirai
Nagasu. They’re both a long shot for the
gold, but Rachael is consistent – she’s medaled at Nationals the last three
years, winning gold this year – and Mirai has the same ‘it’ factor her idol
Michelle Kwan had.”
“Kwan never won an Olympic gold, did she?” asked
Lancy sighed and shook his head. “Alas, no.
She took silver in
“So this new girl… what was her name?”
“Mirai Nagasu?”
“Yeah… Nagasu – she Asian, right?”
“Japanese-American, yeah!”
“So maybe she wants to win for all the
Asian-American skaters; maybe she wants to avenge Michelle Kwan’s defeats,”
“You think??”
Lancy’s eyes were like saucers; he was clearly enjoying the drama of all
the speculation.
Nick eyed his protégé again;
“We gotta talk to them all,”
Now everyone was looking at
“A top skater disappears four days before the
start of her event? That ain’t no
coincidence,”
They had come full circle. Now they made a circle around the arena,
looking for any of the aforementioned skaters or members of their respective
teams. They counted on Lancy to
recognize these potential suspects, as none of the others followed figure
skating in the slightest.
What they had not counted on – except for
Diamond, who had already witnessed it – was Lancy’s reaction when he spotted
one of them. “OHMYGOD! JOANNIE!
JOANNIE ROCHETTE!!!”
A young woman with a blonde ponytail, approaching
them in a red-and-white warm-up suit, offered a smile. “Hello,” she said, and Nick could pick out
the French accent in her voice.
“James Lancybassy,” said Lancy, thrusting his
hand out to take hers. “I’ve been
following you since
“It’s very exciting, yes,” smiled Joannie.
“What about Francois-Louis? He must be so excited for you too,
right?! Are you guys just super-psyched
to be competing together in another Olympics?!”
Before the skater could answer, Lancy turned to the others and added,
“Her boyfriend – he’s a Canadian speed-skater, and they met at the 2006
Olympics in
Joannie looked quite taken aback, but she offered
another polite smile and replied, “Yes, yes, Francois’s very supportive. We support each other.”
“Is he nervous about the 5000 meter relay
finals? OHMYGOD!” Lancy suddenly
gasped. Nick, who had been marveling
over Lancy’s sudden interest in sports, raised his eyebrows. “His relay team took the silver in
“Yes, that’s right.”
“They lost to… the SOUTH KOREANS!!!” Lancy’s eyes were like saucers, bugging out
of their sockets. He bounced up and down
on the balls of his feet, flapping his hands, too discombobulated to speak.
Nick understood.
There was motive. Not only was
Joannie the underdog to the missing South Korean skating phenom, but her
boyfriend had lost to the South Korean team four years ago. Perhaps they both held a grudge. Perhaps they’d teamed up to make sure they
weren’t thwarted by a South Korean athlete again.
He stepped forward, whipping out his badge. “The name’s Carter. Nick Carter.
I’d like to ask you a few questions, Miss Rochette…”
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“Nothing,” grumbled Nick, after a full day at the
skating rink, during which Lancy had tracked down and interviewed every skater
he’d mentioned, as well as their coaches and Joannie Rochette’s boyfriend, the
speed-skater. While Lancy had acted more
like an overexcited E! red carpet host than an interrogator, Nick, Diamond, and
They still had alibis to confirm, but none of
their suspects had risen a red flag.
There was no evidence to prove that the rival skaters had anything to do
with Kim Yu-Na’s disappearance. They
seemed equally disturbed by her vanishing and concerned for her whereabouts,
which left the HimTak agents with no real leads.
“But it’s got to be one of them!”
“But which one?” countered Nick. “We’ve got nothing to go off of, no leads in
any direction, no… um, what the fuck is that?”
He pointed, distracted by the sight of a large, black-and-white,
costumed creature with an immense head, dancing around in front of a
merchandise stand.
“Oh, that’s Miga!” Lancy exclaimed. “He’s one of the Olympic mascots!”
“What’s it supposed to be?” Nick asked,
squinting. The costumed figure looked
sort of like a skinny, anime-style panda.
“He’s a mythical sea bear, part orca and part
Kermode bear.”
Nick nodded slowly. “Uh-huh…”
He watched the mascot making jazz-hands with his puffy red mittens.
“The other mascot is Quatchi, a Sasquatch,” Lancy
went on. “And then there’s Sumi, the
Paralympics mascot. He’s part orca, part
black bear, and part thunderbird.”
“What the fuck’s a thunderbird?”
“A supernatural bird of Native American legend,”
Lancy answered promptly.
Nick gave him an odd look. “Since when did you turn into a walking
encyclopedia, Lancybassy?”
Lancy smiled.
“What do you think I do all day while you’re out saving the world,
00Carter? I surf Wikipedia! Well, someone has to make sure all of
HimTak’s secrets stay off there!” he added defensively, when Nick smirked.
“Hey, I’m not sayin’ nothin’. K’s the one paying your salary.” Nick snickered.
“And thank goodness he does, or I wouldn’t have
been able to afford these fabulous tickets!” gushed Lancy, waving them
about. He presented Diamond hers with a
flourish. “Excuse us, gentlemen, but
we’d best be getting in line. Tanith and
Ben await! Meet you back at the hotel?”
“Sure,” said Nick. “What’s your room number?”
“269.”
With a sly smile, Lancy reached into his man-purse and withdrew a key
card. Slipping it into Nick’s hand, he
murmured, “Just let yourself in. I’ll be
waiting…”
“Uh… ‘kay.
See ya later.” Shooting Diamond a
bewildered glance, Nick turned to
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