"Teresa... Teresa Nievez," she replies, as she takes her billfold from her purse sitting beside her. She opens it and takes out a picture featuring her, two young men and a teenage girl, all smiling, taken apparently at the beach.
"This was taken last summer. Maria, she's a little bit taller, but Miguel, he looks the same as there..." she starts to cry again...."Miguel is the tall boy, then there's my Ramon...he was such a good boy." her voice trails off in tears.
Father Black examines the photo and tucks it into his inside jacket pocket.
"Be at peace, Teresa. I'll find your boy and bring him back to the light. Just try to rest."
He exits the church and rides off toward El Tarantula. Still feeling weak from his nights of suffering, Benton hopes that he'll be able to just talk the young man down. But if force is needed, he hopes the Lord will give him strength.
It isn't hard to find the place. Even without the garish neon sign - a big spider in purple, flanked by the silhouettes of two women in red, all over the words EL TARANTULA in blue - Black would have noticed all the Latino men hanging around outside drinking beer from bottles. There were a few women as well, scantily dressed - possibly just to party, or possibly hookers, or strippers from within the club.
Benton parked across from the club and started looking around. This kind of place was a breeding ground for sin; Lust, gluttony, sloth, envy, and soon wrath. Deciding that the drunken men hanging outside probably would be less than helpful, Father Black started asking some of the women outside if they had seen Miguel that night. With the photo to show them and some cash in his pocket to help the more reluctant, he hoped he would get some information.
The first two women Black approaches take the offered cash readily enough, but one says they don't know the man in the picture, and the other says she knows him but hasn't seen him that night. That one also offers Black services in exchange for more money, saying "You aren't the only priest comes to me."
The third woman says "Yeah, he's a regular, comes here a lot, but he's not like his usual self. I asked him if he wanted a lap dance, and he didn't even seem to notice I was there. I think he's still inside."
Black thanks the woman for her help and suggests that she find a safer line of work, as places like this can turn dangerous quickly. He gives her the address of St. Francis and. heads inside the club. God willing, Miguel will just be sitting around seething. Working up the nerve to do something stupid.
A big Latino guy with crappy prison tats all over his arms and neck stops Black at the door. "Cover," is all he says. He holds out his right hand and points with his left to the sign COVER $5.
At the door, Black can hear the loud music within.
Inside, La Tarantula is loud, hot and hazy with cannabis smoke. Underneath that, the place smells of sweat and cheap beer. The music is pounding, the place is crowded, and the few lights are so bold as to make the rest of the place seem pitch black by comparison. Black sees two women gyrating on the stage, one leaning against the pole, the other pretending to caress the first while not quite actually touching her. The crowd is overwhelmingly male, but here and there he sees a woman sitting with one or more men, and in some cases gyrating in the lap of a man.
((ST Note: Father Black will need to make a Wits + Composure check at -2 to have a chance of finding Miguel))
Benton's feelings are conflicted as he enters the club. A part of him feels like he's coming home, another feels like this place is leaving an oily film on his skin, and the third just feels hungry. The crowd is dense and the lights and music are very distracting but he just tries to block it all out and find Miguel among the throng.
2009-06-18 15:43:18 Benton Black rolls 3 to find Miguel (10 Again) 10, 5, 2, 5 1 success
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