“No, she wouldn’t have and here’s why-because she didn’t kill any of them. I told you what was going on. She was possessed by a Lwa that night.”
“Dammit, Row, that’s not gonna fly an’ you know it. Not with my superiors and sure as fuck not with a court.”
“It’s still the truth.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Maybe?” I snipped. “So now you don’t believe me either?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yeah, well from where I’m standing you haven’t said much, period.”
He didn’t reply. He just kept working on the knotted muscle in his shoulder.
“So, what’s this hard evidence?” I pressed, returning to my original query. “Tell me.”
“I’ve already said more than I should.”
“Damn you, Ben,” I growled.
He sucked in a quick breath and pulled his hand from his shoulder, stiffly jabbing his index finger toward me. His eyes glowered as his face hardened once again, and his mouth opened in preparation to deliver some manner of angry ripost. However, no sound issued from him even though his jaw slowly worked at forming the words.
After a tense exhale he lowered his hand and shook his head. With a sad note underscoring his words, he mumbled, “Yeah, Row. Damn me. That’s fine. If it makes ya’ feel better, go ahead an’ damn me all ya’ want.”
We stared at one another in almost total silence for a handful of heartbeats. I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I wanted answers I wasn’t going to get, even from my friend. With that avenue closed to me, I was suddenly feeling very flustered. I suspected the only thing keeping me from losing any semblance of rationality I still maintained was the seething anger that filled my very being.
For that very reason, I clung to the outrage like a lifeline.
Ben turned and glanced out the fogged door once again, pushing it open for a moment to get a better view. When he looked back to me, he broke the silence. “The guys from the CSU just pulled up. They’re gonna hafta search the house.”
“I pretty much got that from the handful of papers. What are they looking for?”
“Look at the warrant. It’s all listed.”
“I did and it’s pretty goddamned ambiguous, Ben.”
“Yeah, well that’s how they write ‘em.”
“Obviously. So what are they really looking for?”
“I can’t tell ya’. You should know that.”
“Uh-huh, that seems to be your answer for everything right now.”
He shook his head. “They’re lookin’ for evidence, Row. Evidence.”
“Dammit, Ben. This is wrong and you know it.”
“Call your lawyer,” he said. “And light a candle…or burn some incense…or whatever the hell you Witches do. ‘Cause I’m tellin’ ya’ now, Felicity’s gonna need it.”
“This isn’t over, Ben.”
“Jeezus, Row, believe me…I hope like hell you’re right.”
“I want to talk to her before you go,” I demanded.
“She’s already in custody.”
“Yeah. No shit.”
“What I’m sayin’ is that means I can’t let ya’ talk to ‘er. Not now. Not yet.”
“Bullshit! Get out of my way. I’m talking to her.”
“I just told ya’, you can’t,” he replied in a far more stern tone, punctuating it with a shake of his head. “Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”
“The hell I can’t!” I shot back as I started forward.
I didn’t get very far.
I was stopped cold as the palm of Ben’s hand thudded hard in the center of my chest. I wasn’t surprised that he would do something of the sort, but I also had no intention of letting it stop me for very long. I instantly lashed out, swinging my right arm wide in a roundhouse punch.
Of course, I should have realized that he would be expecting it. As turbulent as the past few minutes had been, he had probably been waiting for me to do something stupid all along. And, stupid was putting it mildly.
My friend’s left arm shot upward out of trained reflex, sliding against mine and deflecting my angry fist harmlessly away. With a quick thrust of his right, he pushed me hard. Since my wildly careening punch already had me off balance, it didn’t take much for him to launch me backward across the room.
I stumbled a pair of steps before completely losing my footing, and a split second later sharp pain shot through my buttocks as they impacted the floor. That sensation was almost instantly followed by a stab of agony lancing into my left elbow when it came down against the hardwood, and finally there was a dull thunk on the back of my head from striking the arm of the chair. That last blow didn’t exactly do wonders for my already throbbing grey matter.
I heard myself yelp, and then I started to scramble upward but only came a few inches off the floor before dropping back down with a heavy thud. Dull pain was radiating from my tailbone up through my lower back, and my nerves were more than just a little jangled.
“Jeezus! Fuck me! Goddammit, Rowan!” Ben sputtered with more than enough anger to fill the room to capacity. “GOD DAMMIT! GOD DAMMIT!”
I was definitely stunned from the fall, and my ears were now ringing, so his tirade came at me as a muted string of syllables. Fortunately, I didn’t feel any queasiness or a blackout coming on, so I didn’t think I was truly injured.
However, I just kept sitting there, motionless, letting my rage work as an anesthetic for all the pain, emotional as well as physical.
Ben’s tone ratcheted down the scale from anger to remorse in the span of a single sentence. “Awww, Jeez, Row…Man…What’d ya’ hafta fuckin’ go an’ do that for?!”
I assumed the question was rhetorical, not that I had really intended to answer him if it wasn’t. Still, I couldn’t help but throw one of his earlier comments back in his face.
“I think you know,” I spat.
“Jeezus…Are ya’ okay?” He stepped forward as he spoke, extending his arm and offering me a hand up.
I simply shrugged away from him.
“Row…”
“Fuck you, Ben,” I told him.
“Dammit, Row, this…”
“Get out of my house,” I ordered, my voice a low growl, fully devoid of any compassion. “Just…Just get out of my house.”
He stood there, looking down at me with abject sadness welling behind his eyes. What just happened was something neither one of us was going to be able to fix, at least, not right at this moment. And, the way I was feeling, I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted it fixed. I had a sickening notion that I was going to need every bit of my anger just to get through what was coming, and that was assuming that I was going to make it through at all.
The silent pause continued with us both staring at one another, him pained, me incensed. I allowed it to continue for what seemed a full minute but was in reality probably no more than a scant few seconds.
“You heard me you sonofabitch!” I finally screamed. “Get the fuck out of my house!”
With a dazed shake of his head and one last look of sadness, he turned and headed for the door.
CSU technicians were already coming into the house as Ben was lumbering out. One of them shot me a concerned look, glanced over his shoulder at Ben’s back as he disappeared down the front steps, and then returned his gaze to me.
“Are you okay, sir?” he asked.
“No,” I snipped.
He reached his hand toward me and started to ask, “Do you need…”
“No!” I cut him off, my tone still livid. “Just leave me alone!”
He shook his head and muttered a sarcastic “Excuse me” as he took a step back then turned away and joined
