“That move should’ve opened you up to a queenside attack…” Eddie cut himself off. “Another game?”
Shannon looked at the kid who’d been observing their game and waiting his turn. “Okay with you?” The kid shrugged, said it was more than cool with him. That he enjoyed watching someone humble Eddie for a change.
Eddie, setting up the board, asked, “You making any headway with your investigation?”
“If you call wandering aimlessly without a clue headway, then yeah.” Shannon took his pack of Camels out, opened it, and tapped lose a cigarette. “Mind if I smoke?”
“Alright with me. Rest of Boulder might form a lynching party, but don’t hold back on my account.”
Shannon’s hands shook as he struck a match and held it to the cigarette. He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with the smoke and tasting the sweetness of it. He felt lightheaded and disgusted with himself, but also immediately calmer, less jittery-as if a valve had been opened and the pressure inside released.
“I quit five years ago,” he explained. “The last couple of days the thought of lighting up has been bugging me.”
“Falling back into your old ways.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you were a cop you probably smoked. Now that you’re doing cops’ work again, you’re falling back into your old ways.”
Shannon didn’t believe that was the reason for it, but he shrugged and acknowledged that it was possible. Eddie had taken white for the next game. He made his move and hit the clock. Shannon followed suit, letting no more than a tick run off his clock. Most of the game was played evenly with neither side obtaining a clear advantage. With a minute left on both clocks, both players made their moves fast and furiously. By the end Eddie had a slight advantage, but his flag fell. Only a few ticks showed on Shannon’s clock.
Eddie stared incredulously at his fallen flag, then at the board. “I had you,” he said.
“Perhaps.”
“No question about it. I had you.” He rolled his eyes upward before facing Shannon. “At least this gives me hope for tomorrow. One more?”
Shannon checked his watch, saw it was a quarter to six. “Sorry, I need to get going.”
“I hope these games helped you.”
“What do you mean?”
Eddie shrugged. “If I had to guess, you came here more to clear your head than to ask me about that picture or to play chess. Any ideas come to you?”
“Still hopelessly in the dark.”
Shannon nodded to Eddie, stubbed out his cigarette and walked off. A thought buried in his subconscious had been nagging at him, and while he played the second game he realized what it was: why the hell were those Russians acting as a taxi service and picking up those girls at the yoga studio? His gut told him the Russians were from Denver. If they lived in Boulder they’d stick out like sore thumbs. So why’d they drive all the way out here just to pick up those girls? The answer hit him about the time he was finishing the last game. They were already in Boulder for another reason so it was no big deal for them, and he had an idea what that other reason might be.
He called Susan on her cell phone.
“Hi hon,” she said, “I’ve been missing you. I’m back at the hotel room now practicing with a couple of pom- poms and getting ready for later. Think you’ll be back soon?”
“Hey, babe, I’ve been missing you too. I’m going to stop by the apartment to check email and I’ll head over to the hotel after that. Shouldn’t be more than ten minutes.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure, why do you ask?”
“You sound like something’s wrong. Are you sure everything’s okay?”
“It’s just been a long day and my throat’s a little dry, that’s all. Keep practicing with those pom-poms, okay?”
Susan told him she’d use the extra time to work on some advanced moves, and that she was looking forward to seeing him. There was a hesitancy in her voice. Before hanging up she asked him not to be too long. Shannon knew she could sense something was wrong, but she didn’t push it. He drove to his apartment building. It seemed quiet from the outside, nothing appearing out of place. A wave of relief washed over him when he saw that his front door was in one piece. He had convinced himself that Paveeth had used the opportunity of his visiting True Light to send the Russians to his apartment, and had an image stuck in his mind of them busting their way in. He checked the locks and saw that they hadn’t been tampered with. When he opened the door, his eyes went directly to a gaping hole in the wall that had been carved out next to the hallway closet. The hole revealed two video recorders his spy cameras were connected to. When he checked them he saw that the tapes had been removed. He looked around the living room. Books had been thrown onto the floor, but nothing else looked out of place.
He moved next to the kitchen. All of the drawers had been thrown open and papers tossed to the floor. Shannon felt a coolness driving into his skull as he walked to the bedroom. As he expected, his computer was gone. Then he saw Emily. She was lying on her side next to the bed, her frying pan laying a few feet away from her. The coolness was now more like ice cubes being pushed into his eye sockets. He got on one knee and felt her pulse. She was still alive. Blood had congealed on the back of her skull above her ear. A stain the shape of a large melon had leaked out onto the carpet from her wound. Shannon’s vision blurred as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. He told them to send an ambulance, that he had a head trauma victim needing emergency care. He then called Daniels, gave him a quick rundown of what happened, and asked if he could meet him at his apartment. He struggled over whether to call Susan. He didn’t want her hearing about Emily over the phone, but he remembered her talking about homeopathy being used to help accident victims. He called her, his voice sounding distant and tinny to himself as he told her about Emily.
She asked whether Emily was making any noises.
“No, nothing.”
“How is she breathing?”
“Very shallow. Barely at all.”
“Any movement?”
“None.”
“Bill, this is very important. Go to the cabinet in the kitchen where I keep my remedies. Find one labeled ‘1M Opium’. Shake out six pellets and place them in her mouth.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Try and do it as quickly as you can. Call me back when you know what hospital they’re taking her to.”
“When I find out, I’ll pick you up and we’ll drive over together. I’m so sorry about this, Susie.”
“It’s not your fault, love, but please, get her the remedy now.”
Susan hung up at her end. Shannon went to the kitchen. Her remedies had been tossed onto the floor with the papers. He searched through them until he found a package labeled ‘1M Opium’, then went back to Emily. He stood frozen as he looked at her. This went against all his years of training as a police officer. Over and over it’s drummed into you not to touch an unconscious body unless CPR is needed. As a cop you’re supposed to wait for the EMT workers. The last thing you’re supposed to do is put what amounts to snake oil into someone’s mouth.
The sound of a distant ambulance knocked him out of his trance. Although what Susan did remained as much a mystery to him as voodoo, he had seen small miracles come out of her work. Les Hasherford was just one example. He tapped six pellets into his palm, each one the size of a pinhead. Kneeling by Emily, he gently opened her mouth and placed the pellets in it. He said a silent prayer over her body, then got to his feet.
He walked outside to wait for the ambulance. The noise of a siren was getting louder. He lit a cigarette and tried to pull some comfort from it.
Chapter 14
