“Yeah, but still… Bleedin’? That can’t be good.”
“I know. But, fortunately, it didn’t last long, and like I said, there was no wound. All in all it really just looked worse than it was. It had Felicity a little on edge though.”
“Ya’think?” he spat.
I ignored the sarcasm and continued. “Either way, the only residual effect was one of my signature headaches and the nightmare about the swan, so I thought I’d be fine.”
“Why do I hear a but coming?”
“Because there is one,” I returned. “Cutting to the chase, the same thing happened again today. Right before I had the vision of the second swan.”
“Today? How bad? How much blood did you lose?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But it was messy enough that I needed to take a shower to get cleaned up before I hit the sack.”
“Great. So are ya’ sure you’re okay? ”
“People keep asking me that.”
“Yeah, well I wonder why?” he said, the sarcasm creeping into his voice again. “You shoulda seen a doctor after the first time, Row.”
I shook my head and answered, “Now you sound like my wife.”
“Great…that just tells me that if you didn’t listen to Firehair, you sure as hell ain’t gonna listen to me.”
“It would be a waste of time. At the moment, other than the headache, I think I’m fine.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
“Seems to me that was what ya’ just said about when it happened the first time?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” I shrugged. “Well, if I start bleeding again I guess we’ll know I’m wrong.”
“Fuck me… You ain’t gonna up and die on me or somethin’ are ya’?”
“I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Yeah, well we both know all about how your plans work out, white man.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Ben shook his head then reached up to massage his neck. “Jeezus… Have you told Felicity about this yet?”
“You mean the incident today? No, not yet.” I glanced at the clock and squinted. I hadn’t realized until now that I’d forgotten to put on my glasses, which probably explained why the world was still so blurry to me even though the fog around my brain was lifting. I turned back to my friend and said, “Unless she ran long she should be home any minute. I figure I’ll tell her then.”
“Damn…” he muttered. “You know she ain’t gonna be happy.”
“Yeah, especially when she finds you here.”
“Hey, you’re the one who broke the playground ban when you called me.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “But I’m still going to blame it on you.”
“Why the hell would ya’ do that?”
“Because you woke me up, that’s why.”
CHAPTER 11:
“Okay, so where to from here?” I asked. “Are you wanting me to go look at a crime scene or something? If so I need to make myself presentable.”
“So I take it that means you actually wanna help?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I grumbled. “I don’t think I’m being left with much choice, am I?”
He gave his head a vigorous shake. “Hey, I’m not pressurin’ ya’… It’s your decision.”
“Yeah, right. Do you really expect me to believe that part of why you’re here isn’t to try talking me into helping with these cases?”
“Well, no… Not exactly… But yeah… Jeezus H. Christ…” he stammered.
“Okay, Ben, I’ve had enough,” I said, throwing my hands up. “You’ve been acting strange ever since yesterday. You ask questions like you want my help, but then you keep dancing around the subject like you aren’t sure what to do. One minute it seems like you’re pushing me, the next it seems like you’re backpedaling or trying to protect me from something. Why don’t you make this easy on both of us and tell me what the hell is really going on?”
My friend reached up, smoothed back his hair, and then let his hand fall to his neck. After a moment he sighed and said, “Look, Row, I was tryin’ not ta’ say this, but I’m tired of it too, so here it is… Whether the brass likes to acknowledge it or not, they know damn well you’ve got a major track record when it comes to this sorta shit.”
“Are you trying to say it’s not just you doing the asking? It’s the higher ups?”
“Well…” He nodded. “Yeah. It is.”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did they first ask?”
“Remember that call I got when we were havin’ breakfast yesterday. Well, it wasn’t just a prelim report from the coroner. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one ta’ get a hinky feelin’ about that Jane Doe. I don’t know for sure who made the decision, but my lieutenant strongly suggested that I try ta’ get ya’ involved if I could. I didn’t bother ta’ tell ‘im you were sittin’ right across from me.”
“Now it makes sense,” I replied. “No wonder you’ve been so squirrelly.”
“I’m pretty sure Helen calls it conflicted,” he said.
“Yeah, that sounds about like her. So, why didn’t you just tell me you were getting pressure from the top?”
“What would ya’ have done if I had?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but…”
“But what? That’s bullshit and you know it, white man. I got your number, even if ya’ don’t think I do. You woulda said yes because you feel like you owe me.”
“Well, yeah… You’re probably right. And yes, I do owe you.”
“Which is exactly why I didn’t tell ya’. You’ve been tellin’ me ya wanted out. Shit, you’d just finished sayin’ it again when they called, and I wanted ta’ respect that. I figured I’d just toss out a few feelers and see if you’d bite. I thought if I kept it all between us and if ya’ came up with somethin’ I could use, maybe I could keep everything from goin’ overboard.”
I shook my head slightly, even though it hurt to do so. “Hell, Ben, even I can’t do that. It does that of its own accord and nobody can stop it.”
“Yeah, so I’ve noticed,” he grunted then fell silent for a moment. When he spoke up again he asked, “So how bad did I fuck up, Row? You pissed at me now?”
“I never said you did.”
“Yeah, but I feel like I did.”
“What is it you told me? Get over it? Besides, I think it’s pretty obvious I was going to get dragged into this no matter what I wanted. Your victims are seeing to that.”
“I’m sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t want this ta’ happen.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s done and we can’t change it.”
“So what now?”
“We go back to my first question. Do you need me to go look at a crime scene or something?”
“Actually, as far as goin’ anywhere, ta’ be honest all we really have is a couple of dump sites,” he explained. “So unless you got some kinda major Twilight Zone inspiration at the moment or you think lookin’ at a dumpster is gonna help, you can prob’ly just relax.”
“Did you hear that, ladies?” I announced, looking up toward the ceiling. “The man said I should relax. You
