down. Something told me Albright wasn’t going to budge either.
“Let me handle this,” I called out to the serious detriment of my headache. Slowly, I twisted in the seat, so I could face Albright. She turned back to face me, wearing a look of disdain. I carefully leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and held my head between my hands as I muttered, “What is it you want from me, Barbara?”
I knew from past experience that she hated it when I called her by her first name, but I wasn’t in the mood for honorifics at the moment. Especially those I felt were undeserved. If she wanted a one-on-one with me, then that was what she was going to get-raw, unabashed, and as close to being on my terms as I could get.
“I want to know what you’re doing just sitting there?” she snapped. “You’re supposed to be helping find my niece.”
“What makes you think I’m not?” I asked, my voice a pain-wracked mumble.
“You’re just sitting there,” she insisted. “And you sound like you’re intoxicated.”
“I wish I was, but I’m not. I’m just in a lot of pain.”
“Well don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.”
I snorted then said, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“I can’t believe you’re just sitting there,” she repeated.
“And exactly what is it you do when you pray?” I asked.
“Don’t you dare compare my religion to your Godless heathenry.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “You know, I’m not even going to waste my breath explaining to you everything that’s wrong with that statement. However, I am going to say this: We both know you hate me, but we also both know that you’re the one who insisted on my being here. My guess is that your love for your niece outweighs your contempt for me. In any case, here I am. Now do Judith a favor, back off like my wife asked and just let me do what I do.”
“You’re pushing your luck, Gant,” she snipped.
“No, Barbara. You are. If this killer really has your niece, then right now you’re screwing with her life by wasting my time. Like I said, do her a favor. Let me do my job. If you really want to help then go home and pray.”
I hadn’t bothered to look up at her for the entire span of the conversation, relying instead only on auditory cues. I didn’t move to do so now. I simply continued holding my head between my hands, kept my breathing as even as I could manage, and listened to the relative silence in the wake of her non-response.
Finally, I raised my voice slightly and called out, “Did the salt get here?”
“Aye,” Felicity returned, bitterness still in her voice, though I knew it wasn’t directed at me. “It’s here.”
“How about the forensics? Are the crime scene techs finished?”
“Yeah,” Ben answered. “They were already done when we sent for the salt.”
“Last question. Do they have any problems with me touching the car?”
“I’ll check again, but it’s already been okayed,” he assured me.
“Good,” I grunted, shifting forward and starting to climb out of the van. “Then let’s do this thing before my fucking head explodes.”
CHAPTER 27:
“Ya’know, I bet I’m gonna have a bruise on my shin,” Ben complained aloud as we walked.
“Aye, you’ll get over it,” Felicity replied, no sympathy in her voice whatsoever as she glanced over at him for a second and watched his stride. “It’s not like you’re limping or anything, then.”
“Yeah, but I could be.”
“Quit being such a crybaby. You don’t hear me whining about my arm.”
“I didn’t do that to ya’,” he reminded her.
“Doesn’t matter, it still hurts and I haven’t complained,” she replied. “Unlike you, the big, tough cop.”
I tried to ignore their verbal sparring because as long as they were at it like this I knew everything was okay between them. If either of them were truly angry with the other, they would be sulking in silence and that would be cause to worry.
We rounded the end of a highway patrol cruiser and aimed ourselves to the right. A small clutch of officers next to it parted without a word to allow us through. We paused when we reached the crime scene tape. Ben reached out and lifted the yellow plastic ribbon so that Felicity and I could slip beneath it a little more easily, then he ducked under the barrier himself and followed us into the no man’s land of the cordoned off zone.
From the looks of the asphalt landscape, it appeared as if the crime scene had now become akin to a small arena, and the surrounding cars and sidewalk were the stands filled with uniformed spectators. Cops and crime scene technicians alike stood next to or leaning against their vehicles, chatting quietly among themselves as they watched us make our way across the empty expanse. There was even a paramedic propped against a life support vehicle that had been called out to the scene at Ben’s request, just in case things didn’t go as we planned. Of course, they rarely ever did, so that was probably a smart move on his part.
I noticed one of the troopers point in our direction then make a comment to a nearby colleague who chuckled and nodded vigorously before passing it along to the cop next to him. I could only speculate about what they were actually saying. Thus far they were making it a point to keep their voices low, so the occasional staticky blip of a radio combined with the constant drone of the traffic on the nearby highway prevented me from actually hearing them. Even so, it wasn’t hard to make an educated guess each time I saw their lips moving. I’d been down this road too many times before, although I had to admit that this time around I felt much less like a part of the team and more like I was a curiosity on display.
I gave the small crowd a second cursory glance and noticed Captain Albright hadn’t bothered to take my advice, not that I even began to imagine she would. She was standing front and center among the other officers; however, she didn’t appear to find anything they were saying to her amusement. She simply watched us with a stoic expression creasing her face; although, even at a distance I could see the inner worry in her eyes.
“Why do I suddenly feel like the new kid who’s about to get the crap beat out of him on the playground?” I mumbled as the three of us continued on toward Judith Albright’s abandoned Hyundai sedan.
“Prob’ly ‘cause ya’ pretty much kinda are if ya’ don’t come up with somethin’,” Ben replied.
“That’s not very encouraging,” I told him. “You of all people know how this works. There are never any guarantees.”
“Yeah, I know.” He nodded. “But you’re the one who said it. I’m just agreein’ with ya’.”
“Ignore them,” Felicity interjected.
“Yeah… That was pretty much my plan,” I returned. “Let’s hope it actually works.”
I was still fighting the hammering inside my skull and doing so without the benefit of aspirin or anything else for that matter. Once the escalating altercation at the van had been dialed back to a manageable level, everything else had started moving fairly quickly, so I hadn’t had a chance to ask Ben where they were hidden or even if he actually had any to offer. Almost immediately following my insistence that we get started, two plastic grocery bags, both filled with unmistakable cylindrical containers, had been unloaded from the passenger seat of a deputy’s patrol car. Then, everyone backed off and waited for something to happen. I suppose it was a good thing their tickets to this show were free because special effects-wise I was fairly certain they were going to be disappointed.
The three of us came to a halt a few steps away from the sedan and simply stood there. Staring at my faint reflection in the driver’s side window, I struggled not to think too hard about the dog and pony show this had now become. I was used to letting the psychic events occur of their own accord, which never seemed to be an issue. Now, however, there was an enormous amount of pressure for me to make it all happen on cue, complete with a skeptical audience. While I had forced such to occur before, doing so was a rarity, so I had to hope that whoever was murmuring inside my head would listen and seize the opportunity to speak up instead of just endeavoring to make me miserable.
After a substantial pause where I had scarcely moved, Ben asked, “You goin’ all Twilight Zone? ”
“No,” I replied, sighing as I reached up to massage my forehead from sheer force of habit. “I was just thinking that a double extra huge bottle of aspirin would be good right about now.”
