“Felicity?” I called out.
Hearing no reply, I pressed forward and down the shallow flight of stairs to the concrete apron of the driveway leading to the garage.
“Felicity?” I called into the darkness again.
Still, I received no reply.
The hollowness was beginning to gnaw a hole in my stomach, and every sense in my body started advancing toward overload. I turned to my right and walked across the driveway/patio area until I cleared the corner of the house and gazed down toward the street.
Ben’s van was off to the side of the drive, having been straightened by RJ earlier after the cop’s drunken parking attempt. Past that, I could see the tail end of Constance’s sedan where she had parked on the street in front of our house. What was conspicuously missing from the scene was my wife’s Jeep.
I spun in place and began a fast walk back across the concrete to the deck then back into the house. As I entered the back door, I looked up at the note board on the side of the refrigerator. Next to it was a line of hooks for extra keys, and the spot reserved for Felicity’s spares was empty.
Ben was just pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee as I came in, and he looked up. It didn’t take any of his training for him to see that I was distressed. He immediately asked, “What’s wrong, white man?”
“Felicity’s gone,” I told him quickly. “So is her Jeep. I think she’s gone out there by herself.”
CHAPTER 23:
“Goddammit!” my friend exclaimed. “Hasn’t she ever heard of a chain of evidence? If there’s a crime scene out there, and she fucks it up, it’s not gonna do us any good at all.”
“She’s not thinking straight right now, Ben,” I replied sharply.
Constance apparently heard the commotion and came through the doorway with a puzzled expression on her face. “What’s going on?”
“Felicity’s gone,” I told her quickly.
“Are you sure? I didn’t even hear her leave.”
“Apparently neither did the dogs because they didn’t bark or anything, which is unheard of.” I shook my head. “But her Jeep is definitely gone.”
“You don’t think she…” she began.
“That’s exactly what I think,” I replied before she could finish the question. “And, we have to stop her.”
“Jeezus!” Ben spat. “She’s worse than you, white man. At least you wait until I’m not around before pullin’ some kinda stunt.”
“She doesn’t deal well with people being victimized,” I told him, impatience growing in my voice. “Especially women.”
“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious,” he shot back, starting toward the phone. “But what the hell does she think she’s gonna do out there?”
“Probably the same thing we’ve been trying to do here. Figure out who is doing this,” I explained, growing more agitated with each passing second. “Can we save the why’s for later? We’ve got to stop her.”
“What the fuck are you so worked up about, Row?” Ben asked as he snatched the telephone receiver from the wall. “Worst thing that can happen is she screws over the crime scene. I’m the one that needs to be pissed, not you.”
“No it isn’t!” I snapped. “You saw what happened here tonight. What do you think is going to happen if she manages to connect directly with Brittany Larson’s corpse?”
“What? You’ve done that kinda stuff before,” he replied. “I’ve seen you do it at the morgue.”
“Yes, you have,” I shot back. “And think about it. Remember what happened? If Felicity hadn’t been there to bring me back, I would have ended up being their latest customer.”
His eyes widened as the realization hit him. “Jeezus.”
“Not my choice of deities,” I spat. “But, yeah. Exactly. We have to stop her before she finds the body and tries something stupid.”
“Surely she knows what could happen,” Constance offered.
“Probably, but like I said, she’s not thinking straight,” I reiterated. “The way she’s been shifting in and out of trances, I’m not even sure she’s fully in this world right now.”
“Yeah, Detective Storm again.” Ben was speaking into the phone. “I need to speak with Sergeant Marshall again… Thanks…” He twisted the phone down and looked over to Constance. “Yo, Mandalay. See if you can figure out the most likely route she would take from here.”
Agent Mandalay gave him a quick nod and ducked back into the dining room to check the maps.
“Yeah, Sergeant Marshall,” Ben said as he suddenly twisted the phone back up to his mouth. “Listen, I got a situation… Yeah, I wish… So listen, you got someone headed for Woodcrest Park right now and she’s intent on gettin’ in… No, no, she’s a civilian consultant… No, she’s just a little overzealous right now… Yeah, I just need you to stop her if we don’t get to her first. Yeah, her name is Felicity O’Brien. About five-two, one-ten or so, long red hair. She’s drivin’ a black Jeep Wrangler, license plates…” Ben looked at me questioningly and motioned for me to give up the information.
I quickly searched my memory but was too preoccupied with worry to form a complete mental picture, so I shook my head and gave him what I could. “V-X-N something.”
“Yeah,” he continued speaking into the phone. “Partial Missouri plates, V-X-N. That’s Victor, X-Ray, November. Got that?”
“Bumper stickers,” I blurted as the thought struck. “She’s got a Pentacle on the spare tire cover, and on the bumper she has one that says ‘Magick Happens’.”
Ben repeated the description to the Sergeant. “Yeah… Yeah, she’s a Witch too… Yeah… Funny… Uh-huh… Yeah… Okay… Yeah, I’d rather not get into that right now… Yeah, I know… Yeah, but like I said before it’s just a theory I’m workin’… Yeah, could be nothin’… Yeah, she’s just a little impatient… Yeah, do me a favor; let your officers know she’s with us. I don’t want her gettin’ hurt ‘cause of a gung ho rookie. Yeah… Let me give you my cell number…”
“Rowan,” Constance poked her head in through the doorway. “Has Felicity been to Woodcrest Park before?”
“Yeah, we both have,” I nodded as I spoke.
“Would she be more likely to take Highway Forty, then head south, or get off at Two-Seventy and head south before going west?” she asked.
“Probably Forty,” I replied. “But in her present state, who knows.”
My agitation seemed to have leveled off for the moment. It wasn’t lessening, but at least it wasn’t getting any worse. I turned back to Ben and mouthed the words ‘hurry up’. He gave me a quick nod and finished the call as fast as he could.
“Marshall will be callin’ on my cell if she shows up out there,” he offered as he hung up the handset then glanced over at Mandalay. “Whaddaya got?”
“Only one road leading in to the park, and that’s Piper Valley. From here she can come at it one of three ways. Out Forty to Millstone which eventually turns into Piper Valley; or Two-Seventy to Woodsbend which intersects Piper Valley just before the park entrance. The third option would be to take Two-Seventy to Forty-Four then up Woodsbend from the backside of the park. But that would be going out of the way.”
He looked over at me. “Row?”
“Could be any of the three,” I returned. “It all depends on what’s driving her.”
“Okay, lemme think.” He huffed the word out as he smoothed his hair back then brought his hand to rest on his neck. After a pair of seconds he spoke again. “Mandalay, you take Forty, Rowan and I will take Two-Seventy. Sound reasonable?”
“That would be my call,” Constance replied.
“What about Forty-Four?” I appealed.
“We gotta rule that out,” he answered quickly. “Too far outta the way to make sense.”
