“Well, you’re right about one thing,” he said with a sigh. “This sure’s fuck’s way out there past regular old Twilight Zone shit.”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “The best I can figure is that it is some kind of ‘collateral possession’ or something of that sort.”
Ben looked down at the floor and shook his head.
After a lethargic moment I asked, “So, do you believe me now?”
His hand slowly went up to smooth his hair then slid back and came to rest on his neck as his fingers carefully worked the muscles. “Jeezus, Row…” he finally muttered. “I still dunno.”
“Okay,” I said, suddenly remembering something I had left out. “Why don’t you go talk to her.”
“About what?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I replied quickly. “I just want you to hear her voice.”
He looked up from the floor and furrowed his brow then pointed an index finger at me. “Is she doin’ the accent?”
“She has an accent but not the one you’re thinking.”
“Southern?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
He nodded. “Uh-huh. Okay. So that guy wasn’t an idiot after all.”
“What guy? What are you talking about?”
“Desk jockey out front,” he replied. “Told me Felicity had the sweetest Southern accent he’d ever heard. I argued with him for damn near five minutes tryin’ ta’ tell ‘im it was Irish. He just looked at me like I’d lost my friggin’ mind.”
We stood silently staring at one another for a moment, then I said, “Ben, your killer originates from the Southern United States, and she’s still out there. On top of that, right now her personality, or some aspect of it, has taken control of my wife.”
“So all this is why you wanted her to drink the salt water?”
“Pretty much.”
“And that’d fix ‘er?”
“I don’t know. It was just an idea, but I do know that the personality in control of her knew exactly what I was doing and refused to take a drink, so I must have been on to something.”
“Sheesh… I ever told ya’ that you two are a coupl’a freaks?”
“Yes. Several times in fact.”
“Well, I’m tellin’ ya’ again.”
“Duly noted.”
“Okay, sit tight, I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” I called to him as he turned to go.
He tossed the reply over his shoulder as he pulled open the door. “First, to check on your wife, and second, to see if I can get your happy ass outta here.”
CHAPTER 24:
“Dammit, Ben, I told you not to let her get out of here without one of us with her!” I almost shouted the words as I chastised him through the bars.
“Hey,” he spat back. “I was in here talkin’ to you, remember?”
“How long ago did she leave?”
He looked away and didn’t answer me.
“Ben,” I pressed. “How long?”
He swiped his hand quickly across the lower half of his face and shook his head. “Man, if I tell ya’, you’re gonna be pissed.”
“No, don’t…” I allowed my voice to trail off at the implication.
“Yeah.” He gave me a nod. “About two friggin’ minutes after I walked in here earlier.”
“Gods! Why didn’t you come back here and tell me right away?”
“And you would’ve done what? Exactly what you’re doin’ right now?”
“Well what the hell were you doing?”
“Gettin’ a cup of coffee… What the fuck do ya’ think I was doin’? I was lookin’ for ‘er. As soon as I knew she was gone, I started makin’ some calls. Now get off my ass and chill.”
“But, she’s got at least a half-hour head start. Maybe more.”
“About forty minutes accordin’ ta’ my watch, but since when did this turn into a friggin’ race?”
“Dammit! Get me out of here, Ben!”
“Calm down. I’m workin’ on it. Somebody’s comin’.”
“I can’t calm down, Ben! She’s out there!”
“Yeah, she is, and I couldn’t have done anything to stop her even if I’d been out front when she left. She’s not under arrest and she’s not charged with anything. She was free to go.”
“You could have stayed with her. Didn’t you listen to what I told you earlier?”
“Yeah, she’s all Twilight Zone extreme.”
“Well, don’t you get it?”
“Yeah, Row,” he barked. “I get it. Now for the last time, calm the fuck down. The hysterics aren’t getting you anywhere.”
“I don’t think you do,” I spat. “If we don’t get to her first, she might get herself killed.”
“Yeah, or maybe even do the killin’ herself. I know,” he returned. “Don’t ya’ think I’ve already thought of all that, Rowan? Look, I’m on it. They’re gonna get an alert out with her description, vehicle make, model, tag numbers… The whole nine. We’ll find ‘er.”
I shut my eyes for a moment and willed myself to remain calm. Ben was correct. I needed to get on even footing, or I wasn’t going to do myself any good, much less Felicity. Still, that realization didn’t make it any easier. After a few deep breaths, I found some tiny bit of control to which I could cling. I can’t say that it was an overwhelming success, but when I spoke again, at least my voice was back down to an even tenor.
“Okay, so, what did you tell them?”
“About Firehair? I told ‘em she’s got multiple personality disorder and that she’s been off her meds for a while.”
“Where did you come up with that?”
“Helps to pay attention when you have a sister who’s a shrink, and besides, it was all I could think of at the time.”
“So, they believed that?”
“Yeah. Actually, they were already startin’ ta’ wonder about ‘er. The cop taking her statement said she was actin’ a bit flaky. Thought it was stress at first, but she just kept gettin’ more ‘n more out there.”
“Flaky how?”
“You ready for this? She was flirting with him. He blew it off up until she came right out and propositioned him.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, well don’t worry, he turned her down.”
“I almost wish he hadn’t,” I muttered. “Then she might still be here.”
“Well, she really freaked ‘im when she wanted to know if he’d like to let her play with his handcuffs and baton later.”
“That wasn’t really her saying that, it was the killer.”
“Yeah, I know. I believe ya’, but I couldn’t exactly tell them that.”
“She must be on the prowl for a new victim,” I said with a resigned sigh.
“Yeah, well, considerin’ what she said she wanted to do to him with the baton…”
“And he didn’t arrest her for threatening a police officer or something?”
