“I shot one of them,” I explained to Dunnel.
“Are you two hurt?” Dunnel asked as he shone his light in my face. “Your pupils look dilated.”
“He hit his head a bunch,” Fletcher supplied helpfully.
“I have a thick skull.” I pushed Dunnel’s torch away before it could blind me. “The whole thing was a setup.”
“And a bust,” Fletcher added. “They got away.”
Dunnel winked at us. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Follow me.”
Fletcher and I glanced at each other curiously, then followed Dunnel out of the tour towards the squad of cars. He led us to the last vehicle in the line and opened the door. Handcuffed in the backseat and looking absolutely furious was the burly man with the scar that I had shot. He snarled something incomprehensible when he saw us and then looked pointedly out the other window.
“Would you look at that? Where d'you find him?” I asked. I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit.
“Believe it or not, your kidnappers had some car trouble. They blew out a tyre about two kilometres down the road and bolted when they saw us coming, leaving their friend here behind when he couldn’t keep up.”
“Did your friends abandon you?” I asked with mock compassion. “How’s that feel?”
The man sneered at me, but it was a half-hearted attempt. He was in trouble, and he knew it. Dunnel shut the door on him, and we stepped away from the car to talk.
“I’ll have Fields take you home. I’m sure you’re exhausted. You will brief me first thing tomorrow morning before you do anything else.” He looked right at me as he said it. “I’ll approve the weekend overtime.” He waved to Fields, and she stopped what she was doing to jog over to us.
“My car is just down the road. We’ll take that,” Fletcher said.
Dunnel gave me a look.
“First thing tomorrow,” I promised.
“Good. These kidnappers might reach out and try to set up some kind of deal. We need to be ready for that. For now, try to get some sleep. You’ll need it.”
“Yes, sir.” Fletcher and I saluted Dunnel and then began the kilometre trek back to her car.
It was easier going down the road than forging a path through the brush, but it wasn’t long before a bone-deep weariness settled over me. The ten-minute walk seemed to take an eternity, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other, and eventually, Fletcher’s car appeared in the light of our torches. Stifling a yawn, she handed Fields the keys, and since it was her car, I let her take the front. Mostly, I wanted to be able to stretch out across the backseat. Since the car only had two doors, she pushed her chair forward, and I half-climbed, half-fell over it into the back.
Almost as soon as the car began to move, I drifted off. Every speck of adrenaline had drained away, leaving me unable to keep my eyes open, and I didn’t fight it, grateful for the way sleep lifted the ache from my bones.
Two hours later, a hand shook me awake, and I blearily opened my eyes to find that we were outside my tiny apartment just outside the city centre. I stumbled out of the car, thanking Fields for the ride, and fumbled my keys into the lock. I kicked off my boots, shucked my duster, and found my way to the bathroom in the dark. The shower hissed as it started up and then began to spit out cold water. As tired as I was, I couldn’t go to be covered in mud and blood. As I waited for the stream to warm up, I took out my newly cracked phone and looked at Lena’s message. It was late, but I texted her back anyway.
“Case didn’t wrap up. Can we postpone?”
Evidently, Lena was still awake because she replied only a few seconds later.
“I’m sorry to hear that. We could still get drinks?”
“Might be a conflict of interest, since you’re a witness in the case.”
She wasn’t a suspect, though, so maybe it would be alright. We needed to move fast to save Finn, though, and I felt guilty that I was considering going on a date while his life was still in danger.
“Another time, then.” She added a smiley face to the end of the sentence, but I felt as if I could see the disappointment in the words.
“Another time,” I agreed, staving off my own regret. I had more important things to worry about than my love life.
Sixteen
I could barely move the next morning. When I looked in the mirror, my entire body was black and blue. My hair needed a cut, but I slicked the unruly locks back with a rather ridiculous amount of product and then prodded the angry red scrape on my cheek. The skin around it was shiny and swollen, and I winced when I touched it. There was a scab on my scalp where I’d hit the back of my head, and I had cloth burn on my elbows and knees. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn’t going on a date looking like this.
A car honked outside just as I was finishing the last of my coffee, and I gathered up my things as I headed for the door. My own ride would be out of the shop tomorrow, hopefully, but until then, I’d had to ask Fletcher for a ride.
She looked about as rough as I did when I climbed into her front seat. Her foundation couldn’t cover up the black eye swelling up one side of her face, and her knuckles were scraped red and raw
