I stared back silently, stunned by his sudden outburst. I knew this case was wearing on him, but something else was there too. His hand went up to his neck, and he let out a heavy sigh.
“Listen,” Ben’s voice was much calmer. “I’m sorry, man. I shouldn’t be snappin’ at ya’. It’s just that…”
Ben was unceremoniously interrupted by the shrill tone of his beeper as it demanded his attention. He automatically pulled it from his belt and quickly perused its liquid crystal face.
“It’s a call from the coppers I had sittin’ on Cally’s house,” he told me. “I’d better get in touch with ‘em.”
“Go ahead,” I urged. “I’ll be with Felicity.”
“Look, Rowan…” Ben struggled with the words as he wagged his finger back and forth between us. “Are you and me okay?”
“Yeah,” I reassured him. “We’re fine. Go make your call.”
“How’re you feeling?” I whispered as I leaned forward and brushed the hair from her face.
“Aye, tired,” she murmured, “and sore.”
I returned a half-hearted smile. “I’ll bet.”
“Rowan…Has anyone told you…About, you know…”
“Yeah, I know about it. Allison told me. I’m sorry.”
A small teardrop glistened in the corner of her eye and slowly rolled across her cheek to wet the pillow.
“I’m the one who should apologize, then,” she returned. “I never should have gone over there. Cally just sounded so frightened…”
“Shhhh.” I brushed away the next tear as it began to journey down her face. “It’s all right. You did exactly what I would have done. It’s okay.”
She blinked rapidly then took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She lay there in silence, just looking back at me for a few short moments as she regained her composure.
“Is Cally okay, then?” she finally asked.
“Physically, she’s fine. He never laid a hand on her,” I answered. “Mentally. About as well as can be expected. She blames herself for what happened to you. Allison took her down for coffee a little while ago.”
“It wasn’t her fault.”
“I know,” I assured her. “I know.”
“Aye, what about Devon? Did they catch him?”
“Ben went to check on that. The officers that were watching Cally’s place just beeped him.”
Watching her face, I could see that the tranquilizer had not worn off and was creeping up on her once again. Her breathing became easier, and she began sliding backward into relaxation.
“I’ve got a shoot to do this afternoon,” Felicity told me groggily.
“No you don’t. I’ll call them and re-schedule for you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“I love you” was the last thing she whispered before drifting into the arms of sleep.
“I love you, too,” I returned and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
I waited a few more minutes before deciding to go in search of Ben. I attempted to retrace our steps in coming to this room and as I had not paid attention, quickly became lost. As I rounded a corner, I came upon what resembled a small break room and was almost immediately bowled over as a red-faced Allison Storm rushed angrily past me. I looked after her then peered into the open doorway, only to find Ben, hands in his pockets and hangdog expression creasing his face. Something was definitely wrong between the two of them. I assumed it was the amount of time he was spending on this case and that I had just witnessed the tail end of an argument it had caused.
“You okay?” I queried as I stepped through the doorway.
“What? Yeah.” He looked up and noticed me. “Yeah, I’m fine. How’s the squaw?”
“She woke up for a minute or two,” I replied. “She’s doing okay, considering. Oh, and I guessed right. She went over there because she wanted to help Cally.”
“Sounds like her.”
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked again and hooked my thumb over my shoulder. “You seem a little preoccupied, and Allison looked kind of irritated…”
“Yeah, I’m good.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and straightened from where he had been leaning against the wall. “She’s okay. It’s just been a rough day for ‘er. Hell, for all of us.”
I decided not to push any further out of respect for my friend. If he and his wife were having problems, it was none of my business unless he chose to tell me. If he made that choice, I would be there to listen, no questions asked.
“So,” I changed the subject, “that phone call get you anywhere? Did you find anything out?”
“Oh yeah.” He brightened noticeably. “They were in the lobby. Seems the son-of-a-bitch is in surgery right this minute, in this very hospital.”
“Surgery?” I puzzled. “What happened, did they shoot him?”
“Nope.” Ben explained, “Seems the idiot went over a fence when they were chasin’ ‘im and landed smack in the middle of a dog pen. Apparently, the pit bull livin’ in it at the time was not pleased.”
“How bad?” I grimaced.
“Sounds REAL bad,” he answered. “It took ‘em awhile ta’ get the dog off ‘im. Unfortunately, they ended up havin’ ta’ drop the hammer on it.”
“Is he going to live?”
“Don’t know. Benson-that’s the copper that I talked to-told me the doc said he’d lost a lot of blood. It’s pretty much touch and go right now.”
“The threefold return,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?” Ben asked.
“The threefold return,” I pronounced more clearly. “It’s a belief we Witches have, that everything we do will return to us threefold. Good or Bad.”
“Yeah. What goes around comes around. You’ve said that before. So?”
“So Devon sacrificed a dog,” I explained.
Ben looked at me, and his eyes widened as the irony behind what I had just said sunk in. When he finally opened his mouth, all he could say was “Oh.”
CHAPTER 15
While Felicity slept, Ben and I executed a roughly choreographed shuffle of vehicles: first, driving my wife’s Jeep from Cally’s house back to where it belonged then retrieving my truck from behind the police station. He remained silent and distant as we drove about, completing the tasks, keeping his eyes glued to the road before him and saying only as much as necessary. I didn’t like seeing him like this, but I knew I could only wait until he was ready to talk, for anything else would only drive him further into his world of introspection. I mutely reassured myself that everything would work out between Ben and Allison and that all would return to normalcy soon. Besides, I had my own pain to contend with.
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked him.
We were standing next to my vehicle on the parking lot of the police station. It was still early afternoon, and the bright sun had only recently begun the downward portion of its arc through the sky. A light breeze blew in, tousling Ben’s already disheveled hair as he looked back at me wearily.
“I’ll see if the search warrant has been issued for R.J.’s place,” he sighed. “And we’ll be waitin’ to hear from the hospital about Devon. Other than that, it’s business as usual.”
“I know we’ve been down this road before, Ben,” I ventured, “but I really believe R.J. is innocent. You aren’t going to find anything at his place.”
