I continued to hold her tight, letting the world around me be swallowed by the riotous noise from above.It didn’t even cross my mind that she was actually alive and well until the train had finally passed, and I could actually hear her complaining.
“Row, please,” she said, her voice a strained whisper. “I can’t breathe.”
I loosened my grip and pulled away from her. She was staring back at me with her eyes wide. Her tired expression displayed the cumulative fatigue of the past few days, but she still managed to cock her head to the side and give me a look of concern. She sucked in a deep breath and quickly huffed it back out.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I thought you were gone…” I said, wiping the back of my hand across my eyes.
“Aye,” she returned with a slight nod. “I got that impression.”
“Oh Gods…” I whispered, reaching out and gently brushing her cheek.
“It’s okay, Row.” She gave me a weak smile. “I’m fine. Really.”
“Told ya’, white man.” I heard Ben’s voice come from behind me, and I quickly glanced back over my shoulder.
My friend was standing in the middle of the service road looking down at us. He was nervously fidgeting, wringing his hands around the length of the flashlight I had dropped, and he had apparently retrieved. His expression was a mix of relief and discomfort all at once, and he looked away as if embarrassed to have witnessed my unchecked emotional outburst.
I forced out a hot breath and then sucked in a fresh one in an attempt to relax. I continued to wipe my eyes as I sniffed, somewhat chagrined myself. “How long have you been there?”
“For a bit,” he said softly. “Caught up to ya’ right after ya’ started screamin’.”
“I’m surprised you heard me.”
“Jeezus, Kemosabe, who couldn’t? You were louder than the fuckin’ train,” he told me with a half-hearted chuckle. I’m sure the joke was to ease his apparent discomfort as much as mine.
I let out a clipped laugh as well. “Yeah… So… I guess I looked pretty ridiculous.”
“No,” he replied with a slow shake of his head. “You looked pretty much like any guy would if he thought he’d just lost everything he had to live for.”
The level of understanding Ben was displaying was a testament to the depth of our friendship. I knew full well that he wasn’t one for overt displays of tenderness or sharing of vulnerabilities, so I appreciated his words even more.
“Thanks, Chief,” I told him.
“It’s all good, Kemosabe,” he replied, raising a hand and smoothing back his hair. “So ya’think we can change the subject before this gets all touchy feely?”
“Afraid you’ll damage your reputation with the woodland creatures?” Felicity quipped.
“Maybe,” he grunted. “So what’s up with you? Ya’ damn near gave us all heart attacks.”
She shrugged. “Aye, sorry about that.”
“So what did happen?” I asked, turning back to Felicity. “Why are you just sitting here?”
“Waiting for you,” she replied. “I knew you wouldn’t be too far behind.”
“Look at this,” Ben said, shoving a wrinkled piece of paper over my shoulder.
I took it and glanced at the scribbles. It was the map he had copied from Felicity’s bloody rendition.
“Turn it the other way,” he instructed, motioning with his finger.
I followed his direction and rotated the paper, then looked carefully at the scrawl of lines. My friend reached over my shoulder and indicated several points on the homemade map.
“Service road, railroad tracks…” he allowed his voice to trail off.
I looked up from the paper and at Felicity. “Did you find…”
She was already nodding before I could finish the question. “Aye, there’s a grave on the other side of the tracks. A few yards off the road.”
“Did you disturb anything?” Ben asked, shifting into his official cop persona.
“No.” She shook her head. “I haven’t even been over there.”
“Then how do you know for sure…” he began, then caught himself. “Forget it. Forget it.”
“Not that I’m complaining,” I said. “But I was certain you would try to connect with her. Why didn’t you?”
“I would have, but she wouldn’t let me,” she replied. “She remembered me, Rowan.”
“She what?”
“Brittany and I went to elementary school together,” she replied. “I’d almost forgotten that myself, but she didn’t. She told me she couldn’t allow an old friend to be hurt. All she wanted was for me to find her.”
Behind me, I heard Ben softly whistling the theme from the television show, Twilight Zone.
* * * * *
“Hey! You wanna get off my ass?” Ben’s angry shout echoed through the woods as he stared down at Lieutenant Albright. “It’s not like I’m the one who killed ‘er ya’know!”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Detective Storm,” she spat in return.
“Both of you need to settle down,” Constance interjected.
“I don’t see where you have much say in this, Special Agent Mandalay,” Albright announced as she brought her angry gaze to bear on Constance. “This is no longer an abduction, it is a homicide investigation.”
True to what Constance had told me earlier, Lieutenant Albright was well on her way to reclaiming this case. It was obvious from her display that in her mind, you were either with her or against her. And, the four of us were already marked as against. Of course, I’m sure we had been tagged as such all along.
“The Bureau still has an interest in this, Lieutenant,” Constance returned. “The fact is you have a serial killer on your hands.”
“Be that as it may, you have no business interfering with my command,” Albright snipped.
“I’m not trying to interfere with anything,” Constance replied with a shake of her head. “I’m simply telling you that standing here yelling at one another isn’t getting any of us any closer to solving this crime.”
“I still want to know what THEY are doing here.” Albright shrugged off Mandalay’s observation and shunted the conversation into a different direction as she gestured at Felicity and me.
“They’re why we found the body,” Ben returned stiffly.
“What are you, Storm, some kind of lap dog? Do you just let these two lead you around by the nose?”
“I’m a cop,” he retorted. “Unlike someone I could mention.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
My friend shook his head and looked away. “Just forget it.”
“No,” Albright snarled. “I want to know just exactly what you were implying.”
“Okay, you wanna know…” Ben replied, thrusting a finger at her.
“Storm…” Constance warned.
“No, Mandalay, she says she wants ta’ know.” He shot a glance her way then looked back to the lieutenant. “It means if you’d quit fuckin’ around playin’ politics, maybe the Major Case Squad could get back to doin’ police work like it’s supposed to.”
“I see,” she returned with a cold chill in her voice. “And you call what you have been doing ‘police work’?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Considering your entourage, I would say that is a matter for debate.”
“Yeah, well who just found Larson’s body?” he chided.
“That is a good question, Detective,” she answered. “An even better question would be, just exactly how did your little group find the body?”
He shook his head. “You don’t really wanna know that.”
“Oh, but I do, Detective,” she told him as she crossed her arms and nodded her head. She didn’t hide her sarcasm. “I do.”
“Listen, I’m not goin’ there with ya’ right now, ‘cause you’re not gonna believe it if I do.”
“WitchCraft, then,” she replied, spitting the word as if it was a bad taste in her mout
h.
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll take any lead I can get if it helps me get an asshole off the streets.”
“Even if that lead could compromise the investigation?”
“There’s nothin’ compromised here,” he snapped.
“Are you certain of that?”
“Yeah, I am. Besides, who are you ta’ lecture me on compromisin’ an investigation anyway?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s just say I sure as hell don’t try ta’ help the assholes of the world escape.”
A hush fell between them as Ben all but hung her name on the verbal accusation. My friend was among the few who thought she had simply managed to dodge a bullet when Internal Affairs had cleared her of any wrongdoing in the Eldon Porter debacle. However, I was beyond shocked the he had just made his opinion so blatantly public.
The two of them stood staring at one another, Albright’s jaw working as her mouth curled into a hard frown.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant?” a crime scene technician edged into the envelope of the standoff.
“What is it?” she barked without shifting her glare from Ben.
“The medical examiner just arrived,” the technician answered with a bit of trepidation. “You said you wanted to know when she got here.”
“Thank you,” she returned evenly. “I will be right there.”
She continued staring at Ben, and he at her, as the crime scene tech made a hasty retreat. After a long measure, she looked away for a moment, then back to my friend as she placed one hand on her hip and pointedly stabbed the index finger of her other at him.
“We will discuss this later, Detective Storm,” she forced the words between her clenched teeth. “But right now I want you as far from this crime scene as you can get. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yeah,” he spat. “As a freakin’ bell.”
She didn’t stop there. “And, I want you to take your damnable Satan worshippers with you before I have them arrested for trespassing.”
CHAPTER 26:
The morning sun was filtering through the green canopy of the trees and had already set about the task of bringing on the heat of the day. Even with a slight breeze, it was starting to get hot out here, and the sun was far from the only reason. The two detectives were squared off, their tempers swelling outward with a palpable hatred for one another. I watched on as Ben stared back at Lieutenant Albright, painfully silent in the wake of her voiced threat.
My friend was ready to fight; there was no doubt about that. While the lieutenant was certainly guilty of repeatedly baiting him, for all intents and purposes, he had taken the first swing. It was clear from his current stance that he was planning to finish this without regard for the price it may cost in the end.
I continued watching as he worked his jaw and slid his palm across his chin then allowed his arm to drop to his side. His hand clenched and unclenched repeatedly, and I recognized the motion to be a precursor of him working into a rage. Following the visual cue, I took hold of his arm and then gave him a healthy nudge just as his mouth opened. When he glanced over at me, anger in his eyes, I simply shook my head and mouthed the word ‘no.’
“Is there something you wanted to say, Detective?” Albright spat, daring him to cross the line.
Ben continued looking at me, and I shook my head again. I knew full well that what had just set him off was her verbal assault on Felicity and me. I didn’t like it any more than he did, but I’d grown jaded to such insults over the years. Moreover, I wasn’t going to let him jeopardize his career any more than he already had, especially on our account.
“No, Lieutenant,” he finally growled as he turned back to her. “Not a damn thing.”
“Good,” she retorted and then looked over at me. “Mister Gant, I expect you to be available for questioning.” She shot her glance at Felicity then added, “That goes for both of you.”
“Whatever you say, Sheriff,” I told her with my own injection of sarcasm. “Don’t leave town. Got it.”
“Crack jokes if you want, Mister Gant,” she retorted. “But, make no mistake, as far as I am concerned, both you and your wife are suspects.”
“You have got to be kidding me” was my incredulous reply.
“By procedure, maybe,” Constance interjected. “But, that’s ludicrous and you know it.”
“Is it?” Albright queried. “How did they know where to find the body?”
“We already covered that,” Ben told her.
“Did we?”
“Oh, gimme a fuckin’ break,” he snarled.
“I am,” she replied. “I’m not bringing you up on charges right this minute. Now get out of here. All of you.”
“I’ll be staying, Lieutenant,” Mandalay announced in a cold tone.
“I see no reason…” Albright started.
“I will be staying, Lieutenant,” Constance repeated, emphasizing the words as she cut her off. “If there is a problem with that, we can contact the Bureau field office, and I’m sure the SAIC can give you several reasons for me to be here.”
The lieutenant regarded her silently for a moment, then sighed and motioned toward us. “Suit yourself, Agent Mandalay, but I am still lead detective, and I want these three out of here now.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Constance told her evenly.
“See that you do.”
“One more thing, Lieutenant,” Mandalay replied in a careful but frosty tone. “I suggest that you don’t push me. I’m the last bitch you want to cross right now.”
“Yes, I am sure that you are,” Albright returned in her own cold voice and then paused before adding, “A bitch.”
They stared at each other for one of those time-warped moments that lasts only a few brief seconds but feels like an eternity to everyone within its sphere of influence. Albright finally turned and headed away from our small clutch.
At first, she retreated without a word, but after a few steps, she paused and called back over her shoulder, her voice thickly frosted with sarcasm. “By the way, I had Miz O’Brien’s Jeep towed and impounded as possible evidence. I do hope it won’t be an inconvenience.”
“Fek tù saigh,” Felicity calmly issued the curse of mixed colloquial Irish and Gaelic.
This wasn’t the first time my wife had launched that particular phrase at the lieutenant and at one point, had even supplied her with the English translation. Apparently the meaning of the foreign words had stuck with Albright ever since, as evidenced by her reply.
“Funny you should say that, Miz O’Brien, because it is exactly what I was thinking.” She made the comment with an air of satisfaction and then continued on her way.
The lieutenant’s haughty attitude told us that as far as she was concerned, she had come out on top this go around, and truth be told, she had. However, whether she wanted to admit it or not, this was merely a single skirmish, and the war was far from over. Still, it took everything I had to stand there motionless and not say a word, and I’m sure the same was true for everyone else. In fact, I could tell by looking at Ben that he was struggling just to contain himself; and, though I’d seen him angry a number of times before, the darkness of the emotions seething from him at this moment actually worried me.
Right or wrong, the fact remained that there was nothing we could do; at least, not with a head-on approach, and not at this particular moment. It was beyond obvious that any further confrontation would only make the situation worse, so we stood our ground and kept silent.
In the end, it still took some swift talking from Constance, as well as Felicity and me, to convince Ben not to go after the lieutenant. While I doubted he would resort to physical violence, I knew for a fact that his mouth would get him into more trouble than he needed at this point in his life.
I can’t say that I blamed him. Albright was deep under everyone’s skin, not just his. I even caught myself having some intensely dark thoughts about the woman and had to mentally back away from the ill wishes
for fear I might inadvertently manifest one or two of them. I glanced over at Felicity and couldn’t help but notice that even at a distance, she was systematically vivisecting the lieutenant with a razor sharp stare. I have to admit that the intensity of her gaze made my spiteful ruminations appear pleasant in comparison. Mandalay was probably the calmest of our small group, but even so, almost everything that came out of her mouth was clipped and official, no matter to whom she was speaking.
However, what really stood out to me was the mood of the cops working the scene. I certainly wasn’t about to diminish how horrific this crime scene was. They were all nightmares in the making. Still, over the past few years, I had worked some that were far worse than this. I thought I knew what the atmosphere should be like, and this wasn’t it. Considering that these men and women were veterans whose experiences were sure to overshadow mine in both volume and intensity, I was somewhat taken aback by their overall tenor. The emotional climate in this corner of the park had been barreling downhill since the arrival of the first uniformed officer, and that pace had been quickening. It had now progressed far beyond any level of edginess I would have expected.
At first, I assumed the air of discontent was simply due to the fact that they were working such a high profile homicide. Let’s face it; this wasn’t Jane Q Public, this was the daughter of the Saint Louis city mayor. There was bound to be more than the average amount of pressure on these cops. But, as I watched, it became clear that there was more at work here. While it might have gone unnoticed by a casual observer, paying attention to the various interactions between crime scene technicians and Major Case Squad detectives told a story. And, the story was that wherever the tension was greatest, Albright could be found at the center, pulling the strings.
As irritants go, she was at the top of the scale and virulent to a fault.
My concentration on the scene was shattered by a hard nudge against my shoulder, and I broke my stare away to glance up at my friend.
“Huh?”
“I said, c’mon,” he voiced, apparently repeating himself. “I’m takin’ you two home.”
Crone's Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation Page 20