Outsider
Page 11
“Do you have a basement in this place?” I asked, seeing his eyebrows almost hit the ceiling at the implication. It didn’t affect me, though. It was no coincidence this woman showing up in his house. I had been right all along.
“Will you stop with that?” Evans snarled at me, barely looking in my direction now. “She needs to tell us everything she knows so we can help her get away.”
“Get away? She’s right here,” I protested.
“No, she isn’t,” Evans yelled, looking at me in full now and raising her arm, before moving it toward Andrea. For a moment, I thought she was going to hit her in the back…and then I saw her hand pass through the other woman’s ribcage like she was made of air.
“What the he…?” I said, not caring that my mouth remained open.
“Oh no, Maggie?” Andrea said, almost in a whisper. She started shaking, looking at something we couldn’t see. Either that, or the chandelier was scaring the crap out of her.
“What?” Evans urged.
Andrea looked back at her, terrified and desperate for help. “They’re coming. I don’t know what to—”
And then she was gone. Simply vanished.
I stared at the empty space next to Evans. What the hell was going on? I turned to Rob. “What are you involved in?” I barked at him. What kind of technology enabled this? I had no idea what he did for a living, though his husband was apparently a lawyer. But their house didn’t suggest they were wealthy, only well off, and this would demand serious money.
“Don’t start with that again,” Evans broke in, stepping closer to me. “Didn’t you hear her? We need to help her.”
“Yes, so let’s start with the one guy who seems to be connected. The guy who seems to know where she is.”
Evans glanced at Rob a second. There was worry in both faces now, no more irritation at my insistence. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” she said, her voice level and measured. She looked down a moment, quite unlike her.
“Of course not,” I said, trying for a friendlier tone. “How can I? You heard her parents today.”
Evans nodded, inhaled sharply, and looked straight at me. “Their pain got to you?”
I nodded. “Of course. I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but you need to let us help.”
“You really mean that.” It was not a question.
“Yeah.”
“But you also mean to arrest Rob.”
“He has too much information on this not to be involved.”
“And you still think I should be arrested, though not for the kidnapping anymore.”
“Uh…yes. Though not unless you can explain—”
“The weird stuff that happens around me. Suspicious people, the thing with Mulligan.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. Yeah, I still thought she was blackmailing the chief. My orders were not standard, to say the least.
“If she gives you unorthodox orders to investigate me, why didn’t you report her?” Evans continued, before nodding to herself. “Because you wanted to find out if you’re right. Right about me. There is something off about me.” Her smirk came back but faded as quick. “Isn’t there just?”
What the hell? Was she doing her—
“Am I doing my cold-reading thing on you?” she asked, the look on her face so disturbing I actually took a step back, involuntarily glancing down to see if she held up one or two fingers.
“No need,” she said, “I’m not telling your answers to anyone else.”
What the fuck? How did you read that on someone’s face?
“Not your face,” she said.
I glanced at Rob, who stood still, observing this, not reacting particularly. It was like he was watching someone discuss something trivial.
“Yeah,” Evans said. “He knows. One of the few who does. Including your chief.”
Knows what? “What does Mulligan know?”
“What do you think? You’re a Detective, figure it out.” Though her voice sounded self-assured, her face didn’t follow up. She looked sad and frightened at the same time, and I didn’t think it was for Andrea at this moment. It was for herself.
“I don’t really want you to find out,” she simply said.
“What’s going on?” I said. “Figure what out?”
“You won’t believe her if she tells you straight out,” Rob said.
I looked between them a moment and in the end, focused on Evans. “Just tell me,” I said, tired of this. Actually, I was more confused than anything. Evans nodded.
“It confuses you, I get that. You’ve been doing things my way and it’s not how you do things. Not tidy and analytical…systematic. My way is chaotic and confusing, but there’s a reason.”
She kept eye contact with me as she talked, but it was like she wasn’t meeting my eyes, like she was staring blindly.
“What do you suspect me of?” she asked.
I knew this was like the interrogations. She needed to ask the right questions to get the right answers. She needed to lead the suspects into the right territory to get at what they knew.
What did I think of her?
“You think I am involved in some criminal activity. I have money that seems to come from nowhere…but no job. I don’t seem to have been doing anything much up until five years ago.” I watched in stunned silence as she listed my suspicions. She looked so sad doing so, but kept going. “Your chief gives me a job out of the blue. I spend time with known or suspected criminals.” I kept stepping backward at this, my brain not quite catching up to what my subconscious was screaming at me to see. “You’ve been following me around trying to figure it all out but only getting more confused. You’re not quite clear on why you slept with me…but you want to do it again.” She raised an eyebrow at that and remained silent.
I hadn’t said a thing. She couldn’t see all that from her cold reading. She had to lead people to get answers, not say things out loud before a confirmation was given.
And then I knew.
Rob’s visions, Andrea’s immaterial shape…Evans’…
“Yes,” she confirmed as I stepped back and fell over something, hitting the floor with my back and head, a soft thump as I landed on a thick carpet. I immediately eased myself up on my elbows, confused and with my legs halfway over a small table, seeing her standing over me.
She was reading me, my every thought. Everything that was mine alone she heard and made use of. That which is the most private any person has. Secrets, opinions, emotions…and she could hear it all. The ramifications hit me at once as I tried to not think, not to let her hear, and I knew it was futile. I saw fear on her face then. Actual fear…and tears. I’d never seen that before. Not in her. She was right. I had no idea what it took to hurt her, but whatever it was, it was in my head. It probably showed on my face as well, though with her that was redundant. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly glanced at Rob before she turned and ran.
It took me a moment to realize that she wasn’t there. I heard her quick footsteps out by the door, and then nothing. I scrambled to my feet, stumbling on the way and taking too long to untangle one foot from the table legs. When I found my bearings, I knew it was too late.
She was gone. She could run fast. I’d seen that. And for the first time since I’d known her, she was scared of me. Frightened, and with allies all over town. That thought made me sit down. I barely noticed it was the floor I sank to. The allies. I realized what they must be. How was I supposed to handle that? And then there was Andrea. Evans was right. The cops…we had no idea what we were dealing with. We were so screwed. So out of our depths. And Andrea was the one who was paying for it.
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About the Author
G.K. Lund writes fantasy and is the author of the Ashdale Reaper Series and the Ashport Mender Series. G.K. holds a BA in Medieval Studies and an MA in Archeology, and will probably have to put an archeologist into a story one day. Until then, potty-mouthed and kickass characters with other jobs will have to face high stakes and save the day.
Connect with G.K. Lund
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Copyright © 2018 by G.K. Lund.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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ISBN: 978-82-93663-14-0
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Outsider / G.K. Lund, 1st. ed.
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