Slumbered to Death

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  She didn’t comment until they were parked in front of Ben White’s massive Victorian mansion. “I didn’t think of myself as the boss and you as my employee. I thought of us as a team. One of the things I loved best about you was that you were up for anything, no matter how crazy or out there. And now you’re telling me that you’ve resented me all these years, that you think of me as some Amazon warrior who beats you over the head to get you to capitulate.”

  “No, Sadie, that’s not…

  She shook her head to cut him off. “Forget it. I can’t have this conversation when I need to focus on a job.”

  “Sadie,” he called, but she had already left the car and was heading up the walk. He hastily grabbed his duffle of books. Maybe if he could catch up, he could get in a good word before the door opened, but no such luck. As soon as he arrived on the doorstep, Ben White had the door open and was welcoming them inside. His khaki pants and tweed blazer made Luke feel like a style-deprived teenager. This is the kind of guy Sadie normally goes for, the kind who has his tailor on speed dial, he thought. There was unmistakable disdain in his expression when he eyed Luke from the top of his shaggy hair to the tips of his worn sneakers, but was there also a hint of resentment? Had the stuffy Mr. White hoped to have Sadie all to himself? If so, he was in for a lot more disappointment. I’m not going anywhere, pal. Luke silently sent the message while pasting on a smile. Package deal, was what he was trying to convey, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded. As he stood behind Sadie, silent and loaded down with books, he looked more like her valet. She and Ben were a matching with their perfect looks and perfect clothes.

  “Come in,” Ben said, his tone affable despite his frosty expression. “I’m afraid I’ve only set tea service for two, but I can easily add another.”

  “That’s okay, Luke’s more of a coffee guy anyway,” Sadie said.

  Luke wanted to argue that he could swig tea like a Brit when the occasion called for it, but he stopped himself in time. Being competitive over tea wasn’t a road he wanted to travel.

  “I don’t keep coffee on hand,” Ben said. “That much caffeine and insomnia aren’t a good combination.”

  Tea leaves have more caffeine than coffee beans. It was the sort of annoying trivia Luke would normally spout, but he stifled, not only because he was trying to remain quiet but because Ben would no doubt point out that what mattered was the final product. Once brewed, tea did have less caffeine than coffee. Luke would feel chastised and petty. He scowled at Ben for the imagined slight. He really needed to stop having these arguments in his head.

  “You were cryptic on the phone,” Ben said. He sat and began to pour tea. Luke arranged himself on one of the delicate-looking wing chairs. How did Ben relax in a room like this? Abby liked antiques and period furniture, but she kept it confined to formal spaces. As far as Luke could tell, this entire house looked like a period reproduction. He imagined Ben trying to stretch out and read the paper on the uncomfortable little settee and had to swallow a snicker.

  “Last night, someone left this on my doorstep,” Sadie said. She produced the patch and handed it to Ben.

  Ben took it with a confused expression. “I don’t understand.”

  “He also left this note.” She unfolded the note and handed it over as well.

  He read the note, his face going pale. “Oh, Sadie,” he whispered. “I’ve gotten you in a world of trouble and danger. I’m so sorry. Of course you’re going to stop working on this immediately and go to the police.”

  Luke gave him points for his concern, but deducted the same number for how little he knew Sadie. “Ben, don’t be silly,” she said. “I’m not afraid of some crazy person who is trying to scare me. And there’s nothing to take to the police. There’s no threat, he didn’t enter the house, didn’t do anything more than put a note on the porch. I’m not going to stop working on your case until we figure out what’s going on.” She took a pad of paper and a pen from her purse. “I think we need to revisit the army. Our coincidences are piling up, and I need more information. How many men were in your unit?”

  “That’s a tricky question. There were over a hundred men in the company and forty in my platoon.”

  “What about your ranger team? From what I understand of Special Forces, you don’t work alone,” Sadie said.

  “There were twelve men on my team, but it wasn’t like it was in the movies; we weren’t best buddies or brothers. We were coworkers, and that was it. I was only on the team for a little over a year; things never felt cohesive. We had our differences. Those differences caused stress, and that stress led to my withdrawal.”

  “Let’s start with the team. Do you remember their names?”

  “I think I’ll remember better if I write instead of dictate. Do you mind?” He held out his hands for her paper and pen.

  “Not at all,” Sadie said. She handed him the paper and sat back to wait while he wrote. She didn’t look at Luke, a sure sign she was still upset with him. His insides squirmed with guilt and misery. For years they had existed with a gulf the size of the Indian Ocean between them and he hadn’t cared, yet now even the slightest upset was causing him misery. How was it possible that she had wriggled her way back to the center of his affections so easily? Was he daft? Her fathomless blue eyes skimmed over him, and his heart lurched in response. Yes, he was very daft, indeed. He forced himself to concentrate on his work, something that should have been easier to do in the heavy silence.

  By the time Ben was finished with his list, Luke was knee deep in chemistry. Sadie took the list and began skimming. “Oh,” she said. Ben and Luke looked up.

  “What is it?” Ben asked.

  “Aaron Jones.”

  “Yes,” Ben said. The way he drawled the word made it clear he had no idea where Sadie was going, but Luke did.

  “Erin Jones is missing.”

  “But Sadie, Erin Jones is twenty eight. Unless my old coworker had a significant operation and somehow shaved a decade from his age, it’s not the same person,” Ben said.

  “But we know nothing about our Erin Jones other than that she’s missing. If she’s using a fake name, she could be part of this.”

  “Part of what?” Ben said.

  “Whatever is going on, and before you ask what that is, I have no answer. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m beginning to think that something is. I’m going to go over each of these names with a fine-tooth comb. Is there anything you can tell me about any of these men, any oddities, idiosyncrasies, anything about them that didn’t feel right or struck you as strange?”

  Ben took a breath, held it, and let it out slowly. “We were all odd in our own way. I was a perfectionist; that drove some of the others crazy. Some were manly he-men type with a head full of testosterone and little else. I guess I have a hard time answering the question because we were a trained squad of professional killers, and what’s odder than that?” He closed his eyes and rubbed his hand over his face. The signs of strain were clear in his expression. Luke thought he looked on the verge of another breakdown. “Maybe it’s the power of suggestion, but Aaron Jones was definitely a loner. Roy Mueller wasn’t the team leader, but he wanted to be. There was a simmering sort of rage in him. Vic Hutchins was…calculating. I don’t know how else to say it, but I always got the feeling that he was watching and plotting, like he was keeping his own secret files on us. That’s it, I think. It’s been a long time so I may have forgotten some things, but those are the strange impressions I remember.”

  “That’s a great start,” Sadie said. “I’ll check these people out and get back to you if I find anything unusual.”

  He smiled. “All right. In the meantime, take care of you. I’m worried. Don’t go anywhere alone.” His eyes flicked to Luke. “I’m glad your little friend tagged along today. That was smart thinking.”

  After so many years of being the class nerd and object of ridicule, Luke should have been used to belittling remarks; he wasn’t. He bristled, but before he could say
anything, Sadie spoke up. “Luke’s protective.” Was that a hint of pride and appreciation in her tone? She tossed him a look he couldn’t decipher. “Unnecessarily so, in my opinion, but then I’ve learned that I often see things differently than the men in my life.”

  Ouch. That was a definite reference to their earlier conversation.

  “It was the right thing to do,” Ben said. He clasped her hand and led her to the door while Luke trundled behind, juggling his books and bag like Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor. Ben and Sadie faced each other with their hands clasped. Luke loomed between them as if he were the minister about to perform their wedding.

  “Stay safe, Sadie, and keep me updated. I want to know first thing if anything else suspicious happens,” Ben said.

  “I’ll keep you updated on my progress,” Sadie promised. Did Ben catch the subtle difference in her promise? Luke did. Sadie wouldn’t tell Ben if anything else happened. And after his protective reaction, she probably wouldn’t tell Luke, either. She would think it was nothing and decide to keep it to herself. He shifted from foot to foot as Ben leaned in and kissed Sadie’s cheek. When he pulled away, Sadie was blushing. Sadie. Blushing. He had to do a double take to be certain because the sight was so rare.

  “See you,” Sadie said. She opened the door and waited for Luke to pass through. He did, but not before he turned to give Ben a studying look. The man was smiling, but the smile didn’t meet his eyes.

  I’m not going anywhere, Luke thought.

  Ben gave an imperceptible raise of his eyebrows. Was it Luke’s imagination, or was he accepting the challenge and issuing one of his own? We’ll see, the eyebrows seemed to say.

  Luke faced forward and followed Sadie to her car.

  Chapter 14

  “That man should not be touching you like that,” Luke said when they were safely in her car.

  “I know. Can you believe he kissed my cheek? If what the girls in the bathroom say is true, that’s how babies are made.”

  “Sadie!”

  “What, Luke?”

  “He was hitting on you.”

  “Newsflash: he’s not the first man to find me attractive.”

  “How many of them make you blush?”

  He had her there, drat him and his perceptiveness. “I’m having a difficult time knowing how to respond to him. He is my client, as you’ve pointed out many times.”

  “And his mental stability is anyone’s guess,” Luke added. He expected her to argue, but she didn’t. “You think he’s crazy now too, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know what to think,” she said.

  “So you admit there’s something off about him.”

  “I admit that there’s more to the story than we know. The army thing, for instance. What happened to make him so…”

  “Afraid? Stressed? Nervous?”

  “Yes, all of those and then some. I can’t put my finger on what he feels when he talks about his army career. I know this is far-fetched, but do you think it’s possible something sinister happened, something that connects to what’s happening now?”

  “What is happening now? What do we know for sure?”

  “We know that Ben has been having recurring nightmares and woke up with blood under his nails. We know that Edmond Hankins, who was in his same unit, was murdered.”

  “That’s not much to go on,” Luke said.

  “There’s this,” Sadie said, patting the pocket that contained the list of Ben’s old army unit. “At the very least we can try to track these people down and rule them out.”

  “Rule them out for what? Edmond Hankin’s murder? I don’t see how any of this connects to Ben White and his nightmares.”

  “Hear me out because I have this crazy theory. What if the reason Ben is so afraid of talking about his army days is because something bad happened? Either they did something bad or something bad was done to them. And that something bad is carrying through to the present day. Maybe someone from his team is involved in something, something that is causing him to lash out at his old teammates.”

  “I think by the amount of times you said ‘something’ or ‘maybe’ in that sentence, we can infer that you have nothing to go on,” Luke said. “I get where you’re going, Sade, but you need more information. Why didn’t you press Ben for more answers?”

  “You saw him, you saw how fragile he is, how close to the breaking point. His hands shake, he sweats, he changes the subject, his manner is oddly formal. You’re right, okay, his mental health is precarious, and I don’t want to be the one to push him over the edge. I need to nudge him along. I’ll find out as much as I can on my own and then go back for more. Can I use your computer? It’s faster than mine.”

  “Be my guest,” Luke said.

  Silence descended between them. With Sadie, silence was always a bad sign. “Sadie, about before…”

  “Hal’s here,” Sadie announced as they pulled into the driveway. She dashed out of the car before Luke could finish his sentence. Once again he found himself resenting Hal’s presence, this time because it meant he would have to wait to make amends with Sadie. He retrieved his laptop for Sadie and lingered in the living room while she and Hal talked and laughed. There were a million things he needed to do; his doctorate was a full-time job and then some, but the enmity with Sadie had killed his concentration.

  “You’ve been reading the same page for the last forty minutes,” Hal said. “Weigh in on our discussion: What do you suppose was going on in that ranger unit?”

  Luke didn’t want to say. Not because he didn’t have an opinion, but because it wasn’t as fun as Sadie and Hal’s. For almost the past hour, their speculations had been getting wilder and wilder. The last guess had the ranger unit stationed at Area 51 in Nevada with a possible alien encounter. “Nothing,” he said. “I don’t think anything weird was going on. I don’t see how Ben White’s time in the army a decade ago relates to anything that’s happening now.”

  “I do,” Sadie said. Her tone turned serious as she stared at the computer screen.

  “What have you got?” Hal asked. He scooted closer and peered over her shoulder.

  “I’ve been Googling all the names Ben gave me. As you can imagine, I got millions of hits. So I added our town and the surrounding communities to narrow it down, and I think I struck gold. Roy Mueller and Vic Hutchins both turned up results nearby. How’s that for coincidence?” She high-fived Hal and shot Luke a triumphant look.

  “Please tell me it says ‘Local army rangers kill former coworker and cause nightmares in another’ so we can put this all to rest,” Luke said.

  “How did you know it said that?” Hal asked. “I’m spooked.”

  “Tomorrow, I’m going to find out for sure what’s going on,” Sadie said. “I’m going to go see them.”

  “I can’t go tomorrow; I have class,” Luke said.

  “I have the hospital,” Hal said.

  “I don’t think Abby should go,” Luke added.

  “Definitely not,” Hal agreed.

  “I’ll take Ben,” Sadie said.

  “Great, that sounds like the perfect plan,” Luke said.

  “The heavy amount of sarcasm in your tone tells me you don’t mean that,” Hal said.

  “He was hitting on Sadie,” Luke said.

  “What?” Hal said, feigning outrage as he sat up. “You mean he’s a normal red-blooded American man? Lead me to him; I’ll give him a colonoscopy for the ages.”

  “Sometimes I think I’m an alien on this planet,” Luke said. Hal threw a pillow at him; Sadie didn’t comment. He stared her down. She looked away.

  “I should check on Gideon,” she said.

  “I’ll go with you and check his wounds,” Hal said. “You coming?” he asked Luke.

  “He has reading to do,” Sadie answered for him.

  “Okay,” Hal mouthed, looking between the two. “What’s up with you guys?” he asked as soon as he and Sadie were out of the house.

  “Nothing.”


  “Someday all this tension between you is going to explode. Will the outcome be good or bad? I’ll be waiting in line to find out,” Hal said.

  “You want to know something funny, Hal?” She hooked her arm through his.

  “Definitely.”

  “I could have had anyone. My mom made sure of it. She trained me to be, well, to be the way I am. I’m confident. I know how to play the game. I know how to work it. There were some men who gave a good effort, but they all eventually fell. After they were conquered, I found I didn’t want them anymore. And the one man I think I could really love has no game, isn’t rich, drives me crazy, and doesn’t want me. How messed up is that?”