Logan eyed me.
I shrugged. "I knew a few people that were pre-med in college."
"Mind if we talk to some of the officers that were on scene?" Logan asked Ethan.
"Sure thing," Ethan said, "follow me."
Ethan introduced Rider and Logan to the two officers that made the arrest. The men looked like they had been keyed up, but had lost ground to fatigue. I stood well back, knowing that meeting me could make the introductions go downhill fast.
"Agent Heidrich, I'll show you where we keep the coffee." Ethan held out his arm, letting me go first.
I started towards the direction he indicated, but dropped back to walk beside him in case I went the wrong way.
Ethan took me to a small kitchen, more of an alcove really, and poured me a cup of coffee.
While I mainlined caffeine, Ethan held up the evidence bag. "It's an awkward looking necklace, but I didn't notice anything about it that stood out."
The shape wasn't that important for me to see since there would be pictures somewhere that we could examine. For me, the Path was most important.
I feigned interest with itching to reach out to the Path and explore the thing properly. "Anything special about the design?"
"It's odd is all. Almost like an animal wearing a bird mask."
A uniformed officer came over. "Sorry to interrupt, sir. That psychiatrist's boss showed up and he's really anxious to talk to the man in charge."
Ethan looked resigned. "I'll be right there."
The officer retreated and I could hear him speak to someone down the hall.
Ethan cleared his throat. "This could take a while. Will you be here when I get back?"
"It's hard to say what my partners are up to, but there's a chance." I poured another cup of coffee, pausing long enough to add sugar this time.
"Do you think you and your partners will be taking over the case?"
I almost fumbled the cup. "The homicide?"
Ethan gave an imperceptible nod.
"We have an interest in a few of the details, but from what I've seen, there would be no reason for us to be involved in the actual homicide investigation."
"Good to know." Ethan rubbed the back of his neck. "So we won't be working together?"
"We may bump into each other, but no, I don't think we'll be working together."
"Good to know."
Wondering if it was worth chancing the Path, I gestured to the bag Ethan was holding. "Is that being mailed to the lab tomorrow?"
"Driven there. Later today in fact. I'll make sure it gets to the front of the line." Ethan looked like he was going to say more, but the officer came around the corner again. "I'm on my way." Ethan said the words before the officer could speak. "It was good seeing you again, Agent Heidrich."
Before I could help myself, I grinned. "The agent thing is really going to have to stop."
In all, it hadn't been bad that our work bumped into each other. Sure, it would have been nice if there wasn't a dead body involved, but we can't have everything we want.
Ethan looked as though he might take my hand, but stopped. "We'll figure it out." Ethan joined the officer and disappeared around a corner.
I topped off my cup while listening to Ethan introduce himself. When I peeked down the hall, he wasn't in sight. Taking the opportunity, I sagged against the wall and closed my eyes. The coffee and sugar made me jittery, but it wasn't giving me any strength back. Real sleep was going to be needed if I was going to be useful. Why did I have to stay up so late last night?
My mind wandered back to Ethan and the kiss next to my car. Ahh, that was why.
It had been worth it.
The noise down the hall lowered, allowing Ethan's voice to filter through. He wasn't yelling, no one was, but the irritation in his voice was clear.
I couldn't quite make out the conversation, but I heard the word 'rights' and 'violation' from more than one mouth. When I knew my feet wouldn't fall out from under me, I moved down the hall to see what was happening.
Ethan was talking to a tall, overweight man dressed professionally. Due to his age, I figured he was not the resident, but the supervisor. The man's face was calm, and the words didn't have much in the way of heat, but I could tell he was less than pleased.
I felt bad for Ethan, but I was glad this wasn't my problem, and since I had drunk more coffee than any person should ever try to drink in a short period of time, I searched for a restroom.
When I found my way back to the room, the conversation was still going. Since the only inappropriate action had been taken by the DEA, and we had put a stop to that, there was no reason for this aggravation.
Maybe I could pull up the Path enough to share some calming emotions. Moving towards Ethan, I figured I'd find out fast. There was a desk close enough that I could sit and be effective but unobtrusive.
"Cassie?" The voice came from behind me, and it was familiar enough to root me to the spot. The voice lowered. "What are you doing here?"
Zander. Of all people, why did it have to be my ex? It didn't take much of a leap to figure out that he was the resident.
My jaw clenched, and I turned to face him.
"Zander, it's..." No, I wasn't going to say it was good to see him. The last time I saw him, he was trying to have me committed to a mental institution. Forcibly. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"I'm here for work. What on earth are you doing here?" The concern dripped out of his voice, making me want to cringe.
Trying to keep my face passive felt futile. "Work."
He stood a few inches taller than I did, and his hair was cut shorter than when I had last seen him. He looked professional, standing there with two cups of coffee and worried eyes watching me. Intently. I could feel him trying to locate a tremor or sign that I would lose grip with reality.
"You work at the police station?" Zander let a hint of skepticism into his voice.
"No, I am here for work. I work with the Department of Treasury." It was a defensive response.
There had been a few times when I had pictured myself running into the man I had once planned to marry. There were things I was going to say, but none of that was coming to mind.
Zander sat the coffee down. "Is there someone I can call for you?"
"For what?"
"The Department of Treasury?" Zander had the nerve to look put upon. "Cassie, I'm concerned for your wellbeing."
My mouth fell open. He thought I was delusional. How do you even respond to that?
"I was concerned when we were together, and I'm worried about you now. Your mother and your grandmother have the best intentions, I'm sure, but they-"
My face grew hot at the mention of my family. "Take your concern and shove it, Zander. I don't need it, and I don't want it."
"We need to pull you back into the real world, Cassie. I know that with your file, the Department of Treasury wouldn't hire you."
"What file? I have two speeding tickets from high school."
Zander looked down at his hands and appeared to study them before looking back up at me. "After your mother took you away, I was distraught. She was feeding your delusions."
I crossed my arms and glared at him. My 'delusions' of Reading the Path. I hated him for not believing me. We were supposed to be happy together and to trust one another. When he proposed to me, I wanted to be open and honest about everything. It was stupid of me to be that trusting.
Clearing his throat, Zander continued. "Since I knew you were a danger to yourself, and perhaps those around you, I spoke with the psychiatrist at the facility we discussed."
"You discussed." The words had heat, but I kept them under my breath, wondering where this conversation was going.
He didn't look directly at me when he continued. "They made a few notes but suggested I reach out to the local police. Which I did."
"You did what?" The words came out loud and piercing, but I didn't care.
Zander held up his hands in the universal calm down
gesture. "It was for your own safety. You were going down a dangerous path."
"You arrogant, pompous ass-"
"Is everything okay?" Logan appeared, but without his usual smile.
Zander barely paid him any attention. "We're fine. Give us a few minutes." He took my arm and tried to lead me away.
I drew myself back. "We don't need any time. We're finished here. This has been finished for years."
"Doctor Fin?"
Zander looked away from me, his concerned face turning impassive. "I'll be right there, Doctor Grant." He turned back to me. "May I call you? We can talk."
"Are you kidding me? No!"
When he walked away, I felt like kicking him as he passed.
Logan was silent for a few minutes while I tried to get a grip on my fury.
"Old friend of yours?" Logan asked.
"That. Was Zander."
"The ex?"
"Yes."
In the past year of being partners, bits and pieces of my life with Zander came out, so Logan knew how things ended.
"Wish I had known that before I walked up," Logan said
"Why's that?" I took a few steadying breaths of meditation. With the anger slipping away, my heart felt heavy. It's possible that I wouldn't have resented Zander so much if he hadn't made me doubt my own sanity.
"I might have had a few more words to say," Logan said, keeping his eye on the man.
That earned him a small grin. "Standoff at high noon?"
Logan relaxed and looked more like his usual self. "Depends on what he had to say. Ready to get out of here?"
"Definitely. Where's Rider?"
"He'll be done in a minute. Did you get anything from Ed's necklace?" Logan asked.
I sighed. "Mostly a headache. It has an aura, and there was a spark, but I have no idea what it was." I rubbed my head and tried to focus on the case. "It was there for a second, but I couldn't find it again."
"We've done enough here. I'll grab Rider so we can go to the office." I could feel the weight of Logan's eyes on me. "Or maybe back to your house."
"I'm fine," I said. "It's been a long morning is all."
Chapter 10
After Logan left, I looked around the office, trying to spot Ethan. Instead, I had more than a few officers discreetly shooting glances my way.
My face grew hot. I hadn't realized that Zander and I had drawn so much attention. I turned to go to Ethan's office and almost ran into him.
"Oh, sorry." I took a step back and smoothed my hair back away from my face. "Um, I was looking for you."
"It's my lucky day." Ethan sounded like he meant it. "Let me know if it's none of my business, but is everything okay with you and the doctor?"
My embarrassment grew to new levels. "Oh, yeah. It's fine. It was a..." I almost said misunderstanding, but the weight of that lie might cave in the ceiling. "It's fine," I repeated.
Ethan didn't look convinced.
Looking around, I tried to grasp a hold of a new subject and seeing the plastic bag in his hands, I figured the safest thing to discuss was the case. "Are there already pictures of this in the file?"
"It seems odd for so much focus to be on a thing this small." Ethan held up the bag to look through the plastic. "They haven't added pictures to the file yet, though. Do you want to take another look?"
I took the bag by the seal, but it was difficult to feign more interest when I couldn't pull up the Path.
Ethan cleared his throat. "Will I see you around the station?"
"It's hard to say for sure, but I doubt it. Someone else might come back to look this over." I indicated the necklace by rattling the bag around. "But unless something new turns up, we'll be out of your hair."
"Do you want me to stop by tonight?" Ethan asked.
I hadn't been expecting the question, and after Zander, I was thrown off guard. "I'm pretty sure, after the day ahead, I'll be horrible company."
Ethan looked skeptical and I was at a loss on how to make the conversation go any better. Gripping the bag in both hands, I could feel the sharp lines of the contents dig into my hand.
The florescent lights buzzed and one popped out. A charge of energy leaped from the necklace and I went rigid while it wrapped itself around me.
Dense emotion circled through me. Trying to get rid of it was like trying to move smoke.
Ethan looked down. "Tonight probably is bad timing. Sorry about that."
"No." Splitting my concentration wasn't working. "I mean yes. Tomorrow night?"
Ethan agreed but looked apprehensive.
The intensity of the sensation died down. A long thread of living Path stretched and then coiled into me until I felt it condense and settle into my core.
"Sorry, it's been a long day. I need to go." Shaking, I turned and walked away.
"Cassie?" Ethan called.
Inside my mind, I wasn't alone. There was a strong feeling of myself, but someone else had joined the fun.
"Yes?" Trying to keep my features impassive, I turned back to him.
"The necklace?"
Should I hand it back? The foreign entity flexed. Breathing became difficult and I broke out into a cold sweat.
"Ready to go?" Logan asked.
I jumped and turned to his voice. Ethan was a civilian, at least when it came to the Lost and the weirdness we faced day to day.
"Cassie?" Logan reached out to me, concern written across his face, but I stepped away. With my back to Ethan, and as low as I could manage, I whispered to Logan. "Something jumped out of the necklace."
Logan's features locked and he glanced at Ethan. "Is it empty now?"
Gripping the necklace hard in my hand, I tried to sense anything else. "I think it's empty. Did you touch it through the bag?"
"Several times," Logan said.
"Nothing odd?" I asked.
"Nothing." Logan reached out and took the bag. He cupped the necklace in his hand and squeezed it.
The conversation was too much of a distraction. Like a virus, I felt the intruder settle further. It was power and energy, but that was a thin veil that attempted to mask rage.
Internally, there was a struggle, as I tried anything I could to dislodge the new energy, but I was at a loss as to what to do.
Logan spoke to Ethan, but I didn't let myself be distracted.
The newness of the invading force began to fade as it became more established. I tried to rein my own power in and separate myself from the other. The new flow of energy slowed, allowing me to gain some ground.
Rider was next to me. I'm pretty sure he was talking, but I was concentrating too hard on my struggle.
"I have to get out of here." It's all I could manage.
I'm not sure what type of excuses Logan and Rider used, but we were out the door quickly. Rider opened the door to the truck to let me in, but I stalled as the film of energy masking the presence inside me shivered.
"Back," I said.
"You want to go back into the station?" Rider asked.
Logan was already in the driver's seat, starting the vehicle.
I gritted my teeth. "Back of the truck."
Why doesn't he listen to me, and why am I letting it bother me so much? Rider's slowness and lack of understanding led to aggravation, and the veil between the infestation and me slipped and rage spilled through. Closing my eyes, I tried to meditate, to put things back under my own control. The new power had found a crack, and it worked to pry that crack open.
I couldn't do this. Why couldn't I do this?
With the power of the Path, maybe I could burn this away. When I let my mind stretch, it ran straight into the alien energy. I staggered and someone grabbed my arm. Retaliation was the first thought that came to mind, but I stamped it down. My friends were here, and they could manage any threat. We were also in public, outside a police station. This was going bad fast.
"Logan?" I didn't want to lose control, but it was happening. "Logan. Tranq me. Lock me down. It's about to get through."
/> The internal frenzy searched for a target. Thoughts of Zander loomed up and my foothold loosened. Fury mounted, and it felt good. I could completely abandon reason and let go. The anger and rage could take over. The thought left me giddy, and I felt myself lose more ground. Leaning against the truck, I closed my eyes and tried to steady myself.
"Logan?" I'm not sure if the words came out or if they stuck in my throat, shielded by the wrath. The last salvages of myself slipped away, and I was alone in the darkness.
Like a fever dream, shadows, shapes, and colors formed in the emptiness, only to fall away again.
***
When I woke up, it was to see a dimly lit room, and I was strapped down on a hospital bed. Exhilaration and thrill of reckless abandonment were evaporating, leaving a numb fatigue in its wake. I wanted to grab hold of that stimulation and explore it, keep it wrapped around me. The idea felt wrong and fragile, so I contemplated the reaction while staring at the ceiling. As the sensations ebbed away, memories of the police station trickled into my thoughts.
That power that jumped into me. What had it done?
More importantly, what had I done to my partners?
I licked my lips and kept my voice low, afraid of any response. "Logan? Rider?"
Doctor Yelton came into view. "They're downstairs." He shined a tiny bright light into my eyes.
I tried to cover my face, but again registered that I was strapped down. Last remnants of temper tried to spring forward, but it was swiftly swept aside by my own stability returning. Doctor Yelton took a step back but kept the light swinging back and forth in front of my eyes.
"They'll be staying downstairs until I'm sure you're stable."
"I'm feeling okay. A little tired maybe."
Doctor Yelton flipped off his light. "That's why your pupils turned into giant saucers. Because you're doing so well."
"I didn't know doctors were allowed sarcasm."
"Your friends have been harassing me."
"If you let them come up, they would stop harassing you."
He took a deep breath, getting ready to say something, and then the air rushed back out. I grinned at him.
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 8
