“Well, are you coming in or what?” I asked.
My friend looked me over with a half-curious, half-embarrassed expression and said, “Ya’know, you’re actin’ pretty pissy. I didn’t interrupt you and Firehair or somethin’ did I?”
“Hell no, she’s not even here right now,” I replied. “Besides, if you had, she would probably be the one you’d have to worry about, not me.”
“Okay, so then you’re half undressed and actin’ like an asshole why?”
“I was in bed trying to sleep off this damned headache,” I told him. “By the way, I’m half dressed, not undressed.”
He shrugged. “Half full, half empty. Same friggin’ difference in my book…”
“Give me a break and just come in, will you?” I huffed.
He came through the opening, and I elbowed the door shut behind him.
“I can’t remember the last time I saw you like this, white man. Do I need ta’ get ya’ to a hospital or somethin’?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“You know it’s not that kind of headache, Ben. Why do you even ask?”
“Dunno. Maybe ‘cause one of these days I figure you’ll say yes or somethin’.”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway?”
“Calm down, will ya’? After that phone call ya’ had me worried. That, and I need ya’ to tell me what’s goin’ on.”
“Nothing as lascivious as you obviously seemed to think. Like I said, I was trying to sleep off this headache until I was rudely interrupted by someone at my front door.”
“Get over it, Row. I meant what’s up in la-la land. You called me, remember?”
“I thought that was pretty self-explanatory.”
“Uh-huh, I got the Twilight Zone part. What I wanna know is what you weren’t willin’ ta’ tell me earlier this mornin’. I’m goin’ out on a limb here and guessin’ it had somethin’ ta’ do with swans.”
“Yeah, kind of. Last night I had a nightmare. I saw a moonlit lake with one dead swan on the bank. You’ve got a murder victim. If I had to guess, one swan, one victim. Today, I had a repeat but instead I saw two dead swans. You do the math.”
“Is that it?”
“What? That isn’t enough?”
“From you, yeah, it’s prob’ly more than enough, but I got a feelin’ there’s somethin’ more.”
“Nothing that’s going to help,” I replied. “Besides, shouldn’t you be out looking for another body or something?”
“Don’t have to. About an hour and a half ago I got a call that County has one, and she’s wearin’ a swan tatt just like the first victim. Looks like your math is pretty solid.”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the least bit shocked by the announcement. I had told him there was another victim out there waiting to be found. Of course, whenever I did something like this, I always harbored a sliver of hope that I would be wrong. Unfortunately, it seemed like I never was.
“Another Jane Doe?” I asked, reaching up to massage my forehead and temples.
“Actually no. This one’s a college student by the name of Emily Foster. That ain’t been officially confirmed yet, but that’s just a formality at this point. They’re ninety-nine percent sure on the ID. By the way, keep that under your hat for the time bein’. We aren’t releasin’ ‘er name to the circus until the family is notified.”
Circus was the nicest euphemism Ben had for the media. Some of the others he used were much more derogatory, and still others were downright profane.
“Who am I going to tell?” I replied.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, okay. Look, you’re going to have to give me a break. My head is still trying to reconcile the fact that it’s in here talking to you instead of making a dent in my pillow.” I replied.
“Yeah, no shit. So are you awake enough for that name ta’ ring a bell or no?”
“Foster… Foster… Emily Foster…” I muttered. “Sounds familiar. Was she the student who went missing awhile back?”
“Ding ding, give the man a cigar. She disappeared around the end of August last year, no trace, no nothin’. We know exactly where she is now though.”
“Damn. I really hate being right about this sort of thing, you know,” I grumbled. “So, where was she found?”
“Dumpster, just like the JD. Only difference is it was in a light industrial park off Page, here in the county instead of in the city limits. She was half ass wrapped in a clear plastic sheet and just tossed in. An employee of the company that rents the dumpster was takin’ out the trash around eleven forty-five this mornin’ and just happened ta’ see ‘er arm stickin’ out from underneath some other crap.”
“Great way to screw up a lunch break I guess.”
“Uh-huh. So anyway, it’s been all over the news. Since she was found in a dumpster like the first vic, I kinda figured you’d be puttin’ two and two together and gettin’ in touch. I mean, what with that call earlier and everything…”
I started to shake my head then stopped and grimaced as my temples throbbed harder. My only consolation, as far as I could see, was the fact that my neck felt fine for a change.
“For the past few hours, if it wasn’t the inside of my eyelids, I haven’t seen it,” I said. “Sorry.”
“Yeah, well, doesn’t really matter I don’t guess. Right now the vultures only know what county’s tellin’ ‘em, and that ain’t much.”
I was still struggling to wrap my aching grey matter around everything he’d said thus far. It wasn’t that it was particularly complicated by any means, but clarity wasn’t one of my strong suits just yet, so mentally I was probably a good half step behind. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I had missed something.
“So, wait a minute…” I said, gesturing with one hand as I scrunched up my forehead. “Let’s back up a second. If she disappeared over six months ago, how did they manage to identify her remains so quickly? There couldn’t have been much left to work with for a visual ID, could there?”
“That’s just it, Row. She may have vanished last year, but accordin’ to the estimate from the county coroner, she’s probably only been dead between something like twenty-four and thirty-six hours.”
“And she died the same way as your Jane Doe?”
“Some strings got pulled, and they took ‘er to the city morgue, so there hasn’t been time for an autopsy. But she’s got a hole in ‘er neck. So I can’t say for sure, but yeah, it looks real possible.”
“You know that could mean the killer is keeping the victims alive for a while.”
“That’s one of the possiblities.”
“Gods…” I mumbled. This was a turn I hadn’t seen coming. “I take it Major Case will be stepping in?”
“Yeah, already have. And the Feebs too, of course.”
“So… I guess that means you’re here to recruit me?”
“I dunno. The way you look right now I’m not sure I want ya’.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, just returnin’ the favor.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“So now that you’re not retired anymore, you wanna fill me in? Whether you think it’s important or not, I’d like ta’ know what happened that you’re not sayin’.”
“Why do I feel like we’ve had this conversation before?” I asked.
“Prob’ly because we have. Every time you decide you’re gonna quit. Jeezus, you really are out of it, ain’t ya’?”
“Actually, I was being facetious.”
“Yeah, well don’t,” he grunted. “It’s kinda hard ta’ tell with you right now. So what gives? What is it you didn’t wanna tell me?”
I looked down and noticed that my shirt was buttoned off kilter. In my stupor I hadn’t really paid much attention to what I was doing, so I started about the process of straightening out the mess.
“Okay,” I said as I redid a button while watching
my fingers this go around. “Remember the problem I had with my neck?”
“Yeah.”
“To make a long story short, when I got home I started bleeding from the general area of the pain even though I had no visible wound.”
“Bleedin’ from your neck? Jeezus, Row… That’s fucked up.”
“I’ll agree with you there, but you’ve seen how aggressive the dead can be when they want my attention. It’s not the first time there’s been a physical manifestation.”
“Yeah, but still… Bleedin’? That can’t be good.”
“I know. But, fortunately, it didn’t last long, and like I said, there was no wound. All in all it really just looked worse than it was. It had Felicity a little on edge though.”
“Ya’think?” he spat.
I ignored the sarcasm and continued. “Either way, the only residual effect was one of my signature headaches and the nightmare about the swan, so I thought I’d be fine.”
“Why do I hear a but coming?”
“Because there is one,” I returned. “Cutting to the chase, the same thing happened again today. Right before I had the vision of the second swan.”
“Today? How bad? How much blood did you lose?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. But it was messy enough that I needed to take a shower to get cleaned up before I hit the sack.”
“Great. So are ya’ sure you’re okay? ”
“People keep asking me that.”
“Yeah, well I wonder why?” he said, the sarcasm creeping into his voice again. “You shoulda seen a doctor after the first time, Row.”
I shook my head and answered, “Now you sound like my wife.”
“Great…that just tells me that if you didn’t listen to Firehair, you sure as hell ain’t gonna listen to me.”
“It would be a waste of time. At the moment, other than the headache, I think I’m fine.”
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
“Seems to me that was what ya’ just said about when it happened the first time?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” I shrugged. “Well, if I start bleeding again I guess we’ll know I’m wrong.”
“Fuck me… You ain’t gonna up and die on me or somethin’ are ya’?”
“I hadn’t planned on it.”
“Yeah, well we both know all about how your plans work out, white man.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Ben shook his head then reached up to massage his neck. “Jeezus… Have you told Felicity about this yet?”
“You mean the incident today? No, not yet.” I glanced at the clock and squinted. I hadn’t realized until now that I’d forgotten to put on my glasses, which probably explained why the world was still so blurry to me even though the fog around my brain was lifting. I turned back to my friend and said, “Unless she ran long she should be home any minute. I figure I’ll tell her then.”
“Damn…” he muttered. “You know she ain’t gonna be happy.”
“Yeah, especially when she finds you here.”
“Hey, you’re the one who broke the playground ban when you called me.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “But I’m still going to blame it on you.”
“Why the hell would ya’ do that?”
“Because you woke me up, that’s why.”
CHAPTER 11:
“Okay, so where to from here?” I asked. “Are you wanting me to go look at a crime scene or something? If so I need to make myself presentable.”
“So I take it that means you actually wanna help?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I grumbled. “I don’t think I’m being left with much choice, am I?”
He gave his head a vigorous shake. “Hey, I’m not pressurin’ ya’… It’s your decision.”
“Yeah, right. Do you really expect me to believe that part of why you’re here isn’t to try talking me into helping with these cases?”
“Well, no… Not exactly… But yeah… Jeezus H. Christ…” he stammered.
“Okay, Ben, I’ve had enough,” I said, throwing my hands up. “You’ve been acting strange ever since yesterday. You ask questions like you want my help, but then you keep dancing around the subject like you aren’t sure what to do. One minute it seems like you’re pushing me, the next it seems like you’re backpedaling or trying to protect me from something. Why don’t you make this easy on both of us and tell me what the hell is really going on?”
My friend reached up, smoothed back his hair, and then let his hand fall to his neck. After a moment he sighed and said, “Look, Row, I was tryin’ not ta’ say this, but I’m tired of it too, so here it is… Whether the brass likes to acknowledge it or not, they know damn well you’ve got a major track record when it comes to this sorta shit.”
“Are you trying to say it’s not just you doing the asking? It’s the higher ups?”
“Well…” He nodded. “Yeah. It is.”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did they first ask?”
“Remember that call I got when we were havin’ breakfast yesterday. Well, it wasn’t just a prelim report from the coroner. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one ta’ get a hinky feelin’ about that Jane Doe. I don’t know for sure who made the decision, but my lieutenant strongly suggested that I try ta’ get ya’ involved if I could. I didn’t bother ta’ tell ‘im you were sittin’ right across from me.”
“Now it makes sense,” I replied. “No wonder you’ve been so squirrelly.”
“I’m pretty sure Helen calls it conflicted,” he said.
“Yeah, that sounds about like her. So, why didn’t you just tell me you were getting pressure from the top?”
“What would ya’ have done if I had?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but…”
“But what? That’s bullshit and you know it, white man. I got your number, even if ya’ don’t think I do. You woulda said yes because you feel like you owe me.”
“Well, yeah… You’re probably right. And yes, I do owe you.”
“Which is exactly why I didn’t tell ya’. You’ve been tellin’ me ya wanted out. Shit, you’d just finished sayin’ it again when they called, and I wanted ta’ respect that. I figured I’d just toss out a few feelers and see if you’d bite. I thought if I kept it all between us and if ya’ came up with somethin’ I could use, maybe I could keep everything from goin’ overboard.”
I shook my head slightly, even though it hurt to do so. “Hell, Ben, even I can’t do that. It does that of its own accord and nobody can stop it.”
“Yeah, so I’ve noticed,” he grunted then fell silent for a moment. When he spoke up again he asked, “So how bad did I fuck up, Row? You pissed at me now?”
“I never said you did.”
“Yeah, but I feel like I did.”
“What is it you told me? Get over it? Besides, I think it’s pretty obvious I was going to get dragged into this no matter what I wanted. Your victims are seeing to that.”
“I’m sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t want this ta’ happen.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s done and we can’t change it.”
“So what now?”
“We go back to my first question. Do you need me to go look at a crime scene or something?”
“Actually, as far as goin’ anywhere, ta’ be honest all we really have is a couple of dump sites,” he explained. “So unless you got some kinda major Twilight Zone inspiration at the moment or you think lookin’ at a dumpster is gonna help, you can prob’ly just relax.”
“Did you hear that, ladies?” I announced, looking up toward the ceiling. “The man said I should relax. You should too. I’m going to need your help with that.”
“Who are ya’…” he started then caught himself. “Oh, yeah, never mind.”
“Doesn’t matter. I really doubt they’re going to listen,” I replied then motioned with my hand. “Come on…”
Ben followed along as I tr
udged through the dining room and into the kitchen. If I was going to keep from turning into a blithering idiot, I needed more aspirin and a giant cup of coffee to wash them down. I knew I could find both of them there.
A quick glance at the time on the microwave reminded me I had yet to give any thought to what I was going to fix for the evening meal. I was already late with getting it started, considering that Felicity would probably be home at any moment, so I didn’t have many options unless we wanted to eat later than usual.
“I need to do something about dinner,” I told Ben absently. “Are you staying?”
“Depends. What’re ya’ havin’?”
“I don’t know yet. But the way my head feels, I’m suddenly seeing carry-out high on the list of possibilities.” I pointed to the stack of menus held to the side of the refrigerator with a large magnet. “Want to see if anything there strikes you? I’m buying.”
“Ta’ be honest, I appreciate the offer, but I can’t stay,” he returned. “I actually got plans with Constance.”
“Uh-huh,” I grunted. “You just don’t want to be here when Felicity gets home.”
“Well, normally I’d say you’re right, but the way you look and after what ya’ told me, I ain’t leavin’ ya’ alone. So I’ll be here until she gets in.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Nope. Ain’t arguin’.”
“Okay, fine. If you’re just going to stand around then make yourself useful,” I said as I reached into the pantry and grabbed a bag of coffee beans. I turned and tossed them to him then pointed. “The grinder is in the cabinet above the coffeemaker.”
“How much?” he asked, waving the bag.
“Better make it extra strong,” I replied.
I was already turning my back to him as I embarked on a personal mission. The ever-so-brief encounter with the pantry had managed to spark an idea. I didn’t know that it was necessarily a good one, but I hurt bad enough that my tortured brain was blindly following along anyway. I swung the door wider, tugged on the swing-out rack, and then started fumbling around the liquor shelf in the far back.
Blood Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation Page 10
