by G. R. Lyons
“How do you know if we don't even try?” she asked, turning to face him and propping herself up on one elbow.
Benash sighed and rested a hand on her hip. “Maybe one day.”
“Too much on your mind?”
Benash nodded.
“Well,” she said, moving closer, “all the more reason to get your head clear–”
“Vorena.”
“Alright, alright.” She sighed, backing off. “I know. Infuriating woman, and all that.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, then laughed. “But I think that's why I love you. Don't ever change.”
She grinned at him. “Not planning on it.”
Smiling, Benash kissed her once and settled down on his back, hugging Vorena as she curled up against him.
“So what are you thinking, Hawk?”
Benash raised an eyebrow. “What? You can't tell?”
Vorena shrugged. “Your blocks are a lot stronger than they used to be. Besides, I'm out of the habit of it. Trying not to intrude on your privacy too much, since it's bad enough I can be anywhere you are without you knowing it.” Benash opened his mouth to ask a question, but Vorena rushed on: “Don't worry, it's not like I'm following you everywhere. Hells, there are some things even I don't want to see–”
“Vorena.”
“Though, I must say, you in the shower is super hot–”
“Vorena!”
“Sorry.” She chuckled. “Infuriating. Got it. Shutting up now.”
Benash laughed and shook his head, hugging her closer as they lapsed into silence. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the breeze blowing through the foliage outside.
“Asenna wants to go to Oaks Pass,” he murmured after a few moments.
Another silence followed, until Vorena quietly responded, “And that worries you.”
Benash nodded. “It won't be as easy to keep her hidden there as it is here. She doesn't know anybody here. But there…What if we run into Jevon, or her school mates, or any of the others? They won't know—or may not remember—not to say anything, and I'm not sure we'll have time to warn them.”
Vorena frowned, thinking, then sat up, a serious look on her face as she said, “Alright, tell me again why the doctors insisted on not telling her anything.”
“They said that telling her about her past would cause her to create false memories rather than actually remember the real ones,” Benash said, flipping a pillow up against the headboard and leaning back against it. “That it would only confuse her more and possibly prevent her from actually breaking through the amnesia.”
Vorena was silent for a moment, then asked, “But what if they're wrong?”
Benash opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't seem to find anything to say.
“Sorry,” Vorena murmured, turning around to sit beside him. “I'm sure this is hard enough.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“I admire you, though,” she said, poking him in the chest with her finger.
“Why's that?”
“For taking her on the way you have. I know it's not been easy for you.”
“And for you?” Benash asked, slipping an arm behind her shoulders and hugging her to his side. “How do you handle seeing her like this?” He paused, then added, “Now that I know you've been seeing her.”
Vorena grinned at him. “I couldn't resist. She's one of the few people who can actually see me. You think I could really pass that up?”
“It couldn't be easy, though, after watching her grow up, knowing who she is.”
Vorena shrugged. “Same as you. I can deal with the charade for now. It's just…telling a story, I guess.”
They lapsed into silence again, the room gaining a soft glow as Garis crossed the sky outside the curtained windows.
“Do you ever wish,” Benash began in a whisper, “that you could have been Saira's mother?”
Vorena raised both eyebrows at him. “Gods be damned, you're just bringing up all the heavy stuff tonight, aren't you?”
He breathed a laugh. “Sorry. Just something else that's been on my mind lately.”
Vorena was silent for a moment before she answered, “Of course I wish she'd been mine. I wish I could have lived and had a real family with you, and–” She cut off and shook her head. “But that's not what happened and we can't change it. Besides…I like to think…I was her mother, in a way. I mean, hells, you named her Saira because of me. And she wouldn't have existed in the first place if I hadn't woken you up, if you hadn't gotten out of that prison. Off Tanas. Gotten here.”
Benash nodded, staring into the dark as too many memories crept up and bombarded his mind.
“Gods, I miss my little girl,” he whispered.
Vorena slipped her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could in her mostly-substantial form while he tried not to let the pain take over.
“Benash,” she began quietly, “I think…Asenna is right. I think you all need to go back.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where it all started. You've all been focusing so much on the murders that have happened here, I think you need to go back to the ones that happened there.” She paused, resting a hand on his chest when he tensed. “I know there are a lot of painful memories there, and it'll be a challenge with her, but that may be just what she needs—what you all need—to find that bastard and finally catch him before he can kill again. Put an end to all this.”
Benash took a deep breath, letting it out slowly while he considered her words.
“Alright,” he conceded. “We'll go.” He paused, tilting her chin up so he could see her eyes. “Will you come with us?”
“Of course,” she said seriously. “Besides, if you do run into anyone who recognizes Asenna, you're going to need a distraction.” She grinned at him. “And I've grown quite fond of distractions.”
“Well, that one in the prison certainly did the trick,” Benash said with a laugh.
“Oh, but they're so much more fun now. That's the one thing I've learned to like about not being seen. The look on Charlie's face today was priceless.”
Benash laughed, then turned serious and pointed a finger at her. “No messing with my staff, though, alright?”
Vorena pouted. “Spoil sport.”
“I mean it. I don't need them distracted from their work. Vorena–”
“Fine, I promise. No messing with that staff. Got it.”
“That– What?”
Vorena grinned, twisting around until she straddled his lap, her hands resting on his chest and moving slowly downward.
“Because I am most definitely,” she murmured, “messing with this one.”
“Vorena–”
He cut off with a groan, and saw her looking at him with a self-satisfied smile.
“You–”
“Are an infuriating woman,” she said for him while her hands explored his body. “And you are going to shut up and kiss me.”
Murmuring between kisses, Benash said, “You…are remarkably…persuasive.”
Vorena stopped mid-kiss and leaned back so she could level a look at him.
“I am out of excuses,” he told her. “Do with me what you will.”
She grinned, looking as excited as a child in a toy store. “About damned time,” she said, and swooped in to kiss him again.
* * *
ASENNA PACED her room, using the time alone to build up her courage and determination.
“'Chief, we're going to Oaks Pass',” she recited. “See, you can say it. Just go tell him straight out: 'We're going to Oaks Pass.' Don't give him a chance to argue.” She paused, turned the other direction, and repeated, “'We're going to Oaks Pass.'”
She took a breath, reached the door, and hesitated.
“What if he says no?” she mumbled, then shook her head. “No, he can't say no. You'll tell him you're going and that's final.”
Asenna straightened up, threw open the door, and went
straight to the chief's office, repeating in her mind, We're going to Oaks Pass. We're going–
The chief's office door stood open, and as she stopped just inside the doorway, she found him gathering up some things on his desk and stuffing them into a briefcase while he gave instructions to Lani.
“We'll keep an open chat line between the offices,” he said to the receptionist, “so if anything happens that I need to know about–”
He cut off and looked up, his gaze resting on Asenna.
“What's going on?” she asked him.
“We're going to Oaks Pass,” he answered, tucking his tablet into his briefcase and snapping it shut. “Pack some things. We leave early tomorrow.”
“Oh,” she said, losing her bravado as he preempted her. She frowned down at her hands, then drew herself up and nodded. “Right then.”
Without another word, she turned on her heel and went back to her room.
Chapter 14
ASENNA SQUEEZED her eyes shut as the hired jet touched down in Oaks Pass. For all her eagerness to make the journey, now that they were actually there, back where it all began, she felt her heart racing with anxiety.
The plane came to a stop, and she slowly gathered her things and followed the chief, Crawford, Malrin, and Lehinis as they stepped out onto the tarmac.
Just a few feet away, a blackout car pulled up and stopped, the driver hopping out and opening the trunk and the passenger doors. In moments, luggage was stowed and the passengers were seated, the car peeling away and heading toward downtown.
“We'll check in at the hotel first, and then head over to the office,” the chief announced. “I want everyone alert at all times.”
“Yes, sir,” a chorus of voices answered.
Asenna turned and looked out the window, easily able to see out though no one could see in through the heavily tinted glass. They passed shops and neighborhoods for several minutes, all places that she had conceivably seen at some point in her life, but nothing stirred her memory.
The car slowed, pulling up to the entryway of a modest hotel. The three-storey structure looked old, but clean and well-maintained. Chief went inside alone, returning a few minutes later with a handful of passkeys, and instructed the driver to move the car around to the back entrance of the building. Asenna felt for the gun resting in its holster under her jacket, fast becoming a familiar accessory, before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the car, instinctively keeping her sunglasses on and her head down.
They gathered their luggage, and Crawford took a moment to survey the area before he got back in the car.
“Meet me back here in an hour,” Chief said to him. “We'll head over to the office and get everyone briefed.”
“Sure thing, Chief,” Crawford said, then pulled the car door shut and went on his way.
“Where's he going?” Asenna asked as the others ushered her into the building.
“His own house,” the chief answered distractedly, his gaze moving constantly as they rode the elevator up to the second floor and moved down the hallway to their rooms.
“Crawford has a house here?” she asked, then joked, “Why didn't he just invite us to stay there?”
Chief lurched to a stop, narrowed his eyes at her, and resumed walking as he said, “One, it's his house. Two, it's too small for all of us–”
“Chief, I was just kidding–”
“And th–three,” he forced out, coming to a stop at a room where two armed men flanked the door, “I can keep a better eye on you here.” He waved a passkey at the door, which unlocked itself and swung open easily with a push of his hand. “In you go.”
Asenna looked at the two imposing security guards, then back at the chief, Malrin, and Lehinis, all of them looking wholly unsympathetic.
“You've got to be kidding me,” she grumbled, but shoved into the room and kicked the door shut behind her. She set down her suitcase and glanced around, seeing through the glass door that two more guards were posted on the partitioned-off but shared balcony that spanned the width of three rooms outside.
“Lovely. Just fucking lovely.”
She moved closer and peeked out, seeing the chief climb over the partition from the balcony for the room next to hers, stopping to greet the guards and survey the area, pointing down at the ground and to the balconies on either side, then climb back over and disappear inside.
Rolling her eyes, Asenna went to her suitcase, refolded her clothes as she moved them to the dresser, set up her toiletries in the bathroom, and sat down on the bed with her guns, checking and rechecking to make sure they were fully loaded before returning them to the shoulder holster.
She sighed, looking around the room.
“Now what?”
* * *
CHARLIE RODE in silence as they crossed town to the residential neighborhood where he and Saira had bought a house together just before their wedding. The street was quiet, and the house looked somehow forlorn as the car pulled into the driveway and powered down to idle mode.
“Will you be needing a ride back into town, sir?” the driver asked.
“No, thank you,” Charlie answered. “I have a car here.”
“Have a good day, sir.”
Charlie grabbed his luggage and slowly approached the house as the car disappeared down the street. He stood facing the front door, hesitating before he stepped close enough for the lock to recognize the passkey in his pocket and unlock itself to let him in.
It was just as cold and empty as it had been when he'd left it to go to New Haven on a whim. Four years of bachelorhood had taken its toll on the house that had briefly sparkled under a woman's touch. He glanced into the living room on one side of the foyer and the dining room on the other, recalling memories of Saira bustling about, arranging furniture and cleaning as they set up the house in preparation for living together after the wedding.
“Didn't you already vacuum that?” he'd asked, standing in that same foyer, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, carrying a box of dishes.
“We've been in and out of this room so many times today that it's dirty again,” she replied, looking up at him with a smile and then going right back to her cleaning.
Charlie looked down at himself, wearing a suit and guns and carrying a suitcase, and felt the chill even more.
He climbed the stairs, running a hand along the banister as he went, feeling the dust that had accumulated in his absence.
And then some, he thought, trying to remember the last time he'd bothered cleaning the place. It had just never seemed important without Saira around. Considering all the scattered newspapers, pizza boxes, beer bottles, and towels he found in odd places around the house, he figured it must have been quite a long time indeed.
Down in the kitchen, there were still dishes in the sink from before he'd left.
He picked up one dirty plate, some unidentified food substance so thoroughly stuck to it that he finally gave up trying to scrape it off. He set the plate back down, looked around, and sighed.
Gods, he thought, chuckling to himself. If Saira could see this place, she'd probably kill me.
Charlie gave the room one last glance, shrugged his shoulders, and went to search the mess for his car keys.
* * *
BENASH GLANCED up at the guards on the balcony as he got into Charlie's car just outside the back entrance to the hotel. The men were constantly shifting their gazes, surveying the parking lot below and even the roof line above. They hadn't questioned that particular order, and Benash wasn't taking any chances. With all the strange things going on, he wanted all his bases covered.
The drive to the agency was short, and they made it in silence, both of them tense and uncomfortable being back where all their nightmares had started.
Crawford pulled the car into the company parking lot, and followed Benash into the Oaks Pass branch of the Hawkeye Agency, where they were immediately assaulted by a chorus of greetings from the officers there.
“Good to see you, Chief.”
>
“Been years!”
“Hey, Charlie's back!”
“How's New Haven?”
“Alright, enough,” Benash said, holding up his hands. “Full staff meeting in the conference room, as soon as possible.”
“Right away, Chief,” one officer said, rushing off to inform the others.
Benash headed straight upstairs to his old office, Crawford right behind him, and felt wholly out of place in the mostly-empty room. The office lacked the gadgets and files of its New Haven counterpart, everything having been removed when he'd picked up what remained of his life and moved across the Isle with Asenna.
He opened his briefcase on the empty, dusty desk, and pulled out his tablet and a picture frame, blowing the dust aside and setting them down.
When he looked up, he saw Charlie eyeing the frame with curiosity.
“I can't seem to work without it,” Benash said, and turned to an old safe behind the desk. He opened it up, stored away his tablet, locked it, and headed back downstairs.
The conference room was packed, with just enough space for Benash and Charlie to stand by the wallscreen and face the crowd.
“Is this everyone?” Benash asked.
“Full staff, Chief,” someone answered. “Everyone's here.”
“Very well, then, I'll make this quick.” Benash turned to the wallscreen and called up the main database for company files, shared between both offices. “We are here investigating a series of unsolved cases, some of which you may have been working on yourselves, so we'll need to consolidate the files. Right now, we're calling him the Rose Killer, since he sends fresh flower arrangements to his victims before he strikes.”
He looked around and saw a few puzzled expressions and other knowing ones, so he had a feeling he'd have some new cases to learn about. Benash cleared his throat and went on. “So far, there have been no survivors,” he said, and saw a few heads nod confirmation while he paused. “No one who can identify him. We'll need to add whatever cases you've had here into the mix and see if we can't find something we've missed. We may be conducting some interviews over again. Since this is where it all started, this is where we hope to find some answers.”
