“Dammit, Ben, I told you not to let her get out of here without one of us with her!” I almost shouted the words as I chastised him through the bars.
“Hey,” he spat back. “I was in here talkin’ to you, remember?”
“How long ago did she leave?”
He looked away and didn’t answer me.
“Ben,” I pressed. “How long?”
He swiped his hand quickly across the lower half of his face and shook his head. “Man, if I tell ya’, you’re gonna be pissed.”
“No, don’t…” I allowed my voice to trail off at the implication.
“Yeah.” He gave me a nod. “About two friggin’ minutes after I walked in here earlier.”
“Gods! Why didn’t you come back here and tell me right away?”
“And you would’ve done what? Exactly what you’re doin’ right now?”
“Well what the hell were you doing?”
“Gettin’ a cup of coffee… What the fuck do ya’ think I was doin’? I was lookin’ for ‘er. As soon as I knew she was gone, I started makin’ some calls. Now get off my ass and chill.”
“But, she’s got at least a half-hour head start. Maybe more.”
“About forty minutes accordin’ ta’ my watch, but since when did this turn into a friggin’ race?”
“Dammit! Get me out of here, Ben!”
“Calm down. I’m workin’ on it. Somebody’s comin’.”
“I can’t calm down, Ben! She’s out there!”
“Yeah, she is, and I couldn’t have done anything to stop her even if I’d been out front when she left. She’s not under arrest and she’s not charged with anything. She was free to go.”
“You could have stayed with her. Didn’t you listen to what I told you earlier?”
“Yeah, she’s all Twilight Zone extreme.”
“Well, don’t you get it?”
“Yeah, Row,” he barked. “I get it. Now for the last time, calm the fuck down. The hysterics aren’t getting you anywhere.”
“I don’t think you do,” I spat. “If we don’t get to her first, she might get herself killed.”
“Yeah, or maybe even do the killin’ herself. I know,” he returned. “Don’t ya’ think I’ve already thought of all that, Rowan? Look, I’m on it. They’re gonna get an alert out with her description, vehicle make, model, tag numbers… The whole nine. We’ll find ‘er.”
I shut my eyes for a moment and willed myself to remain calm. Ben was correct. I needed to get on even footing, or I wasn’t going to do myself any good, much less Felicity. Still, that realization didn’t make it any easier. After a few deep breaths, I found some tiny bit of control to which I could cling. I can’t say that it was an overwhelming success, but when I spoke again, at least my voice was back down to an even tenor.
“Okay, so, what did you tell them?”
“About Firehair? I told ‘em she’s got multiple personality disorder and that she’s been off her meds for a while.”
“Where did you come up with that?”
“Helps to pay attention when you have a sister who’s a shrink, and besides, it was all I could think of at the time.”
“So, they believed that?”
“Yeah. Actually, they were already startin’ ta’ wonder about ‘er. The cop taking her statement said she was actin’ a bit flaky. Thought it was stress at first, but she just kept gettin’ more ‘n more out there.”
“Flaky how?”
“You ready for this? She was flirting with him. He blew it off up until she came right out and propositioned him.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, well don’t worry, he turned her down.”
“I almost wish he hadn’t,” I muttered. “Then she might still be here.”
“Well, she really freaked ‘im when she wanted to know if he’d like to let her play with his handcuffs and baton later.”
“That wasn’t really her saying that, it was the killer.”
“Yeah, I know. I believe ya’, but I couldn’t exactly tell them that.”
“She must be on the prowl for a new victim,” I said with a resigned sigh.
“Yeah, well, considerin’ what she said she wanted to do to him with the baton…”
“And he didn’t arrest her for threatening a police officer or something?”
“Apparently, she didn’t say it like a threat,” he explained. “And she didn’t ask for money, so it wasn’t solicitation, it was just… Well… brazen, I guess. Either way, that’s what must have been goin’ on when I saw her through the glass ‘cause right after that he left the room for a minute to get the watch commander and she bolted.”
Upon hearing this, my impatience kicked instantly back into gear and overrode my fight to remain grounded. Looking up to the ceiling I shouted, “Gods! I can’t believe this!”
“Makes two of us,” Ben agreed.
“Are they sending someone to our house?” I demanded. “I don’t think she’ll go there, but…”
“Slow down. Got it covered,” he returned with a vigorous nod. “Briarwood is gonna send a unit by, but just ta’ be on the safe side I called Constance. She’s on ‘er way right now.”
“Did you fill her in?”
“Kinda. She knows you’re in custody and that I’m working on gettin’ you out. And, I told ‘er that Felicity ain’t Felicity right now, but that’s about it. I didn’t try ta’ get real deep with the explanation, especially since I had to get ‘er outta bed for this.”
“She needs to be careful,” I insisted. “I don’t know how Felicity might react.”
“She knows, white man. She’s a Feeb,” he acknowledged, then in an attempt to lighten my mood added, “Ya’know, that’s almost like bein’ a real copper.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that.”
“She’d get over it.”
“Dammit!” I exclaimed, craning my neck to look around my friend at the door. “What the hell are they waiting for?!”
“Listen,” he admonished. “I’m serious. You better just chill out, or you ain’t gonna get out. They weren’t all that keen on releasin’ ya’ to begin with, and it won’t take much to make ‘em change their minds.”
“I thought you said they were already suspicious of how Felicity was acting?”
“They are, but that doesn’t automatically clear you. As far as they’re concerned, you’re still a wife beater with a complaint filed on ya’. Not only that, now they also think you’re an asshole for smackin’ around someone with a mental handicap.”
I just shook my head and sighed. It didn’t seem to matter what was said, or by whom. It all just kept pushing me deeper into a hole from which I wasn’t sure I’d be able to escape. And, all the while, as I was trying desperately to scale its walls, my wife’s corporeal self was literally being spirited into the night.
I was just about to let loose with another impatient expletive when the door behind Ben swung open. A uniformed officer bearing sergeant’s insignias on his sleeves entered and approached the holding cell door. I could tell by the way he was looking at me that this wasn’t going to be quick and easy.
After staring at me for several heartbeats, he let out a sigh and shook his head. “You know, Detective Storm here says you’re a pretty good guy. I honestly don’t see it.”
I started to open my mouth but caught a motion from my friend out of the corner of my eye as he quickly shook his head “no”. As usual, he was correct and I needed to keep my opinions to myself. The simple fact of the matter was that I was going to have to stand here and take a dose of medicine I didn’t really need, and that certainly wasn’t bolstering my patience. Still, I shut my mouth and simply stood there.
“I don’t care much for guys who beat up their wives, girlfriends, women in general…” he told me, allowing his voice to trail off, then suddenly asked, “You don’t have any children do you, Mister Gant?”
“No sir,” I replied, struggling to keep the annoyance out of my voice and failing miserably.
“Good,” he said with a nod. “Because if there’s one thing I hate worse that a wife beater, it’s a child abuser.”
That last implication was more than I was willing to take. Calling me a wife beater was bad enough, but as far as I was concerned, he had just stepped over the line. Discarding my better judgment, I replied. Of course, I’d never been much good at keeping my mouth shut anyway, so there was really no reason that now should be any different.
“Listen, Sergeant…” I glanced at his nametag. “Ruddle. That comment was uncalled for. I know you think you have me pegged, but there are some things going on here you simply wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, I’ve got you pegged all right,” he told me with a nod. “And, yeah, I’ve heard all of the excuses, so don’t even try that crap with me.”
“Well, I doubt you’ve ever heard this one,” I offered.
“What? Are you going to tell me it’s some kind of Witch thing?” he replied.
I’m sure there was a look of surprise on my face, and he wasted no time addressing it. “Yeah, I know who you are. I read the papers. I also think it’s all a crock. And, just because you’ve gotten lucky and somehow helped Major Case solve a couple of murders, that doesn’t mean you’re a great guy and an upstanding citizen.”
“Maybe not,” I replied. “But, whether you choose to believe me or not, all I can tell you is that I did NOT assault my wife, and whatever she told you is a fabrication. Detective Storm explained…”
“…That she has MPD and hasn’t been taking her medication, yeah, I know. That still doesn’t explain what the responding officers witnessed when they arrived.”
“Yeah, well don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. But, I guess you’ll just have to believe what you want to believe, and nothing I can say is going to change that.”
“You’re right about that.”
He continued to stare at me without another word. I allowed the intimidation tactic to play out for several moments before I had simply had more than enough to top off my disaster of a day.
“So,” I said with a shrug. “Is that it? Lecture over? Can I go now?”
“Yeah, I was right.”
“About what?”
“I took one look at you on the security monitor, and I could tell right away that you’d be a smartass.”
I barely managed to refrain from an urge to offer him a congratulatory cigar, but I knew that sarcasm definitely wouldn’t play right now.
After another hard stare, the sergeant turned and stepped back out the door. A moment later there was a loud buzzing coupled with a heavy metallic thunk. Ben immediately reached out and slid the door open.
“C’mon, let’s get your stuff and go find Felicity before she hurts someone.”
For the first time I could remember, I wasn’t frightened by Ben’s almost maniacal approach to driving. If anything, I was urging him on through red lights, stop signs, and intersections alike.
Flickering red splashes were playing down across the windshield from the magnetic bubble light my friend had literally slapped onto the roof of the van. As we raced up the off ramp from the highway, the cold November night air was whistling through the crack where the emergency light’s cigarette lighter cord was keeping the window from fully closing.
Without slowing, he urged the vehicle through the yellow light and cranked the steering wheel into a hard left turn. The van fishtailed with a screech of tires then straightened and shot down the two-lane street, actually straddling the white line for several yards before edging over into the proper lane. We were now less than five minutes from my house, and we had been on the road for no more than ten as it was. Still, it seemed like forever had passed since I’d walked out of that holding cell.
Originally, I didn’t think that Felicity would be at our home or that she would have even gone there in the first place. However, it was still a possibility, and given that we had no clue where she was going, it was as good a place as any to start.
The reason we were in such a rush now was that we had been unable to raise Constance on her cell phone, and that seriously concerned us both.
“Maybe she has it turned off,” I offered, not really believing it myself.
At that moment Ben leaned hard on the brakes, and I was forced to thrust my arm out in front of me in order to brace myself against the dash.
He whipped the van around a slower vehicle that hadn’t bothered to move off to the side and then careened to the right before glancing over at me and replying, “We’re talkin’ about Constance here, Row. She never turns the fuckin’ thing off.”
“Then maybe the battery died,” I tried again. “Or maybe she left it in her car.”
“Yeah, well I hope you’re right, but I wouldn’t lay money on it.”
“Yeah, me too.”
My friend withdrew his own cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open. After a pair of aborted attempts, he tossed it over into my lap.
“Friggin’ little ass buttons,” he complained. “Try ‘er again. She’s three.”
I peered at the backlit screen and thumbed the button to backspace out of the several numbers he’d managed to fumble into the device with his oversized digits. Once cleared, I stabbed three and hit the send button.
The phone at the other end rang a trio of times and was followed by a click and Constance’s digitally recorded greeting as it switched over to voice mail. I thumbed the end button and began stabbing in Felicity’s cell number.
“Still just voice mail,” I announced as I tucked the device back up to my ear.
My wife’s phone mimicked Mandalay’s in that it switched almost immediately to the pre-recorded voice mail announcement.
I ended the call without leaving a message then folded the cell back on itself and placed it on the console between us.
“Same thing with Felicity’s,” I said aloud.
“We’re almost there anyway,” he replied.
He slowed a bit as we approached the intersection at the head of my street then veered into a shallow turn, clipping the curb and barely missing the stop sign. As he aimed the vehicle along the pavement, I looked up through the windshield, and my heart skipped into the pit of my stomach. In the distance were two sets of flickering light bars atop what were most likely Briarwood patrol cars. Even though we were still almost a block away, I knew immediately that they weren’t there on a routine traffic stop.
By the time we came to a halt behind them and in front of my house, there was a new set of frantic lights coming toward us from the opposite end of the street. I looked quickly up to my front porch, where an officer stood speaking into his radio, then back down to the rapidly approaching emergency lights.
I could tell by their configuration that they belonged to either an ambulance or a life support vehicle.