Crone's Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation (23 page)

“Sorry about that,” she apologized before
continuing. “Anyway, if I remember correctly, they open at seven
A.M. like most of the other state parks.”

“That’s almost three hours from now,”
Felicity objected.

“I’m sure I could get someone out there to
unlock the gate,” Mandalay replied. “But I don’t think it would be
a good idea. This is still just between us, and if you’re wrong,
the whole thing could blow up in our faces.”

“But I’m not wrong,” Felicity objected.

“I believe you think that, Felicity,” she
said. “But are you absolutely sure? You’ve been through a lot
tonight. Both of you. How do you know you aren’t misreading it all?
The map you drew doesn’t look anything like the park you are
pointing at.”

“I just know I’m not,” my wife returned.

“That’s not good enough,” Constance told her.
“You have to remember what, and most especially who, we are dealing
with here. My influence with the Major Case Squad is tenuous at
best. If we attract attention from the wrong parties, then this
could go very sour. Especially if this turns out to be a wild goose
chase.”

“Besides, Felicity,” Ben interjected.
“Even if ya’
Twilight Zone
in
on the right spot, it’s still gonna be dark for a coupl’a hours
yet.”

She gave him an animated raise of her
eyebrows. “So?”

“So, I don’t think it’d be a good idea for us
to go knockin’ around in the woods with flashlights,” he
returned.

“But we have more than flashlights,” Felicity
countered. “We have me.”

Mandalay forced back another yawn with the
back of her hand and then shook her head at my wife. “You’re
beginning to sound like Rowan.”

“Aye, and you’re sounding like Ben used to,”
Felicity replied.

“Just trying to play it safe, Felicity,” she
told her. “You know how touchy all of this is.”

Ben spoke up again. “Like I said, Felicity,
even if you go la-la and give us an exact location, we can’t see in
the dark. The point is, if we go screwin’ around out there, we
might accidentally fuck up the crime scene and lose a crucial piece
of evidence without even knowin’ it. It’d be better if we do this
at first light.”

“He’s right,” I said.

“I know he is,” she replied, resigned
frustration seasoning her words as she made nervous motions with
her hands. “But, I… I just… I don’t know… I just feel like I have
to do something.”

“I know, honey,” I replied. “I’ve been there,
remember?”

“So why don’t we look at a map of the park,
then?” she proposed. “Maybe the one I drew is on a smaller scale,
then.”

“That’s true, it could be. It would be a
starting point at least,” Constance agreed. “Do you have one?”

“No,” she replied in a dejected tone, then
let out a heavy breath as her shoulders drooped noticeably. She
turned her back to the table and silently walked into the
kitchen.

“I can probably download one from the State
Parks or Conservation Department website,” I offered, speaking loud
enough that I hoped she could hear as well.

“Okay, let’s do that,” Mandalay gave a nod as
she spoke.

“Let’s back up for a second. We can go at
this from a different angle too,” Ben offered. “Row, you got a
phone book handy?”

“Sure,” I replied, starting toward the
bookshelves in the living room. “What for?”

“Woodcrest Park is named after the muni it
borders,” he told me. “So I’m gonna call Woodcrest PD and see if
there’s been anything suspicious happen around there in the last
day or so.”

“Good idea, Storm,” Mandalay said.

“Yeah, I have ‘em on occasion,” he replied
with a slight sardonic note.

I returned quickly with the phone book. He
flipped it open as he took it from me and then began thumbing his
way toward the government office ‘blue pages’. “Can I use your
phone?” he asked as he searched the hefty book.

“Sure. I’ll get it,” I replied and then
stepped into the kitchen to retrieve the handset. When I came
around the corner, Felicity was standing with her arms crossed and
leaning back against the counter. She was staring at the floor, her
chin against her chest, and she was nibbling at her lower lip once
again.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Aye.” She gave a small nod. “I’m fine.”

“Ben is going to call the Woodcrest Police
Department,” I offered.

“I heard.”

“You know, we can probably get a map of the
park off the Internet.”

“Aye, I heard that too.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

She looked up and gave me a weak smile. “I’m
fine, Row. Just very, very tired, that’s all.”

“Here it is,” Ben announced behind me. “Row.
Phone.”

I glanced over my shoulder then back to her.
“It’s going to be okay,” I said as I started backing out of the
doorway. “I promise.”

“I know,” she answered with a nod. “I’ll be
sure of that.”

Ben took the phone from my hand as I turned,
and then he began stabbing the number into the handset. A moment
later, he tucked it up to his ear and waited expectantly.

“Yeah, good morning,” he said suddenly. “My
name’s Ben Storm, I’m a detective with St. Louis City Homicide. I
need to speak with your watch commander… Yeah… Great, what’s his
name? Okay, what’s her name? Sergeant Michelle Marshall… Great…
Thanks… Yeah, it’s Detective Ben Storm… Yeah, that’s right, City
Homicide. Yeah, I’ll hold. Thanks.”

Ben twisted the handset away from his mouth
and reached up with his free hand to massage his neck. After a
moment, he canted the receiver back up to his mouth and began
speaking again. “Yeah, Sergeant Marshall. Detective Storm. Yeah… I
know… Yeah, tell me about it, I’m runnin’ on about four hours outta
the last twenty-four… Yeah, kinda… So listen, I’m wantin’ ta’ check
if you’ve had any reports of vandalism or trespassing over at
Woodcrest Park the past couple of days?… Really?… When was that?…
No kidding… You find anything?… Okay… Yeah… Yeah… No, just a theory
I’m workin’ on, nothing for sure… No, pretty minor case, nothin’
too serious… Yeah… Uh-huh… Yeah…” He looked over at me and rolled
his eyes. “Yeah, that’s me… Thanks, I think…” He let out a forced
chuckle. “Yeah… Well I appreciate it… Sure, if it pans out we’ll be
sure to let ya’ know… Yeah… Thanks… Bye.”

He pulled the handset away and pressed his
thumb against the off-hook switch.

“Well?” Agent Mandalay asked.

“Park attendant found the gate unlatched when
she arrived Saturday morning,” he answered. “Chain had been
snapped. Prob’ly with a bolt cutter, but there was no other
vandalism they could find. Apparently, this happens every now and
then. According to the Sergeant, they’ve caught a coupl’a drunk
good ol’ boys in the past who thought it’d be a good idea to go
fishin’ in the middle of the night and broke in so they could use
the boat ramp.”

“But not this time?” I asked.

“Nope.” He shook his head. “But since there
was no other damage, they just wrote it off and filed a vandalism
report.”

He offered me the handset and I took it.

“So what was the eye roll about?” I asked as
I started backing slowly toward the kitchen doorway.

“She asked if I was the same Detective Storm
that’s been on TV with ‘that Witch’,” he replied flatly.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “You’re my freakin’ claim
to fame apparently.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he sighed. “It’s not
the first time I’ve been asked, won’t be the last I’m sure.”

I turned then continued through the doorway
and dropped the phone back into its wall base. My mouth was already
open to speak to my wife when I looked up and saw that the room was
empty. I had been fairly intent on Ben’s side of the phone
conversation, but I couldn’t imagine having missed Felicity coming
into the room. Still, it wasn’t something I could rule out
either.

I glanced around and then turned and called
back into the dining room, “Felicity?”

I waited a few seconds but heard no reply. I
called out again, “Is Felicity in there?”

“I thought she was in there,” Constance
called back to me.

I felt my mouth curl downward into a frown as
the hair on the back of my neck began to prickle in a wave of
gooseflesh. The frightening hollowness that tended to visit the pit
of my stomach from time to time announced its arrival, and I knew
instantly that something was amiss.

I walked through the kitchen without a word
and continued out the back door, through the atrium sun porch, and
exited onto the deck. The security floods were still lit, casting
illumination across the raised expanse but eventually dissipating
as they lost their battle against the darkness a few feet beyond
the railing. My wife was still nowhere to be seen.

I frowned harder and advanced across the
deck, peering into the night toward the back of the yard. It wasn’t
unheard of for her to sit on the bench along the side of her
potting shed when she wanted some solitude. I strained to see if I
could pick out her form amid the faint silhouette of the
outbuilding but saw nothing resembling a person at all.

“Felicity?” I called out.

Hearing no reply, I pressed forward and down
the shallow flight of stairs to the concrete apron of the driveway
leading to the garage.

“Felicity?” I called into the darkness
again.

Still, I received no reply.

The hollowness was beginning to gnaw a hole
in my stomach, and every sense in my body started advancing toward
overload. I turned to my right and walked across the driveway/patio
area until I cleared the corner of the house and gazed down toward
the street.

Ben’s van was off to the side of the drive,
having been straightened by RJ earlier after the cop’s drunken
parking attempt. Past that, I could see the tail end of Constance’s
sedan where she had parked on the street in front of our house.
What was conspicuously missing from the scene was my wife’s
Jeep.

I spun in place and began a fast walk back
across the concrete to the deck then back into the house. As I
entered the back door, I looked up at the note board on the side of
the refrigerator. Next to it was a line of hooks for extra keys,
and the spot reserved for Felicity’s spares was empty.

Ben was just pouring himself a fresh cup of
coffee as I came in, and he looked up. It didn’t take any of his
training for him to see that I was distressed. He immediately
asked, “What’s wrong, white man?”

“Felicity’s gone,” I told him quickly. “So is
her Jeep. I think she’s gone out there by herself.”

“G
oddammit!” my friend
exclaimed. “Hasn’t she ever heard of a chain of evidence? If
there’s a crime scene out there, and she fucks it up, it’s not
gonna do us any good at all.”

“She’s not thinking straight right now, Ben,”
I replied sharply.

Constance apparently heard the commotion and
came through the doorway with a puzzled expression on her face.
“What’s going on?”

“Felicity’s gone,” I told her quickly.

“Are you sure? I didn’t even hear her
leave.”

“Apparently neither did the dogs because they
didn’t bark or anything, which is unheard of.” I shook my head.
“But her Jeep is definitely gone.”

“You don’t think she…” she began.

“That’s exactly what I think,” I replied
before she could finish the question. “And, we have to stop
her.”

“Jeezus!” Ben spat. “She’s worse than you,
white man. At least you wait until I’m not around before pullin’
some kinda stunt.”

“She doesn’t deal well with people being
victimized,” I told him, impatience growing in my voice.
“Especially women.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious,” he shot back,
starting toward the phone. “But what the hell does she think she’s
gonna do out there?”

“Probably the same thing we’ve been trying to
do here. Figure out who is doing this,” I explained, growing more
agitated with each passing second. “Can we save the why’s for
later? We’ve got to stop her.”

“What the fuck are you so worked up about,
Row?” Ben asked as he snatched the telephone receiver from the
wall. “Worst thing that can happen is she screws over the crime
scene. I’m the one that needs to be pissed, not you.”

“No it isn’t!” I snapped. “You saw what
happened here tonight. What do you think is going to happen if she
manages to connect directly with Brittany Larson’s corpse?”

“What? You’ve done that kinda stuff before,”
he replied. “I’ve seen you do it at the morgue.”

“Yes, you have,” I shot back. “And think
about it. Remember what happened? If Felicity hadn’t been there to
bring me back, I would have ended up being their latest
customer.”

His eyes widened as the realization hit him.
“Jeezus.”

“Not my choice of deities,” I spat. “But,
yeah. Exactly. We have to stop her before she finds the body and
tries something stupid.”

“Surely she knows what could happen,”
Constance offered.

“Probably, but like I said, she’s not
thinking straight,” I reiterated. “The way she’s been shifting in
and out of trances, I’m not even sure she’s fully in this world
right now.”

“Yeah, Detective Storm again.” Ben was
speaking into the phone. “I need to speak with Sergeant Marshall
again… Thanks…” He twisted the phone down and looked over to
Constance. “Yo, Mandalay. See if you can figure out the most likely
route she would take from here.”

Agent Mandalay gave him a quick nod and
ducked back into the dining room to check the maps.

“Yeah, Sergeant Marshall,” Ben said as he
suddenly twisted the phone back up to his mouth. “Listen, I got a
situation… Yeah, I wish… So listen, you got someone headed for
Woodcrest Park right now and she’s intent on gettin’ in… No, no,
she’s a civilian consultant… No, she’s just a little overzealous
right now… Yeah, I just need you to stop her if we don’t get to her
first. Yeah, her name is Felicity O’Brien. About five-two, one-ten
or so, long red hair. She’s drivin’ a black Jeep Wrangler, license
plates…” Ben looked at me questioningly and motioned for me to give
up the information.