Crone's Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation (35 page)

“We have to go,” Felicity announced, her
words leaving no room for negotiation.

“We ain’t goin’ anywhere for a while,” Ben
said, giving his head a quick shake.

“How long is ‘awhile’?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I dunno. As long as it
takes.”

She stared back at him with a hard look and
then shook her head, speaking tersely. “We simply don’t have time
to wait around, Ben.”

He looked back at her, then drew in a deep
breath and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he
closed his eyes. You could almost see him mentally counting to
five. He slowly let out the breath and then opened his eyes.

“Let’s try this again,” he announced. “I came
over here to tell you two that ya’ should prob’ly get comfortable.
‘Cause we ain’t goin’ anywhere for a while.”

My wife continued glaring at him defiantly.
He raised his eyebrows and glared back at her.

“You were here,” he finally said, motioning
to the scene behind him. “You saw what happened, right? Or am I
just imaginin’ that?”

“Aye, we saw it. And your point?”

“Felicity, there are two dead bodies over
there,” he explained, hooking his thumb over his shoulder again.
“The clerk and the kid who shot her.”

“I understand that,” she replied, “But what
about Kimberly?”

“What do you want me to do?” he asked as he
splayed out his hands, palms up in resignation. “I can’t help that
we stumbled into a fuckin’ armed robbery. Believe me, I wish we
hadn’t just as much as you do.”

“Can’t we just give our statements and get
out of here?” I asked, trying to help defuse the tension between
them.

“I wish it was that easy,” he replied.
“But one of those dead bodies over there has three
government-issue, forty-caliber
Hydra-Shoks
in it, courtesy of Mandalay. There’s
no way to just give a statement and walk away from
that.”

“What about us?” Felicity pressed. “You
didn’t shoot anyone and neither did we.”

“I was backing her up, and you two were
witnesses,” he replied.

“Can’t you just get them to hurry up?” She
was almost physically shaking from her frustration.

“I’m a city cop, Felicity. This is the
county, and I’m not with the MCS so it ain’t my jurisdiction.
Besides, you don’t rush this kinda shit. Not when people are dead.
You know that.”

“So, how is Constance anyway?” I interjected,
trying to change the subject.

“Holdin’ up,” he replied, pursing his lips
and casting a glance back her way. “It’s never easy… Especially
when it’s a kid.”

“How old was he?”

“Got no ID yet, but he looks like he can’t be
more than fourteen.”

“Too young,” I muttered.

“Tell me about it,” he replied and then
reached up to his neck.

“Ben,” Felicity appealed again, her voice
softer but no less demanding. “We have to go. Kimberly can’t hold
out much longer.”

“Felicity…” His voiced trailed off for a
moment, obviously tired. “You don’t even know for sure where she
is.”

“I showed you on the map,” she replied.

“You showed me the Chain of Rocks Bridge to
the other side of the river,” he returned.

“But it has to be somewhere close to
there.”

“Yeah, but where?” he asked. “Twenty-five
mile arc? Fifty-mile arc? Huh? What are we gonna do, go across the
bridge, start yellin’ ‘er name and hope she answers?”

“Dammit, Benjamin!” she snipped. “There’s a
way to find her, I know it, but we have to go!”

“What way? How?”

She shot me a furtive glance. “You wouldn’t
understand. Just… We need to go!”

“Try me.”

“There’s no time for explaining!” she
insisted. “We have to go!”

“Okay! Fine! Whaddaya want me ta’ do?”

“Get us out of here.”

“Okay, how?”

“Tell them about Kimberly.”

“Tell ‘em what?”

“That she’s out of time!” she spat. “That
she’s going to die if we don’t do something!”

“So, lemme get this straight. You want me to
go to the lead detective and say, ‘hey, the little redheaded Witch
over there says we gotta go now, ‘cause she saw a kidnap victim in
her crystal ball’ is that it?” he asserted.

“I thought you believed me,” she snarled.

“I do, Felicity,” he shot back. “I’ve always
fuckin’ believed you two.”

“Then just trust me!”

“I told you, I do, but right now what I
believe doesn’t mean shit to these cops!”

“How do you know if you don’t try?!” my wife
demanded.

“You know better than that. You think
tellin’ ‘em some
Twilight Zone
crap is gonna fly? Gimme a break.”

She glared back at him for a moment, then
stepped around him and started across the lot. All she said was,
“Well if you won’t do it, then I will.”

S
he didn’t get very
far.

It took Ben less than two full steps to catch
up to her and clamp a large hand around her arm, stopping my petite
wife dead in her tracks.

“You don’t wanna do that,” he told her.

“And why not?” she demanded.

“Because I doubt they’re gonna be as
understanding as I am, for one,” he retorted. “And for two, they’re
liable to put your ass in a rubber room. Want some more?”

“We’ll just have to see what they do, won’t
we.” She offered the question as a rhetorical statement.

My friend shook his head. “No. No we
won’t.”

She tugged hard, trying to pull away. “Let go
of me!”

“Dammit, Felicity, don’t make me cuff you to
the fuckin’ van,” he barked.

“You wouldn’t dare!” my wife returned
angrily.

“Watch me,” he growled.

“Fek tù!”

“Yeah, right back atchya’.”

Felicity twisted harder, still trying to pull
away. She struggled for a moment, and having no success, she
suddenly cocked her leg back then kicked him hard in the shin. Ben
winced as he let out a stifled yelp but still maintained his grip
on the auburn-haired firestorm. When she tried to repeat the
attack, he shuffled quickly out of the way, causing her to miss and
almost lose her balance.

He responded to her near fall by pushing her
against the front corner of the van and steadying her there.
Stepping back, he held my wife at arms length and then simply
glared at her without so much as a word.

Felicity started her struggle anew and found
herself locked in an even tighter grip. She looked over and called
out to me. “Rowan?!”

From the tone of her voice, I knew she was
appealing for help, and that was going to be a problem. I had been
purposely staying out of the middle of this for the most part. I
knew Ben wouldn’t hurt her, although I wasn’t entirely sure about
the reverse. I also knew better than to get in front of Felicity
when she was on a mission, and that put me in a quandary, because
with everything that had happened, I could plainly see what Ben was
up against.

Of course, the fact that they were both too
stubborn to admit fault didn’t help. In truth, I had seen this
coming. As on edge as we had been the past few hours, this
altercation was all but a forgone conclusion. And, it came as no
surprise that it was between the two of them.

As usual, life was an obstacle course, and
unlike the movies, you couldn’t always make the hurdles in a
single, graceful leap. In fact, you usually fell flat on your face
and skinned your knees before moving on. Even worse, some of the
bars were set higher than others, and this particular one was
starting to look more like a wall.

Now I was caught with my back against that
barrier, knowing exactly how my wife was feeling at this very
moment but also fully aware of how police investigations worked. I
didn’t like the situation any more than they did. But, in the end,
we had no choice in the matter, and that was an irrefutable
fact.

“Honey, Ben’s right,” I told her. “There’s
nothing he can do.”

“You’re taking his side?” she almost
pleaded.

“I’m not taking anyone’s side,” I explained.
“I’m just telling you how it is.”

“That’s fine!” she snapped. “I said I’d do it
myself then.”

“Okay, but tell me this,” I said. “What makes
you think they’re going to listen to you if they won’t listen to
him?”

She stared back at me with anger, anxiety,
and a host of other emotions dancing in her eyes. I could tell she
was on the verge of declaring one of the Gaelic epithets she kept
in her arsenal of curses, but I could also see a look of
resignation behind her molten gaze. As impetuous as she could be
under the right set of circumstances, she was also one who
subscribed to logic. Even though it was obvious that she didn’t
want to admit it, she knew we were both correct.

A long moment passed with nothing said, then
she literally shrieked, venting her frustration into the night with
an audible burst.

“All right!” she said. “Let me go.”

“You gonna calm down?” Ben asked
pointedly.

“Yes, damn you, now let me go.”

My friend slowly released his grip on her
upper arm, a tentative look filling his face. She jerked it away
and began rubbing the spot where he had been clamped on. I could
tell by the way Ben had positioned himself that he was expecting
her to bolt, but to his surprise, she stayed put and simply glared
back at him.

“Sorry if I hurt ya’,” he apologized.

She answered him in a flat tone. “Aye, you
did.”

“Yeah, well that fuckin’ kick wasn’t exactly
pleasant either,” he offered in reply.

“Be glad I actually like you then,” she
returned flatly. “With someone else, I would have aimed
differently.”

Ben shook his head, then said, “Listen, just
stay here and calm down. I’m gonna see what I can do, but I’m not
makin’ any promises.”

“Thank you,” Felicity said.

“Yeah, well don’t thank me yet, I’m prob’ly
not gonna get anywhere.”

“For trying, Ben,” she returned. “Thank you
for at least trying.”

* * * * *

“What are we going to do, Rowan?” Felicity
asked.

She was parked in her seat, and she had
reclined it even farther than it had been earlier. The light of the
streetlamp above was filtering in through the tinted windows,
bringing a dim glow to the interior that made her pale complexion
look just that much more ghostly. She had her eyes closed, and she
was slowly massaging her temples.

“Wait, I guess,” I replied. “It’s all we can
do.”

“I’m having a hard time with that,” she
said.

“I know, me too,” I agreed.

Ben had been gone for almost half an hour
now. We had watched the goings on for a while but finally lost
sight of him after he followed one of the detectives into the
convenience store. Apparently Constance was already in there,
because she had disappeared long before he did.

We waited expectantly, milling around in
front of the van and watching for any sign of his return. However,
when he didn’t come back out of the building for several minutes,
it became obvious that his earlier assessment had been the correct
one. We weren’t going anywhere for a while.

We eventually gave up the anxious vigil and
climbed into the van to escape the chill of the night air. We were
both pushing the limits of exhaustion, and it felt good to have
someplace reasonably comfortable to sit. Had it not been for the
emotional fuel we were both burning, I suspect we would have fallen
asleep where we sat.

I yawned and then asked, “So how’s your head
doing?”

“Killing me.”

“Yeah…” I murmured. “I know the feeling.”

“What about you?”

“Dull ache,” I answered. “But you seem to be
taking the brunt of it.”

“Yes I am,” she muttered.

We fell quiet for a few moments, and I rested
my eyes as I listened to her breathing. Her respirations seemed to
cycle, coming shallow for a measure, then deepening, and even
holding on occasion. She was obviously fighting with some pain, and
she reminded me of myself when I was dealing with the lingering
effects of channeling.

She suddenly drew in a deep breath, but
instead of simply exhaling she spoke. Her words were offered as a
matter-of-fact statement, devoid of emotion. “Kimberly is going to
die.”

“You don’t know that,” I told her.

“Aye, I do. I can feel it. She can’t take
much more.”

“She might have a better constitution than
you give her credit for,” I offered. “You never know.”

My wife remained silent with the exception of
repeating the series of panting breaths. I continued watching her
as she worked through the pain and began to wonder about what she
was experiencing. There was a very guarded feeling about her, but
I’d paid little attention until now.

“Felicity, you aren’t still connected with
her are you?” I finally asked, trying to keep the concern out of my
voice.

She gave a slight nod of her head. “Yes.”

“Exactly how connected are you?”

“Enough to know. To feel.”

“So, what are you feeling?” I pressed.

“Pain” was her single word answer.

“You’re sure it’s not residual?” I mused.
“From earlier?”

“No, it’s definitely new,” she replied,
still not opening her eyes, then murmured in a disgusted tone,
“He’s hurting her again, the
braidean
.”

I continued watching her, and for the first
time noticed that she would occasionally twitch. “Have you stayed
connected the entire time? I mean ever since the seizure
earlier?”

“On and off,” she said. “More on than off,
lately.”

“Are you having trouble grounding?”

“No.”

“Then why are you…” I let my voice trail off,
falling silent for a moment, and then proceeded forward with a new
question. “Are you doing this on purpose?”