Love Is The Bond: A Rowan Gant Investigation (26 page)

I turned slightly and pulled up my shirt to
reveal a red welt on my ribcage that was already shifting into
darker shades.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Report also says she
kicked ya’ when you were on the ground cuffed. All that does is
prove she’s got a temper and we already knew that, possessed or
not.”

“You need more?” I started to roll up my pant
leg.

“Row, listen, it sounds to me like you just
told me all the reasons why she ain’t possessed. I gotta tell ya’,
you wouldn’t make a very good lawyer.”

“No…” I grumbled as I stopped fumbling
with the leg of my trousers. “Listen to me. What I’m saying is that
she might not actually be possessed by
Lwa.
”

He gestured back and forth in front of
himself with pointed index fingers. “You know, I think that’s what
I’m saying I just said you said.”

I closed my eyes and dropped my forehead into
my hand for a moment. Then, as I looked up, I thumped the heel of
my fist against the metal bars in front of him. “Dammit, Ben, will
you just listen to me!”

“Calm down, Row,” he instructed as he nodded
toward the corner of the room. “You’re on freakin’ candid camera
and actin’ like this ain’t gonna help your case.”

I took a deep breath then let it out slowly.
“Just listen to me while I try to explain what I’m talking
about.”

“Okay. Cut to the chase.”

“We know the person who killed the cop,
ummm…”

“Hobbes.”

“Hobbes. Anyway, Hobbes’ killer
performed a Voodoo ritual, the purpose of which I won’t know until
I either look up those other two
veve
or we find someone more knowledgeable about
the religion than me. However, what I’m thinking is that during
that ritual she may have become possessed.”

“Assuming the killer is a she, yeah, okay.”
He nodded. “That’s still speculation on your part.”

“She is,” I told him flatly. “Trust me. Now,
Felicity, for some reason I can’t fathom, has some type of
connection to this killer. Whether it’s some kind of subconscious
conduit because of the fact that she’s not grounding very well, I
don’t know, but there’s no denying that the connection is
there.

“I can tell you that she’s already had a
couple of instances where she channeled the killer. You heard about
that yesterday when she got into the whole S&M fetish…”

“Yeah, yeah,” he held up his hands. “We can
skip that part. Go on.”

“Anyway, she showed up at the crime scene
today, and in a very short period of time, her personality started
doing a one-eighty.”

“She was arguin’ with a copper. You
know, we
are
talkin’ about
Felicity here.”

“Yes, but she was going overboard.”

“True.”

“And, when we got into the Jeep, she told me
she was getting off on it.”

“You mean like, ‘getting off’ getting off? As
in…” He allowed the question to dangle unfinished.

“Exactly. It was almost like it was foreplay
to her or something. Anyway, by the time we got as far as that
convenience store, she had become an entirely different person. She
had taken on the persona of a dominatrix with a very violent
streak.”

“Yeah, well, from what she said it sounded
like that was somethin’ she was into anyway,” Ben offered.

“Apparently she is, but just for play. Not to
actually maim or kill.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

“Yeah, okay, so maybe she was just tryin’ to
get you to play.”

“Believe me, she wasn’t playing. She was
serious.”

“So, you really think she wanted to kill
you?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” I replied. “But, I
know she wanted to hurt me. Badly. And, apparently just the thought
of causing me physical harm was getting her seriously aroused all
over again.”

“Again, I’d appreciate it if you’d skip that
part.”

“I wish.”

“Well, you’re right about one thing,”
he said with a sigh. “This sure’s fuck’s way out there past regular
old
Twilight Zone
shit.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “The best I can
figure is that it is some kind of ‘collateral possession’ or
something of that sort.”

Ben looked down at the floor and shook his
head.

After a lethargic moment I asked, “So, do you
believe me now?”

His hand slowly went up to smooth his hair
then slid back and came to rest on his neck as his fingers
carefully worked the muscles. “Jeezus, Row…” he finally muttered.
“I still dunno.”

“Okay,” I said, suddenly remembering
something I had left out. “Why don’t you go talk to her.”

“About what?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I replied quickly. “I just
want you to hear her voice.”

He looked up from the floor and furrowed his
brow then pointed an index finger at me. “Is she doin’ the
accent?”

“She has
an
accent but not the one you’re
thinking.”

“Southern?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

He nodded. “Uh-huh. Okay. So that guy wasn’t
an idiot after all.”

“What guy? What are you talking about?”

“Desk jockey out front,” he replied. “Told me
Felicity had the sweetest Southern accent he’d ever heard. I argued
with him for damn near five minutes tryin’ ta’ tell ‘im it was
Irish. He just looked at me like I’d lost my friggin’ mind.”

We stood silently staring at one another for
a moment, then I said, “Ben, your killer originates from the
Southern United States, and she’s still out there. On top of that,
right now her personality, or some aspect of it, has taken control
of my wife.”

“So all this is why you wanted her to drink
the salt water?”

“Pretty much.”

“And that’d fix ‘er?”

“I don’t know. It was just an idea, but I do
know that the personality in control of her knew exactly what I was
doing and refused to take a drink, so I must have been on to
something.”

“Sheesh… I ever told ya’ that you two are a
coupl’a freaks?”

“Yes. Several times in fact.”

“Well, I’m tellin’ ya’ again.”

“Duly noted.”

“Okay, sit tight, I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” I called to him as he
turned to go.

He tossed the reply over his shoulder as he
pulled open the door. “First, to check on your wife, and second, to
see if I can get your happy ass outta here.”

“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.