Love Is The Bond: A Rowan Gant Investigation (30 page)

“Did you wake up at any time?”

“A little after eleven this morning when
Constance and Agent Drew showed up.”

“Did you wake up before that?”

“Not that I remember.”

“So you can’t say for certain that Felicity
was actually in the bed with you the whole time.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I waved my
hands at him in an angry gesture of dismissal.

“How about when Wentworth was popped.”

“What?!”

“You heard me.”

“Don’t you think you’re the one getting a
little far fetched now?”

“Maybe, maybe not, I dunno,” he huffed then
stared off into the dining room for a moment before looking back at
me and pointing toward the chair behind me. “Sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down.”

“Sit your ass down, or I’m gonna do it for
ya’,” he ordered, and I knew he wasn’t joking.

I looked over my shoulder, took a step back
and perched myself on the arm of the chair then snipped, “Okay, I’m
sitting. Happy?”

He didn’t respond to my sarcasm. Instead, he
smoothed back his hair and began massaging his neck again. I
watched him, my anger with what he had just implied still
percolating deep inside me. But, as I stared at my friend, I
noticed that the look on his face was one of the most intensely
disturbed expressions I had ever seen him wear in all the time I
had known him. It wasn’t one of malice but more of deep
uneasiness.

At that moment, the hollowness in my chest
started to grow.Ben finally took in a deep breath and let it out in
a loud huff then locked his gaze with mine. “Listen to me, Rowan. I
didn’t come back in right away because I got a phone call from
Ackman.”

I knew the name. He was one of the detectives
with whom Ben worked on the Major Case Squad, and upon hearing the
words, my first thought was that we were too late. Fear started to
run rampant in my chest as I imagined the things my wife may have
done without even knowing it.

“Gods!” I sputtered. “What happened? Did they
find her?”

“No, not yet. Now, hold on, it’s not what
you’re thinkin’, but it sure as hell ain’t good.”

“What?” I asked, calming only slightly.

“Listen, I gotta tell ya’ some stuff you
ain’t gonna wanna hear. They got the preliminaries back on the post
from Officer Hobbes. Seems the M.E. found some foreign hairs on the
body, and CSU found some that matched in the shower drain.”

I knew immediately where he was heading with
this, and I shot back, “Well, they aren’t Felicity’s if that’s what
you are trying to say.”

“Rowan, they were red, and they were long,”
he replied.

“She’s not the only redhead in the world,
Ben,” I snapped.

“I know that, Rowan. But they found some on
Wentworth too.”

“She was there taking the damn crime scene
photos, Ben.”

“Yeah, that was the thought at first. But,
now, with Hobbes… She wasn’t in that room. At least not with us…
Today…”

“You’re just jumping to conclusions.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I kinda am,” he said
with a nod. “But, listen, you told me yourself that you’re afraid
she’s gonna hurt someone. Maybe even kill ‘em.”

“Yes, I did,” I replied. “Now that she’s
under the influence of this collateral possession, that’s a
possibility. Which is one of the primary reasons we need to be out
there looking for her right now.”

“Believe me, there are plenty of people
lookin’ for ‘er. You have no idea.”

“Yeah. People with guns who think she’s an
armed fugitive.”

He shook his head. “Got news for ya’, Row.
She is.”

“That’s not my point,” I snapped. “We need
to…”

He held up his hand to stop me. “Let’s
get back to what I was sayin’. Now, let’s say I believe you on this
whole possessed thing. What’s to say she wasn’t all
Twilight Zoned
out last night, waited
for you to go to sleep, then out the door she went?”

“That’s ridiculous,” I objected. “Even if she
snuck out of the house, which she didn’t, how do you figure she
would have even connected with Hobbes in such a short period of
time?”

“Maybe she knew him already.”

“How?”

“I dunno, Rowan. You tell me. He had her
business card in his wallet.”

“She’s a freelance photographer, Ben. Her
business card is sitting on the counter of every camera store in a
fifty mile radius.”

“Yeah, true.” He nodded. “Or maybe she gave
it to ‘im when they met somewhere.”

“So you’re trying to tell me that my wife has
been having an illicit affair?”

“Look, all I know is that they found her card
in his wallet. Ackman also did some askin’ around and found out
Hobbes was leading a bit of a secret life,” he explained. “He was
really into the whole kinky sex thing. By Felicity’s own admission,
she was too.”

“Operative word there, Ben.
Was
.”

“I dunno. I got the impression she was still
up for it, Row.”

“Maybe so, but if it was something she wanted
to get back into, I think she would have said something to me.”

“Maybe not.”

My retort came out as a growl. “I don’t have
to listen to this crap!”

“Okay, okay. Calm down. So maybe he did get
her card from the camera store. They coulda hooked up another way.
He was apparently a regular at a nightclub over on the east side
that caters to the whole domination fetish crowd. East side’s only
a twenty-minute drive from here… Even less at that time of night.
So maybe she cruised over…”

“Come on, Ben…”

“Look, I told ya’ you weren’t gonna wanna
hear this.”

“Let me get this straight. First you’re
telling me that my wife is running around on me. Now you’re trying
to get me to believe that she waited for me to go to sleep, slipped
out, went over to a fetish bar on the east side, picked up a guy,
brought him back across the river to a motel, played extreme
bondage games with him, and finally she killed him. Then, after all
of that, she comes home, crawls back into bed with me, and in the
morning it’s like nothing ever happened.”

“Yeah, I know, Rowan. It sounds out there to
me too.”

“That’s because it is,” I replied. “Out
there.”

“Where was she when Wentworth bought it?”

“I’m not listening to any more of this
crap.”

“Look, I’m not sayin’ this is what
happened.”

“That’s what it sounds like to me.”

“Listen, Row, I’d much rather believe your
version.”

“So, why even bring all this up?”

“Because it’s a theory that’s been advanced
to the MCS.”

“By who?” I demanded then held up my hand to
stop him from answering. “No, wait. Don’t tell me. Albright.”

“Yeah,” he replied with a nod.

“Bitch.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s she even involved for?”

“The possible connection with Wentworth,” he
replied. “Told ya’ she’d be all over it.”

“So, why go to the east side?” I suddenly
appealed.

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Why didn’t Felicity just torture and kill me
instead? I was right here. Why go to the trouble of sneaking out
and going to the east side?”

“Maybe she loves ya’ too much to actually
kill ya’.”

“Why would whatever or whoever is possessing
her give a…” I let the rest of the sentence go unspoken, switching
instantly from a question to an accusation. “You don’t actually
believe she’s possessed.”

“Listen, Row…” he started then blew out a
heavy sigh. “Like you just figured out. It’s not what I believe
that’s important right now. There are a lot of other people
involved in this investigation, and Bible Barb has their ears.”

“Felicity did NOT kill Officer Hobbes, Ben.
Wentworth either.”

“I believe ya’, Rowan.”

“And, she
is
under the influence of some type of spirit
possession.”

“Like I said, I believe ya’.”

“Well, you’ll have to excuse me, but I’m
beginning to wonder.”

“I’m still a cop, Row,” he offered
apologetically. “It was either gonna be me or someone else askin’
the questions. I wanted it ta’ be me. First anyway, because trust
me, they’ll get asked again, and not nearly as nice.”

“I guess I should say thank you,” I said
without much conviction.

“Thank me later. I just need ya’ ta’ know
that after everything that’s happened today, Felicity’s gonna be
real high on the list of suspects. Especially after what happened
here.”

“Then let’s go find her before one of them
does.”

“Okay, where do you want to look first?”

“I wish I knew.”

“Yeah. It’s a good idea on paper,” he said
with a nod then mumbled, “Jeezus. Déjà fuckin’ vu.”

“About what?” I asked.

“Your goddamned wife,” he grunted. “Last time
she got all la-la on us, she ran off ta’ chase ghosts in a friggin’
park in the middle of the night. At least that time she left us a
map.”

He was referring to the kidnapping and
homicide case we’d worked two years ago. The first and only time,
until now, that Felicity had been so in tune with the other side of
the veil. And, the very reason I’d buried the poppet in the back
yard, not that it seemed to be doing its job at present.

“Yeah,” I replied with a nod. “But, when she
did that it was a conscious decision on her part. This time it
isn’t. There’s someone else in control of her body.”

“I hate to break the bad news to ya’, Rowan,
but the coppers out there are lookin’ for Felicity O’Brien. Not
Zuli Dano, or whatever her name is.”

“Ezili Dantó
.
And, something tells me she’s not the
Lwa
who’s doing this. I’m betting it’s the one we
haven’t identified yet.”

“Yeah, whatever, but what I’m sayin’ is
Firehair’s the one up to her neck in shit. Not a nameless pile of
cornmeal on a motel room table.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think I hafta tell ya’ that this is
a fuckin’ mess, right?”

“Right.”

“Yeah, well, I’m gonna tell ya’ anyway. This
is a fuckin’ mess.”

Wednesday, November 9

8:46 P.M.

Suite 1233, Concourse Suites

St. Louis, Missouri

She had just finished undressing and drawing
a bath when the feeling came on her once again. Now, she found
herself lying back on the large bed, her nude body flushed with
warmth even though the air in the hotel room was crisp, almost to
the point of being cold. She closed her eyes as she tried to
relax.

Relax.

What a laugh. Like that was really going to
happen.

She could never relax when she had been
rewarded well, and last night her gift had been the sweetest yet.
It wasn’t unusual for her to keep reliving the moments of pleasure
until the tickle finally faded away; she knew that from her past
experiences. But this time the feeling went far beyond any of those
that had come before. In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure how much
more of this she could stand.

Still the tickle blossomed, even as it had
this morning and the night before. It was getting late, and she was
aching with soreness. Nevertheless, she knew she would have to meet
its demands.

She had been at this off and on for the
entire day, whenever she could that was. There had been an
unproductive business luncheon that kept her from tending to her
desires, and that time had been no less than maddening. Then, there
had been that annoying little man who took up her afternoon. Maybe
she should have gotten his name and put him on her list. He
certainly deserved a good beating.

But now she was sequestered here alone, and
there was nothing to get in her way. It was a relief to finally be
back here in her room.

She heard her stomach growl, and she
remembered that she had not even taken time to eat. It was
something she knew she desperately needed to do, especially with
all of the rum she had been drinking. Maybe she should order room
service? No, maybe not. She didn’t really have an appetite even
though her stomach audibly told her she should.

Right now, however, the nagging itch inside
her belly was the greater force. And, as had been the rule of the
day, it was insisting that it be scratched.

It didn’t matter. There would be time for
eating when she got home. At the moment, there was a different
hunger that needed to be fed.

She heeded the call and her hand slipped down
yet again to begin attending to its needs. She knew it wouldn’t
take much. Just a light tease and her recent memories would be more
than enough to feed its wants.

She felt herself smile as the scene started
to replay. Behind her closed eyes, she watched as the events of the
previous night unfolded in vivid remembrance.

His humiliation and servitude were the
appetizers, tickling her deep within.

As he crawled about on all fours, snuffling
like a pig…

As he snorted while she sat astride his back
and rode him like an animal…

As he licked the shiny patent leather of her
shoes and hungrily kissed her feet…

His torture was the dinner salad, making her
shudder with delight.

As she pulled hard on the leash with her
knee in his back, listening to him gurgle and gag…

As she viciously lashed his body with a
leather belt until he bled…

As she ground out burning cigarettes against
his back, savoring the sickly sweet odor of burnt flesh…

His fear was a delectable morsel, making her
heart race.

As he finally understood that his safe word
was falling on deaf ears and meant nothing to her…

As he gagged on the washcloth and apple she
shoved so deeply into his throat…