Dave Zeltserman - Bad Karma

As he was getting up to leave, Daniels wandered over and told him he’d like to talk to him for a few minutes.

“Go ahead.”

“It would be better if we talk privately.”

“I’d really like to get back to Susan.”

“This will only take a couple of minutes. Come on, follow me.”

Shannon shrugged, saw he had no choice in the matter and followed Daniels into one of the interrogation rooms. He took a seat while Daniels leaned against the table with his arms folded across his chest.

“None of your neighbors saw anything,” Daniels said. “Canvas came up empty.”

“A good thing then I was able to give you that Russian’s license and a description of his partner.”

Daniels scratched behind his ear. “About that. According to Paveeth, you weren’t allowed entrance into True Light today. He insists that you arrived there around two o’clock today, and were told to leave when you rang the buzzer. One of his members claims she saw you wait by the gate for fifteen minutes and then drive off.”

“The two of them said that, huh?”

“Yeah, they did.”

“I can describe Paveeth’s sanctuary in detail. If you need me to do that -”

“That wouldn’t prove anything. He claims when you busted in a couple of days ago you forced your way into his sanctuary. He also denies knowing anything about any Russians.”

“Then who gave me my black eye and swollen jaw?”

Daniels flipped through his notepad until he found the page he was looking for. “Duane Sweenski and Alvin Guthrop.”

“Who the fuck are they?”

“The Mutt and Jeff team you tangled with over there.”

Shannon gave him a blank stare.

“The guys whose heads you busted up,” Daniels explained.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I talked with Paveeth, I talked with them. They all gave me the same story.”

“I’m sure they did. And you bought it?”

“Before I answer that, let me tell you about a call I just finished with. It was to your old boss.”

“Martin Brady?”

“Yep.”

“How’s Martin doing?”

“He wasn’t too happy I woke him, but he talked with me. He told me you were the best detective he’s had. Smart, resourceful, tenacious as hell once you took a case. He also told me the full extent of your history with Charlie Winters. It was a lot more than a single incident where you lost a couple of fingers in the line of duty.”

“Yeah, quite a bit more than that,” Shannon agreed.

“I had no idea about everything you went through.” Daniels uncrossed his arms and rubbed a hand across his jaw. He tried to look Shannon in the eyes, but veered off and stared into an empty corner of the room. “He told me it wasn’t just your losing your two fingers that put you on disability.”

“That’s mostly true. I could’ve gone on disability with what had happened to my hand, but along with being maimed I did have rage issues dealing with Winters.”

“I’d have to think anyone would under similar circumstances. Question is, how are you doing with these rage issues now?”

“I think I’m doing pretty good.”

“Were you doing pretty good when you attacked Sweenski and Guthrop and almost killed them?”

“That was self-defense.”

“Sure it was.” His eyes shifted back to meet Shannon’s. “Something else your old boss told me that I found troubling. That you had a history of blackouts while on the force.”

“I could explain that but you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Why don’t you try me?”

“It’s not worth the bother. So where’s this leading to? Your department’s going to try to revoke my license?”

“Yeah. My boss will be requesting a hearing.”

“That’s fine. I’ve pretty much decided I don’t want to do this shit anymore. Are we done?”

“Not yet. There’s a thought around here that maybe you were involved with the victim. That you could be using these phantom Russians breaking into your apartment as a cover for what really happened.”

“That’s fucking ridiculous.”

“Maybe, but it will have to be looked into.” Daniels wavered, unable to meet Shannon’s stare. He curled his fingers on his right hand and gave the impression that he was studying his nails. “There’s another thought that maybe you’re still having trouble dealing with your rage. That you’d go to any length to harass True Light.”

“You really believe I attacked Emily?”

“I’m not saying what I believe. My boss, however, might be thinking along those lines. He also might be thinking you could’ve had a blackout and not even know what you did.”

“I didn’t have a blackout. I didn’t ransack my own apartment. And I didn’t attack Emily.”

Shannon waited for Daniels to say something. When he didn’t, Shannon laughed. He felt a tightness in his throat as he asked, “So what are you telling me? You want to arrest me?”

“No. I’m not doing anything until I see whether Emily Janney regains consciousness, and then hear what she has to say.”

Shannon lips pressed into a rigid smile. He nodded to Daniels and got to his feet. When he had his hand on the doorknob, he turned and asked, “What are you going to do if you find the two Russians I identified?”

“I’ll talk to them. But unless their prints are found in your apartment or we find someone who saw them there or I can find a connection between them and Paveeth, I’ll have to believe what they tell me.”

“So that’s it,” Shannon said.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t built a case yet against me for Carver and Gibson.”

“Give us time,” Daniels said. He tried to smile but it didn’t stick. “A word of advice, Bill, stay away from True Light.”

Shannon exaggerated a mock look of dismay. “But they’re the one true source,” he exclaimed. Then he got the hell out of there.

Shannon felt a sickish feeling in the pit of his stomach when he stepped into the ICU waiting area and saw the wetness around Susan’s eyes. It took a moment before he could find his voice and ask if there was news about Emily.

She shook her head, wiped some of the wetness away with her finger and motioned towards a TV that was hanging from the wall. “I was watching the ten o’clock news,” she said. “They had a story about a missing six year old boy who had gotten lost up in Pike’s Peak.”

Shannon took the seat next to her. “With everything going on today I forgot all about that,” he said. “I met Les Hasherford early this afternoon. He received a call when I was there about the missing boy. Have they had any luck finding him?”

“They just did. He had fallen into a ravine.”

“Is he alive?”

“He’s unconscious, but alive.”

“Was Les Hasherford responsible for finding him?”

She nodded, bit her lip.

“That’s interesting,” Shannon said. “When I saw him earlier he was having trouble slipping into that other world. I had the impression he couldn’t do it anymore.”

“They showed video of him from earlier in the day when he was leading the police. The poor man could barely walk. A police officer had to support him on one side. With his free hand he was holding a cup of coffee. They showed him several times drinking coffee.”

“Are you sure it was coffee?”

Susan shrugged weakly. Of course, Shannon knew the answer to that. Hasherford was antidoting himself so he could find the missing boy. Most likely he had poured cup after cup into himself until he was able to slip into the world of the dead and dying again.

“Maybe it won’t affect his health.”

“Maybe,” Susan said, unconvinced.

A news break came on. The boy was reported to be in critical condition, but the doctors were hopeful. According to one of them, if he’d been found any later he probably wouldn’t have survived. Susan blindly searched for Shannon’s damaged hand and held onto it. They sat like that until past midnight when a young resident came over to them and introduced himself as Dr. Leonard Cohen. He told them that Emily had regained consciousness. “She’d like to see both of you,” he said.