M Sellars - The Law Of Three

I began to slowly pace. “I blame myself for this,” I announced. “I should have considered it as a possibility.”

“Aye, I think not,” Felicity asserted. “I’m their High Priestess. I am as much at fault as anyone, if not more.”

She had regained her composure quickly. Still, I knew by looking at her that it was a defense mechanism. What she had done was nothing more than a temporary patch job on her exterior demeanor. Inside, there was still a swirling ball of gut twisting terror, but she had no intention of letting any more of it show; not in front of Ben and Constance at least.

“Neither one of you is at fault for anything,” Mandalay returned. “There was no way you could imagine that Porter would go this route.”

“Believe me, Constance.” I gave her a quick nod. “I can imagine a lot out of this whack job. I’ve got scars to prove it.”

“Mandalay’s right,” Ben interjected. “Beating yourselves up about all this isn’t doin’ either one of ya’ any good. Not to mention that it ain’t gonna get us anywhere.”

“Well, what IS being done?” I asked.

“Right now, there’s a CSU team on their way to Sullivan’s apartment. Her car is listed on the hot sheet, and every copper on the street is lookin’ for it.”

“We don’t know that he has her car,” I objected.

“We don’t know that he doesn’t,” Ben returned. “Look, Row, let us do the cop stuff, it’s what we do. Like I’ve told ya’ before, we actually solved a few crimes by ourselves before you came along.”

I closed my eyes and put my palms up to my temples, squeezing my head between my hands and roughly massaging at the same time-as if I could will the pain away. “I’m sorry,” I muttered. “I don’t mean to be arguing with you about this. I’m just kind of at the center of it, and I’d give just about anything to be somewhere else.”

“That’s understandable,” Mandalay said. “You’ve been through a lot today.”

I shook my head. My eyes were still closed, and my fingers were now working at my scalp. “Today is just the beginning,” I said aloud. “There’s an end coming. I don’t know when or where, but I’m not sure I want to.”

The moment the words exited my mouth, I felt a wave of dread hit me. If that wasn’t enough, I could physically feel my wife’s startled gaze instantly burning a hole in my back as I stood there.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Forget it. I’m just rambling.”

“You sure?” he pressed. “That ain’t some kinda hocus-pocus la-la land thing you’re spoutin’ is it?”

Mandalay offered her observation. “Yeah, Rowan, that sounded a little on the morbidly prophetic side, especially coming from you.”

“Really. Forget it.” I waved a hand at them. “My head is killing me, and I’m just running off at the mouth.”

The truth was that I didn’t actually know what the comment was supposed to mean. I didn’t even know for sure why I had said it. I only knew that there actually was more to it than just idle rambling and that it sounded just as bad to me as it did to them.

“You need to take somethin’, Kemosabe?” Ben asked.

“Wouldn’t do any good,” I sighed. “So anyway, go on. You were telling me what the plan is…”

“CSU, car…” He ticked off what he’d already said. “Keepin’ an eye on public places since he seems to have a penchant for exhibiting his kills.”

“By then it would be too late,” I contended in a flat tone.

“Believe me, Row, we know that,” he returned. “But it’s somethin’ that has to be done.”

“We’re also watching for the possibility that he might use one of the two cell phones again,” Mandalay added to the list. “If he does, we’ll be on top of it, and maybe this time we can get a grid location.”

“What about me?” I queried.

Ben feigned ignorance. “Whaddaya mean? What about you?”

“Don’t play dumb, Ben.” My voice once again took on a note of annoyance. “You know damn well what I mean. Porter killed Randy, and now he has Star, and he’s going to kill her. You’ve already said that he’s choosing his victims to get to me.”

“Yeah, I know where you’re headed but don’t go there.” His tone was adamant.

“What do you mean, ‘don’t go there?’” I couldn’t help but raise my voice a step. “There’s no place for me to go, Ben. He’s bringing it to my doorstep!”

He addressed me with deadpan seriousness in his voice and a hard expression forming across his features. “Listen, Rowan, I’ll be honest with you, Albright already said something about this.”

“Screw Albright,” I spat. “If she wants to ban me from something else, tell her to go ahead.”

“No, you don’t get it,” he snarled. “She’s all about using you for bait.”

“Will wonders never cease,” I said, injecting the words with as much sarcasm as I could muster. “She and I finally agree on something.”

“Rowan! No!” Felicity yelped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the startled expression on her face, and as I turned to look at her, she slowly stood.

“I can’t let him kill Star,” I told her as if the conclusion was obvious.

“Aye, I won’t allow it,” she proclaimed.

Ben glanced her way then back at me as he spoke. “Well don’t worry, Felicity, cause it ain’t gonna happen.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Because it’s not how we do things, Rowan. This isn’t a cop show. We don’t use civilians as bait for crazed serial killers.”

“Yeah, well maybe it’s time to change your rules.”

“I can’t listen to this,” Felicity blurted with a mixture of both fear and anger in her voice.

I looked over at her, and she was trembling. She stared at me with her eyes glistening, and I knew there were tears behind them begging to be released. I took a step toward her, and as I reached out to touch her, she backed away and sidestepped. I stopped, immediately feeling the torment that now afflicted her. She put her hand to her mouth and then shook her head again. With that, she turned and disappeared down the short hallway and into the bedroom.

The door made a dull sound as it slammed.

“Jeezus, white man.” Ben shook his head.

“You should probably go talk to her,” Mandalay offered softly.

I was torn between running after her and pleading my case. Choosing between the woman I loved more than my own existence and the life of someone I barely knew was the last thing I needed at the moment. I mutely pled for guidance from The Ancients and met only with silence.

I started toward the bedroom door and hesitated. I felt damned no matter which direction I went. I took another step then turned and stared at Ben.

“Listen, apparently the whole idea isn’t out of the question or Albright wouldn’t have brought it up,” I finally countered.

“Why the hell do you think she was all over your ass back at the morgue, Rowan?” He stood there looking at me with his eyes wide and questioning.

“Because she doesn’t like me?” I answered.

“Exactly. And because she doesn’t like you, she was trying to get you worked up so you’d do somethin’ stupid, Row.”

“I thought we’d already established that.”

“I mean as in stupid like going after Porter. She wants to let you throw yourself out there as bait, and if you get killed in the process, oh fuckin’ well, too bad so sad.”

The revelation struck home, knocked me down, then kicked me a few times just for good measure. I stood there mute, wondering how I could have been so totally oblivious to her intentions.

“Am I that stupid?” I finally asked, an uneasy calm in my voice. “Have you known this all along?”