M Sellars - Miranda

“Excuse me,” a new and unfamiliar voice sharply insinuated itself into our conversation.

I looked toward it and found a middle-aged woman in a neatly pressed business suit glaring at us. Based on where she was standing, she had likely approached from the side that was partially obscured by a row of large potted plants. Her gold nametag identified her as the front desk manager.

“We bein’ too loud?” Ben grunted.

She nodded. “You could say that. Are all of you guests here at the hotel?”

“They are,” Ben said, waving his finger at us. Then he withdrew his badge case and flipped it open to display his credentials. “I’m just their ride.”

She glanced at Felicity and me with an air of quickly rising suspicion as she noticeably took a step back from us. Returning her gaze to Ben she asked, “Is there a problem, officer…”

“Storm. Detective Storm,” he answered, sliding the case back into his pocket. “No. No problem, really. Just a discussion that got a bit outta hand is all. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“I see,” she replied with a nod then carefully choosing her words said, “Well, if I could ask that you either tone it down a bit or take the discussion elsewhere, I’m sure our other guests would appreciate it.”

He nodded. “Yeah. We can do that. Sorry again.”

As she walked away, my friend turned back to me with a frown then clamped a large hand on my shoulder and leaned in while pulling me a bit closer. In a low tone he said, “See what I mean about you rampin’ up to asshole intensity? Now, number one, calm your ass down before the hotel kicks you outta here. Number two, I hate ta’ tell ya’ this, Row, but I ain’t draggin’ Felicity anywhere. In case you’ve forgotten, whether ya’ like it or not, she’s already in this shit just as deep as you. Maybe even deeper.”

“Aye, he’s right, Rowan,” Felicity said. “I am.”

“That’s different,” I objected, although much less boisterously than before.

“Only in your eyes, because as usual, you’re trying to protect me,” she replied. “Besides, I’m the one she’s after. And there’s something else you may have forgotten… What I do is ultimately my decision, not yours.”

“Dammit, Felicity,” I grumbled.

“You know I’m right,” she said, softening her voice to a soothing tone. Still, the stern intent was there, and I knew I’d best give in.

I was only two hours into my day, and already it wasn’t favoring me in the least. I huffed out a heavy sigh and told her, “Yes, you are. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Aye, that’s true. No more than I like it when you do the same to me then.”

On that point, I couldn’t even begin to argue. Over the years I’d seesawed between embracing my curse and trying to ignore it completely. The attempts to deny it never lasted long, and when all was said and done, I would put myself right into the middle of the strife, no matter what anyone else said. Unfortunately, it didn’t always end well, and Felicity was the one charged with picking up the pieces and putting me back together. I fully realized that task exacted its own kind of toll; still, that didn’t mean I wanted her to trade places with me.

But, now that I’d finally come to terms with accepting my unwanted abilities as an ever-present part of my life, they had been unceremoniously taken away. Since I had no real inkling of exactly how Miranda had done this to me, I was at a loss as to how to circumvent or change it, which left me standing on unfamiliar ground.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would find myself silently begging the universe to re-open a door I’d been trying to shut for what seemed like a huge slice of forever. And in keeping with the status quo, today was no different than all of those before it because my pleas were apparently still falling upon deaf ears.

The decision was being made for me, against my will and without opportunity for appeal. If we were going to stop Miranda, then I needed to let Felicity take the lead, and that wasn’t going to be an easy task for me. Especially given what I’d been forced to see.

“So…” Ben said. “We good here?”

“No,” I mumbled. “No, we aren’t.”

“Rowan…” Felicity appealed.

I sighed, “Yeah, honey, I know… I don’t guess I have any choice, do I?”

“Aye, you’re right. You don’t.”

“Fine…but we go at it with our eyes open. No taking unnecessary risks.”

She shook her head and gave me a mocking chuckle. “In other words, don’t be like you then?”

“Yeah…” I agreed. “Don’t be like me.”

We fell quiet for a moment then Ben glanced back and forth between us and interjected. “Okay, are we all good now?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s give it a try, I guess.”

I heard myself saying the words, but in my heart and soul I wasn’t comfortable with them at all. Before the last syllable faded, I was already regretting the decision.

“That’s more like it,” my friend said.

“All right then, so where do we start?” Felicity asked.

“Breakfast,” he replied. “That’s actually the reason I got down here early.”

“Okay, and after that?” she pressed.

“After that we head ta’ the county medical examiner’s office and make nuisances or ourselves.”

Felicity shook her head and commented, “And you want to eat breakfast first?”

“Yeah. I’m hungry,” Ben replied then jerked his thumb toward an archway leading off from the lobby. “Wanna go ahead an’ grab somethin’ in the restaurant since we’re already here?”

I glanced down the short corridor then turned back to him and shook my head. “I didn’t exactly have a good dining experience at the last hotel restaurant where I ate. How about we try somewhere else.”

“Your call.” He shrugged then ushered us ahead of him toward the door. “We could hit a pancake house or somethin’ on the way, long as it’s quick.”

“Are we in a hurry now?” I asked.

“A little. Ya’ kinda hafta get there at the right time, if ya’ know what I mean,” he replied.

I sighed. “We don’t actually have an appointment, do we?”

“Relax. I got it covered. We just need ta’ make a coupl’a quick stops before we get there and it’ll all be good.”

“Oh, by the way, I meant to ask,” Felicity said. “How are the dogs doing?”

“Okay, I guess.” Ben gave her a sarcastic grunt. “The big one seems fine, but I don’t think the other one likes me.”

“Quigley? What’s wrong?” she pressed.

“Little bastard stole my towel and tore it ta’ shreds while I was in the shower this mornin’.”

“When we go inside, just hang loose and let me handle it,” Ben told us as we climbed out of his van in front of the squat brown building on Helen Avenue. He elbowed his door shut then came around the front of the vehicle and waited for us, adding, “There’s kind of a process I gotta go through ta’ get things rollin’.”

Timing what it was, breakfast itself had ended up being rushed, tasteless, fast food eaten while on the way to our next stop. Of course, given that an autopsy suite containing a dead body was our intended destination, we probably didn’t need to have too much sitting on our stomachs right now anyway. Although, I’m not sure our greasy selection was going to be much better in the long run.

As he’d mentioned earlier, upon drawing closer to the county medical examiner’s office, we made a pair of side trips into some nearby drive-thrus. Between them, Ben shelled out more than twice as much as he’d spent on his earlier meal.

I levered the sliding side door of the Chevy closed and then followed Felicity up onto the sidewalk where Ben was waiting. I gestured at the items in my friend’s hands and said, “By process, I take it you mean bribe, right?”