She was already nodding before I could finish the question. “Aye, there’s a grave on the other side of the tracks. A few yards off the road.”
“Did you disturb anything?” Ben asked, shifting into his official cop persona.
“No.” She shook her head. “I haven’t even been over there.”
“Then how do you know for sure…” he began, then caught himself. “Forget it. Forget it.”
“Not that I’m complaining,” I said. “But I was certain you would try to connect with her. Why didn’t you?”
“I would have, but she wouldn’t let me,” she replied. “She remembered me, Rowan.”
“She what?”
“Brittany and I went to elementary school together,” she replied. “I’d almost forgotten that myself, but she didn’t. She told me she couldn’t allow an old friend to be hurt. All she wanted was for me to find her.”
Behind me, I heard Ben softly whistling the theme from the television show, Twilight Zone.
“Hey! You wanna get off my ass?” Ben’s angry shout echoed through the woods as he stared down at Lieutenant Albright. “It’s not like I’m the one who killed ‘er ya’know!”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Detective Storm,” she spat in return.
“Both of you need to settle down,” Constance interjected.
“I don’t see where you have much say in this, Special Agent Mandalay,” Albright announced as she brought her angry gaze to bear on Constance. “This is no longer an abduction, it is a homicide investigation.”
True to what Constance had told me earlier, Lieutenant Albright was well on her way to reclaiming this case. It was obvious from her display that in her mind, you were either with her or against her. And, the four of us were already marked as against. Of course, I’m sure we had been tagged as such all along.
“The Bureau still has an interest in this, Lieutenant,” Constance returned. “The fact is you have a serial killer on your hands.”
“Be that as it may, you have no business interfering with my command,” Albright snipped.
“I’m not trying to interfere with anything,” Constance replied with a shake of her head. “I’m simply telling you that standing here yelling at one another isn’t getting any of us any closer to solving this crime.”
“I still want to know what THEY are doing here.” Albright shrugged off Mandalay’s observation and shunted the conversation into a different direction as she gestured at Felicity and me.
“They’re why we found the body,” Ben returned stiffly.
“What are you, Storm, some kind of lap dog? Do you just let these two lead you around by the nose?”
“I’m a cop,” he retorted. “Unlike someone I could mention.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
My friend shook his head and looked away. “Just forget it.”
“No,” Albright snarled. “I want to know just exactly what you were implying.”
“Okay, you wanna know…” Ben replied, thrusting a finger at her.
“Storm…” Constance warned.
“No, Mandalay, she says she wants ta’ know.” He shot a glance her way then looked back to the lieutenant. “It means if you’d quit fuckin’ around playin’ politics, maybe the Major Case Squad could get back to doin’ police work like it’s supposed to.”
“I see,” she returned with a cold chill in her voice. “And you call what you have been doing ‘police work’?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Considering your entourage, I would say that is a matter for debate.”
“Yeah, well who just found Larson’s body?” he chided.
“That is a good question, Detective,” she answered. “An even better question would be, just exactly how did your little group find the body?”
He shook his head. “You don’t really wanna know that.”
“Oh, but I do, Detective,” she told him as she crossed her arms and nodded her head. She didn’t hide her sarcasm. “I do.”
“Listen, I’m not goin’ there with ya’ right now, ‘cause you’re not gonna believe it if I do.”
“WitchCraft, then,” she replied, spitting the word as if it was a bad taste in her mouth.
“Yeah, whatever. I’ll take any lead I can get if it helps me get an asshole off the streets.”
“Even if that lead could compromise the investigation?”
“There’s nothin’ compromised here,” he snapped.
“Are you certain of that?”
“Yeah, I am. Besides, who are you ta’ lecture me on compromisin’ an investigation anyway?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s just say I sure as hell don’t try ta’ help the assholes of the world escape.”
A hush fell between them as Ben all but hung her name on the verbal accusation. My friend was among the few who thought she had simply managed to dodge a bullet when Internal Affairs had cleared her of any wrongdoing in the Eldon Porter debacle. However, I was beyond shocked the he had just made his opinion so blatantly public.
The two of them stood staring at one another, Albright’s jaw working as her mouth curled into a hard frown.
“Excuse me, Lieutenant?” a crime scene technician edged into the envelope of the standoff.
“What is it?” she barked without shifting her glare from Ben.
“The medical examiner just arrived,” the technician answered with a bit of trepidation. “You said you wanted to know when she got here.”
“Thank you,” she returned evenly. “I will be right there.”
She continued staring at Ben, and he at her, as the crime scene tech made a hasty retreat. After a long measure, she looked away for a moment, then back to my friend as she placed one hand on her hip and pointedly stabbed the index finger of her other at him.
“We will discuss this later, Detective Storm,” she forced the words between her clenched teeth. “But right now I want you as far from this crime scene as you can get. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yeah,” he spat. “As a freakin’ bell.”
She didn’t stop there. “And, I want you to take your damnable Satan worshippers with you before I have them arrested for trespassing.”
CHAPTER 26:
The morning sun was filtering through the green canopy of the trees and had already set about the task of bringing on the heat of the day. Even with a slight breeze, it was starting to get hot out here, and the sun was far from the only reason. The two detectives were squared off, their tempers swelling outward with a palpable hatred for one another. I watched on as Ben stared back at Lieutenant Albright, painfully silent in the wake of her voiced threat.
My friend was ready to fight; there was no doubt about that. While the lieutenant was certainly guilty of repeatedly baiting him, for all intents and purposes, he had taken the first swing. It was clear from his current stance that he was planning to finish this without regard for the price it may cost in the end.
I continued watching as he worked his jaw and slid his palm across his chin then allowed his arm to drop to his side. His hand clenched and unclenched repeatedly, and I recognized the motion to be a precursor of him working into a rage. Following the visual cue, I took hold of his arm and then gave him a healthy nudge just as his mouth opened. When he glanced over at me, anger in his eyes, I simply shook my head and mouthed the word ‘no.’
“Is there something you wanted to say, Detective?” Albright spat, daring him to cross the line.
Ben continued looking at me, and I shook my head again. I knew full well that what had just set him off was her verbal assault on Felicity and me. I didn’t like it any more than he did, but I’d grown jaded to such insults over the years. Moreover, I wasn’t going to let him jeopardize his career any more than he already had, especially on our account.
“No, Lieutenant,” he finally growled as he turned back to her. “Not a damn thing.”
“Good,” she retorted and then looked over at me. “Mister Gant, I expect you to be available for questioning.” She shot her glance at Felicity then added, “That goes for both of you.”