The acid churn in my gut suddenly twisted into a fearful knot as I looked up into an all too familiar face framed in fiery auburn hair, and then I saw a sharp glint from the blade of the upraised butcher knife in her hand.
“You bastard!” she screamed. “You sonofabitch! You killed her! You took her away from me!”
I tried to call my wife’s name as I reached for the weapon, but she couldn’t hear me. Any faint sound I could muster with my again empty lungs was completely drowned out by the ungodly concussive explosion of a handgun fired a scant few feet away within the tight confines of the room. Hot blood sprayed my face, the knife clattered harmlessly to the floor, and her lifeless form slumped downward across me.
In the muted distance, sirens began to play, drawing closer as each morbidly long second ticked past.
I looked up at Felicity. She was still stiffly holding our semi-automatic pistol stretched out at arm’s length in front of herself. There was a glassiness to her eyes as she stared, but I could tell it was merely shock and nothing preternatural. Given what she had just been forced to do, I would have expected no less.
“Are you okay?” I asked, still panting as I regained my breath.
She nodded mechanically.
“Relax and put the gun down, honey,” I told her. “The police are going to be here any minute. Just cooperate with them and everything will be fine.”
The muffled sounds of racing engines were drawing close, and now emergency lights were flickering through the windows. A siren burped out a half tone as it switched off in front of the house, and I could hear distant, hurried footsteps coming up the driveway.
In that moment, a bell on the toppled-over Christmas tree jingled an abrupt, sad peal…
Tuesday, January 29
9:37 A.M.
FBI Field Office
Saint Louis, Missouri
EPILOGUE
“So, even after I told Doctor Jante to take a flying leap, you still want me to come work for you? You’re kidding, right?” As the question tumbled from my mouth, I was training a bemused stare on the section chief seated behind the desk in front of me. Given the look on his face definitely wasn’t one of jest, it didn’t take any of my uncanny psychic prowess to tell me his reply was definitely not going to be “ Well damn, you caught me. I’m just kidding.”
In fact, the truth is I wasn’t really expecting an answer at all. The words I had spoken were in and of themselves rhetorical. Verbalizing them was, in effect, merely a way for me to express astonishment at what he’d just said and not really a serious quest for an answer. That much was nothing if not obvious.
Or so I thought.
He leaned forward in his seat, adopted an even more stony expression, and answered me anyway. “I can assure you, Mister Gant, I am… The bureau…is entirely serious about this.”
Well, at least his answer verified what I already knew, not that it was necessary. Score one for the Witch I guess, even if it was a perceptual gimme.
I shook my head. “Pardon me for saying this, but the bureau hasn’t exactly earned my trust lately, if you know what I mean.”
“I understand. I’ve read your file.”
“Yeah, I can’t say as that I’m surprised by that,” I grumbled. “I mean after all, who hasn’t?”
“This bothers you,” he observed with a slight nod.
I didn’t hold back on the sarcasm. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
“Mister Gant…”
“Sorry,” I said, stopping him with a wave of my hand. I let out a long sigh before going ahead and grimacing slightly at my indiscretion and then added, “I shouldn’t have said it like that. It’s just that it has become a bit of a sore spot recently. I mean, if you’ve done all this reading about me then you should know why I’m not a fan. Hell, just last month Annalise Devereaux escaped on the FBI’s watch, and you know how that turned out.”
“Yes, I do. But you’re mistaken. It wasn’t our watch.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, I’m familiar with the blame game, trust me. But that doesn’t matter. To be honest I think what bothers me most is that I even have a file in the first place.”
His forehead visibly creased for a moment. “With all of the consulting on high profile homicide cases you’ve done, why wouldn’t you? I’m not sure I understand?”
“It’s not that exactly. What I mean is…” I started and then allowed my voice to trail off as I shrugged. With another quick shake of my head I told him, ”Don’t worry about it… I really wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
He paused for a moment and then answered with, “I see.”
“No, you probably don’t,” I replied. “But I’m not really up to explaining it right now. It’s a long story with some pretty unpleasant chapters. But, you said you already know that, so who am I to say?”
“All right,” he conceded with a quick nod. “Then maybe we should return to the question at hand. Am I to take your obvious misgivings about the bureau as a no?”
“I don’t know just yet,” I shrugged as I replied, my tone far from certain. “Besides, to be honest I thought I already was working for you. I mean after all, I have a file and everything.”
Obviously, the attack of sarcasm simply wasn’t willing to go quietly.
He made a point of ignoring my underlying flash of attitude this time and simply replied, “In essence, you are. Or, at least, you have been. Simply not in an official capacity.”
I raised my eyebrows. “And that seems to have been working out just fine, don’t you think?”
“So far.” He agreed, giving me a hesitant nod that framed his guarded words with nondescript ambivalence. “But I’m sure Doctor Jante explained our reasoning.”
“Yes, she did.” I nodded my head and huffed out a breath. “But, I still don’t see why you want to fix something that isn’t broken?”
He cocked an eyebrow himself. “I really wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
“Touche,” I answered. “I suppose I’d have a good laugh at the irony there if I wasn’t feeling just a bit cornered at the moment.”
“That certainly isn’t the intention, Mister Gant, and I apologize if I’ve led you to feel that way. Granted, the bureau would like an answer as soon as possible, and we are certainly hoping for a yes, or we wouldn’t have made the offer, obviously. However, please understand there is no pressure either way.”
“Well, you’ve got an odd way of showing it.”
“Again, I apologize if that is how it appears,” he told me. “However, if you are interested in entertaining our offer, we don’t need to know immediately; in fact, you really should take some time to think about it. Consider all of the ramifications… And, of course, discuss it with your wife.”
“My wife… Uh-huh…” I mumbled, my voice trailing off momentarily before erupting into a half-stifled snort. “Yeah, right. So, I don’t suppose you’d be willing to loan me some body armor before I do that would you?”
The section chief grinned for the first time since we’d started this discussion then let out a soft chuckle.
I was absolutely positive the FBI had a file on Felicity too. I knew it for a fact because I’d seen it. But, based on his jovial reaction, it was plain to me that while he might have studied mine in depth, he hadn’t even opened hers just yet.