“And what about Miranda then?”
“If she’s taken care of, fine. If not, well, I’ll just carry the jar around in my suitcase, I guess.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yeah… We need the time away.”
“I’m fairly sure that’s what I was just saying.”
“I know, and I was listening even if it didn’t seem like it. There’s just one caveat… We can go anywhere you want except New Orleans. I don’t want you that close to that bitch ever again. Besides, I don’t even know if I’m exactly welcome there anymore.”
“Actually, I was thinking more along the line of home.”
“Home, eh? Well, I guess that will save us the trouble of packing.”
“Rowan…”
“I know, I know… Just joking again… I get it… You want to go to Ireland.”
“Aye. It’s been too long.”
“Can’t I just blindfold you and take you to one of the local pubs and pretend?”
“Joking again?”
“Trying to.”
“Well stop. You aren’t funny.” She underscored the comment with a grin.
I laughed and nodded. “Ireland it is.”
A hard rap sounded on the windshield to my right, making me start at the noise. I turned to see Ben peering in at us from the passenger side of the Jeep. Apparently both of us had been so preoccupied with our conversation that we hadn’t noticed him standing there. I popped the latch on the door and pushed it open, so he reached out and took hold of the upper edge of the frame and swung it wider. Bending down, he looked through the now open gap.
“Am I interruptin’ you two?” he asked.
“Well, yeah, sort of,” I returned.
“Too bad.”
“Wow, Ben, thanks for understanding,” I retorted.
“Yeah, well I been standin’ here forever.”
I glanced at my watch then back at him. “Maybe a minute or two at the most.”
“Uh-huh, like I said, forever.”
I climbed out of the Jeep, and he moved back as I swung the door shut. Felicity was already coming around the front of the vehicle and stepping up on the sidewalk.
Ben glanced over at her then waved a finger at the Jeep and said “Yo, Firehair… Make sure ya’ lock it up.”
“We’re in front of the police station,” she replied.
“Yeah, and your point?”
Felicity replied by cocking her head to the side and giving him a nonplussed stare as she slid her hand into her jacket pocket. Almost instantly the clunk of the locks sounded next to me.
“There. Better?” she asked.
“Hey, it’s your shit, not mine,” Ben returned then stepped back up onto the sidewalk. “By the way, you got any salt?”
Felicity gave him a puzzled look then quipped, “Not with me. Why, are you out or something?”
“Here,” he said as he reached into his jacket pocket. When he withdrew it, small, white paper packets were protruding from between his fingers. He held them out to her, and she instinctively cupped her hands beneath his as he let them fall into her palms.
“I didn’t bother sortin’ it, so there’s prob’ly some pepper in there too, sorry ‘bout that,” he told her. Then jerking his head to the side, he motioned up the street and grunted, “C’mon, let’s get movin’.”
“What’s all this for?” Felicity asked, stuffing the unsought bounty into her pockets.
He pointed at me as he started turning to head up the sidewalk. “Ta’ keep his sorry ass safe. Got a bottle’a aspirin too if ya’ need it.”
“We’re going straight to the morgue, aren’t we?” I asked, my voice coming out in a flat drone because I already knew his answer.
“Yeah,” he replied. “We’re goin’ straight to the morgue.”
I’d made far too many such visits to the Saint Louis City Medical Examiner’s office over the years, and even though I had become prematurely jaded to the sight of corpses and the cold feeling of death, I still never could get used to the place.
Every time I walked through the door of the innocuous building situated next to police headquarters, it was like being the unexpected celebrity guest at a morbid party. It almost always began with a stunned silence that went unnoticed by everyone but me-simply because the ethereal hush was falling over the ghostly voices of the dead that only I could hear in the first place. Of course, the stillness never lasted long. Within moments the screams, the cries, and the pleading voices from the other side of the veil would fill my ears in a deafening cacophony.
And then above it all, there was always the one clear voice of the soul I was supposed to help. That one always shared with me the most pain, anguish, and even physical torture. I suppose it needed something to set it apart from the crowd, although I would have gladly settled for a gentler way of capturing my attention.
As expected, today was no different. And just as I had done on each and every occasion, I fought to ignore the screams in favor of the here and now that was unfolding in front of me.
“Where’s Ceece?” Ben asked the woman behind the desk in the lobby. We were barely through the door, and she hadn’t even been afforded the chance to greet us.
“I’m sorry?” she replied.
“You know, the lady who’s s’posed ta’ be sittin’ where you’re sittin’ right now,” he explained.
She nodded as a look of understanding tweaked her features. “Oh, you mean Cecelia. She just ran out to pick up lunch. May I help you?”
Ben flashed his badge. “Yeah, I’m Detective Storm. We’re here ta’ see Doc Sanders.”
“I’m sorry, Detective, I’m afraid she’s also at lunch.”
“She should be expectin’ us.”
The woman shook her head. “I’m certain she’s at lunch.”
“She go out too, or is she in ‘er office like usual?” he asked.
“I believe she’s in her office, but as I said, she’s taking a break for lunch. She should be…”
Ben held up his hands to stop her and began shaking his head. “Ceece knew we were comin’, so did Doc Sanders.”
“I’m sorry, but neither of them said anything about it to me,” she returned.
“Well, they musta forgot.”
“Let me check…” she said as she carefully glanced over a schedule sheet while running her pen along the side and then gave it a second pass. She began shaking her head slowly as she looked up and said, “I’m very sorry, Detective Storm, but you don’t have an appointment listed here and Doctor Sanders is…”
“…at lunch, yeah, I know. Look… I’m serious. Ceece knew we were comin’. If that ain’t enough for ya’, try this on. My boss sent us over here to talk to your boss. Now I really don’t wanna have my boss jumpin’ on my ass and then callin’ your boss’ boss, ‘cause in the end the shit’s just gonna roll downhill on top of both of us. Know what I mean? So just do me a favor… Pick up the phone and let the doc know we’re here.” He shook his head again. “She says no, all good. We let her explain it. Okay?”
The woman looked at him with a sideways glance. “Are you always this intense?”
“Yes, he is,” another voice came from the doorway to our right, and a definite tone of exasperation surrounded the words.
We looked over to find Cecelia coming into the lobby from the back, door slowly swinging shut behind her. Her purse was slung over her shoulder, and she was juggling a pair of large carryout bags in her arms.
“Ceece,” Ben crooned with an air of relief.
“Don’t Ceece me, Storm. You aren’t supposed to be here yet,” she snipped as she walked across the lobby and deposited the bags on the desk. “I told you Doctor Sanders would be available after lunch.”
“Yeah, well shit happens, ya’know.”
“Especially with you,” she sighed. “Is there really some pressing reason why you have to see the doctor now?”
“Yes,” he replied.
She stood staring at him expectantly. After a moment she said, “I take it I’m not going to get an explanation?”
“I can’t get into it,” he said. “Let’s just say the doc owes me.”
“Owes you? Are you sure you don’t have that backwards?”
“Nope.”