Rowan Gant - Perfect Trust Part 37

"Yeah, I think so," I replied with a distracted note in my voice.

I was tilting my head down and to the side, trying to get a look in the side view mirror as we traveled. My concentration on the task must have completely taken over, because I suddenly felt something thump my arm and I jumped.

"Hey, Ground Control to Rowan. You wanna answer me?" Ben's voice flooded into my head.

"What?"

"What the h.e.l.l are you doin'?"

"Are we being followed?" I answered his question with a question-something he absolutely hated.

"Do what?"

"I don't know, Ben," I shrugged. "I just got this weird feeling. Like I'm being watched. I had it back at Heather Burke's apartment too."

The color drained from my friend's face. This was only the second time I'd seen him go this pale and the first had been only a few days ago at the Yule celebration.

He looked into the rear view mirror, then at both sides, dwelling long enough to get a good scan of the area behind us."Is this like one of those Twilight Zone things?" he finally asked.

"I think it might be," I acknowledged, disturbed by the way he was suddenly acting. "Why?"

"Do you know who it is that's watching you?" he pressed.

"No. Do you?" I pressed back.

"What are you two talking about?" McLaughlin interjected.

"No. Why would I?" Ben shot back, ignoring Charlee altogether.

"You're lying, Ben," I told him. "I can tell."

"Hey," Charlee spoke up again, "is someone going to tell me what's going on?"

We had arrived at our destination, and Ben pulled the Chevy into a s.p.a.ce, then cranked it into park and twisted the key off.

"Forget it," he commanded as he levered his groaning door open. A cool gust of wind made a beeline for the interior of the van and dropped the temperature a few degrees.

"Not this time, Ben," I returned. "Something's going on, and it involves me. I can tell."

"This isn't the time, Rowan," he answered sternly.

"Well then make it the time," I demanded.

"Rowan..."

"It's got something to do with the phone call the other night doesn't it?"

"Dammit, Rowan..."

"Tell me, Ben."

With an angry huff he yanked the door shut and turned to face me. "G.o.ddammit, white man, haven't we argued enough today?"

"I'm not arguing," I returned. "I just want to know what's going on."

"Just trust me, Row. You don't need to be hearing this right now. I'll tell ya' when things settle down."

"It is about me, then," I retorted.

"Yeah, it's about you. Now leave it alone."

"Then tell me what it is!" I demanded again.

"I'm serious, Row."

"I am too!"

"Alright." His voice rose slightly as he struggled to contain what seemed to be as much fear as anger. "You wanna know what it is so d.a.m.n bad, then I'll tell you. That call the other night was from Mandalay."The name told me that the call couldn't have been good. Constance Mandalay was a mutual friend, but she was also a Special Agent attached to the FBI's Saint Louis field office.

"She was calling about a murder in southern Missouri," Ben continued. "It's been kept out of the news so far, but everything points to a single suspect, up to and including a partial set of fingerprints found at the scene."

"Me?" I asked, not fully grasping what he was telling me.

"h.e.l.l no, not you," he returned. "Eldon Andrew Porter. You were f.u.c.kin' right.

The sonofab.i.t.c.h isn't dead."

CHAPTER 24.

I was stunned, but not by what Ben had just revealed.

I wasn't at all surprised that Eldon Porter was still alive. I had, of course, been the one person who had believed that all along. What caught me completely and utterly unprepared was that Ben would keep this fact from me.

I sat for what seemed a lifetime, silently gathering my thoughts and staring back at my friend. He was correct with his earlier comment. We had already argued more than enough for one day, but at the moment, I couldn't help feeling as though I'd been grievously betrayed.

The silence was finally broken by Detective McLaughlin clearing her throat, and then unlatching the sliding door on the van. "I'll see you two inside," was all she said before climbing out and yanking the door shut on the rumbling slides.

"Are ya' happy now?" Ben said coldly as we continued to play stare-down with each other.

My jaw worked for a moment before I could get any words to come out. When they finally did, I had to force my voice to remain even and calm, although my query was thickly coated with an angry frost. "You've known this since Friday? Exactly when were you planning to tell me?"

"Suspected it since Friday," he corrected. "I didn't get a verification from Constance until this morning just before you showed up."

"And?" I pushed hard. "You still didn't tell me."

"Yeah, and right now I'm starin' at why," he stated flatly.

"What? You don't think I have the right to be upset?"

"Sure. You got the right to be just as freakin' upset as you want." He nodded.

"But you've got enough s.h.i.+t goin' on right now, so I thought it was for the best tokeep it under wraps for now."

"That's insane!" I told him. "You know as well as anyone that I'm probably number one on his. .h.i.t list. I could tell by the look on your face when I said I felt like someone was following me that this has got you scared too."

"Yeah, and I'm not the only one," he offered. "But it's taken care of."

"How so?"

"You've got a lot of people lookin' out for you, white man," he explained. "There was more than just one call made Friday night. The local coppers stepped up patrols in your neighborhood that night as a precaution, and Mandalay called Carl Deckert over at County. They're keeping an eye on you too."

"I haven't noticed anything."

"You aren't supposed to," he sighed. "You know, Mandalay is all over this too.

She's even been keepin' an eye on you."

"You still should've told me," I spat. "Especially this morning."

"You were gonna find out tonight."

"Is that why you invited us over for Christmas Eve?"

"Actually, we were gonna invite you anyway. It just worked out that way and I figured it'd be easier to keep you at the house if I already had you two there."

"Keep us at the house?"

"Yeah, I'm movin' you in where I can keep an eye on you until we find this f.u.c.khead and lock 'im up."

"I suppose you've talked to Felicity about this?"

"No. She didn't need the headache either. Besides, I'm guessin' she's gonna be just about as reasonable as you are right now."

"You should be so lucky," I chided.

"Yeah, I know," he grunted.

"Dammit, Ben," I muttered. "Felicity is running around the city unprotected right now."

"In public, with a group, and at one time or another a freakin' camera crew from every local TV station has been followin' them around. She's as safe as you are.

We've got it under control, Rowan."

"I hope so."

"We do." He sat for a long moment, allowing the words of rea.s.surance to hang in the air between us, before finally speaking again. "Now that you know, you might as well pack a bag before coming over tonight."

"You know Felicity won't go for this, Ben." I shook my head. "She didn't last time. She won't this time either.""Yeah, well last time you almost got killed, so I'm not givin' you a choice."

"You can't do that," I returned.

"Ever hear of protective custody, Kemosabe?"

"You wouldn't..."

"f.u.c.kin' try me."

"How's it going?" I was fighting to keep the mix of depression, anger, and fear out of my voice as I spoke into the telephone. "Everyone having fun as usual?"

It was early afternoon, but the 'Santa Brigade' was booked right up until five-thirty PM this year. I had managed to remember enough of the schedule to catch my wife on her cell phone in between stops. I could hear the upbeat chattering of the rest of the group in the background when she answered.

"Great," Felicity's voice came back to me over the handset. Her brogue was returning, and I could hear how tired she was. But, at the same time it was obvious that she was still running on excitement and a healthy dose of adrenalin. "Aye, so far I've had three marriage proposals-one from a twelve year old, mind you so you'd best watch out, then-Younger men do still find me attractive." She punctuated the comment with a giddy laugh.

"I'm not surprised. But, I've told you that before."

"Aye, I still like hearing it, then. Of course, I still attract the older men it seems.

About thirty minutes ago we were at a nursing home and an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair grabbed my a.r.s.e. Three times, now."

"And you're still calling him a gentleman?" I chuckled, the visual helping me to forget if only for a moment. "You didn't hurt him too much did you?"

"He was harmless," she laughed. "Besides, it was probably the biggest thrill he's had all year, then."

"Beats a nut log, I guess."

"Aye, he said something like that too, but with a much different connotation."

"So, elderly gentleman is short for Dirty Old Man?"

"Aye, filthy would be more like it," she giggled.

"Well, considering the way you looked when you left this morning, I guess I can't blame him."

"Liked the outfit, then?" her voice held an undertone of satisfaction.

"What do YOU think?"

"Hmmmmm," her voice lowered to a purr. "Maybe I'll leave it on when I get home, then... For a little while anyway if you know what I mean."

If we'd had this conversation a few hours earlier, I would probably be looking fora place to hide so I wouldn't embarra.s.s myself. Unfortunately-or perhaps fortunately as the case may be-the recent revelation from Ben was severely dampening my heretofore-overactive libido.

"You might want to hold on to that thought, La.s.s," I told her. "Allison and Ben have invited us over to their house for dinner."