––––––––
I stood in the hallway by myself, watching Drew’s back as he talked into his phone. Everyone else had left the interrogation room. Nelson went back to his office. Nami had taken Manning to her room.
The three stooges, who had been in the facility for a few days already, went to the shooting range. They were up there now, talking about how full of shit I was.
Manning thought the same thing.
While we were in the room, they hadn’t believed what I was saying. Now that they were away from me, their disbelief had turned to outright scorn. They viewed me as a huckster and a con artist.
That didn’t surprise me much. They’d all experienced incredible things in their line of work, but nothing had ever appeared to be supernatural. Everything was real, grounded.
I didn’t even like thinking about my abilities as supernatural. That didn’t feel right. It cheapened the shittiness of what I had to deal with. It wasn’t that I had some kind of paranormal powers like a member of the X-Men, but more that I’d unfortunately unlocked a part of my brain that most people hadn’t.
And it sucked.
Drew finally ended the call and walked back to me. “That was Detective Johns. He’s covering my caseload while I’m playing spy with you.”
“Okay?”
“Two women called him today looking for me. One refused to tell him anything, which raised his suspicions. He traced her number and got me a name.”
“You aren’t exactly blowing my skirt up with this riveting information.”
“She lives in D.C.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
Drew worked in Baltimore. There was little reason for someone from another city to be calling him about a case he was investigating. The timing of the call and the happenings in the capitol earlier in the morning might not have been a coincidence.
Drew was nodding at me. “Does it hurt?”
“What?”
“Thinking. I can practically see you working things out in that tiny brain of yours. Smoke is coming out of your ears.”
“Hilarious.”
“Thanks.” Drew stuffed his phone in his pocket and then took his jacket off. “I’ll get Nami to pull up some info on her, see what her deal is. If she had anything to do with what happened in the subway this morning, then this could be our first break.”
“You said two women called for you today? Did you sign up for one of those online dating sites?”
“If I signed up to an online dating site, then why would they be calling me? They’d send me an email. You should at least know what you’re talking about if you’re going to give me a hard time.”
Damn. I really needed to learn more about that Internet thing. It just might catch on one day.
I shrugged. “I don’t know how these things work.”
“Maybe you can sign up for one of those classes little old ladies take so they can learn how to check their email and use the incredibly complicated Google.”
“I miss this.” I grinned, clopped him on the shoulder.
“What?”
“This. Giving each other shit all the time. Just like the good old days when you’d come by my apartment and give me an ass chewing for being drunk by noon.”
We stood in silence for a moment. It got awkward.
I grunted. “Not saying I want to hold hands or anything.”
“You’re the one making it sound like we used to date.” Drew’s shoulders sagged. “The other call came from Allison.”
“What?” I felt my stomach tense. “Allison Henley?”
“Yeah. She basically threatened me. Said she’d go to the press and tell them I was in Arthur’s Creek during The Massacre if I don’t call her back. I’d bet my pension that she wants to know about you.”
“Damn it. Nelson is going to blow his lid.” I closed my eyes, leaned my head back so my face pointed at the ceiling.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Nelson had her detained in some military prison camp so she couldn’t talk. We were under enough pressure and scrutiny already without the press learning that Drew and I had been in West Virginia during The Massacre. The heat around us had finally subsided after the events of D.C. and we didn’t need things getting hot all over again.
And what really worried me was whether she knew anything about me. She’d seen what I could do, but she’d been badly wounded and in a serious state of shock. I hoped she didn’t remember anything. If nothing else, her state of mind at the time would keep her from being certain about what she’d seen.
But why else would she be dropping the hammer on Drew? She knew something. If she started weaving fantastical tales about Drew and me, then Nelson would have no choice but to lock her up somewhere.
I couldn’t abide that.
Being in my orbit had harmed enough people.
“We’ll have to deal with her later,” Drew said. “Don’t tell Nelson anything about Allison until I can talk to her.”
“I promise not to tattle to the hall monitor.”
“We need to get moving or we’ll lose Smith’s trail from this morning.” Drew’s face hardened. “If we haven’t already. He’s a little slicker than the typical scumbags I have to find.”
“Shocking that former intelligence officers and spies are good at avoiding detection. Who knew?”
We headed for Nami’s office.