I leaned against the siding a couple feet from the back door. The calendar said October, but no one told Savannah. It had to be close to ninety degrees and at least that in humidity. The sun blared down. Clouds gathered in the western corner of the sky threatening an afternoon shower. Nearby, someone had started their grill or smoker. The charred remains of their last meal filled the air.
Pennington and Cervantes stood at the other end of the shallow yard. They spoke in hushed tones meant only for their ears. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t pick up what they were saying. Guess they wanted it that way. They took turns glancing in my direction. Was it me, or were they as apprehensive for Cassie to emerge from the house as I was?
A half-minute passed. Pennington crossed the grass. The odor of his partner’s cigarette clung to him.
“What do you make of this, Tanner?”
“The crime? Hell, you didn’t give me much chance to look around.”
“We value your input, but there has to be a line.” He looked back at his coughing partner.
“That’s only gonna get worse the longer he smokes.”
“Don’t think he cares.” Pennington’s smile faded as he turned his head toward me. “Anyway, I meant Cassie.”
“What about her?”
“What do you think of her gift?”
I took a deep breath before answering. This was one of those questions that he’d use to segregate me into one of two types of people. “You worked with her much?”
He nodded. “Since it happened.”
“And by ‘it,’ you mean….”
“Yes.”
I’d long since been familiar with how Cassie came into her gift. “So, then, you’ve seen some shit you just can’t explain when it comes to her, right?”
“You could say that.” He stuffed his fidgety hands inside his pants pockets. “You, too?”
“Look, all I know is that I’ve been at a dead end more than once, and something Cassie has said put me back on the right track. Now, I’m not saying she had the exact answer to the question. She hasn’t always said the gardener did it with his spade and would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for the meddling psychic. Follow me?”
“Yeah, of course,” Pennington said. “She has a way of dropping a clue sometimes that I never would have spotted.”
“Right.”
He sucked in a long breath of air and shook his head. “Still, though, I can’t help but believe it’s all bullshit.”
For a moment there I thought that Pennington and I could have been great partners. “I feel like an ass anytime I ask her questions about how she does what she does, what she sees....”
He smiled. “Glad I’m not the only one.”
I followed his gaze to the back door. Maybe Cassie would finish sooner with both of us staring at it. “What about your partner over there?”
“Oh, yeah, for sure. He eats it up, man. It’s part of his culture. Ingrained, right? He grew up with village witches, that kind of shit.”
“Where’s he from?”
Pennington started to answer, but both of us lost focus as Cassie pulled the door open. She stepped into the sunlight, pale, a sheen of light sweat across her forehead.
“Well?” Pennington moved to within a foot of her.
“Alice?”
He waved with two fingers to his partner. “What about her, Cassie?”
“She’s alive.” She bit her lip, then added, “Well, she was after that night.”
“Anyone else?” he asked.
“One of the girls was butchered pretty badly. Stabbed repeatedly. Her face was carved up.”
Cervantes moved forward and swatted Pennington’s arm. Pennington backed him up a couple of feet.
“Give her some space,” he said.
“Thank you,” Cassie said.
“Did you see who did it?” Cervantes asked.
“I did see a male, but it was when I touched a doorknob. I didn’t, you know, actually see him killing anyone.”
Pennington said, “Do you remember his face?”
She nodded, releasing strands of hair which she quickly tucked behind her ears.
They went silent. The two men stared at Cassie. She glanced at the grass in an effort to avoid their stares, or maybe to pick up on something else. I breathed in the hot air and waited to hear their next move.
“Let’s go back to the precinct,” Pennington said. “Got some pictures you can look through. If none of those work, we’ll get a sketch artist to meet you at your place.”
“Sounds good.” She looked up at me. “You coming along?”
“I—”
“He’s not invited to the desk,” Cervantes said.
“That’s what you call it?” I said. “The desk? That’s cute.”
“You want cute?” He pushed past Pennington and grabbed my shirt. The son of a bitch was fast.
I wrapped my left arm around his right, then jerked it up and back. He grunted and let go of my shirt. I took a few steps back, fists up, ready to go. Pennington wedged himself into the middle and shoved both of us further apart.
“Go on,” he shouted. “Go back to the car, Cerv. We can’t accomplish anything with that schoolyard shit.”
Cervantes threw up his hands in disgust. He hopped the fence and disappeared around the side of the house. Their sedan’s V-8 roared to life. The car door slammed shut.
“Maybe we should pick this up at my house,” Cassie said. “Prevent whatever turf war he’s perceived is going with Mitch.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Pennington said. “And, Tanner, I’m sorry about my partner. I’ll have a talk with him. We’re all in this together, right?”
“Be sure to tell him he puts his hands on me again, I’ll break his arm in three places.”
“Mitch,” Cassie said.
“No, Cassie,” Pennington said. “It’s okay. I’d feel the same way if I was in Philly and someone treated me like this.”
After a few long breaths my pulse and breathing steadied. Wasn’t quite at normal levels, but the tense shakes exited through my fingertips.
“Let’s say two hours. Should be enough time for Cerv to cool off.” Pennington cut through the house to lock up.
Cassie wanted to remain outside. Perhaps she’d seen enough in there. We found the gate and made our way to the front yard. The rental car stood alone now. The detectives were gone and I finally had calmed all the way down.
I turned to crack a joke about Cervantes, but stopped mid-word at the sight of Cassie lying on the ground.