Blood Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation (15 page)

Obviously I wasn’t going to be able to match
wits with her in my present condition, so I figured I should just
do as I was told before she decided to physically help me with the
task like she had done with the family remedy. I opened one eye
just long enough to wrap my hand around the mug she had placed
before me several minutes earlier then carefully lifted it to my
mouth. The coffee had cooled enough not to burn my tongue, but it
was still to the high side of warm, which was a good thing in my
book. I took a gulp and swallowed hard then took a second before
settling the cup back onto the table.

“You absolutely sure we don’t need ta’ take
‘im to the hospital?” Ben asked from across the room.

“He’ll be fine,” Felicity replied.

“You sure about that?”

“Aye. He’s just hung over.”

“Well I gotta say it’s the worst hangover
I’ve ever seen on one drink.”

“Have you ever given blood?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Remember how they tell you not to drink
alcohol for at least twenty-four hours afterwards?”

“Yeah,” he replied. A second later when he
spoke up, the spark of realization was instantly apparent in his
voice. “Crap. I didn’t even think about that.”

“Obviously, he didn’t either,” she said then
gave my leg a none too gentle nudge beneath the table with the toe
of her shoe.

“I had other things on my mind,” I
grumbled.

“I had a friend in college who would sell
plasma, then take the money and go to the bar,” Felicity continued
for Ben’s edification. “Cheaper, quicker drunk. But she would get
so dehydrated that she’d have these massive hangovers. In this
case, I’m sure the aspirin didn’t help much either.” Just to
punctuate the statement she kicked me under the table again.

“You can stop that anytime you want,” I told
her as I shuffled my legs back.

“I’ll let you know when I’m finished,” she
quipped.

“And, for your information,” I added, “The
aspirin helped my headache.”

“Really? I didn’t notice. I mean, since
you’re sitting there holding your head and all.”

“It helped then. Not now.”

“That was only about an hour and a half ago,
Rowan.”

“Okay, so they didn’t last.”

“Apparently,” she snipped, the sardonic bite
still sharp in her voice. “I wonder if the bourbon had anything to
do with that?”

“Give me a break, will you?” I appealed.

“You think I’m not?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, I did
notice that you’re being pretty calm about all this. You haven’t
screamed any Gaelic at me yet.”

“Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’ll gladly do
that while I’m beating you later. I’m just waiting until you can
feel it, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting my time.”

“Yeah, that sounds more like you. Thanks for
the reality check.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Okay, if you two are through with the
pissin’ match, or foreplay, or whatever the hell,” Ben interjected,
“I got a question.”

“What’s that?” Felicity asked.

“I understand about the hangover, but what
about the whole bleedin’ thing? Shouldn’t we take ‘im to the
hospital for that?”

“No,” I said. “It wouldn’t do any good.”

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“There’s nothing they can do about it,” I
told him. “In case you’ve forgotten, it doesn’t exactly have an
earthly explanation.”

“Yeah, so?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right,”
Felicity said. “That’s exactly how I felt yesterday, but then I had
to face the facts… What would he tell them? He can’t exactly walk
in and say he’s running low on blood. If he tells them he’s been
bleeding, they’ll want to know from where, and he doesn’t have a
wound to show for it. Give them the real reason and he’ll end up in
a psych ward. Make something up and at best they would run a bunch
of tests that won’t give them any real answers but would surely
raise a few questions, which would just mean more tests with no
answers.”

“Yeah, okay, I see what you’re sayin’. So
then what do we do?” he asked.

“Not we, me,” I answered. “The bleeding is
nothing more than a knock at the door. It’s a way for the spirits
to get my attention. I just have to stop ignoring them and it will
be all good.”

“I thought you already had.”

“After the second incident, yes, I did,” I
explained. “And I haven’t bled since.”

“Yeah, well you’ll pardon me if I don’t take
that as hard evidence that you won’t again.”

“I’ll be fine, Ben.”

“Jeezus, are ya’ listenin’ to yourself? It
ain’t like we haven’t heard that one before, and look at ya’
now.”

“You know, I could do without this whole tag
team beat up Rowan thing you two have going on.”

“Yeah, well get used to it. It’s for your own
good.”

“You do realize there’s nothing I can do to
stop all this, don’t you? I think it’s pretty obvious that I’ve
tried and it didn’t work, so why are you taking it out on me?”

“We’re just concerned,” Felicity offered, her
voice actually taking on a bit of softness for a change.

“What Firehair said,” Ben agreed. “I’ve been
tellin’ ya’ that all along.” He let out a heavy sigh before
continuing. “Okay, so let me ask ya’ this. What if goin’ ahead and
listenin’ to ‘em doesn’t work?”

“Then I guess I keep bleeding until you stop
whoever is doing this.”

He sighed. “Not exactly what I wanted ta’
hear.”

“Trust me, Ben, I’m not very excited about it
myself.”

“Okay…” He harrumphed. “So the way I see it,
right now we’re pretty much on the same page. So far you aren’t
tellin’ me anything we don’t already know.”

“Sorry… Sometimes that’s how it happens, you
know that.”

“I ain’t complainin’,” he countered quickly.
“I’m just thinkin’ out loud. Besides, it goes both ways. I also got
nothin’ for ya’ to look at, so it’s kinda mutual. Anyway, unless I
missed my guess, as far as the hocus-pocus goes, we’re at a dead
end unless ya’ go all
Twilight Zone
again. Right?”

“Yeah, I think that pretty much sums it up.
Why?”

“It’s been a very long and very weird
afternoon, white man. I’m just gettin’ it straight in my head. So,
Firehair, you got my cell number, right?”

“Aye, of course I do,” Felicity answered.
“Why?”

“In case Beefy the Vampire Snack over there
starts bleedin’ again. Because, if we ain’t takin’ ‘im to the
hospital or somethin’, then I’m gonna get outta here. I promised
Constance I’d take ‘er ta’ dinner and I’m already forty-five
minutes late.”

“Just blame it on me,” I said.

“Oh, I plan to, Kemosabe,” he returned. “I
definitely plan to.”

* * * * *

When the phone started ringing this time, I
was awake. In fact, I had been out of bed for almost two hours,
already showered, and was working on a fresh cup of coffee when the
obnoxious peal of the bell rattled through the house.

Fortunately, this time I didn’t feel the need
to plug my ears or hide under a pillow. A good eight hours of
uninterrupted sleep had turned out to be far better medicine than
the aspirin with a bourbon chaser. While pain free wasn’t an
accurate description by any means, I was once again dealing only
with the familiar dull thud hanging out in the back of my head. As
annoying as that could be, it was at least bearable—and even
something I could ignore if need be.

On the flip side of that coin, however, just
prior to the initial ring of the phone, I had felt an icy chill run
the length of my spine. While I certainly wasn’t one for believing
that anything and everything was some type of sign, I had
definitely learned to recognize when something was truly meant to
get my attention. The way the hair stood up on the back of my neck
following the sensation, I was certain this was one of those
times.

I stepped over to the kitchen phone and
glanced at the caller ID box. Under the circumstances I fully
expected to see Ben’s name and cell number displayed, but instead
the digits were completely unfamiliar. I furrowed my brow as I
scanned the LCD and saw that the call appeared to be coming from
the federal government. With a hard frown I snatched up the
handset, cutting it off mid-peal, and then placed it against my
ear.

“Hello?” I said.

The voice of a slightly cheerful but still
businesslike woman answered. “Good morning… Is Miz Felicity O’Brien
available?”

“I’ll have to check. May I tell her who’s
calling?”

“Yes. This is Doctor Jante with the FBI,” she
replied.

My outlook on the day took a sudden turn, and
it definitely wasn’t a good one.

Tuesday, March 14

10:04 A.M.

FBI Field Office

Saint Louis, Missouri

Felicity and I were cloistered away in the
conference room to which we had been ushered shortly after arriving
downstairs. I looked at my watch as I continued about my
self-assigned task of wearing a ten-foot long stripe in the carpet.
Fifteen minutes had elapsed since the door closed behind our escort
on her way out, leaving us alone to inspect the four walls of the
windowless room.

I shot a second look at the timepiece just to
be sure I’d read it properly because to me it felt more like an
entire hour had gone by. Of course, given that I’d already spent
over two months waiting for this meeting and had for all intents
and purposes given up on it ever happening, a few more minutes
shouldn’t be an issue. Unfortunately, I was having an enormous
amount of trouble convincing myself of that fact.

“Rowan, that’s the tenth time you’ve looked
at your watch in the past five minutes,” my wife voiced her
observation. “We’re actually here early as it is. Just relax.”

She was parked in a chair on the opposite
side of the conference table from me, watching quietly as I ambled
back and forth. While my personal display of nervous energy was far
more overt than hers, she wasn’t exactly at ease herself. It hadn’t
escaped my notice that she had removed her visitor’s badge and was
absently twisting it between her fingers as she fidgeted.

“I’ll relax when this is all over,” I told
her. “And, I hate to burst your bubble, but we’re only early by
Felicity time. They’re actually four minutes late.”

“Four minutes isn’t really late.”

“Like I said, Felicity time. In real time if
you arrive on schedule you’re already fifteen minutes late,” I
said, reminding her of my personal philosophy where such was
concerned.

“You could have stayed home, you know,” she
told me.

I stopped mid step and looked at her as if
she’d lost her mind. “You’re kidding, right?”

I resumed pacing and covered the last few
steps before pivoting to head back to the opposite end of the
table. I glanced in her direction again and added, “Actually, I
think I would have been a lot more comfortable if
you
had
stayed home.”

“I’m sure,” she replied. “But if you remember
correctly I’m the one they asked to come down here. Not you.”

“Yeah,” I spat. “I’m still not clear on that
one myself. I asked Ben to get
me
access to Annalise. Not
you. Not us. Just me.”

“Well, I’m not really sure what this is
about. They just said they wanted to talk to me about her and that
they were only going to be in town today. It seems a bit weird to
me.”

“Yeah, me too. And, Ben still hasn’t called
me back yet, so I don’t know if he had anything to do with this or
not.”

Silence filled the space behind my comment
for several heartbeats. I made my steady back-and-forth trek two
more times and started on a third before the quiet was once again
disturbed by my wife.

“Maybe it’s because I’m prettier than you,”
she quipped.

“What?”

She grinned. “Maybe they asked for me because
I’m prettier than you.”

“Uh-huh, very funny.”

She feigned a pout. “Well, I am.”

“While I’m inclined to agree with you, I’m
also reasonably sure that’s not one of the qualifying criteria…
Besides, this is no time for joking, Felicity.”

“Who says I’m joking?”

I held up my hand and thumbed my wedding
ring. “Me, because I’ve known you for a long time. Besides, that
comment was so far out in left field it had to be a joke.”

She nodded agreement, adopting a slightly
more serious tone. “True… But I’m just trying to get you to lighten
up. You’re starting to make me nervous.”

“Sorry, but there’s not much I can do about
that right now.”

“Actually, yes there is. You could stop
pacing and sit down. That would be a start.”

I ignored the comment and continued my
twenty-mile hike in a ten-foot space.

Her voice suddenly took on the quality of
soft concern. “So, how is your head doing, then?”

“Same old ache,” I replied with a shrug.
“Much better than last night though.”

“And your neck?”

I reached up and absently touched the spot
that had been the source of the bleeding, and it felt perfectly
normal. “Not even a twinge,” I told her then added, “Thankfully. I
really don’t need the distraction at the moment.”

“What’s gotten into you then?” she asked.
“Something definitely has you wound up.”

“I don’t honestly know,” I replied with a
sigh, and I was telling the truth. “Just having all this with
Annalise come back to the forefront maybe.”

“It’s been there all along, Row.”

“I know, I know. But we’ve been able to put
it behind us a bit… Or, pretend we have, at least.”

“
Cac capaill.
Don’t lie.”

“What makes you think I’m lying?”

“Because you’ve never put it behind you and
you know it,” she said. “So do I.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“I am? Well then why have you been obsessing
over my necklace ever since that night?”