“And maybe she’s needing some emotional support,” Meera retorts.
I’m standing between them to catch the conversation and finally groan. “Let’s just get this over with, aye? Meera, thank ye. Can we talk tomorrow?”
“Of course,” she says, thrusting the bag of clothes at me. There’s big sweatpants worn soft from many washings and a t-shirt that looks familiar, likely I’d lent it to her at some point. And fuzzy socks. “Are ye sure ye dinnae want to sleep on my couch tonight?”
I want quiet. I need it to be quiet soon so the blaring alarms that keep ping-ponging in my brain will stop. Though one day soon it will be completely silent, and that is terrifying, too.
“I’ll be fine, thank ye, love.”
She presses something into my hand, leaning close enough to nearly bump noses. “Here, take this. It’s my black obsidian arrowhead for protection and clearing negative energies.”
I can feel the tears well up again. Why is this woman kinder to me than my own family? “I could tell ye were about to kick some serious arse with that soup ladle tonight.”
She laughs, giving me a hug before heading for the door, giving Detective Christie a last suspicious glare.
The detective’s examining my tiny living room closely, but not like she’s judging me. My couch may be from the charity shop, but everything is clean and the multi-colored rag rug I’d braided myself covers all the worn spots on the floor.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Where’s Detective Roy?”
“I tasked him with measuring the blood spray on the pavement.” I must be going pale again because her eyes widen. “Ach, that was insensitive. Here, sit down. I know this is your place but can I make ye a cup of tea?” Her gruff tone definitely softens when she’s one on one. She has short, sensibly cut brown hair streaked with gray and her blue suit is clearly chosen for comfort and ease of movement.
There’s a hot cup of tea in front of me by the time I’ve pulled on those nice fuzzy socks. I drink it while her cup cools on my little table.
“Hell of a night, aye?” She’s watching me keenly and now I’m feeling uncomfortable.
“So bad,” I nod fervently. “I just… it was so bad.”
“You’re a fierce wee thing,” she says approvingly, “ye fought two men off. I’m assuming those teeth marks in that bald bastard’s hand are from ye? Bit clear to theboneon his thumb.Nice work, that.”
“Um, did ye find anything in the car?” I ask, “A name from the license plate, maybe?”
“Stolen. No leads there,” she says, still watching the play of emotion on my face. “Any idea why those two arsepieces targeted ye?”
Now’s the time to tell her about the conversation between those men at the party, about reading their lips. About my mystery man and how he materialized out of thin air to kill the bastards trying to kidnap me.
I don’t say any of that.
“It was so fast,” I say, “I’ve never seen either one of them before.” This part is true.
“And the person who managed to kill ‘em both within seconds?”
Shuddering, I take another gulp of tea. “The guy in front holding my legs got pulled away and before I could even get my feet under me, he’d taken the man who’d been dragging me backwards as well.”
“So it was a man?” She leans forward.
“I dinnae know, whoever it was never said anything. But I canna imagine a woman doing that much damage in seconds.” I think about it. “Though that would be brilliant, wouldn’t it? With your training, I’m thinking ye could.”
She shrugs modestly. “Not that fast, I fear.”
The detective is good, I’ll give her that. She asks me the same questions in a slightly different way in a bit of a different order until I’m nearly nodding off to sleep.
“I think we’re done here, Miss Blair.” She tucks her little notepad in her jacket and hands me a card. “I’ll be checking in on ye, but if ye think of anything, even if it dinnae seem important, give me a call, aye?”
“Thank you.” Following her to the door, a horrible thought occurs to me. “If they’re part of a crew or something, would someone else come after me?”
“I’m going to keep a squad car outside for a day or two, step up the rotation of the street police walking by your place.” She smiles, which is actually a little shocking but makes her look very nice. “At this point, I dinnae believe they’re anything other than two arsepieces hoping you’d be a quick snatch and grab. Your mysterious rescuer, though… I’m looking into him a bit more.”
“Oh, okay,” I smile weakly. “Well, goodnight. And thank ye for the tea.”
