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Wy
“I want answers,” Walt said, correcting him.
“We should point out that our departments see a correlation between the two deaths,” Boldt added, “and will continue cooperating and sharing resources and evidence.”
“This is totally out of hand!” Wy
“Coach us up, Mr. Wy
“I threatened him. I was pissed off, okay? I was scared. The guy is-was, whatever-a fucking freak of nature. The last I saw him, he was jacked so high on steroids he was the fucking Incredible Hulk, and I mean after the guy turns green. Okay? Like that. But does that mean I did the guy? Gimme a fucking break!”
“To your knowledge,” Walt said calmly, “has your pickup truck had any tire work done in the past two weeks?”
“No, no, no,” Evers said, interrupting any chance that Wy
“Why? What do I care?” Wy
“Vince!” Evers chastised. “This is not how this is going to be done.”
“You stated earlier,” Boldt said, “that you came straight here from Seattle, correct?”
“Yeah? So?”
“Upon your arrival to your home here, were you then, or are you now, aware of any of your possessions having gone missing?” Boldt inquired.
Wy
Walt reminded, “It’s here or in Hailey.”
Evers nodded to his client.
“No,” Wy
Boldt scribbled down a note.
“Okay,” Evers said, “we are done here. We will comply with any warrants or written requests as you present them.”
“Harris, we are not making a circus out of this,” Wy
“Yet you shot at him the other night,” Walt said.
“I shot at someone.”
“You told me it was Gale.”
“I told you I thought it was Gale,” said the negotiator.
“And now he’s dead.”
“Good riddance.”
“Vince, please!”
“You believed Gale was in the area?” Boldt asked.
“I got that list server notice,” Wy
Walt thought obtaining the names on the list server would prove difficult if not impossible, but it seemed worth the effort. If Gale had indeed been seeking revenge, then his likely victims would be on that list.
“We’ll ask that you not leave the county without checking with my office,” Walt said.
“That’s bullshit!” Wy
“Check with my office before leaving,” Walt said, addressing the attorney.
“I did not do Gale!” Wy
Boldt leaned forward. “Tell us everything you know about your relationships with Caroline Vetta and Martel Gale right here, right now, and you have a chance to make this go away. But my sense of things is this is probably your last chance to do this quietly.”
“You’re threatening my client?” Evers said. “Am I hearing this right?”
“I’m trying to save you a trip to Seattle,” Boldt said. “But I think I’m about done doing you any favors.” He stood.
Walt rose from the couch, wondering how he might pull off obtaining a search warrant before Wy
20
An image rose within the dreamlike swirl of color and the echo of a distant voice. Ethereal, foreboding, it felt more ghost than angel, and she turned away from it.
“I’m sorry.” A man’s deep voice that she experienced as penetrating, cold, sexual, and dangerous. She clawed away from him, dragging herself on hands and knees, sensing the retreat was more memory than experience. She caught a glimpse of herself, naked but for a cotton thong, rushing to escape. Then felt him catch hold of her ankle and drag her back. She reached out, grabbing the leg of a chair, only to bring it down on top of herself.
“Take me back to that moment.” A woman’s voice as gentle and forgiving as silence. Where it came from, she had no idea. Was God a woman with a voice like a summer breeze? Why did she feel so compelled to comply, to do whatever this voice asked of her?
“Is there someone in the room with you?” The woman again.
“I owe you that. Much more than that.” The man’s voice now, his silhouette blocking the glow from a window. She knew that window-it existed in her present memory.
“I see a window,” she heard herself say. “He’s standing in front of a window.”
“Tell me about him.”
But as she looked again, she flinched and ran from what she saw, what she heard. She stepped back, arms out behind her like angel wings.
“He says he’s sorry.” She identified this as her own voice. But she couldn’t be sure if anyone heard or who it was intended for.
“Sorry for…?” The woman again, gently pressing. Always pressing.
“He’s lying. He always lies.”
“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Not a stranger?”
“No way.”
“He’s in the room with you?”
“Yes. I…” The silhouette distended and broke into two black blobs. The ephemeral quality suddenly made her doubt its authenticity.
“Do you recognize him?”
“Recognize? Him? Oh, yeah.”
“Is he saying anything else?”
“He’s… coming toward me. Coming for me. No! No! Not again! Not that! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill me this time. I’ve got to-”
A bell rang. A small bell. The kind her grandmother kept on the fireplace mantel and told stories about, tall tales of India and elephants, and she could practically smell the incense burning. Her eyes came open to soft lighting and the barely discernible image of a thin woman with graying hair sitting stiffly in a chair opposite her. Her grandmother? But no; she was long dead.
Her scalp itched. She felt pearls of sweat on her upper lip that tasted of salt as she licked them off. And then she identified the source of the incense: a small ceramic dish to the left of the thin woman.
“Whoa,” she said. “Did I go under?”
“I believe so. Yes, Fiona.”
“Did I say anything?”
“We’ll get to that,” Katherine said. Fiona took in the surroundings of the office and for a moment didn’t recall coming here to this session. “Whoa,” she said again.
“It can be a little surprising the first time,” Katherine said.
“I’m totally disoriented.”
“Understandable. You were somewhere else just now.”
“I don’t remember a thing.”
“As it should be. We can work on that.”
“Did I remember anything? Do you know how I hit my head? Do you know what happened?”
“The important thing is that you know what happened.”
“I do? I remembered?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“And did I tell you anything useful?”
“It’s all useful. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
“There was a man. I think he was speaking to me… saying something to me… though I don’t know what, exactly.”
Trying to co
“Don’t force it,” Katherine said. “There’s no rush. The point is: you’ll get there if you need to. You’ll find it if it’s important.”
“Of course it’s important. There’s a piece of my life missing.”
“Maybe for good reason.”
“The only reason is because I hit my head.”
“Not necessarily. We’ve discussed this.”
“Protecting myself from myself? I don’t buy that.”