Free The Law Of Three: A Rowan Gant Investigation by M. R. Sellars

showed it to be from a sales rep at Stryker Corporation , a well-known maker of medical
implements. I checked another and saw that the sender was a local
wholesaler of surgical supplies.
    I guess I had been over thinking the
situation. Of course, in my agitated state, perhaps I was not truly
thinking at all.
    Unfortunately, seeing the names of the
companies led me to dwell on such things as powered bone saws and
stainless steel scalpels, which in turn brought back memories of
post-mortems I’d witnessed first hand. Fearful cries from the other
side rose in volume for a brief moment as I rushed to switch
channels on my thoughts before they could suck me in.
    “Aye, Ben. How long do you think we’ll be
waiting, then?” Felicity asked aloud, her voice thankfully
snatching my attention away from the place I’d been heading.
    There had not yet been enough time for me to
redeem myself, and I was still firmly entrenched on her bad side.
She hadn’t spoken directly to me since my offhanded comment over
half an hour ago, and it wasn’t looking like she intended to change
that any time soon.
    I looked over and focused on her. She was
seated in a chair across from us, her leather jacket unzipped and
revealing the stylized logo of a previous year’s Kansas City Pagan
Festival that adorned the front of her sweatshirt. Her legs were
crossed, and one foot was bobbing in time with music only she could
hear.
    I absently pondered the wisdom of the logo on
her shirt being visible, given the current situation. For the first
time in years, I was actually considering not being quite so open
about my spirituality. Of course, once you’ve taken as many steps
out of the broom closet as we had, getting back in was almost
impossible, so the idea was moot. Still, calling attention to it
might not be the best course.
    She looked up from her wristwatch and gazed
toward Ben with an expectant expression that barely masked the
fatigue showing in her face. “It’s been almost twenty minutes
now.”
    He pushed away from the counter then looked
out the doors and through the glassed-in foyer. “Who knows? Bee-Bee
probably wants Row to stew long enough to do somethin’ stupid.”
    “Like he hasn’t already?” she
volunteered.
    “Yeah, well I’m talkin’ stupid enough to give
her a reason to arrest ‘im.”
    “Hey!” I declared. “I’m standing right here
you know.”
    Ben looked at me. “Yeah, and?”
    “Yeah, and, you two seem to have a bad habit
of talking about me like I’m not here, that’s what. You do it all
the time.”
    “Not all the time. Just when it’s for your
own good.”
    “That’s subjective.”
    “Uh-huh. Two-way street, Row. You aren’t
exactly the pinnacle of objectivity yourself.”
    As much as I hated to admit it, he had a
point. Of course, that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Well, it’s
still annoying.”
    “Yeah, well so’s when you talk to dead people
the rest of us can’t hear.”
    Felicity piped up, a matter-of-fact tone
permeating her voice. “Aye, Ben’s right.”
    “What do you mean?” I scrunched my forehead
as I spoke. “You’ve ventured over to the other side yourself as I
recall.”
    “Not about that.” She dismissed my comment
with an impatient shake of her head. “About your giving Lieutenant
Albright a reason to arrest you, then. If you don’t calm down,
you’re going to do just that.”
    “You’re not gonna win, Row,” Ben offered.
“Especially if you play ‘push me-shove you’ with her. She’ll knock
your ass down and kick you while you’re there.”
    “Whatever happened to the whole ‘to protect
and serve’ thing?” I asked.
    “Number one,” he returned, “you’ve been
watchin’ too much TV. And number two, never pull the ‘taxpayin’,
law-abidin’ citizen who pays your salary’ crap with a copper. Trust
me, it just pisses us off.”
    “So, it’s okay for her to treat me like a
criminal?”
    “How many times have I gotta tell ya’, Row?
This is