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

reality. She’s holdin’ the cards here, not you.”
    “Yeah, I know,” I grudgingly admitted. “But
she’s still getting to me.”
    “That’s YOUR problem, then,” Felicity said.
“You know how to get around that. Ground and center yourself.”
    “Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” I said as I
pulled my glasses off and rubbed my eyes, lingering for a moment as
I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and
forefinger.
    “How’s your head?” Felicity asked, her voice
still edgy but softened by a few degrees of concern.
    “Killing me,” I answered.
    “Twilight
Zone ?” Ben asked.
    “Yeah,” I nodded slightly. “And we’re already
hell and gone past the signpost.”
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 6:
     
     
    Lieutenant Albright breezed in through the
front doors of the medical examiner’s office just over twenty
minutes later. True to what Ben had told me earlier, her gelid
expression had not changed in the least.
    “Mister Gant,” she said as she entered,
cracking what might have passed for a pleasant smile had there not
been so much sarcasm affixed to it. “I am surprised to find you
here in the lobby as I asked. Apparently you CAN obey the law if
you try hard enough.”
    “The door is locked,” I answered coldly. “You
know that.”
    “Of course.” She nodded. “But that sort of
thing has never stopped you in the past.”
    I caught an acidic response in my throat and
choked it back down, turning my head to the side and closing my
eyes as I did so. I heeded Felicity’s advice and took an audibly
deep breath in through my nose, then exhaled slowly through my
mouth as I opened my eyes and turned back to face Albright. I could
feel energy flowing along my spine and coupling with the Earth in a
solid ground. It was as tangible to me as a hot and neutral lead on
an electrical outlet. Still, it didn’t bring complete calm, and
simply being in this woman’s presence made me bristle.
    “Look, Lieutenant,” I began. “You’ve made
your feelings perfectly clear. I have no desire to continue down
this path with you.”
    “And which path would that be, Mister Gant?”
she asked, feigning ignorance.
    “I’m telling you that I am not going to allow
you to bait me any longer, Lieutenant,” I replied. “I’m here, just
like you asked. I’m just waiting for you to tell me what it is you
want from me.”
    I cannot say that she was visibly
disappointed by my stance, but I definitely had the feeling that
some of her steam had instantly become just so much condensation.
There was a short period of silence while she considered what I had
just said. I fully suspected that she was using the time to regroup
and plot her way around the obstacle I had just placed before
her.
    “Mister Gant,” she proceeded with a tilt of
her head. “What I want, you cannot possibly give.”
    “How so?”
    “No matter what powers you may claim to have,
you cannot change that which has already happened. I firmly believe
that the man on the table beyond that door is there because of you.
There is nothing you can do to bring him back nor any of the other
victims for that matter.”
    “No. No I can’t,” I agreed in a quiet
tone.
    “Now, just a little while ago I had the
unpleasant duty of phoning Mister Harper’s wife to ask that she
come down here to identify his remains, and…”
    She didn’t get a chance to finish the
sentence. Like a banshee wail, Felicity’s voice pierced the air
between us, rendering everyone mute. “You what?!”
    “Excuse me?” Albright turned her hard stare
on my wife.
    “Aye,” Felicity began as she stood and moved
forward, bringing herself eye-to-eye with the lieutenant with no
more than a pair of steps between them. “You told Nancy that Randy
was dead, over the phone?”
    “And what would you have had me do, Miz
O’Brien?” she shot back.
    “Send someone to tell her in person.”
    “That is not how it is done.”
    The one word response that my wife uttered
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