was where the first teenager, Heather Forrester, lived, then up and gone, no clues.” He took her hand. “I do believe you might have caught a Serial.”
“Is that how you say it? It makes it sound even scarier. You think the Gaffer’s Ridge mayor will give us medals?” She paused, took another deep breath, looked back to see Rafer Bodine still clutching his broken wrist to his chest, moaning louder now, in between curses. “It’s true I freaked him out, but even so, he’s still too big, too strong. In the end I wouldn’t have had a chance, even if he hadn’t pulled out that gun.”
Griffin said, “You can put the pipe down now. You don’t need to worry, I’ve got his gun.” He nodded at the Walther stuffed into his belt.
“Sorry, not yet,” and she gripped the pipe even tighter. “I can’t, not until he’s behind bars, then I’ll consider letting it go.”
He smiled at her, shook his head. “I guess I don’t blame you.” And for the first time he really looked at her. Before, he’d seen a tall woman in skinny jeans and a dirty white T-shirt, sneakers on her feet. But now, he really saw her. Even with her streaked blond hair falling out of a ratty ponytail and smudges of dirt on her face, he saw her chiseled features fit together perfectly, set off by a stubborn chin that probably helped people look past all the rest and take her seriously. Her chin, and the fierce intelligence in her hazel eyes. He watched her push back a hank of hair, hook it behind her ear, where it didn’t stay. She pulled the ponytail free, efficiently gathered all the hair together, and rubber-banded it again.
“Are you a model?”
She jerked, grinned at him like a loon, showing perfect white teeth. “No, goodness, a model? Me? As in walking a runway? I’d trip over my feet, not to mention I like to eat too much. I’m a writer for American Democracy, a monthly news and business magazine. I’m here in Gaffer’s Ridge to do an interview with a Nobel Prize laureate.” She paused a moment, stared at him. “I see you’re not bad-looking yourself. And here you are an FBI agent. What are you doing in town?”
“I’m supposed to be taking a rest. Well, I guess that’s over.”
“You want to tell me how you found me? How I could hear you in my head, answering me? Do you do that a lot?”
“Nah. Hearing what other people are thinking rarely happens to me. My opinion? I think most people have natural shields. Occasionally, I’ll pick up flashes of anger, or joy, but rarely anything specific. With this guy, Rafer, all I picked up from him was fear and confusion. You definitely spooked him.”
Griffin turned to look back at Rafer Bodine. Blood snaked slowly down the side of his face from the blow from the pipe. How long would it take the paramedics and the sheriff to get here?
“He’s trying to get up.” Carson jumped to her feet and ran back into the house, Griffin on her heels. Bodine had managed to lurch up, and Carson smashed her foot down on his chest. “Stay down, you monster! The sheriff and the paramedics might not want me kicking you again.”
Rafer spat at her, not a good idea because he was on his back and the spit landed on his chin. He tried again to pull himself up. “You bitch, you caved in my head!”
“Yeah, I did, and if you keep moving around I’ll do my best to kick your ribs into your back, sheriff or no sheriff. I only wish I had on my boots, not these wimpy sneakers, then you’d be smart to say your prayers. Don’t forget, there’s always the pipe,” and she waved it at him.
“You’ll regret this, both of you will.”
“Yeah, yeah, blah, blah,” Carson said.
He stared at her out of pain-glazed dark eyes, licked his lips. “You were just like my granny and my ma. Granny’s dead, last year, finally, but Ma, she gets that same weird, distant stare like she’s looking into someone’s head or talking to someone who’s not there. It’s not right. I didn’t mean to do it, I didn’t mean to! It’s evil, you’re evil!”
Griffin said, “What, exactly, didn’t you mean to do?”
14
* * *
“Nothing, I didn’t mean anything.”
Carson went down on her haunches beside him, but not too close, a full-blown sneer on her mouth. “You say I’m evil? Now, that’s