Love Is The Bond: A Rowan Gant Investigation (29 page)

I hadn’t paid much attention to either of
them earlier, but now I focused directly on the man who had spoken.
He was African-American, roughly in his late twenties to early
thirties, and his voice was edged with what might have been a faint
Creole accent. I raised an eyebrow and said, “What was that?”

“Gwo-bon-anj
,”
he repeated, somewhat louder and much more clearly this time. “The
great good angel. It’s the part of your spirit which holds your
personality and experiences.”

“Where does that come from?”

“It’s a religious concept,” he offered,
acting as if he wished he’d never opened his mouth.”

“It wouldn’t happen to be
Vodoun
would it?”

He looked back at me with a hint of surprise
in his face. “Yeah. Actually it is.”

“Do you know much about Voodoo
practices?”

He shrugged. “I grew up around it, so yeah, I
know some.”

“What can you tell me about spirit
possessions?” I pressed, urgency seeping into my voice.

“Believers say the
Lwa
will possess their followers,” he
replied.

“Have you ever seen it happen?”

“Whoa, hold on a second,” he objected. “I
said I grew up around it. That doesn’t mean I actually believe in
it.”

“But have you ever seen it happen?”

“No.”

“Okay then, have you ever seen anyone
claiming to be possessed by a
Lwa
?”

“Look, I really shouldn’t have…”

“Just answer me. It’s important!”

“Yeah. A couple of times,” he said with a
dismissive shake of his head. “Look, like I was saying, I shouldn’t
have said anything, and I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Okay, fine, but just answer me this
then.
Veve
. A heart with a
crosshatched pattern and a dagger piercing it. Do you know who that
is a symbol for?”

“With a dagger would be
Ezili Dantó.
She’s
the
Petro
aspect of
the
Lwa
of
love.”

“Petro
aspect?”

“Negative. You know, like the opposite.”

“You know quite a bit for someone who doesn’t
believe in it,” Constance remarked.

He shrugged again but remained silent.

“Come on, Emile,” the other paramedic
interjected. “We need to roll.”

“You. Shut up,” Mandalay barked at the
paramedic over her head then looked back to the foot of the gurney
and said, “You. Answer the man’s questions.”

“Button it, Constance,” Ben told her then
glanced over at me and declared, “She needs to go to the hospital,
Rowan.”

“No, I don’t,” she objected.

“Stay out of it. You’re goin’,” he retorted
without taking his eyes off me. After a second he huffed, “Make it
quick.”

I turned back to the paramedic and
quickly asked, “What purpose would
Ezili
Dantó
have in a ritual?”

“I don’t really know, sir,” he replied,
kicking off the brake and starting to maneuver the gurney out of
the room. “Like I told you, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m
sorry.”

“No. This is important!”

“Look, all I know is that she represents
heartbreak, jealousy, and vengeance. That’s about it.”

“Hold on. Please. Just one last
question,” I pleaded, insinuating myself between them and the exit.
“A round circle with three curved lines radiating out from the
center and a single dot in each third. Whose
veve
is that?”

He scrunched up his face and then shook his
head. “I don’t know.”

“Are you certain? Think.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve never seen that
one. I can tell you it’s definitely not one of the greater
Lwa
, but maybe it belongs to a lesser
or an ancestral spirit.”

“Okay, Rowan, that’s enough. Get outta the
way,” Ben ordered.

I stepped back and they continued rolling the
gurney toward the front door.

I had hoped for more information from the
young man, but what he had given me was definitely beyond what I’d
had before. I didn’t know that it was going to help find Felicity
though.

Ben was still following along with them,
wearing an expression of intense concern. He hadn’t said much of
anything for the past several minutes, except the terse orders he’d
barked at Constance and me. I wasn’t sure if it was simply his
disquiet over her condition, or if he was angry.

Given the circumstances, I suppose he had
plenty to be irritated about, not the least of which was me.

“I’ll be right back,” he grunted as he
brushed past.

A second later, as they approached the front
door, Constance called out, “Rowan?”

I stepped quickly over to her even as they
continued to muscle the gurney out into the night air.

“Yeah, Constance?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, reaching out to touch
my arm.

“Whoa, hold on a second,” I said to the
paramedics, motioning for them to stop. Then I looked back to her.
“Sorry about what?”

“I had to tell them about my weapon,” she
replied. “They had to know for…”

I cut her off, shaking my head vigorously as
I spoke. “I understand. It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it
right now. You didn’t have any choice. Now, let them take you to
the hospital.”

I stepped back again, and they continued out
the door. I certainly hadn’t expected the apology from Constance,
and to be honest I almost wished she hadn’t made it. The mere
mention of the sidearm brought my fear oozing back to the surface,
and I felt my stomach somersault yet again.

As the storm door swung shut, I looked around
and realized that in a very real sense this time, I was suddenly
very alone. The Briarwood officers were out in the front yard
talking to one another and occasionally looking toward the house. I
knew that the female officer who had been questioning me had still
been inside when Mandalay and I started discussing the reason
behind Felicity’s actions. How much she had heard, I couldn’t say,
but I was guessing that it was a big part of the conversation going
on right now.

At this point, however, I didn’t care what
they thought of me. I needed to figure out where my wife was likely
to go and find her before this got any worse than it already
was.

The problem at the moment was that I had no
idea how I was going to do that.

Once it was safe to do so, I had let the dogs
out of the basement and shuffled them out the back door after some
half-hearted strokes of reassurance for them both. I hated that
they’d been traumatized this way. Simply ushering them into the
back yard wasn’t much better, but I had more than enough to worry
about right now. Unfortunately, they were going to have to wait in
line.

I had given the Briarwood police officers a
list of the pertinent individuals from our address book along with
contact information as they had requested. While I could tell there
was still a bit of suspicion regarding my cooperation, after only a
few more questions they had headed back outside.

Nothing had been mentioned about the
conversation with Mandalay and the paramedic, or at least not
directly to me. I did, however, happen to be staring blankly out
the door when both of the cops went over to Ben and said something
to him while nodding back toward the house. Eventually the officers
went to their cars, and the one across the street left almost
immediately. The officer parked directly in front of the house,
however, didn’t seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. My guess was
that I was going to be watched. Given the earlier questions, I
could only assume that it was for my safety.

At the moment I felt like every nerve in my
body was sparking, and there was a hollowness in my chest that I
had only felt twice before. And, both of those times had been when
there was an undeniably palpable threat to Felicity’s life, just as
there was right now. I wanted to go out looking for her, but I got
the feeling that there might be some resistance to that idea from
the cop parked outside. It also didn’t help that I had no real idea
of where to start, so driving aimlessly about the city wasn’t going
to be any more productive than waiting here at the house.

Of course, that was logic, and at the moment
I was being driven by emotion.

It wasn’t long before my subconscious coping
mechanisms kicked in, and I found myself mindlessly straightening
up the room just to keep myself from toppling over the precipice
into hysteria.

Even though I didn’t remember doing it, I had
righted the remains of the lamp and end table then picked up the
larger pieces of the glass and ceramic and tossed them into the
trash. By the time Ben came back into the house, I was occupying
myself by cleaning up the rest of the mess with the vacuum. I
looked up as he stepped through the door, closing it behind him. I
turned my gaze downward and took another pair of swipes across the
throw rug before switching off the device and turning back to him.
I didn’t say anything; I just stood there waiting expectantly. He
was still wearing the same expression that had been screwed onto
his face when he went outside. In fact, it might even have been a
bit worse than before.

I suppose I appeared somewhat surprised by
the fact that he was still here, and to be honest, I was. Since it
had been several minutes since the life support vehicle had left
the scene, I simply assumed that he had gone ahead to the
hospital.

“You gonna puke or somethin’?” my friend
finally asked after a long period of uncomfortable silence.

“No. I just didn’t expect you to still be
here is all,” I said.

“I told ya’ I’d be right back.”

“Well, I just figured you’d be going to the
hospital with Constance.”

“No” was his one word reply.

“Why not?”

“‘
Cause someone’s gotta stay here ‘n
keep you outta trouble. And, since she’s hurt, I lost the coin
toss.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“So, what makes you…”

“Save it, Rowan,” he cut me off. “We both
know ya’ too well. You ain’t gonna sit around waitin’ for someone
else ta’ find Felicity.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Ain’t no prob’ly to it… Been down that road
with ya’ twice already. So listen, we need to talk.”

“About what?” I said as I reached down and
took hold of the power cord for the vacuum then jerked it out of
the wall and retracted it in relative silence.

“This situation.”

I didn’t answer right away. I picked up the
cleaning appliance and carried it down the hall then stowed it in
the linen closet. When I returned to the living room, I bypassed
his intentions for the conversation and asked, “So, what was that
all about outside?”

“What was
what
all about?”

“The cops. They said something to you and
kind of gave a nod this way.”

“Oh that,” he replied. “Well, she thinks
you’re in denial about Felicity and wanted ta’ know if you were
gonna be gettin’ any help.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” I said with a nod. “I
got that impression from her earlier.”

“Yeah, well, she’s the nice one. The other
copper just thinks you’re a flake.”

“Figures.”

He paused and sighed then said, “Well, I’m
not so sure I don’t agree with both of ‘em.”

I wasn’t a huge fan of Shakespeare, but
a single, very common quote fit the current situation so well that
I simply couldn’t stop myself from uttering it.
“
Et tu, Brute
?”

“Yeah, me too,” he returned without missing a
beat. “Maybe… I dunno… Ya’ see that’s kinda what we need ta’ talk
about.”

“Why?”

“Look, Rowan,” he said as he stood there at
the door massaging his neck. For the most part, he hadn’t really
moved since he’d come back into the house. After another anxious
pause, he clucked his tongue and said, “Look, this whole possessed
thing just goes way beyond the pale, man.”

“Yeah, well you said something like that
several years ago when I started having those precognitive
visions.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“And then again when Eldon Porter
started…”

“I got the picture, Row. You don’t hafta take
me down memory lane.”

“Apparently I do if you think I’m crazy.”

“Maybe not so much crazy as the denial
part.”

“Denial about what, Ben?”

“Let me ask you this,” he said, hesitating
before obviously having to force himself to proceed. “Where was
Felicity when Hobbes was murdered?”

“Why?” I asked then realized where the
conversation was headed and spat, “Wait… You mean… Dammit, Ben, I
can’t believe you just asked me that!”

“Me neither,” he returned but asked me again.
“So, where was she?”

“Fuck you, Ben.”

“Yeah, fine. Be pissed if you wanna, but just
humor me, okay?”

“She sure as hell wasn’t with him.”

“That’s not an answer, Rowan.”

“Okay, fine. I guess it depends. Did the
medical examiner fix a time of death?”

“Sometime early this morning. After midnight
but before ten a.m. is best guess.”

“Well, we were with you at around two if you
remember.”

“Uh-huh. But, what about after that?”

“We were here. We came home and went to
bed.”

“Okay. What were you doing?”

“Like I said, we went to bed. We were both
exhausted, so we went straight to sleep.”

“So you were asleep?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”