Body Count Read online

  “Yeah. And…” He pauses. “I’m going to need your gun.”

  That’s the last thing I want to give anyone. I know that Marty’s dead. I saw him die. I killed him. But I still expect to see him waiting for me around every corner. The gun is my comfort. But it’s policy when an agent shoots someone—no matter what the circumstance. I take my gun out of my holster and reach over to place it on Rivers’s desk. I wince with pain from the cracked rib. As long as I keep my arm by my side, it doesn’t hurt much, but reaching sends ripples of sharp pain straight into my rib cage.

  “Okay, that’s it. Take it easy,” Rivers says.

  We stand up.

  “You’ll both be getting a call from Dr. Rosen. You’ll need to come in for appointments, even though you’re off.”

  It’s not such a bad idea.

  We leave Rivers’s office. In the corridor, Josh stops. I stop too.

  “Do you want a ride home?” he asks.

  “Um…”

  “You’re going to the hospital.” He stares past me.

  “Yeah, I was going to fill Darren in. Tell him about our debriefing.”

  Josh nods curtly.

  “I won’t be long though. Would you come with me?”

  Josh hesitates. “Okay. I’ve got a few words I wouldn’t mind saying to Darren Carter, anyway.”

  “Josh—”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be civil.” He shoves his hands into his pockets.

  Walking along the hospital corridor to Darren’s room reminds me of St. Anne’s. I remember running along the corridors, naked, with Marty right behind me. I thought I was never going to escape. I can admit that now. I felt defeated. I’ll never look at a hospital the same way again.

  We arrive at Darren’s ward and he pushes himself up in bed.

  “Hi,” he says, keeping his eyes on me.

  “Hi,” I say. Then there’s an awkward silence.

  “Apologies are in order,” Darren says, looking at Josh.

  “For thinking I was a serial killer? Damn straight an apology is in order.”

  Darren smiles. “I’m sorry,” he says and holds out his hand.

  Josh takes it.

  “Thanks for helping us out on this one, Carter. Without you, we may not have found Sophie.”

  I hadn’t thought about that before. It was Carter who recognized Marty from the photos. They interviewed him during Sally-Anne’s investigation. It was also Carter who knew something was up with the map.

  Darren shakes his head. “The two of us studied that map for a good couple of hours before we saw the head positioning.”

  “It took us a while.” Josh transfers his weight from one foot to the other. “I’ll wait outside.”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  I tell Darren all about Marty and everything we found out during the briefing. He listens intently, finding out about the man who shot him and killed his aunt all those years ago. Darren was lucky. The bullet pierced his right lung, but he’s going to be okay. They weren’t really prepared when they stormed into St. Anne’s. Darren was unofficial, well and truly out of his jurisdiction, and Josh was suspended. Josh had some supplies at home—two guns and a vest—but Carter only had his gun and badge. They both took big risks to get me out.

  He stares at me and smiles. “I’m glad you’re okay.” He grabs my hand.

  “Thanks, Darren. Thanks for everything.”

  “So are you planning any trips to Tucson?”

  I look down at his hand holding mine. “No. I’m afraid not.” I withdraw my hand. I’m still attracted to Darren, but I need to sort out things with Josh.

  Darren nods and rests his hand by his side. “Josh is lucky.”

  “I don’t know if that’s true. There are a lot of things I need to straighten out right now.”

  “I understand,” Darren says.

  But I don’t think he does.

  “And what are you going to do about your psychic abilities?”

  “I need to learn to control them if they’re going to be useful for profiling.”

  “You’ll work it out. You need to practice, is all.”

  I nod. “I hope so. I think it can help others.”

  “I bet it can.” He pauses and smiles. “I bet it can.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1183-4

  BODY COUNT

  Copyright © 2005 by Phillipa Deanne Martin.

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