INK: Vanishing Point (Book 2) (14 page)

I shoot McNab a look, tearing off a bite
of plain bagel. “Hilarious.” I roll my eyes. For a minute
I forget why I’m mad at McNab and then remember he’s been
keeping information from me. When he said he wouldn’t. He also
abandoned me and I didn’t like how he talked to Carl. It’s
not Carl’s fault that I’m a psycho and need to blow off
some steam. I didn’t want him to get in trouble.

“I’m glad to see you’re
feeling better, kid.” McNab leans forward on the couch.

“Yup.” My answer is curt,
“Dad are you ready to go?”

“Just about, Doodlebug.” He
looks at his watch. “I want to talk some more to McNab.”

“Really, you want to talk to
McNab
?”
I emphasize his name as it drips off my lips.

“What’s the matter,
sweetheart? Twenty minutes ago you were doing cartwheels, now you’re
spitting fire from your eyes,” Dad says pushing his glasses
onto his head.

“Nice analogy, Commissioner
Baynes,” McNab says and winks at me when Dad’s not
looking.

“I’m retired, McNab; you
don’t need to call me Commissioner.” He smiles.

“I’ll tell you what’s
the matter,
Dad
.
Mr. funnyman McNab here has been aiding and abetting a certain Mr.
Aiden Roth
who,
for those of you not keeping score, shot me.” I fold my arms
over my chest like I’ve just dropped a bomb in the room. But no
one is reacting like I’d hoped. Carl is actually grimacing at
me and McNab is grinning like the Cheshire cat. I’d like to
slap that grin off his face. I can’t believe he’s
enjoying this.

“Honey, there are things at work
here you don’t understand.” He looks at his watch and
stands up. “You’re right, we should go.”

Fuck me, seriously
?
Everyone is okay with what happened? I mean I still don’t know
the details, but maybe if I did I could be on Aiden’s side too.
If he would call me, if someone would tell me something I could at
least have some peace of mind. I close my eyes and exhale. “You’ve
all gone mad.”

“Come on honey, we have to meet
with Jason.” Dad walks over to McNab and offers his hand to
shake.

“Dad, McNab doesn’t like to
be touched.” I try to save McNab the trouble of explaining.

McNab takes Dad’s hand in both of
his standing up and shaking it. “It’s been a pleasure
meeting you, sir.” He looks directly at me flashing a great big
“fuck you” grin, lifting his eyebrows.

My eyes round out in shock before
squinting to an evil eye aimed straight at McNab. I look at Carl and
he just shrugs. Eli walks into the room tying his necktie and is
startled to a stop by the look I’m giving him. “Whoa.”

“Sorry, miss-fire.” My glare
returns to McNab as the deserving target.

“Who pulled the pin on
that
grenade?” Eli continues through the door to his office.

McNab chuckles, “There is so much
love in this room, kid. I really hope you appreciate it.”

McNab’s sincerity comes through
with his words. I know my Dad and Eli love me and won’t let
anything happen to me. They both put up with so much. Eli’s in
his office; he’s so handsome and put-together and he’s
putting his ass on the line for me again.

Then there’s Dad; he’s here
with me and he’s also going to see this through. Taking a
moment to look at each one of the men here for me I do feel full of
love and kindness. But there is still an emptiness inside me. There’s
someone missing. Aiden. Above all else he was always my friend.

Shay

Dad’s pacing back and forth in the
conference room. It’s really making me nervous. I want to tell
him to sit down. “Dad, what’s got you so wound up?
Everything seemed fine at Eli’s.”

“I’m just concerned about
Detective Glass. He’s got it out for you and I don’t
understand it.” He hesitates.

I take Dad’s hand to reassure him.
“Dad, Eli said that right now they are trying to get Aiden for
the shooting. That this isn’t about me."

“I know honey, but sometimes these
things don’t always go as planned.” He smiles, but it
doesn’t reach his eyes.

“It’ll be fine.” I
don’t really believe it either.

Jason and Bob file in with matching grim
expressions, “How are you feeling this morning?” Jason
asks.

“I’m okay. How are you?”
Get past the niceties already.

“Let’s get down to it. Eli
will be here in a few minutes and then we’ll head down to the
precinct.” Bob opens a folder.

I nod and look at Dad as he leans
forward on the table. “How are we going to handle this? I know
they don’t need Shay to press charges for them to go after
Aiden.”

“One of the issues we are having
is we don’t have an account of what happened that night.”
Jason’s gaze is full of sympathy as he looks at me,
questioning.

“Tell us what you remember from
that night.” Bob clicks a ballpoint pen on a legal pad.

“Easy. I don’t remember much
of anything. I remember leaving here, then going to the beach with
Aiden and that’s about it.” I shrug.

“You don’t remember the
shooting?” Jason asks.

“She doesn’t remember.”
Dad sounds irritated.

“No, I don’t remember
anything past the beach.” The image of the panels flashes
through my mind, but I know that’s not how it happened. I wish
Carl would tell me what happened so I could put this all to rest. I
know Aiden had a good reason for what he did. I just wish I knew what
it was.

“Okay, that’s what you tell
them when we go in there, that you don’t remember.” Jason
and Bob exchange a knowing look.

“Are you interested in pressing
charges against Aiden?” Bob asks with a pained look on his
face.

“Until I know what happened I
definitely don’t want to press charges.” I touch the side
of my head, trying to remember. “Aiden would never hurt me.
This had to be some kind of accident.” The more I say the words
the more I feel like one of those stupid women that never press
charges, then end up dead. But this is different; Aiden’s only
real crime against me is his own inability to commit. I can’t
believe he would ever purposefully harm me. If I thought he did do
this on purpose, I’d hunt him down myself.

Bob breathes a sigh of relief and
Jason’s shoulders relax. “Just be honest when you go in.”

Eli arrives and sits next to me,
planting a kiss on my cheek. “Sorry I’m late. I had to
check in with Preston. What have I missed?”

“Nothing yet; we just started.”
Bob says, avoiding my gaze. “We were waiting for you.”

Then Eli’s expression darkens and
he cups my hand in both of his. “There is some bad news.”

I want to ask about Aiden, but I think
that would kill Eli right now. “What happened?”

“When was the last time you talked
to Trish?” he asks cautiously.

“Oh God, did something happen to
Trish?” My body tenses.

“Well, we don’t know; we
can’t get a hold of her.” Eli is trying to meter his
tone.

Without hesitation I fess up that I was
with her, “Trish picked me up from your house last night. She
took me to the mall so I could get a phone and then dropped me off at
home.”

“Okay, so you saw her last night?”
Jason asks.

“Yes, what happened?” I hate
this. I feel like I’m always the last to know.

Eli wraps his arms around my shoulder,
“Shay, I found Kevin’s body at Ryker’s Park.”

“You found Kevin’s
body
?”
It takes a minute to register that if we were talking about Kevin’s
body that meant Kevin is dead, “Oh Jesus, Kevin.” I put
my hand to my lips as I say his name in a whisper.

“Shay, how did you know Kevin?”
Bob asks. The shock of it all is rolling through me, rendering me
speechless.

“Shay?” Jason tries to get
my attention.

My body jolts when I hear my name, “We
all went to high school together and he was dating my best friend.
Well, they had just broken up a few weeks ago,” I answer still
trying to process the loss.

“Okay, when was the last time you
saw him?” Jason is writing in his note pad.

“Like seven months ago?”

“Yeah, about seven months.”
Eli confirms.

“What happened to him? How did he
die?” Please tell me it was something simple.

“He was gutted, but not
exsanguinated like we’ve seen with the Specter murders.”
Eli answers. “But there are some similarities. Was Carl with
you?”

“He was outside the studio, but he
was there,” I answer, not really remembering when Carl may have
shown up.

“Just answer everything honestly
and it will be fine.” Eli tries to smile and lifts his
eyebrows. “It’s going to be okay.”

This is anything but okay. I pull my
hands back from Eli, sucking in a sharp breath. “How can you
say this is ‘okay.’ Our friend is dead, murdered; it's
not okay. He has a wife. Jesus Christ, Eli, is this what our lives
have been reduced to, merely that we are okay if I’m not going
to jail?”

Dad has been very quiet, but chooses now
to speak up, “Yes, Shayleigh, right now we have to look at the
good in things. Would you rather have Kevin be dead
and
you going to jail?”

“Well no, but it doesn’t
make things ‘okay.’” My anger is swimming in this
clusterfuck. How can everyone actually think that this is all right?
I feel myself starting to shake and my head pounds. My vision starts
to blur and it isn’t just from the tears. “Kevin is dead;
he’s dead. This is fucking awful and you are all just sitting
here like he’s nothing.” I have to get out of here. I
feel like I’m suffocating, but when I try to leave Eli stops
me.

“Shay, please, I feel terrible
about this. Kevin was my friend too. Right now, the only thing I can
do to possibly help him is find out who did this. To do that I have
to make sure they don’t settle on you as the only suspect.”

“Eli, that’s all very
logical but nothing about this situation calls for logic.” I
slam my hand down hard on the table and all the men startle. Tears
are free-falling down my face. Carl appears in the doorway. “You
are all fucking crazy; I’m not the crazy one here!” My
voice is hoarse from screaming.

“Shayleigh, you need to calm down;
you can’t get yourself worked up or you’re going to end
up back in the hospital.” He’s using that firm tone on me
like I’m ten.

“It’s not going to work,
Dad. I’m not a child. I’m a grown woman whose friends and
family are all dying in terrible ways and people think I actually
did
this.”

Carl reaches for me as I take a breath.
“Shay, calm down.” He puts his hands on my shoulders and
I feel a sense of calm come over me. Subdued, I’m forced to
slump in the chair. In a soft tone I turn to Carl. “What the
hell, Carl? Was that the Vulcan neck pinch?”

Carl shakes his head, remaining quiet.
Jason, Bob and Eli all exchange looks of concern. Finally Bob speaks
up, “I think we should postpone this meeting.”

“I would like that. I would like
some time to process all of this,” I say in a defeated tone.

Eli doesn’t like the idea if the
look he’s giving Bob is any indication. But Dad is all for it.
“I think you need to take a couple of days.”

“I’m not sure they are going
to let you postpone. I’m afraid we may force our hand and get
her brought in as a person of interest.” Eli leans in toward
me.

Everyone is looking at me in silence,
the Elephant in the room. I’m the center of everything that’s
wrong. I see that now. Because of me people are dying. It’s the
only real explanation that makes sense. Carl looks at me with sad
resolve. “It’s not your fault.”

“Eli, have you talked to Felicia?
Has Kevin’s wife been notified?”

“Yes, I went to the house and
talked with her. She really didn’t seem to care all that much
that he was dead.” Eli’s tone is still defeated.

Jason pushes some buttons on the phone,
and then Genie’s voice comes over the loudspeaker. “Yes
sir?”

“Genie, please call D.A. Preston
and let him know that we have to push back the meeting with Miss
Baynes until next week.”

“Do you want me to set the
appointment?” she asks.

“Sure, sometime after next
Wednesday.”

Bob stands and stretches before heading
for the door. “Okay, well I’ve got some things to work
on. Shay, I’ll see you in a few days.”

Dad turns to me, furious. I’ve
been bracing for the reprimand since I saw the anger in his eyes when
I was speaking my mind. “Shayleigh, you need to learn to calm
down. These outbursts have got to stop. I know things are hard for
you right now but that is no excuse for how you are acting. If you
want to be treated like an adult, start behaving like one.”

The air in the room stills. Jason, Carl
and Eli watch as I gear up to give Dad a piece of my mind. I cut him
a hard look, anger seething throughout my body. How could he possibly
think that I can remain calm with everything that’s happened? I
let my lids fall heavy over my eyes and grit my teeth. “Yes,
sir.”

Eli stands, offering his hand, “Hey
listen, I have to go. I’ll meet you at home?”

I nod and stand giving him a hug. It
takes everything in me not to dissolve to tears thinking about Kevin.

Eli puts his finger under my chin,
guiding me up to look at him. “Hey, we are going to get through
this.” He tries to reassure me but his lying eyes tell the real
story. He’s worried. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” I offer in a
whisper.

Eli takes up his brief case and walks
out the door, looking back at me over his shoulder with a forlorn
smile. He knows something, something that he isn’t sharing with
me and I don’t like it.

“Carl, are you able to get
Shayleigh home?” Dad asks patting his pockets looking for his
keys.

“Yes, Commissioner Baynes.”
Carl answers like a soldier.

“Thanks Carl.” Dad finds his
glasses on his head then looks at me. “Be good and I’ll
be by later.”