Chapter 7

Forensics and more police arrived. Soon the place looked like someone’s idea of a circus done in black and white with whirling colored lights. I knew it would be crowded, and I knew I would be no help at all. Yet, I hung around anyway. Part of me felt bad for Bethany. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop this guy, this UnSub from taking her from her home, bringing her to this empty store and reducing her to so much bloody sludge. UnSub was the term the Detectives were using for the intruder/kidnapper. It stood for ‘Unknown Subject’, a term the FBI used when they didn’t have an identity for someone that had committed a crime. I didn’t care what they called him, so long as we found him quickly. Granted, for the time being, they had to meticulously go over the scene in an effort to find anything that might help them discover who the UnSub was. It was something I was interested in, but not trained for.

I had been sitting on the sidewalk next to the front door leading into the store when we arrived. However, time, lack of food, and that god-awful smell of decomposing flesh forced me to move. I considered sitting in Stanfield’s car, but I wanted fresh air and the windows on his car were all rolled up. Instead, I sat on the ground at the back of his car. It got me away from the smell, and outside of the police tape they had put up to secure the area.

Someone stepped up next to me and held down one of those monster sized Super Big-Gulps.

I looked up. She had long dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, a pleasant smile, and an aura that reminded me of grape lollipops. I couldn’t remember her name, but I knew that she was one of the forensic techs. I’d met her and some of the others briefly during Jacquelyn’s trial.

She shook the cup at me. “Go on, it’s not drugged or anything.”

I took the cup and tasted it. It was sweet, cold, and hit my empty stomach wonderfully. I took a long pull on it, and then leaned my shoulders back against the bumper of the car.

“Better?” she asked.

I nodded. “Thank you.” I took another drink and then held it up to her.

She waved me off. “No, keep it. You looked like you needed it.”

I nodded again and then looked toward the door where a steady stream of plain clothes detectives, forensic techs wearing t-shirts that said ‘Police’, and uniformed officers entered and exited the rental space. I was surprised that any of them could do their jobs with so many about. I looked up at the Tech next to me. “Is every crime scene this crowded?”

She looked over at the door and stream too. “Not all of them, but this is one of those strange crimes we sometimes see.”

“And you’re not in there because...?” I asked with a sly grin. I had an idea regarding her reason. Her aura said she was scared. I didn’t blame her, but then she didn’t see it occur, only the aftermath.

“I can only handle so much of that smell,” she said. Good cover.

Police officers don’t like having their emotions read so easily and I was pretty sure the forensics people felt the same way, I ran with what she said. “Isn’t there supposed to be a trick to it?” I asked. “Like breathing through your mouth instead of your nose?”

She looked at me. “Who told you that?”

I shrugged. “I read a lot,” I said.

She looked at the door again. I could see shifts in her aura that suggested she was getting up the guts to go back in.

I took another drink and looked over at the 7-11, wondering if I might find something to eat there. People were standing in small groups watching the police. Some had cell phones pressed to their ears, and just as the thought crossed my mind, a news van came around the corner and pulled into the parking lot. “Crap.”

The tech looked as well. “Dammit. I better tell the Lieutenant.”

I quickly climbed to my feet and moved around the car to put it between me and the news van. After Jacquelyn’s trial, I had enough microphones shoved in my face and cameras zooming in on my expressions to last me a lifetime. The news had made things difficult before term had begun. It seemed no matter where I went, someone was wanting an interview. I didn’t mind at first, but when they started asking me to demonstrate my abilities for the news, I had to turn them down. So many other Powerborne worked so hard at leading normal lives, I didn’t want to make it look like they were wrong. I wanted to be accepted for who and what I was, and be left alone. However, since I didn’t talk about other Powerborne, or even bring up that specific term, I couldn’t explain that to anyone, especially reporters.

I kept my head turned toward the empty store that the police were working in. I didn’t want the reporter to recognize me. Standing next to Stanfield’s cruiser put me outside of the perimeter of the scene however. I had already been inside the line, but I wasn’t willing to go back in simply to avoid the press. I had to hope they didn’t see me.

I looked back, over my shoulder, to see if Stanfield had gone to talk to them or not, and I found, to my dismay, the reporter and cameraman heading straight for me. Yes, I really did need eyes in the back of my head.

I seriously considered sinking back down to hide behind the car, but I didn’t. I had faced a deadly power-using psycho last summer, but I couldn’t face a camera? I didn’t have anything to say to them. It was that simple. The problem was, if I said they should talk to the officer in charge regarding this scene, they would do that and adlib something from me. If I said I had no comment, which was the same thing, again, they would say something on my behalf whether it was true or not.

I heard their shoes on the concrete. I turned to face them like a normal person rather than a scared dog.

The reporter was blonde. Her hair was styled with enough hairspray to hold an elephant in place. She wore enough makeup to hide the wrinkles that I thought were obvious. Maybe the camera hid all those details with clever adjustments to the sharpness of the picture while it was focused on her. She wore a Navy Blue skirt suit which made her legs look thin, but then, as I studied the rest of her, I realized she was very thin. Her aura was on the pink side of red, maybe medium violet red. Her cameraman was an inch or two taller than me. The camera on his shoulder gave me no indications as to what he might be thinking. I could see his aura, which was the color of straw or wheat, but not his expression.

“Mr. Sutton, I’m Lynn Romaine from Channel 3 news. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?” At least she seemed professional.

I shook my head. “If it has anything to do with what’s happening here, you should talk to one of the officers.”

She nodded and continued smiling as if I were one of her adoring fans. “I understand, however, I have a few questions about another matter.”

I stared at her for a moment. If she didn’t want to ask about Bethany, there was only one other thing she could ask about, and I really didn’t want to talk about that either.

I guess she took my silence as a go-ahead. “Do you have any thoughts regarding the proposed law Congress just announced about people with power?”

I had to blink a few times. My confusion was completely overwhelming. “What proposed law?”

She cocked her head to the side and lost a touch of her smile. “The bill is referred to as Hammon’s Law. Senator George Hammon has proposed a law regarding an updated policing system to handle situations incited by people with power.”

I licked my lips as I thought about what that suggested. However, having the camera zooming in on me made me respond with a delay. “Until I’ve read the proposed law, I cannot give you my honest opinion.”

“Any thoughts then?”

“Going on what you’ve said, several. However, I’m not going to make any kind of formal statement until I know more. No one should move forward until they have all the information, and since I don’t know what this proposed law includes, I cannot give any thoughts on it.”

The reporter actually pouted. However, her aura said she was delighted.

“And if I find anything I say today quoted in any paper or played back on any broadcast, I will find out who your editor is and ensure that your career has one of those marks in it that will make any future potential employers have to think several times before considering you for their reporting staff.”

That leveled out both her expression and aura. “Listen here you little...” She stopped and visually readjusted herself. “You’re right. I shouldn’t print or broadcast anything you’ve said ... for now.”

I knew I was going to regret what I was about to say, but I went with it anyway. The last thing I needed was my face in the papers again, much less because I had made her mad. “I’ll tell you what Ms. Romaine, I’ll be happy to give you my official thoughts on that proposed law once I’ve read it and had some time to think about it. And considering I’m not studying law or know enough about law to be able to properly interpret it, I’ll probably need more time than normal. I’ll have to find someone who can explain it to me.”

She nodded. “I know just the person.” She pulled a business card out of her purse. “His name is Duane Meyers and he occasionally writes columns for the Dallas Times Herald.” She handed me the card. “Give him a call and tell him I sent you. He’ll be able to tell you about the bill and what it proposes. You should be able to discuss it with him and get a good clear picture.”

I took the card. A bit of a smile actually touched my lips. If Mr. Davey was open to discussion of such a law, then I’d be happy to discuss it with him. I was also happy to have such a clear deal with Ms. Romaine.

Then I saw Lieutenant Stanfield approaching. I slipped the business card into my pocket and waited silently. Ms. Romaine turned to see what I saw and moved toward the Lieutenant.

Stanfield glowered at me for a moment. He didn’t know what I had said and thus didn’t know what he would have to clean up after me. I felt bad for that, but not too bad. There was nothing to clean up, so his job wasn’t going to be all that difficult.

The tech who had bought me the soda came back around, skirting the camera’s field of view. “So, what did you say about the case?”

I shook my head. “I refused to answer any questions on it. I said they’d have to talk to one of the officers.”

She looked at me with a cool expression. I took another sip of soda. Finally she nodded. “Good enough for me. The Lieutenant won’t be happy until he finds out what was said.” She continued watching me for a moment. “However, there was a lot of talking going on over here, and she handed you a card.”