Beyond Recognition

52

Ben waited with Susan in the houseboat for an hour before they both became restless. Daphne was late, and despite his pleas Susan would not leave him alone there. Since their visit to the park, he could not stop thinking of Emily. He’d had it with the entire Daphne/Susan program. He wanted out.

Susan, attempting to sound composed, suggested they head down to the police department, where Ben knew he would sit around bored for hours. “She’ll call,” he said.

“She has been in the same meeting for nearly an hour and a half. I can’t stay with you, Ben. You’ll have to wait for her there.”

“I’ll wait here,” he suggested, for about the fifth time.

“Don’t test me, young man. It’s downtown or the center for you.”

“The center?” he objected. “You don’t mean I have to sleep there?” He hadn’t slept there yet, and he wasn’t going to let any pattern develop in that regard.

“Your choice.” Susan stood. “Downtown or the center?”

Ben was terrified at the thought of spending a night in the youth detention center.

“Downtown,” he answered.

Ben and Susan stepped through Homicide’s controlled door.

The place was jumping, cops hurrying back and forth like they were in the middle of a fire drill, most of them carrying paperwork, all of them looking tired. Some with their guns showing, which Ben thought was cool.

Susan kept stopping people and asking for Daphne or Boldt, and finally one of them listened long enough to point down a hall and say something about a lieutenant.

Susan pointed to an office chair pushed up against the wall and told Ben to take a seat.

“I want to come,” he protested.

“Now!” she directed him, turning his shoulders and giving him a slight push.

Ben headed to the chair.

Susan headed down the hall.

Ben was alone for the first time in ages.

He couldn’t get his mind off Emily. If he just got up and walked through that door …

If he stayed in that chair, Susan would put him in the youth center for the night. He felt convinced of this. Conversely, their threats to hurt Emily’s business rang hollow; they needed him as a witness.

He carefully slipped his hand into his pocket to make sure he still had the five bucks Daphne had given him for emergencies.

He slipped off the chair, glancing around surreptitiously. No one seemed to be taking any notice of him. Susan remained down the hall and out of sight, right where he wanted her. He walked casually toward the exit, through the continuing chaos, a kid looking for the bathroom.

Of the ten or fifteen people in the immediate area, only two women looked over and caught his eye, and they both offered him forced smiles, the way librarians do. He continued walking toward the door, shoulders straight, his back arched-just the way Daphne had told him to carry himself-sure that someone would get in his way and prevent him from leaving.

But no one said a thing.

Ben walked out through the door and broke into a run for the elevators the moment he rounded the corner.

Emily! he thought, his heart swelling to the size of Montana.