Blood Hunt

Spider Game
1

Wait for Lane. It sounded ideal but driving back to Hays, the exhilaration of being almost in capture distance faded. Reality set in. How could he wait? He needed to go home and face the review board if he wanted his badge back. Around the end of the week his father and mother would be expecting him home from the fictional hunting trip. He needed to get straight with Harry, too.

Brutal honesty said waiting for Lane was the worst possible course of action…an outsider sitting around in a town of what, two or three thousand for several months, arousing curiosity and maybe suspicion. Anna Bieber was bound to mention it to Lane in one of their phone calls and Lane would see right through the story, then never show up. He ought to just pass on his information to Serruto, even though Serruto would blow his top at what he had been doing, and let Serruto contact the local police, who could be waiting for Lane when she showed up.

There his reasoning stumbled. How could he ask the locals to arrest her. They had no idea what they were dealing with and if he tried to warn them, at best they would lock him in a padded cell.

How, though, could he justify to the department, friends, and family pretty much vanishing for several months. If he let them know where he was, they might interfere. What did he live on, since he could not, in good conscience, keep taking paychecks from the SFPD. Most of all, how could he plant himself here in reasonable inconspicuousness.

With no answers, back at the motel he nevertheless called Homicide. The coast being two hours earlier than here, Serruto should still be there.

He was…and sounded solicitous until Garreth said, “I can’t come back yet, and maybe just ought to resign like I wanted to originally. Because I’m thinking no one will ever trust me to back them up again. I’ll always be the guy who went wacko and got Harry shot.”

More significantly, how could he tolerate working days? The very thought exhausted him.

An exasperated hiss came over the line. “You’re becoming a major hemorrhoid, Mikaelian. Look, if you’re worried about the review board, I don’t see them being too harsh with you. After all, they know you were — ”

“Non compos mentis?”

“Under unusual stress, I was going to say,” Serruto said dryly. “Of course it would be better if you hadn’t strong-armed your way out of the hospital, but I’m thinking you’ll just have to spend a lot of time with the shrink before you come back.”

“I need more than that.”

“Like I said, you’re a major hemorrhoid, but…” He sighed. “…I didn’t wake up on that slab. Don’t resign yet. I’ll see about setting you up a leave of absence.”

“Without pay.” Though his gut knotted at the thought.

Another sigh. “How long do you want?”

“Until the end of the year.” By which time, with any luck, he would have nailed Lane and removed himself from this unwanted life.