Mender (The Ashport Mender Series Book 2) Read online

  “I believe that,” I said, but I knew her son had a dangerous ability. It was lucky for him that he could control it.

  “Can you help him?” she asked as I opened the door and stepped outside to what was a beautiful fall day, though with a cold wind that ran through town. I turned around and did my best to look confident.

  “I’ll do what I can,” I said, going for reassuring. “But medically…I’d talk to Dr. Morris.”

  She nodded and we said goodbye.

  As I headed away from the house, I kept calm, walking briskly until I got to the car. The beetle, which it had turned out was blue when seen in daylight, had been where I’d left it the night before. Gary had assumed I’d been derailed somehow, and let it be until I came to claim it. That was a good thing about the affiliates as well. They didn’t panic unnecessarily. My purse had even been in there. Not stolen, thankfully. No, there weren’t many car thieves in Ashport, and the few who had tried stealing from Gary over the years had had to deal with menders, including myself on one occasion. We were not a forgiving group when our people were mistreated.

  I got in the car, grateful I had parked a few houses down from Mona’s as I had to close my eyes a moment and breathe calmly. What a fate. The poor guy. He was trapped in his body, fully conscious and imprisoned in himself. I felt shivers run through me at the thought. What piece of shit had done that to him? I had no doubt someone was behind it, even without Jake’s answers to my questions. People didn’t get locked into themselves in our world. When bad stuff happened, very often it was because some ass-hat among us, or someone in the know, did something shitty. I opened my eyes and nodded to myself. It was necessary that Mona, and Jake, for that matter, had not seen me like that. You didn’t help people by showing your fears or anger. What they needed was someone who was calm and in charge of the situation.

  “Time to be in charge,” I told myself and got the car key out. I was about to put it in the ignition when the car door opened and Detective Hansen got in.

  “Yeah,” he said as if he’d been sitting there all day. “We need to talk.”

  Not something you wanted to hear from a cop. Ever.

  Chapter 5

  I stared in disbelief a moment before getting my bearings. I grabbed for the door trying to get it open. If he was there, that damn Agent Larkin wouldn’t be far behind. Turned out Hansen was quicker than me. He leaned over me, not a long stretch on his part, really, and pulled the door firmly shut, before leaning back, glancing at the steering wheel a moment. He looked like he wondered why his head hadn’t been smashed into it. What can I say? Sometimes I’m just that nice. At least when someone can arrest me. I looked around in worry at the thought. The guy who’d actually put a gun to my head was nowhere to be seen. The street was empty save for an old couple walking their dog.

  “Who’re you looking for?” Hansen asked, seeing my unease.

  “Where’s your new partner?” I asked, realizing I had dropped the key. I struggled to get hold of it between my feet.

  “Who?” Confusion held his words.

  I closed my fingers around the car key and felt an urgency in getting away before the man got there. “Agent Larkin,” I said as I straightened up, key triumphantly in my hand.

  “What?”

  “Spare me,” I said as I turned the engine on, “you were both trying to arrest me yesterday at the auto shop.”

  “That was Larkin?” he exclaimed. “I thought it was one of the kidnappers.”

  Something in his voice made me turn to look at him, and I saw his unease at this. He thought I was reading him. I let him think that a little longer. Not my most honest moment, but I was allowed to watch out for myself, too.

  “You’re not working with Agent Larkin?” I asked.

  “No,” he said, brows creasing. “Can’t you tell that with your…” he made a rolling gesture with his index finger next to his temple before pointing between our heads a few times.

  I rolled my eyes. That was how long that assumption would last.

  “No,” I said and hit the gas, only lucky no one came driving by at that time.

  “Okay, so we’re driving,” he said, fumbling for the handle under his seat to push it back. He was sitting with his knees pressed into the glove compartment.

  I glanced into the rearview mirror, seeing his gray car parked further up the street. He must have followed me to Mona’s house. Since he thought I’d been reading his mind, I believed he was telling the truth about not working with Agent Larkin. But that didn’t mean the suit wasn’t following him.

  “How did you find me?” I asked, making a hard left turn that pushed him into the door. I smiled a little at that and felt better. Childish? Yes. Did I care? Not in the least.

  “Don’t you know?” he asked as he fastened his seatbelt. Smart choice.

  “No, I don’t,” I said. “Didn’t you hear me? I’m not listening in.”

  Eyes on the road, I could still see him looking at me. I couldn’t see what kind of look, though. Probably his usual suspicious one, narrowed eyes and all.

  “You’re not?” he asked again, clearly not trusting me.

  “No. Now tell me…how did you find me?” I’d been keeping my head low for two days. It could pay to know where I had screwed up.

  “Easy,” he said and sat back. “You didn’t have a car when we needed you for the Hensley case. I figured it was in the shop. If you were still looking for Andrea, you’d need it.”

  “Of course I’m still looking for Andrea,” I mumbled.

  “Anyway,” he continued. “Gary’s Auto Shop was the only place where a mechanic didn’t have to think for a second on whether he knew you or not.”

  Damn it. That would have been Alan, Gary’s assistant. Not the best at lying. After that, it had only been a matter of staking out the place. Hansen was right. It had been easy. Stupid me.

  “Then I suspect you saw me entering the place again?” I asked.

  “Yeah, if you mean breaking in. Saw someone moving around inside the fence, too.”

  “I wouldn’t be so smug about calling other people out on breaking into places. That lock didn’t pick itself,” I said and was instantly ignored. I did, however, see how he had found me again today. He’d known what car I was driving.

  “So what were you doing at that woman’s house?” he asked after a moment of awkward silence. “Does it have something to do with Andrea?”

  “Your colleagues not finding her?” I asked.

  “No. Not a trace, in fact. Do you think they’ve moved her out of town?”

  “I hope not.” That would explain no one seeing even a hint of them in the area. “If you’re right and they’re after me, I have to hope they’re still here.”

  “So what does that woman have to do with it?” he pressed.

  “Not a damn thing.”

  “What?”

  “I’m working on something else.”

  I could feel him staring daggers at me more than see it. I knew one thing for sure without reading his mind–he was as invested as I in finding Andrea, especially after our failed attempt at the farm. Me doing other things did not fit with that.

  “You’re doing other things—”

  “Listen, I have to do as I’m told just like you, by the way, or was it not your boss who ordered you to investigate me? I’ve been told to look into something else, and that’s that.”

  “By who?”

  “What?”

  “Who’s telling you to do things?”

  I sighed and made a new left turn, nice and easy this time. “My boss.”

  “And that is…?”

  I smiled at that, and then remembered my other order. I had to deal with this cop.

  Make sure he didn’t start hunting us. That meant not concealing everything all the time. I bit my lower lip a moment, considering it. “Listen,” I said finally, “I have to do this. There are others that need help, and while I wait for any news on Andrea, I have to deal with this.”
/>   “So you’re still looking?”

  “Not me personally. Not now…”

  “But others like you?”

  I took my eyes off the road a moment and looked at him in astonishment.

  “There’s a whole bunch of you, isn’t there?” he asked, though it wasn’t really a question. “You, Rob, even Andrea. All the places you keep clothes stashed. How many are there?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know.” And that was the truth. “We don’t keep records. It’s safest that way. Keeps people like you at bay.”

  He snorted at that, but let it be as well. Then he noticed where we were, as we were driving up to a large white stone building with six floors, and a beautiful garden out front.

  “Ashport Hospice?” he said.

  I simply nodded and drove the car to the back of the building. I wasn’t going to the front door to conduct my business.

  There were three doors on that side, and I parked near one almost at the corner of the house, dumpsters close by.

  “No cameras,” Hansen commented as he got out and looked around. There wouldn’t be for this particular area. We made sure they were regularly broken when someone tried to fix them. Nice little town like Ashport? Nothing ever happened here. That’s why the cameras weren’t a priority, either.

  “So,” he began as he followed me to the door. I rummaged through my purse for the burner phone Gerard had given me. What with Larkin tracking my regular phone, I needed something else. I texted Dr. Morris.

  “You’re not listening in…as you put it?”

  I stopped typing a moment and looked at him. I couldn’t quite decipher the look he gave me, but my guess was that of worry and trying not to think of anything at all at the same time. That never worked. To be fair, he had gotten into my car thinking I did it all the time. And I knew how he hated it. I had to admit–that took some guts. He was in on my secret now, so the least I could do was to be honest.

  “No. I can do it at will, but I never do it to people I know. I never do it to anyone without a damn good reason.”

  “The interrogations—”

  “Is a very good reason, I think.”

  He nodded. I had talked to some seriously twisted people when helping the cops. There had to be exceptions.

  I finished my short text and hit send. “Listen,” I added. “I know it’s a violation. I’ve had to learn that the hard way. I know you don’t trust me, but in this case, you have to. Or you can not give a crap about Andrea. If you’re sticking around, you’ll have to trust that I don’t listen in. Ever. The only reason I did it at Rob’s was to convince you we weren’t lying. I’m sorry I had to do that, really I am, but I had to protect Rob.”

  He considered a moment and then nodded. “Okay.”

  “Really?”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you apologize for anything before, so I guess you mean it.”

  I scoffed at him. “Ass-wipe.”

  “Yeah, that’s more like your way of apologizing,” he said and laughed, a sound that startled me a little as I’d barely heard him do it before. At that point, the door opened behind me, and I turned to see Dr. Morris looking at me with a smile. Then she noticed Hansen and the smile vanished.

  “Maggie, what the hell?” she said.

  “Hello to you, too, Dr. Morris,” I said and walked up the few steps to the door.

  “You brought a cop? Are you insane?” she said, gray eyes narrowed. She was a short woman, mid-fifties. Slim and energetic.

  “No more than yesterday,” I smiled at her.

  “Maggie, what have you done?” she hissed the words at me, clearly not wanting him to hear, but really wanting to yell at me at the same time. She stood behind the door, refusing to open it more than she already had. I looked back at Hansen who waited patiently at the foot of the stairs. His badge was visible on his belt. He needed to stop with that.

  “Nothing that isn’t sanctioned,” I told her as I turned back to her. “He knows too much already. Gerard wants to make sure he doesn’t turn on us.”

  Her mouth turned into a thin line as she considered this. “I could lose my license,” she whispered.

  “No, you won’t,” I assured her. “Not because of him.”

  “So he knows?”

  “He’s learning, but yeah.”

  She inhaled sharply and opened the door, letting us in, though she stepped in front of Hansen as he came up the stairs, extending her hand. He took it with a bemused look on his face. He might not have heard what we said, but he could probably guess. “Nice to meet you, Detective,” she said as they shook hands. “I’m Dr. Morris and I have the ability to speed up cell deterioration.”

  I sucked in air through my teeth. Affiliates didn’t go around announcing their abilities, especially to outsiders. This was a threat. She could do as she said.

  Hansen’s eyebrows went up a bit at this, but he did not jerk his hand back. Instead, he put his other hand over hers. “Nice to meet you, Doctor,” he said calmly. “Since I’m not decomposing yet, I guess you’re giving me a chance.”

  Oh my God. I looked in stunned silence as the doctor laughed and nodded approvingly. “I like this one,” she said over her shoulder to me. “Quick on the uptake.”

  An odd sense of relief flooded through me and it took me a moment to realize I felt pride for his quick handling of her. I shook my head, reminding myself he didn’t trust me and that he despised what I could do.

  Get out. Get the fuck out of my head.

  I shivered a moment, glad they were busy chatting and not noticing.

  “I guess you’re here for my patient,” the doctor said a moment later.

  I nodded, not mentioning where I’d gotten the information, though I was sure she knew it was Tegan. Hansen didn’t need to know everything.

  We followed her up a flight of stairs and into a small room that looked like any hospital room, except this wasn’t a regular hospital. On the bed lay a young man, motionless and still, except for his eyes. Exactly like Jake.

  “This is Michael Phillipson,” Dr. Morris told us as she walked over to the bed, checking his vitals. “I sent his parents out to get some food. I’m waiting here with him. This is Maggie, Michael,” she told the kid. “She’s a mender. You’ve heard of them, right?”

  I walked closer, seeing the boy’s eyes following me. He was younger than Jake, probably still in high school. I knew of his family. The Phillipsons had lived in Ashport for generations, several of them having abilities that made them affiliates. Even many of those without were seen as affiliates. Their abilities tended to differ, though, as many affiliates had married into the family over the years.

  “Hello, Michael,” I said as I stood next to him. “I’ve been talking to someone with the same problem as you today.” I looked at Dr. Morris and she nodded. Likely, Mona had called her the minute I left the house. That was good.

  I went on, getting him to respond with the same blinking Jake had to resort to. However, having gone through it once before, it didn’t take that long this time.

  “Were you attacked by a masked man, who hit you before this happened to you? And did he render you unable to speak before he did this?” I asked. Getting those details simply by yes and no questions had led to some unrelated queries for Jake, but we’d gotten there in the end.

  Michael blinked once. I almost thought I saw relief in his eyes as well. I nodded and looked at the doctor. “Same thing that happened to Jake. It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “What exactly is this?” Hansen interrupted. I’d forgotten he was in the room a moment.

  Dr. Morris tipped her head to the side, looking at the boy. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s locked-in syndrome, but—”

  “So it has a name,” I said.

  “Yeah, but that’s not contagious, though, is it?” Hansen asked. Apparently, he had heard of it. “You keep talking about another case.”

  “No, it’s usually caused by brain damage, poison, stroke…
things like that,” Dr. Morris explained. “Which is why I don’t think that’s really what this is. Not when it concerns affiliates and not two healthy young men.”

  “Someone’s doing this to them,” I clarified. “Do you know what Michael’s affiliation is?” I asked Dr. Morris, hoping his parents had told her. Luckily, she nodded.

  “Yes. Michael here can compel people’s bodies to do his bidding.”

  I smacked my tongue. Another dangerous ability. If he’d been free from his own body prison, he could have forced my body to walk straight out the window and fall to my death. My brain might have protested all it wanted, and all to no avail. I hoped his parents had instilled good morals in the kid.

  “Jake can control people’s thoughts,” I said. There seemed to be a pattern here.

  “Wait, that’s a thing?” Hansen blurted, instantly holding his hands up when we looked at him. “Never mind. Pretend I’m not here.”

  “The Phillipsons have a long history here,” I continued. “Do you know of any of them with a similar ability? As in terms of danger, I mean.”

  Dr. Morris shook her head and I noticed Michael blinking twice. That narrowed things down at least. Someone was targeting affiliates with dangerous abilities. Abilities that could cause severe harm from the wrong person. From what I’d seen so far, though, the victims were normal people. Normal people locked inside themselves. That had to stop, I decided, as I truly understood why Gerard had made me look into this despite everything else going on.

  Chapter 6

  “A mender, huh? Some sort of fixer?” Hansen said as we got back in the car. He made me think of a clown car as he climbed in, his long limbs not really suited for the Beetle. With the seat further back, though, he seemed to sit comfortably when first inside. Dressed in dark jeans, blue shirt, and a black jacket, he looked more laid back than he actually was. The badge and the dark blue tie said otherwise, though the tie being loosened around his neck made me smile.

  “Not the kind of types you guys are used to dealing with,” I said. “I don’t sell anything or remove anyone. I merely try to help.”