Unholy Shepherd by Robert Christian (rooftoppers txt) 📕

road. Manny’s eyes quickly found Maureen where he had left her, still handcuffed and leaning on his truck. She wore a mask of indifference on her face. He couldn’t tell if the experience was shaking her or not but somehow, he had a feeling that this wasn’t the most stressful circumstance she’d faced in her life. At his side, he felt Layton’s pace quicken and he lengthened his own stride to keep up, wondering what the man was going to do now.

They drew even with gurney and body bag as it began to pass in front of Maureen on its way to the coroner’s van. Manny made it a point to not look directly at her and instead kept his eyes toward the road, focusing on nothing in particular. It was for this reason that he didn’t notice Agent Layton stop the gurney in front of the handcuffed woman. Manny stopped and turned just in time to see the agent slowly, almost callously, unzip the body bag about a quarter of the way. Manny looked at Maureen. Her eyes were fixed on the bag’s contents. He saw the golf-ball-sized lump forced back down her throat with a swallow and knew she was suppressing her gag reflex. He could almost taste the sour flavor of vomit in his own throat.

“Not a pretty sight, is it?” Agent Layton asked.

Maureen raised her head and stared at him, but then quickly slumped back into her pose of leaning on the car and reapplied her mask of disinterest and defiance. She didn’t say a word. Manny caught himself before a smile of amusement broke out on his face. As serious and horrifying as the situation was, he felt a morbid sense of satisfaction at the sight of the veteran agent meeting his mental jousting match in the slight young woman. Layton seemed to know it, too.

“All right,” he said, zipping up the body bag and nodding to the men to take it away. “I’m ordering your release, Ms. Allen. Detective Benitez will be taking you home, or wherever you want to go—within the city limits, of course. Get comfortable. You’re not going anywhere for a while.”

Layton nodded to him as a signal to take her away, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he walked toward his car. Manny stood next to Maureen and watched the agent go. As he opened the sedan’s door, he turned and stared at them for a moment before disappearing into the front seat.

TWELVE

“So how does it work?” Manny asked as he leaned over to the passenger’s side and unlocked the handcuffs on Maureen’s wrists.

“How does what work?” Maureen replied as she rubbed her wrists, glancing sourly at him.

“This magic power of yours. Obviously, I got it wrong back there when I thought you could read the omens in the air, or whatever. So help me understand what happens.”

He cast one eye over to her as he began to drive off when he heard a sharp rapping on his window. Manny hit the brake and turned to see Captain Wellner standing alongside his truck, motioning that he wanted a word. Manny rolled down his window.

“Wanted to catch you before you sped away, Benitez,” the captain said. It sounded to Manny as if he was just catching his breath. Most likely he’d run over to catch him.

“What can I do for you, sir?” he replied, eager to get on his way. Whatever he wanted, Manny was sure that it could wait.

“I saw you down by the crime scene talking to the agents. I just wanted to make sure you were being professional. You know, not getting in the way or anything.”

“I was invited,” Manny said curtly.

“Ah.” Wellner nodded his head before leaning into the truck to look closer at Maureen, who was staring out the window, apparently pretending not to be listening. “Isn’t she the one you brought into the station yesterday for breaking into the Lowes’ house?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” The captain seemed thrown by his short answer, seeming to wrestle with what to say next. After a beat, he leaned in close to Manny. “What’s she doing here in your truck without any handcuffs?”

“Agent Layton ordered her release.” Manny knew invoking the authority of the FBI would get this over with quickly. “I’m taking her home.”

Wellner paused for a moment and began to back away from the car, nodding his head slowly. “Go ahead and head home yourself afterward. We’ll make sure to call you when we get an ID on the body.”

Manny nodded briskly and put his foot on the accelerator. When they were on their way again, he turned his attention back to Maureen. “So, you were saying?”

“I was saying what?”

“You were going to tell me how this power of yours works.”

“Don’t think I was.”

Manny shook his head. In spite of all that was going on around her, she was sitting there and acting like nothing much had happened. A small part of him admired her fortitude. “All right, we can talk about something else. You haven’t been here long, obviously. How did you end up working at Anderson’s?” Manny tried to sound cheerfully casual in the hopes that she would let her guard down and talk about her power later.

“Bartending is easy money when you’re a chick,” she said, still staring out of the window. “I needed cash to fix my car.”

Interesting. “So, I take it you weren’t planning on staying in town long?” he asked.

“Ding, ding, ding,” she replied flatly. “Do I look like someone who would stick around a place like this?”

“It’s not so bad.”

“Why do you even care how long I was going to stay?” she shot back quickly.

“I don’t,” Manny smiled. He could feel he was starting to get to her. She seemed to respond more honestly when he annoyed her. “Just seems to me that you don’t have any roots, which is atypical for a woman your age. You’re not that young anymore.”

“How the hell old do you think I