Instead, she passed behind the waiting ambulances. His attention got diverted by theconfusionandfearfrom the two women following her. Whatever had happened to them hadn’t been good.
“Do you know the redhead?”
Zach shot a look back to the officer, whose gaze and emitted puresuspicion. “What? Yeah, I met her once. On a delivery. And I saw her picture on the television—”
“You met her? Like, in person? She seemed to know you.”
Zach took a deep breath. “Yeah. I met her. But I don’tknowher.”
The officer took him by the arm and turned him toward the cruiser. “I’ll take you to the station myself. I have a few questions...”
* * *
The next four hours were some of the worst of Zach’s life.
There were a few places that he avoided. Places where the emotional energy was capable of taking him right to the edge. Hospitals were one.
Police stations were another.
The officer had taken him to the main complex downtown and rustled up a technician to run the composite software. That process took a couple of hours. All the while, Zach was bombarded with the energy of people trained to regard the world with suspicion and skepticism, if not outright hostility.
Not their fault. These people had seen the worst society had to offer. But it was still pure poison to Zach. He worked his way through a composite sketch. Eventually, he stared at the printout in his hand.
“That him?” the tech asked. The man had been quietly persistent, hiscalmenergy the only thing that held Zach together through the entire process.
The image was black and white with the eyes shaded to look pale. The face was hard edged, but the overall effect wasn’t as harsh as the reality. Still, it looked like him. Zach nodded.
“Okay, then. I’ll be right back.” The tech stood and left.
He was gone awhile. Then a familiar uniformed face appeared at the door. What Zach sensed from him made his heart pound.
“Follow me.” The officer gestured before walking away.
The man escorted him to a small room with two chairs and a table. And the interrogation began.
It took everything Zach had to hold it together through thesuspicionthat radiated from the officer. Zach struggled to control his body language, but his fingers had minds of their own. It wasn’t as though the man was wrong. Zachwaslying. Not in any way that mattered, but the officer couldn’t know that. And despite Zach’s best efforts, he was leaking emotions like a sieve. His mannerisms screamed that he had something to hide. It all added up to him being worthy of suspicion.
The guy was thorough too. “See here you reported a mugging, just over a year ago.”
“Yeah.”
“You heard him, too?”
“Heard him yell, yeah.”
“But you didn’t get there in time to witness the assault.”
“No, the mugger had already bolted.” Zach frowned at him. “What does that have to do with this?”
“Seems you are good at finding people in trouble.”
People in trouble. Man, the guy had no idea. Zach rubbed his temples. “Haven’t been much help. Guy still got beat up.”
“But you found the women.” The officer’s gaze measured him. “We would never have found them. But you did.”
Zach met and held the man’s eyes. His head throbbed, and his fingers drummed on the table. From there, it only got worse. They went over and over it until Zach wanted to scream. Then the officer took him through all the details of his past. The fact he worked at a menial job yet owned his own property outright. His reclusive nature and lack of friends.
“So do you like women?” the officer asked.
