What Human Remains

Chapter 18

She found herself nervously pacing back and forth in the bedroom, having retreated there with the excuse of getting dressed while the detective was interviewing Bennett. She needed to clean up the mess she had made, but she had no idea of how to do it.

Shit, shit, shit... she repeated under her breath, treading the distance between the futon and the large windows, nervously looking outside through the panes of glass. So far she had not seen anything out of the ordinary, but she had a feeling the situation was not going to last long.

She wondered what they were going to be sending their way. There was a chance that the military and Argennics Laboratories still wanted them alive, but, having caused so much trouble to both instances by now, it could just as well be that they were simply going to be eliminated. The detective and the journalist stood no chance. They had gotten involved in something apparently far bigger than what they could handle and, before the case got out of control, they had to be silenced.

One bomb. That's all it would take, she thought with irony and took another peek into the dark night before quietly returning to the lounge.

She found the men huddled around the kitchen counter, Journalist Walker functioning as an ad hoc scribe, backing up his written notes by recording the interviews with his webcam, while Detective Ross handled the actual questions. Curious to hear what was being discussed without them noticing her presence, she decided to busy herself with picking up objects scattered around the room, listening in on what was being said around the table as she seemingly focused on cleaning up after herself and Bennett.

"I really do appreciate this chat that we've had, but let's face it, you're gonna have a hard time reopening the Lewis case," she could hear Bennett reply calmly as the interrogation seemed to be nearing its end. "No self-respecting prosecutor is going to take a case where the perpetrator, already declared deceased, suddenly comes back to life in the middle of an autopsy. And why? Because somebody removed a silver bullet from his heart," he reasoned, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he referred to the improbable circumstances of his resurrection. He had been an easy target to pin all the charges on, a dead man unable to defend himself. Who would have thought that he would actually be able to cheat death and come back to life again from something that was supposed to be fatal? Now the detective was going to have a hard time justifying his arrest if he attempted to pursue the Lewis case further.

"You know he's kinda right," she could hear Walker cut in with a hushed voice, but judging by the abrupt silence that followed, he was probably cut off by Detective Ross himself.

"I know very well what you're capable of, Bennett, and I'll see you get charged with what you've done," the detective retorted curtly. "Once we've heard what Ms. Parker has to say and she presses charges on her behalf, I'm sure we'll already have a good idea of what to pursue this case with," he added flipping through the papers he had managed to collect for himself with the help of the journalist and his portable printer.

She could hear the beat of her own heart in her ears as she carefully slid some of the fallen books back into the bookcase, thinking about what she was going to do. She had already played this situation in her mind multiple times, wondering what course of action to take and, the more she had thought about it, one solution seemed to rise above the rest.

In the light of what had come to pass between her and Bennett, her mind was now firmly made up.

With a deep sigh she turned around and headed to arrange the cushions on the couch, right in the line of sight for those sitting at the bar counter.

"Well, speak of the sun," Detective Ross stated, seeing her taking a step nearer, collecting the empty bottles littering the floor and the coffee table, and approaching the kitchenette with a lapful.