Sentinel Event

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

"Hey, I have a joke for you."

Dr. St. Cross patiently lowered the medical journal he was reading to look at Todd. They were sitting across the aisle from one another on the cramped little plane, and most of the other passengers were reclined and asleep. The night was dark and starry above the clouds outside the windows, and St. Cross was tired, but Todd was keeping him awake.

"Okay, why are a gorilla's nostrils so big?" asked Todd.

"This can't be going anywhere good," St. Cross replied.

"Because their fingers are so big!" Todd exclaimed softly, barely able to contain his amusement and keep his voice low. He broke into a fit of chuckling, and the psychiatrist rolled his eyes.

"That's infantile," St. Cross commented, going back to his reading.

Todd continued to snicker, and the woman beside him lifted her head, opened her sleepy eyes, and gave him a dirty look. Once he had controlled himself, Todd whispered,

"Hey, I wanted to ask you, though—where are we going exactly?"

"Columbus Airport," St. Cross answered, transfixed on his papers. "Then we're taking a charter to the Fulton County Airport in Wauseon."

"Wauseon? Never heard of it."

St. Cross shrugged, and turned the page.

"Nevertheless," he said, "that is our destination."

"Hopefully we're going to a hotel," Todd mumbled, pulling his neck pillow in around his ears and shifting in his chair to make himself comfortable.

"Yes, we are," St. Cross replied with a smile.

Williams and deTarlo had reached the hotel first, and had questioned the night clerk and already left by the time St. Cross and Todd got there. The clerk ran his hand through his spiky hair and twitched nervously.

"I need to make a phone call," he kept saying.

"I just need to ask a few quick questions," St. Cross said in his best shrink voice. To better see him in his wheelchair, the clerk had come around the counter, and was leaning against it as if desperately wanting to be on the other side.

"My boss isn't coming in tonight," he said. "I already called him and he said he'd call the cops, but I don't know what we can tell 'em. There was just a bunch of stuff left behind, and they wrecked the TV and AC/heater unit. It was a good thing I smelled something burning and grabbed the fire extinguisher, 'cause it could'a burned the whole place down!"

"Who did you see?" St. Cross asked, ignoring the drama.

"When? I saw a guy come outta the stairway like a shot, and a bit later a chick with an armload of stuff came outta the elevator. She got in her car and drove off. It took me forever to figure out which room they were in; they left the door open."

"Did you see any Passers?"

"Yeah, I saw a million of 'em chasing after the guy. My computer crashed just before that too, completely fried. Must'a been lightning or a power surge or something."

"You don't know where they went?"

"No, they left hours ago. I heard sirens and called my boss, but I don't know what's going on. You just missed the tall woman in the witch shoes and her son who came in asking about it. Said they came 'cause they tracked a credit card or something. Said they'd pay for everything."