Tortus Bay

2.18: Respect

The scraping of a key into his cell door lock interrupted Henry's frantic dreams. There had been something about... teeth? Or had they been streets? He shook dense cobwebs from his mind, and sat up as Leia Thao swung the door open. Her mouth was a thin line. Her face was red. She was livid. "Explain yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"The park," she hissed. "The supposed burial site of Emmaline Cass. There was nothing."

He blinked, struggling to get up to speed. He hadn't expected that shoe to drop so soon.

The sheriff dropped into a squat, to lower herself to his level, and spoke softly. "I don't give a shit about recovering any Cass bones. The Mayor doesn't care very much either. But the village sure as hell does. Those people want answers, and they know enough to realize that those answers have been coming from you. It's them you have to worry about."

"That's funny. I thought it was you, who threw me in here."

"And if they want me to keep you in here, I won't cry about it. Do you understand that?"

"I gave you the wrong location."

Her eyes narrowed. "Is that right?"

"If you want, I'll bring you to the real place. No tricks this time."

"This is your last chance," she said, straightening herself up and speaking once more in a normal tone. "One more mistake, and I'm going to make it my life's work to bury you."

***

Henry figured she was telling the truth. He brought her to the park and flagged the area beneath the old gnarled oak where he had first seen Clair unearth her special cache. There were so many things he'd meant to do, before giving up the real location. Speaking with Taylor and finding Clair were chief amongst them. If he hadn't left the village, perhaps he would have had time.

He shook his head. There was no time now to dwell on past time wasted. Or on why he'd wasted it. Or on hearing Ray's voice again. The deputy who was not Taylor drove Henry back to the station, and locked himself out of the building after securing him in his cage.

Then there was nothing to do. No visitors. No books. No phone. Nothing. He browsed through the notes he'd taken over the previous day, trying to synthesize some sort of trend out of the mess of stories, but there was little to work with. It seemed as though Mathas Bernard liked to go out at night, and had some sort of affinity for routing around in trash. Perhaps he was hungry. Perhaps he was lost. He either despised, or was intrigued by, light. And he was sometimes seen chasing someone. Or being chased.

Useless thoughts and theories flitted about his mind, colliding and ricocheting off one another, until finally the station doors clattered open—and two pairs of footsteps made their way down the hallway floor. "Of course you can see him," Leia said. "You can take as much time as you need."

That was all the warning Henry got, before Howard sidled into the room. He had a nasty sort of grin plastered on his face, and an even nastier welt on the side of his nose. What had before been a red complexion was now verging on cherry. The man stood in front of the cell, arms crossed, saying nothing.

"You've come to gloat," Henry said.

"Not worth it anymore, is it?"

"Howie, if I could go back in time, I would do everything in the exact same way."

His face twisted into a scowl. "I actually came here to be reasonable. To offer you a way out of this mess you've found yourself in."

"Is that right?"