In the Belly of the Beast

28

He saw her sitting on the stretcher beside the ambulance. The strobing lights from this vehicle and the backup patrol cars brushed a kaleidoscope of color across her face. Even with these gaudy tints, her skin was pale and washed out.

No bullet had pierced her, yet he knew she was suffering from shock.

"And this is why we're paid the big bucks," he said.

The on-scene investigators had finished with the bodies, and they watched as the two bagged corpses were loaded into the coroner's van.

"Nice that the meat wagon is parked close by, don't 'cha think? If the EMS boys can't jumpstart your heart, why they can just pass you along to the basement boys of death. Smooth as silk transfer with no wasted motion, and you're on your way lickety split to be sliced and diced and chopped and whatever else the hell they do in the morgue. From freezer to oven to table in one easy step, no muss, no fuss from all of us."

"That's gross!" Abby said.

"Ah," he said, "she speaks. You gonna let 'em haul you in for a tune-up or what?"

"No way," she said. "I'm not hurt, and I'm certainly not going to spend hours in an emergency room exposing myself to really sick people."

"Come on, then" Traynor said. "Get your fanny off that gurney, and let me take you home."

"Spoken like a true knight in shining armor."

He gave her a hand, and she slid to the pavement.

"Tray, covering me like that, how can I thank you?"

"Aw shucks, ma'am," he replied in his most western drawl, "t'weren't nuthin'. I fig'ger if my neck wuz in a noose, you'd do the same fer me."

She laughed as his corny humor in spite of herself.

"Of course I would. Now, cut the cowboy crap, and get me the hell outta' here."

"My pleasure. . .ma'am"

She gave him a short chop to the ribs.

"Hey, careful! You'll dent the armor," he said. "It was the 'ma'am' that got you, not the cowboy slang. I knew it."

They walked to the car. The tenuous air of gaiety dissipated.

She became sullen and withdrawn, a silent mannequin lost in thought, as Traynor drove the streets that led to her apartment.

He'd killed a man, taken a life to save hers, and she was the one who had fallen apart. Her hands still trembled, and her insides were as jittery as jumping beans.

The downside of the adrenaline rush?

What had happened? she wondered.