A Healer's War

Chapter 31 - The One and Only

Chapter 31: The One and Only

17:03. Tuesday, April 24th.

North Yamhill River Bridge, 3 miles northeast of McMinnville, OR

"Oh, oh, right here!" Jane, driving slowly along the shoulder of the road, pointed to the old bridge. "There should be a porta-potty... there!" A green, graffitied-covered port-a-potty looked ready to fall down an embankment above a riverbed. By how steep the drop was, she wondered how often the river flooded and carved away the hillside. Rolling down the window, the burble of the river caught her ear, coming from somewhere behind the ferns and anemic pines. Jane inhaled, drinking in the smell of wet earth and moving water.

"Right where Maxwell's sister said," Jane said, relieved. Their search for the young Maxwell neared the 24-hour mark when his sister opened the door. He didn't live there anymore, Jane learned, but his sister knew where to find him and said he was acting strange. Not in trouble, but almost happier... lighter. He told her he'd been healed. Jane found that interesting and logged it away and left, promising she'd look in on him.

In the car beside her, Emmett shook his head and said nothing. He was practically pouting.

"Real professional," Jane deadpanned.

"Let's just get this over with." He checked his watch. Thirty minutes left, and we're done with that letter."

Jane smiled. "Plenty of time." She pulled over and bounded out of the car while Emmett dragged himself behind. They had made it two precarious steps down the embankment when his phone rang again.

Jane fingered her pipe in her pocket. The Director seemed to have sniffed out something was wrong, calling frequently for updates. Although she reasoned, Dawson hadn't arrived, so perhaps the Director hadn't sussed out what. Yet. Emmett was evading the truth well enough. Not bad for a rookie.

Emmett excused himself back to the car to grab a pen, leaving Jane alone with only the bird songs and the rushing river below. She pulled out her pipe, looking back to see Emmett reaching through the car's window for something with the phone to his ear. She glanced between him and the port-a-potty, found her lighter, and ducked inside.

——

"Jane?" Emmett sounded far away. His footsteps crunched on the gravel.

She sputtered with a lungful of smoke and jumped down from the closed toilet seat. A thick cloud of smoke filled the air above her, blurring the red and blue graffiti covering every square inch of the interior. She saw something twitch in the urinal and jumped back, knocking her elbow against the side and spilling the red coals in her pipe onto the sticky floor.

"Muff!" Jane said and stomped on the smoldering embers. Thump. Thump-thump.

She waved the smoke toward the vents and away from Emmett.

"You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Just, uh... wiping."

Emmet sighed. "Too much info, Jane... Again."

"Who was on the phone? Dawson?"

"No. A buddy of mine from the Academy." Emmett said. "He finished looking into that abuse case against our last victim. You had a good hunch."

Jane perked up. "Yeah?" She tucked everything back into her pocket and rattled the toilet paper tube for effect.

"There was a kid there and a girlfriend, according to a postal worker. Looks like a nasty child abuse case was coming together against our victim, but it fell apart. Missing evidence. He probably would have walked."