Cogent

SIXTEEN

Carter stared out the window of his car, his hands gripping the steering wheel. He hadn't moved a muscle since he'd parked next to the old baseball field. The spot was deserted now that the season was over. Autumn leaves covered the ground beneath the trees surrounding the field. Carter saw a rust-colored maple leaf caught in the chain link fence and pinned his gaze to it. He breathed slowly, silently, his jaw tightly set. His façade was calm and still, but inside a storm was raging.

Mikael shifted in the passenger seat, tucking her hands between her legs to keep them warm. Carter could have turned on the heater, but the cold kept him sharp. He needed all his faculties in order to process what she'd told him.

It had been several minutes since either of them had spoken. Mikael was giving him time to consider the news. In the end, the silence couldn't go on. There was more that they needed to talk about.

"I know this is hard to hear," Mikael said softly, soothingly. She was trying to comfort him though they both knew that wasn't possible. "It took a long time to believe it myself. I can imagine what you're thinking right now but try not to get distracted by your emotions. You have to push past it, though I understand how difficult that is."

Carter's head turned slowly to face her. "Stewart is my friend. Do you realize what you just accused him of?" he was incredulous. How dare you wanted to slip from his tongue but he wouldn't let out any indignance. It would just raise hackles.

"Lenny was my friend," Mikael said.

"You can't just go around accusing people of murder!" he snapped, looking back out the window at the trapped maple leaf. It was stuck in the fence like a fly in a web. But where was the spider?

"I'm not accusing anyone. I just—"

"What? You just what?" his jaw twitched.

"Want the truth," she finished, hurt mirrored in her eyes. "What do you think I'm doing here Carter? Do you think I would keep asking questions if it wasn't important?"

"Of course it's important! Finding out what really happened to Lenny is what gets me moving every morning. I have to know what happened. I can't just sweep my suspicions under the rug. But I will not drag my friend's name through the mud because some nut job sent you a picture!"

"Carter!" Mikael turned in her seat, her shoulder inches from his. "After I called Chief Setter, I've been followed a-and harassed."

"Harassed?"

"The picture. They sent it in a text. Look." She pulled out her phone and opened up her messages, swiping through them. When she held it up for him to see, he read quickly and looked away. "Her funeral, or yours? Tell me that's not a threat, Carter. Harassment at the very least."

"You don't know who sent it. Could've been one of your patients. They're all crazy people, aren't they?"

She bit her cheek, shaking her head. "I was asking about the kids in Lenny's files. I wanted to know why they hadn't been investigated further. Do you know what he told me? He said to quit 'snooping around' like a 'big city troublemaker' and to let him do his job. When I requested Lenny's patient files for consultation, he hung up on me." she turned more toward Carter as he looked away. "The next day he called me back and said that he would send me the files. That was over a month ago."

"He didn't have the files to send you. They were in my basement." Carter confessed. "He probably didn't want to bother me about it. I'm sure he figured it wouldn't make a difference anyway."

"Setter hasn't conducted his investigation professionally from the start, Carter. Letting you take anything out of that house was careless and stupid. He destroyed the scene of a crime, nullified any evidence that might lead to a conclusion other than suicide. It's the same thing that happened with the kids. And, to be honest, it makes things look pretty murky towards you."