Crone's Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation by M. R. Sellars

her religion
without reproach. Still, none of this would really matter at all
were it not for one simple fact: she absolutely despised me.
    While her initial hatred of me began simply
because of my Pagan roots and religious practices, my being a Witch
was not the only reason for her disdain. Unfortunately, I had no
choice but to accept responsibility for a portion of it, as I had
been partly responsible for sparking an Internal Affairs
investigation of her.
    Just a handful of months ago, I had been the
object of a madman’s quest to eradicate WitchCraft from the face of
the earth. Eldon Andrew Porter had taken the lives of several
innocent people in the process, two of them my friends. Before all
was said and done, I had come close to losing my own more than
once.
    During a single day that had been spawned by
nothing less than hell itself, far too many things had gone
horribly wrong. Information had been leaked; potentially dangerous
mistakes had been made, and events that could have only been
deliberate sabotage had occurred. All of these things had placed my
life in jeopardy at every turn and had almost allowed Porter to
escape. I, among a few others, believed that ‘Bible Barb’ had been
responsible for it all.
    While in the end she had admitted to using me
as the bait to draw Eldon Porter out of hiding, she had been
officially cleared of any other wrongdoing and was given nothing
more than an administrative slap on the wrist. As for me, I was
never fully convinced of her innocence and didn’t know that I ever
would be.
    At the same time, her own convoluted thinking
made her believe that I was the root of the problem. She had even
commented during a newspaper interview that had it not been for me,
at least two of the victims would still be alive. I was already
torturing myself over that very fact on a daily basis, and I sure
as hell didn’t need her fueling the fire for me. I was doing a fine
job of that all by myself.
    “Look, Row, if it was up to me, I’d get you
outta here right now before she gets here,” Ben offered. “But we
both know that ain’t gonna happen.”
    “Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s okay.”
    “If it’s any consolation,” he added, “I ain’t
exactly one of her favorite people either.”
    “Yeah, I know.”
    He wasn’t lying. He had gone toe to toe with
her for the sole purpose of defending me and had done serious harm
to his career in the process. While my friend was still a homicide
detective, Albright had seen to it that he was no longer allowed to
work as a member of the Major Case Squad as long as she was in
command. That serious blow to his advancement was yet another thing
I held myself responsible for, even if he didn’t.
    “So, I don’t want to sound crass,” I said.
“But what’s so important about this particular case that she feels
like she needs to get her fingers in it?”
    “Nice try,” he returned. “But it ain’t
funny.”
    I shook my head and looked back at him with a
puzzled expression. “What are you talking about?”
    “C’mon, Row,” he chided.
    “No, really.”
    He arched an eyebrow then cocked his head to
the side, squinting while looking at me hard. “You aren’t friggin’
serious are you?”
    “Serious about what?” An audible note of
annoyance crept into my question.
    “Do you have any clue at all what you just
witnessed?” he asked.
    “I’m guessing a kidnapping.”
    “Yeah, and?”
    “And what?” I asked, growing more
impatient.
    He shook his head and gave me an incredulous
look. “Don’t you ever watch TV?”
    “Sometimes. So what?”
    “You watch the news, right?”
    “Ben, will you just spit it out?” I
demanded.
    “You’re gonna sit there and tell me you
didn’t recognize the woman who was grabbed?” he asked.
    I flashed on a quick memory of the blonde
victim and remembered having had a passing thought that I should
know her.
    I shook my head and shrugged. “Not really.
She looked a little familiar, but other than