Flash Point by Colby Marshall Page B

‘Very close. Someone goes near the stairs.’
    â€˜How can you tell that’s where they are?’
    â€˜Their footsteps. Running.’
    The guy on the video who made a break for the stairs leading down to the vaults. Of course they hadn’t actually
seen
his death play out; he was out of the video frame and into the stretch of hall that led to the stairs by the time one of the attackers caught up to him. But it definitely had played out, because they’d seen the body of the same middle-aged guy who they had seen running away on the video dead at the top of the staircase during the crime scene walkthrough.
    â€˜OK. The next sound after the running steps?’
    â€˜A yell,’ Ashlee said, her body tensing. ‘Then a few more slow steps. A thud.’
    Sounded like she’d heard the moment the runner hit the ground, succumbing to the wounds the attacker who’d caught up to him had inflicted.
    Goddamn, I wish I could help you instead of force you to remember this right now, Ashlee.
    Jenna looked at her hands in her lap, closed her eyes. ‘Then?’
    â€˜A voice!’ Ashlee said, almost a gasp, as though she was surprising even herself.
    Questions of male or female, young or old flew through Jenna’s mind, but she reigned them in. ‘Where did it come from? How close is it to you?’
    â€˜I’m not sure,’ Ashlee said. ‘Farther away than the steps. Across the room, maybe.’
    â€˜Closer to the door where you heard the scream, or in the other direction?’
    â€˜I … I think in the middle of them somewhere,’ Ashlee said.
    Jenna nodded, ignoring the colors popping in and out of her mind, fighting for dominance.
Later.
    â€˜Good. And what did the voice say? Words?’
    Ashlee nodded soundlessly.
    â€˜What did the voice say?’
    â€˜Rich … eh … loo. Like one word. Rich-eh-loo,’ Ashlee said, eyes still shut tight and cocking her head as though trying to think.
    Two colors surged in together, both strong and urgent. Damn this crime scene and its competing profiles.
    Jenna latched on to one of them – the same deep lapis lazuli that she’d seen with ‘important to be earnest.’ Classical intelligence. Literature reference.
    She grappled to identify the second color before it slipped away. It had been in the yellow family. Or maybe the browns?
What was the exact shade?
    But like sand through her fingers, it was gone too quickly for her to hold on to it once it had started to leak.
Fucking better not have been important.
    â€˜OK. And after the voice, was the next sound closer than it was or farther away?’
    Ashlee jumped, startled. ‘Closer,’ she said, panic mounting in her voice. ‘A lot closer!’
    â€˜What do you hear?’
    â€˜Slams. People climbing on top of the counters. Screams! Oh, God! Nicole!’
    Jenna knew she had to be thinking about the stocky blonde teller in her thirties who had died just feet from where Ashlee had been hiding.
    â€˜Deep breaths, Ashlee,’ Jenna encouraged. ‘What other than screams?’
    â€˜Um … um … um …’ Ashlee stuttered, shaking her head, eyes clenched, clearly trying to sift through the horror in her head to identify something useful. ‘Gurgling,’ she whispered.
    â€˜OK. Keep going,’ Jenna said. Ashlee did
not
need to get caught up on that noise.
    â€˜Other screams, clattering under the counter where I was,’ Ashlee said. ‘A bang, the counter jarring beside me.’
    The other teller trying to get away from the guy with the long sword.
    â€˜What next?’ Jenna prodded.
    Ashlee’s eyes flew open. ‘I don’t know anymore! The next thing I remember is my wrist being grabbed.’
    Jenna forced back the colors trying to come in. She had to keep Ashlee right where she was, keep her talking. ‘And then what next?’
    â€˜He told me to take him to the