CHAPTER 8-2
345 Words
Bohannon gripped the steering wheel tight enough to keep his hands from shaking as he turned off the highway into a knot of intersections and poorly placed median strips near Foster Road. He had had to swerve twice to avoid oncoming traffic, getting so rattled at one point that he wasn’t sure if he was in the wrong lane or the cars in front of him were.
Suter didn’t seem to notice and spent the ride rubbing his fingers over his pockmarked cheeks and his thick black eyebrows, as if his skin itched but he didn’t want to use his nails to scratch. He had been silent since they had left Gresham.
At a red light in front of a payday loan store, Bohannon turned to him. “So what the hell was that all about?”
“You mean the housewife scaling and jumping off a three-story apartment building?” Suter asked.
“We’ll get to that in a minute. I mean the gun. She wasn’t threatening anyone.”
“You didn’t find that conduct threatening?”
“Not directly, no. Not enough to justify shooting someone.”
“I didn’t shoot anyone. I was acting with an abundance of caution.”
“You and I have a different idea of caution.” Bohannon’s phone buzzed, and he hit the hands-free button.
“They found my wife at the convenience store down the road,” said Mark Bartkowski.
“How is she?” Bohannon asked.
“She’s fine. She was eating a box of snack cakes and downing a big cola, pleasant as can be. Not a scratch on her. I didn’t tell the cops what happened, just that she was acting crazy. She agreed to go to the hospital for observation as long as I agreed to bring food.”
“That’s great. Good luck, Mr. Bartkowski.”
Bohannon hit the Disconnect button and glanced over to Suter in the passenger seat. “So what was going on with her anyway?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Suter said.
“You have no idea, or you have no idea you’re willing to share?”
“Look, there are some details about the crash that need to be kept quiet for the time being. Pirelli told me that he explained it to you. As far as what went on back there, I’m as perplexed as you. Let’s hope we can get through the interview with Mrs. Gonzales without any acrobatics.”
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- Writer
