The Fix Is In (Torus Intercession 4)

“So what you’re saying is you think he was safe because he didn’t go to the entrance with you or stay put by the car?” Rais asked.

“That’s my thought,” David replied, nodding.

“That makes sense,” Brasher concluded, glancing at me.

David was not quite done yet, though. “There is one other scenario I just thought of. Maybe his stalker disabled his car with the intention of then showing up to the rescue and offering him a ride. And what’s the first rule of an attempted kidnapping? Never let an abductor take you to a second location. So maybe they planned to take him somewhere else to kill him.”

“Excuse me. Why am I coming off like some five-year-old without any common sense?” Benji grumbled at David. “I promise you that I have never taken a ride from a stranger.”

“Yes, but you also see the good in everyone,” I argued, giving him a shoulder squeeze.

“I agree,” Rais chimed in. “I think if Satan pulled up, as long as he smiled and had a Save the Bees bumper sticker on his car, I could see you hopping right in.”

Benji crossed his arms, clearly not owning that, and turned his head away, working hard not to yell at anyone. Even though he was obviously fuming, he had not moved even an inch away from me. He wasn’t leaning away or trying to put distance between us. In fact, he had eased a bit closer.

Javier had taken hold of David’s hand in both of his while David had been rehashing the events of that night, and now Javier gave both Brasher and me his attention. “I have racked my brain trying to think of who the stalker could be, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what Benji has that anyone else would want.”

No one explained what we’d learned about Caleb Harrison to Javier and David. Caleb was a piece to the puzzle, but we—and Sian and Delly, who had been told not to discuss it with a soul—were the only ones privy to the new information.

“It’s true,” David seconded. “Benji’s worldly possessions don’t amount to much.”

“He’s not rich,” Javier continued, “he doesn’t have an inheritance coming, and he’s too old for a trust fund. His parents are rich, but they don’t even talk to him, and they’ve pretty much cut him out of their lives.”

“Some of that is true,” Benji replied. “I have no inheritance, my parents have, in fact, written me off, but there was a trust fund and I did very well as a psychiatrist.”

“Meaning what?” Javier prodded him. “That you’re independently wealthy?”

“Whether I am or not, what does it matter?”

I noted that he didn’t answer.

“Did you know he was shot at in the woods?” David asked me, onto a new topic.

“I did,” I confirmed.

“I did not,” Brasher replied sharply, glaring at me.

“We happen to have evidence from that particular incident,” I told him. “We have a destroyed spirit box with a bullet hole in it.”

“A destroyed what now?”

“It’s for talking to ghosts,” I explained.

“Of course it is,” he grumbled.

“Listen,” I said, my voice dropping low, “you may not believe, and you’re not the only one, but this is how Benji makes his living. He cares deeply about what he does.”

Brasher nodded and glanced at Benji. “I didn’t mean to be insulting.”

He nodded.

“When can I get a look at the spirit box?”

“I can run home and get it and bring it right back,” Benji offered, getting up.

“You stay here,” Rais told him, standing. “I’ll go get it, since you don’t know how to get in your house.”

He squinted at my colleague as he sat back down beside me. “Explain, please.”

“I installed your new security system,” he reminded Benji, “and I need to give you the passcodes and show you how to use it.”

“Right,” Benji said, taking hold of my hand.

“I’ll be back soon,” Rais informed Brasher before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Brasher thanked David and Javier for the information and explained that he would be in touch. We all shook hands, and I thanked them for watching over Benji.

“He’s a gem,” Javier told me, grinning. “Don’t you think?”

I nodded. “I do.”

Once they were gone, Brasher and Rodriguez gave Benji their full attention.

“What?” he asked.

“My guess is they wanna hear about you getting shot at in the woods,” I informed him.

Both the police chief and his deputy nodded.

“Oh, sorry.” Benji smiled sheepishly. “So I was out visiting Harold—you probably don’t know him, but he’s a lovely man, and he’s helped me quite a bit,” he began, and I saw Rodriguez grimace and noted the furrow of the chief’s brows.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

10

When Rais showed back up with the spirit box twenty minutes later, Benji was only just getting to the meat of his story. Brasher and Rodriguez were so obviously relieved to see my colleague they practically pounced on him and the one piece of evidence that provided a quicker means of getting to the bottom of things.