Living With the Dead (Otherworld 9)

"When's the last time you tried?"

Finn motioned for Damon to keep looking as he took out his cell. This time, he didn't get the message that the customer was "unavailable." It just rang and rang.

"So?" Damon said when Finn hung up.

"Nothing."

Damon nodded, presuming that meant the phone was still turned off. Finn started to pocket it.

"Shouldn't you keep that out?" Damon said. "You can use it when you're talking to me instead of scaring the kiddies."

Finn wasn't comfortable with the subterfuge - which explained why he kept forgetting to do it - but it had to be better than talking to himself in public.

Still scouring the crowds, they passed a row of games.

"Hey," Damon said. "Ring toss. I remember Bobby..."

He let the sentence fade.

The cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID.

"It's her," he said.

He retreated into a quieter spot between two booths, then answered. For a moment, he heard only the noise of the fair through the phone, a tinny stereo to the commotion around him.

"Hello?" she said, her voice tentative, as if he'd called her.

"Robyn?"

"Yes. You called?"

"It's Detective Findlay. I'm at the fair. Where are you?"

A longer pause now. Damon had climbed onto a game booth and was scanning the crowd.

"Robyn?" Finn said.

"Sorry, I..." Another pause. Then, "He's here, Detective. I'm - "a sharp breath. "I - I'm just so scared. I thought I was safe, calling you, and then he was right there, coming for me, so I had to hang up and run, and then I tried phoning back but my phone wasn't working and - "

"Slow down, Robyn."

Hearing that, Damon glanced over.

"He's here, Detective. He's here, somewhere, and I can't see him and I - "

"Slow down, Robyn. Who's there? Who's following you?"

Damon jumped off the counter, the alarm in his eyes tempered by confusion.

"I-I need to get out of here, Detective. I can't stay. He'll find me and then he'll kill me. I know he will. Just like he killed that poor cop and - "

"Robyn, I need you to take a deep breath and calm down."

Damon stepped close enough to listen in.

Finn continued, "The man who's following you. He's the one who shot Officer Kendall?"

"Right. And the other one, Portia's bodyguard. I went to his house - "