AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Griffin reared back, shot a look at Dr. Hicks who nodded slowly. Griffin said carefully, “It’s not a man?”
“No, it’s a woman. She sounds younger than my mom, lots younger. And crazy.”
“Does she have an accent?”
“She has a light southern accent, maybe from somewhere around here. I remember a man’s voice, but I couldn’t hear what he said. I don’t know which of them shot me in the head. But it was a man and a woman, they were a team. They killed my parents together.” There were tears in the girl’s voice.
Griffin nodded to Dr. Hicks. He said, “Kirra, we’re going to come back now. I’m going to count to three and you’ll wake up. You’ll remember everything you told us about what happened fourteen years ago, but you’ll leave your fear, your pain, behind you. You’ll remember the woman’s voice. It will be very clear in your mind and stay clear. When you wake up, you’ll feel calm. You’ll feel well rested and alert.”
On the count of three, Kirra blinked, straightened in the chair. She felt relaxed, her mind sharp. Best of all, she wasn’t afraid. She looked from Dr. Hicks to Griffin. “I remember all of it. A woman shot at me but her aim was off because I was shimmying down the tree like a monkey. She was young, in her early twenties, no older. Her voice was manic. She was crazy excited, laughing, scary happy. She was having fun and she wanted to kill me like she and the man had killed my parents. As I said, I couldn’t hear the man’s voice clearly. But who was she?”
The woman was young, her accent light southern. She was manic, crazy.Griffin remembered when Savich had told him about Melissa Kay Grissom in her father’s hospital room, her hands fisted at her sides, her face twisted in rage simmering just below the surface, waiting for a trigger to erupt. Not hard to see she was a psychopath, Savich had said. A man and a woman. There were only two people who fit the bill, and it made sense. The Grissom siblings. He knew Ryman Grissom was about forty. Fourteen years ago, he was in his midtwenties, Melissa Kay about twenty. Had they killed together or separately even before they’d killed the Rendahls? Had Melissa Kay murdered anyone since? And Kirra, was she pretending not to know for sure the man was Ryman Grissom? She’d never met Melissa Kay Grissom, but she knew Ryman had a sister. If she didn’t already know everything there was to know about Melissa Kay Grissom, Griffin had no doubt Kirra would find out everything about her before the day was out. What would she do with what she knew? Given what Eliot Ness had done, it scared Griffin to his toes. Well, he was with her now, to keep her from doing anything crazy. Griffin said, “Do you think you’ve heard this woman’s voice before?”
Kirra stilled, seemed to gaze into herself again, into the past. Then she said, shaking her head, “No, I’ve never heard her voice before, except for that night.”
Dr. Hicks took her hand, helped her to rise.
“Thank you, Dr. Hicks, thank you. I don’t think you gave me a brain tumor. But who can tell, it’s early.”
“If you don’t have symptoms right away, you’re in the clear.”
“Good to know. You know there’s one excellent memory I’d forgotten. My sixth birthday party. It was a fine thing to remember. I was so happy that day. Thank you for taking me there again. You are a very kind man. I bet I would have liked your grandfather, too.”
“That’s about the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time. Griffin, take good care of her.”
Griffin said, “Dr. Hicks likes the Boardroom pizza as much as I do. What do you say we stop there for lunch?”
Kirra managed a half smile. “Do you like anchovies?”
“Who on earth does?”
They were eating pizza in the Boardroom, Kirra’s loaded with anchovies, when she said, “Bet you didn’t know Jeter is seeing Pepper Jersik. She seems really nice. I hope it works out.”
Griffin paused in midbite. Hard-nosed, kick-your-butt Pepper Jersik, falling for a cop in Porte Franklyn? He didn’t doubt Kirra knew the scoop. He marveled how life never ceased to offer up unexpected twists and turns.
“Thank you, Griffin, for convincing me to come, for everything you’ve done for me today. I can’t wait to see Dr. Hicks do his Elvis impersonation. You can drop me off at home now, maybe go on that date I’m sure you must have canceled.”
Griffin sat back in his chair, gave her a slow smile. “No dropping you off. No date for me. We’re going back to your condo together. Consider me your second skin, Mandarian. I told you—Savich’s orders.”
