The Last Handful of Clover - Book 2: Gifts Both Light and Dark

2.41 Out of Balance

June 14, 7:00 am

"Is it really necessary to do this interview in the rain?" Carla Grayson grumbled, glaring up at the sky from under the black umbrella. The worst of the early morning thunderstorm had passed, but there was still a light drizzle that could break into another full-blown downpour any minute. "Can't we just go inside?"

"Authenticity, Carla," Morgan Jensen said with a laugh. "There's something about being interviewed in the rain outside that makes it feel more genuine to the viewer. It's a bit of reporter trade craft."

Carla sighed, but she was in no mood to argue.

Her phone had lit up just over an hour ago, while she was in transit to the precinct house. It was her sergeant, and what he had told her had been shocking—that Howard Gunderson, with the help of one of his guards, had broken out of the Matheson Courthouse. And most horribly, Howard had beaten the other guard to death on the way out the door.

None of it made any sense. She knew Officer Delgado, as well as Gonzales, the guard who had been killed. She considered them both good colleagues, if not friends. Delgado was a career guard and had been working at the Courthouse since it opened it in 2001. He was a bit of a grumpy cuss, but she couldn't believe he'd help a prisoner escape, let alone stand by and watch as the boy beat the other guard to death with his own nightstick.

But she'd since seen the remains of the murdered guard and watched the surveillance tape. What it showed was horrifying in its clarity.

The camera had picked up the pair in the corridor. Delgado had escorted the boy out of the cell, without handcuffs, and the boy had used the taser on Gonzales, and then dragged him out from behind the desk. As Delgado stood watching, even clapping and dancing in a strangely childish way, Howard Gunderson had beaten the other guard to death with Delgado's nightstick. She'd never seen a murder recorded in such vivid, horrifying detail, and she almost had to vomit after watching it. She prayed that bit of tape would never see the light of day.

When they were done with Gonzales, Delgado had cuffed the boy and marched him straight out of the building, past the security checkpoint. One final security camera in the parking lot had caught them tasering a beat cop and stealing his car. Luckily, that cop was okay, suffering mostly from a blow to the head.

The whole thing made Carla's head spin, and not because of the violence, but because it simply made no sense. Although she now had to accept that Howard Gunderson was indeed a killer, something about it just felt impossible and unreal. Her mind kept trying to find some way to believe that it wasn't really Howard. That it was an impostor. That some kind of mistake had been made.

But the tape didn't lie.

Some kind of demon, the boy had told his mother...

That was a crazy thought, and she brushed it aside. She wished she could just go home, rather than having to talk to the reporter. But her sergeant had told her it was her responsibility to talk to the press and warn the public that Gunderson was on the loose. The boy's case, which she had been told in no uncertain terms was no longer hers to worry about, was squarely back on her plate.

"Camera set, Stan?" the reporter asked the cameraman, bringing up the hand-held microphone. "Okay, Carla, tell me when you're ready."

Morgan Jensen was an old friend. She and Carla had known each other in both a professional and a personal capacity for years. Carla wished she could tell the reporter everything she knew, but for now, the department felt they had to keep most of the details of what had happened that morning at the courthouse close to the vest.

"I'm ready. Just... be kind," Carla said, with a smile that felt so artificial she wondered if even Morgan could feel it.

"Okay. Stan, you rolling? I'll count down from five. Ready? And Five, four, three, two, one..." The reporter's professional expression blossomed across her face, as if it was a mask that she slipped on for the occasion. Carla marveled at how she could put on that veneer so easily and quickly.