Page 44 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Thrown for a Loss

audience hooked. I was about to ask Labelle who to question next
when I realized she had disappeared again. That could get on your
nerves. I guessed she was a lone wolf. If she had a partner on the
force, she’d probably gone through a lot of them before anyone
compatible turned up. I don’t think I could have worked with her
long-term. Communication isn’t just a skill. It’s a necessity.
I turned to tell the mall rats to wait a minute. Before I could open
my mouth, theirs fell open. They were staring at something behind
me. I looked. Waylon Sachs, yellow tape in hand, was approaching
the landing but they weren’t interested in him. It was Lieutenant
Gramercy. She had gone down the disabled ‘up’ escalator on foot and
returned. And she wasn’t alone. Bandaged and limping, Autumn Pratt
was at her side.
“I brought her up to this floor to get away from the chaos down
there,” Labelle Gramercy said quietly as she and the girl came up to
me. Made sense, but I wondered if the conversation pit on the first
floor would have done just as well without making Miss Pratt struggle
up the escalator. I would have been afraid to set foot on the thing,
moving or not, after what had happened. Could the policewoman
have been that insensitive? Or did she have another reason? I looked
hard at her face, but it gave nothing away. Her eyes were on the mall
rats.
“Tell those boys to wait a few minutes over there in the food
court, at one table so we can keep track of them. Then I would like
you to join us on that bench. I called for backup but most of the
patrol cars in this area are involved in a low-speed pursuit of a
carjacker on Frenesi Boulevard. I believe Miss Pratt will feel more
comfortable if another person is present.”
I nodded, keeping my opinions to myself. I didn’t think anything
would make the young lady more comfortable except a pain-killer
and a sedative. Maybe she’d already gotten that from the paramedics.
She wasn’t saying a word. All the blood had drained out of her face.
Eyes wide open, staring. At what? The memory of slamming into her
grandmother and killing her? Or the mall rats right in front of her?
I snapped out of it and went over to the boys. They were still
pretty nervous. I tried to loosen them up.
“Hey, Calvin. Take it easy. She’s a cop, but you’ve got nothing to
worry about. Stop looking so sick, Luke. You eat some bad onion

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