The Gates of Winter - Mark Anthony [120]
It had been Travis's idea to come to the police station, to file a missing person report about Caleb Sparkman, and while Marty had agreed right away to the plan, it had taken most of the day to convince Jay it was a good idea. Nor would Marty go without Jay; he looked to the smaller man as his leader.
“Why don't you go do it yourself, Mr. Wizard?” Jay had said after the third time Travis asked him to file the report. At the time they were rooting in Dumpsters along Santa Fe, looking for cans and bottles to trade in for money, loading them into a battered shopping cart.
After swallowing the lump in his throat, Travis had explained how his photo had been shown on the local television news last fall. Marty shrugged at this information, while Jay was clearly impressed. He pestered Travis relentlessly to know what he had done to get on the wrong side of the law. All Travis told him was that it was a misunderstanding, which Jay obviously didn't believe.
After that, Jay had agreed to file the report, and they had headed down Thirteenth Avenue to the police station.
“Don't you worry, buddy,” Jay said, punching Travis in the shoulder. “We'll tell them about old Sparky, but we won't let it slip about you being here. Right, Marty?”
Marty had nodded vigorously.
From his hiding place in the alley, Travis had watched the two men walk up the steps and disappear into the building. Only it wasn't the thought of their telling the police he was there that worried him. Rather, it was the fact that he could very well be sending them into danger.
According to Grace, there had been at least one ironheart at the police station. What if he hadn't been alone? Last fall, the police had been working with Duratek, and in Calavere they had finally learned that Duratek was allied with the forces of Mohg and the Pale King. What if there were more ironhearts in the police station, and they captured Marty and Jay, tortured the two, and made them talk about Travis?
Now you're being paranoid, Travis. Marty and Jay are just going to talk about Caleb Sparkman. There's no way the police could know you're involved.
Besides, he couldn't believe that every officer in Denver was an ironheart, or in the pocket of Duratek. The detective on the news the other night—despite having his words cut off by Anna Ferraro—had seemed like he genuinely cared about the disappearances among the homeless.
It grew colder. Minutes crystallized into an hour. Then, just when Travis decided Jay and Marty had been captured, that he had to go in and save them, the door of the station opened, and the two men walked down the steps.
“Did you file the report?” Travis asked as they stepped into the alley.
Jay let out a disgusted snort. “Finally. I told the police they needed to get off their cans and do something about all the folks disappearing, and they didn't seem to like that.”
“I wonder why,” Travis said dryly.
The little man seemed not to notice him. “Anyway, they couldn't rush us out of there fast enough, but I told them we weren't leaving until we got to talk to someone and file a report about Sparky. They agreed and sat us down in a hallway, but I think we'd still be sitting there getting ignored, except I grabbed one of them as he walked by, and he actually listened to us. Sergeant Otero, that was his name.”
Marty nodded. “I liked him. He gave us coffee.”
Otero. Travis thought back. Wasn't that the name of the officer Anna Ferraro had interviewed on the news the other night?
“What did the sergeant say?”
Jay jerked his head toward the street. “Let's head over to the recycle center before it gets dark. We'll tell you about it on the way.”
As Marty pushed the shopping cart down the street, Travis walked with Jay, listening as the small man described what had happened in the police station. Sergeant Otero