by Lelana Croft
“Hey, would you mind if we did another one? There’s a young girl that came in and I wanted to see what her last thoughts were,” I asked Katie. “But I need to ask you not to follow me on this one. Are you cool with that?”
“Sure, I can do that.”
I opened the cooler and pulled out the girl. I had Katie stand behind me as I placed my hand on her forehead and went back to the night she'd died.
It was raining and she was shivering, barely able to hold herself upright. She looked down at her arm where the tattoo was, and blood was dripping from her wrist. She looked around and was on a gravel road. It was dark and she was alone. She was so frightened.
There were lights heading toward her. A car of some sorts. She raised her hand to block the glare as the car stopped in front of her. She couldn't stand up any longer and collapsed to the ground. Life was leaving her body and she couldn’t stop it. The rain hit her in the face as she laid on the road, the faint sound of someone walking up to her.
A voice that sounded far away called out to her. She couldn’t hear what it was saying, only that it was a man. She looked up one last time into a face. The face of a man.
The face, of Miles.
Chapter 27
I jerked my hand off the girl's head and cursed.
“What happened?” Katie asked.
I could feel my anger rising as I thought about Miles pretending not to have known about the girl. Why would he lie to me about it? He was the last one who'd seen her alive. Did he kill her?
“I’m not sure, but I need to find Miles,” I said as I pushed the girl back in. “I still need to find out what killed Marilyn, though. Now that whoever was upstairs is gone…”
I was interrupted by my phone vibrating. It was Tony.
{I’m at your house, waiting. You need to get here now.}
Crap. I would have to finish with Marilyn later.
“Never mind, I need to get back to the house,” I said as Katie and I left the morgue, locking the door behind us.
I knew what it was before I got there. When Katie had pulled away during our memory walk of Marilyn, it’d set off my anklet pretty hard. Memory walking always seemed shorter than it actually was. We'd been there for three hours and it had seemed like only thirty minutes.
“That’s fine, I’m kinda tired anyway. This memory walking is so cool. I wish I had that kind of power.”
I laughed at the thought. It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Being able to see the darkest of people could really make you wonder how humanity had made it this far.
“Well, I wish I had the power to flame people when needed,” I giggled.
We hopped in her car and made it to the house. Tony was sitting on the porch swing with his arms crossed.
“Who’s that?” Katie asked.
“That’s Tony. He’s…a friend, kinda.”
“Do you need me to come up with you? He looks…dangerous, kinda.”
“Nah, we’re good. I’ll catch up later. Remember to keep this a secret. Patty can’t know.”
“My lips are sealed,” Katie said as I closed the door and she took off.
Turning my attention back to Tony I slowly walked up the porch steps and felt myself being stared down by him. That irritated me because he wasn't my parent.
“Would you stop it with the look already? It’s been a weird day. A weird week actually.”
He cocked his head to one side and gave me a half grin, then patted the seat next to him on the porch swing.
I took a seat and let out a breath.
He turned sideways, so he could face me.
“So, you wanna tell me why I’m down here then?” he said.
I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. “I know, my anklet went off. I was memory walking Marilyn to see if I could find out what killed her. I guess I got a little too deep for my own good.”
If I’d told him about Katie, I’d probably be banned for life, so he couldn’t know.
“Look, I don’t mind what you’re doing. But because I’m assigned to keep you in check, every time you make that thing go off like that, I have to come down or your father will. Which would you prefer?”
“I’d prefer to have the damn thing removed. I don’t need to be on a leash!” I lashed out, totally frustrated that I was being monitored so closely.
Tony pulled out his phone and started texting someone.
“What are you doing?” I said, my tone sarcastic.
“I’m telling them everything is fine and you’re behaving…but I can change that if you want to push it.”
I rolled my eyes, then felt like an ass.
“Sorry. I just want to be able to manage things on my own,” I said, apologetically.
“I know. I get it. You just gotta be careful for a while. I know it seems like it’ll be forever, but it won't. Just mind your manners, and you’ll be off this leash in no time.”
Tony chuckled as he stood up and stretched. “While I’m down here, is there any place for good food?”
“Not at this time of night. There is an all-night diner on the edge of town. I’ve heard they have good salads.”
“Cool. You want anything?” he asked.
“Are you coming back here?” I replied.
“Only if you want me to bring you something.”
I thought about it, but hated eating so late.
“Nah, I’m going to bed,” I paused as he went to his truck. “And thanks. Thanks for not tattling on me.”
He chuckled loudly. “Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll find some way to have you make it up to me for being so nice to you.”
Sliding into the truck, he brought it to life and sped out of the driveway, heading towards the diner. I just shook my head and went inside, making sure to lock the door, not that it seemed to matter these days.
Making my way up to bed, I slipped under the covers and checked my phone. I hadn’t heard a peep from Miles and was pretty irritated at him for not telling me that he'd known about the girl and had been there when she’d passed on.
How could he keep that from me? I found myself slipping into slumber and decided I’d let it be for now. I just needed sleep.
My phone vibrated repeatedly and I opened one eye to look at it. Hobbs was calling, so I answered.
“Hello?”
“Scarlett, I need you to come to the morgue as soon as possible. I’m sorry to call you so early in the morning, but we've got a situation. Can you come right away?”
“Sure, let me wash my face and I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. Can you tell me what this is about?”
“I’ll fill you in on the details once you get here, but the short version is the girl is missing. Her body has been stolen!”
Holy crap. What had happened since I’d left? I didn’t dare tell him that Katie and I had been there just the night before.
“I’m on my way.”
I washed my face and put on some clean clothes, pushing my hair up into a twist and a clip. I got to the morgue as fast as I could. Ruby wasn't there yet, but Hobbs was upstairs, pacing.
“Hey, Hobbs. So what happened exactly?” I asked, hoping I could get more details.
“I came in this morning and was finishing up the paperwork to check her out. I went to the exam room and the cooler door was open and she was gone. Why is this happening? Who would want to steal dead bodies?”
He was visibly shaken and I went over and patted him on the back.
“When was the last time you saw her? And did you come into the office at all last night?”
“Yesterday afternoon. I double-checked my exam paperwork and called it a day. No, I didn’t come by last night, why?”
I had to think of a reason for asking. “I just wondered because if someone had been here, you’d have seen them outside and may not have realized it.”
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t think about that. But no, I was at home all night.”
Well, now I knew it wasn’t him that’d been upstairs when Katie and I were i
n the cooler with Marilyn. Now the question was, who was it?
“Would Ruby have come by at all last night? Just to check on things?”
“No, she’s up in St. Louis visiting her sister. She left yesterday afternoon and won’t be back until tomorrow.”
“Okay, that leaves her out,” I said.
Someone had been in the building last night when we were. I was beginning to think that I knew who it’d been.
“Have you called the Sheriff yet?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t.
“No, I was about to, but I wanted to check with you first to make sure you hadn’t moved her or something.”
“I didn’t. But I’d like to ask you to hold off on calling the Sheriff. I might know what happened to her, but I need a little time to confirm my suspicions before I know for sure.”
Hobbs looked worried. I couldn’t blame him. So much crazy stuff had been going on, I’d be worried too, if I didn't know more about it than he did.
“Oh…Scarlett, I can’t do that. Even if you could find out who might’ve been involved, I still have to report this. If I don't, and then you can’t find her and get her back here, then I’ll have to explain why I waited. It’s just too risky.”
I’d had a feeling he’d say that. I wasn’t a fan of Sheriff Bowers. He had a little too much sexism going on.
“Okay, I get it, but if you don’t mind, let me leave first. I need to go check some things out and I might be able to get some answers. You report it to the Sheriff. Tell him you already questioned me and I don't know anything about it. Do not tell him I’m looking into this. He won’t like that and I don’t need to be harassed by the local law around here.”
Hobbs nodded and I knew he’d be cool. He liked me and since I was one of the few people that could handle the work he had, I knew he wanted to keep me around.
Before I took off, I dropped a text to Miles.
{We need to talk. ASAP.}
I slipped my phone in my back pocket, hopped on the orange demon, and headed back home. I needed to be appropriately dressed and armed for today.
I could hear the chime of a text in my pocket and waited until I pulled up to the house to check it.
{Sure! I’ll come to you. Where are you?} Miles’ text read.
{I’m at home. Come now, please.}
{Okay, everything all right?} he asked.
{Not sure, need your help.}
{On my way.}
Good. Maybe playing a bit of damsel in distress would make him move a little faster.
Adonis was waiting for me when I went inside. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and stared out the kitchen window at the river. It was so peaceful-looking from here.
I thought about how a river could be deceiving. How it looked like it could be easily crossed and how the deadly undercurrents could trick you.
“I see something going on in that head of yours,” Adonis said, with noted sarcasm.
“Yeah. Just a lot going on right now.”
His ears perked up long before I heard the tires of Miles’ car coming up the driveway.
I opened the door as he was stepping out of the car.
“Won’t you come in?” I asked, knowing I was inviting in a vampire, regardless of what he'd said he was.
“Hey, sorry I didn’t respond to your texts yesterday, I was…”
“Did you take the girl from the morgue?”
Beating around the bush just wasn’t my style.
He looked at me and frowned, then walked inside and closed the door behind him.
“Look, the reason I took her was because I was afraid that somehow you might find out about something. Something that I did and I'm not proud of.”
I crossed my arms and fidgeted while waiting for him to explain why he’d taken her.
“Go on…” I said, trying to keep my anger in check.
“First, I didn’t kill her. I could never do that. But I did find her. She was right at the brink of death. In fact, she died in my arms. I couldn't save her. There was nothing I could do. I didn’t want anyone to think I had anything to do with her death, so I left her there. I didn’t report it because I knew she’d be found. The road she was on was busy during the day.”
He was looking down at the floor as he told me what he’d done. I almost felt bad for the guy because I understood why he'd done what he did.
“Then why did you lie to me? Why did you pretend not to know about her?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t know enough about you at that point. I had no idea about your abilities. You know as well as I do, that being a supernatural brings complications when people know what you can do. That's why all of us are so secretive, even with each other. I’m sorry, Scarlett.”
His apology was genuine.
“Look, Hobbs is about to have a mental breakdown if we don’t get her back. Where is she?”
“She’s at the office. I have a secret room. In it, is a walk-in cooler that I have for the storage of items that I need to keep at certain temperatures.”
I thought about it for a few minutes. If he could get her back into the morgue while I kept Hobbs and the Sheriff busy upstairs, we might actually be able to pull this off.
“Okay, you’ll need to use your speed on this one. Here’s what I want you to do. I’ll go back to the morgue and get Hobbs and the Sheriff upstairs to talk about the case, be annoying as usual to him, and keep them distracted. You take her back and put her in a different cooler than the one she was in, okay?”
He nodded his head.
“Good, how much time do you need to get this done?” I asked, because I needed to know how long to distract them.
“Only about five minutes. Just long enough to position her in the other cooler, basically.”
“Perfect. Text me when you are done,” I said and made my way back to the morgue.
Man, I hoped this worked. When I got there, the Sheriff and Hobbs were in the basement. I needed to find a way to get them upstairs, so Miles could put the body back.
I opened the upstair’s door all the way and took a bunch of papers and tossed them all over the floor. I made it look like someone had come in and trashed the place, but had done it quietly. Then I made my way downstairs to where Hobbs and the Sheriff were having a heated conversation.
“Excuse me, but did you guys hear anything upstairs? It looks like someone came in and trashed the place,” I said innocently.
Hobbs and the Sheriff bolted upstairs and I followed them.
“What the hell is going on around here? Do you guys have a ghost or something?” the Sheriff belted.
I rolled my eyes as I began to pick up the papers.
“It looks like some kids are playing pranks. Hobbs, you might have to change the locks and put on stronger ones. This is just ridiculous,” I said, playing my part perfectly.
Hobbs and Sheriff Bowers were going over the types of locks that needed to be put on the doors while I continued to pick up papers, hoping Miles was going to text me soon, telling me it was done.
We all froze simultaneously when we heard it, the sound of one of the exam room trays crashing to the floor.
Chapter 28
I don’t know who moved faster, Hobbs or the Sheriff, but they both were tripping over each other to get downstairs. I followed closely behind as we all made our way into the exam room. There was a tray table laying on its side and medical instruments all over the floor.
I looked up and noticed one of the small cooler doors slightly ajar.
“Hey, Hobbs? Did you happen to check the other coolers? For the girl, I mean?” I asked, hoping I wasn't too early and the body hadn’t been replaced.
“No, I…of course not. Why would I even think to do that?” he said as he began opening up all the cooler doors.
He froze when he opened the one below the one she’d originally been in. There she was, back in place. I let out a quiet breath as I looked around to see if I could spy where Miles was hiding.
“But who knocked
over the tray?” the Sheriff asked.
“Maybe it was that ghost you mentioned earlier?” I snarked, knowing it would get in his craw.
“Hmpf,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Hobbs, old boy, looks like you might be getting a little forgetful in your old age, eh?”
The Sheriff slapped Hobbs hard on the back and headed upstairs. Hobbs looked at me with questioning eyes. I felt sorry for the guy. He wasn't losing his mind, even though he might have felt like he was.
Hobbs followed the Sheriff upstairs and I waited quietly for it to be clear before searching for Miles. He was hiding in my office behind the door.
“That was close,” he said.
“Yeah, too close. Get out of here before they find you. Meet me back at my place.”
I still had a bunch of questions about some things that I needed to know from him.
Heading back upstairs, I finished cleaning up the papers that were all over the floor. Hobbs looked flustered and I patted him on the shoulder and reassured him that things would be okay. I told him to text me if something came in and he needed me.
Miles was waiting for me on the front porch. He looked good sitting there, in his snug fitting T-shirt, and perfectly cut jeans. I had mostly seen him either in a suit or business casual. I liked the dressed down look.
I parked the orange demon under the tree and went over to sit beside him.
“You really should have told me the truth. I’d have understood,” I said.
He nodded and looked out over the field.
“Maybe, but I’m glad it’s out now. I hate carrying something like that.”
“Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you about something…”
“I know, The Aegis Council. I only know that they are a fraternal order and quite secretive. You have to be a vampire to get in. A full vampire. I couldn't get in even if I tried. They are very wealthy and control a lot more than most people realize. Everything from the money, food supply, fuel and oil, even the President doesn’t do anything without them knowing. It’s been said they are the shadow government,” he explained.