by Ann Denton
“Notice anything unusual about the fae in room 470?”
“Nancy wouldn’t let anyone else in there. He was some bigwig, I guess. Is it a privacy violation to tell you what he was in for?”
“Nope. Police investigation.”
“Well, his online file said he was just in for sugar shock. But, I mean, nobody else saw him. So, who knows?”
I cock my head to one side. “Sugar shock. But … that’s just like alcohol poisoning, right? I mean, for fae. Too much sugar. He shouldn’t have died from that, right?”
Melanie scrunches her nose. “Isn’t that why you guys are here?”
Flowers clears his throat. “Excuse, Fox. She’s a little under-the-weather herself. Hey, how’d Nancy get the Nasty nickname?” Flowers shoots me a look as he asks.
Somehow, ridiculously, I understand he’s teaching me about switching up topics and circling back. He gave us a lecture on this last week. Don’t go in a straight line. Or witnesses will see where you’re headed. Keep them on their toes. Don’t give them time to think of lies.
Melanie blushes, “I didn’t make it up. She dropped a patient during a lift a few years back. Hit his head bad. Ended up with Foreign Shape Syndrome.”
“What’s that?” I interject.
“Shifter went from an owl to a snake. Was a pretty big culture shock for him.”
“Was it permanent?”
“Oh yeah. Nancy got a write up and everything. Anyway, guess the nickname started then. Rumor was she did it on purpose.”
I lean back in my seat to process. A guy got dropped on his head and turned into something new. Forever. What the eff? What am I gonna do if I can’t get rid of this chicken leg?
I glance down at it. It looks a little less orange. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I stare at it. You will not be permanent. You will go away and return my human leg. My leg doesn’t change back.
Melanie spies another nurse and calls her over. “Hey, you seen Nancy?”
The nurse snorts, causing the ring in her nose to jiggle. “Nope. ‘Course not. And we got a kraken moving to 450 that doesn’t speak a lick of English.”
“Talking about me?”
I crane my neck. Up. Up. Up. A huge woman with red hair towers over me. The cartoon wizard scrubs she wears do little to dampen her scare factor.
“I got the kraken settled,” she booms.
“Water tank crew finished?” Melanie starts typing away at her computer, blushing furiously.
“Yup.” Nasty eyes my leg. “What’s wrong with you?”
I open my mouth to respond when a door down the hall bursts open and three guys come running out of it, screaming.
“Ah, crap. Idiot tried to eat the tank guys.” Nasty doesn’t even look fazed. She marches down the hall and starts yelling. “Oooooshaaaaanna! Swwwweeeeeen!”
Melanie turns back to us and raises a brow. “They won’t fire her because she’s one of the few that can speak Oceanic. I can speak five languages. But apparently ancient Greek isn’t a big need around here. So, I don’t get special treatment.”
“How can she speak Oceanic?” Flowers watches Nasty disappear into the kraken’s room.
“She’s selkie.”
Flowers nods and grabs onto the handles of my wheelchair. He tips me back and winks at Melanie. “Thanks, Mel. If you think of anything else …” he does some quick-handed work and flips out a card like he’s a stupid magician.
Melanie handles it like it’s made of gold.
“My cell’s on there if you think of anything else. Can you tell us where the other patients in 470 were moved?”
Blushing, she tells him.
When Flowers wheels me away, it’s all I can do not to peek to watch her staring at his ass. I’m totally sure she is.
“Dude. That was like you were body-snatched. Where did grumpy Flowers go?”
Grumpy Flowers just rolls his eyes at me. “Do you know what kind of valuable info Melanie just gave us?”
“Um … yeah. Big nope.”
“A selkie with a history of violence works on the same floor as our two deceased male fae. Know much about selkies, Fox?”
“They’re seals?”
“Seals who hide their coats when they turn human. But if anyone finds the coat, they’ll bind the selkie. Force them to stay on land.”
“Maybe the chicken leg has made me stupid …”
“It’s not the chicken leg.”
I stick my tongue out at him. “Well, connect the dots then.”
“Selkies hate to be stuck on land. Hate being bound and obliged to serve. They’ll do anything to be free again. And I mean anything.”
I shiver. I can’t help it. I glance behind us. Luckily, Nasty’s nowhere in sight. “But didn’t you lecture me on the last case about speculation?”
“Yup.”
“And …”
“And it’s speculation. But I’m you’re commanding officer. My speculation is better trained than yours. So, I’m gonna let you chase down just where this woman’s coat is.”
This sounds like a wild goose chase. I open my mouth to complain. But my phone buzzes with a text from my mother.
Have you started cleaning yet? Don’t forget the toilet seat.
I grimace and look back at Flowers. “Selkie. Coat. On it.”
Chapter 6
Flowers wheels me around a million white hallways until we come to a patient room 428. When he wheels me inside, he stops short.
The window’s open. And only one bed is occupied.
“I thought that other room was a triple,” Flowers mutters, grabbing his phone to check.
Danny answers from his bed. His face looks slightly less swollen. “They moved two of us in. But Hal convinced a nurse he had to go to the bathroom. Then he ran for it.”
Flowers swears. “How long ago was that?”
Danny glances at the clock. “Maybe fifteen minutes?”
Flowers turns his back to us and gets on the phone with Bennett. His conversation is full of muttered curses.
I wheel closer to Danny.
He hasn’t spoken to me during this whole debacle. I mean, he kind of couldn’t speak at first, I guess. And then JR was hovering. I’m guessing she slipped home to change. I clear my throat, “Um … doing okay?”
“This is surreal. But yeah.” He gives me a smile to let me know he’s not gonna hold a grudge.
I crane my neck to look up at Flowers after he hangs up. “Guess we don’t have too think too hard about who’s suspect number one now. Want to change my assignment?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Hal was in both rooms.”
“So?”
“As in, both rooms with murders. He was originally a patient in the first fae’s room. I mean … that’s what he told me. Then they switched him to Danny’s room.”
“Whoa. Are you saying my roommate was a hitman?” Danny looks green.
“Dammit all. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Flowers growls.
“Um … because he was strapped to his bed. How was I supposed to know he’d gotten out once and was planning to kill again? You’ll have to teach fortune-telling if you want me to be able to do that.”
Flores makes a strangling gesture in my direction, before grabbing his phone.
Bennett walks in as his pocket buzzes from Flower’s call. He silences his phone and points at the window.
“Why’s the window open?”
We all look to Danny.
“Hal peed the bed.”
I turn to Danny. “No. Ew.”
“Yup. Couldn’t press the nurse’s button in time. So he said. It’s how he convinced her to unstrap him so he could go to the bathroom. Then he ran.”
Bennett and Flowers share a look.
“Fox is saying this Hal guy was in both rooms.”
“Fuck. This is all a long shot. He’s probably long gone but get a couple fliers out scanning for him. Try a few bee shifters if the air isn’t too cold. Bats if
it is. At the very least, the guy’s a witness.”
“A witness? I thought you said he was a killer?” Danny asks.
Flowers walks over and pats his arm. “Fox is prone to the dramatic. Don’t listen to her.”
I stick my tongue out at him.
Danny rolls his eyes.
Flowers heads into the hallway.
Bennett grabs my wheelchair and tosses a nod to Danny. “Thanks for the information, Mr. Lovato. We’ll be back with more questions.” He backs me into the hallway and leads me to an elevator. He presses nine.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to see a doctor about your leg.”
I glance down. Yeah, I’m worried about my leg. But Bennett has more important things to do. “But what about the case? Cases?”
“Darrell’s got the scene processing covered. I’ve assigned Seena and four other investigators to link our two vics. They’re scanning patient and employee files right now. Until we know how these deaths are linked, how are we gonna figure out motive? Too many people work in this damn place. Visit. Go in and out. So far all we know is they both came in with sugar shock. Died randomly. This Hal guy looks bad, yeah. But, until we’ve got a link, we’ve got nothing to go on.”
I nod. Makes sense.
“On the other hand, I had a very interesting conversation with Mr. Hawkins at the station.”
My neck cracks because I turn my head so fast. “What did he say?” My palms instantly get sweaty. I don’t know if I want to hear.
“He said that he had no doubt that the Crypts messed with his cookie delivery.”
I grip the handles of the wheelchair. Hard. So … he’s blaming the Crypts? As if he didn’t have anything to do with it? I shove away the tendril of hope that forms at that thought. That clearly wasn’t all he said. There’s more. There has to be more. “And?”
“He says he didn’t know about it. Which I very much doubt,” Bennett grimaces.
So, Luke does wanna act like he’s innocent. Is he innocent? Was it a mix up? That tendril of hope starts to bloom. “Didn’t ask for your opinion. I want to know what he said.”
Bennett clears his throat and looks up at the numbers. We hit the ninth floor, but he doesn’t exit.
I squeeze the wheelchair handles. I’m so tense I don’t know if I’m breathing. “What did he say?”
“He said … he wouldn’t be trying to see you again.”
It feels like I’ve been stabbed. My stomach’s ripped open. The tendril of hope is ripped up and thrown across the room. I turn and stare straight ahead. Why wouldn’t he want to see me again? Unless it wasn’t really an accident. Unless it was all an act. And I mean nothing to him.
I think my soul screams.
My leg. I need to focus on my leg. I cannot think about this right now. Or maybe ever.
“He said it on his own. The not seeing you bit. I didn’t threaten him,” Bennett’s tone gets defensive.
“Okay.”
“I promise.”
“I said okay.”
“Fuck. Now you’re mad at me.”
The doors to the elevator swing closed. I’m too far away to reach the button. I just stare at it, willing my mind to go blank.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I said, okay, Bennett. Okay means I believe you. Okay means I don’t want to talk about it. Okay means that in the last twelve hours everything that I thought was good in my life has gone to dung. I don’t have enough room in my freakin’ skull to be mad at you right now. OKAY?” I yell.
There’s a long silence. The elevator doors open, and an elf looks ready to step on. But when he sees our faces, he stops. The doors swing shut.
“I’m sorry, Ly-ly,” Bennett’s voice is gruff.
I just keep my eyes on the buttons.
“Can we just go see the fudgin’ doctor?”
“Yeah. If that’s what you want.”
It’s not what I want. But everything I want is falling to pieces.
Chapter 7
The doctor is part troll. He has wild green hair and a stocky build to go with his grumpy attitude. His name tag reads “Eduardo.”
“’Nother fae tonight? Couldn’t keep your hands out of the cookie jar, huh?”
“Excuse me?” I cross my arms. What an ass! But part of me is glad for the distraction. I’d rather focus on him. And not my heart.
Doctor Eduardo glances down at me and finally notices my chicken leg. He does not apologize for being rude. (I mean, he is part troll.) He simply picks up my leg and runs his hands along the feathers.
Whoa. Um, is that normal?
“Ever been to the doctor before?”
“Nope. Quick-healing.” Most supes are quick-healing. The hospital sees only the crazy and weird. Like me.
He rolls his eyes.
“Nothing like this ever happened to you before?”
“Nope. Chicken is not my natural state, if that’s what you’re asking.”
He sniffs my leg.
I stiffen. “Hold up! What are you doing?”
“It’s called an exam,” his tongue snakes out and runs over the scales on my calf.
I writhe and hit him. “Cheese Whiz! Stop!”
He drops my leg and turns his back.
I exchange a disbelieving look with Bennett as I address the doctor, “You should work on your bedside manner. You need to tell people before you touch them. And licking is never okay.”
“You should work on your hygiene. You should warn people before they get within three feet of you. When’s the last time you brushed your teeth? No wonder you’re in here,” he jots some notes and opens a drawer.
“Licking, by the way, is part of the diagnostic.” He points at himself. “I’m a quarter troll. I can identify almost forty different magical substances by taste. No magical substance beyond dirt and sweat on you, Ms. Pig.”
“OMG. I want another doctor!”
He whirls around. “You do?” He lunges at me and I bat away his right hand. He uses the left to flip my skirt up and stab me in the left thigh with a dual syringe before I realize it.
“Hey! Ouch!”
The room fills with the scent of blood and some foul mixture. Gross. What is that smell? It’s rotten. Like a fart. But not quite. Or is that a troll fart?
I cover my nose as subtly as I can.
“It’s your magic. Doesn’t smell so great. All fae magic is pretty foul. Shifters, now their magic smells like wet dog. That’s a little better,” Eduardo explains.
I nod. I watch, fascinated as the syringes fill. One side fills with blood, the other with a clear liquid speckled with black glitter.
“What’s that?”
“Doing a blood and magic draw so we can test it.”
“I have magic?”
He laughs. “Well, unless you shit sparkles, which most fae think they do, yeah, you’ve got something. We’ll have to test to figure out the strain, strength, volatility, potential, etc.”
“You can do all that?” I’m sort of fascinated. I’m sparkly inside. This makes the four-year-old-girl in me oddly giddy.
“Did you do that buttmunch stuff on purpose?” I ask as the syringes reach their maximum capacity.
The doc smirks. “How would you have reacted if you knew I was gonna stab you with a couple needles?”
I shrug. “We’ll never know.”
“Most patients have to be strapped down. It’s faster this way,” Doctor Eduardo winks and pulls out two Tinkerbell band aids. A second later, the syringes are gone and a smiling green fairy is plastered to my skin.
“Normally, I’d tell you the labs will be back in two to three days, but there might be a delay. Halloween is a pretty crazy time around here.”
Ben nods at him, “You going to the pumpkin patch?” Because, being Bennett, he has to make polite small-talk with the man who just assaulted me.
“You know it!” Eduardo’s eyes gleam. “What troll could turn down a moonlit orgy?”
“Pumpkin patch turn out good this year?”
“My cousin says they are some of the biggest gourds he’s ever seen.”
“Well, enjoy the holiday.”
“You too,” the doc nods politely in my direction before going to label the vials.
Ben wheels me down the hall.
“What is it with trolls and pumpkins, anyway?” I ask. “Never got that.”
Ben chuckles. “I forget your dad was human. It’s their fertility ritual.”
“Yeah. But, pumpkins?”
“Ly, pumpkins look just like troll boobs.”
“So, they roll around in the dirt surrounded by a bunch of giant orange boobs?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Wait. Why did humans start using pumpkins?”
Ben pushes me into the elevator and shrugs. “Why do American’s celebrate Cinco de Mayo?”
“Well, humans totally got the boob thing wrong.”
“That’s probably a good thing. The troll orgy is a heck of a thing to guard. Quite a few fights break out.”
“Wait. Our office guards that?”
“Yup. You will probably have a very eye-opening night.”
I shudder. “This is where I really wish I wasn’t opposed to using you for favors.”
Ben leans down close to my ear. “Just say the word.”
“Nope.”
The elevator dings and we get off.
“Wait. If their boobs look like pumpkins … what do the guys’ things look like?”
“Let’s just say there’s a reason Halloween is the scariest time of the year.”
For no good reason, my brain goes off like a rocket. Maybe I’m just that opposed to trying to imagine a troll penis. Or it reminds me of another penis. One that was recently bitten.
My hand reaches back. I grab Bennett and pull him around to face me.
“What did it smell like when he drew my blood?”
Bennett looks uncomfortable.
I roll my eyes. “I know it stunk. But did it smell kinda’ like cabbage?”
Ben shrugs. “Yeah. I guess.”
“Did those dead fae still have any magic in their bodies?”
“What?”
“Call the M.E. See if those fae still had magic. Because that missing patient, Hal, said he smelled cabbage. When the doc took magic out of me just now, it smelled like cabbage.”