open, or I might have looked back to see. The cool, antiseptic smell of the hospital wrapped us. I felt both men almost flinch. I glanced at Micah and found him wrinkling his nose, as if something smelled bad. I turned to see an almost identical reaction from Nathaniel. He actually shook his shoulders like a bird settling its feathers, or I guess in his case like a cat shaking something off its fur.
Micah’s face was back to neutral as he spoke low. ‘I’ve never gotten used to how hospitals smell.’ And I knew he meant since he got super-scenting ability as a wereleopard.
I heard Al from behind us, saying, ‘Oh, come on, your name can’t really be Devil.’
‘My twin sister’s name is Angel.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Nicky,’ Dev said.
‘Dev is short for Devil, and his sister is named Angel.’
Apparently, neither of them was going to tell Al that Devil was a nickname. We were going to need a little humor to get us through tonight, and bedeviling Al about Dev’s name was a start.
11
Juliet and Al took us up in the elevator so we didn’t have to ask where to go or what we were doing. Al said, ‘You got your badge with you?’
‘You know I do; I have to,’ I said.
‘Maybe put it where the other cops can see it.’
‘Won’t that make them think Anita has come to butt in on the case, just like Rickman fears?’ Micah asked.
‘Some of them are going to think that anyway, but cops like other cops, and you being the son of one and the boyfriend of another will make them like you better. It’ll make them like you all better.’
The elevator stopped, doors still shut.
‘You think we’ll need the extra likeability?’ I asked.
‘You might,’ he said.
I looked at him, wondering what I was missing, but Al was on our side, and he had the flavor of the local cops and I didn’t, so I paid attention. The doors opened, we stepped out of the elevator, and I dropped the men’s hands long enough to move the little walletlike badge cover to the front of my belted skirt, so the badge was visible. I’d have preferred the lanyard that I used at home to display my badge, but I hadn’t brought that badge, or the lanyard. Silly me, I hadn’t thought I’d need it.
Juliet and Al took us down a short hallway, turned a corner, and half a dozen cops pushed away from the walls, or just turned like magic toward us. One, cops keep their eye on movement, because it can be bad guys. Two, Nicky looked like a bad guy, and Dev looked like a large, physical smart aleck; either one was the kind of person that most cops learn to keep an eye on. With the two of them behind us attracting the cops’ attention, it was like being invisible, a magician’s trick of misdirection, or maybe they just couldn’t see Micah and me behind Al and Juliet? Nathaniel was tall enough that some of him had to be visible.
There were actually only two people in the hallway who I knew for certain weren’t cops. They were a man and a woman, a couple if I was betting. The woman was wearing a black polyester pantsuit that had fit twenty pounds ago. The white button-down blouse with its little ruffled collar didn’t help. Her glasses were large and black framed so they dominated her face. Her hair was shortish and going from brunette to a tired gray. She’d also brushed her curls out in an attempt to straighten them, and it gave her hair the consistency of wool. When you have hair as curly as mine and Micah’s you can never, ever brush your hair. It breaks the curl and makes a mess of it. Jean-Claude, with his only slightly less curly hair, had taught me that. The woman had to be over fifty; you’d think somewhere someone would have taught her how curly hair works. Her only jewelry was a silver cross and a lapel pin in the shape of a crosier, the shepherd’s crook that is supposed to mean that a bishop or above is a guardian of his flock, when it’s carried in the life-size version. I’d never seen one as a pin.
‘Aunt
Micah’s face was back to neutral as he spoke low. ‘I’ve never gotten used to how hospitals smell.’ And I knew he meant since he got super-scenting ability as a wereleopard.
I heard Al from behind us, saying, ‘Oh, come on, your name can’t really be Devil.’
‘My twin sister’s name is Angel.’
‘I don’t believe it.’
‘Nicky,’ Dev said.
‘Dev is short for Devil, and his sister is named Angel.’
Apparently, neither of them was going to tell Al that Devil was a nickname. We were going to need a little humor to get us through tonight, and bedeviling Al about Dev’s name was a start.
11
Juliet and Al took us up in the elevator so we didn’t have to ask where to go or what we were doing. Al said, ‘You got your badge with you?’
‘You know I do; I have to,’ I said.
‘Maybe put it where the other cops can see it.’
‘Won’t that make them think Anita has come to butt in on the case, just like Rickman fears?’ Micah asked.
‘Some of them are going to think that anyway, but cops like other cops, and you being the son of one and the boyfriend of another will make them like you better. It’ll make them like you all better.’
The elevator stopped, doors still shut.
‘You think we’ll need the extra likeability?’ I asked.
‘You might,’ he said.
I looked at him, wondering what I was missing, but Al was on our side, and he had the flavor of the local cops and I didn’t, so I paid attention. The doors opened, we stepped out of the elevator, and I dropped the men’s hands long enough to move the little walletlike badge cover to the front of my belted skirt, so the badge was visible. I’d have preferred the lanyard that I used at home to display my badge, but I hadn’t brought that badge, or the lanyard. Silly me, I hadn’t thought I’d need it.
Juliet and Al took us down a short hallway, turned a corner, and half a dozen cops pushed away from the walls, or just turned like magic toward us. One, cops keep their eye on movement, because it can be bad guys. Two, Nicky looked like a bad guy, and Dev looked like a large, physical smart aleck; either one was the kind of person that most cops learn to keep an eye on. With the two of them behind us attracting the cops’ attention, it was like being invisible, a magician’s trick of misdirection, or maybe they just couldn’t see Micah and me behind Al and Juliet? Nathaniel was tall enough that some of him had to be visible.
There were actually only two people in the hallway who I knew for certain weren’t cops. They were a man and a woman, a couple if I was betting. The woman was wearing a black polyester pantsuit that had fit twenty pounds ago. The white button-down blouse with its little ruffled collar didn’t help. Her glasses were large and black framed so they dominated her face. Her hair was shortish and going from brunette to a tired gray. She’d also brushed her curls out in an attempt to straighten them, and it gave her hair the consistency of wool. When you have hair as curly as mine and Micah’s you can never, ever brush your hair. It breaks the curl and makes a mess of it. Jean-Claude, with his only slightly less curly hair, had taught me that. The woman had to be over fifty; you’d think somewhere someone would have taught her how curly hair works. Her only jewelry was a silver cross and a lapel pin in the shape of a crosier, the shepherd’s crook that is supposed to mean that a bishop or above is a guardian of his flock, when it’s carried in the life-size version. I’d never seen one as a pin.
‘Aunt
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