Page 30 of Immortal By Morning
That’s when Crispin hesitated. He didn’t think answering twenty-two was likely to be taken well. In fact, he was almost certain she wouldn’t believe him. In the end, he merely said, “It’s complicated.”
“The number of siblings you have is complicated?” she asked dubiously.
“Hey,” he said as she gobbled up some strawberries and went after the ghosts to eat them. “You will not even tell me properly if you have any brothers or sisters, so have no right to complain about my answer.”
“Fair enough,” she said easily. “What about parents then? Do you have any of those?”
“Of course. I was not hatched,” Crispin said with amusement.
“Are they both alive and still together?” she asked, her tone dry.
“Still alive,” he answered slowly. “But they were never really together.”
“They never married?” she queried, glancing quickly his way before returning her gaze to the game.
“Not to each other. Although my father got married some years back to someone else.”
“So, you have a new stepmother,” she teased. “Do you like her?”
“Yes,” Crispin admitted. “They are perfect for each other. She makes him very happy.”
“That’s nice,” Abril said. “I mean, you hear so many stories about the wicked stepmother, it’s nice to hear about someone who likes theirs for a change.”
When Crispin merely grunted in what might have been agreement, Abril asked another question. “What made you want to be a police officer?”
“I wanted to help people,” Crispin said slowly, and knew that answer was kind of on the cusp of being honest. Because while it was true, he had wanted to help people, the people he had wanted to help were the rogue hunters who had been overwhelmed trying to keep up with depleted numbers. But he was quite sure that she would take it to mean he wanted to help the victims of crimes, and he did enjoy that aspect of his career, but that wasn’t the reason he had joined the police force here in London. It was just that Mortimer had needed somebody on the police force to watch for cases that might include rogues and handle the mortals who stumbled into them. Which meant erasing their memories and taking care of these situations themselves. It was why both he and Roberts were here. They were the only immortals who lived in the actual city itself. Although there were others in nearby neighboring small towns like Port Henry.
“Do you like being a police officer?” she asked now, pulling him from his thoughts.
“Sometimes,” he said, honestly, and then explained, “You are looking at a homicide detective who—sadly or perhaps happily—does not have a lot of homicides to investigate. Roberts and I spend most of our time chasing down punks, muggers, shoplifters, truants, or working other really not very important cases.”
“The person who was mugged probably thinks their case is important,” Abril commented distractedly as she tried to avoid getting eaten by ghosts in her game.
“Yes, of course, I apologize,” Crispin said, and quickly assured her, “I did not mean to suggest that the victims of muggings do not deserve our help.”
“It’s okay, I understand. You don’t have to apologize,and I didn’t mean it that way. I know you meant that you were trained for a job and now really don’t get to do that, but do lesser jobs most of the time or jobs you consider less because it’s not what you are trained for.”
She paused, frowning slightly as if what she said wasn’t quite what she meant, but was too distracted with her game to fix it. In the end, she gave her head a small shake as if pushing the issue aside and explained, “When I said the person who was mugged probably doesn’t feel their case is unimportant, I just meant you should be proud of yourself. You help people. Even if not in the capacity you are trained for.”
“Thank you,” Crispin said softly because she was right. He may not have taken on the job of homicide detective expecting to be catching muggers instead of murderers. But he did help mortals and his real reason for having that job had nothing to do with homicide anyway.
Crispin wanted to ask her why she had become an executive assistant, but he didn’t want to distract her while she was at bat, so to speak. It was one thing for her to ask questions of him because she could pick her moment. And she could ask the question and then simply listen to the answer while still concentrating on the game.
“So, I guess that means that you do like your job?” She glanced up, and seeing his expression, said, “Or maybe you don’t like your job.”
“I am not sure,” he admitted. “I mean, some days my job is awesome.”
“Days when you solve the homicide and catch a killer?” she suggested.
“I was thinking days more like today, when I encounter a beautiful woman who has me out of my pants within hours of meeting her.”
Abril’s jaw dropped and her eyes were wide as plates in her head as she gaped at him with a sort of horror. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Too much?” he asked lightly.
“Too much,” she agreed with a wry twist to her lips. “Too much charm, too much leg on display, too gorgeous, too—”
“You think I am charming and gorgeous?” he asked with delight.
