Page 7 of Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters
“This jerk walked into one of the jewelers on Sansom.” Virago pointed to the jacket. “Er, floated in. And starts stuffing shit in his pockets. He’s on camera. We have tons of eyewitnesses, but he won’t admit to a thing.”
The jacket crossed its arms over its body, or got as close as it could with one sleeve cuffed to the chair, and gave Virago major attitude.
“You still had the gold chains in your pockets when we picked you up,” Gatling pointed out.
With a shrug, the jacket subsided, somehow managing to look sullen.
“I’m gonna ask you one more time.” Virago stabbed his finger at the jacket, getting in its face, so to speak. “Are you signing the statement or not, you stupid pile of leather scrap?”
The jacket quivered and sat up straighter. Kyle had the bad feeling it wasn’t intimidated in the least. “This could get ugly,” he whispered to Vikash.
His partner gripped his shoulder. “Stay put. We don’t want the place burning down.”
Everyone but Virago seemed to know what was coming. When the jacket lunged at him, toppling both chairs and taking him down to the floor, Vikash and Gatling both dove for the suspect. Virago cursed nonstop, his arms covering his head to protect it from the flailing sleeves. The smoke curling from his fingers signaled his attempt at a flame, but nothing materialized. Vikash got the jacket by the collar and heaved it off, turning and dodging gracefully as the jacket tried to twist and attack him.
“Settle down,” he told the jacket calmly. “Officer Virago didn’t mean that. You’re excellent quality. I can tell. Completely badass leather jacket. But attacking people in the squad room doesn’t help your case, now, does it?”
Kyle’s mouth dropped open as the jacket stopped struggling, shoulders slumping. It remained calm as Vikash righted the chair and placed the jacket back on the seat. True to form, Virago didn’t manage a thank you, glaring at Vikash as he picked himself off the floor.
“You and your new boyfriend find that killer yet, Kirby? Or were you spending the morning on bj’s in the car?”
The hardening of Vikash’s gaze happened so briefly Kyle thought he might have imagined the change along with the strange static hum he suddenly felt along his spine. But when Virago righted his chair and sat with a huff, the chair collapsed beneath him, shattering into its component pieces, nuts and washers rolling across the floor. The right legs of the desk cracked and broke while he was still gaping, its contents crashing to the cheap linoleum in sickening cracks of plastic and electronics.
Gatling sighed, offering a hand to help his partner up. “Maybe let me finish this up, Vance. Your nose is bleeding again.”
“Well, fuck me.” Virago stormed off to the bathrooms, leaving the now cooperative jacket to his partner.
“Not even with someone else’s dick,” Kyle muttered under his breath as he wandered back to his own desk to start writing that morning’s report. He waited until Vikash had settled and removed his notebook from his pocket before he asked, “So was that you being angry?”
“That was me being mildly annoyed,” Vikash answered, though he wouldn’t look up. “I shouldn’t have been. His pride was hurt and he was lashing out. And I never know what’s going to happen.”
Kyle opened his mouth, then stopped his first instinctive response to speak in his partner’s defense. That was Vikash slightly miffed. He didn’t want to think about what would happen in a moment of full-out rage. The calm Vikash wrapped around himself suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense. “Vance is a jerk. He needs to be medicated or something. But, yeah, he’s not worth it.”
About twenty minutes passed before Vikash looked up from his typing.What now?
“Was it just baiting, Kyle?” Blue eyes regarded him steadily, maybe even with some sympathy.
“You mean am I a fag?”Honest question. Don’t get pissy.Kyle pulled in a slow breath. “I don’t wave a Pride flag around, but I don’t make a big secret of it. Virago’s seen me out with other guys. It’s not that big a city.”
“It’s still tough for a cop to be gay. I just don’t want to see you bullied.”
Kyle managed a crooked grin. “It’s not grade school. And you know, somehow I’ve managed all this time without help.”
“Of course.”
“You have a problem with my fabulous gayness?”
“No.” Vikash graced him with the statue smile. “I appreciate that you’re honest with me.” A full five minutes passed before Vikash raised his head again. “You think you’re fabulous?”
“Of course I am,” Kyle said, still typing. “I shit glitter and everything.”
There was that strange, strangled sound again. If Vikash was laughing, Kyle was afraid that too much of it might kill him.
****
Neither murder had any known witnesses, but Vikash agreed with Kyle that interviewing the people who had discovered the bodies was only being thorough. The last of the lingering clouds had cleared, and the autumn air was now suddenly warm enough to shed jackets.
“Mind if we grab something on the way?” Vikash asked as he slid back into the car.
