Page 51 of Deadly Deception
Pulling up a note-taking app on my phone, I typed out a message to Franklin. It was probably overkill, but I didn’t want to say our plans out loud.
Franklin and Sheriff Henson were standing by a nearby counter. They’d already placed the three remaining corpses back into cold containment. Two of them were the homeless individuals I’d found. The other was the teenage girl. I’d already traced their strings back to their souls and given their names to the sheriff. He’d asked me to bring their souls back, which I’d done. One had died of an overdose and the other from unknown causes. All the man had known was that he’d had a cough for a couple of weeks and probably a fever. He’d gone to sleep and simply hadn’t woken back up. Both had heard the name, Vanja, whispered around the area but had no idea who it might be or had any direct, known dealings with anyone by that name.
The teenager was slightly different, and yet all too familiar. She hadn’t died of an overdose, but she’d been using at the time.She’d been trafficked, and her lastcustomerhad strangled her. She didn’t know the guy’s name, but she’d given us a description. I had no idea if it would be enough to track the asshole down. Henson hadn’t appeared overly confident. Then again, Henson was having a shit day. Reading too much into his expressions was most likely not fruitful.
It had been a long shot, pulling their souls back. These three corpses had been left behind for a reason, and that was because they didn’t know squat. Still, it was important to cover all the bases. There was always a chance they’d been left because the assailant hadn’t had time to get them out.
I’d released their souls and wished them well in the afterlife. I hadn’t been much use after that.
When I got within touching distance, Franklin immediately reached for me, tugging me closer. I leaned into his side and said, “Any chance of this wrapping up soon?”
“We’re almost done,” Henson answered instead of Franklin. “I’ll keep the morgue on lockdown just in case we want to come back and investigate something further.”
“Sounds good.” My stomach growled again. I’d had a couple of pieces of candy, but my body needed something more solid.
Franklin gave me an indulgent smile. “I’m hungry too.”
Henson waved us off. “You two get out of here. I’m going to check and see how Emily is doing.” We’d gotten a quick update earlier that she’d arrived at the hospital okay and was headed for imaging. She’d obviously been knocked on the head by something heavy. The weapon hadn’t been found inside the morgue, and Henson didn’t know the room well enough to know if something was missing that could have caused the damage. We really needed Dr. Scott with us to examine the room. For obvious reasons, that wasn’t possible.
The sheriff flinched and said, “I’m going to call in a couple of favors from surrounding precincts. I’d feel better if Emilyhad police protection for her room. I don’t know if her assailant meant to kill her or just incapacitate her. I don’t want to take the chance they’re disappointed she’s still breathing and plan on altering that fact. It’ll raise a few eyebrows around here, but I don’t give a shit. I don’t know who I can trust and until that situation resolves itself, I’m going to have to outsource a few things.”
Franklin placed his hand on Henson’s shoulder. It was as close to a physical show of support as my man was going to get. I figured it was about all Henson wanted anyway. He didn’t strike me as the kind of man who liked hugging things out.
We said our goodbyes and headed for the exit. I waved to Sara on the way out and she offered a grim smile in return. I was wary as we crossed the parking lot and climbed into our rental SUV. Thankfully, we were only accosted by the chilly wind.
As Franklin started the vehicle and headed for the exit, I breathed a sigh of relief. The typed note on my phone had been pointless. I’d had it ready in case Franklin and Henson wanted to continue into the afternoon. Thankfully, that hadn’t been the case, so I gave Franklin the verbal rundown.
“I figured we could meet up at the hotel and then head over to Tompkins’s place. I don’t think he knows exactly why we’re coming over, but I was able to convey that we’d be there later.” I’d given Franklin his phone back and said, “You’ll need to send him a text when we stop for lunch.”
“Will do,” Franklin assured me. My man looked wiped, all the peaceful sleep of the night before used up in a few short hours. “I need to call Captain Cicely too. I really don’t want to extend our trip, but it sounds like we might have to.” Franklin grimaced and flicked me a concerned glance. “I don’t want to screw up your Halloween appointments. Your business is important.”
“I’m not canceling anything yet,” I reassured him. “I’m still hopeful we’ll be back in time.”
Franklin grunted. “I wish I shared your optimism. Not gonna lie, this is a mess. I don’t envy Sheriff Henson.”
I hadn’t really suffered from Henson envy before the shit hit the fan but could appreciate the sentiment. “Where does he even start?”
“No idea. It’ll be a long, drawn-out process unless we get lucky and find concrete evidence. Assuming this Vanja imposter is behind the attack on us and the theft of the bodies, I don’t hold out a lot of hope for a quick resolution.”
“Then we need to try and figure out a way to get lucky.” I waggled my eyebrows and was rewarded with Franklin’s rusty laughter.
“I’ll leave the luck-finding to you.”
We wound up just going through a drive-thru and getting some burgers, fries, and soft drinks. Despite the cold, I really wanted ice cream, and figured I’d try and talk Franklin into it later. I’d stayed away from the tea options when I’d quickly discovered that the Midwest version of tea was nothing like what I was used to.
We landed back at our hotel with an hour to spare. Franklin flopped on the bed like a landed starfish, and I quickly wormed my way under one of his arms.
“I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess,” Franklin said as he ran his fingers up and down my arm.
“I’m not. Well, that’s not entirely true. What I mean is that if you’re involved, then I’m glad I’m with you. I think it’s fair to say that we’d both be happier to be home. If Tompkins hadn’t called, then I’d hate to think what would have happened to Navarre. So regardless, this trip has been worth it.” I meant every word. I’d never considered it my job to try and find and save all the necromancers in the world, but I was beginning to think thatsomeoneneeded to apply for the position, and I didn’t see any other resumes on the horizon. Sometimes we wound upperforming jobs not because we wanted to, but because no one else would.
My phone dinged with an incoming text. It was Tabitha again with an update.ETA twenty minutes.I typed back a quick thanks and said, “Looks like our medium is going to be early.”
Franklin groaned. “A nap would have been lovely.”
“The loveliest,” I agreed. I set an alarm on my phone, just in case Franklin and I drifted off. Considering we both did just that, it was good forethought.
Tabitha Clark wasn’t exactly what I expected, although I’m not certain what my expectations were. A seventy-something-year-old, squat woman with silvery-white hair and a purse dangling from her forearm wasn’t it. She had a kind smile that crinkled her sharp, brown eyes. She wasn’t wearing glasses. Given her place of employment, I hoped the least they could do was offer magically corrected vision.
