“I don’t know what that was about, Stephania. I’ve seen many things in my time as a spy and I’m quite nonplussed about even the most shocking of revelations, but I’ve never heard such caterwauling as I did in GG’s store. It unnerved me, and I don’t like to admit that.”
“Hold the phone. So now you’re hearing voices, Winterbutt?” Belfry asked as he munched on his apple pie.
“And I’m seeing them. The ghosts that belong to the voices. Not the actual voices,” I added.
Belfry whistled, hopping up on top of Win’s knee. The dark interior of the car, illuminated only by the dashboard lights, made my little familiar look almost ghostly himself.
“So you’re seeing ghosts now and Winterbutt’s hearing them?”
“Yep,” I confirmed. I still couldn’t believe it, but it was happening whether I believed it or not.
“Man, you really summoned up everything and their brother, didn’t you, Boss?”
I nodded and sighed. “I sure did, but the question is, are we seeing and hearing spirits because of something I did, or is this something that’s new and plans to stick around? Ooor did Win take some sort of power with him from the afterlife when he hopped into Balthazar’s body?”
Bel flapped his wings. “Does it matter, Stevie? It’s happening now. We deal with what we have right in front of us and worry about the rest later.”
“Fair point,” I acknowledged. “So the next question is, were you able to parse what they were saying to you, Win?”
He looked up. His eyes, so gorgeously blue, looked haunted, making me pause for a moment. This was very unlike the Win I knew. Of course, I wasn’t always able to see his facial expressions for a very long time. So how did I know if this expression was the norm? Maybe it was, but in the past, before we could see one another, his tone of voice had never expressed the kind of hesitancy he was displaying now.
“Win? Could you figure out what they were saying?”
“I could.”
“Zero?” Arkady prompted.
His lips went thin. “They were yelling the word liar. All of them. Every last one.”
As we sat in the brightly lit parking lot, I felt an ominous shiver skitter along my spine, one I was grateful I didn’t have to hide from Win, but I couldn’t hide the sharp inhalation of breath I took.
“And was that all they said?”
“Yes. That was it, but it wasn’t just the word, Stephania, it was the distress in their voices. They were terrified. Could you tell that from their expressions?”
“I admit, I was more concerned about what was going on with you, so I didn’t pay attention as closely as I probably should have. It can be very harrowing with one ghost yapping at you. A passel of them is a lot. I’m not sure how I would have handled it either, and I’m an expert-level medium—or at least I was. I was more worried about how pale you looked, and I was afraid you’d collapse before we got you out of there.”
Win nodded his head, his eyes still distant. “I’ll agree with you there. All those voices at once was indeed a lot.”
“But the truth is, with the brief glance I took, I couldn’t tell one from the other. Logically, I knew they were spirits, but they looked like one big blob, all melting into one another with a bunch of hands and mouths moving.”
He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. “So what do you suppose it means, Dove? Who are they talking about when they use the word liar?”
If only I knew. “I have no idea. You’re the only one who can ask them. I don’t even know if they can see me at this point. In fact, I don’t know, if I manage to get back down there, if I’ll ever see them again.”
Arkady cleared his throat before he spoke. “We must focus on what we know. We think two men in delivery van with letters S and L take Stevie. We also know she can see ghost and Zero can hear ghost. Lady ghost in horse pants—”
“Riding pants,” I corrected.”
Arkady rolled his eyes at me. “Lady ghost in riding pants with hole in chest tell Win we have to help someone, but we do not know who to help. She say she’ll show us, but she disappear. Then bunch of ghosts come and call somebody liar. This is what we have so far. That is all.”
It was a crude recounting of what we had, but he was right. That’s all we had. “So listen, Win, first things first with ghosts. I know they keep showing up at the most inopportune times. They have a way of doing that, but the next time one pops in, you have to talk to it, okay? We need more information. Pretend you’re on your phone or just pretend you’re bonkers. Your clothes certainly support that explanation. Either way, you need to tell me what they’re saying, and I’ll help you ask the right questions, okay?”
His eyebrow lifted in that haughty British way. “I’ll thank you kindly to leave my clothing out of this. It hasn’t kept me from doing what needs to be done, now has it?”
“That’s only because you’ve been wooing all the ladies with your British accent.”
“Did you just call Officer Dana a lady? As I recall, you accused me of wooing him, too.”
I rasped a sigh. “Whatever.”
Crumpling up the McDonald’s bag, he took one last sip of his soda. “Either way, you have yourself a deal. I shall turn to you if another ghost crops up. And in the meantime, we check the area hospitals to see if anyone matching your description was brought in.”
I shook my head—vehemently. “No go, buddy. We shouldn’t even be talking about hospitals or anything but going home and getting you to bed. You can call and see if anyone matching my description’s been brought in.”
He stubbornly shook his head “No, Stephania, I cannot. However shall I describe just how lovely you are if I don’t show them your actual picture?”
“Oh no, Spy Guy. You might be able to make all these women swoon and melt their britches off, but you’ve got the wrong girl if you think that tactic is going to fly with me. You need to go home, Win, and that’s that.”
His eyes narrowed. “I need to find you, Stephania, and I’m not going home until I do. You can either accept that or your demands can continue to fall on deaf ears. Hospitals are busy places. The best way to find out if you’re in one is to talk with people and show them your actual picture. I do my best work one on one.”
I ignored his people skills lecture and wondered something out loud for the first time. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that—I mean, about me being in a hospital. Maybe I’m in a coma? I mean, is that even possible, Bel?”
“You’re kidding, right?” he quipped, hopping off Win’s knee to settle on a stray napkin. “You summoned a dinosaur, Boss. Yes, cuckoopants! You could be in a coma, but if you’re not, we have things to think about. Like starvation and dehydration. You can’t get back into a body that’s become dehydrated. I don’t remember a lot about my science class, but dehydration, depending on circumstances and environment, can occur within three days or so…”
I gulped, probably hard enough for Bel to hear me as he continued.
“Your physical body may appear to everyone else as though you’re dead, because you’re in stasis, but it won’t be long before you really-really die if you don’t have fluids to keep your organs intact for your soul’s return, Boss. That means we don’t have a lot of time to spare, because you’ve been missing since early this morning and it’s past dinner now.”
I gulped again—harder this time. Leave it to Belfry to lay it all on the table.
But back to my misgivings. “I still don’t like this, Win. I don’t like you out here alone investigating this at all.”
I really didn’t like this. I was desperately afraid his health was compromised and there might be no coming back. All the things the doctors said he had to watch out, for like infection and ugly words like sepsis and staph, had left me terrified, and those were only a few of the reasons the doctors hadn’t wanted him to leave the hospital, let alone be out in the world where every disease imaginable lie waiting around the corner.
But Wi
n popped his lips. “I don’t care, Stephania. Whether you like it or not, this is how it’s going to be. You can threaten, you can debate, you can argue with me, but I’m going to find you. I will always find you.”
Darn him and his ability to melt my heart with his devotion to me. It never failed to leave me breathless, and now wasn’t the time to get caught up in our romantic feelings for one another.
So I sighed in resignation. “Okay, but rules. We have to have rules and limitations, too.”
“Were there rules when you looked for me, Dove?” His tone had softened just a little now. “I think not. You broke all of them. You even summoned your biggest frenemy—the leader of your coven. Why wouldn’t I do the same?”
Arkady leaned into me, his beard tickling my ear as he whispered, “Zero will never give up, malutka. Never. He love you. He will do everything in power to find you.”
“But I wasn’t sick, Win!” I cried out in my frustration. “I wasn’t in a coma and weak as a newborn. I’m afraid. Do you understand that? Do you? I fought like a demon to get you back here. I don’t want to… No. I refuse to lose you.”
I wasn’t afraid to share my feelings for Win. Too much had passed between us. Too many obstacles had been overcome for me to bother hiding how deeply I loved him, even if we were focusing solely on his health at this point in time. That’s why I wasn’t going to hold back, and I didn’t care if it sounded desperate. I would not lose this man again.
He sat quietly for a moment before he looked upward and said in his husky tone, “And I refuse to lose you. That makes me just as afraid. So we’re at an impasse, aren’t we, Dove?”
“Okay, lovebirds, knock it off! If Winterbutt’s determined to do this, then let’s do this and quit dillydallying. I’ll try to stay awake and stay as close as I possibly can to him, but leave that phone in your purse with me. If you even sneeze the wrong way, I’m calling 9-1-1 and you’re back in the hospital. Capisce, Body Snatcher?”
Win chuckled and nodded, giving Bel a stroke to the top of his head with his fingertip. “Fair enough. Now let’s see if Gooch is still up for an all-nighter. If not, we need another Uber driver, because there are several hospitals in the immediate vicinity, and I intend to search them all.”
My stomach flip-flopped like a fish out of water. I didn’t have a good feeling about this.
Not a single one.
Chapter 10
When asked, Gooch made it absolutely clear he was invested and he wouldn’t leave Win’s side. I can’t say for sure if that had to do with how feeble Win appeared and he was afraid to leave him, or if Gooch really thought the payoff was going to be as significant as Win said.
I mean, of course it would. I’d see to it he was generously rewarded for this kind of loyalty in the same way we rewarded anyone who was kind enough to help us.
But Gooch was really going on nothing more than faith. He’d paid for Win’s food, for Pete’s sake, and he still believed he’d come out on top. That was more loyalty than I’d be willing to risk with a stranger.
Yet, as we pulled up to the fourth hospital, Seattle General, where Win had managed to charm more than his fair share of emergency room nurses and come up dry, and Gooch once more told Win he’d wait, I had to give him an A for effort.
“Make sure you take a hard left when you get in there,” Gooch instructed. “The emergency room reception can be tricky to find. It’s kind of a weird layout.”
Win paused for a moment and looked at the back of Gooch’s head. “Have you been here before?”
Gooch looked down at his hands folded neatly in his lap. “Many times, sir… Um, I mean, yes.” But he didn’t elaborate and with a sudden ping to my heart, it began to ache for Gooch and whatever he was going through.
Win reached forward and pressed a quick palm to his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, but he didn’t press him for answers even though I think we all knew it had something to do with his mother. “Thanks for the information, friend. I appreciate you. I’ll be back shortly.”
Win exited the car and I decided to approach the subject of Gooch. “Maybe we should Google Gooch, Win? I don’t love prying when it’s not necessary, but I feel like whatever’s going on, whatever pain he’s suffering has to do with his mother, and if we can help…”
Win stopped in the middle of the parking lot on a speed bump and looked upward. “Only you would be worried about someone else’s predicament when your body could be lying in some back alley. You never cease to amaze me with your kindness. You know that, don’t you, Dove?”
My cheeks turned bright pink. “Just Google him when you get the chance, okay?”
“I shall. Now, onward ho.”
He made his way to the sliding glass doors and slipped inside, making that hard left Gooch recommended, which brought him to a woman behind a glass window.
The emergency room with its dark blue plastic chairs, soft lighting, fake plants, and a table with a bunch of magazines on it, was virtually empty. Not a soul waited.
Win pulled off his knit hat and smiled at her, but I’m here to tell you, Nurse Kniffen wasn’t at all charmed by Win’s good looks. Not even a little.
Her eagle eyes, beady and darting across his face, held skepticism in their intensity. If her buttoned-up-to-her-chin sweater wasn’t enough of an indication she was a rule follower, her sour expression, conservative dyed-inky-black hairstyle and makeup-free face was.
But Win was too busy assessing her to see. I guess, in essence, he was attempting to read her body language, but she gave as good as she got and assessed him right back. She didn’t even ask if she could help him. She waited for him to speak and she waited so long, even I became uncomfortable.
But not Win. I know he was sure he’d win her over in no time flat. “Good evening,” he crooned, his British accent suddenly quite pronounced. “I wonder if I might ask you some questions?”
She rose from her office chair, the slide of its wheels scraping across the floor incredibly loud as she leaned forward, her elbows on the counter in front of her where her computer sat, and her face loomed at the glass window.
“Are you in need of a doctor?” she rasped out. Her gravelly voice sounded as though she’d smoked a thousand cigarettes, but her expression remained stony.
Even Win, who seemed to be able to smile through almost anything, stopped short before he turned the wattage up on his grin as he read her nametag. “No, no, Nurse Kniffen. I have questions about a patient you might have here in the hospital. I was hoping I could count on you for some help.”
Win always made it sound as though you were in on some conspiracy if you gave him what he wanted, as though you were on a team and playing the game with him would help lead you both to a satisfying victory. I knew that was a tactic—one he was exceptionally good at.
But Nurse Kniffen? I don’t think she bought into the old adage there’s no I in team.
She lifted her chins (and I don’t say that with malice. She had two, and listen, I eat enough Twinkies to tell you, I sometimes have two of my own) and narrowed her gaze at him.
“I don’t give out information about patients,” she said, and she said it as though he’d asked her to rat out her mother.
He winked and nodded, leaning an elbow on the ledge outside the window. “Of course not, Nurse Kniffen. You’re doing your job and doing so wonderfully, I might add, and certainly I understand the rules. I’d simply like you to look at a picture of my friend and tell me if you’ve seen her.”
Whelp, if her next words were any indication of how little Win’s charm was chipping away at her icy veneer, he’d better find another avenue to take—and quick.
“Isn’t that the same thing as giving you patient information? Which I’ll remind you once more is confidential.” She said the last word extra slow—a clear poke at his comprehension.
Oooh-wee. I decided to intervene. “I don’t think she’s buying what you’re selling, Spy Guy. It might be time to pack it in. I know all the other nurses at all
the other hospitals were very accommodating, to say the least. I mean, one was going to bake you brownies, for gravy’s sake, but Nurse Kniffen? She isn’t biting.”
But Win lifted his chin and rolled his shoulders. He was going in for the kill, if the look of determination in his eyes was any indication. They glittered as he held up my phone, but Nurse Kniffen cut him off with the flap of a hand, her lips an angry thin line.
“Didn’t I just tell you I can’t help you, young man? Was I not clear enough? Shall I sound the words out for you? Now remove yourself from my emergency room or I’m going to call security!”
“Zero, no more,” Arkady warned, his tone quite stern. “If she call security, you go to ward for crazy people dressed this way. Quit while you are in front.”
I chuckled. “Ahead. It’s quit while you’re ahead, and Arkady’s right. Let it go. We can’t afford to have someone figure out what you’re doing.”
Win did quit, by doubling down on his charm and smiling graciously at Nurse Kniffen as he bid her a lovely evening, to which she scowled and closed the shade over the window.
“Well, that’s the last hospital in the immediate area. It’s late, Win. Time to go home and get you to bed. Nurse Gloria is already going to have a whole henhouse of chickens when she gets wind of the fact that you went downstairs unattended, let alone out of the house on a search for my body.”
He put his hand to his ear as he made his way back to the entry. “What Nurse Gloria doesn’t know won’t hurt her, Dove.”
“Oh, she’ll know. She knows all. All. You’re going to be in for a load of horsepucky when she—”
“Shhh!”
I instantly clamped my mouth shut and waited.
Win’s eyes moved around the entryway, from the glossy white tiles on the floor, to the long hallway where a lone nurse scurried off until she was a dot on the horizon.
“Is that woman you mentioned earlier anywhere around? Do you see her, Stephania?”
Witches Get Stitches Page 10
