The Bones of Others

by Vickie McKeehan

  She hoped to hell she got his attention. When she saw him swallow hard and grow even paler than he had been before, when it looked like his food wanted to come back up, she knew her words had made an impact.

  “Where did you have in mind?” Josh nodded in Zeke’s direction. “To send him? Maybe if you shared a few details about the amenities there it might make ol’ Zeke here a little more enthusiastic.”

  “I’m not without people I know, friends that owe me a favor every now and again.” Maybe there were so few that Skye could only count them on one hand, but they were steadfast and loyal, those few. Travis she’d known the longest. But Velma Gentry had been solid gold at taking her under her wing in those early years, making sure she got a decent place to live and plenty of food to eat. Velma had been the one to introduce her to Lena Bowers, a lady customer who came in to the restaurant at least twice a week and always ordered the same dish, tuna on wheat toast with French fries. Lena was like an honorary aunt, without all the fanatical pontificating.

  When she noticed the panic in Zeke’s brown eyes, Skye added, “Don’t look so scared, Zeke. It’s a nice place. I can attest to that. At least check it out, spend the night tonight. If you don’t like it, I won’t force you to stay there and tomorrow we’ll reassess your situation. But rest assured I’ll get you off the streets one way or another. If not tonight, a month from now. If I have to go on a quest to find you, next time I won’t be so quick to—be this reasonable.”

  “What does that mean?” Zeke wanted to know, clearly curious about what she intended to do.

  “It means, Zeke, I’ll notify the court in a heartbeat.” She quickly added, “But I don’t want to do that. I want you to give Lena Bowers a chance. I know Lena, personally. I rented a room from Lena for almost six months after high school. She’s a nice lady, a good person.” Which was an understatement, the woman was a saint in Skye’s book. Lena had been like family for years.

  But there were a couple of things she needed to make Zeke understand. “Nice doesn’t mean Lena’s a pushover. She’s not. Like a lot of other people, Lena’s had a rough time of it lately. And I will not bring a thief into her house, someone who plans to steal from her and take off at the first opportunity.”

  “Why can’t I go home with you? Or you?” A sullen Zeke asked them both.

  Skye glanced at Josh and noticed he looked even more out of it so she did the explaining. “Because I don’t have the room and Josh here has to get up and go to work tomorrow morning. Look, Lena’s a good friend but she’s no easy mark. You hurt Lena, Zeke, you hurt me. You hurt me, I’ll hunt you down and payback will be severe. Count on it. So before you decide here and now, you’ll pacify my face at the moment and then take it out on Lena later, reconsider. I’m cautioning you to think long and hard about any decision that would bring trouble to Lena. Do we understand each other?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Good.” Skye stretched out her hand. “Your word now, Zeke, that you won’t hurt my friend in any way.”

  Zeke sat up straighter and put his hand in Skye’s.

  She stood up then, pulled out her cell phone, and said, “I’ll make the call to let Lena know we’ll be dropping by. This time of night the least I can do is give her a heads up. I’ll be right back.”

  The minute she stepped away from the table, the boy stared at Josh. “She never intended for me to go to work for you, did she?”

  “Smart kid. No. She never bought the age thing. And no one else will either. Did you lie to her just now? Is Zeke Hollis really your name? Level with me now, man-to-man. Because if she finds out you haven’t been truthful, she’ll be furious. You don’t want Skye Cree angry with you. Trust me on that.”

  All of a sudden the boy looked worried. Jittery, his leg shook even more. “That’s my name. I’m kinda glad I told her the truth on that. She’s kinda scary.”

  That brought a laugh out of Josh. “You have no idea. Be glad she put you on your ass right away and didn’t beat the crap out of you in the process.”

  “Really? She could do that?”

  “Really. And yes, she could do that.”

  Finally Josh got an idea. “I tell you what. Do you play video games, xBox, Playstation, that sort of thing?”

  Zeke moved one slim shoulder. “Sure. Who doesn’t?”

  “You give this place a chance, a real chance, and you can spend your afternoons with me after school—here.” He took a business card from his coat pocket, handed it to the boy.

  “Ander All Games? You’re kidding? You’re Ander All Games? The Mines of Mars kicks ass. When’s the second update due out?”

  Josh chuckled. “Soon. And yes, I’m Ander All Games. And that woman you tried to mug is—”

  “Your girlfriend. I got it,” Zeke finished.

  Josh grinned in the way of male bonding. “Not yet, but I’m working on it.”

  They’d walked back to Josh’s little hybrid and in less than twenty minutes Josh had them parked at the curb in front of a Victorian with Tudor revival features.

  Lena Bowers had left the porch light on. At the sound of three car doors slamming shut, a woman dressed in jeans and a bright, lavender button-down blouse, appeared in the open doorway. She hesitated only briefly before stepping outside.

  The moment she spied Skye though, the forty-nine-year-old Lena rushed down the steps and met Skye on the walkway. The two women hugged before Skye announced, “I’m afraid I brought you another stray, Lena.” Skye left her arms around Lena as she leaned in and whispered. “This one needs a bath as soon as you get him settled in. He stinks.”

  “Won’t be the first one,” Lena muttered back. “Might as well get the awkwardness out of the way now.”

  With that, the women broke apart and Skye made the introductions. An unwilling Zeke moved forward.

  Lena studied the newest arrival and noted he looked scared to death like maybe he’d just been delivered into the hands of the cruel stepmother. Lena immediately set about to make the boy feel more comfortable. “I’ve got a room I think you’ll like. It’s all yours for the duration of the time you’re here. It belonged to my son, Jason. He didn’t make it back from Afghanistan.”

  Zeke’s eyes went wide. “He’s dead?”

  “He is,” Lena said sadly as she led the trio into her living room. “Skye says you’ve already eaten so that only leaves getting cleaned up and getting into bed. It’s almost two, way past time for even a worldly sort to hit the sack. We’ll forego talking about school until the morning. But if you stay here, you’ll have to go to school. Understand?” Lena emphasized.

  “We already covered that,” Skye advised, meeting Zeke’s brown eyes in warning. “Didn’t we?”

  “Fine,” Zeke grumbled.

  “Let me show you the room,” Lena offered, leading Zeke out into the hallway. “I put clean towels in the bathroom. You’ll take a shower before crawling into bed. Clean sheets there, too. No negotiation or arguing about the shower.”

  “Okay,” Zeke said a little overwhelmed at the woman’s no-nonsense style. He had to admit it was better than a cold piece of concrete.

  Back in the living room Josh looked around for a place to sit before he fell down. Using the arm of the sofa he dropped down and then reached a hand out to Skye. “You never answered my question. Did you get a load of that wolf? I’ve never seen one except in pictures until tonight.”

  “What wolf?” she asked casually trying to hide her annoyed state at that line of conversation. Doing her best to downplay the entire incident, she purposely looked away and said, “You mean the dog?”

  “No. It was right there in plain sight, right there on the street. It growled right before Zeke jumped you. You know there have been coyote sightings up near Thirteenth and Cloverdale. It’s been all over the news,” he added, noting her upset demeanor. “And just recently it’s been all over the Internet about wolf sightings in urban Seattle, especially near the marketplace. In fact I think—”

  “Jos
h, get real. It was a dog,” Skye repeated this time more forcefully.

  Josh narrowed his eyes. “I know the difference between a dog and a wolf, Skye. Besides, I’ve never seen a dog that fierce. That was a silver wolf. Come on, how could you miss seeing a silver wolf with huge blue eyes in the middle of inner-city Seattle? They were so blue they almost matched yours.”

  “Are you delusional?” she huffed out. She decided to shift gears. Instead of arguing about it, she needed to sound a lot more convincing. “You mean that white dog? Oh that. Sure, I saw the dog. Looked just like one of those Australian shepherds. They have blue eyes you know,” Skye explained.

  She took a long look at his face to see if he bought it. Then she realized something else. For the third time in a span of a few hours, she noticed how flushed his face looked. “Josh, are you ill?” She reached out automatically, laid a bare hand on his forehead. The guy looked positively feverish. “My God, you’re burning up. That cut must be on the road to an infection. We need to get you in to see a doctor. The sooner, the better.” And preferably not talking about seeing a silver wolf with blue eyes.

  “But what about the wolf?”

  “I’m sure the dog will be fine. I think I saw a collar with tags,” she lied. “What were you doing out there anyway?”

  “I was worried about you, so once you left your apartment, I followed you.”

  Skye frowned. “Should I be concerned with this stalker side to you?”

  About that time Lena came back into the living room carrying bottles of water for both of them. Handing one off to Josh, Lena told him, “This one isn’t used to having anyone worry over her.” Lena shot Skye a knowing look. “You know it’s true. Every one of the people that love and care about you expressed our concerns about your…unorthodox habit of walking the streets, patrolling that beat of yours every single night, rain or shine.” Lena turned her attention to Josh. “Voicing our fear didn’t do a bit of good.”

  “That isn’t true,” Skye argued. “I listened to all of you, took your concerns under advisement. When Harry offered suggestions I paid attention. Same as I did with Travis who got me into training every day. Even though you and Velma told me it was a bad idea, I told you both it’s something I still have to do.”

  Skye pointed her finger at Josh. “But that isn’t the issue here. You must be out of your mind walking around in that neighborhood at night, especially after what happened behind Gull’s Pub, and with only one good arm, and running enough of a high fever that you’re hallucinating. Remember you have a knife wound to your shoulder.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. But…you were pissed off at me this morning and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Skye couldn’t help it, his worry made her heart flutter just like it had in the ninth grade when Gage Martin became her lab partner in third-period biology class. Come to think of it, Gage had looked at her with that same shade of gray eyes, so gray they appeared silver.

  “Is that why his shirt is seeping with blood?” Lena asked. “Looks like his bandage needs to be changed, too.”

  “He’s also burning up with fever,” Skye railed and shook her head. “That’s it. I’m taking you to the ER. Now! No argument.”

  Josh stood up and swayed. “That’s probably an excellent idea because…as it turns out…I don’t feel too good.” And with that, before Skye knew what was happening, Josh collapsed in a heap on Lena’s living room rug.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Funny, when you called tonight you didn’t say a thing about bringing a hunk along.”

  Skye eyed the older woman with an air of scorn. “I thought I could ditch him after the restaurant,” she explained. “But ever since I saved his ass, he seems determined to…annoy me.”

  “He followed you tonight out of concern. When my late husband, Brock Bowers, was alive he used to do things like that all the time. I think it’s sweet. And if you had any romance about you, you’d feel the same.”

  “Don’t go making it out to be something it’s not. I’ve known the guy forty-eight hours and it’s apparent, he’s lousy at taking care of himself. Trust me about that. Just look at him.”

  “Oh I have. He looks pretty good to me. I’m a sucker for all that long black hair. And those sexy gray eyes. If I were twenty years younger I’d fight you for him.”

  “You would not.”

  “Would, too. And you know what? I’d win.” Lena winked and handed her a bottle of peroxide.

  Skye snorted and peered down at Josh, now shirtless, lying on the couch. For the second time in as many days she had to treat the guy’s wound, which also meant she got another excellent view of the man’s bare chest which just pissed her off because it told her, once again, there wasn’t a thing wrong with the man’s physique.

  “I need to get some antibiotics into him. I bet he didn’t even call his doctor this weekend like he was supposed to do and get a tetanus shot. See?” Skye began to work herself into a rant. “He can’t even take care of himself. All he had to do was stop into a clinic or an urgent care facility and get one simple shot. But did he do that? No. What kind of a guy refuses to look after himself like that?”

  Knowing Skye Cree wasn’t the most patient of individuals at the best of times, Lena pointed out, “Maybe he’s just a regular guy who doesn’t routinely have a lot of stab wounds to deal with, Skye. He designs games for a living. He doesn’t know a thing about the kind of world you see on the streets. It’s obvious Josh Ander lives in another world from us entirely.”

  Skye blew out a frustrated breath. “Well, anyone that can think up war games on Mars ought to be able to know when you get stabbed with a nasty knife here on earth, you take care of it. Just because he conjures up fantasy for a living doesn’t mean he has to live there. I will agree with you though that he doesn’t seem to know anything about the real world. And that’s just—pathetic.”

  “Oh my God, you’re worried about him?”

  “Of course, I’m worried about him. I stitched up that gash and he’s walking around like it’s no big deal. The guy’s bleeding, the wound’s festering. The man’s a mess. Having millions in the bank doesn’t make him immune to infection.”

  “You can stop yelling at me now,” a weak voice said from the sofa. “There’s nothing wrong with my ears.”

  She knelt down next to him, laid a hand on his cheek. “Good. Then hear this. Emergency room. Now. Antibiotics.”

  “You win,” Josh muttered.

  “Wise man,” Lena said. “I’m going upstairs to check on Zeke, make sure he’s washing some of the street off and I’ll be right back down. Then we’ll get this big guy into the car.”

  Fifteen minutes went by before Lena returned. With her help Skye got a weak Josh into his Ford Fusion and drove to the nearest ER just off Cherry. Once there, she struggled to remove him from the hybrid and drag his ever-increasing dead weight into the standing-room-only waiting area.

  A dour-looking woman disguised as a nurse stood behind the reception desk. Skye glanced at her nametag. Marcie Kellerman. Marcie’s brusque greeting told Skye everything she needed to say to get Josh treated before morning. And she wasted no time going into her pitch. “This is Josh Ander, one of Seattle’s most influential and wealthy software designers. He’s already passed out once tonight and is likely to do so again if he has to sit out here on one of your incredibly hard, uncomfortable plastic chairs for three hours.”

  Skye could tell recognition flashed across Marcie’s face at the name. She noted the nurse’s gaze studied Josh’s features, the flush of his cheeks. Skye checked Josh’s color herself. The guy did not look well at all.

  “Josh Ander? I saw his bio on television. Flipped through his photo spread inside Addicted to Games Magazine last Christmas. My sons own every game he’s designed. They play his stuff all the time. Their favorite though is his first one, Zombies on Mars,” Marcie confessed.

  “Believe me, if he could he’d tell you himself how happy he is to hear that,” Skye s
aid. “But I’m afraid he’s going to fall flat on this linoleum floor in about ten seconds if he doesn’t get off his feet.”

  “Bring him on back then.”

  Skye wasted no time pulling Josh along doing her best to follow Marcie.

  “Okay, Mr. Ander. What seems to be the problem this morning?”

  Now to the tricky part, Skye mused. “Friday night he encountered a mugger. He took a knife to the shoulder. I tried to treat it at home but…now it’s infected. He’s been running a fever.” She shot Josh a dangerous glare and added, “Probably all day.”

  “Oh. My. Well, let’s get you checked out then. Did you report the incident to the police? Because if you didn’t…”

  Just as Skye had surmised, dedicated Marcie looked like a stickler for detail. “Of course we did. But you know the cops. They’ll get right on it maybe in about two weeks.” It didn’t hurt that Skye gave her an adorable show of dimples to offset the lie.

  “Yep, that sounds like them.” Marcie got out the blood pressure cuff, wrapped it around Josh’s arm, jotted down his reading and other vitals and stuck a thermometer in his mouth. “Oh my, yes, he’s at a hundred-and-four. As you could tell, the staff is pretty busy this morning since they’re piled up out there higher than a cord of firewood. This is the only urgent care facility within ten blocks. The rest of them have closed their doors. But the doctor will get to you as soon as he can.”