Bone Driven

by Hailey Edwards

  The deeper we dug, the less dirt we had to shovel. The two crimes appeared to be random, unrelated events. This morning’s tragedy was our last hope of catching a whiff of connection between all three.

  By the end of the shift, I was antsy to follow up on a hunch, but first I had to shake Rixton. The problem was, he had picked me up, so he was dropping me off too.

  “Thanks for the ride.” I made to escape the cruiser onto the sidewalk in front of the Trudeaus’ house. “And everything else.”

  “Remember our talk,” he warned me. “I’m here if you need me. So is Sherry. So are Harold and Nancy.”

  “I know.” I eased onto the sidewalk. “Night.”

  Rixton shooed me toward the front door. “Skedaddle.”

  Luckily, I had already made my peace with this necessary pit stop. Rixton put on a brave face, but I had shaken him earlier. Hell, I had rattled myself.

  When I lingered in the driveway, he mimed a walking gesture with his fingers. He wasn’t leaving until I was in the house with the door shut behind me. Getting out of there once I got in would be tough, but I needed to change and pick up supplies before I left again.

  Thanks to our overlapping schedules, Uncle Harold wasn’t at home. Aunt Nancy, however, waited for me in the hallway with a wrinkled brow and a tapping foot. “What happened that was so awful you couldn’t face coming home?”

  Though part of me wanted to insulate her from the ugliness of my morning, she had been married to a cop long enough to have heard it all by this point.

  “Liam Dawson is working the arson cases that have been on the news. Rixton and I are helping.” I shifted the pack on my shoulder. “Today we got called down to Madison. There’s been a third fire. There were five casualties.” I scuffed my foot, but I couldn’t postpone the lie. “So, yeah. I wanted to decompress, no questions asked. Rixton offered to let me sleep at his place, so I crashed in his guest room.”

  Aunt Nancy stopped tapping her foot and raised a hand to her mouth. “I had no idea.”

  “I’m sorry I worried you, but the next few weeks are going to be rough. We’ve got to shut this down before more innocents are hurt.” I dropped the bag at my feet so it would be easy to grab on my way out the door and put my cop hat on. “Mind if I ask you a few questions?”

  Her hand lowered to her throat. “Of course not.”

  “Did you know Eliza Orvis?” This was going to get messy fast, but every scrap of information helped. “Your jasmine came from Orvis Nursery, right? I recognized the logo tonight and thought I’d ask if you knew the owner.”

  “Her in-laws go to church with us. That’s how I heard about her business. The divorce got nasty over who got to keep it and the name, and they were stuck in the middle. I don’t know Eliza except on sight, but the kids attend Sunday school every other weekend.” Her gasp made me regret opening my mouth, and her fingers trembled. “You don’t mean…?”

  “The house was burned to the ground,” I said softly. “There were no survivors.”

  Her hand drifted back up to cover her lips. “The babies?”

  I shook my head once.

  “Lord have mercy.” She spoke through her fingers. “I’ll speak to Pastor Waite and see what can be done.” She noticed the bag at my feet and sagged on her frame. “You’re leaving again?”

  “As soon as I change.” I didn’t expect what popped out of my mouth next. “I can move out if my hours are disrupting your schedule. The house is habitable. I’ll still help with Dad, but at least you wouldn’t have to deal with me coming and going at all hours.”

  “You’re welcome to come and go as you please, tater tot.” Her sigh carried sorrow. “I just hate you have to see so much ugly out there. Though I suppose someone’s got to look. Blind eyes behold no injustice.”

  Eager to get changed and on my way, I edged closer to the living room. “How was Dad today?”

  “He had a few lucid spells later this afternoon. They lasted about a half hour to forty-five minutes each. He was foggy again before he went to bed, but he’s resting easy.” She joined me on the threshold, both of us watching him sleep. “At this rate, he’ll be ready for the department’s annual bass tournament next month.”

  “Team Kiss My Bass does have a title to defend,” I reminded her. “If anything is going to snap Dad out of this, it would be fear of losing that hideous trophy to one of the rookies.”

  “I’m just glad Harry lets your father keep it at your house.” Her relief rang true. “I’m pretty sure it’s an old mount with sentimental value that someone’s wife wanted gone. I bet you five dollars the founder established a tournament in its honor as a means of thumbing his nose at the missus.”

  I snorted but had to admit, “You’re probably right. I have to sweep scales off the floor every week.”

  Of all the chaos that had erupted in our living room, somehow that eyesore had remained unscathed. Bass can’t get mange, but this one had the fish equivalent. Paired with the dry rotted board it was mounted to and the plaque held on with Gorilla glue, its value was purely sentimental.

  I watched Dad a moment longer before I could tear myself away from him. “I better get going.”

  Aunt Nancy nodded in understanding. “Will you be back tonight?”

  “That’s the plan.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I’ll text you if anything changes.”

  Leaving her to finish her nightly routine, I shut myself into the sewing room and sent a text before changing into street clothes. Shrugging my backpack into place at the door, I headed out to my Bronco where I added the respirator and fresh cartridges to my supplies.

  A black SUV pulled up to the curb as I was locking up, but the grin tugging on my lips released its hold as Santiago saluted me from the driver’s seat with two fingers. I returned the wave after a slight hesitation then slid in beside him.

  “Hey.” I stashed my equipment at my feet. “Are you up for this?”

  “Yep.” The leather bracelet I had yet to remove caught his eye, but he only shook his head, like there was no point in fighting the inevitable. “Unlike Cole, I have a natural immunity to most toxins.” As he guided us back onto the road, he curled his thin lips up in a smile that might have made him handsome if he’d kept his mouth shut. “I won’t jump your bones unless you ask me nicely.”

  Thinking back to how things had gone down at the house, I had to ask, “And no one told me this, why?”

  “Cole’s engine was revved too high for rational thought, and Thom was too sluggish to process more than what was right in front of him. Miller’s nose is crazy sensitive. He got a second-hand hit of the stuff, and his stomach growled the way it does before he vanishes into the swamp to make entire deer herds extinct, so I made myself useful and held a claw to his gut. Disembowelment wouldn’t have stopped him for long, but it would have given us a chance to run.”

  Well, that explained his spontaneous show of affection that day. Santiago wasn’t a touchy-feely guy, so it had struck me as odd how he’d embraced Miller like two friends having a chat. Threatening disembowelment? Now that was much more in character. “Have you made any progress with your database?”

  “Yes and no. I downloaded about half of the information I wanted before a shadow noticed me poking my nose where it didn’t belong and booted me. What I’ve got is enough to get started, but I’m going to have to sneak in again to get the rest.” His lips twisted. “When you go active with the NSB, they’re going to chip us too, and we’re going to have to leave them under our skin so we give the appearance of compliance.” The twist ironed out into an almost-smile. “The sooner I finish dissecting the chip we recovered, the sooner I can figure out how to disrupt the signal. Once I know how to ping their towers, we can fake transmissions and falsify our locations. Used sparingly, we can fly under the radar for brief periods of time.”

  The ability to hide from Wu would be priceless in the coming months. “Color me impressed.”

  “You might have noticed yanking people�
��s chains is a hobby of mine. I look forward to giving Wu’s a good, hard pull one day soon.”

  I laughed under my breath, well aware I shouldn’t encourage him. “We need to teach him some boundaries.” I toyed with the hem of my shirt. “Thom said he’s been in my room. I’m not officially NSB property yet, and he’s already got me carrying a cell that’s basically a private line direct to him.”

  “That’s a stopgap measure until you’re chipped, I’m sure. He can track you, any calls you make, and any messages you send on that line.” A thoughtful expression settled on his features. “It’s got to be crawling with NSB bugs. Mind if I play exterminator?”

  The offer to mess with Wu was too good to pass up. “As long as you don’t hose me with your wand, I’m good.”

  A wide grin hit his mouth and stuck there. “Sometimes I almost like you.”

  “The feeling is nearly mutual.”

  We arrived at the nursery and had our pick of parking spaces. The area was isolated enough we didn’t have to worry about neighbors spotting us and calling it in, but I wasn’t in a hurry to explain why I had circled back without touching base with Summers if the local cops cruised past to spook looters.

  “I’m going to suit up and take a look around,” I told him before the mask made speech difficult. “Here’s your new toy.” I passed over the black phone then tugged on yellow dishwashing gloves pilfered from under the sink at the Trudeaus’. Once I popped in new filters, I strapped on the respirator and pulled out a set of goggles. Overkill maybe, but I didn’t want to tempt fate. I had a hunch my lady bits only perked up when Cole was in the immediate vicinity, but I did not want to discover I was wrong only after I’d started dry-humping Santiago’s leg while he cackled and filmed my humiliation to share with the rest of the coterie. “Come looking if I’m not back in thirty.”

  That fast, he had the back off the phone, its guts exposed to his lustful gaze. “Mmm-hmm.”

  Using the ruined house to orient myself, I located the greenhouse that had given me fits. As I retraced my steps, strolling the main aisle, a prickling sensation skated over my nape. I waited a moment to see if it passed. I still felt itchy, but not itchier. I decided to press my luck and flipped on my cell’s flashlight. Three tables surrounded me, and any of the plants on offer could be the culprit, but my gut drew me toward a display in the rear. Written in a child’s scrawl were the words: Cat Garden. The printed notecard beneath claimed all the varieties were cat-safe treats.

  I snapped pictures of each plant on offer, making sure to get a clear shot of the identification pick stuck in each pot. Catnip, mint, cat thyme, licorice root, cat grass, lemongrass. I froze over the last row, the white clustered blooms an exact match to the ones in my yard. Valerian. The mystery plant was valerian. I selected the heartiest one of the bunch and dropped it into an evidence baggie then sealed it tight. I would let the lab verify the match, but I had no doubt I’d isolated the culprit.

  Back at the SUV, I raised the trunk to find a foam cooler awaiting me. I stuck the bagged plant in there, stripped off my equipment, and joined Santiago. He grumbled when the motion sent a miniature screw rolling, but he caught it before it dropped and went back to fiddling with the black phone’s innards. A guitar pick stuck to his bottom lip, and an eyeglasses repair kit rested on his knee. Clearly, he didn’t need much in the way of tools to be dangerous.

  After snapping the shell back together, he turned it over in his hand. His phone had been connected to the black phone via USB since I arrived, and his fingers now flew over its screen.

  While he was otherwise occupied, I drafted an email and CC’d in the coterie to save time. I included the snapshot of the plant and a quick note that identified it as the same one from my yard. I was skimming Cole’s curt response about dropping the specimen off at the lab when my phone rang. The screen lit up with private number, and I flashed it at Santiago.

  “Time’s up.” There was no doubt in my mind Wu was on the other end. “Did you get what you needed?”

  “Yep.” He closed an app bearing the White Horse logo on the black phone, erased it, did a quick scan, then placed it on my palm. “There you go. Your pest problem has been solved. According to the GPS, you’re chillin’ on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.”

  I drew back, startled. “It’s that specific?”

  “I might have helped the ruse along by implanting pictures I scooped off the Internet.” His expression tightened. “I get why you did what you did, the deal with Kapoor, but Wu wasn’t part of the bargain. He has no right to tighten the noose around your neck.”

  “If I balk now, before I’ve been sworn in, they won’t trust me to tow the company line when the time comes. My word is all I’ve got, and I’ve given it to them.” I stared at the phone blaring in my lap. “I can handle Wu.”

  The alternative, that our partnership would be a sham, was too depressing to entertain.

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Ready to solve at least one mystery, we circled back to the lab. The odds of me running into Veronica again were slim, but I still persuaded Santiago to deliver the samples with the excuse that if he was immune then it made the most sense for him to handle the drop instead of me suiting up again.

  High from his shenanigans, he didn’t fight me. For once.

  On the drive home, he received a call that starched his spine. He carried on a low conversation with the added precaution of using that fluid language that poured in one ear and out the other. Nosy to a fault, I strained to hear, but I couldn’t tell if the caller was male or female, and I had no clue about the topic.

  Alone with my thoughts for company, I kept circling back to this morning. A niggling doubt plucked at the back of my mind, but it took me a minute to isolate the cause. The victims. Summers had described the scene, but we hadn’t examined the bodies.

  At the time, it hadn’t struck me as odd. Considering I still dreamed of small teeth and silver wire, I blamed my subconscious. I had been so stoked not to have fresh images added to my nightmares that the lack hadn’t registered.

  As much as I wanted to share my epiphany with Rixton, I didn’t want to admit I had spent my night running around Madison with Santiago. Emailing Summers and requesting copies of the coroner’s reports made more sense, so I did that to avoid a conversation about exactly why I had gone back to the crime scene without him.

  Santiago ended his conversation before he parked at the curb in front of the Trudeaus’. While I was gathering my belongings, he kept slanting his eyes toward me and working his jaw. Since he wasn’t the type to hold back, ever, I held still to provide him with the widest target area for whatever blow he was about to land.

  “Spit it out.” I braced myself. “I can handle it.”

  “That was Portia.” A grimace twisted his face. “They’re back.”

  They, as in both of them. They, as in a successful cohabitation. They, as in…

  Muscles tensed, I braced for impact. “But?”

  “Maggie doesn’t want to see you.” He studied the night beyond the windshield. “Portia said the bunkhouse is off limits to you until further notice.”

  The news hit me with the force of a Mack truck and knocked the breath out of me. I had expected her hatred. I had prepared for her cutting ties with me. I had earned that punishment and so much more. But acknowledging there was a knife sticking out of your chest didn’t numb the pain when it was twisted.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The lab emailed me their report bright and early, not that I thanked them for the notification on my cell waking me. I read their findings through one squinted eye then flipped onto my back. The air mattress rocked under me as I hauled my backpack over by the strap and groped around in its middle. I wiggled my laptop free, placed it on my stomach, and started searching for information on valerian.

  According to the Internet, whose medical advice was iffy at best, the root had anxiolytic effects. Its top uses appeared to be treating joint pain, menstru
al cramps, anxiety, and sleep disorders. There were also footnotes about it working as an aphrodisiac, in that it lowers inhibitions to open a person up to their sexual cravings. Humans used the stuff as a sedative, but it stimulated cats, giving them a high similar to catnip.

  That explained why exposure to the plant had blissed-out Thom, why I had been ready to climb Cole like a tree, and why Cole had been willing to let me. Miller’s response was harder to peg, but if the plant lowered all inhibitions, that might explain his aggression.

  Following that logic chain led me to two distinct and uncomfortable conclusions. Remove self-restraint from the equation, and Miller saw us, his coterie, his fellow charun, as food. Erase that same ironclad self-control from Cole, and he saw me as edible in a far more pleasant, if complicated, way.

  Clearly reactions varied across species. Mine had me wondering if my inner charun was more along the lines of a dragon than a winged kitty given how valerian affected me. I could always ask Miller what lurked beneath my skin, he’d offered to tell me once, but I was certain nothing good would come from knowing.