The Devil's Pride (Wild Beasts Series)

by T. Birmingham

  “Hello, ladies, what’ve we got? Anything for Danny and I to use?” He walked over to Mindy and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead careful not to touch her gloved hands. He was also careful about not touching her hair or any other part of her body, and Caty knew that although much of the action was to keep the evidence safe, another part of the action was a dance. A dance Caty knew well, but that hadn’t happened for her in years. A dance that wouldn’t happen again if she could help it. At fifty, love wasn’t in the cards.

  “Well,” said Mindy, arching a look toward the detective. “The first thing you can tell me is how it went with your brother.”

  “Can’t keep the gossip to yourself, can you, Caty?” He gave Caty a look before moving his gaze back to the confused Mindy. “Babe, I promise, it wasn’t like I was trying to hide it, but I didn’t want you to think he was a bad guy. He’s a good guy. One of the best, and he didn’t do this.”

  “I know that, Cam,” Mindy said, moving to collect some evidence from the father’s pale form, and calling out her observations to the still running recorder. “And of course your brother didn’t do it.” Cam gave her a strange look.

  “You don’t think he did it? But, he was found over the body, blood on his hands… How did he happen to walk into the only house where a murder victim was last night?”

  “That’s your question to answer, Cam. But I really don’t believe he’s that sort of man. He’s good. Like you. He would never hurt anyone like that.” They both paused. Cam stared at Mindy and gently put a strand of her hair behind her ear that had fallen loose from the surgical cap she wore.

  Mindy seemed to hold her breath as Cam looked questioningly at her. The look said he wanted to know how she knew. How she just always guessed right when it came to emotions or situations. Caty knew that look. It was the look she wore before she called Mindy a bruja under her breath. She held back this time.

  “Yeah, babe. Yeah... I should have said something.” The world started up again, and Caty went back to collecting evidence as they whispered. They talked about their plans for the evening and Mindy filled Cam in on the evidence they’d found so far. After talking, Cam gave Mindy another subtle kiss on the forehead before heading back home, presumably to spend the day with his brother. Mindy looked after him with a longing so deep, Caty wanted to warn her off. To tell her to run. To tell her emotions like that only got a person hurt. Physically, mentally, emotionally… But Cam wasn’t Nico. Cam wouldn’t hurt her. Cam would protect her with his dying breath. It was a good thing he’d never have to, though. Montville was sanctuary and Mindy was in love with one of the good ones.

  “So, you haven’t told him about your creepy brujeria?” Caty asked, when Mindy just stood there. She jumped as if startled but walked slowly back to the table.

  “No.” Just no. No explanation. No prevarication. No denial. No sob story or excuse. Just…no.

  “Why not? He loves you. It’s a gift what you’ve got, and you use them well,” Caty continued, waving Mindy off when she tried to speak. “I know. I know. I tease you about it but no one who's seen you in this room would think any less of you.”

  Mindy was quiet for a moment, and then a small smile played on her lips.

  “You like me, S’Bones! You really like me,” she mimicked in a voice from some movie Caty had never seen, but that she had found out was one of Mindy’s favorites.

  “Si, you smartass chica. I like you. Just don’t tell anyone else that I sometimes let you tell stories in here. Silly children.” Caty paused and looked at her. “Are you going to tell him?” she asked. Mindy glanced up from her work and seemed to give the question some serious thought.

  “I don’t know, Caty,” she breathed out. “This thing I’ve got – gift or extra sense or whatever the hell it is… I don’t even know how to explain it to my own parents. They were never able to deal with it. My conservative, stick-up-the-butt parents who’d rather I be married to a good Indian man with a bevy of kids and working toward a partnership in a neurology office by now. I can’t explain it, and Cam…we’re so new, and he doesn’t like magic or the supernatural. The guy wouldn’t even come over for a Lord of the Rings marathon with Alexia and me. I mean, what Millennial man doesn’t like Lord of the Rings? I’m just saying. How’s he going to take the fact that I can sense emotions from the living and the dead? His emotions? Even Alexia doesn’t really know about the ghosts, and she’s my best friend!” Mindy paused. “No, Caty. I know I have to tell him eventually, but I can’t take the chance that it will ruin us and what we have together.”

  Caty considered her for a moment. “You do what you need to do, little chica, but I’m telling you. Keeping this from Cam… He doesn't like secrets, and he’d rather you tell him outright what’s happening even if it isn’t really something that fits into his small world right now. He needs time to make it fit. But when he’s loyal to you, he’s one hundred percent there.” Caty walked over, took off her gloves, turned off the recorder, and laid her cheek on the only exposed part of Mindy’s skin, her forehead. “And that man loves you. I’ve known him since he was a hundred and twenty-five pounds of tall, gangly, messed-up teenager. He loves you. The forever kind. Give him a chance. Let him see all of you.”

  Mindy continued working on the body of Loren Anderson while Caty rewashed and re-gloved.

  “You’re right,” Mindy whispered, but she said it with finality and firmness. “I’ll tell him tonight… Thanks S’Bones.”

  “Thatta girl!” Caty said, picking up where Mindy had left off with the evidence before pausing and raising a brow. “And…S’Bones?”

  “Spanish Bones,” Mindy said, as if that meant everything.

  “You mean that woman on TV?” Caty was intrigued.

  “Yep. It’s an Alexia thing. She thinks we’re all better than fictional characters – well, most of us,” she said under her breath.

  “Huh. S’Bones…” Caty smiled at Mindy. “I like it. Tell Alexia she’s welcome in my morgue anytime – if she wants to switch her emphasis.”

  “Ha! Like that’ll ever happen. That girl loves her Prussian Empire way too much to join the Morgue crew.” Mindy laughed.

  “Morgue crew? Danny calls us the Dead Body Duo.”

  “Lovely.” Mindy cringed. “That’s exactly what I want my man’s best friend thinking of me as: part of a dead body duo with his mother.”

  “Hey, now. Danny thinks you’re great. I think you’re great. Alexia thinks you’re great. And no matter what you tell Cam about your ability, he’s going to think you’re great as well, Mindy.” Caty gave her hand a squeeze and turned the recorder back on. Mindy smiled at her, and they continued working in relative silence, each one adding their voice to the recording of the autopsy examination of first Loren and then Marilyn Anderson.

  They left for lunch around 1pm, but neither could stomach much, so the Pho from Lui and Tony’s remained mostly untouched by both Mindy and Caty.

  When they returned, they jumped back into the work with renewed vigor. Again, while looking over the bodies of the parents, they found the same right forearm markings on each of the victims, and every time they took the transfer paper and the swab to the marking, Caty would note in the report and on the voice recorder that it had been removed, and Mindy would stare at the forearm a minute longer in concentration. Strange that each victim had a mark.

  “All CODs, except Kayla, who we haven’t looked at yet, are exsanguination. Except, where’s the exit wound, Caty? We know there was very little blood left in the body. We know their deaths were slow. We know he or she killed each member one at a time. But we don’t know how. We have puddles of blood from the crime scene, samples that – although not fully identified yet by the lab – match the blood types of each member. We’ve searched these bodies up and down, and there are no open wounds. None. There are ligature marks. There’s a crushed sternum on Marilyn’s x-rays. There’s bruising on the sternum of all of the family members in fact, even Kayla. We can see that just fr
om here. So, what put that much pressure on their sternum, but didn’t kill them? They’d been tied up, but for how long? Since Monday? Where were they held? There are too many questions with this one, Caty, and my mind’s going crazy, but there are no ghosts. You’re one of the only people I know who knows about the ghosts, but I’m telling you there’s usually at least a voice or something. All I’m getting is a feeling that I’m trapped. In fact, the feeling is screaming at me.”

  “Make sure to tell Danny about the ghosts,” Caty said, without feeling. Again, Mindy was special, and Caty let her tell stories all she wanted. Mostly because, even though she hated to admit it, Mindy didn’t tell stories. She just told the truth. “The exsanguination, though. Yes, that is a question we do need to answer. We’ll need to do a run through of the bodies again.” She started taking off her gloves.

  “Awesome. I’ve got to get dressed for my date with Cam,” Mindy said, removing her surgical cap and gloves before pausing to look at her watch. “It’s only five. You never leave at five. Hot date tonight?”

  “Yep,” she said, deadpanning.

  “Really?” Mindy asked, her jaw dropping.

  “No, not really,” Caty answered with sarcasm. “I’ve got a Stephen King book waiting at home.”

  “And you break with Stephen King? Jeez, S’Bones, you gotta get out there,” Mindy said, taking off the rest of her gear.

  Caty shook her head indulgently as she tossed her disposables into the biohazard bin. “Hell yes, Mindy girl. Stephen King can write a murder, a suspenseful thriller, a supernatural tale like it’s no one’s business. It’s like you’re stepping into another world.”

  Mindy laughed her full-throated laugh that everyone loved. “I bet it does, but I’m perfectly happy in this world, thank you very much. Ghosts and emotions and dead bodies kind of give me my fill, but maybe I’ll check out the movie.”

  Caty shook her head again and walked out of the examination room. She didn’t know where the thought came from. Maybe some hidden part of her that still believed in magic and love and adventure. But, as she walked out of the morgue, she had the sudden thought that maybe, just maybe, a little shake up was exactly what Mindy’s world needed.

  Alexia blew out another breath of frustration that Mindy would have mimicked had they not been waiting for the love of her life for the last thirty minutes. Even though Alexia liked Cam, she wasn’t a fan of the way he was always late to a get together.

  To be fair, he had told Mindy he’d had to make a stop back at the precinct about the Anderson case, and that he was also bringing his twin to dinner. She had mentioned to Mindy that it was really too bad Cam wasn’t bringing a guy who was her type, because as nice and attractive as Cam was, he just didn’t do it for her. Like, at all. He was perfect for Mindy, though. The way he looked at her. The way her movements matched his. Alexia should have guessed earlier they were in love.

  “Mindy, you may love this man, but if I have to wait for him any longer, I’m ordering the whole menu and making him pay. Popcorn is not a meal.” It was an empty threat, but Alexia wasn’t very patient. Mindy, whose black halter dress accented her dark skin and form-fitted to her beautiful curves, just smiled and continued texting – most likely with Cam.

  Alexia looked down at her own red halter dress for the millionth time that night, feeling awkward. Mindy had convinced her it was the perfect chance to wear the little red dress she had picked off the rack of Forever 21 a month before. Alexia was usually the woman in jeans, but the dress had looked so sexy. The lacy slip dress hugged her curvy body while also managing to show off the arch of her shoulders and the strength in her calves nicely. She hadn’t been able to help herself. No matter that it made her crimson eyes pop, or that she had this superstitious belief that red was bad luck. She knew that her superstitious belief was stupid, but she had her reasons.

  When she was six, on the day that she was supposed to move to her fourth foster home – in three years – her worker dressed her in a red polka dot dress. The worker had insisted that Alexia looked adorable in red, but when the family had arrived, they’d steered clear of little Alexia. They’d already met with her, spent time with her, and agreed to adopt a child from the home, but for some reason, they just couldn’t go through with the adoption. They’d told Alexia’s worker that they couldn’t foster her, and that the worker would have to find someone else.

  When Alexia was eight, she’d finally been placed in a foster home. She’d waited two long years, and to be honest, she’d pretty much given up. But then Malia Garda had taken her in. Mally was a sweet woman of about forty with two small dogs – Pepper and Dotty – and a parakeet named Graham. She’d told Alexia they were kindred spirits and that she could call her Mally – like her friends called her. She used to make me French toast every Saturday and Sunday morning, and she’d ask Alexia what topping she wanted. Of course, Alexia had always answered chocolate, and Mally would let her indulge. Alexia loved chocolate, especially milk chocolate.

  They would play on the swings for hours in her backyard, and Mally would brush Alexia’s hair before she put the little girl to bed. Mally had always made sure to take special care of her hair, but Alexia knew Mally had also liked the fact that they had been able to sit and talk and laugh like a family in those moments.

  One of the most important lessons Mally taught Alexia was that learning could be fun, and she had introduced Alexia to her love of books and the idea that there was merit and challenge in studying hard. And on Alexia’s ninth birthday, when she surprised her with adoption papers, Alexia had been the happiest kid in the world. Alexia had loved her. She still did.

  On her tenth birthday, Alexia had a small party with her family. When she’d opened the last gift – which she had known was from Mally – Alexia had started to cry. Inside was the most beautiful red dress she had ever seen. And the card inside had read:

  For the most beautiful little girl. You deserve all the love in the world.

  – Mally

  The next week, Mally had taken Alexia out to dinner at a fancy restaurant in town, and she’d worn the red dress. They’d ordered appetizers and dinner and yummy desserts, and Alexia had been stuffed. It was one of the best nights of her life.

  Alexia found out later – after being placed in another group home – that the rain had been coming down hard, and a deer had run out into the middle of the road. Mally had died instantly, and Alexia had gotten an awful scar that spanned the length of her back and curved around to her stomach – a scar that would forever remind her of Mally’s death. Alexia had also been unconscious for over two weeks, and the scar had taken another month to heal. She’d never found out what had happened to the red dress Mally had given her, but she didn’t care. Alexia was convinced that red was bad luck – maybe even that she herself was bad luck.

  Mindy broke into her thoughts. “He’ll be here soon. He’s bringing his brother, remember? And he’s working on Professor Anderson’s murder,” she said, hiccupping over their professor’s name. She dabbed at her eyes with the restaurant napkin as she put her phone away in her purse. The murder of Professor Anderson was a huge loss for the school, and they’d actually been given three days off, which meant that Montville University students wouldn’t have class until the following Monday. In fact, the whole town was holding a vigil for their favorite Professor and his beautiful family Friday afternoon.

  But Mindy. She had seen them. That wasn’t something Alexia was touching with a ten-foot pole. No way did she want to know what their bodies had looked like in death, so fragile and vulnerable and alone.

  “I just… How does this happen?” Alexia stopped speaking, overwhelmed, and her own tears started to fall from her crimson eyes. “Mindy, I still can’t believe he’s gone. Remember last week when he was so excited about the trip to Eastern Europe?”

  Mindy and Alexia both smiled sadly at the memory of the somewhat geeky Professor’s own personal brand of childish excitement. The way he’d push his glasses up further
onto his crooked nose each time he had some news or a student came to a conclusion he was waiting for them to find. He had loved life. He had loved teaching. And, without a doubt, he had loved his students, especially the Physanthros, his nickname for the grad students who were studying Physical Anthropology. And his students had loved him.

  “We were going to make our way through the ruins and remnants of the ancient Prussian Empire for a whole month, and he was like a kid with candy whenever the Physanthros talked about that trip. Now, he won’t be there.” A few tears fell down Alexia’s cheek, and her throat felt tight. Having just flashed back to memories of Mally, she was already emotional, and now they were talking about another important person in her life having died.

  “It’s just not right! What kind of monster would do something like that?” Alexia asked.

  “You’d be surprised,” said a dark voice from behind them. The voice sent a sharp shiver up Alexia’s spine that made her whole body quake and shudder. Mindy gave her a curious look and they both turned around. Before either she or Mindy could even make a judgment about the dark-skinned newcomer, he said, “Or maybe you wouldn’t.”

  Alexia looked the tall, dark man over, and her initial reaction was to spend every waking moment finding out everything she could about him, but her other instincts screamed at her to never let any man see he had her attention. She would have given him her standard, cool, devil-may-care look, but he’d already beaten her to a look that was much worse. His strong face was crossed with an odd look, and he was examining her like a lion does its prey. She not only felt uncomfortable, but when she saw him spending quite a bit of time on her eyes, she felt anger bubble up. She gave him her best glare, but damn if there wasn’t something eerily strange and familiar about him, and she felt off kilter in his presence. Before she could tell him to take a picture and give him the brush off, though, Cam came up from behind him.