Chapter 16
I left a note for Ivan before leaving for work, assuring him that I wanted him to stay, and giving a window of time for the delivery of groceries. Nikki dropped off a bento box for him to eat for breakfast. I bumped her shoulder in thanks for helping me take care of my little brother.
“Does he like boys or girls?” Nikki whispered as she walked with me to my car. “I can draw him a picture.” She did a lot of freelance work, and worked part time at a Boba shop, but her artwork was amazing.
“I’m not sure what he likes,” I said. “I think he’d love anything you give him.” I sucked in a long breath and let it out. “He needs to feel at home. Like it’s okay for him to exist. I don’t know what he’s been through, but I can imagine.”
“You’re a good man, Jude,” Nikki said. “The way you take care of your grandpa and now your brother. Why are all the good men gay?”
“Why are all the amazing women ace?” I threw back. “How can you lust after any man you don’t really want?” Her collection of BL rivaled mine. We’d been known to trade books.
“I don’t lust after you,” she disagreed. “But I would totally write you into a BL fantasy with some hot Danmei guy.”
“Remind me to tell you about these guys I ran into when I was picking Ivan up yesterday. Stepped right out of an anime. All they needed were the glasses to push up their nose and put their villain era on.” I put my hand on my chest. “This boring white boy was instantly overwhelmed.”
She laughed. “Boring. Says the guy who can talk to dead people? And has a shifter brother?”
I wished my life was more boring these days. “Go get some art done. I look forward to reading hot BL sex scenes later. Don’t put me in them.”
“But you haven’t told me about the anime men yet.”
I waved a hand at her as I unlocked my car.
“Your imagination is better than anything I’ve ever encountered in real life.
” And I’d rather be cast in a fantasy with my new work partner than the super powerful NHVs that had tried to take Ivan.
“Go be artistic. Some of us have to trudge through the bowels of crime for a living.”
“You love your job,” she said as she headed back toward the elevator.
I had loved my job. The new one was a little more complicated.
Maybe solving the cases had kept me devoted.
What if I couldn’t solve anything with the SED?
As I started the car, I decided I’d do everything possible to resolve the bookstore case.
Often, the difference between a case going cold and getting solved was tenacity, something I had in spades.
The blaring music, trip through the drive-through for a fancy coffee, and time to breathe, gave me clarity.
My parking spot at the SED precinct was empty.
The red bike that had been in it before sat on the sidewalk, pressed against the wall, as if someone had picked it up and moved it out of my spot.
I pulled in and parked, turned off the car, and sat there sipping my coffee for a few minutes, staring at the bike. It was Victor’s?
I got out, threw my bag over my shoulder, grabbed my laptop, and balanced two coffees as I made my way to the door.
As I reached for the door, someone grabbed the handle and yanked it open to hold it for me.
I blinked, as I hadn’t even heard him approach, but the delightful caress of his power blending with mine made me gasp and glance at him.
Angel raised a brow and held the door.
I turned and held out a coffee for him, as I’d ordered it without really thinking. “Sorry, it’s a bit of a fluffy coffee, but one of my favorites. I hope that’s okay. You said you liked it sweet.”
“Thanks.” He took the coffee and motioned for me to enter. Past the entry, he led me through the main lobby. He sipped the coffee and leaned in close enough that I could feel his warmth at my back.
“Did you move Victor’s bike?” I asked.
“Nope. I think that was Wade. I would have, if it had been in your spot when I got here.”
“Were you watching for me?”
“Yes,” he said, close enough for his warm breath to breeze over the shell of my ear. I fought not to shiver at the need to turn and touch him. “Is that creepy?”
“Nah,” I said. “It’s nice. I like knowing that someone looks forward to seeing me at the new job. At my old job, some of my fellow cops would key up my car. My old partner watched for it, but it didn’t always stop them.”
“Wow. I knew cops sucked, but you were one of their own.”
“Aren’t we still cops?” I asked. “That would make you one too.”
“SED is a branch of the military, not law enforcement. It’s how we straddle jurisdictions. Without it, everything would be a mess of red tape and confidentiality. Cops don’t even share with other departments. SED has a global network for data that we all have access to.”
I thought about that as we walked. How did I feel about not being a cop anymore?
A little sad, honestly. Mostly because it had always been my goal to really help people and not be the useless dick a lot of law enforcement could be.
We passed Robin on the way to the elevators, and I offered them a friendly morning greeting.
“The red tape drove me nuts,” I admitted. Sometimes I’d hit a case with folks rolling in money and lots of hoops in place to keep me from accessing the stuff I needed to solve a case. Maybe being in SED would be a boon, and I could really dig in to put some cases to rest.
“I’d like to see if I can review the video files from a few days before the murder,” I said.
“Sure. I can have Tiana or Ezra pull the files. How far back do you want to go?”
We rode up through the Veil, my stomach giving a little squirm, but it passed pretty fast as we stepped off onto our floor.
The rest of the floor stretched quiet and empty, but it was barely seven in the morning.
“Let’s start with a week?” I said after thinking about it as we entered our office and I put my stuff down on the desk.
“I can help review if you tell me what you’re looking for.”
“I don’t know yet,” I said honestly. “Maybe a feel for the clientele? If someone appears to be stalking the place. That sort of thing?”
Angel plugged his laptop in and opened things up to our caseload. “I’ll put in a request.”
I sucked down the rest of my coffee, thinking I should have grabbed breakfast. The office began to fill, and Wade walked by to say good morning. A handsome man with dark hair and piercing, pale blue eyes wandered to our door behind Wade, gaze on Angel, brow raised.
“Up to the last week?” Angel asked as he met the man’s gaze. “If possible?” He glanced my way. “Jude, this is Ezra. Ezra, this is Jude.”
“Hi,” I said, jumping up to offer my hand. “Your interviews are great so far. I appreciate how thorough you are.”
“Thanks,” Ezra said, ignoring my offered handshake, then turned back to Angel.
“I’ll pull the feed. Tiana is with the Sarge, making a public statement.
” He walked away, and I couldn’t help my frown, as his reception felt a little chilly.
Wade caught up with him, the two of them talking as they crossed the wide bullpen area to another grouping of offices.
“Don’t mind him,” Angel said. “Ezra takes a bit to warm up to anyone.”
“Hmm,” I said quietly, sucking on the edge of my now empty coffee cup.
“There’s a full coffee station with food at the end of the hall,” Angel said.
“Yeah?” I perked up.
A smile tugged the edge of his lips as he got up. “Let me show you. Before you keel over from lack of caffeine.”
“We all have our drug of choice,” I said as I got up and followed him out.
Back down the hall and to the left, a breakroom-type area with seating, a full coffee bar with a giant machine, and a long counter of condiments sat next to a hot case of wrapped sandwiches.
“Ah, the sandwich stash,” I teased. “Angel’s secret hoard. ”
“Not so secret,” Angel said. “It’s always well stocked. Have you used one of these coffee things before?”
I eyed the monstrosity. “Nope. We had black sludge at the last precinct.”
“You can go all the way down to the cafeteria, but not everyone likes to take that sort of time when they are on a case.” He stepped up to the machine, hit the digital display, and scrolled through a list of drinks.
“You can pick style, flavor, sweetener and cream level, and—” he waved at the end of the counter where more condiments sat, “—add more. I usually go with a light roast and add my own stuff.” He hit the buttons to show me.
“There’s also a regular pot on the end. It’s usually got French Roast in it. I’m not a fan.”
“Me either.” But I could drink any coffee for caffeine.
The coffee took a few minutes to brew, like a giant Keurig. I watched him build his drink and stepped up to scroll through the list and read the options. Wade wandered in and grabbed three sandwiches.
“You got a minute?” he asked Angel.
“Sure,” Angel said. The two stepped out of the breakroom. I hoped they weren’t talking about me. Wade hadn’t given me the stink eye like Ezra had. I really hated the idea of making enemies already.
I picked my coffee, going for a latte with an extra shot of espresso, vanilla cream, and butterscotch. As it brewed, another man—a little older, with dark hair and brown eyes—entered, his gaze landing on me, then falling to my arm. His eyes lit up.
“You must be Jude,” he said. He turned so I could see his band, which was a faded red. “I’m Merrill.”
“Oh!” I said, turning to offer him my hand. “Nice to meet you.” Our hands touched and his power snapped at me. I hissed and yanked my hand away. “Sorry about that. Don’t know why it does that.”
Merrill stared at his hand for a moment, then at me. “Everyone said you’re pretty new to variance.”
“I am. If that’s something I did… I’m not certain how to control it yet.”
He seemed to accept that and shrugged it off. “I’ll put together some notes. There aren’t a lot of public books about SV. Mostly, the higher-ups don’t want us to know unless we get shoved into the active military.”
“Seems counterintuitive if they want our help solving cases,” I said.
“We used to use a lot of spell work for that sort of thing. Now, it’s forbidden.”
“I thought Angel said that was because SVs used shifters as cannon fodder during the war? Maybe not using people in magic is a good thing.”
“Don’t take what the shifters say seriously. They are a very different sort of variance. It unravels their humanity all the way down to their soul, making their instincts animalistic and irrational.”
I gaped at him, the words feeling like a slap to anyone with a basic understanding of humanity in general. “Aren’t instincts key to survival? Like, built into our systems to keep us from jumping off high rises and stuff?”
“Yes, but the shifters are all about mating, slaughter, and dominance.”
Sounded a lot like humanity. Most animals—as I was a huge fan—really just wanted food, comfort, and safety. Dominance only arose when the other three things were in danger.
“You could request to change teams,” Merrill continued. “We’ll spend some time teaching you the ropes. It’s odd that they put you on a mostly shifter team.”
“You don’t have shifters on your team?” I asked. Though I had a feeling I knew why none of them would want to work with him.
“No.”
“Huh,” I said, processing. Not wanting to make enemies, I grabbed my coffee and headed to the hot case to pick sandwiches for myself and Angel.
“If you could send me an email with some notes?” I suggested.
“Like, if I’m doing that weird electric zap thing that happens when I touch some people, learning how to control it would be great. ”
“Only some people?” Merrill asked.
I picked a sausage and egg English muffin for myself and a loaded ham, cheese, egg, and bacon for Angel. “Not Angel.”
Merrill stared at me like I’d grown another head. “Angel’s power doesn’t zap you? Those runes he has inked jolt everyone, even other shifters.”
“Uh…” What?”
“Hey,” Angel said, walking up behind Merrill to my side. Merrill backed away as if getting within a few feet of Angel would electrocute him. “You good?” Angel asked.
“Oh, yeah.” I held out the sandwich I’d picked for him. “This work for you?”
He took it from me and read the label. “One of my faves. You got yours?”
“I do,” I said cheerfully, and held up my sandwich, eyeing the rest of the spread. “I think I’m going to grab some fruit too. You want something?” There was a giant basket at the end filled with oranges, apples, bananas, and even a few pears.
“Sure. An apple, please. I have peanut butter snack packs at my desk if you ever need them,” Angel said, ignoring Merrill’s existence as he headed back toward the door.
I grabbed our fruit and followed, giving Merrill a polite, “Nice to meet you,” though I knew we would not be friends.
Angel wove us back through the long hall, pointing out offices that now had people in them.
We had an entire tech unit on our floor, which he said Bobby and Wade would often vanish into.
Other units had their own bullpen and surrounding offices.
Ours, while mostly shifter, was the largest, featuring a lot of the NHVs as well, though most of them worked on night rotation according to Angel.
We returned to our office, and I unwrapped my sandwich as I logged in to find the requested files on the computer, with a note from Ezra tagging Angel and me.
“That was fast,” I said, biting into my food.
Scanning through my email for anything important, I added a few notes to my calendar for meetings and pulled up the case notes.
At least this part of the job was familiar enough.
“How’d it go with Merrill?” Angel said, munching on his own sandwich.
I sighed. “I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, you know?”
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t leave me alone with him again. I look like shit in orange.”
Angel laughed, half choking on his sandwich. “He doesn’t like shifters much. Not many HVs do.”
“Whatever,” I said, opening up the first file. “Guess it’s a good thing you got stuck with me, then?”
A smile tugged the corner of Angel’s lips. “I guess it is.”