Chapter 19 #2
“All good.” She waves me a quick goodbye, but as I turn, she adds, “Hey, Nell? You look good today. You should dress like that more often. I bet Amir would appreciate it.”
My phone doesn’t go off while I run my errands or when helping Hestia.
Instead, it waits for the moment Cecil strides into the embalming room with a worried look on his face that demands my attention.
“Do you have a minute?” he asks, glancing between me, the phone buzzing on the desk to his right, and the body I’m currently working on.
“Umm…” I glance down to where I’m holding a pair of tweezers and the wire we use to stitch a person’s jaw together for the funeral.
“That depends. Does it require hands?” My phone buzzes again, then goes silent.
I don’t have time for a call right now, nor the ability to take it, so it’ll just have to wait.
“It doesn’t require hands. I don’t mind talking while you work, so long as that’s all right with you.
” Cecil moves closer, gazing down at the body on the table that I’ve barely started working on.
He doesn’t hover, exactly. And at no point does it seem like he’s judging my work.
Cecil just watches, rocking back on his heels, like he’s the student and I’m a professor giving a demonstration.
Though when I think about it like that, it’s unnerving. “You said you needed to talk to me?” I prod finally, cutting through the wire with my pliers before setting my supplies back on the tray beside me. “Everything okay, Cecil?”
“Hmm?” he blinks and looks up at me like he’s been startled out of his thoughts. “Oh right. Yes, sorry.” As I watch, he runs a hand through his mostly grey hair. “Adele called. She told me that they’re at a point in the investigation that she’d like to talk to you.”
My hands go still on the box of eye caps and I stare at him. “Talk to me?”
“Yeah. It’s not a big deal,” Cecil assures me.
From the desk, my phone buzzes again, this time just a couple of short pulses instead of the repeated long ones that signal a call. But I can’t deal with whoever is texting me right now.
“About Andrew.” It’s not a question when I say it, though I meant it to be. “About what I found that night.”
“She just needs to take your statement. See if there’s anything you didn’t think was important.
Between you and me, and please don’t repeat this to anyone, Nell, but they’re really struggling to find a lead.
Any lead. Sure, there’s signs of it being a murder.
No one doubts that. But…” he trails off and shakes his head back and forth slowly.
“We really don’t need this in town right now.
Or ever, honestly. Can you imagine if it becomes a pattern?
If there are more victims and this is just the first she knows about?
” He lets out a sigh like this is just the worst inconvenience to ruin his week.
“I don’t know, Nell. I was hoping it would be open and closed, you know? Especially since you’re involved.”
My heart plummets at his casual phrasing, then jumps back up to try and choke me. “Well I’m not really involved,” I’m quick to correct before I can help myself. “It was just a coincidence. And I barely had the body here for an hour or two.”
Don’t get defensive, I chide silently. Cecil might be too naive to be anything other than painfully oblivious to anyone’s wrongs, but I still don’t want to test it. Especially if Adele is going to be the one interviewing me.
I could tell them, I realize with a jolt. I could absolutely tell Adele I know who the killer is. If she’d believe me is another matter.
When I look up again, Andrew is standing behind Cecil, his jaw slack and his eyes unfocused. I have to fight not to give a small gasp, and my fingers clench and unclench on the eye cap box.
“When?” I whisper, then I clear my throat to ask again, “When is she coming?” I look away from him, trying to pretend he isn’t there as Cecil goes on.
“In a couple days. She’s got another case to wrap up and she said they’re slammed thanks to losing Brenner last month.
” Vaguely, I recall the senior deputy leaving the precinct.
Though I only remember because Cecil dragged me to his retirement party and introduced me to everyone over the course of one of the most awkward nights of my life.
“Okay. Just let me know and I’ll, umm, be ready for it.” There’s probably no being ready for it, but I have no idea what else to say.
Cecil agrees and changes the subject, immediately launching into some ramble about a new embalming fluid tank he saw online.
I listen and nod along, not really sure what about it he finds so interesting.
At last he wanders back to his office to do whatever it is he’s doing before he leaves, and I can set down the long forceps and step back from the table.
Sometime in the last few minutes, Andrew has vanished, and my shoulders fall in relief when I turn around to see the room is well and truly empty.
“God,” I sigh. My gloved hand comes up to run through my hair, but I scrunch my nose when I remember where exactly that’s been.
“Good job, Nell. Just…good job.” Absently I tug my gloves off and deposit them in the metal trashcan, leaving my hands feeling smooth and soft from the interior of the latex.
My fingers flex to try to push away the foreign feeling, and I scoop up my phone in one hand, tapping the screen to see who was trying to get ahold of me.
When I see that the same number has now tried to call me for a couple of days now without leaving a message, I frown. Usually scam calls will leave a long, automated message on my voicemail. Not to mention, the area code on this looks familiar.
I just can’t place why right now.
But the text message isn’t from my mystery caller. And even without having actually put his information into my phone, I’ve memorized Amir’s number.
Tomorrow night. I’ll meet you at Silver Pond. 7 pm.
The park feels like more my place than his, though I could say the same about the cemetery. My eyes stay fixed on the message, and I watch as he starts typing again, the message coming within a few seconds.
See you soon, Nell.
For some reason that feels more affectionate than his usual, professional texts. It makes something twist in my stomach, and I bite down softly on my lower lip.
See you then.
I text back. The back of my neck prickles and I sigh, eyes slipping closed.
Even without looking, I know Andrew is back. And I know what kind of accusation I’ll find on his face when I turn around.