Oh gods. “We’ll be there.” Grimshaw ended the call and shouted, “Julian! Julian! We need to get to Silence Lodge!”
He held his breath and almost gave up, almost turned back to the porch to tell Hargreaves where he was going. Then he saw Julian running up from the direction of the beach, Crowgard flying all around him.
“Grimshaw?” Hargreaves said as he left the porch’s illusion of safety and joined him on the lawn.
He placed the call to the medical office while he waited for Julian to join them. Seeing the Crows land all around them, he resigned himself to a less-than-private report.
“Medical office,” a female voice said.
“This is Officer Grimshaw. Tell Dr. Wallace that the Sanguinati found Vicki DeVine. It sounds like she’s in bad shape, but she’s still alive.”
“I’ll contact the EMTs. Their vehicle is equipped for emergencies.”
“Do that.” He ended the call.
“Hospital?” Julian asked.
Grimshaw shook his head. “Ilya says there isn’t time.” He looked at Hargreaves. “Can you take the lead on processing the scenes and handling the arrests?”
Hargreaves gave him an odd look, which didn’t surprise him. The captain was still his boss, was still the one in charge, and yet he was treating the man like they were of equal rank.
“I can do that for you,” Hargreaves said. “Would appreciate a call when you know Ms. DeVine’s status.”
Grimshaw nodded. Then he looked at the Crows. “Captain Hargreaves and his men have to collect the bodies and process the scenes, like the cops do in the TV shows. They’re going to be walking around The Jumble, collecting evidence. Can you let everyone else know that it’s all right for them to be here?”
The Crows looked at each other. Then one looked up at him and said, “Caw.”
Taking that as agreement, he and Julian ran down the trails to reach the cruiser and head for the lodge on the other side of the lake.
CHAPTER 79
Aggie
Watersday, Sumor 8
Being considered part of the team made watching all the poking and pecking done by the human police more interesting, but it was still frustrating.
<But why do they need all the shinies?> Jozi asked for the fifth time.
<The bad humans hurt Miss Vicki, so everything they had is evidence,> Aggie replied.
<But they’re dead. Human police can’t arrest them if they’re dead. Can they?> Aggie had never seen a TV cop arrest a dead man. Or parts of a dead man. Maybe Julian Farrow would know?
<They’re going to let the eyeballs go to waste,> Eddie complained.
That was true, and it was sad. But the cops were just human and would never appreciate the edible qualities of fresh eyeballs, so there wasn’t much the Crowgard could do.
The Crowgard living in The Jumble had gathered and then divided, several of them taking watch over each group of humans who were gathering evidence. Most of the Crows hadn’t seen any of the cop and crime shows, hadn’t talked about the stories with Miss Vicki, so they had many questions about what the human police were doing.
Was it usual for them to regurgitate food when they were collecting meat?
Aggie was pretty sure experienced cops didn’t do that—not often anyway. She was also pretty sure most of the experienced cops who had come to help Officer Grimshaw had never seen what an angry Elder could do to a human body. But these cops seemed smart, even if they were human.
The one she was watching collect evidence held up a long piece of shiny string and said, “It’s a garrote.”
Garrote. She knew that word from the Murder game. Humans used it for killing other humans—and maybe smaller terra indigene.
Her cop looked up at the branch where she had perched to watch him. “Is this the reason he died like this? He was attacking the woman who was your friend?”
Was? That word made her sad, but she answered him anyway. “Caw.”
A glint of something caught her eye, but the cop was moving away.
Aggie flew from the branch to the ground. Bit of black cloth. Small finger. And a gold ring clinging to the skin!
She looked at the cop still searching for evidence but moving away. She could pull off the ring, hide it under some leaves. She could . . .
Part of the team. You didn’t hide things from the team.
“Caw.” When he didn’t answer, she tried again. “Caw!”
“Did you find something?” He returned and crouched near where she stood guard over the finger. “I guess you did.”
When he reached for the finger, she pecked him. Couldn’t help it. It was her shiny.
“Hey!”
Sorry. She moved out of pecking range to avoid pecking him again. After all, she was the one who had called him over to take the meat and treasure.
Once he collected the evidence, she flew back up to the branch in the nearest tree to have a better view of what the humans were doing. That’s why she spotted the man walking toward them—a man with red hair tipped with blue and yellow.
“Sir,” her cop said, “you can’t be here. This is a crime scene.”
Don’t make him angry, Aggie thought. Not him. Not in the woods.
Recognizing that what approached him wasn’t human, the cop took a step back.
Fire looked up. “I came to tell Aggie that the human doctor fixed Miss Vicki. She needs to be given medicine at specific times and needs to be watched for a day or two, so the Sanguinati are keeping her at Silence Lodge for the rest of today and tomorrow. They will tell you when you can visit.”
“Caw!” Miss Vicki was alive!
Fire gave her cop a long look, as if memorizing his face. Then he walked away and disappeared.
Miss Vicki was alive. That news was even better than finding a shiny.
CHAPTER 80
Vicki
Watersday, Sumor 8
I woke from a dream where I was at The Jumble, serving raw fish sandwiches to my toothy guests and trying to explain the appeal of pickled herring.
“Easy,” Ilya said. “Don’t struggle.” He restrained me with one hand while opening the blanket wrapped around me with the other. “We thought some fresh air would do you good but didn’t want you to catch a chill. Not in your condition.”
I had a condition? That didn’t sound good.
“Do you want some water? Some juice? There is also chicken soup. I was told it is a good food for humans to eat when they have been ill.”
“I’ve been ill?” I sounded like a frog, so that was possible.
“You were injured.” Ilya took a seat near the lounge chair positioned in a shady spot on the lodge’s top deck.
When he just sat there, looking like he did not want to be the bearer of bad news, I pushed the blanket open a little more in order to take stock. I was wearing a loose tank top and shorts. No bra. Or the bra had somehow missed my breasts and was hugging my ribs. A cast covered my left arm from knuckles to mid-forearm.
“You broke your wrist,” Ilya said.
Right. I hadn’t landed properly after the flying long jump.
“He didn’t mean to hurt you,” Ilya said.
“He certainly did!”
Ilya looked pained.
“The man in the business suit. I ran into him when I was running away from Swinn. He meant to hurt me.”