17. Damned unicorn.

SEVENTEEN

Damned unicorn.

Saturday, May 12, 2057

South Necropolis, Precinct 112

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

Upon learning Angel Underground, as I had dubbed her, was none other than Miranda’s mother, Captain Farthan gave me marching orders to keep the cadet close to me. He’d wanted to handcuff us together, but I’d reminded him that could lead to yet another hospitalization. He’d implemented a five foot rule, which I would ignore as needed. By necessity, we kept Angel Underground’s identity secret, not that it would remain a mystery for long.

Miranda was a duplicate of her mother. Once the other detectives and officers realized how much of a beauty Miranda would be even thirty years down the road, I’d lose any chance at all with the woman.

Having paid attention to the interior staff at our station, I was handsome enough among the cops, but I couldn’t hold a candle to some of them, Jace included.

I’d been given responsibility over the white unicorn, who still sported hooves but wore his official police tack. He kept close, often resting his head on my shoulder. I couldn’t blame him for being bored. As we had insufficient motorcycles for everyone, the captain had put in a request for unicorns to help haul wagons when we needed to empty the lab.

We’d gotten an entire herd of reds and greens, two of the colors who wished they could have done more for the city when the going had gotten rough.

I spotted the hatch leading into the lab, and everything was quiet. A folded piece of paper taped to the wall would add trouble to my day, especially as I recognized the handwriting on it. As I could trust Miranda’s mother to play it mostly safe, I put on gloves to preserve any fingerprints.

I had personal interest in learning more about Miranda’s mother, where she’d come from, and why she’d moved into the dark world of Cauldron City’s underground. Opening the note, I chuckled at my name on it, shaking my head at her use of my first name.

The rest of the letter invited us in to play a game or two, a promise we didn’t have much to worry about, and a reminder to take my new motorcycle for a tune up along with the address of a man who could handle the work. To my amusement, she’d signed with a heart and a strict warning to take care of the pretty little girl with me.

A growling Captain Farthan strolled over, and Jace snorted, reading over my shoulder. “You’re surrounded. And nobody seems to remember how the fraternization rules work at our station. Miranda, I feel this note was actually meant for you, and Lovell’s kidnapper thinks you should help him heal from his ordeal.”

Damned unicorn. I could only assume he wanted to turn everyone’s attention to me, as nobody was ever going to let him off the hook regarding his dragoness, who had almost felled the Black Dragon of New York with eggs. Shaking my head, I showed the captain the note. “How did you keep that mean old black and his granddaughter from coming with us?”

“Mrs. Dr. Erik sent them off to get a bunch of specialty items sickly ponies enjoy and that Jace wouldn’t have because he just breaks his toothpick legs,” the captain replied. He considered the note. “Miranda, read this.”

The cadet joined us, and she frowned. When she got to the end, her eyes widened. “Me? Pretty?”

Every single one of us stared at the woman as though she’d lost her mind. Then, one by one, their gazes fell on to me.

Great. I’d been cast into a sea of chaos, and my co-workers expected me to bring order back to the madness. “You’re quite beautiful, yes—and you don’t have to hide that while at work. We’re all adults who can handle being surrounded by beautiful women.” Then, seeing a potential escape from the situation, I added, “Every woman working in our station is, obviously, among the most beautiful of women. We are blessed officers of the law, being able to work with such fine ladies.”

Jace whinnied. “Someone’s body cam surely captured that, and you will be the subject of awe and adoration for weeks over that once word spreads. ”

Paul came over for a turn with the note, shaking his head. “I’m concerned.”

“About what? She likes us,” I reminded him. “And if she wants to stage some friendly challenges while we bust this lab, I don’t mind. They’re keeping Mercy out of here while we raid the place—and the last thing we need is them making another hit right now.”

I wanted Dr. Lerrans, and unlike most of my co-workers, I was willing to ignore the sins of the man’s victims to make sure he could never strike again. Everybody deserved justice, even serial killers.

Roger had done a good job of reminding me of that. The serial killers had faced justice already, in a far more brutal and inhumane way than anyone should condone. I spent a few moments reminding myself of that before sighing, knocking on the hatch, and opening it. “Anybody home?”

I peeked inside to discover the lab had undergone a transformation since I’d last been there. Someone had gone with an engagement party meets birthday party theme, and I raised a brow at the ridiculous number of streamers dangling from the ceiling along with a plethora of helium balloons.

Miranda’s mother lounged on a pool floaty in a child’s pool, sipping at a fancy drink. She lifted her fancy cocktail with an umbrella in it before taking another sip. “Come on in, boys. I’m so glad you could come play with us today.”

Jace snorted, and I took hold of his bridle to make certain he didn’t try to educate Miranda’s mother about the nature of spunky ponies. “Thanks for the address to the mechanic.” I stepped into the lab, taking care with where I stepped in case of any unexpected surprises. The white unicorn followed me, crowding as close to my back as he could with his head and neck draped over my shoulder. “This is Detective Smithson.”

“Pleased to meet you. You’re looking well. I’m surprised you were released from the hospital so soon.”

Mrs. Dr. Erik pushed her way through the crowd, headed right for Miranda’s mother, and after a few moments of consideration, kicked off her shoes, stepped into the pool, waded over, and kissed the woman’s cheeks. “I’d hug you, but I’d end up dumping you and your drink into your pool, and that wouldn’t do.”

Zenna smiled and raised her cocktail in salute. “I received the message, so don’t you worry none. You’re one of the black unicorns?”

“I am. A doctor. Call me Mrs. Dr. Erik. Everyone does. I was working at the hospital in Precinct 153.” Mrs. Dr. Erik pointed at me. “Should you need to issue future invitations, please use a different sedative on that one. It interacted with the antidote, leading to a fun time in my ER. He single-handedly coded us.”

The black market operator chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Hopefully, next time, I’ll just leave a note for the handsome men of Precinct 153 to pay me a visit. There are so many of them.”

I turned to check on Miranda to discover the cadet staring at her mother with her mouth hanging open. Captain Farthan stayed near her, shaking his head at the insanity.

“There really are, and most of them are humble about it. I need to teach these boys to be a little less humble so they start leaving the pool of handsome bachelors.” Mrs. Dr. Erik turned the full force of her stare my way. “That one, in particular, is rather vexing.”

“I believe it. The rest of you, come on in. Don’t clog up the hallway. Once you’re in here, my boys and girls will be patrolling and making certain any from Mercy foolish enough to enter my turf come down with a severe case of dead.”

Captain Farthan considered Miranda’s mother, shrugged, and herded Miranda into the spacious room so the rest of our task force could enter. “Normally, I would protest, but as all members of this gang are already wanted dead or alive, should you make some corpses that can be linked directly to the hospital attacks, please deliver them to the nearest ER so you can be paid the bounty for them.”

“I love when the system works in my favor. So delicious. Since we have good reason to celebrate, I thought I’d set up a little party for us. Win or lose, you walk away with a bunch of prizes—but if you win, you’ll get bigger, better prizes delivered immediately.” Miranda’s mother gestured with her cocktail at one of the nearby tables. “Your first prize, just for having paid me a visit today, is there. This present is for Mrs. Dr. Erik more than it is for you.”

Mrs. Dr. Erik went over to investigate the table, which was decorated like much of the rest of the room and held a shoebox wrapped in red and white paper. Much like a child at Christmas, the black unicorn tore into the package, took off the lid, and peered inside. She pulled out an envelope, lifted the flap, and retrieved a stack of folded papers.

Upon investigation, the woman sucked in a breath. “I see. This is quite the present.”

“I thought you’d appreciate that. It won’t remove the trauma, it won’t save the lives lost from their machinations, but it will do good in society.”

“What is it?” Captain Farthan asked.

“It’s an inventory of transplantable organs Mercy has in stasis, including notes on who the donor is, their donor status, next of kin, blood type, and age at death.” Mrs. Dr. Erik pulled out numerous other envelopes. “Are all these envelopes the same?”

“Yes, they are. We organized by age, blood type, and organ type to make things a little easier on you when selecting transplant recipients. We took the liberty of removing the price they were going to ask for the organs. That is information these handsome police officers will challenge for. That’s the name of this game, my dears. Every time you beat one of my challenges, we will present a batch of new evidence for you to look over. As I wouldn’t want to be rude to my new friends, you’ll get the information eventually—winning these challenges means you just get them now . I will be dividing your forces into pairs for some challenges.” Miranda’s mother pointed at me before gesturing at her daughter. “These two will be a pair.” She flashed a smile at Paul. “You’ll be coming and spending time with me, you sweet little elephant. You’ve had a few rough days, so you get to come have a seat, enjoy a few drinks, and get a good laugh at your co-workers for a while. I noticed you have odd numbers, so someone would have to sit out anyway.”

Paul glanced at our captain, who nodded.

It took me a few moments to spot a rather comfortable lawn chair buried under streamers and decorated with pillows, which my partner cleared away so he could lounge around and enjoy us dance to the black market operator’s tune. “Just try not to get me too drunk. I’ve never been so grateful to have shown up at work on my day off before.”

I chuckled at that. “Looks like it’s you and me, Miranda.”

The woman spluttered but came over, and she took advantage of the opportunity to pet Jace. “Did I fall and hit my head before work this morning?”

“No, you didn’t. Yes, she’s your mother, and let me tell you, I about had a heart attack when I saw her face. But she has two really sweet cats, so I can’t actually say anything bad about her.”

Jace whinnied, freed himself from my hold, and nuzzled the cadet. “You can trust Lovell with secrets. The only way he rats out a secret is if it’s a matter of life and death, and he’ll apologize about it afterwards. Well, unless you happen to be a crook he’s hunting. No secret is safe from him in that case. He can teach a thing or two to dogs about bones in that case.”

“The unicorns will be paired together,” Miranda’s mother declared. “And don’t worry, Mrs. Dr. Erik, I’ll be gentle with him. We can’t overly challenge the sickly ones.”

“Exercise him as much as you want. He’s got a black dragoness at home ready to handle her fair share of the nursing duties.”

Jace’s ears snapped back. “Which nursing duties?”

“Not any cooking, I promise. She just wants to hover, bring you drinks, tuck you into your blanket, and ferry books to you. Really, the woman just wants to read in front of the fire with you and your animals, and while she’s been getting the fire and the animals, she’s been missing you.” Mrs. Dr. Erik snickered and returned to sorting through the papers. “We didn’t find any corpses with these organs missing.”

“They’re in storage along with the few we think might still be alive.”

The black unicorn stilled. “Pardon me, but did you say you have some victims who are still alive?”

“When your hospitals are ready to deal with them, we’ll bring them over one at a time. They’re in poor shape, and I don’t know if you’ll be able to rescue them. But should you, you will have quite the conundrum on your hands.”

“They’re like Roger,” I added, aware the black unicorn understood the problems associated with the serial killer and his revival. “And I don’t know if any of them are actually like Roger.”

“Roger is salvageable,” Jace mumbled.

I patted the fledgling detective on his neck before scratching behind his ear. “Go help Mrs. Dr. Erik. You can try to teach the dragons, shapeshifters, and others among us about the superiority of unicorns.”

“We are superior. We don’t need to prove it.” Jace headed over to the black unicorn, swished his tail, and nuzzled the woman in a bid for attention, which he received.

“What happened to being humble, Smithson? Before you came out as a unicorn, you were the most humble and normal being in my station.” Captain Farthan heaved a sigh. “Now I have to call Lovell the most normal being in my station, and he loves his pink and purple Harley and uses magic to make roads so he can test out his status as Cauldron City’s land speed record holder. He beat my interceptors, Smithson!”

The white unicorn whinnied his laughter and tossed his head. “I’ll help teach him how to drive with as much grace and skill as I have. That should keep him from becoming a smear on the asphalt.”

“Thank you. I’ll schedule in time for his lessons, and I’ll find a Harley you can use to ride around with him and teach him the nuances.”

Hardy snickered. “Can I be partnered with the captain, ma’am? We need to teach the others about the superiority of black and opal dragons.”

“It seems partnering the antique with the hatchling is fair. I’ll allow it.” Without missing a beat, Miranda’s mother assigned more pairs, putting Dowdren with one of the more senior patrol officers who’d begged for a spot on the hit. After some thought, I realized the woman made efforts to put people together with varied strengths and weaknesses, giving each team a fair chance at victory.

I had experience, but Miranda came to the table with wit, skill, and creativity. I could be creative, but only during high stress situations. Otherwise, I tended to temper everyone and everything to take the safest course. I had wit, but I was quiet about it.

A trick kept up my sleeve surprised people later.

As for skill, her street smarts would partner well with my law enforcement aptitude.

I wondered what sort of challenge would test us both to our limits. I wondered if the excitement creeping in was similar to that of a child attending a party.

My family had been too poor to host any actual parties, and I hadn’t minded the lack of them. I had vague memories of holding mini parties for my brothers and sisters. We’d played in the dirt and run around the neighborhood, but I’d tried my hardest to make my siblings forget we couldn’t have fancy streamers, balloons, or big cakes.

“The first challenge is a group game. Every streamer has a piece of paper attached to it with a word, phrase, or small object. One of those objects is a key for a storage container somewhere in this room. There are other keys, but they are for secrets found elsewhere. You will have precisely one hour to sort through streamers without popping the balloons. For every balloon popped, you will lose one streamer. Don’t fret; you will have time to go through the words, phrases, and other objects later.” Miranda’s mother gestured to a bunch of baskets stacked together. “I recommend each team take one of those to help with your efforts.”

Miranda bowed her head, her face red. “This is so embarrassing.”

I chuckled, patted her shoulder, and said, “It’s all right. She’s forcing us to play around, and she just gave the unicorns a major handicap. Unless they’re really careful, they will be popping balloons left and right, and while the captain can scold Jace, he can’t really scold Mrs. Dr. Erik.”

Sure enough, Captain Farthan’s glare turned to the white unicorn. “Don’t you even pop a single one of those balloons.”

“Just because I have a sharp weapon attached to my forehead doesn’t mean I’m going to start slaughtering balloons.”

“Not only will you face my wrath, but you will face my eternal disappointment should a single balloon be popped.”

Most of the cops gulped, and I laughed at the moment every last one of my co-workers, Miranda included, pondered how to rescue streamers from the ceiling without also popping the precious balloons.

“I’ll be generous and give everyone five minutes to spread out, collect your basket, and strategize. Good luck. You’ll need it. There are just so many streamers in this room for you to gather.” She pointed at a roll of garbage bags. “And for every full garbage bag of streamers you collect, I’ll be generous and forgive one popped balloon.”

I narrowed my eyes, realizing she was having us clean up after her while completing the first of her challenges. “While most of us are men, we do know how to clean.”

Miranda’s mother laughed at me. “I just prefer killing multiple birds with one stone, but good catch, Detective Lovell. I’m sure you’ll survive being forced to clean while playing.”

“But are you sure?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Saturday, May 12, 2057

South Necropolis, Precinct 112

Cauldron City, Nebraska.

Within five minutes of Miranda’s mother signaling the start of the timer, the lab became a war zone of determined police officers and a doctor battling for supremacy. Miranda led the general charge of frantic snatching of streamers, and she delivered piles of the damned things for me to sort, retrieve our prizes from, and dispose of. When she managed to find the slip of paper or small object on her own, she dumped them into the basket. As nothing in the rules stated I couldn’t use magic to help my cause, I did a riff off the toxin detection trick, creating a glow on anything that wasn’t a streamer, visible to my eyes alone.

My magic allowed me to strip the streamers and throw them away in record time, giving me an opportunity to help Miranda with the gathering portion of our efforts.

By some miracle I refused to question, nobody popped any balloons, and most of us worked in determined silence. At the fifty minute mark, we’d stripped the entire place of streamers, reminding me of a school of hungry piranha.

Miranda’s mother chortled at the chaos, and when we’d left nothing but balloons, wrapped presents, and tables in our wake, she set aside her drink and clapped. “I’m genuinely impressed. There were thousands of streamers in here, and you slaughtered them all without sacrificing a single balloon. As promised, there are many prizes for you to enjoy! Of course, you’ll have to take many of your prizes back to your station to sort through and discover in the comfort of your offices, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for the puzzles eventually. I can’t make it too easy on you.”

“You are wicked,” Jace informed the woman in a solemn tone.

Mrs. Dr. Erik had taken some liberties with the streamers, decorating the white unicorn with them. Judging from basket volume, the unicorns had spent more time playing with the streamers than collecting papers and objects. For both of them, fun and games would do more good for them than victory, although when it came time to pop the balloons, they would have a significant advantage compared to the rest of us .

“Our next activity is for the pair that found the silver key.”

I checked our basket, and while we had a bunch of bronze and golden keys and one rainbow colored one, we hadn’t found a silver one. As we weren’t up to bat, I sat on the floor and began organizing our prizes within the basket, setting the keys aside in groups by color and type. The pieces of paper were stacked by size, the buttons went into a pile, the enamel pins went into another pile, and the general knick knacks took up the rest of the space. Some made me question everything, like the tiny plush rabbit, a string of lights fashioned into the shape of bees, numerous pairs of earrings of all shapes and sizes, and tiny crystals set into pendants.

Some of the pendants sang to my magic, and I would enjoy investigating them in the quiet of my office.

While the unicorns hadn’t gotten through as many streamers, the pair had found the silver key. Jace pranced in place and swished his tail, a surefire sign the spunky little pony had forgotten himself and wanted to continue playing games. Mrs. Dr. Erik held up the key. “This one?”

“Indeed. You have fifteen minutes. Should you find the storage bin that key opens, you get to go through my motorcycle collection and select two, one for yourself and one for your partner.”

The news of a potential new vehicle was too much for Jace, who squealed and bucked in his general excitement.

I considered the room and its many storage bins, some of which held bodies, some of which had held the antidote, and all of which needed a key to open. The nearest wall held at least a hundred, and I wished the pair luck. They would need it—or they’d need a helpful entity to show them the way .

Cops helped each other, even when playing competitive games where victory went to only two.

If Jace didn’t get to take home a motorcycle of his own, he’d use sad pony eyes on us all for certain. The trick would be assisting them without getting caught.

“Do we get any clues?” Mrs. Dr. Erik asked, regarding the key with a scowl.

Miranda’s mother smiled. “You may ask a friend for help. But only one. Choose wisely.”

Without missing a beat, the black unicorn pointed at me. “Fetch, boy. I pulled your ass out of the fire. I want to take home a motorcycle to my husband tonight so he asks questions. When he asks questions, I might get a foal out of it.”

“Is that what they’re calling that nowadays?” I raised a brow at the woman. “Are you producing the foal or stealing one from someone else?”

“That depends on how good he is at asking questions.”

I laughed, well aware the pair loved having foals around and wouldn’t mind having another ten. “You just don’t want to run around this room while frantically trying to figure out where that key goes.”

She nodded. “I’m already tired from chasing streamers and making sure Jace didn’t stab any balloons with that horn of his. He was thinking about it, too.”

I pulled out my stones from my pocket, whistled, and concentrated on the key she held. Once aware of my magic seizing it, I said, “Let it go.”

She did, and it floated in the air.

I raised a brow at Miranda’s mother. “Ready when you are, ma’am. ”

She grinned, grabbed her drink, and lifted it to me in a salute. “May the best magicker win. Timer is starting now.”

I whistled, activated the stone I’d etched to detect the toxin, and took my time examining the storage bins. At first, every door glowed, and I chuckled at the choices before me: master key or obscuration? Either would do the trick.

However, much like I’d learned bodies remembered how organs should be, metals remembered contact with other metals, and I could trace where the key had last been used. Tossing all my stones into the air, I waited until they hovered around me before concentrating on the diamond with a fiery heart. Rather than ask it to incinerate anything to get in my way, I requested it pierce through any illusions that might try to bar me from finding the appropriate storage box.

Three walls of storage bins winked out, leaving me with an entire wall left to work with. “It’s a master key for that wall,” I announced, pointing at the appropriate storage bins.

Miranda’s mother laughed. “Well done, Detective Lovell. And it only took you thirty seconds to figure that out. Mrs. Dr. Erik, pick a bin, any bin—there’s no wrong answer, nor is there a right answer. They all contain mostly the same, although there is some variation to the contents.”

The black unicorn crossed the room, inserted the key in a hole at eye level, and opened it up. “Ah. The organs.”

“Yes. That wall contains all the viable organs for transplant. Each bin holds at least ten viable organs. Some hold as many as thirty. We have a doctor who is specialized in organ transplants, and he evaluated each one. We… properly handled the burial of the organs that could not be used or returned them to the body if available.”

“How does the stasis on these organs work? ”

“A good question. There is a coin attached to a string tied around the transport box. Once the string is severed, the reversal process begins. Touching the coin to the organ will completely remove the stasis. You must immediately begin the transplant upon reversal of stasis to keep the organ sound. We took an organ and tested it with one of my boys. A kidney. The procedure was a success, and the kidney is functioning.”

Mrs. Dr. Erik nodded. “A kidney is a small price to pay for the number of lives these will save. If your boy needs a follow up with us, send him to my hospital and tell them he has an unexpected appointment with Mrs. Dr. Erik regarding his new kidney. I’ll get him pushed into the first available spot.”

“That would be… appreciated. We don’t have the monitoring equipment we would like down here.”

“How long ago was the organ transplanted?”

“Two days ago. We didn’t want to send bad organs to a hospital. He’s in stable condition.”

Mrs. Dr. Erik made a thoughtful sound in her throat. “The transplant ward doesn’t have many cases right now, so just send him over now. I’ll call it in we have a kidney recipient coming in. I don’t suppose you have a liver from an AB-negative patient, do you?”

Miranda’s mother slid off her floaty, splashed into her pool, and waded to the edge before climbing out, heading to one of the nearby tables. While sipping at her drink, she went through a stack of papers before saying, “The box two to your right and three down has livers, and there are three from AB-negative donors. You’ll want the one listed as LV-42-AB-N if your recipient is a man; the donor was an orphaned serial killer. If you need it for a woman, you want LV-28-AB-N. She was a former member of Mercy who passed from a stroke, and they took all her organs. The size of the organ is listed on the box, but my surgeon said you unicorns can minimize rejection due to size and gender factors?”

“We can, but working with the best factors helps limit the risk of tissue rejection.” Mrs. Dr. Erik rummaged through the boxes within, and with reverent care, lifted one out. “There’s a young woman who direly needs this organ, and we figure we only have a few days to get her one before we lose her battle.”

Right. Life and death went on, and unlike me, who could take a few days to rest and recover following my accidental poisoning, the medical staff at both hospitals had to throw themselves back into the fray to continue saving as many lives as possible.

Miranda’s mother strolled over, smiled, and patted Mrs. Dr. Erik’s shoulder. “Why don’t you follow me, and we’ll get you on your new bike, and you can take that precious organ where it does the most good. I’m sure we can keep an eye on that pretty white unicorn—and a few of my boys will escort you to make certain you reach your hospital safe and sound. If you have an immediate need, our fun and games can wait for that.”

“And I’ll have to do the operation,” the black unicorn murmured.

“Yes, that’s the nature of your duty. And we will gloat over having used Mercy’s resources to save the lives they wish to take. It’s a good deal for everyone involved.”

“Smithson, shift and accompany her. Paul, go with them. ”

My partner scowled.

“Masoner, I can’t put Lovell on another bike yet. Dr. Erik will insert his hooves up my ass. You can ride circles around them, and we all know it. And if you’re really good, I’ll even negotiate with our host about buying the bike for you.”

“I will sell you his at cost,” Zenna offered.

“May accounting forgive me for this, but sold. Get on a bike and escort, Masoner. You can trumpet your anguish over being separated from your partners at the station.”

“You can even take the prizes with you. The silver key was the only thing needed right this moment. Just don’t lose anything, sweet Paul. They all have a purpose in our little game.”

“Stay out of trouble, Lovell,” my partner ordered.

I held my hands up in surrender. “I’ll do my best. I’m sure Grimstone and Dowdren can keep me from doing something you’ll regret.”

While skeptical, the elephant went. Miranda’s mother escorted them out, promised she’d return shortly, and that we should strategize how to break every balloon in the room in a hurry without the use of magic or shapeshifting.

Rather than do as told, I regarded Miranda. “Your mother is a terrifying woman, and I can fully understand why you might flee to elsewhere as a child. I think you should get to sleep on the couch with Pumpkin tonight as a consolation for having to deal with this.”

“She was nothing like this growing up, I swear!” Miranda’s eyes widened, and she stared at the kiddie pool. “I just can’t believe she kept that damned pool. I hated that thing.”

“Really? Why? ”

“She kept filling it with rubber balls rather than water, claiming I might drown if she took her eyes off me for a minute. And then she’d boobytrap the balls every time I went to play in it.”

“How would she boobytrap the balls?”

“It’s best if you don’t ask, but the time she used chocolate pudding convinced me I would never trust her and that damned pool again.”

“Are you going to get mad if I confess I think I actually like her?”

“Only if it’s all right for me to get mad at myself for being forced to like her right now,” she muttered.

“We can both be mad at ourselves tonight while I make us coffee and lament over the situation. In good news, I think I’m clear from having to deal with any more doctors today.”

“Those are famous last words, Lovell,” Captain Farthan warned.

On second thought, he made a good point. “I apologize, sir.”

“Grimstone, Dowdren, please keep an eye on Lovell and Miranda. For some reason, I suspect those two will be finding some way to be getting into trouble today.”

My fellow detectives snickered and promised they’d do their best.

Then we settled in to wait for Zenna’s return.