“That’s a demigod?”
“Not anymore,” I admitted. Morrison scowled at the body.
“What happened?”
I groaned. “I’ll put it in my report. That’s what I’m supposed to say, right? I’ll put it in my report?”
Morrison frowned magnificently at me. “You’re sure that’s him?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said in a chorus with Gary. We exchanged weary grins that nearly turned into exhausted giggles before I pulled myself back together. “Suzanne Quinley just walked away on her own.” I had to stare hard at Morrison to keep my thoughts in order. “Her whole family’s dead. Somebody should get her.”
Morrison’s mouth thinned as he looked to where I gestured, then turned away briefly, calling, “Gonzalez! She’s that way.”
Jen Gonzalez came out of the dark and jogged across the Center grounds after Suzy. Morrison and I both watched her, before he looked back at me. “Her aunt lives in Olympia. Gonzalez called her. She’s on her way.” He hesitated a moment before adding, “Suzy’ll be okay.”
I dropped my chin to my chest. Jen’d come through for a girl who wasn’t missing and Morrison was enough on top of the details to be able to reassure me. I was wary of saying thanks, out of fear I might fall apart. Instead I swallowed and nodded. “Can we go back to the station so I can fill out whatever paperwork I need to fill out, and go sleep for a week?”
Morrison thrust his chin out. “Is it your fault all the lights went out?”
“…probably.”
“Care to tell me how you managed to keep power going at hospitals and emergency services and nowhere else?”
I lifted my head and stared at him for a tremendously long time. “No,” I finally said, but I smiled. “No, I don’t care to tell you that at all. Neat trick, though, huh?”
Morrison scowled some more. “Yeah. It was.” He struggled with the next words for a few moments, looking as if he was trying to find a way not to say them: “Good job.” He gave me one sharp little nod, then flared his nostrils. “Get your ass in the car, Walker, and get back to the station. I want to know what happened here.”
I took a couple steps, then paused and looked back at him. “Isn’t that, ‘Get your ass in the car, Officer Walker’?”
Morrison glared hard enough to set my hair on fire. Thank heavens he didn’t have my exciting new power set. “Get your ass in the car, Officer Walker, you…” He trailed off, unable to come up with sufficient invective to describe me.
Grinning, I got my ass in the car, and fell asleep on the way back to the station. There was a hell of a lot waiting for me just on the other side of sleep, but I pushed it away. For a few minutes, at least, I figured I deserved to be satisfied with saving the girl and stymieing Morrison. The rest of the world could wait until tomorrow.
I was pretty sure it would.
