He chuckled. “It’s not as big as a harvest moon or an eclipse celebration.” He smirked. “Many of the branches gather for those.”
“That would be a fuck no from me.” I raised my coffee cup. “I’m going to go get ready for my day and start my research.”
“Good luck Abigail. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He sipped his coffee, and I turned to walk off.
I walked back up the stairs to find Simon drying off from his shower. “I’m going to have a day of research ahead of me.”
He kissed my cheek as he walked by me to grab some clothes. “I have to check in on the clubs and make sure all the shifts are covered for tonight. I’ll pick you up this evening.”
I was looking forward to tonight, but work had to come first. “If something comes up, I’m not going to be able to go.”
“I know, but I’m trying to be optimistic about it.” He laughed and pulled his clothes on.
I watched him for a moment. At the very start of our romantic relationship, we couldn’t find that balance of life and work. It seemed now we just kind of fell into an easy routine of it all. He came up and kissed me. “I’ll see you later.”
I returned the kiss, and he squeezed my hand, taking a deep breath. “I love you, Abigail.”
My heart stopped for a moment at his words. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to hear, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. “I love you too,” slipped out of my mouth, and it felt right. Almost like a weight was lifted off me.
He smiled and kissed me again. “I’ll be back later.”
“Not like I can go anywhere. My car is still sitting in PIB’s parking lot.”
He cringed. “That’s right. I’ll see if Travis made any progress on it.”
“Thanks, I’m glad I’m not going to have to have it towed.”
He chuckled and left the room. I waited until I heard the faint sound of the alarms system being disarmed and him leaving.
He loved me.
Through all the craziness.
He loved me.
#
I finished getting ready for the day and settled in the living room with coffee to get to work. I logged in to my computer and tried to access the PIB database.
I was denied.
Frowning, I double-checked that I hadn’t miskeyed anything.
Still denied.
I paused for a moment. I grabbed my phone and texted O’Donald. ‘Did you freeze my PIB login information?’
‘Yes, you’re on vacation.’
I tried not to shoot him back a nasty text, but I refrained. I’d done a PIB case without resources before. I could do it again.
‘I’m looking out for you’ came through a moment later.
It didn’t seem like looking out to me. It seemed like he was trying to keep me out of PIB. Because something was going on.
I pressed my lips together and forced myself to type back ‘okay.’
So, I didn’t have PIB database to depend on. I did the next best thing and pulled up Google.
Oliver would get to me when he could on the phone number. Until then, I’d work on the case with Mason.
I threw the case details that I had into Google and scrolled through the results. There wasn’t a whole lot there to go off of. Some rumors from overseas, a couple urban legends, but nothing solid.
After wading through several different pages, I came across one that caught my attention. ‘Do you want to live forever?’ was the tag line on it.
I clicked on it, and it brought me to a poorly made website with a black and red color scheme that burned my eyes. I clicked on the flashing red ‘enter’ button and waited for some cheesy pitch at becoming a vampire.
What I got was totally different.
The black and red melted away to reveal a white and yellow color scheme that was a little bit easier on the eyes. The header text read:
Then confess to Jesus and take him into your heart.
Not what I was expecting, for sure, but I had to admit it was pretty good to snag younger kids who would have typed in how to live forever or how to become a vampire.
I shook my head and closed out the website. Silly of me to think that someone would have put their crime up on the internet. Most criminals weren’t that stupid.
My phone rang, and I shut the laptop and grabbed it. Mason’s name flashed on the screen.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I need you at South Memorial Hospital.” His voice left no room for argument.
“I’ll get there as soon as I can.” I put my laptop on the table and got up to put my shoes on.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Bring a guard.”
The phone disconnected, and I frowned. It wasn’t like Mason to encourage me to bring someone with, but I’d listen because he was there, and I was not.
Of course, my daytime guards were either MIA or dealing with their own things today. “Merick, you still here?” I called as I tied my shoes.
“Yes, what’s up?” He walked into the room.
“I need you by my side. Simon is out doing pre-full moon stuff, and Liz is MIA. Mason told me to bring someone.”
Merick nodded. “Okay, let’s go then. Where are we going?”
“South Memorial.”
He held his hand out to me, and I grabbed it. I wasn’t strong enough with the transportation spell to go that far yet.
My house swirled away to be replaced by the alley between the hospital and the parking garage. Merick and I headed into the building to find Detective Mason standing there talking to the lady at the front desk.
“No one but Abigail Collins and me are allowed in
