“Seriously, I feel like every time I sneeze, I have to inform the council.” I cleared my throat and used my best Mario voice, “Princess Abigail sneezed, I am worried she’s getting a cold.”
Simon let out a huge laugh. “Princess Abigail looks tired, perhaps she needs a nap?”
I rolled my eyes and nudged him. “Princess Abigail could use a nap, but pizza first and then we’ll watch a movie.”
“And you’ll pretend like you’re paying attention when we snuggle.”
“And then I’ll fall asleep. Like always.”
He smiled and kissed me. It was such a boring routine, but it was ours, and if Liz didn’t call and interrupt, it would go just as we said.
I finished my pizza and then snuggled into Simon. He wrapped an arm around me as we flicked on the television. The first thing that popped on was the news.
The news anchor sat poised at her desk, her face a careful blank mask. “PIB was on the scene just a few minutes after a passerby discovered the bloody scene.”
The camera image showed a home. I could see Mason and Liz with their backs to the cameras as they talked to two officers that were facing them.
I frowned. I wanted to be there. I wanted to know what was in that house. I didn’t want to be on fucking desk duty.
Simon squeezed me. “If you want to go, I understand.”
“Oh, I want to.” I gave a snort. “But I’d lose my job if I did.”
He took the remote from my hand and flipped the TV over to a streaming service. “Then push it out of your mind, and let’s watch a movie.”
I let out a sigh, but then snuggled into him and pulled the blanket down over me. “Fine.”
He wrapped his arm back around me and picked a movie from my watch list. “It’s okay to relax sometimes,” he whispered to me.
I knew it was, but lately, it was hard to give myself permission to do that. I watched the screen as the movie started to play across it. Eventually, I felt myself relax into Simon, and my eyes started to close.
This was good.
This was normal, and I needed normal right now.
When morning came, I found myself in my bed. Next to me, the sheets were still warm, and I could smell Simon on them. The smell of the forest and rain. I smiled as I snuggled into the blankets until another scent crossed my nose.
Coffee.
I pulled myself out of bed and wandered into the hallway and down the stairs to find Simon, Merick, and Liz, all standing around the breakfast bar. I frowned until Simon gave me a mug of coffee.
“Sorry, had I known you were down here, I would have changed into clean clothes,” I muttered as I sipped the coffee.
Liz gave a small smile. “I didn’t mean to barge in.” She looked like she hadn’t slept most of the night. “I wanted to pass something by Merick before I went into the office, and I wasn’t comfortable discussing it over the phone.”
I settled onto one of the stools and looked at Merrick. “Cult related?”
He shook his head. “Case related. She wanted to see if I knew the symbols found at the scene.”
I didn’t miss that he said symbols, not runes. Runes carried power, symbols did too, but not always. “Can I see?”
Liz nodded. “Yeah, before we get to the office. O’Donald wants me to keep you out of this case if I can, but I want your backup on research at least.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Does he just expect me to go through paperwork?”
“Yes. This is a high-profile case anyways, and I don’t think he wants Stephanie to catch wind that you’re on it as well.”
I blew out a huff of air. “Fine. I’ll try to stay out of it.”
She pulled out her phone and clicked a few things before sliding it over to me. I sat my mug down and picked up her phone.
The picture was a close up of some circle with random symbol scribbled inside, almost as if trying to summon something, but there were no runes there to add power to the circle. They were painted with shaky lines, almost like the person barely had enough strength to hold the brush right. “I don’t know that circle.”
“Me either, but I haven’t had a chance to run it through the database yet.”
I went to slide to the next photo, but she grabbed it from my hand. “I can’t let you see anything else.”
I wanted to stomp my foot like a child, but instead, I held my hands up. “Okay, fine. If you need help, let me know. Until then, I’m going to shower and get ready for my day. I’m sure there’s a mound of paperwork on my desk.”
Liz sighed. “Abby, I’m sorry.”
“I know. It’s okay. It’ll blow over, and things will get better. Until then, I’ll muddle through paperwork.” As well as work on my mother’s case. We knew who put the order in, we knew who executed the kill, but we hadn’t really figured out why.
Liz nodded. “I’ll stop by and grab you some coffee to cheer you up, but first, I have to go meet O’Donald out at the scene.”
That made me pause mid-sip. “What is he doing out on the field?”
“Like I said, it’s a high-profile case. He wants to make sure we don’t fuck it up.”
Well, wasn’t that interesting? Boss Man rarely micromanaged, but O’Donald seemed to like checking in on everyone. Maybe it was because he was new to our location. Maybe it was because he didn’t trust us.
Or maybe it was exactly like Liz said, and it was because it was a high-profile case. “Okay, good luck.”
She
