“The question is,” Doc said, interrupting our verbal sparring. “Does Masterson realize that particular imp came from his building, or can he just pick up their scent in general?”
Cooper did a double take. “You think there are more of these creatures out there?”
“Violet, tell Coop the story your aunt shared about Reid and the old school building years ago.”
I filled Cooper in on how Reid had unknowingly picked up some kind of imp in an old school, like a tick, and didn’t realize it was draining him of energy until he stopped by Aunt Zoe’s place, where she caught sight of it in a special mirror in her dining room. She’d trapped it and destroyed it in her glass furnace, warning me after her story about how much trouble imps could cause if allowed to roam free.
Cooper sighed, scrubbing his hands down his face. Unfortunately, his haggard look didn’t wipe away. “Have I told you two how fucked up all of this is?”
“Sure, multiple times,” Doc said. “Sometimes you bitch and moan about it several times a day.”
Cooper aimed a mock glare at Doc. “Kiss my ass, Nyce.”
“Not even with somebody else’s lips,” he shot back with a smile.
“Do you think I could go down there and look around the crime scene?” I asked, leaning against Doc’s desk. “You know, since I’m the only one around who can actually see the imp.”
Doc rubbed his short beard. “I’d bet that Masterson can probably see it, too.”
I nodded. “Maybe that’s why he was there.” I wondered if he’d seen anything Cooper and the others couldn’t. “Did he look at the security video?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Maybe I can just look at the tape,” I suggested.
“Let me think about it, Parker. I’m not sure I can get you anywhere near this without raising the wrong eyebrows.”
I huffed. “Like Detective Hawke’s, you mean?”
“For one, yes. Masterson’s, for another. Do you really want him to know that you are the one who freed his pet?”
Cooper had a good point. “So, how can we catch it?”
“That’s the real trick,” Doc said. “Being that very few can probably actually see the damned thing.”
“I don’t have time for this,” I muttered. “First a freaking lidérc, then a Duzarx, and now this. Dominick should have warned me he was hiding an imp in that building.”
“Are we sure he was the one who was hiding it?” Doc threw out.
“Face it, Parker.” Cooper rose from his chair. “You’ve screwed up again. Who knows how much trouble this little shit will cause before it’s over?”
I wrinkled my upper lip at him. “You shouldn’t have opened the thing’s cage. But, oh no, Detective Cooper stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong … again.”
“Pointing fingers isn’t going to solve anything,” Doc said to the two of us. “What’s done is done. Let’s focus on fixing the problem.”
He was right. “I’ll figure out what to do about this,” I told them both. “I just need to come up with a plan.”
Cooper smirked. “The same way you’re going to figure out how to catch a lidérc?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, Cooper. So stuff that in your big bazoo and blow it.”
He looked at Doc. “I’m going to go back to my office now and file a report on your girlfriend’s latest ‘oopsie-daisy.’ ” He set the button down on Doc’s desk. “In the meantime, Parker, try not to set any other imps, Hungarian devils, or nock-flesh-eaters free.”
“Nachzehrer,” I corrected him, referring to the creature from German folklore that supposedly was similar to a vampire, only it ate human flesh instead of drinking blood. “And I had nothing whatsoever to do with those two undead ghouls running around here.”
I hoped there were only two, but according to my aunt, two could become four or eight or more if they were hungry enough and started chewing on more fresh corpses.
“Like I said.” Cooper zipped his coat with a hard tug. “This is some fucked-up shit.” With a two-finger salute for Doc and a hard glare at me, Cooper left, closing the door behind him.
I dropped into the chair Cooper had vacated. “He’s a broken record, but he’s right. This is a big mess that just keeps getting worse. Now what?”
Doc shrugged. “We persevere.”
“Persevere, yeah right.” I thought of my well-filled Executioner to-do list, along with the tall stack of my other problems that was on the verge of tipping over. “These days, it feels like if I try hard enough for long enough, I’ll pretty much screw up everything.”
Doc smiled. “When it comes to you, Killer, perseverance is more like stubbornness with a purpose.” He pushed back his chair and stood. “Now, I believe you have something to give me that you withheld last night.”
“Oh no, big boy. I offered it out there for you with bells and tassels dangling from it, but you were too busy holding hands and skipping with Mr. Sandman to see it.”
I shifted in the chair, settling into the only source of warmth Cooper had left behind after blasting me with his freeze-ray glare yet again.
“Well, I’m not busy now, Boots.” Doc walked over to the door. He clicked the deadbolt and pulled the shades, shutting out the rest of the world.
Alone. Finally.
I closed my eyes and tried to relax my shoulders. For a moment—this moment—I wanted to sink into the quiet bliss that filled me when I was with Doc …
Criminy! How was I going to find that damned lidérc, let alone catch it?
I heard the floorboards creak as Doc walked to the front windows. The blinds clattered as he closed them, then the darkness behind my eyelids intensified. I took a deep breath, shaking my hands loose. Come on, if I could just let everything else go …
And now I had Cooper’s tail all puffed up about this freaking imp mess, dammit!
I blew out the breath, trying to center my focus on Doc—the spicy scent of skin when I buried my face in his neck; the
