I was rehearsing what I was going to say as I stepped out of the elevator. I didn’t notice the ginger standing there until he was in my way. I looked up, surprised anyone would have the balls to come this close to me. He was completely covered in freckles. Although the pink whales stitched into his navy-blue button-down shirt drew the eyes away from his freckles. I stepped back.
He was wearing suspenders. He was my age and he was wearing suspenders. What the hell was up with that?
He looked vaguely familiar. I thought I might’ve seen him around the precinct before—by the records room maybe?—but obviously I’d never talked to him. Until now.
The guy gave me a nervous smile and held out his hand. “Hey there. I’m Ralph the intern. You must be Charles.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Given that only four people have been cleared to use this elevator and I’m not old or a girl…yes, I must be.” I didn’t like this. At all. Why wasn’t he cowering in fear or avoiding me altogether?
“Right.” Ralph dropped his hand. He glanced at something over my shoulder before looking at me again. “Is Jasmine okay?”
My hackles rose. Metaphorically speaking, of course. “She’s fine. What’s it to you?”
“Hey, man, take it easy,” Ralph murmured, shuffling back a bit. I saw his socks poking out from under his khakis. They had whales on them too. “She hasn’t visited her birdhouse in a while and the last few times I’ve seen her roaming the precinct she’s seemed preoccupied.”
I clenched my fists, forcing myself to be completely still despite the rage burning through my body. “Are you stalking her?”
Ralph’s eyes bulged. His freckles seemed to pop as the little color in his skin drained away. “What? No! No, it’s nothing like that.” He frantically waved his hands at me. “We bumped into each other once and talked for, like, two minutes. She seemed really cool, just sad. I thought maybe she could use a friend.”
I squinted at him, not buying it for a second.
“I kept meaning to approach her again but my boss was hovering for a while and then I got buried with new records to scan. I saw her walking out of the interrogation room with you yesterday, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to interrupt you guys. So today, when I finally got a break, I thought…”
He sighed. Shook his head. “I’m not an idiot. I promise. I know the contract says I’m not supposed to approach her. I just wanted to make sure she was okay.” He summoned an uneasy smile. “And you just said she was okay so I guess that takes care of that. Thanks. I’ll leave you alone now.”
Ralph turned on his heel and walked away, shoulders scrunched up by his ears, which were turning redder than his hair.
I watched him until he ducked down the hall, heading back toward the records room. I’d have to run a background check on Ralph the Intern. And I should probably scold the crap out of Jazz for talking to him. But first things first. Shaking off the residual suspicion and defensiveness I felt, I marched off to find my uncle.
Chapter 32
Jasmine
I told Anthony everything I’d told Charlie, but he still didn’t seem satisfied. He asked me to go over everything I’d read in Angela’s journal, to see if maybe there was something we were missing, some connection between the third immortal couple and the Salamander that I might’ve missed. Which was so unlike him. He didn’t usually get involved in the cases we helped Uncle Victor solve. Granted, this was by far the strangest and most interesting case we’d ever had to work on, but still. Angela’s diary wasn’t thin and I’d read through most of it. It was a lot of memories to sift through.
“Maybe we could just go through the entries that mention this third couple,” my doctor said when I pointed this out. He took the journal from me and thumbed through it. “If we made copies of those pages, we could—”
“Sorry, Tony. Angela said the journal was only for me and Charlie.” I gently took the book back from him. “I’ll just tell Uncle Victor everything I remember and see if he can make any connections. Thanks, though.”
Anthony licked his lips apprehensively. “Very well.” Then he smiled and stood. “Are you feeling well enough to deliver those welcome baskets you’ve been working on for the new hires? Your uncle is busy but I’d be happy to walk around the precinct with you and deliver them.”
Why was he acting so weird? I pursed my lips and thought it through.
In the earlier years, when Anthony had still been married, he’d come over early to play teacher and then leave after the customary eight hours were up. He’d only come back if I died. But then he got divorced. He gradually started spending more and more time here, to the point where he was here when I woke up and left only after he’d reviewed my homework and eaten dinner with us.
The thing about partial custody was that Anthony couldn’t just show up at his ex-wife’s house and hang out with his sons whenever he wanted. There were set days and times when they could visit. He put on a brave face, but going from a full house to an empty one couldn’t have been easy. At least he’d had us to fill the void.
I grimaced, realizing too late what I’d
