“Thank you, Detective Ames. I appreciate your time.”
“I should be thanking you. If we verify that those are indeed Larry Christian’s remains, then you’ve found two of our missing persons and closed two cases that were well on their way to being cold. I just don’t understand how both of our victims wound up in Mississippi. Nothing came up in either investigation that would connect them to anyone in the state.”
I didn’t fault Detective Ames. I got the feeling she could have looked until she was ready to drop from exhaustion and never found a damn thing linking our Ohio victims to Mississippi. “And I doubt you ever will, no matter how long or hard you search.”
Quiet filled the line until Detective Ames asked, “What do you know?”
“Too damn little. Only that I have twelve victims from six different states with absolutely no known ties to Mississippi or our dump site. You’re not the only one floundering here.”
A long, deep sigh filtered through our connection. “I don’t envy you, Detective O’Hare.”
I grunted. “That makes two of us.” I could also include the other officers of the law I’d spoken to in the past two hours. They could easily make up a “Thank God we’re not Franklin O’Hare” club. Depending on what they charged for membership, they could probably at least afford a decent meeting room with a fair amount of snacks and quality liquor.
“I’d appreciate being kept in the loop,” Detective Ames requested.
“I’ll do my best. At the very least, I promise to send a summary of my final report. I know what it’s like dealing with the grieving loved ones. Sometimes, closure is all we can offer.”
Another sigh. “There’s not a lot of grieving regarding Mr. Christian. Our female victim, Jolene Bailey, is a different matter. Thank you again. Take care, and keep in touch.”
“I’ll do my best,” I promised before ending the call.
Leaning into my chair, I slid down and rested my head on the back, staring at the water-stained ceiling. Hands resting on my abdomen, my gritty eyes itched something fierce. I refused to rub them and make the situation worse. It was slowly becoming a psychological game of torture.
“I thought I told you to get some rest,” Captain Cicely said. I wasn’t sure when she arrived. There was a fair chance I’d even fallen asleep for a precious few minutes. “Obviously, you didn’t do as ordered as you look even worse than yesterday. You can’t keep running on fumes, O’Hare.”
Losing the battle with my eyes, I furiously rubbed them while sitting up straighter. The yawn that cracked my jaw made a popping noise. Twisting my head from side to side, I popped a couple of joints in my neck and shoulders for good measure.
My musical joints brought a grin to Captain Cicely’s face. “You sound like an octogenarian, O’Hare.”
“Pretty sure I feel like one too.” I honestly had no idea. I really hoped this wasn’t how I was going to feel at eighty. If so, it was going to royally suck.
Inhaling deeply, Captain Cicely tapped one of her nails against my desk. “What gives? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
I glanced around the room, making sure we were outside of prying ears. If the precinct weren’t full of humans, all bets would be off. “In my defense, Boone and I went home last night with every intention of getting naked and—”
“I do not need to know the details, O’Hare.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough, but that’s not really where I was going. I think both of us were too tired to engage in extracurricular activities. We were simply planning on cuddling and sleeping until dawn.”
Captain Cicely ran her gaze up and down my rumpled body. “Obviously, that’s not what happened.”
I cringed. “No. It’s not.” Checking again that we were alone, I told the captain what transpired. To her credit, Captain Cicely managed not to vomit when I told her Boone and I’d been visited by yet another djinn—the very first djinn at that.
“Sweet Gaia.” Captain Cicely looked down and away. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“You’re not alone.” I went on to let her know what we discussed with Ajita, minus some particular thoughts regarding how toinactivatea shadow borne. I still thought it was possible that Huxley couldn’t get in Boone’s house any longer. If that were the case, then he didn’t know about Ajita’s theory, and I had no intention of letting that cat out of the bag if he happened to be lingering around the edges of the precinct.
Hands splayed to the side, I finished with “Boone and I didn’t get a lot of sleep after that.”
“Understandable.” Captain Cicely’s tapping fingers picked up speed. “I wish there was something more I could do. This casecouldn’t have come at a worse time. You’ve got enough on your plate without having to weed through this mess. If I had anyone else I could give it to—”
“I know.” We were a small community, and our resources were limited. It was part of the appeal and why I’d settled here to begin with. “I’ll manage.”
Captain Cicely stood, her palm on my shoulder as her fingers squeezed tight. “I know you will. I just wish you didn’t have to. Let me know if there’s anything you need from me.”
I listened to the captain’s quiet footsteps as she left my area, heading back to her office. My gaze tracked to the open folder sitting on my desk, papers scattered around it along with hastily scribbled notes. The captain was right, this clusterfuck of a case really couldn’t have come at a worse time. It was taking up all my available mental space, leaving little room for anything else.
That was the shitty aspect of the job. Murderers weren’t the most considerate individuals in the world. They didn’t worry about the impact their actions had on an investigator’s private life, the inconsiderate assholes.
