Bailey whinnied. “Feel that burn long time. Encore, encore!”
“The last thing we need is you burning anything. Let’s try to make it back to work without you giving our detective gray hair. One bucking incident is enough for today. Pretend you’re trying to show an angel how they should behave.”
Having seen an archangel in action, I appreciated Samuel’s phrasing. “I swear I’ve never smacked a real horse like that,” I said, fidgeting in the saddle.
Bailey turned her head so she could regard me with an eye. “Real horse no have rocks in head, so that good thing. My head? Many rocks. Deserve smacked between ears. If I buck you off, it hurt extra. Cindercorns buck much harder and higher than mere horse. Cop horse better trained,” she confessed. “You stay on, you good rider.”
I was? “I guess I did okay during mounted patrol training, but I was passed over.”
“You pass over because captain idiot. Eat idiot captain.”
Samuel heaved a sigh. “We’ve been over this before, Bailey. You can’t eat the captains who annoy you.”
“Stupid rules. Captains should be grateful I can’t eat them when they annoy me.”
“If you could eat the captains when they annoy you, we’d have no captains left. We’d probably have to promote your new detective due to the shortage of captains,” Samuel stated in a neutral tone.
I marveled over how well he controlled his tone.
Bailey gasped and stomped a hoof. “Mine!”
“Not if you eat all the captains.”
The cindercorn snorted. “Fine. I won’t eat the captains. Or buck. Or prance much.”
“Much implies you’re going to prance.”
“Ree-uh-liss-tic. Much excited, some prance. But less prance?”
“How about this, Bailey. If you manage to make it to the station without bucking or prancing, we’ll leave work right at five.”
Bailey flicked her ears forward. “Right at five?”
“Right at five. The kids will be with Lucifer or other members of our family for the rest of the week, too.”
Somehow, I kept from laughing over the absurdity of the situation.
“House almost empty. Just doohickeys left.”
“I may have planned a field trip for them. They’re going to several museums and won’t be home for a few days. The CDC is using it as a training experiment.”
Bailey snorted flame. “No doohickeys, no children?”
“The house will be empty,” he promised.
“I show angels how to be angels,” Bailey announced, and she stood more like a statue than a living being. “I will be the best cindercorn.”
I glanced at Alec and grinned before saying, “How does this compare to accounting, Mr. Mortan?”
“It’s crazy, but I think I like it.”
ChapterTen
HadBailey stopped to think about her shift for the day, she would have realized five was their scheduled time for departure. As I lacked enough information to appease myself, despite coming to the understanding solving the cases immediately wouldn’t change Alec’s circumstances, I decided to work late, maintaining the appearance I intended to leave at a reasonable time until the chiefs exited the building. As the cindercorn had managed to make it all the way back without prancing or attempting to buck me off, Samuel had taken her away from work temptations right at five.
That he had needed to toss her over his shoulder to get her to exit the building would amuse me for the rest of the night.
Either emboldened by the realization he held no true responsibility for the deaths surrounding him or he was simply tired of my company, Alec returned to his home, departing with one of the patrols heading in that general direction. Without an audience in my office, I could begin the real work, which involved sorting through the cases, populating my digital board, and prioritizing cases based on the probability of being able to solve them.
