The chief grinned. “I’ll come back with where you’ll be staying tonight, and I’ll make sure you have clean clothes for tomorrow. We have a system. One of the ladies will stop by to get your sizes and make sure you have everything you need to be comfortable on your first real day.”
“Thank you, Samuel, sir.”
“Glad to help. Nilman will be around most of the night, so if you have any issues, go see him. You’ll see Nilman a lot, as he’s usually partnered with Officer Perkins. Right now, we’re on split shifts because of this mass murderer or serial killer case, and Nilman’s wife is out of town, so he can afford to lose some sleep. If he finds anything new on those cases, he’ll come find you.”
“Excellent. I’ll get started on this, then.”
“One last thing. What do you want for dinner? Some soup will be served because Bailey believes soup can cure anything.”
“Something good and hot with a side of something I can claim is healthy. I’m not picky, and I don’t have any allergies. I also have no idea what’s good around here.”
“I’ll order from the Chinese place down the street. Are you vegan or vegetarian?”
“I’m not.”
“I will return with your reservation and your supper, and when it’s time for me to take Bailey home, you can take some pictures when I toss her over my shoulder because she gets embarrassed if I carry her like a princess.”
“How is being tossed over your shoulder not embarrassing?”
“Apparently, I’m so manly when I do it she breaks something in her head and forgets she gets embarrassed. I’ve learned to just not ask.”
“What about the situation with the pineapples and your daughter?”
“Ah, Beauty will be fine. I asked my grandfather, and if gorgons don’t get enough of a certain vitamin, pineapple and some fruits can become problematic. Bailey is being assertive, so I’m pretending I don’t know what’s going on while happening to mystically acquire the appropriate vitamin, which will be slipped to our daughter along with a lecture she needs to eat more and stare less at her food.”
“And what about the person I’m supposed to investigate?”
“Oh, him. He’s our main witness for the murders, and honestly, I’m concerned he’s one of the targets. So far, he’s witnessed at least twenty of them, and the poor guy is going to need some serious therapy to get over it. He was at the steamroller incident this morning on his way to work, and the steamroller kept popping up and killing pedestrians. After we put up the bulletin, he called the non-emergency line and told us he’d witnessed it. His name is Alec Mortan, and he’s with a therapist right now. We haven’t questioned him yet, mainly because when my grandfather suggests to get the witness into therapy before having you investigate him, I listen. I’m considering witness protection for him, but we might settle with a hotel—perhaps a room next to yours. That would make you accessible to keep an eye on him.”
“Connecting?” I asked.
“I will ask the hotel if they have one. That should keep me busy until it’s time to take the firestarter home so she can sleep off her most exciting day. I am sorry she teleported you that many times. I didn’t think the coffee would bethatbad.”
“It didn’t bother me.”
“Right. Speaking of which, that just got you a free ride to a magic evaluation, courtesy of the CDC, because I’m the only other person who can tolerate a lot of her jumps, and I’m up there on the charts. Your academy records say you passed the basic aptitude tests for being up to a detective, but there was no mention of your official test results.”
“I couldn’t afford the official tests,” I admitted. “And since I was already grateful enough to make the cut, I figured I could get tested later.”
“Well, as the CDC wants to know how Bailey ticks and why so few can tolerate riding her when she teleports, you’ll get an all-expenses paid test, and it’ll be official so you can use it for work. We’ll take care of it after you’ve had time to settle here. I’ll leave you to your work. If you need anything, find Nilman. If Bailey does something I’ll regret, come find me. Otherwise, try not to stress too much on your first day. Tomorrow, the rodeo truly begins.”
ChapterFour
I spentseveral hours registering the cases in my new murder board and recording case numbers on my digital whiteboard before calling it quits and heading to the hotel a few minutes away. As Nilman didn’t want either chief to freak out over the idea of me driving after a long day, he dropped me off at the hotel with a promise to have somebody pick me up in the morning.
In retrospect, I should have realized I would end up riding a cindercorn to work again, although judging from the larger size, I’d gotten Chief Samuel Quinn instead of his wife. “Is Bailey all right?”
“Bailey is in a state I can only describe as partially comatose,” Samuel replied shaking his head. “I carried her into our office, put her on the couch, and upon hearing you needed a ride to work, decided to give you a more traditional trip, as I’d already sent the patrols out for today and didn’t have any spares. It’s busy today.”
Uh oh. When the chief claimed it was busy, I imagined the apocalypse unfolding in our precinct. “What happened?”
“Two more murders, and our traumatized witness is in your office with one of the other cops because he’s rattled. I can’t say I blame him for being rattled. I thought the steamroller yesterday was bad.”
“What happened today?”
“Defenestrations onto fences. One was a wrought-iron fence, a second was onto a glass-topped stone wall, and the third was onto a concrete median with a steel decorative fencing. That one was impressive, as the median was over twenty feet from the edge of the building. The defenestrations occurred in Lower East Side, but we have jurisdiction despite it not happening in our precinct. In a way, I’m glad we overhauled jurisdiction for the chiefs; it lets me pluck cases from various precincts and move them to ours. This case would have become a true nightmare if all the involved precincts had to handle the cases individually.”
As the chief had run down the street to pick me up, I wasted no time stuffing my foot into the stirrup and mounting. “How long does it take you to make the run?”
