“Oliver, I don’t think—”
“Think of it this way, a surgeon has to cut a patient open to remove a tumor that will kill them. They have to hurt them in order to help them get better, but they have to be careful and remove only the piece that has gone wrong because if they do too much, they could harm their patient. Sometimes the world is like that.”
“I’m not sure if killing in moderation is something I should be proud of.”
“It isn’t about killing. You don’t only kill things. You also bring people in, and the society tries to make things better for them to keep them from doing things that send investigators after them. Your whole job is about harm reduction. We’re all trying to do what’s best with the knowledge we have. What I know of you is that you would never intentionally hurt me or others unless you had to. You didn’t believe all the things people said about me, so why believe them about yourself?”
Felipe shut his eyes, hating the quaver in his voice. “I don’t want to be that person anymore.”
“You don’t have to be. Whomever you want to be going forward, I’ll be there with you. Remember, you’re stuck with me.”
Folding into Oliver’s arms, Felipe let his lover hold him until the hollow feeling inside him subsided. He didn’t care about Christopher Ansley’s asinine comments, but he would hate to see the look on Teresa’s face if she knew all he had done. She would probably never look at her papa the same way again. He could barely look at himself after he hurt Oliver. When Felipe let out a sigh and leaned back, Oliver kissed his cheek and tidied his clothes.
“Just so you know, I did not invite that horrid man in here. He let himself in, much to my dismay.”
“Well, the one upside of being feared is that he probably won’t bother you again, though if you do want to have a beer with him—”
“Absolutely not.”
Felipe laughed. “Just know, I wouldn’t stop you if you changed your mind.”
“I can’t imagine I will. Did I tell you I think I know what killed Mr. Judd?”
“No, what?”
Holding up the book resting on the bench, Oliver tapped a drawing of fern-like markings running down a man’s arm. “Electricity, though I need to examine him again. If it was lightning, I didn’t see an exit wound, and he had two different marks from strong electric shocks. Being struck twice by lightning is odd, but not impossible.”
“Could they be from getting zapped by a wire?”
“I mean, you certainly could be killed that way, but the markings are typically from lightning.”
“And we haven’t had a storm here in months.”
“I know, and these can’t be old because they disappear with time. I can’t fully explain it yet, but that’s the conclusion I have so far.”
Felipe nodded and offered Oliver his notebook. “I was actually coming to see you because I think I found Mr. Judd’s employer. Have you heard of it?”
“The Institute for the Betterment of the Soul. No, I’ve never heard that name before. It isn’t on my list of hospitals and mortuaries, but I don’t usually deal with small practices and clinics.”
“I have the address, so we can stop by tomorrow and see if we have the right place, and if so, we can find out how long Mr. Judd was employed with them.” Prodding the bag of dirt by the alley door with the toe of his boot, Felipe added, “Oh, on my way to the library, I ran into Head Inspector Williams. He wants a status report for Mr. Judd’s case as well as whatever notes we have so far.”
Oliver couldn’t be too mad. He had forgotten to finish typing up the official copies of their case notes the previous day, but some things were worth being a little behind for. The head inspector didn’t love Oliver’s detailed notes, but if it was going to go into the official file, he was going to make sure it had every detail a future investigator could need should the case be reopened. He hated the cryptic, scant missives he found in the archives when researching past cases. Without context, they were useless.
Retreating to his desk, Oliver set his and Felipe’s notes side-by-side and let his mind fall into rhythm with the steady click of the typewriter. Distantly, he was aware of Felipe sorting through the sack of Judd’s grave dirt in the alleyway, but his mind kept filtering through the case. With every word stamped upon the page, Oliver felt the pieces of Herman Judd’s life shift into place and expand out like a web before him.
***
FELIPE BIT BACK A GROANas he and Oliver trudged up the steps from the basement to their apartment. Hunching over the bag of grave dirt for hours had been a mistake. Gone were the days when he could sleep on a hard sofa or contort himself like a pretzel and instantly recover. All he wanted was to stretch out on the bed and have Oliver rub the knots from his lower back, and if that led to more, he wouldn’t complain.
As they turned the corner, Oliver stopped so fast Felipe nearly walked into him. “Is that Teresa?”
Standing in front of their apartment door was his daughter in a teal walking dress with her hair pulled up under a smart black hat. In all her nineteen years of life, she had been to the Paranormal Society only a handful of times and never alone. He, Louisa, and Agatha had kept her mostly out of the society for her safety and to ensure she had the chance to decide for herself if she wanted to be involved. The artists and actors that flitted through Louisa and Agatha’s social circle all had powers of some sort, so while magic had always been a part of Teresa’s life, she had chosen to go to art school instead of working at the society. Felipe’s pulse kicked up. It didn’t make sense that she would be lingering outside their door unless something had happened.
“Teresa, honey, what are you doing here? Is everything all right?” Felipe asked, struggling to keep the fear from his voice.
His daughter’s face brightened as she darted down the hallway to meet them and took Felipe’s hand. “Oh, everything is fine, Papa. I just came to see you.”
When Felipe gave her a quizzical look, she added, “I wanted to surprise you, like you would do for me when I was a little girl. You know, when you would show up outside my school to pick me up instead of Ma Ma and you would take me to the museum or out for a treat.” Hugging Felipe’s arm, she peered at Oliver behind him. “I hope you don’t mind me stealing him away for a little bit, Dr. Barlow.”
