In the office’s anteroom, Gale sat at their desk staring at a file with a deep frown. Today, their hair was artfully tousled across their forehead in pomaded curls that skirted the line between masculine and feminine especially when paired with a red gown trimmed in a military style. If Oliver hadn’t been exhausted beyond wanting to speak, he might have asked them how they made their hair look styled rather than sloppy; something he never managed without Gwen’s help. When Felipe cleared his throat, the secretary glanced up and nodded toward Head Inspector Williams’s office door without a word.
Taking a bracing breath, Oliver stepped into the head inspector’s spartan office. Unlike Gale’s domain, the head inspector preferred minimal décor or furniture. The room was paneled to resemble the inside of a captain’s quarters, and besides the desk and chairs, the only things of interest were a map of the city on the wall and a ship in a bottle whose tide was tied to the head inspector’s moods. Oliver’s attention hooked onto the frigate rolling on tiny waves as he crossed the room, trying to parse out what sort of mood their boss was in. It wasn’t until he was nearly standing on top of him that he realized Christopher Ansley was sitting in the chair Oliver usually took. Ansley quirked his lips and raised a blonde brow as Oliver jerked back as if he had been slapped and stumbled into Felipe. The smaller man steadied him as Oliver murmured a half-hearted apology.
“Take a seat, Barlow, or don’t. I don’t really care,” Head Inspector Williams grumbled as he looked between him and Ansley with something between annoyance and disinterest.
Stiffly sinking into the only unoccupied chair while Felipe stood between Oliver and Ansley against the wall, Oliver shot Ansley a sharp look as an indignant heat rose in his cheeks. How dare that man go to Head Inspector Williams after Oliver rebuffed him! He could only imagine what sorts of lies Ansley had conjured up to get him in trouble, but it didn’t have to be true, did it? Ansley was a decorated golden boy from the society’s highest branch while Oliver was a reclusive, basement-dwelling necromancer. Oliver knew where he stood, but if Ansley said anything to get Felipe in trouble or insinuated that their relationship at work was anything other than professional, he was going to throttle him.
The head inspector looked beneath his bushy grey brows at the men and let out a huff of breath. “Let’s cut to the chase. Galvan, Barlow, I read yourextensivereport last night, and your investigation conflicts with a higher priority case. For now, you will need to rethink your next steps with the Herman Judd investigation, and you arenotto go to the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul without Inspector Ansley’s permission or input.”
“What?” Oliver asked the same moment Felipe asked, “Why?”
Oliver stared at Ansley and realized he didn’t look smug; he looked as put-out as they did.
“Inspector Ansley, you want to tell them yourself?”
Clearing his throat, Ansley turned his full attention to Oliver and Felipe, and for once, he sounded like the seasoned investigator he supposedly was. “To be clear, nothing I say should leave this room. I have been sent by the Federal Branch to investigate the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul. We have been scrutinizing their funding along with their ‘methods’ for several years now. They have satellite rest centers in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Long Island under different names, but they are all tied by the same money and mission, hence why it has escalated to the Federal Branch. As much as I would love to stay out of your case, we’re finally making headway, and we can’t have you ruining the covert work we’ve done for the past few years by barging in and tipping them off that the Paranormal Society is once again looking at them more closely. Asking about a dead man sends the wrong message, even if they had nothing to do with it.”
“So what are we supposed to do in the meantime while Inspector Ansley wraps up his investigation? Any leads we have will run cold if we wait too long to speak with those closest to the deceased,” Felipe asked the head inspector. “Does his death not matter?”
Not to mention that they had no other leads, Oliver thought.
“You know I don’t like this any more than you do, Galvan, but there are two options. One, you pursue other avenues until Inspector Ansley wraps up his investigation, however long that may be. Two, you pick up another case. Or three, you all could try to work together to devise a plan in which everyone ends up with the information they need. Inspector Ansley would, of course, take the lead on that, and it would be at his discretion.”
“Absolutely not,” Oliver snapped before he realized he said it aloud.
Felipe cringed. Angry heat rose from Oliver’s cheeks to his ears as he crossed his arms, but he neither needed nor wanted Christopher Ansley in his life in any compacity.At his discretion, that was a laugh; they would be at Ansley’s mercy. It wasn’t fair that, that man got to stomp back into his life and make a mess of everything again.
Putting a steadying hand on Oliver’s shoulder, Felipe said cautiously, “What Dr. Barlow means is, is that really necessary? We want to confirm Mr. Judd’s employment, not interrogate the institute’s staff. It seems overkill to require us to get permission or collaborate with the Federal Branch when we only need to ask a few questions.”
“I think I know what Barlow meant,” the head inspector said, giving Oliver a flinty look. “I had hoped that working with Galvan would have sanded off some of your sharp edges, Barlow, but it appears to have had the opposite effect. If you want to be an investigator, you need to be able to work as a team, and that means working with whomever we need you to, to get the job done. Yourfeelingsabout the other person aren’t an excuse.”
At the finality of the head inspector’s tone, Oliver gritted his teeth and replied, “Understood. We will work with Inspector Ansley to figure out a solution.”
“Inspector Ansley?”
“That’s fine with me. I’m nothing if not flexible,” Ansley replied with a languorous smile.
“Good. Now, go talk amongst yourselves, and don’t do anything that brings the Federal Branch on our heads, or I’ll have your hides. That means no going rogue and talking to any of the institute’s staff outside of work without permission.”
“Yes, sir. We won’t do anything to jeopardize the case,” Felipe answered. “Come on, Oliver.”
Felipe took the head inspector’s dismissal and made for the door with Ansley right on his heels. When Oliver reached the threshold, Head Inspector Williams called him back inside and motioned for him to shut the door. Oliver swallowed against the knot in his throat. He hadn’t meant to say what he did aloud or hint at his and Ansley’s previous involvement, but his mouth had other plans. Even though the head inspector was sitting, the way he looked at Oliver as he stood before his desk made him feel two feet tall.
“I don’t know what’s going on between you and Inspector Ansley, nor do I want to, but keep your personal life out of this, Barlow. While you aren’t easily replaceable in the morgue, in the field is a different story. I’m still not convinced this scheme of yours will work for a multitude of reasons, but if you fuck this up, Iwillreassign Galvan to someone more capable. Got it?”
Oliver’s ribs tightened as the head inspector locked eyes with him. Nodding silently, Oliver slipped out the office door and numbly followed Felipe and Ansley toward the investigators’ rooms down the hall. No one but Gwen knew that Felipe Galvan was technically dead and had to be close to Oliver in order to stay alive. There was no way he could be reassigned without everyone finding out, unless Felipe quit, and that would create complications for Oliver as well. Biting his lip, Oliver tried to stuff his emotions down, so Felipe didn’t feel his mounting anxiety.
While there weren’t explicit rules against reanimation, they all knew what happened to those who went against the laws of nature. The reanimated and reanimator were swiftly—and harshly—dealt with. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t expose Felipe that way and ruin everything he had worked so hard for. He had to be the partner Felipe deserved, even if it meant putting up with Christopher Ansley for a time.
