Felipe swallowed against the knot in his throat and nodded. No more secrets: about the hunger or this. If he wanted Oliver to be honest with him, he had to do the same, no matter the consequences. He might be turning, he might be changing the way Oliver feared, but he had to tell Oliver before he figured it out on his own.
“Oliver, after we talk to Head Inspector Williams, I need to discuss something with you.”
“Is everything all right? We can talk now if you would like.”
“No, it can wait. Just don’t let me forget.”
***
TRAILING BESIDE OLIVERas they made their way to the head inspector’s apartments at the back of the Paranormal Society, Felipe flexed his nearly healed hand. After eating, most of the bones had knit back together and the blood and swelling finally started draining beneath his skin. While still tired and battered, it was a vast improvement. At the apartment door, Oliver waited to confirm Felipe was ready. Between them, they carried half a dozen damp photographs and twice as many pages of evidence. They were as ready as they would ever be. At Felipe’s nod, Oliver knocked gently but received no answer. They didn’t have time for this. Leaning close, Felipe was certain he heard murmured voices, so he gave the door an investigator’s rap.
“For godsakes, hold on!” a voice that was decidedly not the head inspector’s replied. “Do you people know what time it is?”
A string of curses fit for a sailor drifted through the door as Felipe and Oliver exchanged a look. The two voices on the other side went back and forth a moment before Gale flung the door open and glared at them. Wrapped tightly in an oversized black dressing gown that looked more to the head inspector’s taste than their own, Gale stood with their hand on their hip and their chestnut hair hanging in a frayed braid. They looked from Oliver to Felipe before glancing down the hall as if there should have been someone else. Their countenance shifted between annoyance and confusion before settling on annoyance upon seeing the stack of papers in Oliver’s hands.
“Really? Can this not wait?” Gale whined, leaning heavily on the door.
“It’s an emergency,” Oliver replied softly.
“It always is,” Gale replied with a roll of their eyes as they stepped back to let them into the sitting room. “But, really, is it an emergency or can this wait another hour or two? The head inspector doesn’t like being woken up for nothing.”
“We have evidence that the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul has killed at least twenty people, and during our investigation last night, our informant went missing. We believe he’s still in there and in imminent danger. We need a search warrant and a writ to extract the informant before the institute can start destroying evidence or worse,” Felipe explained.
Gale’s eyes widened. “Shit. Titus, get up! Barlow and Galvan need to speak with you.Now.”
Leaving them in the oak paneled parlor, Gale disappeared behind the bedroom door. The first strong rays of dawn filtered in through the mullioned windows, landing on the vibrant red sofa and the sturdy, squat table in the center. Unlike the apartments above and below them, the head inspector’s flat was larger and more stately. Felipe had only been to the head inspector’s apartment a handful of times, but it always felt like an extension of his office, spartan but edged with Gale’s more elegant touch. With every minute they waited for the head inspector to emerge, the fussy couch grew more and more inviting, but Felipe knew if he sat down, he would nod off.
Snapping to attention at the squeal of the door, Felipe turned to find Head Inspector Williams scowling at them with the dressing gown Gale had been wearing thrown over a pair of wrinkled trousers. One trouser leg hung askew to reveal that his wooden leg had only been strapped on enough to make it to the parlor. Gale followed a step behind in a blue kimono turned dressing gown with their portable writing desk cradled in their arms. With a heavy sigh, Head Inspector Williams looked between a jacket-less Oliver and an exhausted Felipe and frowned beneath his mustache.
“This had better be important. It’s not even six,” the head inspector grumbled as he sat heavily beside Gale and gestured for Oliver and Felipe to take the other sofa. “Where’s Inspector Ansley?”
“He has chosen to not be involved in this, though our outing to the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul last night was under his direction and with his involvement,” Oliver answered peevishly. “Truthfully, he is the reason our informant is in this precarious position. His carelessness caused us to nearly be caught.”
“What did he do?” Felipe asked quietly. He knew something had happened, but in the chaos, he had forgotten to ask.
“He knocked over a filing cabinet. I’ll explain later.”
At Head Inspector Williams impatiently clearing his throat, Felipe launched into his explanation of the case thus far, the evidence they had gathered, Joe’s interview at the Green Daisy, and what they discovered the previous night. The moment he lagged, Oliver filled in what he and Ansley had uncovered in the office and hidden rooms before explaining how the injuries on Herman Judd’s body could have occurred at the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul. The head inspector leaned closer, his blue eyes narrowing as he listened. When Felipe and Oliver finished, Gale and Head Inspector Williams exchanged a wordless look before Gale popped up and pushed a buzzer near the door.
“I will have a search warrant, a writ, and a desist order ready by the time everyone is assembled,” Gale said before slipping into the room on the other side of the parlor and shutting the door behind them.
“We’re ready. We can go as soon as everything’s written up,” Felipe said, though the longer he sat, the harder it was to think of moving again.
“Galvan, this is out of your hands now. I’m sending in the Brooklyn wolf pack, the scryers, and anyone else who answers the all hands call.”
“But we—” Oliver gave the head inspector a pleading look. “But we did everything we were supposed to. Why are we off the case?”
“You aren’t off the case. It’s still your case, and you will review all the evidence we retrieve, but you need to let us take it from here. You’ve done good work, but this requires a small army or we’ll be overrun,” the head inspector replied as he rose slowly to his feet. “How many workers do you think the institute has?”
“I don’t know. A few dozen at least.”
“And I’m sure the police will be called. That’s why we’re going in with a show of force. Besides, you both look like hell. Get some rest, and we’ll let you know what we find.”
Oliver opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but Felipe thanked the head inspector and nudged his partner to his feet. There was nothing more they could do, and if the head inspector wanted to go in with the werewolves, it was best to stay out of their way. Oliver had never dealt with the chaos of a raid, and after three rough days, Felipe wouldn’t subject him to it no matter how much he wanted to be there.
At the door, Oliver paused and turned back to Head Inspector Williams. “Sir, you may want to bring a healer with you as well. Mr. Schmitt wasn’t in the best shape when we last saw him.”
“If he’s still alive, I’ll make sure he gets the attention he needs.”
