“Better, I think.” His head still ached from the stress of everything, but at least, he didn’t feel about to suffocate. Taking the cup of coffee from Oliver, Felipe flashed him a reassuring smile. “Any word from the head inspector yet?”
Oliver and Gwen exchanged a warning look before Oliver sighed and offered Felipe his stool. Felipe’s chest tightened as he sat down, but at least, the emotions flickering from Oliver’s side of the tether felt hesitant rather than distraught. Taking a sip of scalding coffee, Felipe broke the mounting anxiety with pain.
“They’re still tearing apart the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul,” Oliver began, “but the head inspector did send an update. It has been officially shut down and will remain so for the duration of the investigation. The patients have been sent to various regular hospitals. Those who were willing to accept the aid of our healers are here now. The workers are being kept at the institute for now to be questioned and such.”
“It sounds like a mess,” Gwen said, taking a sip of her drink.
“But?” Felipe replied, waiting for what had given Oliver pause.
“But the bad news is that there is no sign of Joe, which, theoretically, could be good news. It could mean he escaped on his own. The other good news is that, while they tried to burn as much evidence as they could before the society got there, there were no new human remains in the incinerator.”
No new remains. Felipe shook his head. “I guess that’s the best we could hope for right now.”
“Some of the police precincts replied to you as well while you were asleep. None of them have Joe or anyone matching his description in custody. We could always go talk to the dock and train workers if you want to confirm he left town.”
“No, there are better uses for our time. At some point, we’ll need to conduct interviews and sort through whatever evidence they bring back.”
“And what we already have. Can we do all that by ourselves?” Oliver asked with a thoughtful frown.
As much as Felipe preferred to work as a pair, this was beyond what he and Oliver could accomplish together, especially tethered. It would put too much strain on Oliver to repeatedly deal with hostile people, evidence at the society, and extra trips to the institute on top of whatever corpses ended up in his lab. And if Felipe was being honest with himself, he was more than tempted to hand off the less complicated pieces of the case to someone else. This would be more legwork than a semi-retired investigator would typically deal with, and he really didn’t want this case, or any other, to consume his life. A case this big would be good experience for newer members, so the head inspector would probably let him bring on a handful of green investigators along with the werewolves.
“No, we should bring some of the other investigators up to speed and get their help. We can set up a specialized unit to keep everything organized. The Brooklyn Pack’s members are pretty good with this sort of thing and very detail oriented. I’ll talk to Major Browning and the head inspector later and see whom else they might let us borrow. Did the note say if they arrested Dr. Yates?”
“Do they have enough to arrest him?” Gwen asked.
“Probably not, but one can hope.”
Picking up a well-creased paper from the bench, Oliver frowned and handed it to Felipe. “All it said was that he wasn’t at the institute, and they’re going to send someone out to his home farther up on Fifth Avenue to see if he’s there.”
“I doubt he is,” Felipe replied, skimming the head inspector’s note.
The doctor would need to distance himself from the scandal if he wanted to maintain some level of respectability with Comstock and the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Dr. Yates had other satellite clinics, so moving to one of them until the whole thing blew over would make sense. From far away, he could feign innocence, even if they all knew he had been there only days before.
As Gwen and Oliver discussed how best to organize their space in the archives, Felipe pulled the notebook from his jacket pocket. Jotting down everything he would need to do over the coming days, Felipe internally groaned. He would need to contact several branches of the Paranormal Society to get their help with monitoring the satellite clinics and probably send them long-winded letters explaining what was going on in New York. Then, there would be sifting through all the evidence with Oliver and helping him process that. He would need to bring on the new investigators and get them up to speed as well. This case was going to require a lot of time and energy, but before he could do anything else, he needed to send a far more important letter. He just hoped Teresa had it in her heart to hear him out.
***
AFTER LOOKING IN THEdining room and billiards room along with the library, archives, and the investigators’ offices for any sign of Ansley, Oliver bit the bullet and went upstairs to the floors of apartments. His eyes glided over the names beside each door, looking for his former lover’s among them. Ansley could have gone with the others on the all hands call to the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul, but Oliver doubted it, especially considering the foul mood he had been in the previous day.
Slowing his steps, Oliver realized the door had reappeared where it had been three years prior. He could have walked there with his eyes closed, considering how many times he had visited it. They had exclusively used Ansley’s rooms, and Oliver had been promptly kicked out before daybreak, lest he overstay his welcome. For years, he had averted his gaze from this part of the hallway until he found the room no longer existed. Ansley’s apartment held no piece of his heart, it probably never had, but seeing it where it shouldn’t have been unsettled him.
With a fortifying breath, Oliver knocked and waited. When Ansley didn’t answer, he knocked again, harder.
“Go away, Oliver,” Ansley called from inside.
Opening the door, Oliver found Ansley sprawled across the auburn sofa with his long legs dangling over the armrest and a cocktail that smelled of bourbon sitting on the coffee table. His blonde hair fanned out on the pillow as he read the paper. The apartment was almost exactly the same as he remembered it with its well-stocked bar, fashionable green wallpaper of climbing vines, and matching tiled fireplace. The bedroom door stood open, but Oliver didn’t care to confirm if it hadn’t changed either. He already knew the shape of the bedposts and mirror, the smell of Ansley’s cologne. Oliver’s throat tightened. It was as if the society’s magic had swallowed the room the day Ansley left and spat it back out when he returned. The only new things were the mackintosh hanging on the coatrack and the bag stuffed with papers from the institute carelessly thrown by the door, seemingly untouched.
Ansley stopped reading long enough to glare at Oliver. “Does ‘go away’ have a different meaning to you?”
“I came to give you some updates on the case. Head Inspector Williams is going to send all the evidence collected from the institute to room fifty-six in the archives. That way, we don’t have to get into each other’s way to see it. There should be tables and equipment for us to use in there as well, so we won’t have to congregate in the laboratory or meetings rooms anymore. I figured all three of us could look through it when it’s delivered. Felipe also wants to expand the investigation to include a few more investigators to make it easier to go through the evidence and speak to the workers and patients. I thought you might want to send word to the Federal Branch as soon as you can, so they can send people to help you with your side of the case.”
“It’s your case now; you can deal with all that,” Ansley said, turning the page and blocking Oliver with the paper.
“It’sourcase. You have made it very clear from day one that we weren’t supposed to step on your toes, and now, when we actually have to do the work, you’re going to drop it all on to us? I thought this was your ticket to a promotion or something.”
Ansley scoffed.
“The least you can do, if you’re going to wash your hands of it, is get someone at the Federal Branch to replace you on the financial side of the case. You know how these cases work. Rich people can wiggle out of charges of violence or negligence by blaming others; money will be our best bet for getting Dr. Yates arrested and the institute shut down for good.”
