Cecilia stretched to look. She wanted to see what the person had looked like beforehand. And she was greeted with a smiling picture of a high school boy in his football uniform celebrating a win. The face itself hadn’t changed that much. Just added fur and those rounded ears. If you shrank the muzzle down, then it was the same boy. Especially since the tattered shirt he wore was the same as in the photo.
“He changed during practice.”
“You know the family?” Simon asked.
“Not well,” said the detective. “But enough to tell them—”
“You’ll come with me then.” Simon straightened and got off the couch.
“Where are you taking the body?” Cecilia asked
“Wherever the family wants,” Simon answered. “You got enough from him?”
The CDC needed data, always. But weighing that against the shifter secret and the family’s grief was hard. “We’d like the study the body if we can. In a lab. With—”
“They won’t let you,” Detective Kennedy said. He looked at Simon, but his words were for her. “They know about us. The boy’s mother has the gene, though she never changed. She knows to keep it quiet. Just bury the dead and grieve in peace.”
Simon didn’t answer. He just looked at her, his expression flat. It was like he was trying to tell her something, but she had no idea what. So she looked to Hank who was equally silent, but his eyes were filled with sorrow. Yet another dead child. Was this the one she’d killed? She wasn’t even sure because parts of last night were a blur. Plus, she’d been specifically blocking that information from gaining prominence in her brain. She’d studied the body as she would have any tissue. Disease first. Method of death, irrelevant if it didn’t pertain to the disease.
He’d been a violent monster ready to kill. She’d protected herself and others. And frankly, it wasn’t the first time she’d had to put a sick animal down. Her PhD research had been on monkeys and she’d inured herself to killing them years ago. It was simply part of the job.
But now she saw that the hybrid monster was a boy who had played football and had a family who would grieve. Sure, she’d known in her clinical brain that his higher cortex was all but gone. Even if there had been a cure, he would never regain human function. Closest analogy was that he was a rabid animal and had had to be stopped.
But she hadn’t thought about the family. Or that he’d been playing football just a day or so ago.
“Dr. Lu?” Simon pressed. “How important is it for you to study this body?” A simple question asked without emotion.
“Not.” She swallowed. It was a lie. They always needed more data, but she couldn’t be the one to dissect the body. Not now that she’d seen that picture. And she couldn’t trust anyone else to see what she would see now that she wasn’t blind to shifters. “Let them bury him however they want.”
Simon nodded then gestured to the men to gather the body. They worked as efficiently as the wolves while everyone watched.
Everyone, that is, except her. She had to look away. So she turned aside and her gaze collided with Hank’s. He crossed to her then. He didn’t speak, but he put his arm on her and she let him fold her into his comfort.
“You understand now, don’t you?” he said, his voice low. “That these are people—our people—who are being changed in horrible ways.”
She swallowed. “I always understood that.”
“But you didn’t feel it. It was always a disease to you.”
She nodded. “If I think of the people—of the families—it tears me apart.”
He nodded, his expression grave. Then he curled her into his arms and pressed her head to his shoulder. He was still shirtless and she was well aware of the heat of his skin, the scent of his body, and the steady, solid beat of his heart. Any other time, she probably would have gotten aroused, but not this time. She clung to him as she allowed the picture of the boy to sink through her consciousness. It slipped inside until it settled right next to Brittany’s Facebook video, which was filed along with all the faces and memories of other people and families she’d treated. Victims with one huge difference.
Most of them hadn’t died in vain. She’d used their information to fight their disease. And she’d already won. She hadn’t saved the victims, but she’d solved the mystery of the virology. Even when they couldn’t stop the thing, she’d helped put in place systems to prevent it from ever happening again.
Except for the Detroit Flu. This monster was still in full form and at the moment it was winning.
“You’ll figure it out now that you know the truth,” Hank said, and his faith warmed her.
Simon spoke, drawing all their attention. “Miguel just texted he’s on his way to cover Sammy and Mother. That means Hank can take you to the hospital now.” He took a breath and his gaze settled heavily on Cecilia. “I’m sorry I ordered Hank to kidnap you. I wanted to show you shifters at our home base where we could control the situation. I thought it was the safest way.”
She nodded. And though Simon was the one who spoke, it was Hank who made the apology real. She felt him squeeze her arm. She heard his exhale. And she knew, in her heart, that he felt miserable for what he’d put her through. At another time, she’d examine how she knew that. She certainly couldn’t deduce that from his heat or his breath. But she knew, deep in her heart, that he felt real pain for her and was desperately sorry.
“I can see that it was necessary,” she said. It was the truth. Hank could not have gone furry in the hospital, and she wasn’t going to believe any of it without seeing.
“Hank will take you wherever you want,” Simon said. “He can answer any questions you have, then—”
“I’m not leaving her,” Hank interrupted. “The wolves are coming tomorrow night.”
