“Please make three,” Marduk requested. “One for each parent and one for their sister.”
“What about the other two men that died?” Danzig asked.
“John was estranged from his family,” I reminded him. “That's why I paid for the gravesite and memorial for him. Doug was Leif's roommate, and his family hadn't heard yet. He only had a mother, and she's in a nursing home that specializes in people with Alzheimer's. I was debating about having them tell her.”
We talked at length about what to do, but finally decided to tell the facility to contact us if they needed anything and leave Doug's mother with happy memories of him alive and well.
Doug had a family graveyard back in Arizona, and we'd paid to have his name added to the family gravestone.
Even though their deaths weren't our fault, I still felt responsible.
My phone pinged. After digging it out of my pocket I read it, then looked up at everyone watching me. “Jim's already at the office.”
“Time to go,” Danzig said.
“We'll see you next weekend at the party, right?” Marduk asked as we all stood up. Hugo was fast asleep, snoring loudly, and Cheddar had disappeared. Leaning over, he lifted Hugo up. The dog grunted, snorted, then went right back to sleep in Marduk's arms.
“I wouldn't miss it,” Elena said, getting up and pulling a jug of tea out and handing it to me. “Enjoy. Next time you visit I’ll show you how to make it.”
“Thanks, I’d like that!” I said. I could probably look it up, but any excuse to visit with Elena was a good one.
She walked us out to the garden. Cheddar appeared at her side, pawing the air as if waving goodbye.
“You should text Jim, we might be a little late,” Danzig said as we piled into the SUV Marduk insisted we buy. He said we needed a bigger car now that we had a “growing family.” Tomorrow we were scheduled to visit Titan's rescue and interview dogs for Hugo. I was curious to find out how many dogs we'd be leaving with.
“Sure,” I said.
A few days ago Jim called and asked me to meet him at the office. He probably wanted to talk about pending cases and what everyone had said when I'd called them to say Masel Investigations was closed until further notice. I hated the thought of him going back to work so soon after being injured.
I wanted him to take more time off, but it wasn't my place to say anything.
I'd wait to break the news that I was quitting until after I figured out how he was actually doing. He claimed he was perfectly fine during every conversation, but I knew better.
Maybe Cheryle or Kevin would be there to talk some sense into him.
It wasn't long before I got a response from Jim that he was there and didn't mind waiting. Despite the traffic, we made it right on time. Jim was sitting at my desk and didn't look surprised when the guys walked in with me.
He was pale and swayed a little when he stood up to greet us.
“Did you drive here?” I asked, rushing to help him sit back down.
“No, Kevin brought me,” he said, slumping back in the chair. “He left to run some errands. He'll be back.”
“He better be,” I said, taking a seat across the desk from him. “You can’t drive like this.”
A humorless laugh came out of him. “What was your first clue?”
I tried to smile, but it probably looked as fake as it felt. “You're not coming back to work already, are you?”
He let out a long breath. “No, not for a while yet. I keep getting dizzy spells, and I forget things.”
“I'm sorry, Jim,” I said. “I'm sure you just need some more time.”
“That's what the doctors say,” Jim said. “I hate it. They can’t give me any real answers. They say everyone is different and every injury is different. It’s frustrating. I want to be better right now.”
I didn’t know what to say so I tried for another sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I mean, so would anyone.”
I’d asked Victor if he could heal Jim like he’d fixed me. Unfortunately, Victor couldn’t heal things that hadn’t been caused by magic. He’d offered to bring Jim nachos, so that was nice.
