***
In Gabriel’s office, Whiskey had her own little bed in a corner that he kept ready for her. It was under the air vent, and Gabriel had no control of the frigid air they pumped into his office, so he had a cozy blanket to tuck around her and a coupleof her favorite chew toys to keep her from getting bored. Gabriel hoped that because his office was nestled in the middle of the building, none of the emergency vehicle sirens on the street would set Whiskey’s howling off. Just because he couldn’t hear sirens didn’t mean that Whiskey didn’t.
So far, that hadn’t been a problem.
And, surprisingly, no one had gotten on Gabriel for bringing a dog to the office.
In fact, it seemed to lower stress levels when people saw her and got to coo and pet her, unlike the service dogs who supported other people in the building, which everyone had to ignore lest they distract the dogs from their jobs.
Maybe Whiskey got the pass because she was a celebrity doggo who had found the children on Sweet Gum. Either way, Gabriel was thankful, because bringing her made for an easy spot for a handoff to the Cerberus operative who came to collect her.
The knock at his door told Gabriel that the special agent with an emergency case had reached his office door.
“Come in,” Gabriel called out.
“Hi, I have a long shot for you.” Candace Martins leaned against his door jamb.
“How long are we talking here?”
“I have a video that includes a window showing a tree. I have a prioritized autopsy going under the knife, and I’m waiting impatiently for legal to push a warrant under the judge's nose. I can either pace, wring my hands waiting, or I can bother you.”
“Alright. I’ll do what I can. A window with a tree isn’t going to get me far unless it’s some endangered species.”
“Maple, I think. Still. I’d like to hear what you have to say.” Candace Martin positioned her laptop on Gabriel’s desk in such a way that they could both angle their chairs and see the screen.
“We have a nurse that works at the public hospital who is a paid FBI informant. She looks for things that might pass under the radar—overheard conversations mostly. She draws the line at most anything HIPAA-related. In this case, she’s willing to breach that ethic.”
The cold prickle of fear raced across Gabriel’s head, and he must be shooting a good amount of adrenaline through his system because Whiskey lifted her nose in the air and was chuffing hard.
“Lay down, Whiskey, everything’s fine,” he said. But he didn’t mean a word of it.
It was Candace’s tone that set him off, and Gabriel braced for what she had for him.
Right away, Gabriel saw the hospital setting, a woman’s arms. From the height and angle, Gabriel would say that she’d put her phone in a breast pocket.
“Your nurse shot this?”
“A couple of hours ago.” Candace sat on the edge of the guest chair, her hands clasped between her knees. “My informant got the willies from this guy. She said she had her hand on her emergency sedation syringe the entire time. In this video, you’ll hear their conversation while she’s trying to gather information about the situation. At this point, she’d already called for a psych eval. We trained the nurse. I think she did a pretty good job.”
“Do you know the difference between a girl and a bird?” the man asked.
“A bird has wings,” Nurse said.
“A girl wants wings to fly away, and the right girl can shapeshift to do just that.”
“Tell me about that.”
“You have to have an eye for it.” The man tapped where a third eye might be. “And you can’t tell at first, so you test them.”
“How do you do that?” Nurse asked.
“You put them in the cage and wait for them to want it enough. Sometimes even birds don’t know they’re birds. But I know. You know?”
“Do you have a girl that is a bird?” Nurse asked.
Perfect, Gabriel thought. Keep going.
“Do you have a picture that I can see, so I understand what you’re explaining to me?”
