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Darien leaned on his door, staring at the dark road flying by under the tires. “And so what if I wanted to do either of those things? I’m not open to judgement about anything in my life, least of all from you.”
“Oh, I get it.” Malakai wore a knowing grin. Creature, who was hanging from the rear-view mirror, shared a glance with Malakai. “This is about your girl.”
“Mind your own business. I’m not in the mood for any filthy jokes about her, and if you try to make one, I might have to kill you.”
“Dude, you are in desperate need of that nicotine,” Malakai said, shaking his head. “Maybe while you sit there and chew on that toothpick like a self-righteous son of a fucking loser, you can enlighten me on these autopsies I heard Finn talking about.” Eavesdropper.
“Three dead hellsehers were found in the lake on Foxheart.”
“I saw that on the news. Why’re you interested in them?”
“In case there’s a connection.” Malakai didn’t know about Blue, at least not yet. And while this was the safest response for Darien to give the Reaper, it wasn’t a blatant lie. It had crossed Darien’s mind on more than one occasion that everything going on in the city was connected. He didn’t know how yet, but he wasn’t ruling out any possibilities.
Malakai was giving him the kind of stupid, incredulous stare that begged Darien to knock him out with one punch. “Between some Blood Stave dealers and three dead bodies?” The Reaper smirked. “That’s kind of a reach without any evidence, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Nothing shady that happens in Angelthene is a reach, Malakai.”
“Alright. While we’re at it, we might as well catch up with that granny who gave me the middle finger and find out who she offed, and where she dumped the body.”
“Whatever. I’ll let you know when I end up being right.”
Malakai smirked and slumped against his door. “You do that.”
37
“So? What’s the news?”
Darien stood across from Finn in the cold white hallway that led to the morgue in Angelthene General, fluorescent lights droning above their heads like hornets. According to Finn, the best pathologist at the General had been assigned to the task, conducting speedy but thorough autopsies on the bodies the MPU had found in the lake on Foxheart.
“They died from drowning,” Finn replied, leaning back against the spotless white wall, arms crossed. Not a big surprise, considering where they’d found the bodies. But that didn’t explain any connection to Blue, or how those men had ended up in the lake to begin with. Finn added in a lower volume, “But get this: they were already dead before they went in the lake, which means they drowned before they were even in the water.”
Darien blinked. Was he missing something? “My brain is fried from all these late nights. Can you dumb it down for me?”
“They drowned,” Finn said with a hiss, holding his hands out in front of him for accentuation, “before they got in the water.”
Darien stared at him with an expression as blank as his mind.
Finn threw his hands in the air. “They drowned—”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time!” Darien barked, his voice startling a nurse who was bustling by. He mumbled an apology to her and managed to lower his voice to a whisper as he said to Finn, “How can someone drown if they’re not in water?”
Finn sighed and scrubbed both hands over his face. “I’m sorry, I just— I’m totally stumped.” He let his hands fall against his sides, exhaustion lining his face. “But the autopsy revealed the bodies were dead for at least an hour before they got in the lake. ” Finn wet his lips, eyes glancing about to make sure no one was looking. “And get this: the lake—it was filled with blood. So much blood, Darien, it’s like someone scooped out all the water and replaced it with blood.”
Darien’s phone started buzzing. He took it out and checked the caller identification before answering. “Cassel.” He walked several feet away from Finn, giving himself some privacy for the call. He listened, staring down the quiet hallway.
“I spoke to Sylvan and Valen,” Malakai said. “They’ve figured out where G keeps some of his shit.” Perfect. And right on time, considering that major failure of a mission last night.
Darien said, “You free tonight?”
“Free as a bird.”
“I’ll pick you up. Did they tell you a good time?”
“Be at my house at ten p.m. That should give us more than enough time to get there.”
“I’ll have my truck. Make sure you’re ready.” He hung up and walked back over to Finn, who looked like he was running on five minutes of sleep, and about one second away from tearing his hair out.
That made two of them.
