“He’s on a short list for a transplant, but…”
“But in a case like this, that’s not exactly something you can depend on.” Saga tapped her fingers on her thigh. “Doctor Iman… He doesn’t really have any family… I mean, I think a second cousin, or something, but…” She wasn’t sure how she wanted to finish that sentence. She couldn’t exactly tell the doctor that Elis’s closest living relative was, as Saoirse had once put it, a human cockroach. She felt helpless and simultaneously somehow responsible for the situation. “Is there anything I can do for him?”
“If you can tell us anything about what might be going on with him…”
Naturally, he needed the one thing Saga couldn’t surrender. Even if she did, she’d probably sound crazier than what he’d found in Elis’s body. “I’m sorry, I wish I knew…” Then she had a thought. “You might consider reaching out to Doctor Alistair Campbell. I know he wasn’t Elis’s physician, but he was a family friend and attended his mother for years. He might be able to provide further insight, being so close to the family.”
The doctor made a note on his clipboard. “I’ll do just that, thank you. And thank you for sticking around. You saved a man’s life tonight. Now it’s up to us.”
“Can we see him?”
“I’m sorry, he needs his rest.” And with no more than that, Doctor Iman vanished again through the surgical doors.
Avery stood up slowly, taking her place next to Saga. She blew air through her lips. “Liver missing.”
Saga shook her head. “What does this mean?”
“Simple. It means we were wrong.”
“I was so certain…is there any way he could have—”
“Removed his own liver? No.”
“It’s a classic murder mystery twist, injure yourself enough that you look like a victim, and throw the detective off the trail. Agatha Christie used it several times.”
“I don’t know who that is,” reminded Avery gently.
“Famous mystery novelist, I think you’d like her.” Perhaps Saga would have to introduce Avery to Inspector Poirot when all of this was over.
Avery shook her head decisively. “Performing healing magic on yourself is hard enough on its own—removing your own liver to replace it with an artificial replacement? Impossible; he’d need help. No, I think someone else needed his liver—and they needed to believe it would help himandwhoever received it.”
Still, something was bothering Saga. “If you were resurrecting someone and you needed fresh organs, wouldn’t you choose a liver thatwasn’ton the brink of failing?”
“Unless ithadto be Elis.’” Avery conjectured. “If this is all in the pursuit of resurrecting Eira, then they may need tissue from her bloodline in order to make it work.”
Saga could feel something clicking into place in her mind. “The liver is the largest solid organ, which means it’s rich in blood, and it’s the only organ in the human body able to regenerate.”
“You’ve thought of something.”
Saga turned to face Avery fully. “Back at Rachel’s you mentioned whoever was doing this likely had medical knowledge.”
Avery’s eyes lit up. “You’re thinking it’s Doctor Campbell?”
“When I overheard him and Elis at the funeral—I thought it was just a doctor advising against alcohol poisoning, but…a day later Elis’s liver fails? That can’t just be a coincidence. If Doctor Campbell did take the liver, even if he didn’t know the new organ’s relationship with the host wasa time bomb on its own, he might have been concerned Elis’s excessive drinking could cause problems with the spell…” Saga frowned, believing her theory less as she spoke it aloud. “I don’t know, does that sound crazy?”
“A doctor willing to do literally anything to save his patient…” Avery was silent a moment before she spoke. “Could they have been working together? Before Elis passed out, he said he gave Valentina that hawthorn amulet.”
“He called it a family heirloom, but I don’t think he fully understood what it was.”
“Well someone in the Goff family line practiced magic at some point. Perhaps Saoirse and Eira had something else to bond over.”
“Even if you’re right,” said Saga with a shake of her head, “she never would have wanted this.” She reached down to grab her heels as they turned to go but stopped at the sight of an unexpected familiar face. “Mr. Bowen?”
The lawyer had stepped through the doors into the surgical waiting room. He looked tired and disheveled. He turned bleary eyes toward them, blinking a few times before recognition dawned on him. “Oh, Miss Trygg, I’m here to…” He paused and thought better of his initial manner of answering. “I’m the emergency contact for one of my clients. They have no next of kin… What areyoudoing here?”
So Elis had someone at least—a hired professional, but it wassomeone.“Elis and I had a dinner date, but I noticed the symptoms of acute liver failure, and then he collapsed.”
Bowen glanced curiously at Avery, then focused back on Saga. “So you’re the one who got him to the hospital.” He noticed the blood then. “Is he…?”
