“Damn, I was hoping there’d be more,” I said. “Something that would help us trace the attacker.”
“I’m not done,” I said. “Jim’s car was parked across the street and a few houses down from the address that Bec found for Gale.”
He straightened away from the wall to face me. “What?”
I nodded and held up my phone with the map filling the screen. “There’s Gale’s house, and that’s where Jim’s car was.”
“That’s curious,” Danzig said.
I tucked my phone back in my pocket. “It’s good I went when I did, a tow truck showed up not long after I got there.”
“Did you find out anything else?” Danzig asked.
“There were broken bits of camera on the ground next to the car.” I said. “I think he was holding it when he was hit. The cops probably collected the camera as evidence.”
“Do you think Angel could get the pictures off of it for us?” he asked.
“I texted him,” I said. “No response yet.”
He slumped back against the wall. “How do Gale and Jim fit into all of this?”
I shrugged. “You know I was never into mysteries. You’re the one who reads all those novels, you should be able to figure it out.”
He gave me a half smile. “I like them, but I never figure them out before the big reveal at the end.”
A tall, lean man with tears on his face exited the elevator and rushed down the hall. Without needing to talk, we moved to stand in the open doorway, blocking him.
“I need to see Jim,” he said, choking on the words.
“Kevin?” Cheryle said from behind us. “Please let him through.”
We stepped aside, and Kevin moved into the room and grabbed Cheryle in a hug and lifted her off her feet.
“I’m here,” he whispered. She started crying again, hugging him tightly around the neck. “I’m never leaving either of you ever again.”
Bec stepped out of the room to join us in the hall, the door quietly swinging shut behind her.
“The doctor came in to talk to us while you were gone,” Bec told me.
“And?” I asked, looking between her and Danzig.
“The blow caused a horrible concussion, and they’re worried his brain is swelling,” Danzig said.
“The doctor said that he might need surgery,” Danzig said. “She ordered a bunch of tests for him.”
It was clear that the doctor hadn’t been able to give them any definitive news. This would be so much easier if Jim wasn’t human. There were so many healing options for the magical community that simply didn’t work for humans.
I had to be thankful for human ingenuity. Their lack of magic meant they’d developed the medicine that was keeping Jim alive.
Bec leaned her head back against the wall. “Today was a lot.”
It occurred to me that we’d dealt with a dangerous casket druid, interacted with a powerful bruja, and were now at the bedside of a badly injured human. It was a busy day even for a couple of world serpents, but Bec was still fully human and had to be overwhelmed and exhausted.
“We should go home,” I said.
Bec looked torn. “I don’t know if I should leave Cheryle and Jim alone. I didn’t think we were that close, but Cheryle was clinging to me like I was the last solid thing in her world.”
I opened the door a crack to look inside. Danzig and Bec moved so they could also see.
