Page 31 of Booked for Murder

“Excuse me, but did you say you use your abilities while moving?”

“Yes. It’s useless if I can’t exsanguinate someone as needed. I cost the Hampton family a fortune in animal blood, and I would volunteer weekends at the hospital whenever I could get a permit. I would work the ER.”

I wondered if I could skip the whole working for Bradley thing and hone my skills to become a nurse or ER surgeon. I’d even take working in a lab.

“There was a note you had initially planned to work in medical services before you signed your contract. I hadn’t been aware you would volunteer with hospitals.”

“It wasn’t put on my record because it was done during my limited off-duty time.”

“Interesting.”

“I didn’t get a lot of time off.”

“Yes, that was reviewed after your disappearance, and changes were made to how the adepts would handle their for life contractors. It was obvious to outside sources that you suffered through significant psychological strain due to your inability to have your own life, and that it was understandable in psychological terms why you would suffer a psychotic break and potentially suicide.”

Why did people automatically think someone going through a difficult time would automatically resort to suicide? I enjoyed living, and I’d taken a great deal of pride in my work. Being crippled created many problems for me, but I did what I always did: I made the most of a bad situation. “For the record, I was not suicidal, nor am I generally what I would consider to be suicidal, although I might become homicidal should certain freedoms and liberties be taken from me at this point in time.”

“Yes, your reappearance has certainly done a good job of convincing some people their preconceived notions were rather incorrect. You might be interested to know that Mrs. Hampton has enjoyed informing her son that there was no way someone as obnoxious and proud as you would ever cave to something like suicide. No, you are not the suicidal type. While you could certainly be pushed to that under the right circumstances, it would take something far more severe than a crippling injury to drive you that far.”

“Well, Mrs. Hampton is one of the few, then.”

“I agree with her.”

“I’d clap, but I’d fall over if I let go of my cane at this point in time. Please assume I’m clapping.”

“Is your foot bothering you?”

“Ask me when my foot doesn’t bother me, Ren. That’s much easier to answer.”

“Ah. Your foot always bothers you, but the severity varies.”

“You’re smarter than you look.”

He smiled. “I have to be. The body I guard is Bradley Hampton, and only the smart, the wise, and the quick keep up with him. You’ll find he hasn’t changed that much.”

I pointed at his car. “A practical, comfortable family car. If he ever wants me to even think about getting into a vehicle with him, that’s what he’ll have. He might even be able to drive without him having nightmares about it transforming into a hummingbird and mating with the roof of a nearby building.”

“Brand?”

“It can be one of his prized luxury brands, but it needs to be a family car. He’ll like it a lot better when he doesn’t think his car is trying to kill him.”

“I shall try to impress upon him this would be a wise choice.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll use my new phone and browse models and talk about what I’d do if I could drive one. It involves car camping somewhere nice and quiet with my cat.”

“You’re a strange woman, Janette.”

“You know what happens when women get a hold of books. We get ideas, and you know there’s nothing more dangerous than a woman with ideas.”

“I said strange not dangerous.”

“Same difference. Tend to your charge, and I’ll even let him sleep it off in my apartment so his mother doesn’t flay the flesh from his bones with the power of her voice alone. Heaven forbid she finds out he had dairy and ate meat in the same day if she’s on a new diet kick.”

Ren chuckled and followed me back to my apartment to witness the slow and painful demise of Bradley Hampton.

True to my threat, I ate Bradley’s share of lunch, and while he waged his war with lactose in my bathroom, I rummaged through my cupboards to make him something that would treat his abused digestive system a little kinder than spicy Chinese and milk. I went with rice, mushrooms, and some beef stock so he could enjoy the taste of his beloved meat without trying to digest too much of the protein likely helping the milk tear through him. Ren made no effort to hide his mirth over Bradley’s misfortunes.

“This is not how I expected to spend my day,” Beatrice admitted from where she worked on my couch with her laptop. “While you’re tending to the ailing one, I’ve started doing some footwork on the investigator cell. We’re going to need at least five people. He was correct in that there can only be one licensed shooter, and you’re going to have to be sharp if you want to qualify. The government is trying to disband cells by disqualifying them on the shooter requirement. You’ll have to score in the top five percentile to qualify. You get three tries at the test, but the two previous tests have to prove you’re in the top ten percentile. There are a few benefits to your enrollment as the shooter.”