Page 8 of Starved Until Sunset

Demmy leered, looking him up and down. “Yeah you are.”

Cody feigned offense and stomped off to the bedroom.

After they’d both gotten dressed, they made sandwiches and settled in at the dining room table, their soup steaming in bowls. They talked a bit about the garland and the guys at the garage, then Trevor and his adorable habits.

“Hey, did you listen to Jugs’s voicemail from yesterday?” Demmy asked.

“Oh, yeah. He was checking in. He’s been part-timing it at the vet clinic where Aggie works. Sounds like it’s okay, but he’s getting the feeling she’d rather he found something else.”

“Not everyone can work together so well.” Demmy smiled. “Guess we’re lucky.”

“Yes, you are.” Cody grinned at Demmy’s sour look.

They were both lucky, and he knew it. It had been two months since the last monster case, and he was cautiously hopeful they’d be able to get through the rest of the year without something terrifying try to kill them.

“You know, I’m still thinking about that deer we picked up yesterday.”

And, just like that, Cody’s life could change in an instant. He lifted the bowl and drank down the broth, then pushed back his chair. “I haven’t. It was roadkill. We cleaned it up.”

He carried his dishes to the sink. Demmy followed, still talking.

“Yeah, I know that. But those bite marks were weird.”

“We can’t be sure they were bite marks.”

“We can be pretty sure they were bite marks, because we looked at them.”

Cody rinsed out his bowl but left it in the sink. “Yeah, well, it was a dead deer, okay? Let’s leave it at that. I’m going to go over and visit my grandma.”

“Oh, okay. Want me to go with you?”

“No, that’s all right. I’m sure you have stuff here you want to do. I won’t be long.”

Cody gave him a quick kiss, grabbed his keys and wallet, and practically ran out the door. A part of him felt bad for the quick escape, but another, larger part of him wanted no part of a longer conversation about that topic.

Felicia was ninety-nine years old and a resident of Parson’s Pines Nursing and Convalescent Home of Serenity. She was more confused than not these days, but sometimes she still recognized him. Most often, though, she thought he was either her long dead husband, Everly, or someone named Clarence. He had no idea who Clarence might be, but as long as she was happy to see him, Cody would answer to the name.

During the summer, a shape-shifting creature called a nix had made itself look like Cody and convinced Felicia to leave the safety of the nursing home. It had lured her as far as the shoulder of the road before Lucia Durant, sheriff’s deputy and one of Cody’s many ex-girlfriends, happened to pass by and pick her up. The incident had frightened his grandmother, and she’d been afraid of him for a few weeks after the incident. That had been the worst part of the whole experience, other than the people the nix had drowned out at Parson’s Pond. These days, she seemed to be more comfortable with him, for which he was grateful.

Fucking monsters.

Cody pulled into a parking space outside the nursing home and sat for a moment with his hands hanging over the steering wheel. He stared at the stand of pine trees that bordered the lot and extended around the back of the single level red brick building. He should call or text Demmy and apologize. He hadn’t needed to be so short with him, but that damn brain of Demmy’s just wasn’t able to stop trying to find monsters in everyday things.

Although Cody had wondered himself why that deer hadn’t shown any other physical trauma except those marks on its neck. And what might be big or mean enough to bring down an animal that size without any other signs of struggle.

But the difference between his wondering and Demmy’s was that Cody didn’t want to sprint off into the woods at night and try to find the fucking thing.

It would be best for him to wait and call Demmy on the drive home. He wasn’t in the best headspace right now.

He got out of the truck and headed for the doors. The smell of pine sap and leaf mold came to him on the breeze, along with a hint of exhaust from passing vehicles out on Route 118. As he approached the entrance, the doors parted and two men came outside, maneuvering a gurney with a body inside a black bag. The light above the door shone along the surface, making it look like a big blob of motor oil. A desperate, sinking feeling opened up inside him, and Cody hurried into the building, approaching a nurse named Lacey at the front desk.

“Looks like you lost someone.”

“Hi, Cody. Yeah, Faye Oslin passed away sometime after lunch. Candace found her this evening during rounds. Third one she’s found this week, poor thing.”

“Oh, wow, three this week?”

“It goes like that sometimes.”