AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, that seems relevant,” I remarked.
“Do you think—” Ward cut off whatever he’d been about to say.
I sighed. He’d almost certainly wanted to know if Taavi would be able to identify it, and he’d also known that I wouldn’t want to ask.
He was right. I didn’t. But not being a selfish butthole was something I was working on, so if he and Raj thought Taavi should look at it, then I’d put on my big elf pants and I’d fucking text him.
I called Raj over, who absolutely wanted me to ask Taavi what he could tell us. I’d also suggested that Doc might be useful, since he was an expert in arcane magic, after all.
Raj told me to send it to both of them.
7
Doc had reported havingno clue, but that he would work on it, while Taavi had replied that it was an Aztec thing called atonalpohuallithat was based on something called a ‘Sun Stone.’ I passed this along to Raj, who had immediately stolen my phone and called Taavi to ask him a million questions.
I assumed that had been helpful, although Raj’s expression was dark when he’d handed me back my phone.
“You know that the god of death had a dog’s head in Aztec culture?” he asked me.
“Actually, yeah. And a dog guides the spirits of the dead to the underworld.”
“Right along with those fucking shells,” he said, then sighed, running a hand through his hair.
We’d been unearthing bones for three days and sleeping in a shitty motel that smelled like thirty-year-old cigarettes, stale food, and some things I didn’t want to think about. I felt bad for Raj, whose sense of smell was way better than mine.
At the end of the first day, I’d called to put off that beer with Dan, who had expressed his condolences at my continued need to be digging up dead things, although I could clearly hear the relief in his voice that he wasn’t a part of it. But he didn’t rub it in, so I forgave him. I’d also asked Doc, since he and Ward had a spare key to my apartment in case of emergencies, to feed Pet so she didn’t starve to death or hate my guts for abandoning her.
The second day of our digging expedition, Raj had gotten Ward, Doc, Taavi, and me federal clearance to officially work the case as consultants, which felt a little weird, to be honest. It meant that I was allowed to do some of the things I would have done if I’d still been a cop working with the Feds, but it was limited and temporary, and the crime scene people kept giving me serious side-eye.
It mostly just made me miss working homicide even more.
Not the part where my coworkers tried to get me beaten to death, but the part where I had access to resources and the ability to make decisions without having to run them by other people first.
Big elf pants, though. So I dealt with it.
Yesterday, I’d forgotten to text Elliot since I’d been up to my pointy ears in dirt for most of the day, and I’d gotten several snippy texts about it.
I’ve been digging up dead shifters all day, asshole, I sent back.Does that fucking count as self-improvement?
It had taken maybe a half hour before he texted me back, probably because he had a life and I didn’t.
What happened?
A case for work, I sent back.Not quite what we’d expected.
The museum?he asked. I’d told him about having to move my date with Taavi thanks to ripping out the raspberries.
Yep. Turns out there were a lot more bones under the stupid berries.
Ouch, he sent back.
I tried to be nice to people anyway, I sent, knowing it was a stupid thing to say.
You-nice or actually nice?
I sighed.Dick, I sent.
So you-nice, then.
