Crowbones

CHAPTER 61

Vicki

Earthday, Novembros 4

I think there was a poem about fog coming in on little cat feet, but I’m here to tell you it doesn’t. Fog comes in on clompy pony hooves, looking for a carrot in payment for hiding a crime scene until the authorities—meaning Grimshaw—need to see the body and collect evidence.

I don’t know how the pony got into the kitchen without Julian noticing him, but I figured Fog could go wherever he wanted, being about as stoppable as the Sanguinati, who could slip through any kind of crack when they were in their smoke form.

Not something I wanted to think about right now, what with Doc Wallace suggesting that I give the girls some juice to see if low blood sugar might be causing Kira’s grogginess and Aggie’s disorientation. So I concentrated on cutting up a carrot and telling Fog he’d been very clever to create a unique crime scene tent, and how I’d be sure to tell Chief Grimshaw when I saw him.

Fog seemed pleased with his payment, and I hoped on hope that Grimshaw wouldn’t give me his patented grim look because I’d unintentionally encouraged one of the Elemental’s steeds to become an assistant to the local police.

Julian walked into the kitchen and frowned at Fog’s tail.

Fog, focused on the last chunk of carrot but perhaps picking up a bit of tension in the human, flicked his tail at Julian.

“There, now,” I said brightly, because a positive attitude helped keep one’s toes out from under clompy hooves. “You’ve had your carrot, so I need to get started on feeding the humans.”

I wasn’t sure what I expected—I hadn’t known Fog was there until my elbow bumped his nose, which just showed that things like doors and walls weren’t much of an impediment for Elementals or their steeds—but I hadn’t expected the pony to make a tight turn, give Julian another tail flick when the man opened the kitchen door as a clear exit route, and then head for the front of the house.

“Did you do something to annoy him?” I asked.

“How could I? I didn’t know he was here,” Julian replied.

I hurried to the front of the house and walked into the dense fog that covered the large entrance hall and reception area. I found the reception desk by bumping into it, and it gave me a reference point for finding the front door. I’d heard of people walking in circles during a snowstorm and freezing just a couple of feet from shelter. Would Julian eventually find me sitting on the floor, lost and disoriented, just inches from the door?

I found the door. I unlocked and opened the door.

The fog stayed put.

I sighed. “I can’t play now. I really have to feed my guests.”

The fog thinned enough for me to find my way back to the kitchen. When Eddie showed up for work—if Eddie showed up for work—I’d ask him to close the front door. That had nothing to do with safety and everything to do with keeping heat in the building.

“Ilya found Jozi at the dock,” Julian said when I returned to the kitchen.

“But you found—”

He shook his head. “She’s alive but has been through an ordeal and is very frightened. Ilya suggested a little orange juice might help.”

“That’s what Doc Wallace said to give Kira and Aggie.” I pulled the bottle out of the fridge. Then I turned and stared at Julian. “If Jozi is alive, who did you see last night?”

“I need to talk to Ilya about that. Grimshaw will be here after he answers a call at the Mill Creek Cabins.”

If he had to deal with one body before coming to see us, Grimshaw was going to be cranky by the time he got here to talk to me about another dead body at The Jumble. Maybe it would be better that the body was a crow? At least Cougar thought it was a crow and not Crowgard when he gave the body a sniff. But a body was a body was a body, and unless Grimshaw was here for pizza and a game of pool, it seemed he was here staring at me and looking all large and official because, hey, we found a body! And while I knew that he didn’t mean to do it, Official Grimshaw often put Anxiety in the starting gate for the Meltdown Derby.

Why could I never channel the bit of Grimshaw I got through the blood transfusion when I had to deal with Grimshaw?

While my brain was distracted by that conundrum, Julian slipped out of the kitchen.