Gypsy Moon

Chapter Seventy-two: Lilian

. . . . . . (early July)

"This is insane."

"It's not that bad."

"No, it's worse, we are going to die."

Delbert's indulgent chuckle was not helping my nerves. He sat calmly, chewing on his pipe stem, as if it was just another Tuesday. I struggled to keep my breathing even as I shifted nervously in my place.

"Delbert Baxter! Good to see you, old man!"

"Watch who you call old, now." He rose and accepted a firm hug from a man that looked at least his age, if not older. "Edward Crista, meet Lilian Roth." I held out my hand timidly and Edward scoffed playfully and pulled me into a tight hug before I could protest.

"Now you're pulling my leg, look at this tiny little thing! You told me she was a spitfire that could talk a shark into giving away his teeth." I giggled and wriggled free of his grasp.

"Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration." I smiled and smoothed my hair self-consciously. "But I might be able to convince him not to eat me." Edward laughed heartily, it seemed that everything about the man could be described as 'booming', from his voice, to his height, to the Hawaiian shirt he had on.

"Let's go to my office." Edward slung his arm around my shoulders and guided us through a small maze of hallways until we reached a door with a placard embossed with his name as it's only decoration. "Here we are."

He turned the knob and propelled me into the dark room. A pair of hands grabbed me from the darkness and a hand clapped over my mouth, silencing my shriek.

"Hey now!" Delbert stumbled slightly when Edward grabbed him roughly and pulled him into the room, closing the door behind him and flipping the light on. I was protesting furiously in the arms of a tall man about half Edward's age. Edward faced me and laughed delightedly.

"Now THAT is what I was expecting from her!" He directed Delbert to a chair and held up his hands to me. "Don't be so rough with her, Dave." Dave grunted as I elbowed him in the ribs.

"I don't mean to be, but she fights like a crocodile." He hissed as I managed to sink my teeth into his palm. "f**k!"

"Let me go right now, you oversized ape!" I snarled and twisted my head to snap my teeth at the arm he had around my shoulders. He moved and I stomped hard on his foot, driving my elbow into his ribs again. He coughed and staggered as I shoved him away from me and spun to face Edward, pulling the derringer out of the holster in the small of my back.

"Whoa now!" Edward laughed again, his hands still in the air in surrender as I trained my weapon on him. "Easy girl!"

"Give me a good reason not to squeeze this trigger." I glared at him. He nodded calmly, a grin still on his face.

"One of the corpses in your morgue is my nephew."

"Hmm." I eyed Dave over my shoulder quickly. "Why attack me?" Dave chuckled and lifted his hands in surrender as well.

"Just following orders." I nodded.

"Follow this one: Sit on the floor in front of the door to block it." I stepped further into the room, keeping my gun pointed at Edward. "Your nephew tried to kill someone very important to me." He shrugged nonchalantly as Dave did as I demanded.

"I didn't say he was my favorite nephew." I scoffed and he laughed again. "I know what my nephew did for a living, Ms. Roth. You'll forgive me if my preconceptions come from a point of view quite different than yours."

"Fine." I held his gaze for a long moment and relaxed my posture, returning my gun to it's holster. "I assume you'll want his remains?" Delbert chuckled from his seat as Edward blinked, startled.

"Oh, well... yes, actually." He shared a glance with Dave. "That would be a great comfort to my sister, to lay her boy to rest." I nodded curtly and pulled my tablet out of my bag.

"I'll make arrangements, where would you like his remains delivered?" I frowned at him as he stammered in confusion.

"Um, why did you want to meet me, Ms. Roth?" I rolled my eyes.

"Because one of the corpses in my morgue is your nephew." I smiled at his confusion and Delbert cleared his throat.

"The bodies went through a massive fire. Impossible to identify, except for your nephew, who only had one arm, and a friend in the precinct told me they had found a prosthetic in the rubble." Delbert frowned at his colleague. "If I had known Ms. Roth would be so rudely treated, I would never have suggested she ask your help."

"My help?" Edward blinked owlishly. I sighed and took a seat across the desk from him.

"Yes, your help. Knowing which one is your nephew leaves five other bodies in my morgue with no names. I THOUGHT it would be nice to be able to return them to their families."

"Why would you care?"

"You know what he did for a living, but did you ever stop to think that maybe we ALL aren't the monsters he thought he was hunting?" He looked away guiltily. "Exactly, like me. I'm a secretary, and a regular human! TRYING to offer some comfort to the families of the fallen. Do you know who your nephew was working with?" Edward shook his head.

"A couple might be his friends, but Travis always worked alone."

"Well, he teamed up to hunt her friend, so we know that wasn't always the case." Delbert shook his head. "No good getting bitter. Better to be thankful the damage they caused was minimal." Edward and Dave looked embarrassed and I let my eyes fill with tears.

"Minimal? I lost three good friends trying to rescue the one they stole!" Delbert stood up from his chair and came over to rest a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.

"Don't get upset, now." He patted my shoulder gently and turned his attention to the two men. "Our dead are not their concern, we are here to identify the five John Doe's."

"Right! Um," Edward hummed, shuffling the papers on his desk nervously. "I might have a few numbers you could call. Hey, maybe try that bar, what's it called, Dave, the one Travis hung out at?" Dave avoided looking at us, an embarrassed heat coloring his neck and ears.

"The Silver Bullet, I think."

Edward froze as the temperature in the room dropped with the disappointed glare I leveled on him. I watched his Adam's apple bob frantically as he stuttered and tried to find something to say to salvage the situation. Delbert cleared his throat tactfully.

"That aside..." Edward nodded and pulled out a pad of paper, rapidly penning several names and numbers. He handed the entire pad to me when he finished. I nodded and stood.

"Thank you. I will have your nephew brought to you as soon as possible." I turned and frowned at Dave. "If you don't mind, I have calls to make." He stood and opened the door for us and I stalked out, Delbert following more leisurely after bidding the two men a good afternoon.

I rapidly led us back through the halls to a bathroom I spotted on our way in. I grabbed Delbert's sleeve and pulled him into the bathroom with me, my finger over my lips. I locked the door behind us and looked around quickly, pulling my tablet out so I could write a message to Delbert.

-he put a bug on me-

He nodded silently and took my tablet, adding his words beneath mine.

-i thought so-

I nodded and pointed to a small button speaker on my jacket, tucked into a fold.

-make some noise-

He nodded and turned one of the faucets on, washing his hands leisurely as I wrote.

-going to make more noise than that-

I took the pad of paper Edward had handed me out of my bag and pulled the single sheet with writing on it loose. I climbed onto one of the toilets while Delbert activated the air dryer and I pushed one of the ceiling tiles up and over a little.

I tore off a few more sheets of paper and crumpled them up, then piled them on top of the pad and slid it into the ceiling gap. I pulled a lighter out of my pocket and lit one of the paper balls and added it to the pile. I slid the ceiling tile back in place and hopped down.

I unlocked the door and we walked out calmly, as if it had been nothing but an emergency pit stop. I smiled at the receptionist as we walked past the front desk. She gave us a little wave and told us to have a good weekend just as the fire suppression system triggered.

Alarms began screeching, sprinklers kicked on to soak everyone and everything, and people started rushing for the exits. Delbert chuckled and let the tide of bodies push him away from me and out of the building. I fought the momentum long enough to shrug off my jacket and let it fall to be trampled on the flooded floor.

I slipped out of the building just as Delbert pulled up in his car and we disappeared with the traffic as the howls of fire trucks bore down on the building.

. . . . . .