Broken (37 page)

He glanced at Jeremy, waiting for his verdict, but Tolliver beat him to it.

“It’s not critical yet. I’ll dress it and give you some antibiotics. If that doesn’t clear it up in twenty-four hours, we’ll move to debridement—removing the damaged tissue.”

We looked over at Jeremy. He hesitated, then nodded.

“Good,” Clay said. “Let’s get me cleaned up, dosed up and ready to go.”

When Tolliver finished, he checked Clay’s temperature.

“The Tylenol seems to have knocked the fever,” he said. “At the very least, the antibiotics should slow the infection.” He glanced at Jeremy. “Is that normal? For your kind? Susceptibility to infection or swift progression once it sets in? I know accelerated healing is a hallmark—”

He cut himself off. Jeremy stayed stone-faced.

Tolliver started repacking his bag. Without looking up, he continued. “I should probably keep my mouth shut and pretend I haven’t figured out what you are. But as a doctor, it would help to know what I’m dealing with.” Before anyone could answer, he shook his head. “No, I do know what I’m dealing with, so I’m going to take the chance and admit it. After I saw you with Zoe the other day, I had my suspicions. I’ve…heard things. I made some inquiries, more to confirm the council connection than to confirm who—or what—you were.”

“Accelerated infection isn’t normal for us,” Jeremy said.

“It’s connected to the zombie then. I don’t have any experience with their kind, and my experience with werewolves isn’t much broader. I ran into one of you a few years back, in Europe, and helped him recover from an injury…though it wasn’t help freely given.”

“I hope you know it’s not like that this time,” Jeremy said. “If Zoe gave that impression—”

“She didn’t.”

“I fully intend to pay you for your time, as much as you’d charge for any emergency call, and whatever extra is appropriate for asking you to be available, on call, should the problem worsen.”

Tolliver shook his head and hefted his bag onto the bed. “That’s not necessary. I know you’re trying to fix this portal mess, so consider this my contribution to the cause.”

He fingered the straps on his bag. “I may be able to do more. I would have called later today. I have an idea where Patrick is hiding.”

“Where?”

“I’d prefer to check it out myself. Patrick and I may not be close these days, but I still consider him a friend. If he’s going to be brought in for questioning, I’d like to do it myself.”

We looked at each other.

“That may not be the best idea,” Jeremy said slowly. “We think he might have a larger role in all this than simply owning the letter.”

“If you knew Patrick—Well, it’s unlikely he has any involvement in this. But, as I’ve admitted, we’re no longer close, so I have to also admit that I may be mistaken. What I’m asking is that you allow me to bring him to a location I deem safe, with myself present at all times—including during questioning—to ensure that he has a representative there, and everything proceeds as it should.”

I bristled. “Proceeds as it should? If you’re suggesting we’re going to work this guy over—”

Jeremy cut me short. “If we saw clear evidence that Patrick Shanahan is responsible for this portal, and refused to help us close it, then we would indeed exercise methods of persuasion. No one’s arguing that. People have disappeared, one person has died and more are at risk. We’ll do what we need to, within reason, to close this portal.”

He stared hard at Tolliver, who finally dropped his eyes and nodded.

“Understood. If I can find Patrick, he’s yours—so long as I’m present for the questioning.”

Before Tolliver could leave, Jeremy said, “There’s one other thing I’d like you to do. A brief examination.” He nodded toward me.

“I’m fine. The baby’s kicking and—”

“Let him take a look,” Jeremy said, then lowered his voice so Tolliver couldn’t overhear. “You’ll feel better with a second opinion.”

Tolliver checked me out, then asked, “How far along are you?”

“About twenty-three weeks,” Jeremy answered.

Tolliver blinked, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose that wouldn’t be unexpected. What’s a wolf’s gestation period?”

“Nine weeks,” Jeremy said.

Tolliver took a tape from his bag, did a few measurements, asked me some questions, then leaned back on his heels. “Everything looks fine. This is the time, though, when you really need to be careful. I know, under the circumstances, easier said than done, but you’re well into your third trimester, or the equivalent of it.”

“Th-third trimester?”

“It’s impossible to tell for certain, but I’ve handled prenatal obstetrics at a few shelters, often with women who aren’t quite sure how far along they should be. I’d estimate you only have a few weeks left to go, but you’re healthy, and they’re doing fine—”

“Th-they?”

“The babies.”

I swung an accusing glare at Jeremy. “Bab
ies
?”

Jeremy rubbed at a small smile. “I thought I detected more than one heartbeat, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure. All things considered, a multiple birth wouldn’t be unexpected…”

“Multiple? How…multiple?”

“Two,” Jeremy said quickly. He looked anxiously at Tolliver. “It is just two, isn’t it?”

Tolliver nodded.

“So I’m having…twins.
We’re
having—”

I looked around for Clay. He was out of bed and standing at my shoulder, grinning.

“News to you too?” I said.

He only nodded, still grinning, then pulled me into a hug. When I didn’t return the embrace, he looked down at me, eyes dimming.

“That’s okay, isn’t it? It’ll be extra work, but—”

“It’s okay,” I said as my heart thumped double-time. “Just…I think I need to sit down.”

Clay sat me on the bed while Jeremy grabbed juice from the minifridge. Tolliver probably thought we were all mad, but had the grace to just wait without comment.

Finally Jeremy asked, “But everything is all right, isn’t it? With the pregnancy? No obvious problems?”

“Nothing I can see. My only concern would be the timing. The less stress she has now, and the sooner you can get her home—” He stopped. “But I’m sure you know that already, which is why you’re so anxious to end this business. With twins, the possibility of early labor increases.” He looked at me. “Do you know the signs of labor?”

“We do,” Jeremy and Clay said, almost in unison.

I gave a small laugh. “They’ll fill me in.”

Missing

JEREMY INSISTED ON WALKING TOLLIVER OUT
.
AFTER PROMISING
Clay I’d stick close to Jeremy, I tagged along, using the excuse of grabbing breakfast so I could speak to Jeremy without Clay overhearing.

When we reached the lobby, Tolliver stopped to answer his cell phone, and we stepped aside to give him privacy.

“I can see Antonio from here,” Jeremy murmured to me. “Go get something to eat. I’ll see Dr. Tolliver off.”

My cell phone buzzed. Rita calling to say that she’d confirmed Lyle Sanderson’s disappearance.

“Three people missing from one neighborhood,” she said. “Something’s going on. When I mentioned it in the newsroom, we laid bets on how long it takes someone to connect these disappearances to our dead girl from last night.”

I stopped walking. “You think there’s a link?”

“Hell, no. I’m taking criminology classes at the uni—figured it can’t hurt, right?—and from everything I’ve learned there, and working here, I can’t imagine a connection. On the one hand, you have people disappearing without a trace. No letters or calls to the press. Not even ransom notes. Then you’ve got this ballsy SOB who not only displayed his work in public, but did it within screaming distance of people. You could argue that he killed the others and didn’t enjoy it enough, so he went public, but that’s a big step to take so quickly. My opinion, at least.”

“Can I quote you on that?”

She laughed. “Like to see you try. Speaking of tips, I’ve got a few you
can
have. The crackpots are really coming out of the woodwork on this one. Just this morning we had a guy report seeing a walking corpse downtown.”

“The core is pretty dead these days.”

Rita snorted a laugh. “Unbelievable. Take a heat wave, add a health scare and people’s common sense takes a holiday. Zombies, killer rats, signs of the apocalypse…I’m just waiting for someone to say they’ve spotted sasquatches on Spadina. Or vampires in the Don Valley.”

I glanced over at the table, where Zoe was sipping a mimosa. “I’d believe vampires.”

“I’m sure you would. Listen, someone’s waving me into a meeting. Give me a call later. I want to get together before you leave town.” Her hand went over the mouthpiece as she yelled a muffled “hold on,” then came back to me. “Gotta run. You take care. And watch out for those vampires.”

“I will.”

As I hung up, I sensed something, and turned to see Clay coming up the steps.

“Back up to bed,” I said. “You heard the doctor.”

“Yeah, and he also said to eat. At this rate, I’d have starved before you brought breakfast.”

“Clay, please…”

He stepped beside me, hand dipping to mine. “I’ll go nuts in bed, darling. You know that. I’ll just take it easy.”

I hesitated, then nodded, and we headed over to the table, where everyone was laughing as Jaime regaled them with a story.

“—and I’ve seen fake tears before, but these were so bad the entire crew was snorting, trying not to laugh. So the woman’s wailing her heart out, practically rolling on the stage, and the ghost says—” She saw us and stopped.

“Is everything okay?” she asked Clay. “You
look
okay.”

“I am,” he said, pulling out a chair for me. “Just an infection. Fever’s gone; doc dosed me up. I’m fine. But we need to get this woman food.” His grin broke through. “Seems she’s eating for three.”

Congratulations ensued, infused with shock from all but one person at the table, though he tried to feign it.

I turned to Antonio. “You knew, didn’t you? Jeremy told you.”

A small smile. “He said he suspected—”

I waved off the rest. “Payback for the conspiracy later. First, food.”

I looked at Nick’s plate.

He moved it out of my reach. “It’s a buffet. All you can eat, no waiting. I’ll even get it for you.” He pushed his chair back. “Just don’t touch mine while I’m gone.”

I reached for Nick’s plate, but Clay beat me to it, snagging two pieces of bacon and handing me one as he sat down.

“Jaime was just telling us about a show she did last month.” Zoe poked the back of my hand. “You were keeping her hidden from me, weren’t you?” She caught my look. “No, I don’t mean
that
way. I meant—Jaime Vegas, spiritualist extraordinaire.”

“Zoe’s a fan,” Nick said as he set a heaping plate in front of me.

“Big fan,” Zoe said. “I was telling her that I know someone who’s an even bigger fan. Producer friend of mine. I used to do some work for him when he was starting out in Toronto—needed equipment but couldn’t quite afford to pay retail. He’s in L.A. now, and he just got the go-ahead to do a TV special next year. They’re going to try to contact Marilyn Monroe, find out how she died. Huge, splashy production.” She looked at Jaime. “It’d be a blast. You know it would.”

Jaime laughed. “Cheesy as hell. Right up my alley.”

“So is that a yes?”

“It’s a maybe.”

We brought Zoe up to date on the killing the night before.

Zoe tapped her nails against her champagne flute. “You know, I might be able to round up a witness for you. Not sure how much good it would do, but if you’re waiting around for Randy to call back anyway…”

“A witness? Working girl?”

“No, a supernatural who haunts—and hunts—in that neighborhood.”

Nick leaned forward. “I thought you were the only vampire in Toronto.”

“This isn’t a vamp. Or a were. She’s…well, we’re not quite sure what she is, but—”

A cell phone rang. At the first note, Jaime, Zoe, Nick, Antonio and I all jumped, ready to grab ours. Clay rolled his eyes and muttered something about electronic leashes. As the tone began, I said, “That’s mine.”

“Never even got the damned thing back in your pocket.”

“It’s…oh, it’s Anita Barrington.”

Clay growled and went to pluck the phone from me, but I pulled it out of his reach.

“Don’t answer—” he began.

Too late. A minute later, I hung up.

“Let me guess,” Jaime said. “She has urgent information and wants to come over right away.”

“Nah,” Clay said. “She’s back to wanting us to go there.”

“But it is urgent, as always,” Nick said, sneaking a wedge of cantaloupe from Clay’s plate. “She did sound pretty freaked out, though.”

“How did you guys—?” Jaime began. “Oh, enhanced hearing, right? Nice trick.”

“Just be sure you never whisper anything in front of them,” Zoe said. “So what’s up with Anita?”