Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel (9 page)

“Unbelievably stubborn, ridiculous, fucking pigheaded,” Syn’s words matched the cadence of her steps as she paced across the small exam room. Allie had tuned her out, knowing that the other woman had to run out of adjectives eventually and that the stream of invective was Syn’s way of expressing worry. Instead of listening she kept her eyes closed and focused on the pattern of Syn’s steps on the industrial linoleum of the walk-in clinic that served as a small community hospital for the town and pressed the ice pack against her throbbing face. Syn had been at the gym when Allie had called and she was still dressed in her workout gear, a black tank top and spandex shorts; her sneakers squeaked every time she turned making Allie wince. Allie wanted to ask her to stop but Syn had done her a huge favor, getting her to the clinic, sitting with her, handling everything. She knew her friend didn’t understand why she was refusing everything except basic medical care, and there was no way to explain it to her that she’d understand right now.

When the door opened Allie fully expected it to be the nurse returning to try to convince her, again, to let them conduct a more thorough exam so she was surprised to hear an almost familiar voice asking “Has the doctor been in yet?”

Her left eye was swollen shut but she forced her right eye open, ignoring the stabbing pain that went through her head. Crowding in to the small room were the same 6 people who had walked into her store at the beginning of the week, heralding the start of all of this chaos. It was Detective Riordan who had spoken; he looked genuinely concerned. His partner, Walters, was stony faced. The four elves looked grave and Jessilaen was moving past the rest towards the side of the hospital bed. She took this all in with an odd sense of detachment before turning to look at Syndra, who was radiating guilt.

“Don’t give me that look, Al” Syn mumbled, before regaining her aggressive tone. “What the fuck did you expect me to do? I’m a cop and you’re helping them investigate a serial killer and then you get attacked? Of course I had to call them.”

Allie shook her head slightly as Jess’s hand settled on her shoulder. She stared down at the dried blood on her jeans to avoid looking at anyone.

“Why is she still in those clothes?” Riordan pressed, managing to sound sympathetic and businesslike at the same time. “We’ll need them bagged as evidence and the doctor’s report–”

“No,” Allie interrupted, her voice a painful croak. She felt Jess’s fingers tighten on her shoulder.

“No?” Riordan repeated, sounding baffled. He turned to look at Syndra, who was glaring at Allie.

“She’s refusing to let the doctor examine her,” Syndra said, “She wouldn’t let them do anything except a basic exam and that ice pack.”

“Maybe because this is all just a waste of time,” Walters said. “Maybe she wasn’t really attacked.”

“Are you kidding me?” Syn said, angry but obviously trying not to lash out at the senior officer. The four elves remained dead silent, their attention fixed on the detective.

“Walters,” his partner said, a warning note in his voice.

“Hey, I’m just saying the girl doesn’t want us involved. She didn’t call 911. She didn’t call us herself. She’s refusing care. We don’t know how she got hurt or what happened and I don’t think we should jump to conclusions. She doesn’t want our help; I’m sure she’s got her reasons,” he turned towards Allie, “You pressing charges?”

She hesitated, and then said softly, “No.”

“What!” Syndra’s shout echoed in the small room. “No fucking way. No–fucking–way. You are damn sure pressing charges…”

“Officer Lyons…” Riordan tried to cut in.

“You get jumped in your own fucking store, you get your ass kicked, you…”

Knowing what she was about to say Allie forced herself to speak, despite the pain. “Enough! Stop telling me what I’m going to do. Just drop it.”

Syn’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly, her cheeks flushing. Allie had never seen the other woman so angry before. Riordan tried again to intervene and diffuse the situation. “Ms. McCarthy, take some time and think about this. If you’re afraid of some sort of retribution from whoever did this we can protect you. Why don’t you let the doctor see how bad the injuries are?”

Syn found her voice, “Why don’t you let them do a fucking rape kit?”

Allie reacted instantly flinging the ice pack as hard as she could and yelling “I was not.” the ice pack hit Syndra squarely in the chest rocking her back but Allie’s words were stopped by a wave of nausea that doubled her over and had her clutching the plastic trash can the nurse had given her in case she threw up. Walters chose that moment to mutter, loud enough to be heard “some girls like it rough” and all Hell broke loose as both Syndra and Jessilaen lunged at the burly detective. Riordan managed to hold Syndra back and the other three elves restrained Jess although none of them looked happy about it. It took several minutes for order to be restored during which Allie decided if she did throw up she was aiming for Detective Walters’ shoes.

The doctor walked in to the tense silence that followed and stood looking from one person to the next clearing his throat nervously. Finally he suggested that the group move out to the hall and let Allie get some rest. After a quick consultation, Jess and Brynneth said they would stay with her. She expected Syn to insist on staying as well, but her friend was the first one out the door.

      ****************************

“So Doc, how bad is she hurt?” Riordan was all business with the ER doctor, not wasting time with pleasantries.

“Well, she isn’t cooperating but her nose is broken and she almost certainly has a concussion, based on the vomiting and headache. She shouldn’t be left alone for the next few days with the head injury. That’ll need to be monitored, but that can be done at home.” Doctor Brown cleared his throat again, “With the bruising on her throat there could be some swelling and pain for the next few days…”

“Bruising on her throat? Is that why her voice sounds like that? I thought it was because of the nose.”

“No, it looks like, if I had to guess, I’d say she was either choked or hit hard across the throat.”

“Was she raped?” Riordan asked bluntly.

The doctor looked uncomfortable. “She won’t consent to an exam or tell us what happened.”

“Off the record here Doc,” Riordan said.

Brown hesitated, obviously debating what to say. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” he finally said, “But if she
was
cooperating I’d order a rape kit and a full exam.”

Riordan looked grim, but nodded, “Thanks Doc.”

“There’s really no reason to keep her here at this point, unless you can convince her to accept further treatment.” The doctor headed back towards the front desk, leaving the group of police and Guard standing in the hall.

Syndra turned to Detective Riordan. “Are you going to be here for a little while?”

“What’s up Lyons?”

“I just thought of something. Allie’s store has a video surveillance system. Give me–20 minutes and I can get the video at the store downloaded onto a thumb drive and get back here.”

Riordan nodded. “Walters go with her, and you two behave,” he added as they glared at each other. “And get a unit started over there to work the scene maybe we’ll get lucky and find some solid physical evidence.”

“Detective,” Captain Zarethyn interrupted, “didn’t Aliaine say she did not wish this pursued as a criminal case?”

Riordan gave the elf a long look “Yeah she did, but firstly I think it’s a bit beyond coincidence that we’re investigating girls getting raped and murdered and our occult expert gets attacked and maybe sexually assaulted a few days after we talk to her. And secondly it wouldn’t be the first time I saw a girl get raped and not want to press charges and then change her mind after she gets over the initial shock. So we’re going to get started on this and see where it goes.”

The elf inclined his head in the equivalent of a shrug, deferring to his human counterpart, even though his own inclination was to respect the girl’s wishes. He did not understand the way that humans would turn a blind eye to some crimes yet insist on investigating others even when the victims didn’t want them to. It seemed a baffling and ineffectual system to the Elven Captain. Riordan watched the two human police walking away and Zarethyn caught Aeyliss’ eye and nodded slightly towards the remaining detective. The red haired elf inclined her head fractionally in response then said “Detective, is there somewhere in this building to get food?”

“What?” Riordan said, distracted, “Yeah, there’s a small cafeteria.”

“Could you show me? I would like to hear more of your thoughts on a possible connection between this incident and our case as well.”

Riordan hesitated “I should question her more… but she is pretty upset. Yeah, come on, I’ll show you.”

Zarethyn waited until the two had disappeared from sight before returning to the tiny hospital room. Allie was sitting exactly as he had left her, clutching the cheap garbage bin. Jessilaen and Brynneth stood next to her; Jessilaen obviously concerned.

“Everyone else is gone?” Allie broke the silence, speaking Elvish to be certain they wouldn’t be overheard by a nurse or wandering patient.

“Yes,” the Guard Captain said “for the moment. The police believe this is connected to the murders.”

Allie winced “I hope not. They were Dark Court.”

Zarethyn inhaled sharply, but she kept talking, “They came in looking for a book. They said I knew what book they wanted, but I have no idea what they were talking about. I said something I shouldn’t have, something rude, and that’s when the hitting happened.”

“You are certain they were Dark Court?” he pressed not wanting to believe it.

“Yes. Two elves. They broke the ward on my front door–it’s set for the Dark Court.”

“Why do you have a ward for that?” Brynneth asked.

“Because,” she answered softly, “I know that they are real, no matter how convinced every other human is that they aren’t, and I know how dangerous they are.”

“This is why you wouldn’t tell the police anything?” Zarethyn asked, speaking into the stunned silence that followed her revelation.

When Fairy and Earth merged and the two cultures were forced to deal with each other there had been some violent clashes at first until the current system was established. Part of what held the fragile peace was an effort on the elves part to convince humanity that Elven society was not inherently dangerous to humans, but this was only partially true. Fairy had long been divided into two courts, the bright and dark. The Bright Court currently held sway but the Dark Court was still a powerful force.  They chaffed at the restrictions placed on them that didn’t allow them to cause havoc or death among mortals. Decades of concerted effort had led most humans to dismiss the Dark Court as legend born of misunderstanding and fear, but the Elven Guard knew how real the threat was, and the potential damage that could be caused if the Dark Court succeeded in creating any harm to the human public that could be traced back to them. Zarethyn admired the girl’s discretion in not mentioning who had assaulted her to anyone else.

“They probably wouldn’t have believed me anyway, but if they did they’d stop investigating everything else. They’d never believe it wasn’t these two. And it would create panic, people would be seeing Dark Court in every Fairy creature,” she said, wincing as her throat ached.

“And you do not believe they are involved?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why they were here or if it’s related. It seems unlikely though,” she answered honestly. “If it’s alright, I’d like to get some rest now.”

Zarethyn signaled for the others to leave the room. Jessilaen leaned over stroking her unbruised cheek “I will be outside if you need anything.”

She reached up, surprising him by grabbing his hand briefly and squeezing it before lying down and closing her eyes.

Back out in the hallway again the three elves were grim. “Can she be right?” Zarethyn asked, still not wanting to believe it.

“We have no reason to doubt her,” Jessilaen responded quickly, predictably defending her. Zarethyn was unsure why Jessilaen had become so attached to the girl so quickly, or why he was so insistent in pursuing her, but if his connection to the girl could be helpful to their investigation, the Captain saw no reason to discourage it.

Brynneth nodded, “I find it hard to believe the Dark Court could be here, but her injuries are too severe to have been dealt by a human.”

“She allowed you to examine her?”

“No, but I observed her while we were in the room. Even at a distance it is obvious they were single blows from a fist. I doubt a human’s ability to do such damage with one strike.”

Zarethyn nodded, trusting the healer’s opinion as an expert one. Before they could continue he saw Officer Lyons and Detective Walters rounding the corner down the hall. Walters called out to the group “You guys are gonna wanna see this.”

      ****************************

After sending Syndra to find Riordan and Aeyliss, and commandeering the nearest computer, the group of 7 crammed into the doctor’s office. The thumb drive video was pulled up and the screen divided into four sections: one displayed the front of a parking lot and part of the street, the second was obviously the sidewalk in front of the store, one appeared to be a back hallway lined with doors and a shelf and the final square showed the interior of the store from the front looking towards the back counter where Allie could be seen leaning and looking out.