2
Maggie walked into the precinct carrying a large cup of coffee from her
favorite convenience store, despite a thief shooting a bullet at her head the
last time she was in there. Magic was the only thing that saved her, for now.
Joey insisted on giving her the coffee gratis but she drew the line at free
food. Maggie had paid for a tacquito and eaten it sitting in the El Camino at a
red light. She could still feel it sitting in the pit of her stomach.
She took a good long swig from the coffee and made her way past the
small break room, stepping in to grab an oatmeal raisin cookie. O'Malley's wife
was baking again. She always baked too much when he had night shifts.
I just need a little routine, something familiar.
Taylor caught up to her, grabbing a small pile of cookies in his large
hand, picking up his pace to walk alongside her. Maggie took another slow sip
of coffee, turning briefly to the side to let another detective pass by.
"Morning partner," said Taylor. "I don't suppose you
know anything about the ruckus on South Congress this morning?" He slid an
entire cookie into his mouth, filling his cheeks, and still tried to get out
another sentence, dribbling crumbs on his pressed shirt.
"I heard something about it on the scanner." Maggie kept
walking, keeping her eyes straight ahead. It was a lot to explain.
Taylor nodded at Detective Moss as they passed his desk. "Hey
Taylor, you made the spread on the game last night, well done."
"Even a squirrel sometimes finds a nut."
Moss let out a snort of laughter and went back to typing. "The
paperwork never ends," he muttered.
Taylor smiled at his friend but as soon as he turned his back, he let
the smile fade. "I spoke to the cop and he said something about a witness
reporting bees attacking a man, a large snake and a blue light show that took
up an entire acre." He counted the list off on his fingers. "Two days
ago I'd have said the guy was having a flashback to a Twisted Sister concert
and I might have even leaned in that direction today." He bit into another
cookie, chomping down.
Maggie raised her eyebrows, watching him. "That's like your Xanax,
isn't it? You have a pileup on there," she said, pointing to his shirt.
"Very funny. I come by this waistline honestly. Good solid Italian
food at home mixed with whatever is in that vending machine."
Maggie got to her seat and pulled it out, sliding into it and drinking
down the last of her coffee. She kept her head down and started typing, opening
a folder on the screen and filling out a form. But Taylor wasn't going to let
it go and leaned over, taking a look around to make sure no one was close
enough to overhear, picking up where he had left off.
"But I had to stifle a few good swears when I heard the rest of
the report. The
witness said there was a short guy in an orange sweater
wrestling with a young woman, standing under a man with white hair. I'm gonna
guess you, your new friend, Bernie, and our coroner Simon. Am I right so
far?"
Maggie slowly looked up at Taylor. "You got me. We got caught
playing out in the open and I'm pretty sure Wesley is our former coroner at
this point. I don't see him coming back from this one."
"This isn't funny, Parker. It's amazing that no one has a video of
it."
She finally looked up and saw Taylor's pursed lips. He only did that when
he was up against a problem he couldn't solve. He always saw that as a
temporary situation and would come back at it, twice as determined. She let out
the breath she had been holding and decided to trust her partner with the
truth. "The Huldus took care of that. Bernie's people. Before you say it,
yes, they missed one. Magic isn't perfect. We were there because we tracked
Simon to that pavilion, and he has something of mine that I have to get
back."
"Tracked him..." He shook his head. "I have a thousand
questions, but I'll start with the one about the tall guy from the medieval
festival. Was that the gnome in a taller version of himself?"
"I'm pretty sure if Bernie could make himself taller, he'd just
stay that way. Just call it a hunch. That was a Godwin Knight who has appointed
himself my personal bodyguard. What? No laugh at even the idea?"
Taylor finished off the last of the cookies, still chewing too fast to
really taste one. "I know you can take care of yourself, Parker, at least
under normal circumstances. What I don't like is the lack of normal." He
looked down and saw the fading welts on her hands and narrowed his eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Maggie's face softened and she turned in her chair to face him.
"I'm okay, really, well at least for now." She held up her hands and
watched Taylor's eyes tracking the red marks along the back. "I know that
was a lame sentence, but I'm catching on to all of this at about the same rate
as you are. My hands are okay, I'm okay."
"For now..."
"That's the general state of things. What I could really use is a
somewhat normal day of regular human mayhem, thievery and general disregard for
others."
Taylor's phone buzzed and he looked down, reading the text. "Then
your day is getting better. I'm going to assume you'll let me help you when the
time is right."
"Thank you for trusting me."
"That's how this works. Come on, we have a robbery over on Brodie.
A nice normal smash and grab."
"Unless someone turns into a bird..."
Taylor's eyes widened as he grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.
"Is that even possible?"
"At this point, I wouldn't bet against it."
