I shook my head. ‘After I’ve spoken to Grace.’
Sparks lit his black eyes. ‘Your head—’
Liza looked alarmed. I waved them both away with a determined hand. ‘Grace first,’ I reiterated.
Lukas set his jaw in a tense line but he knew better than to argue with me. He stepped back, allowing Liza and I to head out of the waiting room and across to Grace’s room.
Two werewolves from the McGuigan clan were standing outside the door, alongside two vampires. Such a large supe presence was probably overkill but I was glad to see them. All four nodded at me in greeting and I returned the gesture.
Liza opened Grace’s door and beckoned me inside. ‘I’ll wait here,’ she said. I flashed her a quick, grateful smile and went in.
His doctors may well have been pleased with his progress, but Detective Sergeant Owen Grace looked terrible. He was lying on the hospital bed, beeping machines next to him and far too many tubes for my liking. His skin was pale and waxy and his eyes were shut.
When I approached, his eyelids flickered open and a tiny smile raised the corners of his mouth. ‘Emma,’ he whispered.
‘Hey,’ I said softly. I pulled up a chair and sat next to his bed. ‘You had us all worried. It’s good to see you back in the land of the living.’
He coughed slightly. ‘What … I … wouldn’t … give,’ he croaked, ‘to be the … phoenix … right … about … now.’
He was making a good point; I had no right to complain about my supernatural lot when I didn’t have to worry about ending up confined to a bed at death’s door. Then I touched my belly and felt the weight of responsibility settle back onto my shoulders.
‘Liza told me … this … was … deliberate,’ Grace said. ‘Somebody … did … this … deliberately. The same … somebody … who … killed … Carmichael.’
‘I think it was Stubman, the night bellman from the hotel next to Supe Squad,’ I said. ‘I don’t have any real evidence but all the signs point to him.’
Even his condition couldn’t prevent shock from flashing across Grace’s face. He coughed again. ‘There are files,’ he managed. ‘From Carmichael.’
I leaned in. ‘What?’
‘When … Carmichael … disappeared, his mother … cleared out his things … from his flat and …. his business.’ He licked his cracked lips. The effort of speaking was clearly difficult, but the determination in his eyes told me that he was going to talk even if it destroyed him. ‘She took his business files. Look there. There might be something you can use.’
In theory it was a good idea, but I knew from Phileas that Quincy Carmichael’s mother had died so it was doubtful that any of the gremlin’s files still existed. I nodded anyway; this wasn’t the time for a long debate or conversation. ‘I’ll look into it,’ I promised. ‘You just concentrate on getting better. We need you to get better.’ My voice was shakier than I’d intended. I reached for Grace’s hand and squeezed it gently. ‘Ineed you.’
His eyelids fluttered and he wheezed. As if on cue, a nurse bustled into the room, glanced at me and straightened her back. ‘Alrighty, then!’ she said in a cheerful voice. ‘That’s enough for now. Owen needs to rest.’
I stood up, but Grace wasn’t done. ‘Emma,’ he whispered.
I turned back. ‘Yes?’
He raised his head an inch off the pillow and his eyes met mine. ‘Don’t let Supe Squad sink. It’s up to you to keep it alive.’ He paused. ‘No matter what.’
I swallowed hard. ‘I will,’ I told him. ‘I promise.’
Grace sank back. ‘Good,’ he murmured. ‘Supe Squad needs you now more than ever.’ Then his eyes closed once more as he succumbed to sleep.
* * *
Lukas was pacingup and down the small hospital cubicle. ‘That prejudiced fuck of a bellman?’ he snarled. ‘He’s the bastard behind all this?’
‘All the signs point towards him. I don’t know why he’d have killed Quincy or Adele Cunningham and Simon Carr all those years ago, but he’s always despised supes. And he certainly had the opportunity to firebomb the Supe Squad building and get evidence to frame me for Alan Cobain’s murder.’
‘I’ll rip his throat out with my bare hands.’ Lukas was vibrating with fury – but he wasn’t the one I was worried about. That honour went to Buffy, who was standing silently in the corner, her normally expressive face set in a blank mask.
‘First of all,’ I said for her sake as much as Lukas’s, ‘we don’t have proof. We need to question Stubman and find out more. Secondly, he’s human. Even if Supe Squad were operational, he wouldn’t automatically fall under our jurisdiction. Any attempt to hurt him, kidnap him or doanythingto him is wholly illegal.’
‘He doesn’t deserve automatic protection because he’s human,’ Lukas growled.
‘No,’ I agreed. ‘But he does deserve the benefit of the doubt until we can prove otherwise. I’ve already left a message for Phileas Carmichael in case he knows if Quincy’s files still exist and there’s something useful in them. But no matter what evidence we find or what Stubman admits to, we cannot hurt him.’ I looked at Buffy. ‘I mean that.’
