By the time Nyx returned and police officers were coming up the stairs from the street door, Tess had everything sufficiently tidy.
She let the officers look around. She answered the questions she chose to answer, and the officer in charge, a Commander Gresh, who had provided assistance on previous occasions, was smart enough to be satisfied with the answers he’d been given.
She told him he could do the smudging thing on the street door to check for fingerprints. The cars in the Courtyard’s parking lot? Not customers of any of their shops, so the officers were welcome to seize them, detain them, tow them, or do whatever else they pleased with them.
“A police van just drove in,” Nyx said once the police were sniffing around the parking lot. “Vlad says the police will take Simon and the others to the Market Square medical office.”
“I don’t think our humans will be returning soon, but let’s put everything back as best we can.”
“Everything?”
Tess looked at Nyx, knowing the Sanguinati was asking about the pink book. “Not everything.”
CHAPTER 48
Watersday, Maius 26
Smiling as he listened to the children’s excited jabbering, Monty pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and turned it on. Not that he expected anything. Captain Burke knew he’d taken the day off to spend time with Lizzy. Now that the question of custody was settled, at least for the time being, he had decided it would be safe to take Lizzy to the movies as a treat and had invited the Denby family to join them.
“Do we all want something to eat?” Pete Denby asked.
“Pizza!” Lizzy said.
“Pizza, pizza, pizza,” Sarah said.
“Hamburgers,” Robert said. “I’m so hungry I could eat a hamburger the size of a cow!”
“A whole cow?” Eve Denby gave her son a disbelieving look. “Even the hooves?”
Before Robert could reply, Lizzy looked at Monty. “Daddy! You turned on your phone.”
“I have to check in, Lizzy girl.” And what he saw made him uneasy. Three messages from Burke’s phone number while he’d been in the theater? That wasn’t good.
“You always put work first. Mommy said—”
“That’s enough,” Monty snapped, stung to not only hear the same words but Elayne’s disapproving tone of voice coming out of his own daughter. He looked at Pete. “Check your messages.” Then he listened to his own.
“Lieutenant, there’s been an incident at the stall market. Call me when you can.”
“The Courtyard is under attack. Do not, I repeat, do not take Lizzy back there until you talk to me.”
“Lawrence MacDonald was shot. He’s in surgery. Come to Lakeside Hospital as soon as you can.”
“Mikhos, watch over us,” Monty whispered. As he put his phone away, he looked at Pete’s pale face and grim expression.
“We’ll take Lizzy with us back to the duplex,” Pete said.
“Can you drop me close to Lakeside Hospital?”
“Sure.”
“What’s going . . . ?” Eve looked at both men and didn’t finish the question.
“One of my men,” Monty said, knowing he didn’t need to say more.
They hustled the children to the car. Monty wondered if he looked hunted. The gods knew, he felt that way.