Infernal Affairs by Jes Battis Page B

wish I could be so sure.”
    “Do you honestly feel dangerous? Because I live with you, and no offense, but I think even Mia outweighs you.”
    “I don’t feel dangerous. I just feel—”
    “Strange?”
    “Yeah. All the time. And it’s only getting worse.”
    “I’m sorry to say this, babe. But that’s just who we are.”
    “You don’t think we’ll ever feel normal?”
    “Not unless we move to an asylum.”
    “That might actually be nice.”
    “Are you kidding? It would be great. Three square meals a day, no rent, and all the Jell-O you could ever want.” I laid my head on his shoulder. “Dream with me. No demons. No on-call shifts. No ectoplasm on our shoes.”
    “No more broken bones.”
    “No more bosses.”
    “No more training exercises.”
    “No more lying to the outside world.”
    “No more outside world.”
    “Yeah. We’d be totally sheltered.”
    “We wouldn’t even have to read the paper or check our e-mail.”
    “We could do puzzles. Make collages.”
    “Mmm. With Elmer’s Glue.”
    “Absolutely.”
    “And listen to books on tape. I could finally read Proust.”
    “I would only read Vanity Fair . But I’d cut out all the pictures of the skinny models, and then you could make papier-mâché effigies out of them.”
    “That sounds nice.”
    “And three times a week, Lucian and Miles would come visit us. They’d sneak in some alcohol, in a hidden flask maybe, and then read us the paper, but only the nice bits. Nothing about murders or lost animals.”
    “Actually . . .” Derrick chuckled. “Speaking of the normate news, we should probably watch it. I’d like to see exactly how Selena was able to spin what happened at the morgue. Can you switch on the TV for a second?”
    “Sure. But only for a minute. Then we’re watching cartoons.”
    “Don’t you have to be at work soon?”
    “Meh. I’ve got time for an episode of Dora , especially if it’s fast-paced.”
    I grabbed the remote and flipped to the local news channel. A VPD officer was being interviewed by the media. He looked exhausted.
    “This is an ongoing investigation,” he was saying. “All we can disclose at the moment is that, last night, at approximately four a.m., a group of individuals broke into the Chief Coroner’s Office. Once inside, they did significant damage to the autopsy suite and stole a cadaver.”
    My breath caught.
    “Were there any witnesses?” a reporter asked.
    “The forensic pathologist on duty last night is currently being held for questioning. We’re not certain of his involvement in the commission of this crime, but we’ve not yet eliminated him as a suspect.”
    “Can you tell us the identity of the body that was stolen?”
    “Not at this time, no.”
    “And is there any possible motive for stealing this particular body?”
    “None that we know of yet. But we’re investigating this closely.”
    I stared at Derrick, my mouth still open.
    “Let’s hide,” he said.

6
    Sometime during the night, the Kentauros demon had been moved to our special interrogation unit in the basement. I wasn’t sure how Selena had done it, but something told me that I didn’t want to know. There wasn’t an opioid on the planet strong enough to knock out a pureblood. Pure heroin only made them more efficient.
    I met Selena at the elevator doors. She looked drawn. Her expression barely changed when I produced a second coffee. She just took the cup numbly.
    “You’ve been up all night.”
    “Can you tell? My head feels like a broken toaster.”
    “What broke the toaster? Was it Texas Toast? I always burn it.”
    She drank some of the coffee. “You saw the news?”
    “Derrick and I watched it from the clinic.”
    “This is a first-rate shit show.”
    “I can only imagine. Where do you need me? Derrick’s going to be on his back for at least the next few days, but I gave him permission to Skype in from time to time. As long as it’s not during a knife fight.”
    “We need to get ahold of