Some Gave All by Nancy Holder

rest.”
    “Well, ‘home’ is a hotel tonight,” he said. “My apartment’s got a plumbing issue. Unless I find some other place to stay…” He smiled at her.
    No way. I’m telling Tess.
    “I’m staying here,” she said flatly. “By myself.”
    A text came in from Heather:
Vincent not home
.
J.T. going to university to look. I’ll watch computers.
    Cat replied,
OK, stay in touch.
    Tess was right; even after the CSUs had carted away carloads of evidence, the crime scene remained a chamber of horrors. Although she couldn’t track the way Vincent could, she could reconstruct some of the details of the crime. The violence, the savagery. The broken window had let in fresh snow and rooms were freezing; the blood that had been left behind was crystallizing. Destruction, everywhere. Aliyah Patel had witnessed at least some of this. It was getting to Sky, too.
    “So I’ll see you tomorrow,” she prompted, giving him her patented fake smile. Then her eyes widened in surprise as he opened his arms and threw back his head.
    “Divine Shiva, bless this place. Cleanse the evil from these walls and floors. Let the wheel turn!”
    He began a singsong chant at the top of his lungs. Cat regained her composure, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, “All right. We’re done here.” She was the senior partner. He had to do as she said.
    “This place is shimmering with a black aura,” he argued. “It needs to be cleansed.”
    “Tomorrow,” she said.
    “You shouldn’t stay here alone.”
    “I have my trusty aura-smasher.” She pulled away her coat and showed him her gun.
    “I’m serious. The vibes here are dangerous.”
    “We’re in a dangerous business. I’m
telling
you to go.”
    He pressed his hands together and bowed. “Got it. I’ll just grab a cab, then.”
    “Good.”
    He gave her one last look and then he departed the scene. She rubbed her arms for warmth and walked the rooms, searching for signs of Vincent. She explored the halls and the stairwells. The other residents had been told to find other places to stay tonight. Cat doubted any of them would be sleeping in hotels.
    She went back outside into heavily falling snow and hurried back to the dock to look for footprints before they were obliterated. She was too late. The snow was rapidly piling up.
    Then as she watched, she noticed that the snow wasn’t accumulating in the eastern corner of the dock, and she hurried over. Pointing her flashlight downward, she saw that a sizable gash in the wood about four feet wide had been obscured from view by shadow and trash. It appeared to be new. A beast could have done it. So was a beast down there?
    She angled the beam.
Bingo
. The gash had created an entryway into the city sewer system. She texted Tess to see if she could provide backup, but her former partner didn’t reply. It was foolish to even pretend that Cat would wait for Tess to arrive. Still, she tried not to be too foolhardy as she sussed out how to descend without hurting herself. A coil of frayed rope lay atop a trio of paint cans. She gave it a few experimental tugs between her hands; when it held, she looped some around her waist, tied it to a pole, and then leaned back to put tension on it. Still good.
    She unwrapped the rope and dropped it into the hole. Then she grabbed on and began to shimmy down. Her ear was cocked for any sort of noise. For all she knew, a beast that was not Vincent was down there.
    One, or more.
    * * *
    Heather arrived in record time with a giant purse that was apparently all the rage (what did
he
know?), and as soon as he showed her how to key in various search patterns on the cameras, J.T. drove to Northam University. The parking lot was almost empty and he walked quickly but cautiously from his car to the bio building. He kept compulsively checking his phone, praying that someone would let him know that Vincent had been found and was fine. Preferably that news would come from Vincent himself.
    He was halfway to his