Page 61 of Thunder Road

Vic nodded. “He will be. Just drained. But he took the day off to recuperate, which is progress. He used to throw himself back into work afterward until he dropped.”

“You’re a good team,” Hargrove replied. “Glad you’re on our side.”

Moments after the captain left, Vic’s phone buzzed. “You’ve got people here to see you—motorcycle folks,” the officer at the front desk told them.

Vic and Ross exchanged a look. “Send them back,” Vic replied.

Chad Samuels and Maret were escorted, looking defiantly uncomfortable in the police station.

“Welcome back.” Vic looked at Maret. “Thanks to you and your coven again for your help.”

“Glad we could lend a hand,” she replied. “Simon delivered the goods. I’m grudgingly impressed—don’t get used to it.”

“The curse should be over for the club.” Vic turned to Samuels. “The troll can’t be destroyed, but the spellwork was strong enough to bind him, so the folks at the shelters should be safe again too. And your people did a great job protecting the locations. Thank you.”

“Happy to help—especially if it means something stops killing my crew.” Samuels extended his hand for Vic to shake. “For cops, you’re okay.”

Vic took the compliment as it was intended, and shook Samuels’s hand. “Thanks. If you think the troll has come back, let me or Simon know. But he thinks that as long as the spell is kept strong, the troll won’t be bothering anyone again.”

Ross waited until their visitors had left before turning to Vic. “That’s one of the most unlikely partnerships in the history of Myrtle Beach.”

Vic shrugged. “Gotta start somewhere, I guess.”

“Have you thought about how we are going to handle the paperwork for this case?” Ross asked.

Vic rolled his eyes. “Again you mention paperwork. No. But I’m definitely of the opinion that the less said, the better.”

“Works for me.”

Since there had been no official incident at the lighthouse, Vic and Ross skirted any mention of that part. No category existed for supernatural threats, let alone protecting the beach from trolls. They focused on Vic being asked by a member of the Coast Guard to do a safety check on the Georgetown light, and the report was close to the truth if extremely light on details.

The Sisters of St. Cyprian somehow finagled to have Sister Cecilia’s cause of death listed as natural, which Vic supposed was true if one stretched natural to include immortal trolls.

“Hold your breath and wish me luck—I’m sending Cap the draft report.” Vic pressed send.

Ross raised his hand with his fingers crossed. “Fingers crossed that he approves it. I said a prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, just in case.”

“I’ll take any help we can get,” Vic replied. “Wouldn’t be the weirdest request for backup.”

Ever since Vic and Simon solved their first case—a supernatural serial killer—figuring out how to handle reporting had been a challenge. Vic needed to satisfy legal requirements without including details that would subject the departmentto ridicule from those who did not believe in woo-woo, or implicating anyone in technically illegal behavior. That often required fudging or omitting details that were outside the norm.

Vic knocked back the rest of his cup of coffee. “After Halloween, the four of us should go out to dinner if Sheila agrees. It’s been a while.”

“She’s been busy at work, but that should start tapering off toward the end of the year,” Ross agreed. “I think we can arrange a night on the town. Are you and Simon going all out for Halloween, as usual?”

“Yeah, despite everything that’s been going on, according to Simon, Halloween must be celebrated in style. It’s sort of like Goth Christmas. And for him, there’s the energy of Samhain as well, so he’s got some special wardings and rituals for protection to do that night.”

“I’m just in it for the candy.” Ross popped a mint into his mouth. “Sheila and I are going out to eat and coming home after it’s all over.”

They looked up when Captain Hargrove walked in an hour later. Vic held his breath, seeing a printout of the report in Hargrove’s hand.

“I have no doubt that you sanitized what happened to appease the mundanes,” Hargrove glanced from Ross to Vic and seemed to see down to their bones. “Is there anything that isn’t in here that’s going to come back to bite us on the ass?”

“Steve Hardin with the Supernatural Coast Guard claimed jurisdiction,” Vic reminded Hargrove. “Technically, I just did an assist.”

Hargrove’s eyes narrowed as he took Vic’s non-answer for what it was. “I’m happy enough to let them handle it. I’d just rather not have this blow up in the news.”

Vic knew the witches had made sure no one had tailed them or recorded the fight at the lighthouse.

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