Page 21 of Brush with Death
Vale sighed and brought Cyril’s hand to his lips.He kissed Cyril’s fingertips, then nodded.“Fine.We can ask Rachel to look into it.For now, that’s all we’ll be doing, though.If someone really killed Sam, we need to be careful.”
Cyril nodded.The problem was that he was always careful, yet trouble seemed to find him anyway.
* * * *
VALE DIALED RACHEL’Snumber.He was grumpy, but who wouldn’t be in his place?His boyfriend was putting himself in danger to help his friends.It was a noble reason, but it might end up with Cyril getting hurt, so Vale didn’t care about whether or not it was noble.If he could, he’d forbid Cyril from doing it.
He didn’t think that Cyril would be impulsive or willingly put himself in danger, but this kind of investigation tended to bring trouble.Vale and Russell knew how to deal with it, but not Cyril.Vale would have to be careful and keep an eye on him.
Thankfully, they weren’t going out there to investigate just yet.First, they’d talk to Rachel.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve been calling me more often since you’ve retired than when you worked with me,” Rachel said when she answered.
“Good morning to you, too,” Vale told her.
“Yes, yes, good morning.What do you need from me?”
“Hi, Rachel,” Cyril said.
Rachel’s tone changed instantly.“Cyril!What can I help you with?”
“I think he’s her favorite,” Russell muttered as he leaned closer to Vale.
“I don’t blame her.He’s my favorite, too.”
“I need help for one of my friends,” Cyril explained.“Her boyfriend just died, and the police are saying it was an accident.I don’t think it is, and neither does Katie.”
“Tell me more,” Rachel ordered.
Vale leaned back in his chair and listened as Cyril told her everything they’d just told Russell.Russell had a few more questions, but Vale was already thinking about their next step.
Cyril wouldn’t want to wait until Rachel had information for him.He was impatient and worried for his friend, which was understandable.But when emotions were involved, people tended to be rash.Cyril wasn’t thinking about himself or his safety right now.He was focused on helping Katie.
“I’ll see what I can dig up on Sam,” Rachel said eventually.“What will you be doing in the meantime?”
From the way Cyril glanced at Vale, Vale could tell he wouldn’t like whatever was about to come out of his boyfriend’s mouth.He kept his expression smooth because he didn’t want Cyril to fear talking to him.Whatever was on Cyril’s mind, Vale would deal with it.
“I want to see Sam’s body,” Cyril said.
“You hit your head,” Russell pointed out.
“I’m aware, thank you,” Cyril told him with a glare.“It doesn’t mean that I completely lost my ability to reanimate people.I haven’t tried again, and I want to with Sam, but I’ll be careful this time.I don’t want to go to the hospital again.”
Vale disagreed with all of it.He wanted Cyril to stay home and rest.He definitely didn’t want Cyril to run around trying to reanimate his friends and causing himself to get a headache.Unfortunately, the only way to stop Cyril from doing just that would be to tie him to the couch, and that wasn’t something Vale was willing to do unless they were naked.
“You should probably wait to do that,” he suggested, even though he knew he wouldn’t change Cyril’s mind.
“The sooner I try, the sooner I’ll know whether or not I can still reanimate people.”
“But you might not be healed enough.Maybe if you wait a week, you will be, and you’ll have no trouble reanimating Sam.Besides, you don’t know if the police will allow you anywhere near him.”
“They will,” Cyril said.“I’ve worked with the police a few times.They don’t like me, but I’m useful to them.They can’t hire me, but the families of the victims can.”
And that meant that if a family hired Cyril to ask their loved one how they’d been killed, the police could use that information to arrest the killer.Vale disliked the way they seemed eager to use Cyril while viewing him in a bad light, but there was nothing he could do about it.Besides, Cyril didn’t care about police officers and detectives.He only cared about the deceased and their families.
“Please,” Cyril said.“I need to do this.”
And nothing would stop him from doing it, not even Vale.He might as well go along with it to make sure that Cyril didn’t push himself too hard.If he was there, he could pull Cyril away at the first sign of a headache.
