Page 13 of Frost Wolf

It is strange when someone remembers little things about you, especially when you didn’t think about that person in ages.

“I’m taking only milk now. Have to watch my figure.” I did a lousy job at trying to sound flirty. Karl’s eyes blazed with thoughts I didn’t want to know.

He gave me a look. Karl was tall and very thin in high school. He hasn’t changed. His long, skinny fingers felt sweaty and cold, even during the summer. They reminded me of a spider for some reason. His fingers moved on top of my jacket, but not even the layers of clothes that stood between him and me helped get rid of the creepy feeling I had.

“Milk it is.” He gave me a look. “But you don’t have anything to worry about. You’re as beautiful as ever.”

Karl was as bad at flirting as I was, but his flirty attempts sent cold shivers through me. It was difficult for me not to roll my eyes.

“Thank you, Karl.”

He walked over to me with the cup of coffee that said, “Kiss me, I cut dead people,” facing toward me. He smiled and leaned closer.

“There’s no way you can imagine how happy I was when I heard you moved back into Ruby’s old house and are single now.” He cleared his throat. “Not that I was happy that you are divorced, but… only… I mean, I’m divorced too. That’s life.”

“You were married?” I looked at Karl, trying to imagine who was creepy enough to date him and become his wife.

“Yes, to Julia Shaw. Remember her?”

I had to fake cough and take a long sip of my coffee before I could face him. Julia was one of the most beautiful girls in our class. I couldn’t believe she had married Karl.

“You probably wonder how someone like me could land her.”

“Oh, God, no. I… I was surprised. I don’t remember you guys being friends.”

“We went to the same college, and things happened. But everything changed. That’s life, as you know.”

“Karl, I’m sorry that you’re divorced. It sucks.”

“It’s all good. So, what can I do for you? I hope you came only to reminisce with me, but that bag in your hand tells me something different.”

“Hm, yeah. I have a friend. She’s into forensics, and we play this murder mystery game. This shirt is drenched in blood, and I asked myself, maybe Karl could help me identify the blood type.”

He took the bag. “Sure, I’ll do it for you, even though it’s against hospital regulations. You owe me one.”

“I do.” I forced myself to smile, even though I felt damn exhausted. At least the coffee was good.

I was just about to leave. The morgue and Karl gave me a feeling of dread.

“Wait, I need to show you something.” He grabbed my wrist. His hands felt moist, cold, and reptilian-like .

“Huh?”

His small beady eyes lit up as he looked down at me. It would have been rude to refuse, especially now that I asked him for a big favor that I knew was against hospital rules.

“Nothing ever happens here, but tonight… tonight was crazy! You would not believe what happened. Well, the best thing that happened to me was your visit.”

Doing my best to act as if I didn’t register that, I sipped the last of the coffee. My tongue touched the wound I had self-inflicted on my cheek earlier. The pain gave me a perverse pleasure.

“Please, tell me.”

He smiled like a kid in a candy shop with a hundred bucks in his pocket. “Two bodies came in tonight. You need to see.”

“Oh, someone died?”

“Yes, but we’re talking violent deaths. There’s no such thing in Prudence.”

“Oh.”

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