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The sheriff’s department was alive with activity. Phones rang, voices murmured, people shuffled papers about and were rushing to and fro with purpose. Remiel’s name and status got us into the work area of the sheriff’s department. My somewhat tenuous connection with Nick Johnson got us to Nick’s cubicle.
“This is a surprise,” Nick said to me as a secretary brought us to him.
“May we talk, we’re hoping you can help us,” Remiel said.
“Yes, but not here,” Nick said. “You’ve convinced the Chesterfield police that a cop is doing the killings, so you aren’t exactly popular at this time.” He spoke very quietly.
“When do you get off? Helia is having emergency surgery this afternoon and we thought you might want to see her afterward, now that she’s single again,” I said quickly, winking.
“Oh god, what’s wrong with Helia?” Nick said, raising his voice.
“She has wings,” I answered. “Remiel and I were driving by and after seeing you at our parents’ house the other day, I thought about it. She’s going through a divorce, no chance of reconciliation, you two were cute together, maybe it’s worth trying again.”
“I will meet you there in an hour. What about her kids?”
“One girl has wings, but not the other. They’re at my parents’ house with Jerome and Angel.”
“Angel?” Nick asked.
“Our dog.” I said. She’s at SLU, we’ll meet you there in a while.” Nick nodded and Remiel and I turned and left.
“That was good thinking,” Remiel said.
“I thought so. Was anyone having devious and bad thoughts?” I asked.
“Several, but not the kind we were looking for.” He opened the door and got into my SUV.
Two hours later, we were sitting in a bar having a drink with Nick Johnson. Remiel was sizing him up, both physically and I was sure mentally. Nick looked a little pale, even by the standards of bar light.
“You two,” he huffed. “Chesterfield might be on board with your profile, but St. Louis County is not.”
“I know,” Remiel nodded. “It’s always a contentious situation when a first responder might be involved.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
“When we were at Chesterfield and they were given the complete profile, several suggested we talk to you,” Remiel answered. “But they didn’t say why. Do you know why?”
“Country versus city,” Nick shrugged.
“They’d just been told that something has happened to the killer in recent time to make him start killing,” I told Nick.
“Things happen to cops all the time!” Nick snipped.
“Any cops lose their families lately?” Remiel asked.
“We have the highest divorce rate of any profession out there.”
“I meant to death,” Remiel looked at his glass. “Did you?”
“Me? No, my wife left me five years ago. We didn’t have kids, so that wasn’t an issue. She died 13 months ago, car accident.”
“Nick, I’m sorry.”
“She made it obvious the problem wasn’t my job. I discovered she was having an affair with a member of the St. Charles Police Department. Then two years ago, she married a cop with the St. Louis City Police.”
“And she died?” I asked.
“Yeah, remember that emergency plane landing last summer that caused an accident on Interstate 70?”
“I do,” I nodded.
“She was one of those that died in the traffic collision. The semi in the lane next to her fell over sideways onto her car when the driver rear ended the semi in front of it.”
“City, county, and highway patrol responded, didn’t they?” Remiel asked.
“Yeah, it was a disaster. Fifty-three cars and the airplane. Sixteen died, but it should have been more. Here’s my war story and the reason I’m in therapy. A head talked to me, asked me to kick it back to its owner. That one lived. But my ex, who was a cherub, died. It was completely random.” With that, Remiel ordered another round. Nick was still smarmy and made my skin crawl. As I finished my Mai Tai, Remiel tapped my knee. I pulled out my phone and texted Jerome. He assured me that he and the girls were at the hotel with Duke, Walter, and Tabitha, and that Gabriel was on his way over to take them to dinner.
Nick stayed at the bar when we left. Remiel left a fifty to cover Nick’s drinks. We got in my car and drove to the hospital for real.
“I think the semi driver had been drinking; they found a flask full of vodka on him and if I remember correctly, he was a vampire,” Remiel told me.
“Was he drunk?”
“He wasn’t drunk, but he might have been mildly impaired.”
“There was a plane crash in progress, I think all those drivers were mildly impaired,” I quipped.
“That’s why he got off with a traffic ticket. The DA didn’t charge him with a felony crime and he only lost his license for five years. He can never get his CDL back.”
“All these people have gotten traffic tickets recently,” I said.
“To be fair, anyone related to the 16 that died could be involved,” Remiel said.
“To be fair, I’ll consider it,” I said.
“Nick thinks it’s his ex’s second husband. Name is Jesse Young.”
“Then why did a Chesterfield officer drop off a bag at Martha’s?” I asked.
“I haven’t figured that one out yet either. I was hoping you’d have a flash of brilliance and have a eureka moment,” Remiel answered as I parked. I was given Helia’s room number and we went up. My parents were there.
“We think we solved it,” Remiel announced, “well, some of it. We think we know the who and the why, but we don’t have the how.”
“I’ll be out late tomorrow morning,” Helia said. “Can I borrow an outfit to accommodate my wings for the ceremony tomorrow afternoon?”
“You can, but you’re having surgery, everyone will understand if you don’t come.”
“This is the last thing I will ever do for Valerie. I need to be there for you, Jerome, Mom, Dad, my girls, and me.” A nurse bustled in and read Helia’s vital stats.
“She’ll be going back in 20 minutes,” the nurse said.
I gave my sister a hug and then we left the hospital. It was getting close to dinner time. The day had flown by. Of course, I’d been up since three a.m., and the sun was starting to set.
“I have to go to the hotel. I need to feed and bathe Helia’s girls and get Jerome sorted. And have dinner.” This was mostly because the Mai Tais weren’t setting well on my stomach. Stress and alcohol had never mixed well for me.
I didn’t get rid of Remiel that easily, though. He stayed and talked to the Marshals while I got the girls ready for dinner and picked out two outfits for tomorrow, one for me and one for Helia. Tonight, I caved in and they brought us a large table to eat dinner at. They even moved the furniture around to install it. Then we ordered room service.
After dinner, I asked Remiel to stay with the girls. Then I checked their clothing sizes and ran to a department store close by. I picked up pajamas in their size and headed back to the hotel. The set I’d gotten Ariel had dogs on them, and the one for Aurora had Disney princesses. The girls went into my room to change.
“Are they staying the night?” Remiel asked.
“I think they should. It’s getting late and my parents will be with Helia for a few more hours.”
“The sofa pulls out into a bed,” Remiel told me. “I’ll have someone come up and make it with sheets and things and bring extra pillows.”
“Thanks,” I told him. Duke pulled me into him and gave me a nice, chaste kiss. I heard Ariel go “Ewwwww” behind us.
“I haven’t gotten to see you much,” he said.
“Tomorrow, we go to the guy’s house, come with us.”
“Remiel’s already asked for us, in our official capacity. The problem is you don’t have any evidence except Nick Johnson’s thought suspicions and those won’t get you a warrant.”
“That is tomorrow’s problem,” I told him, giving him a quick kiss. I heard Aurora say ewww that time.
“One day, you’ll like kissing,” I heard Jerome say to the girls.
“Enough, go away,” I told Duke.
“Kids make dating difficult.” He mumbled as he gave me a hug and left.
“Aunt Soleil, are you going to marry him?” Ariel asked.
“I don’t know, maybe one day. I like him a lot.” I told the little girl with golden hair worn in pigtail braids. Both my nieces were blond. Aurora’s was a strawberry blond. They both also liked to wear their hair in pigtails. Ariel had started the trend, because she was currently reading Pippi Longstocking and she wanted to be Pippi. She’d asked if she could dye her hair red and her mom had told her no, but that could change. I had thought about dying it red while shopping for pjs. But I figured Helia would kill me when she saw her daughter in the morning.
Full staff showed up to rearrange our hotel room. A four-person dining room table was brought in, with four chairs. The sofa was put back in front of the TV. The cushions were removed, and it was folded out. Then they put on sheets, a comforter, and four pillows. The sheets were My Little Pony.
“Will Pinkie Pie be okay at Grammy and Grampy’s tonight?” Aurora asked.
“She has a stable, she’ll be fine,” I said. Jerome rolled his eyes.
“Even if Grammy and Grampy don’t go home?”
“Even if they don’t go home,” I assured her.
“I’m going to call and check on your mom and then you two monsters are going to bed,” I told them. I grabbed Aurora and picked her up, tickling her, and threw her over my shoulder. She was giggling like a madman. Jerome grabbed Ariel and began tickling her. Remiel called my parents and put them on speakerphone.
“Soleil is about to put the girls to bed. Do you want to say good night?” he asked my mom.
“Are they at the house?”
“No, I had the sofa bed made up for me, although I dare say the staff thought it was for the girls, because they put My Little Pony sheets on it. I figure it’s going to be late when you leave, so they should just stay here,” I called to her.
“Thank you,” my mom replied.
“If they get to be a handful, call us,” my dad yelled somewhere near enough to the phone.
“How’s Helia?” I asked.
“Her wings are gold,” my mom said.
“I know, I saw one.”
“She’s okay, she was running a mild fever after surgery— they got all the infection cleaned out and the sacks are gone. We’re waiting for her to wake up, then we’ll head home. She’s going to have to stay overnight in the hospital again.”
“She is not going to like that,” I said.
“No, no she isn’t,” Mom answered. “But the sack that was infected had a lot of fluid in it. They want to keep her and give her a full round of IV antibiotics. We’re gearing up for that fight in the morning.”
“I’m going to see about moving the ceremony to Saturday,” Dad said.
“That would make her feel better and possibly keep the fight from happening,” I nodded at the phone. “Go home and get some rest,” I told them.
“We will, love you all! See you tomorrow! Don’t worry about your mom, she’s fine!” My mom shouted.
“We have you on speaker phone,” I told her.
“Oh good,” she said and then hung up.
“All right! Who wants to fall asleep watching Monsters, Inc?” I asked them.
“Mom doesn’t let us watch TV in bed,” Ariel said.
“But Mom isn’t here,” Aurora told her, and I realized the youngest was going to be a rebel. Normally, I wouldn’t have allowed it either. But their mom was in the hospital and they were in a strange place with their aunt, who they really didn’t spend much time with. I thought Monsters, Inc might help them push away the negative thoughts and sleep.
So, we watched Monsters, Inc together; Ariel, Aurora, Jerome, and me. Remiel left when I turned the movie on. After the movie, I tucked the girls into the bed that had been mine. Jerome came in and told both of them good night and then he went to bed. I took my spot on the foldout.