the police chief to believe that I was a model citizen—but there was no reason to push it.
“Are you okay?” Elise was studying my face. “You look tired. And . . . well, a little rattled.”
“I did just find a dead body,” I reminded her, trying to keep my voice even. It wasn’t Elise’s fault I was here.
“Yeah, but . . . you know.” Not finding a polite way to phrase it, she waved a hand as if to say, You’ve seen plenty of dead people.
She was right, of course. Elise didn’t know about the Old World, but she knew I’d spent ten years in the US Army. Normally, a nonviolent, natural death wouldn’t shake me. But Nellie’s words kept ringing in my head. They’ll begin to call to you. I didn’t want to think about that night.
Elise was still looking at me, still waiting for some kind of response. “I guess,” I said carefully, “coming across him just brought up some bad memories.”
“Oh. Oh.” Elise gave me a worried look and briefly rested her arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Lex. I didn’t mean to be flippant.”
I realized that she thought I’d been talking about Iraq and the people I’d lost there, and I almost choked on a broken laugh. Great. Now I’d used my dead friends as an excuse to get out of a conversation.
So can anyone attend this pity party, or is it invitation only?
Sam’s voice in my head sounded amused. I pushed out a breath and managed not to snap at her out loud. My cousin was already concerned about me. This was not a good moment to announce that I had psychic conversations with my dead twin sister.
“Can I go now?” I asked Elise, my voice coming out shrill and unsteady. “Do they need me for anything else?”
“No, we’ve got your statement, but . . .” Abandoning her professionalism, Elise turned sideways to hug me, which was a surprise. Elise was a lesbian, and although Boulder PD was a lot more liberal than many police departments, I knew my cousin tried to keep a low profile. Hugging what appeared to be a random female witness wouldn’t help that, but she didn’t care.
Touched, I hugged her back. “What are you doing the rest of the day?” she asked when she finally pulled away.
I had a feeling that if I said “nothing,” Elise or one of my other family members would be showing up at my cabin later to make sure Lex was emotionally stable. Again. Luckily, for once I really did have normal human plans. “I’m helping Katia move,” I told her, checking my watch. I’d already texted to say I was running late.
“Oh, right.” Elise looked relieved. “Tell her hi for me.”
“I will.” I yawned, unable to help myself, and stood up without looking back toward the professor’s body. I was ready to get the hell out of there.
“And get some sleep,” Elise called after me. I waved a hand over my shoulder and hurried toward the car.
An hour and a half later, I was hauling an overstuffed love seat up a second set of stairs. Well, I was trying to, but my moving partner was having a hard time. “Can we stop for a second?” Simon begged, his face already red.
I lowered my half of the couch carefully onto the hard floor of the landing, holding it steady. Above me, Simon propped his side on the steps and leaned on the wall, panting. “Goddamn . . . broken elevator . . .” he mumbled between breaths.
I tried not to smile. Simon Pellar was Lily’s brother, and a good friend to both me and my partner, Quinn. He was also one of the few males to have the active gene for witchblood . . . although that didn’t seem to be helping him at the moment. I’d asked earlier if there was a spell for making furniture lighter, but he’d just pitched a throw pillow at my head. I was taking that as a no. Or if there was, it wasn’t safe to do the spell in public, where humans might walk in.
“Lex?”
I realized I’d been staring into space. “Sorry, what?”
Simon was studying me. “Is everything okay? I know you’re not supposed to tell women they look tired, but . . . you look tired.”
I hadn’t mentioned finding the body at Chautauqua. Simon had been there when Nellie warned me not to raise the dead, and he rarely forgot anything. I figured he would get