Chapter 4
I crack an eye open at the word Mama. I guess she didn't have a hot date after all, I muse to myself.
"NICK!" Judy exclaims at me after her tirade about shooting the monster now that she notices I'm sans pants. "Just where are your pants?"
"Ugh, not so loud Carrots," I tell her. "You're the one that pounded on my door for help. Speaking of which, just how did you find me?"
I open my eyes as the silence gets a little uncomfortable. There she stands in front of my fireplace. She is dressed in sweatpants and a loose fitting ZPD t-shirt. Her nose is twitching rapidly as she searches for an answer. The fact that she doesn't answer right away tells me all I need to know. Karma more than likely pointed her in my direction.
"It… I…." I watch as she stumbles and searches for words. "I heard something downstairs. I knew it wasn't Cotton since she was asleep beside me. When I shot it and it laughed, something told me to run. So I grabbed my daughter and ran. We don't live far away, and something told me that there was help here."
"He…. he said my name in a weird way." My ears perk up and I look over to the arm of the couch farthest from me. I see a bunny peeking over the arm of the couch at me; she has brown eyes and silvery light grey almost white fur. Her ears are standing up right.
"Weird how?" I ask.
"Kinda like Mama does when I'm in trouble," she answers.
Our names have power, especially with all the proper inflections spoken exactly how our mothers intended. I know you can do a lot with someone's true name. It's how I have on occasion gotten a member of the fey race to do me a small favor or two, or how warlocks consort with hellspawn.
"Was it exactly how your mother says it?" I ask.
She looks thoughtful for a moment then shakes her head. "Not exactly."
I huff a sigh of relief. I swallow as I stand up and head for the bathroom, grabbing my pants as I pass by the bed.
"I didn't hear anything." Judy says and I pause for a moment. If she didn't hear anything then it knew enough of Cottons name to speak to her telepathically. Not good, someone close to them must have given the thing her name.
"Please make yourself at home," I say quietly. "I may not have much but you're welcome to whatever food or drink I do have." I snap my fingers, lighting the candles around the room just before stepping into the bathroom.
"Whoa…." I hear Cotton say.
I stand for a while looking at myself in the mirror. I'm in over my head and I know it. That thing, that monstrosity, would have shrugged off being thrown into a car if not for the coming of dawn. It's been years since I've done any real training in combat magic. I used to be able to throw a mean fireball but these days? Not so much. But Karma wouldn't have put them in my path if I couldn't help them.
I finally break away from the mirror and reach over to turn on the hot water, mostly out of stubbornness. The cold stream chills me and I rest my head against the wall of the shower. I yelp a moment later when the water suddenly goes hot and I scramble to cool it down a bit.
"Nick, you okay in there?" Judy calls from outside the bathroom.
"Yeah…." I look at the water for a moment. "I'm good." My spirits lighten just a bit. Maybe, just maybe, Karma is smiling upon me. I decide not to take hot water for granted and hurry up and shampoo and rinse out my fur. I try to put out of my mind how bad Karma might kick me later for my turn of good fortune.
I sigh, thinking that I really should consult Ben, but I can't do that with guests. I haven't been on the best of terms with Judy for very long and would prefer to keep some of my secrets. Maybe her home will have clues about what we're facing?
I drape my towel around my neck as I step out of the bathroom, this time wearing pants. I am greeted by the smell of freshly made pancakes and giggles of happiness. Seems Judy and her daughter have taken advantage of my hospitality and raided my icebox. (It's a real icebox, by the way; a polar bear delivers a cube of ice every Friday night.) Not that I mind; I wouldn't have made the offer if I wasn't sincere. Besides, my grandfather would have my hide if I wasn't a good host.
I pause, not because of the pancakes but because of the giggles from the rabbits. Laughter and happiness have been absent from my home. I brood and read here; it's my fortress of solitude. I mean, who would want to make a life with a wizard? I shake my head and walk over to the elephant sized dresser and pull open the middle drawer, rummaging around a bit before finally finding a clean shirt.
I felt a tug on my shirt tail and I look down into the brown eyes of Judy's daughter. Cotton, I remind myself, her name is Cotton. "Here are some pancakes Mr. Nick!" she said to me exuberantly. I smile as I take the plate from her and look up into the watchful eyes of Judy. She eyes me warily. Wary might not be the right word for the look in her eyes; cautious maybe.
I sit down on my couch and pick up the fork. The pancakes are surprisingly moist evidently made by a well practiced paw. My fork cuts a bite sized portion out easily enough and I pop it into my mouth. My god, she even put some of the blueberries in them that I'd picked up earlier this week. My eyes close as I chew slowly. She'd probably used a good portion of my sparce pantry on that meal but it was heavenly.
"So they pass muster?" I hear her ask.
I open my eyes to a smug looking rabbit. Usually I only see that kind of smug on foxes, but the level she displays at that moment is pure unadulterated smug. "These are the best pancakes I have ever had," I answer after I swallow my bite.
She laughs at that. "Well, considering you seem content to live on Chef Howlardee, I will take that under advisement."
I grin at her and tell her. "Hey, I'm a busy wizard, experiments to perform and what not; I value expediency over quality."
Judy shook her head. "Well, you must conduct your experiments elsewhere."
I shrug as I pop another bite of deliciousness in my mouth.
"You're a wizard?" Cotton asks me.
"Yes, yes I am."
"Can you pull me out of a hat?" she asks.
Judy rolls her eyes at her daughter. "He said wizard, not magician."
Could I pull her out of a hat? No, no I could not….. Well, maybe. The more I think about it the more I believe that it might technically be possible, with pocket dimensions and a few other spells.. "No," I answer hoping to dissuade the young bunny from asking me to try it. "I can't pull you out of a hat. That's just smoke and mirrors, or sleight of paw."
"What's the difference?" Cotton asks me, and I look to Judy, who smiles at me.
"Cotton, why don't you let Mr. Nick finish his pancakes and then he can show you," Judy tells her daughter kindly.
"Aww, ok…"
I smile my thanks at Judy as I dig into the delicious breakfast that she made. It's an odd feeling, having someone feed me in my own home. They're my guests, but a part of me didn't expect it. The kindness shown in that one small gesture goes farther than I really care to admit to alleviate all the "hey fox's" I have endured over the weeks. I mean, she went out of her way yesterday to show me that she wasn't speciest so I wonder what that was really all about. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with me at all.
I watch out of the corner of my eye as they sit quietly and watch me eat. Judy is sitting in the arm chair and is calm as she watches the flames dance in the fireplace and Cotton sits drowsily in her lap.
"Hey Nick, can I use your bathroom?" Judy asks, breaking the silence.
"Yeah sure, it's the only other door in the place." I answer her.
I chew on the last of my pancakes as Judy gets up and sits Cotton down on the chair. "Behave," she tells the younger bunny.
Cotton looks over at me as I finish my breakfast and stand up to clean up the plates.
"Mr. Nick, are you poor?" she asks me.
I pause and look at her. "Not really, why do you ask?"
"Because your electricity," she says each syllable of electricity as if she is sounding it out, "doesn't work and you cook on a fire like you're camping."
"My work doesn't pay much," I tell her as I wash the plates and mixing bowl in the sink.
"What does a wizard do?" she asks me.
It takes me a moment to come up with an answer. "I guess I help people," I tell her.
"Like Mama?"
"Kind of, I guess."
"You must be brave then. Mama is brave, and she can punch out a rhinoceros." She again pronounces rhinoceros very carefully.
I pause briefly in washing the dishes. "Really?" I ask.
"Huh-huh. She's the bestest cop ever. She graduated vala…vala…" She stumbles as she tries to remember how to pronounce valedictorian.
"Valedictorian?" I offer.
"Yeah!" She goes quiet for a moment. "Will you help Mama?"
That gave me pause for a moment. It was the way she worded the request; not help me or help us, but help her mom. "I will do my best," I answer.
I hear the bathroom door open just as I finish the dishes.
"She didn't talk your ears off did she?" she asks, and I smile at that.
"No," I answer with a genuine smile, "she did not. Come on lets get you guys home so we can start the day."
The look on Judy's face suddenly becomes one of pure embarrassment. "Nick…. You wouldn't happen to have anything we could borrow to, ummm, wear?"
I pause and look down at her. I seriously doubt that any of my shirts would fit her, let alone her smaller daughter. "I don't think any of my clothes would fit either of you."
"Oh sweet sassafras…" she mumbles, and looks away. I can see her working up the courage needed to make the trip.
"Be nicer to the bunny," I hear Karma in my ear; it's loud enough that I give a glance over my shoulder just to make sure she hasn't appeared behind me."
"Maybe..." Judy starts.
"I cannot magic you up clothes," I see her deflate just a bit. "But I can make it so you won't be noticed."
Her eyes light up and she looks up at me. "Really?" she asks; I can hear skepticism in her voice.
I nod. "As long as you don't draw attention to yourself it will work."
"Meaning what?" Judy asks.
I sigh. "I can cast a spell where you could walk by your own mother and as long as you didn't draw her attention verbally she wouldn't notice you dancing the hula," I answer. "But I'll need to go with you to power the spell."
The spell I cast on us as we walk out of my door is fairly simple. It's not camouflage per say. It's more like a veil; it keeps mammals from seeing what they don't want to see. But it's draining; I can feel my energy reserves fading the longer I have to keep it up and it gets even worse with more mammals around us.
There are flashing red and blue lights from where the police are obviously still working out how a medium sized mammal's car ended up bent like a horseshoe with no discernible cause. Judy looks up at me with a look in her eyes. I'm not sure if she's impressed or scared of me. Honestly I'm not sure which she should be either.
We are just a block away from my home when the most surprising thing happens during the walk to the rabbits' home. Cotton reaches up and takes hold of the little finger on my right paw. It's an odd sensation, (not unpleasant mind you but odd) having someone's trust that quickly. Judy doesn't seem to mind if she notices at all; her ears and nose are twitching nervously the farther away from my place we get.
I start to suspect something is wrong as we near their plaice. Police are blocking off a street and there is a sizable crowd of mammals. There is a faint murmur in the air and I catch someone whisper that it looks like a bomb went off. We slip past the police and head down the street.
The neighborhood is nice, much nicer than mine; it must have felt like they were majorly slumming it when they appeared on my doorstep this morning. The street is lined on both sides by rows of nicely painted townhouses. Which made the mess in the middle of the street seem terribly out of place. Litter and parts of a house lay strewn about the place. Scraps of cloth and paperwork flutter in the wind. Honestly the mammal down the street was right, it had looked like a bomb had blown up one of the townhouses. I have a sinking suspicion in my gut whose house it was as well.
Judy responds the way I think any parent with a kit to take care of who suddenly finds themselves homeless: she starts to cry. I can't blame her; looking at the destruction of your home is an overwhelming prospect. It's a nice neighborhood; I'm sure rent or a mortgage here is not cheap, let alone in a booming real estate market. She gathers Cotton up in her arms as she sobs. Cotton just blinks at the place where her home once stood before she herself starts to cry.
The sobs must have been enough to break the veil as the next thing I know there is a great bellow of, "WHO THE HELL LET THESE CIVILIANS INTO THIS CRIME SCENE?" I turn, partially expecting to see the demon thing from this morning staring me in the face, but instead it's the looming angry visage of the Chief of Police himself, Chief Bogo.
I shrug and look to Judy and Cotton just before I hear. "GET ON THE GROUND!" followed very closely by, "Stop resisting!" as I look around confused. The next thing I feel is twin pinches in my back followed by what can only be described as the sting of a thousand bees as my body goes rigid and I collapse face first onto the concrete.
"MR. NICK!" Cotton screams, and I vaguely hear a sudden pop followed closely by some cursing. But I can't look around or do much of anything, as I have been rendered helpless. There's a sudden weight in the center of my back and I am fighting just as hard as when Karma held me to the wall to even draw breath. My paws are drawn behind my back and I am paw cuffed.
I must have blacked out, for when I come to there is an aardvark EMT standing over me and a nervous looking Cotton to one side. "Mr. Nick, you're awake!" she exclaims as I move to sit up. I feel like I've been hit by a freight train; my body hurts and my head is pounding as if it's being used as the kick drum in a metal concert.
Carrots is off to the side with Chief Bogo and what looks like a young warthog officer. I can't tell who looks angrier, Judy or the Cape buffalo. But my wrists are no longer cuffed and I'm not even cuffed to the gurney so I'm probably not being charged with anything.
"Mr. Wilde, I must insist that you go to the hospital for a check up…" the EMT starts.
"No hospitals," I reply, almost out of habit more than anything. Can you imagine the havoc I would cause in one with all the sensitive electronics in there? I put the thought out of my mind; the last thing I want to be is responsible for is someone's loved one dying because I blew up their life support system just by being wheeled by the room.
"Fine, but if you feel light headed or have any strange heart palpitations please go get seen in the ER," the EMT tells me as I stand up.
I turn my attention more fully to the house, or more accurately what is left of it. Most of the front wall is blown out and strewn across the front lawn and street. There is one room sized exception on the front wall that is still intact. Debris is littered here and there. I really want to get a closer look at the destruction, but there are police mammals everywhere combing through the debris looking for clues.
"Cotton, whose room is that?" I ask, pointing to the still intact section of wall.
She looks up at the second floor and smiles. "It's my room!"
I look back up at it and glance around again. Currently Chief Buffalo Butt and Judy are still giving the warthog officer the ass reaming of the decade. I hear words like lawsuit, parking duty, and Tundra Town thrown around often. I eye the officer and try to see more than a thug with a badge and a gun, but truthfully it's rather hard.
The fact that Cotton's room is seemingly intact speaks volumes to me. I don't believe that this is random; they were targeted, and by someone that is or was close to them. I take a glance back over at Judy, specifically her left paw, and do not see any indication of a wedding band. I could ask Cotton, but that seems like a rather callus thing to do; I'll have to ask Judy about it.
I close my eyes, mentally preparing myself to look at the wreckage of the house with my wizard sight. What I see when I open my eyes is hard to explain. I can see the ghosted image of what the house looked like before it was made into a disaster set location, but it's twisted and warped with something; tinged if you will. I close my sight before I glance at any of the mammals on the scene; the last thing I want is to look at some hapless tech that is harboring some deep dark secret or emotional hurt.
Judy walks over to us at that moment, pulling me out of my thoughts about what I had just seen.
"I'm so sorry Nick…" she starts.
"It's fine, you didn't do anything," I say to her, still eyeing the house. "Do you know if they're going to let you salvage anything soon?" I ask, changing the subject.
Judy nods, drawing my attention away from the mysteries of the house and down to her. "It shouldn't be too much longer. I'll get Cotton's things and then see what's salvageable for myself." Her ears fell as she said that and looked toward her daughter then back to the house. "I'm not sure where we're going to stay tonight. That…..that thing could come back."
I look back toward her house. I have warded my building for just this reason. My home is in the basement, the very foundations of the place, but something could always try to enter from the floors above mine. Score one for being paranoid I suppose.
"We could go stay with Gramma Olivia…." Cotton suggests, trying to help her mother.
I sigh. I can't turn them out onto the streets, and if I have a read of Judy right she will not feel right about placing her godmother in jeopardy. "You can always stay with me if you'd like," I offer.
Judy looks up. "We… I couldn't impose like that Nick…."
"Nonsense, you're both small; probably wouldn't even take up an entire drawer," I snark at her with a warm smile. "Besides, you're not imposing, I'm offering; there is a difference." Also a difference under the laws that govern the supernatural. As my guests they would fall under my protection, and while I may think my home is a hovel,, it is my hovel damn it, so the hearth ward is very strong.
The hearth ward acts as a magical threshold. It becomes stronger with three things: one, how much a mammal believes that what lies beyond the doorway is their home. Two, with how much time they have invested in the place. While my place may not look like much, I have spent a lot of time there with my lab being in the sub basement. And three, well, three depends on how many mammals live there and feel the place is their home. Now I don't expect them to think of my home as their home, but it would still protect them.
I look down at her once again. Her nose is twitching and her eyes are huge, I feel as if she is weighing my worth, weighing my words. I have no idea how I'm going to take that thing down, but these rabbits have been thrust into my path for some reason. I can see her strength but at the same time I can see her fear, not just for herself but for her daughter, and perhaps for me as well.
"It'll be like camping!" Cotton exclaims. "Oh, oh, oh, Mr. Nick can we do smores?" she asks before carrying on. "Mama and I do smores when we camp out on the farm. They are so delicious with gooey marshmallow and chocolate! Can we stay with Mr. Nick Mama, pwease?"
Judy looks from me to her daughter and then back to me. Cotton's eyes are the size of saucer plates; I swear it's weaponized cuteness on an industrial scale that nearly melts even my cold cynical heart. I decide to add just a bit more fuel to the fire. "If it helps any Fluff, I insist that you stay with me." I shoot her a wink and add, "Besides, she wants smores," as I nod toward Cotton.
"Nick, you only have one bed in your place."
"That you and Cotton can share. I've slept on my couch before; it's not that bad."
"Pwease?" Cotton asks, her eyes now getting a little glossy.
Judy's right foot thumps rapidly before she huffs,Fine…" She turns her gaze to me kind of side eyed and smiles. "Thank you, Nick."
"You're welcome," I said a little more kindly than even I expected.
Twenty minutes later we are allowed into the wreckage. One of Judy's coworkers watches Cotton, as the place isn't overly safe. I look around as Carrots gathers up stuff. Honestly, there isn't much left, and the fact that the building is standing at all is either a testament to how well built the place was or how sloppy the bull thing truly was, I'm honestly not sure which. I'm looking for clues that might point us in the direction of where this thing came from.
There are rents in the floor and walls where claws the size of my forearm have clearly torn away at the wood floor or the drywall. Glass and other debris is strewn everywhere; bits of cloth that could have been the drapes or clothes blow in the breeze. There really isn't much of anything in this house that hasn't been destroyed.
The sole exception is the second bedroom on the second floor; it's pristine. There is a little pink bed that is still made. A book lays on the bed, still open to the point where the reader was last reading it. Judy bustles about the room packing clothes, toys, and books into a rolling suitcase. The rest of the second floor is just as bad as the first floor. There are even chunks of porcelain missing from the toilet.
I step into what had to be the master bedroom. If there is any room in this house that is worse than the rest it's this one. The bed looks like it's been destroyed by a bomb; not a single scrap of clothing is in usable condition.
I take a deep breath and open my wizard sight. Black tendrils of hate curl and snake through the room. I try to trace them back to their source, but it's like tracing a plate of spaghetti. I give up and revert back to my normal sight, being careful as I look around.
The walls, or what's left of them, are painted a light soothing blue. There is obvious care in what remained of the hardwood flooring. I don't even bother glancing into the master bathroom, as I'm pretty sure that it's in the same condition as the second bath.
My right paw crunches on something and I look down. There's a picture of Judy and Cotton in what's left of a frame. I pick it up and fish the picture out, only to find that it had been folded. Cotton is a baby in the photo, but there is no mistaking the little bundled bunny as her. The photo also contained a male. They look happy in the photo, but the fold line is telling; something soured this relationship horribly, but the photo meant enough that Judy kept it.
"Ok, Nick I think I have everything that's critical. Unfortunately it looks like all my stuff was destroyed," Judy says as she comes out of Cotton's room.
"Who's this guy?" I ask, turning the picture around. The reaction is immediate: her eyes harden and her lips pressed together in a tight line. The paw not holding the suitcase balls in a fist.
"A liar and a cheat," she answers tersely. "The only good thing that ever came from Craig Furgonson is Cotton." She looks up at me as I look at the picture thoughtfully. "You don't think he's involved in this do you?"
"I don't know," I answer honestly as I mull it over. My gut says yes, but there's something not quite right about it. A father would more than likely know how to say a child's name with all the correct inflections, so maybe it's not him.
"We should get Cotton to day care," Judy says, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Did you find anything else here?"
"No," I answer truthfully. "The site is too; disturbed nothing here is the same way as it was left."
Judy shakes her head sadly and heads down the stairs. "I had hoped."
I shrug as I pocket the photo and follow her. "I might have if the police hadn't had their paws all over everything. It disturbs the energy flow and when things are removed it removes context."
"Makes sense," Judy answers. "It's the same reason CSI photo documents everything before it's removed." She pauses for a moment. "Would photos help?"
While photos are awesome they only capture one spectrum of what's going on. Many times in situations like this there is more to it than what's visible to the naked eye. "No, they don't capture all the information that I need," I answer.
Judy's nods and looks thoughtful. "So the photos would be missing the magical stuff? Kinda like missing the infrared data for heat or something?" she asks.
I nod, as there really isn't any good way I could explain it to her. There is a spell I can use to "share" my wizard sight but that's supposed to be limited to apprentices that have been prepared for what they might see. While Judy is surprisingly strong both physically and emotionally, she just doesn't have the spark to wield magic and I could get in a lot of trouble with the White Council for casting that on her.
I can feel eyes on me as we step out of the wreckage of the house and onto the front lawn once again. The street has been cleared and it looks like the police are getting ready to head out. My eyes track over the officers and other mammals and finally land on Chief Bogo.
Chief Bogo and I do not have what one would call a good working relationship. It might have something to do with him choosing brawn over brains for the officers of his precinct. Precinct One is supposed to get the best and the brightest that the Police Academy has to offer, but from my observation his main criteria of selection has been intimidation factor over anything else.
I glance at the rabbit in front of me then back to Chief Bogo, weighing what Clawhauser had told me the day before. Maybe Carrots and I are not so different after all. His eyes seemingly bore into me; I'm not sure if it's an intimidation tactic or what. But after facing the bull thing this morning, he's not so intimidating. Sorry Chief, I have seen things much scarier than you. This thought causes a rather smug smirk to spread across my face.
I don't think he likes that much as he calls Carrots over. "Hopps, a moment of your time," came his gruff call. I can only imagine what he's telling her as Cotton is escorted over to me by a tiger officer. I have seen this officer before during the times I've stepped into Precinct One to file my 10-100, but have never had any real interaction. Well, unless by "interactions" you mean snide comments and sneers. Private investigators are already looked down upon pretty harshly by law enforcement add "wizard" onto that and you have yourself the recipe for some pretty hard schoolyard bullying. Not that any of Chief Bogo's officers would do that.
But given the culture of systematic discrimination that his department has shown maybe it's no wonder that Judy had always called "hey fox" at me on the street. I mean, that is bound to wear off onto a mammal, right?
Cotton reaches up and takes hold of the little finger of my right paw once again and I look up at the tiger officer. She's on the larger side of what her species is known for. Her orange and black fur is neatly groomed and her uniform pressed to perfection. When I say perfection, I mean if I wasn't careful I could probably cut myself on the starched creases of her uniform. Her gleaming name tag above the right breast pocket of her uniform said Fangmeyer.
"Cotton tells me that they'll be staying with you," Fangmeyer says to me, straight to the point. It's not the way one would expect a conversation to start, but it's better than a taser I suppose.
I shrug it off. "They're in need and I happen to have space for a friend."
She huffs at that and her head tilts to the side as she regards me. "You wouldn't happen to know what happened here would you?"
I look over at the house then back to her and shrug. "Pressure build up in the gas line or raging monster, take your pick."
She shakes her head at that and her lip curls up into a snarl. "I don't know what lies you've been feeding them, but I'm onto you." She starts to bend down to get into my face. "Hopps may be only a meter maid, but….."
I raise my eyebrow at that then smirk at her as the radio clipped to her belt with a pawset clipped to the shoulder of her uniform pops and the magic blue smoke wafts out. It must have shocked her as it let go, because the yowl she let out was somewhat amusing. I can't help but chuckle as she throws it on the ground and backs away from it like it was some live snake ready to bite her again.
"FANGMEYER!" Bogo bellows as Judy walks over to us.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Judy says; her body language is a little more deflated than when we left the ruins of her home. I'm not sure if its destruction is catching up with her or if Bogo had something to say to her that deflated her a bit.
Cotton squeezes my finger and I look down at her. "So can we have smores tonight Mr. Nick?"
"Sure," I answer truthfully and she beams at me.
About an hour later I'm waiting outside a fairly upscale daycare called Horizons Education Center. The building has painted rainbow columns and multicolored playground equipment outside. A fairly bored looking graying lion in a security guard uniform leans against a column trying not to look like he is watching me as he watches me.
I wonder if Judy's bull demon thing could be the same thing hunting Mrs. Otterton. It's possible, but Mrs. Otteron told me that they had started to feel hunted even before Mr. Otterton disappeared. I wonder how long it's been from the time the first victim disappeared until we found the mass grave the day before. I doubt they were killed right away; while the soul is strong it doesn't stick around that long, and definitely not long enough to power a huge complicated spell over a series of weeks. I feel like there is something I'm not being told, either by Karma or Judy, and for some reason I feel like the male rabbit in the picture is a clue.
Judy comes out a few minutes later looking even more apprehensive than when she went in. "Nick," she says, looking to the side before she looks up at me. "We need to talk." She sighed and looked away again. "About Craig."
