Body Swappers 13
A quiet beat.
Maya was glad that Davis had been the last convict they’d come to see, because after the guard led him back out they got to leave. In the parking lot, Robert asked Maya to wait while he ducked into his car and called Coby. A few minutes later, he opened the door again, relieved yellow radiating off him, lighting up his aura more than she’d seen from him yet.
“Coby says he had labs done earlier this year. At Deaconess.”
“That’s got to be how the possessor is getting the blood,” Maya said. She frowned. “There are probably a lot of people who have access to it, though. How many people work there?”
Robert shrugged. “A lot. But also a lot fewer than live in Spokane.”
“True,” she said, allowing herself to grin along with him. For a moment, Maya wondered if he would invite her out to celebrate their achievement. Then he cleared his throat and straightened his collar, breaking eye contact.
“Would you mind typing up all the similarities you mentioned between Davis’s experience and Coby’s? Also record differences. And make mention of Gimble’s experience, even though you didn’t get to see it first-hand. Any details we can tease out might be useful. Email that to me, and I’ll send back the time and place of those murders. I’ll also start thinking about how to approach the hospital without getting the brush-off.”
“Sure,” Maya said.
“See you soon,” Robert said, getting back in his car.
Maya drove back to the office and typed up her notes, emailing them to Robert and Ruth. In his reply, Robert said he’d come by the next morning to sit down and chat about next steps.
Maya texted Camille. Feeling better? Can you hang out tonight?
Getting there. Yeah, if you come to me.
Working with both Ruth and Elaina was different. Elaina showed a polite interest in getting to know more about Maya. Maya expected Ruth to nose in while she answered, but actually Ruth was being unusually reserved.
Hopefully she’ll continue being that way, Maya thought to herself, since we’ll be seeing a lot more of one another now.