Chapter Six
Luna
“How was work today?”
Greta shrugged. “I mean, it was all fine until I had a poodle come in with an obstruction in his intestine.”
“Oh, no,” I whispered.
Greta waved her hand at me and leaned back in the chair. “He was fine in the end. He’s in recovery right now and the bright red Lego he ate is sitting on my desk.”
I cringed and pulled my blanket up to my chin. “Girl, I will never have a pet because of all of the terrifying stories you tell me.”
Greta scoffed and kicked her feet back in the recliner. She was still wearing her light blue scrubs and had her bright colorful hair pushed back from her face. “Trust me, having a pet far outweighs the bad.”
“So then why don’t you have a pet?” I laughed.
Greta scrunched up her nose. “Because I’m never home because I’m taking care of everyone else’s pets.”
“Touché,” I laughed. “Though, you know all those animal parents love you for it.”
Greta sighed and leaned her head back. “I sure hope so.”
Mom and Dad had left half an hour ago when Greta had walked in with a large pizza and a container of chicken wings. It had taken some convincing from Mom for Dad to leave, but Greta finally got him to when she showed him her pepper spray keychain.
I grabbed the last bite of my pizza and popped it into my mouth. “So, you’re liking the new job?”
Greta shrugged. “I mean, yeah.”
“Uh, oh. That doesn’t sound very convincing.”
“I’m the new person and it’s taking a little bit for me to fit in.”
I shut the pizza box and moved it to the foot of my bed. “Tell me who I’m going to have to beat up once I get out of this hospital bed.”
Greta laughed. “No one in particular. Though…” She sighed and lifted her head. “There is Dr. Lu who is really hot but also just a complete douchebag. I don’t know how the guy has any patients.”
“Maybe they brought you in to take over his patients and then he’s going to get the boot?” I suggested. Greta was one of the kindest and most giving people I had ever known. Sure, she was pretty loopy and weird some of the time, but the best people normally were.
“God knows,” Greta moaned. “I think the only reason he sticks around now is because he really is nice to look at as long as he doesn’t open his mouth.”
“Maybe you need to get him into bed and work out that doucheness.”
Greta gagged and clapped her hand over her mouth. “Dear God, do not ever mention that again. I can only tell you he is hot because I thought that before he opened his mouth. Now, he is like an overweight porcupine in my mind.”
I pursed my lips. “Um, an overweight porcupine?” I laughed.
“Insulting to the porcupine, I know, but it’s the truth.”
“Well, then I guess you need to just ignore him or wait until I get out of the hospital, and you and I can handle him like we used to in high school.”
Greta busted out laughing. “I would love to see Dr. Lu open his front door to a flaming bag of donkey shit.”
Oh, the good ol’ days. “I still can see Malcom West’s face when he lifted his foot to stomp out the fire and donkey shit spewed all over him.”
Greta raised her fist in the air. “He should have known not to fuck the girls of the Devil’s Knights.”
“I think everyone got that memo after that.”
Oh, Malcom West. What an utter and complete douchebag that kid was. He thought just because he was semi-cute and got to second base with me that he could run around the whole school and tell everyone he had sex with me in the back seat of his car.
Once Greta had gotten wind of what he was saying, the flaming bag of donkey shit was about ready to be lit.
“You ever wonder if he thinks about us?” I asked.
Greta scoffed. “Girl, he probably has nightmares about us.”
That was probably true. “It was too bad your dad got wind of what we were going to do next to him.”
“Right?” Greta shook her head. “That trunk full of snakes would have been epic.”
Yeah, Greta and I were pretty vindictive when we were in high school. I mean, I would say we were more looking to right wrongs, but we might have gone about it the wrong way back then.
Though, I would say that a flaming bag of donkey shit really gets the point across to Malcom that he didn’t want to fuck with us.
The door to my room pushed open, and Ransom stood there with his jaw dropped. “Trunk full of snakes?”
“It never happened.” Greta sighed and closed her eyes. “Don’t get your panties in a twist, Ransom.”
“I kind of want to know where you were going to get enough snakes to fill a trunk.” Bear stood behind Ransom with a huge smile on his lips. “I mean, that seems pretty fucking impressive to me.”
“Greta worked at the pet store. Our plan was in motion, but then her dad found out and ruined it,” I mumbled. It really would have been epic. I was sure Malcom would have shat his pants or quite possibly had a heart attack right then and there.”
“Did she just say shat?” Bear chuckled.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s the past tense of shit.”
“But is it?” Ransom drawled.
“At least in Luna’s world,” Greta mumbled.
Ransom moved into the room and leaned against the wall by Greta.
“So did you two solve the case?” I asked.
He folded his arms over his chest. “Getting closer.”
I quirked my eyebrow. “Really?”
Ransom nodded to Bear. “I’m just gonna let him talk because, for some reason, he could say the same thing and you would believe him.”
Hmm, Ransom was a little bit touchy.
Bear stayed in the doorway and smirked. “We’re getting closer. Right now, we’re going over each case and seeing if we can find something we missed before.”
“That seems like a good idea.” Greta opened her eyes and lifted her head. “Well, hello Mr. Lumberjack.” She pushed down the footrest of her chair and catapulted up. “What tree did you climb down from?”
Greta moved toward him and laid her hand on his chest.
This was a side of Greta I hadn’t seen in years.
She had her nose in a book for the last four years and didn’t have time to look at any man. Well, except for Dr. Lu, but he was obviously a waste of a man.
“One back in Colorado.”
Greta looked him up and down. “Well, they sure do know how to grow ‘em there.”
“Down girl,” I called to Greta. “You can climb the lumberjack after he tells us what he found out about the psycho who is killing my girls.”
Greta dropped her hand and glared at me over her shoulder. “You’re no fun.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can have your fun later.”
“Promises, promises,” Greta muttered. She flounced over to the bed and sat at the foot. “Yes, mother.”
Ransom shook his head, and believe it or not, I was pretty sure Bear was blushing. I never would have thought a man named Bear—who also pretty much looked like one—could blush, but there it was.
“You may proceed,” Greta muttered.
“Uh, well,” Bear laughed. “We haven’t really found much more out. We do have a couple of questions for you though, Luna.”
Huh, well, I guess that wasn’t great news, but maybe whatever questions they had for me could help. “Fire away, lumberjack.”
Ransom shook his head.
Bear cleared his throat. I guess Ransom really was going to let Bear take the lead for the time being.
“Uh, was Bunny going to school or anything?” he asked.
I tipped my head to the side. “At one point, I think she was taking some classes to become a nail technician, but that’s about it. Not sure if you would call that going to school.”
“So, she didn’t have an interest in being a mechanic or anything.”
“That would be a no. I mean, it’s not like I knew her extremely well, but I think I would have known if she was trying to be a mechanic or something like that.”
Bear turned to Ransom. “You talked to the boyfriend. Did he seem like the type to be into that?”
Ransom shook his head. “Not from what I gathered from him. He was doing factory work in Tennessee.”
“Um, am I supposed to understand what this question has to do with?” I asked. Bunny was a great girl and was super nice, but she wasn’t a mechanic.
Bear shook his head. “It was just a question I had.”
I tipped my head to the side. “That is a weird question, but I guess I’ll go with it.”
“We saw a magazine at Bunny’s, and it just seemed out of place being there,” Ransom replied.
“What kind of magazine?” Greta asked. “Goat Weekly? Miniature Donkey Talk?” Greta snapped her fingers. “PRO? Portable Restroom Operator.”
Ransom closed his eyes, and Bear tipped his head to the side.
“I figured you would know about the first two because of your job, but that last one even shocked me,” I laughed.
Greta shrugged. “I dated a guy once who was a portable shitter operator.” She leaned toward me and lowered her voice. “He hated when I called them shitters.”
“So, that just made you call them shitters even more, right?”
Greta tapped her nose. “It’s heartwarming how well you know me.”
“I bet he hated the shitter races every year out on the lake.”
“Girl you have no idea,” she muttered.
“Are we supposed to know what the hell is going on right now?” Bear asked.
Greta stood straight and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Uh, sorry. Just reminiscing about John.”
Bear closed his eyes. “You dated a guy named John who took care of portable johns?”
Greta’s jaw dropped. “Holy hell! I never put the two together.” Greta glanced at me. “He probably thought I was calling him a shitter since he always called them johns.”
“You may be right, girl.” Only Greta. I didn’t even remember the guy she was talking about. He must have been one of the guys who didn’t stick for too long.
“So, if it wasn’t any of those weird magazines, then what was it?” Greta asked.
“I’m gonna guess it was something do with mechanics,” I laughed.
Bear pointed at me. “Thank you for using the prior clues in our conversation. Popular Mechanics.”
“Bo-ring,” Greta huffed. “I bet the pictures in PRO are way better.”
“Why would she have that magazine? Seems weird,” I hemmed.
“We thought the same thing and can’t think of a reason why the magazine was there.” Ransom scooted behind Greta and sat in the chair. “You got any pizza left in there?” he asked.
Greta flipped back the lid and offered it to Ransom. “Have at it.”
“But, does it really matter why she has that magazine? It doesn’t really seem that a magazine is going to help you find this guy.” I leaned back into my pillows and sighed. I had been awake most of the afternoon, and I was ready for a nap.
“It might not matter, but we just need to look at everything.” Bear moved to the pizza box and grabbed a slice.
“Knock, knock.”
“Birdie!” I called. Yesterday, Dr. Birdie had been with me on the ride to the hospital and hadn’t left me until Mom and Dad showed up.
Birdie was wearing a long, white coat with black slacks and yellow shirt underneath. She had a stethoscope around her neck and her red hair piled on top of her head. “I thought I would stop by to see how you were doing before I start my shift.”
I raised my arm that was still in the splint. “Praying for the swelling to go down on this so I can bust out of here.”
“I’m sure that will happen tomorrow.”
I sighed. “That is what everyone keeps telling me.”
“You can just use this time to rest, except I’m sure you have nurses coming and going.” Birdie glanced at Greta and smiled.
Greta looked down at her clothes. “Oh, you think I’m a nurse?” she laughed. “I am nowhere capable to take care of humans. Animals are more my speed. They don’t talk back.”
Birdie laughed lightly. “I have to think you might be onto something there. Half the time, I wish my patients were mute. It would make things much easier.”
Greta reached out and bumped her fist against Birdie’s. “Come to the vet side, girlfriend. We have puppies and emus.”
Bridie smiled. “I will keep that in mind.” She hitched her thumb over her shoulder toward the door. “I better get out of here, so I don’t miss my shift.”
“What floor do you work on?” Greta asked.
“NICU.” Birdie gave me a wave and moved to the door.
“Wait,” I called. “We need to get a drink or something sometime once I get out of here.”
Birdie smiled. “That sounds nice.” She pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to me. “Just send me a text when you’re feeling up to it.” She slipped out of the room, and I looked down at the card in my hand.
“Girl, I bet she needs a drink every time she gets off of work,” Greta sighed.
I looked up at Greta. “Huh?”
“She works in the intensive care for babies.”
I knew what NICU meant, but it never dawned on me the things a doctor or nurse would have to deal with. “Well, then I guess that gives me another reason to get out of here. I’m sure Birdie could use a drinking partner.”
“Do you ever get whiplash when you hang out with this group?” Bear asked Ransom. “I mean, the topic hopping is enough to make a Harvard scholar confused.”
Ransom chuckled. “You tend to get used it. Though, this is the most I’ve been around it.”
“Well,” I drawled. “You guys better get used to it because once they release me, you guys are going to be stuck with me.” Yup, I had decided to stay with Ransom and Bear. I didn’t think it was the best solution, but it would do. Besides, once they figured out who was killing my girls, I would go back to my place and life would go back to normal. “Though I do have the condition that I want to sleep at my house.”
Ransom shrugged. “Fine by me.”
I narrowed my eyes at Ransom. I knew he had something more to add to that and he better keep his mouth shut. When we were hooking up, he had told me that he loved sleeping in my bed. It wasn’t even about the sex; he loved my mattress. “You two can bunk up in my spare bedroom.”
Bear shook his head. “I’ll sleep in the living room. I can’t sleep laying down so if you got a recliner, I’ll be good there.”
Greta side-eyed Bear. “I wanna hear the story because you can’t sleep on your back. I bet it involves a swing and handcuffs.”
“There might be something slightly wrong about you, doll,” Bear chuckled.
Greta shrugged. “I like to keep things interesting.”
“You aren’t wrong about that,” Ransom muttered.
The phone to my room rang and I reached for it. “Hello?” I called.
“Luna? It’s your mom. Your dad is packing up to come stay the night. Is there anything you need?”
What? Why the heck was Dad coming here? “What? No! I don’t need anything, and Dad does not need to come stay the night with me. I’m fine.”
“Well,” Mom drawled, “I keep telling him that, but he isn’t listening to me. He said if just Greta is staying with you that he needs to come.”
“Ransom and Bear are here,” I blurted out. “They’re both going to stay the night.” I didn’t really know if they were, but as far as Mom and Dad knew, they were.
“Oh, really?” Mom put her hand over the phone and called for Dad. “Troy! Put your gun away and come here. The detective and Wolf are going to be with Luna tonight.”
“Bear,” I corrected her even though I knew he was forever going to be known as Wolf because Meg had changed his name.
“Luna?” Dad called. “Give me the phone, Marley,” he insisted. Dad’s grunt came over the phone. “Let me talk to Ransom.”
“You don’t need to talk to him, Dad. I’m fine.”
“Luna,” he growled.
Oh, my God. This was the frustration I had with Dad and the club. They had zero faith in me and thought a man was the only person who could keep someone safe. “Fine,” I shouted. I moved the phone from my ear and held it out to Ransom. “He wants to talk to you.”
Ransom grabbed the phone and grunted. He listened for a minute, grunted again, and then handed it back to me. I put it to my ear, but there was no one there.
I looked down at the phone and frowned. “You didn’t even say a word.”
Ransom shrugged and sat back in the chair. “I didn’t need to. I’m staying the night with you again.”
I wrinkled my nose. “But how?” Did my dad and Ransom have some code of grunts between them?
“Don’t worry about it, Luna.” He grabbed another slice of pizza and kicked up the footrest of the chair.
“I want to know that answer, too,” Greta laughed. “If grunting is all it takes to get our dads to get off our cases, then you need to give me the grunting handbook.”
Ransom shook his head.
“You need me to stay with you?” Bear asked.
Ransom shook his head. “No reason why both of us need to get shit sleep.” Ransom pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them to Bear. “Take my car. I’ll text you the address to my place.”
Bear caught the keys and balled them in his fist. “Deal, brother. I could use some sleep.” He nodded to Greta. “You need a ride home?”
Greta pursed her lips. “I’d love for you to ride me home, uh, I mean, give me a ride home, but then you’ll have to give me a ride back here in the morning to get my car.”
Bear chuckle. “Raincheck, doll.” He nodded to Ransom. “Send me that address. I’ll be back in the morning.”
Ransom nodded and pulled out his phone. Bear inclined his head toward me and walked out.
Greta flopped down on my bed and waved her hand in her face. “I think it’s been too long since I was laid. I’m pretty sure my panties are on fire right now and that man didn’t even touch me.”
“You mean lumberjack?” I laughed.
“Oh, honey, I can’t tell you how hard it was to resist climbing that man like a tree.” Greta tipped her head back and sighed. “Timber,” she whispered.
I busted out laughing and tossed a pillow at her. “I think you do need to get laid. Maybe doctor douchebag could do the trick.”
“Dr. Douchebag?” Ransom asked.
Greta waved her hand at Ransom. “Nobody you need to worry your pretty little head about. Nothing a donkey and a bag can’t fix.”
“Those two things normally aren’t bad, but when you say them, I have to wonder if I’m going to hear your two names on the radio from dispatch one day.” Ransom laid back his head and looked from Greta to me.
Greta held up her hands. “I am an innocent vet tech, Ransom. Do you really think a woman who saves animals every day of her life is going to have a run-in with the police?”
“You may be a vet tech, but you’re also a Devil’s Knight. Devil’s Knight trumps everything. I don’t put anything past you guys.” Ransom leaned back and raised his arms behind his head.
“I think this is the first time I’m being profiled,” Greta gasped.
Ransom chuckled. “You couldn’t be more wrong, doll.”
Greta narrowed her eyes at Ransom. “I don’t know if I really like you anymore. I was rooting for LuRan, but I’m not too sure about it anymore.”
“LuRan?” Ransom and I replied in unison.
She held up one hand. “Luna.” She held up her other hand. “Ransom.” She smashed her hands together. “LuRan.”
“Oh, God,” I groaned. “This is where I tell you it’s time for you to hit the road so I can get some sleep, Greta.” I loved Greta to death, but sometimes, you could get too much Greta time. This was one of those times. There was no LuRan, and she wasn’t going to make it happen.
Greta sighed but stood. She smoothed her hand down her stomach. “I need to get going anyway. I have four spays and a handful of vaccines tomorrow.”
“And to deal with Dr. Douchebag,” I reminded her.
Greta wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t remind me.” She squeezed my leg and smiled. “Get some rest to get that swelling to go down, and I’ll come visit you later this week.” She turned to Ransom and saluted him. “Later, copper.”
Ransom shook his head. “Be careful, Greta.”
“Always.” She blew me a kiss and walked out the door.
“She really isn’t crazy,” I sighed. “I mean, she is, but not as much as she makes you think.”
“She’s fine, babe. She keeps things interesting.” Ransom leaned forward and grabbed the remote connected to my bed. “You mind if I turn on the TV?”
I shook my head. “Go for it. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be passed out in thirty seconds once I get this box off the bed.”
Ransom grabbed the box and set it on the table. “I’ll keep the TV low.” He used the remote to dim the lights, and I relaxed into my bed.
“Can you lower my bed some?” I asked softly. A wave of exhaustion hit me, and I could barely keep my eyes open.
Ransom grunted, and the head of my bed lowered. “Get some sleep, Luna. You’re going to need it.”
I sighed and drifted to sleep.
Rest was always good.