It took me a few seconds and several brain cells to figure out why the front door of the office was locked, then I remembered it was a Saturday. Crap. Guess I won’t be going to the DMV today. Since my keycard was at the bottom of the swamp by now, I used the number pad of the lock to gain entry.
My footsteps echoed through the quiet halls as I continued through the main building and into the morgue. I planned on finding a way to get to my storage unit, but if there were any available brains to be had here, I’d be stupid to pass them up. With all the weirdness going on with Philip and Saberton, I wanted to be tanked.
But when I pulled the cooler door open, I stopped in my tracks and stared in shock. Body bags—had to be over a dozen of them. All three stretchers were full, as were the shelves along the walls.
The flood. Oh my god. These are people who died in the flood.
My dad could have easily ended up in one of those. If I hadn’t been able to call Pietro for a rescue, or if I hadn’t been home, there was no way he’d have made it out. Goosebumps skimmed over me, and I quickly backed out of the cooler and shut the door. My gaze went to the whiteboard on the wall by the cutting room. Three had already been autopsied. Dr. Leblanc had probably worked late last night.
So far the only brains I’d refused to consume were children and friends—like when Marianne, Ed’s girlfriend, had been murdered. I’d long ago lost my respect for the dead, at least that’s what I tried to tell myself. But I still winced with a razor-sharp stab of regret as I went back into the cooler, found the body of Bern, Alfred B/M 78 YO, and feasted on his brain.
After I tanked up on both brains and guilt, I fired up the morgue computer and tried to decipher the instructions for applying for disaster aid. After a frustrating half hour, I decided that, for the sake of my own sanity, I needed to get someone to help me out. Since the flood had affected relatively few people, its victims didn’t qualify for federal aid, which left only state agencies with their bizarre requirements and confusing instructions.
The search for a new trailer didn’t go any better. Or rather, I had no trouble finding all sorts of trailers and dealers online, but the prices for anything that wasn’t a roach-infested falling-down hovel were helluva lot more than I’d expected.
More than a little demoralized, I headed back into the main building.
“Angel?”
I looked up to see Derrel step out of the investigator’s office. He gave me a relieved smile. “Angel, so good to see you!”
I mustered a smile. “Hey, big guy.”
“I’m sorry your area flooded,” he said as he moved toward me, face clouded with concern. “It must really be a mess. I’ll be happy to come help with some cleanup on my next day off.” He tilted his head. “Hey, how’d the exam go?”
I blinked at him stupidly. Exam? Cleanup? What was there to clean up? “What exam?”
“The GED? Wasn’t that this morning?”
A sick jolt went through me. “Oh my god,” I breathed. “I totally forgot about that.”
Derrel cringed. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, I guess you weren’t able to make it.” Then he flashed a smile. “But I know you’d have aced it.”
“Yeah,” I said, my throat constricting. The goddamn GED. All this time studying, and then I missed the test. One more thing the flood took away from me. “I guess so.”
Behind Derrel, the front door opened and Nick came through. His eyes went straight to me, and then he walked right past Derrel and gathered me into a hug.
“I’m so so sorry,” he murmured with such utter compassion and genuine sympathy that I did the only thing possible.
I fucking burst into tears. And then I couldn’t stop. Nick held me and gently rubbed my back while I lost it on his shoulder. All this time I’d managed to be tough and strong and stoic and all full of positive thinking, and Nick’s damn hug completely undid me.
“I was so worried,” Nick said, still hugging me. And damn it, it wasn’t creepy or grabby or anything. Simply supportive and comforting. “I just got back from…your place.”
I sniffled. “You mean my empty lot? It’s gone. All gone.” Behind him I saw Derrel standing there with an increasingly perplexed expression.
“I know. I saw.” He gently released me and pulled back to look into my face.
“Wait, Angel,” Derrel said, shock and disbelief heavy in his voice. “Your house? You lost your house? Oh my god. I didn’t know. I thought you only had a foot of water or so.” He shook his head. “I’m an idiot. I’m so sorry.”
I wiped at my eyes and nodded. “Lost the whole damn thing. We had to climb onto the roof.” I tried to smile. “But we got a helicopter ride out of it, so that was cool, y’know.”
“Ah hell,” he said, then moved up to smash me against his chest in his own massive hug.
I made an oof sound. “Can’t…breathe,” I gasped dramatically. Derrel released me with a gruff snort and shaky smile.
“Is your dad all right?” Nick asked, expression serious.
“He’s okay. Small bump on the head but nothing bad,” I told them.
“What do you need?” he asked. “What can we do?”
I took a deep breath. “I’m not even sure where to begin. I guess I need a copy of my ID from my personnel file so I can get a new phone and debit card and, hell, new ID though that’ll have to wait ’til Monday. And I need to go to my storage unit, and—”
Derrel held up a hand, stopping my babble. “You need a ride?”
“I’d love one,” I replied, relieved.
“I may be slow on the uptake,” Derrel said, “but I can at least play chauffeur.”
Nick looked as if he wished he’d thought to offer a ride first, but he managed an encouraging smile anyway. “Angel, when you get your new phone, be sure to call and let me know what you need.”
“I will,” I said, moving to him and giving him a hug. “Thanks.”
He gave a little shrug. “No biggie,” he said, trying to be nonchalant and utterly failing. He headed to the investigator’s office without another word. Derrel watched him go, slight frown puckering his wide forehead, then turned back to me.
“At your service, darlin’,” he said with a slight bow.
I smacked him on the upper arm. “Don’t make me start quoting Driving Miss Daisy.”
He chuckled. “Y’know, if I squint you look a bit like Jessica Tandy.”
“Oh my god.” I laughed. “Shut up and help me break into the personnel files.”
Chapter 22
Once again I found myself grateful that I lived in a small town. I expected to have to go through all sorts of hassle to get a replacement phone, since the DMV was closed and my only photo ID was a photocopy of my actual driver’s license. But the guy at the phone store remembered me from when I’d been in a few weeks before, and I scored new phones for my dad and me with practically zero hassle. Unfortunately the brand new phone had barely any charge and, since I actually wanted to use my phone, I ended up buying a car charger as well so that I could give it some quick juice in Derrel’s Durango.
The bank people were less accommodating and weren’t keen to give me a new debit card without something vaguely official. However, they cheerfully accepted my dad’s cash for deposit, though I remembered to hold back a couple hundred. Until I had an ID, I wouldn’t be able to withdraw once it was officially deposited.
The storage unit was my last stop. I worried that Derrel would want to come in with me to help get stuff, which would have been awkward as hell since, well, y’know, freezer full of brains. I assured him I wasn’t planning on taking anything out since I didn’t have any place to put it, so there was nothing to lift or carry, and told him all I wanted to do was look for a scrapbook I thought I’d stored a couple of months ago. I spun a line about how it would ease my mind to know that something personal had survived the flood and, luckily, he bought my lie and waited in the car while I went inside. Of course then I got stupidly bummed out because there wasn’t a damn thing in my storage unit but a goddamn freezer full of brains and some pork ribs, which meant that yeah, everything we’d owned really was gone.