Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

the innocent-looking black button underneath her desk.
    It wasn’t the wear and tear that panicked her, but the look in his eyes. I know I was really glad that Bran was with us.
    â€œIt’s all right, Elena.” Samuel managed a rough growl that only barely sounded human. “I’ll take them in.”
    She looked at him again and shock spread over her face. “Dr. Cornick?” She hadn’t recognized him when we’d come in.
    â€œCall the Kennewick police,” I told her. “Ask for Tony Montenegro. Tell him Mercy has some news for him if he can get his butt down here.”
    Samuel would be questioned by the hospital administrators, I thought. I didn’t know if he’d missed a shift or not, but they wouldn’t overlook him coming in with this crew. Police business would cover his rump—and I thought that Tony might benefit from seeing that the werewolves had taken his concerns seriously. It would also let the wolves know they had allies among the police here. People who could be trusted. That was important if they were ever to integrate into the citizenry.
    There were a few people in the waiting room and all of them stopped whatever they were doing to look at Adam. The smell of fear overpowered the scent of illness and blood. Even Bran stiffened a little under the flood of triggered scents.
    Samuel strolled right through the room, ignoring the woman who bravely came up to us to get insurance information.
    Bran paused before he followed Samuel through a pair of swinging doors. “Not to worry, my dear,” he told the woman gently. “Dr. Cornick will see to it that all the proper forms are filled out.”
    Â 
    Tony walked into the emergency room as if he’d been there a time or two before. He was wearing civilian clothes, jeans and T-shirt, but the cheery-faced young man with him was in uniform.
    He strolled into my curtained cubicle and looked around. Samuel was off doing doctor stuff, but the others were all there. Stefan and I had scrubbed up. I was in one of those stupid hospital gowns, but Stefan’s clothes were still covered with blood. Bran sat on the doctor’s chair, slowly spinning it around, looking like a bored teenager. Like the people in the waiting room, Tony and his companion ignored Bran and watched Adam, who was leaning against a wall. Stefan was slumped in a corner and got a swift, assessing glance before the police both looked back at Adam.
    â€œTony, this is Adam Hauptman, we were talking about him just the other day. Adam, this is my friend Tony.” I didn’t bother to introduce the others.
    Tony’s face froze and he stopped where he was. I guess he hadn’t recognized Adam from his newspaper pictures until I’d used his name. Adam’s publicity shot showed a conservative businessman. There was nothing conservative or businesslike about him tonight. Anger radiated off of him in waves even humans should be able to sense.
    â€œHey, John,” Tony said casually, after quickly looking away from the Alpha. I guess the information sheet that had gone out on werewolves had explained that it was not a good idea to have a staring contest with one. “Why don’t you get both of us a cup of coffee.”
    The other cop gave Tony a narrow-eyed look, but he only asked, “How long should I take?”
    Tony glanced at me. I shrugged and instantly regretted it. “This won’t take more than ten minutes.”
    When the other cop had gone, Tony pulled the curtains closed. It didn’t give us much privacy, but the cacophonous chatter of dozens of mysterious machines would mask whatever we had to say from human ears.
    â€œYou look like death warmed over,” he told me.
    â€œIt wasn’t at the police station,” I told him, too tired for our usual teasing. “But it wasn’t more than a half mile away.”
    â€œYou found it.”
    â€œI killed it,” I said. “I think that you’ll find the nightlife will calm down a little from here on out.”
    Tony frowned. “It?”
    â€œYes.” Stefan’s voice was weary. “Something that should never have been allowed to roam the streets. It was not murder, sir. It was self-defense.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” offered Bran meekly. “There isn’t a body.” Only because he’d noticed Littleton’s head lying around and we’d used Zee’s medallion to get rid of it,