Dead Ringers; Chapter 19

The nurse nodded, "Alright, I'll let her know." She turns and walks down the hall.

"That doesn't look like a call."

Miles barely spares me a glance as he pulls out his phone. "Wasn't about to say what I was really planning to do. Your friend already thinks he's crazy. Didn't think he would appreciate me saying what was on my mind."

"Which is?"

Miles slides his phone back into his pocket. "He might be on a hit list that has nothing to do with our case."

“What?” I almost can't believe what he's saying, though if it has something to do with the Night World, of course I wouldn’t know.

"Would I be wrong in saying no family has come to visit him because he has no family?"

I cross my arms. "You ran a background check on Elliot?"

Miles gives me a look. “You think I would bother?”

"So that was just a lucky guess?"

"No. It was a logical conclusion based on the facts. He just doesn't seem to know."

"Doesn't seem to know what?" I demand in near exasperation. Leave it to Miles to never give me the full explanation.

"That he's part siren. At least, all signs point to it. I came out to ask a nurse to get Dr. Jurson. She'll be able to confirm it. I also had to let Sofia know so she could begin preparations." I can't form any words. I just stand there staring at Miles. "That's why the banshee went in for the kill. He's lucky they didn't account for Jeb being on his way out."

I throw up my hands. "Alright, time out. How can you be sure? Maybe the. . . Banshee. . ." I shake my head, at this point, I don't know why I'm shocked anymore, "Was mistaken."

Miles shrugs. "Maybe, but everything in his story lines up with him being part siren. The officers went down because the banshee used her cry. He said he heard a high-pitched whistle. Sirens are immune to a banshee's cry. Elliot says it still bothered him, so he's not a full-blooded siren, but to not go down like the other officers, he has to have siren blood. At least, that's the most logical assumption."

"And if that's not it?" I press.

Miles shrugs. "Banshee blood or maybe a charm or hex placed on him by a witch, but banshees can sense their own and I've never heard of any charm or hex that can withstand two banshee cries."

"So, if he is part siren, that puts him on a hit list?" Miles just nods. I motion for him to elaborate.

Miles sighs. "Banshees have a serious blood feud with sirens. They really hate them, due to the fact that they're immune to banshee cries. You'd think they wouldn't care considering they're immune to sirens' power, but apparently, they do. They decided it was problematic enough to warrant killing them off. Hence sirens being very rare and living very secluded lives."

"Are you serious?" Miles just gives me a look. I take a deep breath and release it slowly. "If it's true, I'm the one who tells him. No one else."

Miles is silent. Finally, he nods. "I can live with that."

"Detective Miles," A silky voice purrs, "Long time, no see." I look to find a woman walking down the hall. Her black heels clack against the floor and echo in the hall as softly curled raven hair bounces with each stride. The black slacks and wine-red tight-fitting button-up stand out against her open lab coat. She stops before us, light brown eyes locked on Miles. "I take it this isn't a social call?" Her eyes flick to me. I notice an eyebrow twitch up before her focus returns to Miles.

"Dr. Jurson, thank you for coming," Miles says coolly.

"How could I say no? You don't even text me anymore," Dr. Jurson pouts, "And I thought we could still be friends."

Miles's face remains blank. "I don't think you quite understand the definition of the word 'friend.'"

She turns her gaze to me, holding out a hand. "Dr. Jurson, pleasure."

I accept her hand, "Detective Fullin, Day Division, deciding."

Dr. Jurson's lips curl into a smile as she looks back to Miles. "I think I like her."

Miles ignores her comment, bluntly redirecting the conversation where he wants it. "I need a favor."

"Sure."

"The patient in this room," Miles nods towards the door, "I need you to get a read on his blood. We have reason to believe he is part siren."

Dr. Jurson's eyes flick towards me for a second, surprise clearly written there despite her face carefully masking it. "Elijah, don't be ridiculous-"

"Save your breath, Detective Fullin is aware of the Night World."

"Oh." She doesn't bother trying to hide her surprise this time. It's only there for a second though before she regains her cool composure. "And the patient?"

"I'll be the one to tell him, if he is part siren," I state.

Dr. Jurson nods. "Very well. It will take a minute or two. Don't want our patient getting suspicious of anything." With that, Dr. Jurson breezes past us to the door, knocking gently before entering. I hear her issue a greeting before the door shuts.

Miles shakes his head when one of the officers gives him a questioning look.

When he looks back at me, I pin him with a look. Not much more that can be done on the Elliot fron at the moment, so back to the case for now. "You seemed to get a lot more from what Elliot said than I did. Care to share?"

Miles purses his lips in thought for a second. "Well, we're looking for a banshee, an Egyptian witch, by blood or training, who has a human-sized shabti, and an incubus."

"Something tells me it won't be as easy to track them down as I'm hoping it will be."

"Unfortunately, Night Division doesn't just have a list of Night World residents that we could just cross-check. We have to track them down the same way you would any human suspect. We could check the system to see if they've ever been booked before, but I have a feeling that considering how clean and thorough out the grab was, they won't be there."

"Could we ask Sofia?"

Miles shrugs. "Probably wouldn't hurt, but unless they've ever been in any kind of Night World trouble, she won't know of them."

I sigh. "Great. Just great." I rub the back of my head, wincing when my hand comes across the still tender wound.

"You good?"

"Just a little sore still." I decided to change the subject before he could comment on it. "So how do you figure the rest of the group was an Egyptian witch, a shabti, and an incubus?"

"Elliot said that the banshee's initial cry was enough to cause the officer's eardrums to burst, hence the bleeding. That makes sense, especially considering that all the officers are alive; their goal was to disable the officers, not kill them. They went unconscious because the banshee's cry not only would have burst their eardrums but would have disoriented them enough to allow an incubus to put them into a sleep state. Without prior disorientation, the incubus wouldn't have been able to put that many people into a dream state at once. Elliot was protected from that because the banshee's cry was only an irritant to him.

"Elliot's gun jammed because the Egyptian witch cast a spell on it. When Egyptian witches cast spells they manifest themselves in the hieroglyphics for the word or phrase used. Hence, the blue glow that had a shape. That's why I asked him about the man that didn't say anything.

"Egyptian witches can create shabtis. Shabtis are usually human-esk figures made of clay and given sentience. Think of them as their familiars. To create one that was life-size would have taken a lot of time, energy, and power. I was skeptical that it was a shabti, but that fact that the only facial features he had were eyes and ears confirmed it. It would only need ears to hear commands and eyes to see where it's going since they don't need to eat or breathe."

I blink. "Wow. Okay. So, do you have a theory of why they stole the bodies?"

"Either they were hired hands for the job, or they work for the double doctor."

"Like the shadow."

"Yup."

I think for a second. "Were the doubles from the doctor's previous run stolen?"

Miles shakes his head. "They were cremated."

"You're sure of that?"

He nods. "I oversaw it along with Max. We confirmed it was them before they went into the incinerator and stayed until the ashes were packed. The only time we didn't have eyes on them was while the ashes were being packed."

"If the originals weren't important enough to steal, why steal these two?"

Miles shrugs again. "Just another question we have to answer."

"Perfect."

The door opens again as Dr. Jurson walks out. She carefully closes the door behind her. Stopping before Miles and me, she places a hand on her hip, pursing her lips. Her eyes finally settle on Miles as she shakes her head. "I don't know how you figured it out, but you're right; That man is part siren. If you haven't already contacted Le Vou, you really should." She moves her eyes to me. "I have a feeling he won't take the news too well. As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I've got to run. Have a nice day." She smiles brightly before walking back towards wherever it was she had come from before.

My eyes fall on the door to Elliot's room. "He already thinks he's crazy. It's going to sound like I'm mocking him."

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look to find Miles giving me a sympathetic look. "He's your friend. I'm sure you'll find the right thing to say." He nods towards the door. "I wouldn't keep him waiting too long though. He's probably getting really worried in there." Miles lets his hand fall from my shoulder. "I'll be out here if you need me."

"Thanks." Taking a deep breath, I walk over to the door and don't look back, even as it clicks shut behind me.