brain start functioning again. “Give me a minute.” I order him as I turn towards the door and began walking to the office a few doors down. I notice Ray following me from a few feet away, but he doesn’t question me.
“Hey Tara?” I say as I spy her at her desk.
She makes a soft “Hmm?” as she looks up from whatever file she’s reading on the computer.
“How comfortable are you doing the autopsy on the animal vic?” I ask. Tara only finished her schooling a little while ago and is still training to be a pathologist.
“Uh, semi-comfortable… are you about to leave?” She asks. She doesn’t seem too nervous at the prospect of cutting open a corpse which fills me with a bit more confidence.
“It depends, the three that were sending off-”
Tara cuts me off before I can even finish, “Are bagged, tagged, and Paul is putting gas in the van. I called the homes yesterday about dropping the bodies off today so they’re expecting us.”
“And about notifying the next of kin for the heart attack?”
“I am hunting down an address right now. I should have something come up by this afternoon and then I’ll call up the precinct to see if they can spare a uniform to come with me.”
Bless her heart, I find myself sighing in relief, “So you’re fine holding down the fort until Jeff gets here?” Jeff is our resident medical examiner who takes over during the day shift, but he’s always late. The man is in his sixties and claims that he’s too old to figure out how to set his alarm clock. I’m pretty sure he’s just half deaf because of all of the hair growing out of his ears, but whatever.
“Yeah sure.” Her eyes glance behind me and a smirk grows on her face, “Oh, so that’s why you’re so eager to get out of here.” I turn to see Ray leaning, or more aptly lounging, casually against the door frame. I guess he had gotten tired of waiting outside the door.
Everything about him is such a contradiction. If someone asked me to describe what I think a wizard working as a police consultant looked like it would not be Ray. I’ve never even seen him wearing black. Instead he’s wearing light blue jeans and a white v-neck shirt that fits just tight enough to show off his fit physique. And then there’s those blue eyes that look like ice, the soft tousled brown hair, and that sweet smile to melt hearts. He looks like your typical everyday guy. Definitely not like an occultist or any type of occult expert.
“Shush.” I wag a finger at her while commanding her to stay silent on the matter. While I’d never told Tara that I’m trans she still knows that I’m gay. I can already hear the endless teasing this is going to bring me.
She holds her hands up in surrender, but her smile promises that she fully plans on interrogating me later. “You kids have fun.” She waves us off.
I shake my head, but make my getaway without another word.
“So why wizard?” I find myself asking Ray while we’re waiting on our food. The diner he’d brought me to is unfamiliar to me, but the place looks bright and clean and we’d been greeted by a cheerful hostess who quickly took our orders.
He rolls his coffee cup between his hands as he thinks, “That’s a complicated question.” He admits.
“I imagine.” I agree while I take a sip from my coffee. The black, bitter taste rolls over my tongue and perks all of my senses up.
“Ah, you’re one of those types.” He laughs as he runs his fingers through his hair.
“Those types?” I glare a little bit wondering if I should be offended by that or not, but he just shakes his head.
“I just mean the type that’s insatiably curious.”
I blink. What a weird thing to say. Of course what had I been expecting? Ray is literally the epitome of weird even if he doesn’t look like it.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal before continuing on, “I guess you could say it started when I was 8 when my mom died.”
My stomach drops at this bombshell. “Oh,” I find myself saying, “it’s that type of complicated. Sorry, I didn’t mean to ask…”
He laughs, “You don’t have to feel bad. I get that it’s a strange profession. Everyone wants to know why or how I got into it, but like I said it’s complicated.” He leans forward, “I don’t usually tell the story, especially on first dates, but it’s gonna drive you bonkers if I don’t tell you, right?”
I can feel my face go red and I’m glad that it won’t be super noticeable because of my dark complexion. “Well…” I find myself starting. It’s true that I’m curious and it has been driving me crazy trying to figure it out, but I also don’t want to bring up a touchy subject especially on a first date.
Without waiting for my full response though Ray plunges into the story again, “After my mom died I went to go live with my dad. I spent the rest of my childhood being trained by him to
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