What a Monday it had been. Sunday ended on a somewhat boring and semi-sour note as Link politely declined the shopping trip with apologies on his lips. He had been too rattled by it all to really feel like he could hold himself together long enough to go on a fun trip. He promised he’d be up to it later, that he’d wanted to, he simply needed sleep. Carmen had been bummed out by it, but his spirit was so dark and his voice was so quiet that she knew she shouldn’t push it. So they’d put on a movie instead and tried to recover from the long weekend while Siren and Poppy got to know each other—doing so with minimal fighting.

When the morning rolled around, Carmen escorted Link to the Oddfellows’ home so he could be near people who could protect him before she headed out into a dreary Monday to go grab an early coffee with Lucy before she’d need to leave town. It was about as chaotic of a meeting as she’d come to expect from her brief interactions with the PA. Lucy had spilled her latte, started crying, and tripped on her way to get napkins. It started down pouring, Carmen’s chai was lukewarm, and Lucy’s plane arrived much sooner than planned so they had to cut it short. It was a mess.

And Carmen was ninety-nine percent sure she’d developed a crush in the process.

Lucy Buckingham was a walking bundle of accident prone energy but she was sweet, and Carmen already missed her.

She’d offered to drive her to the airport, told her to come back anytime, and promised she’d update if anything came of Link’s murder case. After that, it had been time to clock in at the office, which opened up a whole new can of chaos when she’d stepped inside of the Kingfisher Funeral Home and called out to her boss only to receive silence in return. His car had been parked outside and the door was unlocked, so she knew he’d arrived to work despite her threats that he needed to take the day off. When she’d found him slumped over on his desk her heart stopped. Thankfully, he’d only passed out from a fever spike, but he then put up a fight when she’d told him to go to the hospital to get checked out.

He’d refused, so she called an ambulance, which only made him grumpier but he was visibly too weak to argue. EMS clocked his temperature at a startlingly high level and told him he really needed to go get checked out, so Carmen gave him two options: get in the ambulance or she’d drive. He’d made a comment about how he didn’t trust her car in this weather, so he’d gone with the EMS to the nearby hospital in the city. She’d promised she’d handle things at the office and come get him when he was discharged, and watched with a forced, tired smile as he vanished into the foggy morning.

The smile dropped and she groaned out into the sky with a fist raised at whatever angry deity was mad at her for some unholy reason. And that was when Sam called. He’d found something quite curious and would update her when she’d come by to pick up Link, ending the call with a statement of ‘it’s not good’. It was only ten in the morning by that point and she was utterly exhausted. It wasn’t like she could do much in the office without Lionel since she was only an apprentice, but she could answer calls and greet visitors should any stop by so at least she’d still get paid and hopefully keep her boss’ stresses down.

Lionel called in the mid-afternoon to ask for some soup and his laptop and charger, telling her quietly that he’d been admitted with what they were assuming to be pneumonia, and would be staying put for a spell. She’d agreed to come and closed up the funeral home with a handwritten sign in cursive stating that the on-call phone was available to ring should anyone need assistance and she would be with them shortly.

Another drive into the city and a stop at a bistro for some vegetable soup brought the hour to about three or so by the time she arrived at the hospital. Lionel looked exhausted, pale with dark circles under his eyes and a few bruises where the IVs had blown out due to dehydration. His bandaged, wounded hand was tucked up against his stomach and his hair was a mess from napping at an angle in the hospital bed. It was the first time she’d seen him out of a button up shirt and blazer, and the sight of tattoos across his arms caught her off guard for a spell—especially since she was pretty damn sure most of them were sigils for spells. She didn’t want to ask, and he seemed excited for the soup, so at least he had an appetite.

Carmen sat with a face mask on in the chair beside him and crossed her arms. “Say it.”

“Say what, lass?” Lionel questioned, not looking at her when he did.

“That I was right.”

He finally turned. “You’re a right pain, you know that?”

“Yep, and you’re the dumbass who hired me so it’s your fault.”

He cracked a small smile. “I suppose it is… Aye, you were right. I needed to stay home. I’m sorry for startling you.”

“You should be… So, why did you lie?”

“Lie?”

“About you and Link. It’s obvious that it wasn’t a new relationship, you two were in deep. Why lie about it? I mean, I know why for the whole autopsy thing and the case and all of that, but why keep lying to me? It’s obvious I know, and it’s obvious it’s adding to your stresses because you aren’t letting yourself feel it. I feel like you can be honest with me about this, you know I don’t care about you being gay and won’t judge. The man you love was murdered so making light of it is doing more harm than good. And you should know I won’t let it go, so you might as well tell me. Otherwise I’ll relay all of the horrible things that happened when I took Lucy out for coffee and I don’t think you have the mental fortitude to hear about that and you know I don’t like silence so one of us needs to say something.”

Lionel didn’t respond for a moment. He picked up his bowl of soup and gingerly grabbed the spoon with his damaged hand. It shook harshly as he lifted it to his lips. Carmen waited.

“It felt safer,” Lionel admitted. “As we both know, it was a murder. My lover was murdered. The man I was about to propose to was murdered, and it worried me to admit to such an intimate connection when it was all so… uncertain. It could have put both of us at risk. I was scared, and grieving. Panicked. It hurt to admit that the man I was planning to spend my life with was dead on my autopsy slab—” he wiped his eyes, “It felt safer. Obviously, the note was a calling card, meant for whoever handled his body, acting as if we had little to no knowledge was the right move. I miss him… so thank you for letting me grieve. Can I entrust the funeral home to you for a short while… please? I need—”

The hoarse cough that left Lionel’s throat sounded dry and painful.

“I’ll do my best. I can’t manage much aside from admin stuff but I can at least load up bodies and keep an eye on the phone for a few days. Please rest and let me know if you need anything tomorrow. At this rate it’ll be closing time before I get back to the office so I’m going to head home instead and make sure Siren is adjusting well and Poppy isn’t being too much of a bully to our new roommate. He’s a diva,” Carmen said with a laugh.

“Thank you, Carmen. Sincerely. I’m ready for some rest, but please do call if something urgent happens or we get a body in so I can be aware of it. Obviously, I can’t do much from here—”

“Nor should you,” Carmen interrupted.

“Nor should I, however it is still my business and you are still an apprentice so I need to be informed nonetheless. You can always text before calling so you can see if I’m asleep, but if I’m going to rest properly I need to be assured that you’ll call me.”

“Can do. I’m glad you’re taking the time to let your body recover. You look like hell and I’m pretty sure you’d scare any funeral goers at this rate. You’re practically a zombie,” Carmen said with a chuckle. “I’m going to head back, I had to get up early to meet Lucy for coffee and that was… a lot. I am exhausted!”

Lionel laughed softly and nodded. He went back to his soup, obviously ready for some peace and quiet. Carmen bid him farewell after ensuring his bag was close enough for him to reach should he decide he needed to look at something for the business. He thanked her again quietly as she headed toward the door.

“Take care of him…”

Carmen stopped mid-step and turned to look at her boss. He was staring at her intensely with those silver-blue eyes of his.

“Pardon?” Carmen asked.

“Take care of her. Siren, she’s important,” Lionel replied as he rubbed his eyes. “Link included a cat in every one of his books to memorialize her in his stories. She’s important, so I’m doing my duty and reminding you to be a good cat mom.”

“S-sure.” Carmen smiled and nodded. “Night, Mr. Kingfisher.”

“Goodnight.”

As Carmen stepped out into the hall she sighed deeply as she pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. “Yeaaaah, he knows. He definitely saw him. That’s… bad. That’s real bad. I need to get home.”