Lake Silence

CHAPTER 79

Aggie

Watersday, Sumor 8

Being considered part of the team made watching all the poking and pecking done by the human police more interesting, but it was still frustrating.

all the shinies?> Jozi asked for the fifth time.

Aggie replied.

dead. Human police can’t arrest them if they’re dead. Can they?>

Aggie had never seen a TV cop arrest a dead man. Or parts of a dead man. Maybe Julian Farrow would know?

Eddie complained.

That was true, and it was sad. But the cops were just human and would never appreciate the edible qualities of fresh eyeballs, so there wasn’t much the Crowgard could do.

The Crowgard living in The Jumble had gathered and then divided, several of them taking watch over each group of humans who were gathering evidence. Most of the Crows hadn’t seen any of the cop and crime shows, hadn’t talked about the stories with Miss Vicki, so they had many questions about what the human police were doing.

Was it usual for them to regurgitate food when they were collecting meat?

Aggie was pretty sure experienced cops didn’t do that—not often anyway. She was also pretty sure most of the experienced cops who had come to help Officer Grimshaw had never seen what an angry Elder could do to a human body. But these cops seemed smart, even if they were human.

The one she was watching collect evidence held up a long piece of shiny string and said, “It’s a garrote.”

Garrote. She knew that word from the Murder game. Humans used it for killing other humans—and maybe smaller terra indigene.

Her cop looked up at the branch where she had perched to watch him. “Is this the reason he died like this? He was attacking the woman who was your friend?”

Was? That word made her sad, but she answered him anyway. “Caw.”

A glint of something caught her eye, but the cop was moving away.

Aggie flew from the branch to the ground. Bit of black cloth. Small finger. And a gold ring clinging to the skin!

She looked at the cop still searching for evidence but moving away. She could pull off the ring, hide it under some leaves. She could . . .

Part of the team. You didn’t hide things from the team.

“Caw.” When he didn’t answer, she tried again. “Caw!”

“Did you find something?” He returned and crouched near where she stood guard over the finger. “I guess you did.”

When he reached for the finger, she pecked him. Couldn’t help it. It was her shiny.

“Hey!”

Sorry. She moved out of pecking range to avoid pecking him again. After all, she was the one who had called him over to take the meat and treasure.

Once he collected the evidence, she flew back up to the branch in the nearest tree to have a better view of what the humans were doing. That’s why she spotted the man walking toward them—a man with red hair tipped with blue and yellow.

“Sir,” her cop said, “you can’t be here. This is a crime scene.”

Don’t make him angry, Aggie thought. Not him. Not in the woods.

Recognizing that what approached him wasn’t human, the cop took a step back.

Fire looked up. “I came to tell Aggie that the human doctor fixed Miss Vicki. She needs to be given medicine at specific times and needs to be watched for a day or two, so the Sanguinati are keeping her at Silence Lodge for the rest of today and tomorrow. They will tell you when you can visit.”

“Caw!” Miss Vicki was alive!

Fire gave her cop a long look, as if memorizing his face. Then he walked away and disappeared.

Miss Vicki was alive. That news was even better than finding a shiny.