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Chapter 8: Research

Ellie arrived at work the next day after a restless night to find Jason already at his desk behind several mountainous stacks of paper. She peaked around the piles to see him absorbed in one of the documents; he looked even worse than she felt. She noticed he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday; though with only a collar and tie, it was hard to be sure. In her case, it would have been more obvious as today she was wearing a black tank top.

"Did you ever go home last night?" she inquired, concerned.

Jason jumped and jerked his head up to look at her: apparently, he hadn't noticed her come in. He shook his head and quickly went back to reading. Good morning to you, too. Ellie sat down and started flipping through the daily headlines. She was reading an interesting piece on a proposal to cut down on car emissions by instituting a municipal electric moped sharing program when the office's phone rang. Ellie looked up. It rang again, but Jason remained with his eyes fixed to the paper. Probably didn't even hear it. Ellie got up and grabbed the phone as it rang a third time.

"Bennett and Brown Private Inspectors, Inspector Bennett speaking," she answered.

"Hey, Bennett, this is Fitzgerald. We had our meeting to discuss the progress of the case this morning, and I have a few updates for you. Is there somewhere you'd like to meet in, say, about twenty minutes? If you're not too busy that is."

"How about Mole's Mugs at Broadway and 5th Street East? I'll see if I can drag Jason away from his work."

"Er, I was hoping you'd come alone actually. There's a personal matter I wanted to discuss with you as well, but Mole's Mugs is fine."

"Uh, okay. I guess I'll see you shortly then. Was there anything else?"

"Nope, but thanks for coming on such short notice. Bye."

"Goodbye." She hung up the phone. A personal matter?

Mole's Mugs was several blocks away, so it would probably take her ten to fifteen

minutes to get there if she walked. And there's never any parking. She shoved her tablet in her satchel and headed toward the door.

"Would you mind grabbing me a cup of coffee while you're there?" Jason asked, looking up from the document.

"No problem."

"Thanks," he returned gratefully and went back to reading.

Ellie headed downstairs and out onto the sidewalk. Fortunately, today wasn't as hot as it

had been the last several days, but Ellie was still grateful for an opportunity to get out of the office and stretch her legs since she had hit the snooze button too many times this morning to go for her usual jog. Ellie strolled past the high rises and skyscrapers of the bustling downtown. She wove through a crowd exiting the number 17 city bus next to the courthouse. She dashed across 3rd Street West as the crosswalk light counted down from five. At the corner of 1st Street East, a raven in a white fedora was handing out pamphlets proclaiming the imminent return of Cthulhu. Ellie walked a couple blocks before slipping hers into a recycle bin. A short time later, she arrived at Mole's Mugs. Tom had not yet arrived. She grabbed a small, iced soy latte for herself and a medium dark roast drip coffee for Jason and sat at a small table near the front.

She had been reading for several minutes when Tom sat down across from her, wearing a black dress shirt and a light blue tie with little sharks on it.

"Sorry I'm late. I had a terrible time finding somewhere to park!" he explained.

"No problem. Are you going to get something?"

"Er, yeah, I was. Do you mind waiting?"

Ellie shook her head, and Tom hurried over to the line by the counter. A few minutes

later, he returned with a medium cup.

"Right," he began, sitting back down. "So we had our meeting this morning. Mostly, we

just went over what I told you last night. Otherwise, we just discussed the plans for our further investigations. Today we have several officers going around the neighborhood asking the residents if they saw anything, and we're putting out a request for information on all of the local news stations. Did you want to help with the inquiries at all? I doubt Schulz will agree to it, but I guess you could ask."

"I'd rather not deal with her again if I can help it. Jason and I will conduct our own inquiries, that is if I can drag him away from his reading. He spent all night going through old papers."

Tom shook his head and chuckled. "That sounds like Brown alright. He gets pretty obsessive when he thinks he's found out something important."

"I guess you know him pretty well, huh?"

Tom nodded. "Yeah, we've been friends a long time," he answered before continuing in a more hesitant tone. "But anyway, Bennett, there's something else I wanted to discuss with you."

"I'd appreciate it if you called me Ellie," she put in politely.

Tom smiled uncomfortably. "Right, Ellie it is."

Ellie had her hands resting on the table around her cup, and Tom placed his hands

around hers, his long claws scraping lightly against her wrist. Like many mammals, the ferret had furry fingers with tough, furless pads on his palms and fingertips. Ellie's hands were somewhat less typical as these areas merely lacked fur, but otherwise their hands were similar, Tom's black-furred fingers only a bit longer than hers.

"The first thing I want to let you know is that I thought about what you said yesterday evening for a long time last night, and you certainly are a lovely rabbit. But I don't think it can work between us."

Ellie let out the breath she had been holding in a big sigh of relief and pulled her hands away from his. "Oh, what a relief!" she exclaimed.

"Huh?"

"For a second, I thought I was going to have to be the one to let you down. I'm sorry I misled you by bringing up your relationship status at dinner last night. The truth is I was just desperate to take my mind off of things, and that's the first thing that popped into my head."

Tom also looked relieved, "No apology necessary, I'm the one who brought it up in the first place. I'm just glad you aren't upset. It certainly would have made things awkward if you hated me after this."

Ellie nodded. "Or the other way around. I'm glad we cleared that up." She smirked as something else occurred to her, "I wonder what Jason thought about all of this."

"What do you mean?"

"He seemed to get pretty excited when I was talking about interspecies relationships. No way that sneeze was natural."

Tom chuckled. "Hahaha, uh oh, we'd better let him know nothing's going on."

Ellie's eyes narrowed and she smiled deviously. "We probably should, but it would be so much more fun to let him keep guessing."

Tom laughed heartily, "Ahahahaha! That's terrible! I think we're going to get along stupendously, Bennett."

"Ellie."

"Ellie, right." He held up his cup. "Here's to us! What a couple we would have made!" Ellie bumped her cup against his, and they shared the comedic toast.

They sat for a few more minutes sipping their coffee in silent amity before Tom stood up. "I suppose I had better be getting back to work," he stated.

Ellie stood as well, "Me too, and Jason will probably pass out soon if I don't bring him

this coffee."

They walked out together then said goodbye as they went separate ways.

Ellie headed back to the office uneventfully, and upon entering set Jason's coffee on his desk.

"Thank you!" he exclaimed and took a big slurp. "So what did Fitzie have to say?"

"Just that they are performing inquiries around the neighborhood. Did you want to do some of our own?"

Jason shook his head. "We'll see if they turn anything up first. Right now I'm busy with all of this." He gestured to the piles of paper.

"So I can see. Do you want any help?"

"That would be fantastic! I'm looking for all of the cases of ritual dismemberment, so I can compare them to our case."

"Ritual? You think we're dealing with a cult?"

"I think we might be. Obviously, it could just be a lone nutter."

"Okay, where should I start?"

Jason shoved a box full of papers toward her. "Start with these."

Ellie lifted the box with difficulty, navigated the messy room, and dropped it heavily on

her desk with a loud whump. As she turned to sit down, she noticed Jason still watching her. "So, uh, was that all Fitzie wanted to discuss? Seems like that could have been handled

over the phone."

"Oh, we had some other things to talk about," she answered coyly.

"Anything I should know about?"

"I don't think so."

Jason looked at her curiously for a moment longer then shrugged and went back to

reading.

Ellie spent the rest of the day reading through the various police reports, eyewitness

accounts, newspaper articles, and annotated compilations of folk legends surrounding cults and secret societies. She'd had no idea that there was so much purported cult activity in Vulpineva.Probably over inflated by active imaginations. Many of the accounts seemed less than credible. Still, she sorted out any that described ritualistic dismemberment as Jason had requested.

When she had made it through roughly a quarter of the box, she glanced at the time on her tablet: 6:27, time to head home. She stood up and stretched her arms back behind her head. After grabbing her satchel, she walked over to Jason's desk and peeked around stacks of paper. He was still busily reading, but he looked terrible with bleary eyes, droopy whiskers and ears, and even a crusty nose. Ellie frowned, concerned.

"Hey, Jason," she interrupted.

He jumped and looked at her, blinking several times as if trying to focus.

"I'm going home, and I suggest that you go too. You're not looking so good. Are you

feeling okay? Do you want a ride?"

"I'm fine," he began, but his voice came out huskily, and he stopped to clear his throat

before trying again. "I'm fine. I'll just be a little while longer. You go ahead."

"If you're sure," she replied reluctantly. "It's no big deal if you want me to drop you off on

the way if you don't feel up to driving."

"No, I'll be fine. Thanks for the offer though."

"Okay, then. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

With a wave, Ellie stepped out of the office and headed down to her car. Fortunately, the

elevator was up and running again. In the car, she adjusted the radio to the jazz station. She needed something to help wake her up after hours of sitting and reading. Traffic on the way home was tolerable. She pulled into the parking lot and was slightly disappointed to not see Joe smoking out by the dumpster. I could have mentioned my almost ferret boyfriend to him. She was sure the prurient rat would have been amused at the idea. Though maybe it's best not to further encourage those tendencies. She headed up to her apartment and, flipping on the light,

was greeted once again by her furniture.

At least it wasn't so late that she didn't have time to fix dinner. She sliced up a beet and

started it saute?ing in olive oil with a sprinkle of oregano. Meanwhile, she tossed dandelion leaves, clover, and fresh grass together with just a hint of red wine vinegar and filled a glass of ice water. Once the beet was just slightly cooked, she scooped it onto a plate and went to eat at her two-seat table.

As she munched on the vegetables, she gazed out at the gradually dimming sky and reflected on what she had read. Much of it had seemed like the twisted fantasies of scared and suspicious animals, and for the vast majority of Vulpineva's history, there had been plenty of reason for fear and suspicion. Lab-grown meat had only been developed a little over two hundred and fifty years ago, and of course, adoption hadn't been instantaneous and hadn't instantly healed millennia of violent predation. But after what Tom had described yesterday, were some of the accounts really so crazy after all? It was more than a little disconcerting to think that many of these cults might still be active today, but clearly, at least Jason thought it was a real possibility. Maybe there was a giant government conspiracy to cover it all up. And maybe Cthulhu really is about to rise out of the abyssal depths. Ellie smirked to herself. It would be easy to get carried away if one started crediting every story and conspiracy one heard.

After finishing dinner, she listened to Cat and Mouse Cast for about a couple hours before showering and crawling into bed. Pulling the blankets up to her chin, she yawned; reading could be surprisingly exhausting.

***

After her morning jog and a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar and dates,

Ellie put on a short-sleeve lavender blouse and headed to work. The morning traffic was dreadful, causing her to arrive later than her usual 9 AM. Jason, of course, was already there working through the unending piles of documents.

"Good morning, Jason. Did you catch up on your sleep last night?" she greeted.

No response.

She peered around the stacks of paper. Jason was sprawled out on his desk; next to his

mouth, a puddle of drool was soaking into one of the documents. Eew. Ellie walked around the desk and gently shook him by the shoulder.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to go home last night? What's the point of working yourself to exhaustion and passing out?"

He groaned in reply but didn't move. Oh, no. Ellie placed her hand on his forehead: he was burning up. Oh Zeus, I thought he looked bad last night. Ellie was a little annoyed at Jason for letting himself get this sick but mostly concerned. She needed to get him out of the hot office and get some fluids besides coffee into him. She hurried to the phone and dialed the Coroner's office.

"You've reached the Coroner's office. How can I help you?" answered the unfamiliar voice.

"Hi, this is Inspector Bennett. Can I speak with Dr. Fitzgerald? It's a personal matter."

"Just a second." She heard the phone being set down and the rustling sounds of someone getting up at the other end.

A minute later, Tom answered, "Hi, Ellie! Something you needed to talk to me about?" "Yes, Tom, it's Jason-"

"What?!" Tom yelped.

"Sorry, sorry, he's sick, not dead. He's worked himself to exhaustion, and he has a fever.

I need help moving him out of the office; he's too heavy for me to move on my own."

"Okay, I'll be over in about ten minutes."

"Thanks, see you then."

Ellie hung up the phone and returned to Jason's desk. She removed his blue and white

striped tie and took it to the bathroom to soak it in cold water. Sorry if I just ruined another of

your ties. She returned to the office and started dabbing his head with the wet fabric. Jason's eyes cracked open.

"Bennett?" he murmured. He started to push himself up off of the desk. "I need to keep reading, have to find a connection to Danny's murder."

Ellie pushed him back down. "Hush, you've already worked yourself sick. You're not doing anything more until you're better."

Jason grunted in protest but didn't try to get back up. Ellie took his coffee mug and filled it halfway with water. Upon returning, she tilted it in front of his nose.

"Here, try to drink some water."

Jason lifted his head up to reach the cup and lapped at the water for a few seconds before laying back down with a sigh. Ellie reconsidered the cat: he had to weigh more than Tom and her put together. They might need more help to move him. She went back to the phone and dialed Joe.

"Wha'? Who is this?" came the mumbled answer.

"Hey, Joe, it's Ellie."

"Ellie? I was sleeping. You know I'll take a booty call any time, but still, it's the middle of

the night."

"It's ten in the morning, Joe."

"Oh. So aren't you at work or something? What did you want?"

"My partner is sick, and I need help moving him."

"Partner? Sick? He isn't a rat, is he?"

"No, Joe, I don't think you have to worry about catching it."

Joe groaned raucously as if he were pulling himself up with some effort. "Ok, I'll be there

in a few. See ya." Click, the other line hung up.

Ellie set the phone back down and went back to attending to Jason. Several minutes

later Tom arrived carrying a stretcher. He was wearing a lab coat, the pockets stuffed with instruments including a thermometer, an otoscope, and a stethoscope.

"Hi, Tom, good thinking on the stretcher!"

"Hi, Ellie." He looked around the room. "Yikes! You didn't tell me your office also got ransacked!"

"It always looks like this," Ellie replied, embarrassed.

"Oh. Can you scoot a few of those boxes over to make room for the stretcher?"

Ellie did as he'd asked, and he set the stretcher on the floor.

"Okay, now let me take a look at the sick kitty just to make sure it's nothing serious." Tom gave Jason a quick exam. Jason cooperated but gave little response beyond a few

groans and grunts.

"I'd say it's just the compounded effects of exhaustion, dehydration, and a cold," he

concluded. "He just needs to sleep and drink plenty of fluids."

Ellie nodded. "Right, we'll take him back to my place, and I'll make sure he rests." Tom grabbed Jason under the shoulders and lifted him off of the desk with obvious

difficulty. Ellie hurried around the desk and grabbed Jason under the knees. Jason opened his eyes and started to struggle weakly.

"Hey, I can walk," he murmured.

"You can barely sit up," Ellie chided.

Jason grumbled incoherently under his breath but stopped resisting. Together they

partially carried and partially dragged him to the stretcher. Tom let out a sigh of relief as they set him down.

"Crap, I forgot how much bigger he is. I should have grabbed one of my colleagues to come help." He glanced around the room. "Where's the phone in all this mess?"

Ellie pointed. "Over there, but I already called my neighbor to come help." "What's he?"

"A brown rat."

Tom looked dubious. "Maybe that will be enough. I should have just brought Stevenson. He's an otter, could have carried him all by himself if he needed to."

They waited several more minutes, but Joe didn't appear.

"Now that I think of it, I'm not sure Joe even knows where the office is," Ellie admitted. "He didn't ask for the address."

"I'd better call Stevenson then. It's starting to get awfully warm in here."

"Sorry, the air conditioner is broken," Ellie apologized.

"I see. Well, I'd like to get out of here before we need a second stretcher." He picked up

the phone and began to dial his office.

Just then, the door swung open to reveal Joe.

"Ellie, your savior has arrived!" he proclaimed. He glanced at Tom. "Uh, hi, Doc."

Tom set down the phone, crossed the room, and held out his right hand. "I take it you're

Joe. Good to meet you, I'm Dr. Fitzgerald."

Joe looked at the hand warily before shoving his hands into the pockets of his faux

leather jacket. "Yeah, same." Tom let his hand drop.

"Well, now that you're here," Ellie piped, trying to diffuse the awkward situation. "We can move Jason." She gestured to where he seemed to be dozing on the stretcher.

"Ack!" Joe yelped. "You didn't tell me he was a cat!"

Ellie gave him a confused look. "Is that a problem?"

"Er-uh, no, I just didn't realize your partner would be so big."

"If he were small, we wouldn't need your help," Tom stated dryly. "Anyway, two of us

should take the front, and the other should take the back."

"I'll take the back," Joe volunteered.

With Tom on the front left, Ellie on the front right, and Joe in the back, they managed to

heft the stretcher with difficulty and carry it out of the increasingly steamy office. They set him down just outside, so Ellie could lock the door. Tom fanned himself with both hands.

"Already tired?" Joe squeaked snidely.

"Just hot," Tom answered curtly.

Ellie returned to her spot, and they carried him into the elevator where they were able to

take another short break while they rode down to the parking garage. Ellie's arms felt like jelly by the time they reached her car. Tom helped her lift Jason by the shoulders up to the back seat, and then Ellie pulled him inside while Tom and Joe pushed. She propped him against the far door. Jason cracked his eyes open a slit and looked around.

"Where are we going?" he asked drowsily.

"We're going to my place. Just relax; we'll be there soon."

Ellie squeezed back by and hopped out. Tom tucked Jason's feet in then closed the

door.

"Okay, Tom, you can follow me back to my apartment in your car. Joe, how did you get

here?"

"Bus."

"Right, then you can ride with one of us."

"Cool." Joe climbed into the passenger seat of Ellie's car.

Ellie waited for Tom to get to his car then climbed in hers and started carefully out of the

garage. At the exit onto Broadway, she waited for a large gap so that she wouldn't have to peel out like usual and throw Jason around.

Joe tapped his foot impatiently on the dashboard. He groaned when she slowly pulled out and gently accelerated. "Do you always drive like an old woman?" he complained.

Ellie glared at him sideways. "Would you like to move to the back and hold him in place?"

Joe turned and looked back at Jason nervously. "Uh, never mind."

Fortunately, traffic had died down since rush hour, and they arrived at the apartment building uneventfully. Tom pulled the stretcher out of his white hatchback, and they pulled Jason out of the car by the reverse operation of how they put him in. This time, Jason didn't wake up. After more difficulty carrying the cat, they finally arrived at Ellie's apartment. They set him down whilst Ellie opened the door and then carried him in.

"So this is your place, huh? It's nice," Tom commented politely.

"It's serviceable," Ellie replied. She nodded towards the bedroom. "I don't think the couch will be long enough. We'll have to put him on the bed."

"Lucky bastard," Joe grumbled under his breath.

Ellie's ear twitched in annoyance. If she hadn't been holding the stretcher, she might have slugged the juvenile jealous rat. As it was, she pretended not to hear.

In the bedroom, they set the stretcher down while Ellie pulled back the sheets, and then they lifted Jason up onto the bed by his shoulders and knees. Luckily, the bed was quite large for Ellie, so he fit without any issue. Ellie removed his shirt collar, pulled a couple of the blankets over him, and turned back to Tom and Joe.

"Whew, that was more work than I thought it would be. Thanks for your help, guys. I think I can handle things from here."

Tom nodded. "Don't hesitate to call me if he seems any worse."

Joe looked at her slyly. "If you don't want to shack with Stripy here, you can always head down to my apartment. I'm sure I can scooch over for you."

Tom looked at him incredulously. Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure my couch will be fine, Joe."

They said goodbye, and Tom headed outside to drive back to work. Joe headed off to do

whatever it was that he did. Jason was sleeping soundly, so Ellie sat out at her dining table and flipped through the news on her tablet. I could have brought a box of papers from work to look through. But then she probably would have found Jason up reading them instead of resting the first time she turned her back.

A few hours later, she heard Jason stirring in the bedroom. She filled a tall glass of water and took it in to him. He took the glass and drank the water gratefully.

"So this is your place?" he inquired.

Ellie nodded and took back the glass. "Let me refill that for you. You need to drink plenty of fluids."

She refilled the glass, tossing in a few ice cubes this time, and brought it back to Jason. He took a few more sips and handed it back to her. She walked around the bed and placed it on the nightstand next to the clock. Turning back to Jason, she crossed her arms and gave him a stern look.

"You sure caused us a lot of trouble by refusing to go home and get some sleep, Jason."

He squirmed uncomfortably under the sheets. "Well, I feel okay now. I'll get out of your fur." He started sliding towards the edge of the bed.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ellie raced around and pushed him back in. "You're staying in this bed until I decide you're ready to get out if I have to sit on you."

"But what if I have to use the bathroom?" he groused.

Ellie narrowed her eyes threateningly. "Then you can ask, and I'll escort you." Jason sighed and settled back down into the blankets.

"Good kitty. Now go back to sleep, and I'll fix you my mother's split pea soup."

Ellie left Jason obediently trying to go back to sleep and went to the kitchen to start

working on the soup. While the dried split peas were boiling, she chopped up carrot, and turnip. Once the peas had softened, she added the vegetables along with marjoram, savory, salt, and a little olive oil and continued to simmer until the vegetables were tender. She sipped a spoonful to make sure it tasted right. Satisfied, she ladled some into a bowl and took it into the bedroom.

Jason peered furtively at her through one eye. Spotting the bowl, he opened both eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Thank you, Ellie! I'm famished!"

Ellie scooped up a spoonful of the thick soup. "Alright, open up!"

"Uh, Ellie? I think I can feed myself."

Ellie dropped the spoon back in the bowl. "Phooey, you're no fun." She handed him the

bowl.

"Thanks." He ate a spoonful, chewing contemplatively before swallowing. "It's good, but I

thought I remembered split pea soup having ham in it."

Ellie wrinkled her nose, "Not in my mother's recipe."

"Oh, right. Well, like I said, it's delicious. Thanks again, Ellie."

Ellie nodded. "You're welcome. Be a good kitty and eat your soup and relax, and I'm

sure you'll be better in no time."

She skipped out of the room and went to make her own lunch. She didn't want to eat up

Jason's soup, so she mixed together a grass and clover salad and went back to reading the news. She checked in on Jason a few more times over the course of the afternoon to bring him more water and to make sure he was resting. He seemed to be spending most of the time sleeping, which was what he needed.