Blood Codex

Chapter 60

In a private hospital room in the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, a little over an hour from Lindisfarne, Cameron sat smiling in bed, post-surgery. A police guard outside his door was a formality, but they remained until all the details of the bizarre recent events could be ironed out. It was going to take a while for everything to be recorded and cross-checked.

Crowley sat one side of the bed, Rose on the other.

“So you’re going to walk okay?” Crowley asked.

“Yep. I’ve got some muscle damage, and apparently the bullet chipped my thigh bone, but nothing that won’t come good again with time to heal and some rehab exercises.”

“Seeing as you live your life behind a desk now, it shouldn’t matter anyway right?”

Cameron laughed. “Well, I did tell you I didn’t want to get shot. Maybe I should go back to my desk.”

“You only got shot in the leg. Halfway right.”

Cameron twisted a wry smile. “How come I got it? You got away scot free.”

“Not true! I was shot twice.”

“Two grazes, buttercup. Hardly worth even mentioning.”

“Are you two really comparing bullet wounds?” Rose asked, though her voice was amused. “Honestly, you boys are such clichés.”

Crowley pouted. “Cliché? Oof!”

“I will have to go back to my desk, though,” Cameron said. “If I want to keep my job. But I enjoyed our excursion all the same.”

“Me too.”

“You going back to the classroom?”

Crowley let out a soft laugh, shook his head. “It’ll be hard after this, but I need to keep my job too. At least for now. I have mortgage payments to make.” He looked over the bed at Rose. “And you in the museum?”

“Same. I’m glad all this is over. I’ll actually be glad to get back to work. It was exciting, in hindsight, but I’ve had enough excitement for a lifetime, I think.”

Crowley shrugged. “We’ll see. Excitement like this does tend to be a little bit addictive.”

“Is it over?” Cameron asked.

Crowley paused, thoughtful. “Well, Landvik’s body wasn’t found, or the hammer. Just his empty car. At least, that’s the official word from the police. Apparently it’s possible for currents to carry things, even cars, a long way. So it’s entirely possible his body and the hammer may never be found.”

“Or he may have escaped,” Cameron said. “With the hammer.”

“It’s possible. But either way, he doesn’t need Rose any more and presumably has no need to track us down again.”

“Unless it’s purely for revenge.”

“True, but Landvik’s not an idiot. A smart man would take his win and move on. But we don’t even know if he lived or…”

“Either way,” Rose interrupted, “for my own sanity, I’m declaring this whole thing over and done with. All of it. Finished.”

Crowley made a sad face, deliberately overacting. “All of it?”

Rose laughed. “Well, I could possibly be persuaded to see you again. If the situation were just right.”

Crowley grinned. “I’ll have to think of something.”

Cameron waved a hand in each of their faces. “Take it back to London, you two! Some of us are trying to recover from actual gunshot wounds here.”

They laughed and Crowley caught Rose’s eye over Cameron’s protesting form. She gave him a quick wink. He smiled. Maybe it wasn’t all over just yet.