CHAPTER 7

No fewer than eight cops—all of whose cars I tinkered with regularly—lingered outside Morrison’s office, ostentatiously reading files or exchanging stories over their desks. Every one of them fell silent as I carefully closed Morrison’s door and stepped away from the office. Bruce, a thin blonde who had no business being away from the front desk, put on a mournful smile.

“Well?”

“The son of a bitch fired you,” Billy guessed before I had time to draw breath. An uproar met his speculation, a wall of outrage entirely on my behalf. Rex, short and stout as his name, flung his hat on someone’s desk and stalked toward me. I backed up into Morrison’s door, alarmed. The doorknob hit me in the butt.

“Get out of the way, Joanie.” Rex sounded like a bulldog, low-voiced and growly. “I’m gonna give that bastard a piece of my mind. He can’t do this to you! You were on family leave, for Christ’s sake!”

I edged to the side. “Urn, actually…”

Rex stormed past me and flung Morrison’s door open, banging it closed behind him again. Around me, furious cops swore and waved their hands and lined up, God help me, actually lined up to be the next one to take on Morrison.

“Actually,” I mumbled, “he didn’t fire me.”

Nobody listened. I rubbed my hand over my eyes, setting my contacts to tearing again, and sighed. Bruce appeared at my elbow and guided me to a desk to sit down. “It’ll be okay, Joanie,” he promised. “You’re a fantastic mechanic. You’ll get a job in no time. Heck, you could probably keep yourself busy just fixing our cars, huh guys?”

“I fix your cars anyway,” I pointed out. “Nobody pays me for it.” Bruce had exactly one hobby: running. His wife’s car, a 1987 Eagle station wagon with a manual transmission, broke down more often than soap opera stars. I wasn’t sure he knew how to drive it, much less fix it. “Look, Bruce, I’m—”

Bruce patted my shoulder reassuringly. “Elise wants you to come over for dinner Friday. She’s going to raise holy living hell about you getting fired.”

Elise made the best tamales I’d ever had, and was convinced I was killing myself eating macaroni and cheese for every meal. “Elise is an angel,” I said, “but—”

Rex burst out of Morrison’s office, cheeks bright red with exertion. Billy marched through the still-open door. Even over the general noise I could hear Morrison’s, “Oh, for Christ’s sake!” A moment later Billy backed out of the office, herded by Morrison, who stopped at the door, broad-shouldered and impressive.

“Joanne Walker has not been fired!” he bellowed. “All of you get the hell back to work!” He stepped back into his office, slamming the door behind him.

Eight officers of the law turned as one and stared at me accusingly.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” I said weakly. “He didn’t fire me. He busted me back to foot patrol.” For a moment I wondered if a mechanic could technically be busted back to anything. Everyone was silent for about as long as it took me to wonder that, and then the cacophony began again. I tried, briefly, to explain, then gave up and let Billy defend my dubious honor as an honest-to-God cop with a badge and everything. I wasn’t sure where that badge was. I remembered they’d given me one when I graduated from the police academy, but my best guess was that it was in my sock drawer. Or possibly in the glove compartment of my car. Or maybe in the junk drawer in the kitchen. I slunk out while the debate about whether I was really a cop heated up.

Gary and Marie were waiting impatiently in the lobby. “You’re a cop?” Gary demanded as I came through the turnstile.

“No. Yes. No. Shit! Why?” I flung myself onto a bench and scrubbed my eyes.

“Jeez, lady, I didn’t mean to ask a tough question. What happened in there? Why didn’t you say you were a cop back at the church? Or the airport? I thought you were nuts, goin’ after some broad you saw from a plane.” Gary towered over me, hands on his hips. Marie hovered in the background, looking just as curious as Gary.

“I’m not a cop. I mean.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I am a cop. I guess I’m a cop. I’m a mechanic. That’s what I do. Except now I don’t. Now I write jaywalking tickets, or something. I wonder when I’m supposed to be back at work. Shit.”

Gary and Marie stared at me. After several seconds, I mumbled, “I make more sense when I’ve had some sleep.” I pried my eyes open. Tears welled up again. Gary became sympathetic all of a sudden.

“All right, all right. I’ll take you home. Tonight we’ll get together and figure this out.” He actually patted my shoulder, just like Bruce had done.

“We?” Marie and I spoke together. She sounded surprised. I sounded small and pitiful.

“What, you think I’m gonna miss out on what happens next? Crazy dames.” Gary shook his head and pushed his way out of the station, muttering to himself.

Gary dropped me off at my apartment complex. I stood on the concrete stairs and waved as he drove off, then staggered up to my apartment, navigating to the bedroom without turning the lights on. No one lived there but me; it was a safe bet that there wouldn’t be anything unexpected on the floor except four months worth of dust. I was right: falling face-first into the bedcovers dislodged dust and made me sneeze, but nothing worse awaited me. My last conscious thought was that I’d forgotten to take my contacts out.

The apartment was empty of unexpected things. My dreams were not. Coyote was waiting for me. He looked warily approving while I frowned at him groggily. “How d’you do that?” I demanded. “Dogs don’t have that much expression.”

“You’ve never owned a dog, have you?” Coyote asked. “Besides, I’m not a dog.”

I put my face in my hands, eyes closed. “Whatever. Where are we? What do you want?” I peeked at him through my fingers. “Are you always going to be bothering my dreams?”

“This isn’t a dream.” Coyote cocked his head to the side, looking around. After a moment I did too, wearily. I had to admit I’d never had a dream that looked like this one. Even falling dreams, which weren’t big on detail, usually had a gray sky and a very long drop. This one didn’t even have that much, just dark storm clouds pushing at each other with no particular pattern or intent. I thought I preferred falling dreams.

I dropped suddenly, a sickening distance in no time at all. Coyote yipped, a short sound of annoyance and alarm. I flinched upright, back where I’d started. “Pay attention,” he said sharply.

“I am,” I protested. “What was that? Where are we?” There was nowhere for me to have fallen. Coyote and I drifted, in the middle of it, sitting on nothing.

“You called a dream up,” Coyote said patiently. “We’re in a place between dreams.”

“Why? I’m so tired.” I was whining. I made a small sad sound and straightened up, trying to behave like an adult. Coyote licked his nose.

“You did a good job this morning,” he said. I blinked at him slowly.

“Is that why I came here? So you could tell me that?” I didn’t mean to sound like a snappy, ungrateful bitch. I was just so damned tired. Coyote let the tone blow over him.

“Partly,” he agreed. “Ask the banshee to help you with your shields. You’re going to need them.”

“My shields?” I wasn’t used to feeling this thick.

Coyote smiled. I didn’t know dogs could smile. “I’m not a dog,” he said, and, “she’ll know what you mean. Now get some sleep.” He dropped a golden-eyed wink and disappeared.

Or at least, I ceased to be aware of him. Instead I became aware of someone pounding on my door with the patience and rhythm of a metronome. I stayed very still for what felt like a very long time, hoping the pounding would go away. It didn’t. After six or seven years I rolled out of bed and crawled toward the front door.