Two too many shits

Andrés
06:45 on Monday, Dr. Andrés Sepúlveda reports for duty at the Denver County Medical Examiner's office. This involves locking his bicycle in the third floor of the subterranean parking garage, taking the stairs up to the ground floor of the building, breezing past a security guard who barely glances up from his phone to confirm the identity of the person passing through the metal detector, walking half a mile through the building to his office, throwing his briefcase on the desk, lighting a cigarette, spiking his coffee, and collecting his messages.

By 07:05 Monday, he has raised his BAC to a health 0.02, triaged his emails and phone messages, and pulled enough manila folders to cover the autopsies for the day.

At 07:07 Monday, Grace's phone rings. It continues ringing until she picks up.

"Gracia!" is the first thing anyone wants to hear first thing in the fucking morning. "Who the fuck is Jacqueline Paix and why do my students give two shits about her? That is two too many shits."

Grace
The last thing Grace was expecting was a phone call from Dr. Sepúlveda at this hour. What is it, 3 or 4 in the morning? Wait -- should the room be this bright at... 7? It's 7 AM?

"Shit." is the first thing Andy hears when he waits for a response. "It's... early."

Not quite the thing he was probably expecting her to go 'oh shit' about.

"Jacqueline Paix? I... honestly, man, it's 7 AM" she says, and futzes about in the background. He can hear some furious typing, followed by the stab of something sharp about his phone.

"Okay, we should be able to talk freely now. Okay, Jacqueline Paix is one of the dead Apprentices you had me look into. Did you even read the evidence you gave me? And... what about your students?

[Corr2, Forces2, Entropy2: Direct Connection. We're bypassing the usual phone connection and performing some actual encryption so this conversation doesn't end up tapped. Diff 5. Spending wp.]

Roll: 3 d10 TN5 (7, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]

Andrés
As much as he loves arguing, Andrés doesn't take the bait.

He does rephrase the question, "How did Ned come to know the name Jacqueline Paix?"

Grace
"I... Might have told him? I don't know. I did send him a letter with my progress on the investigation in it -- because he asked. I don't know if her name was on it. I've been keeping a lot of people informed. Why? He shouldn't know who was killed?"

There's a huff on the other end of the line.

"What happened?"

Obviously something did.

Andrés
Marvel as he parries her question with his own.

"Does the name 'Evelyn' mean anything to you?"

Grace
"Not... There was a Euthanatos who used to live here... No, wait. That was Eleanor. Sorry, I haven't slept yet."

So no, you didn't wake her up, Andrés. Good job.

"It doesn't ring a bell. I haven't run across that name in my investigation. Doesn't match any of the victims' names... Wait, Evelyn?"

Fuck. There was a time recently when she heard that name, wasn't there? It's too early for thinking. She takes a sip of room-temperature coffee in the midst of the pause.

"One of the guys who's missing is Garrett Murray. His mother's name is Evelyn. Why... what does Evelyn mean to you?"

Andrés
So he pronounces it closer to Evelia than Evelyn. When she swears and repeats the name, Andrés says, "Yeah. E-vey-leen."

Then she remembers another name. Wants to know what it means to him.

Again he parries.

"What'd you say her spawn is called? Garrett Murray?" Scribble scribble. "Ah, so, funny story, Edward and Margot just about beat my door last night, all 'Ay, ay, Doc, Doc, we summoned a ghost, she didn't want to talk, when she told us Evelyn betrayed her a ghost arm came out of nowhere and pulled her back to Hell, what is the Keeper of Secrets, ay, ay, ay, what do we do, what do we do, Doc ew put pants on, the Order of the Falcon, ay, que coño,' and--" Canned laughter. "--the last I heard, they weren't supposed to be sticking their noses in this investigation--" More canned laughter. If he's trying to sound like he isn't insane, this isn't helping his case. "--but they did, even though THEY'RE APPRENTICES, AND APPRENTICES ARE THE ONES THE ORDER IS HARVESTING FOR SACRIFICE FODDER." A long sigh, like he's wiping away a tear, before his voice returns to normal. "I was just curious."

Grace
"Uhhh..."

Eww, Doc, put pants on? Been there, done that. In a way, she can sympthize with them both for having had to witness that, but then...

"What?"

The crazed way that he just relayed all that leaves something to be desired.

"Margot. When you told them both. She asked if anyone had talked to one of the ghosts. I guess they got it in their heads to go out alone and go fuck with one?"

She hisses between her teeth. Was she this reckless when she was still shiny new? Well, she did end up on a Technocratic watch list. There was that. But no, she usually lets people know exactly what she's up to before she does it... Even if it isn't advisable.

"I guess they thought if they told you what their plan was, you'd say no."

Andrés
"Why on earth would I do that?"

Rhetorical question. He would have told them no because it's dangerous and he has absolutely no training in Spirit so either they would have to get someone else to supervise them or there would be no safety net in the event something went wrong.

He keeps going with the rhetorical questions.

"Why didn't I just shoot them when they walked into the morgue the first time? My hair is turning gray so fast, they're like... like... like humanoid hobgoblins, walking Paradox creatures, I'm aging at ten times the rate of my cohorts..."

He clears his throat to pull his shit back together.

"Listen, I haven't figured out how to pause time yet, so I have to go to work. I'll see what I can find out about this Evelyn person besides she maybe possibly had something to do with Jacqueline Paix's untimely demise. Kiara was adamant about not fucking with this, ah, Keeper of Secrets spirit thing, she said she'd encountered it when she and Will, William, Willn't, I don't know, were in some cave?" The joys of dating a Verbena. Half the time shit gets lost in translation. "I don't want them any more involved in this than they already are, will you please, for the love of Christ, if they contact you again..."

Grace
"Telling them no is one thing. Telling them the right way to get what they want is another. Ned... He seemed kind of agitated that so many Apprentices had died or disappeared and the Mages -- at least in Colorado Springs? They weren't doing much.

"He's scared. They both are. They probably feel pretty desperate to save their own skins right now. Even though, yeah. Not the way to go about it. I agree."

She sighs. Weighs her own debt in this.

"I think if I kept them in the dark, it would only further fuel their fear. They'd just go off on their own again, this time without information.

"But... Yeah. I'll tell Ned how dangerous this is. If he tries to get information out of me again. And to fucking tell someone before he does things next time. I'll let you get back to work."

Andrés
Try not to have a heart attack, Grace. He's not only relieved, but genuinely grateful for her offering to help him.

Feelings are hard. Giving a shit about other people gives you a nice squishy weak spot that will hurt very very badly when something happens to them. Not if. People like them know what it's like to live through their worst nightmares, the world going on as if their fear and pain and loss meant fuck-all.

A huge sigh, like this is the best news he's going to have all day.

"Thank you," he says.

Before she can process the gushiness in his response, Andrés terminates the call and gets back to work.