Luz's crimes

13 – Back Alley Vet and nurse

Luz and Gus flew into the alley near the diner for another meeting with the mob boss.

“Are you sure you can do this Luz?”

Luz got off of the staff and tried to walk around on the small stilts she was wearing, and also trying to pick up a can on the ground with the grabbers she was holding.

“We don’t have a lot of options right now. Amity and Willow both have a cold, and the Mob Boss was quite insistent on meeting Jacob tonight. I’ll just tell them that I have a small cold if they ask why I don’t want to shack hands, but for now this will have to do.”

She then successfully picked up the can and threw it into the dumpster. “Alright! Time to do your magic Gus.”

He just nodded before twirling his fingers and making her look just like Jacob. He then nodded at Jacob and walked towards the dinner, nodding to the guard on his way in before seating across from the boss at the table.

This time, the boss looked like he hadn’t slept or showered recently.

“Hay, are you ok?”

“Hm, oh yeah. I’m fine. My Lulu is just sick and my usual vet is visiting family in California and can’t get back soon. Unless you know any vets that are willing to look at an illegal exotic bird, we should probably talk about the upcoming fight next week, the drug delivery, and the new plants you asked for.”

Jacob just blinked. “Actually, I might know someone that could help.”

“Really?”

Jacob deflated a little. “It’s less of a actual vet and more of the daughter of a vet that learned a lot via osmosis and would be willing to come over and help out a sick or injured animal. She is also only 14.”

The boss just gave Jacob a dead-pan look. “You want me to trust the health and wellbeing of the second or third most important person in my life to a teenager?”

“Who is numbers 1 and 2?”

“My wife and kid. The orders of which of the three are which verry day to day.”

Jacob could only nod at that. “Makes sense. Anyway, the kid might not actually be a vet, but she has actually done some vet like work. Also, she is dirt cheap and will keep her mouth shut. She only needs to make sure Lulu will do well until your regular vet comes back, so you don’t have to be that worried.

“How does that sound?”

The boss just sat there thinking for a bit before nodding.

“Ok, I will give her a shot.” He then started to write down something on a napkin. “Here is my usual vet’s clinic. We can do the examination there.”

Jacob took the paper and nodded. “I’ll have her call you later to confirm price and time. Now, lets get down to the real reason you called this meeting.”

Over the next 30 minutes the two hammered out further details before Luz went back to Gus.

“Great news, I just got a in with the illegal pet businesses as a vet. All I have to do is figure out what is wrong with the a mob bosses pet bird.”

Gus was just giving Luz ‘the look.’ “Looks like Mrs. Cordell was right after all.”

She just looked at him quickly. “What do you mean?”

“When Adrian was getting her on board with the money laundering, she actually asked if you were doing vet work without a license.”

Luz just shrugged. “What can I say? I am my mother’s daughter.”

2 days later, 2 PM

Luz, Gus, and Willow flew into a alley behind the vet clinic where the three dismounted.

“Ok guys, are you ready?”

Gus and Willow both nodded before Willow put on her Jacob disguise and Gus made himself invisible. The three then walked to the clinic door. In front was a figure Jacob knew well.

“Hay Jeremy! How’s the rib healing up?”

He smiled back at him. “Hay Jacob, it doing well. Should be back in the ring next week. I wish I had your ability to take a beating and keep on going.”

He just shrugged at that. “What can I say, Willows bend but never break.”

He and Luz just laughed together at that while Jeremy just stared at both of them.

“I don’t get it.” He then just opened the door and waved them both in. “They are in room 1. Past the front desk and first door on the left.”

The two then walked in and pushed open the door to said room. Within was the boss, a monk parakeet in a cage, and a body guard who was backing away from the open door while holding onto his nose and screaming in pain.

“Oh, my goodness, I am so sorry!” cried Luz. “How is your nose?”

He moved his hand away from it, revealing that it had bent due to the hit. Luz grimaced at it before getting to work.

“Sit down for a second, I need to check a few things.” She then started looking through the cabinets before finding a Otoscope. After finding one she pressed lightly on the sides of the nose while asking if it hurt. After determine that the nose was in fact broken, she looked up both nostrils to check if either were blocked. Luckily, both were clear.

“Good news is that there doesn’t seem to be any blockage. Bad news is that it is defiantly broken. We need to realign the bone.”

She then turned to the Boss. “Do you know a doctor he can go to or would you prefer for me to do it?”

The boss was just staring at her. “I thought you were a vet?”

“I have experience treating multiple injuries on multiple species. Who do you think patches Jacob up after each fight?”

The man with the broken nose just gave Jacob a look of shock. “You would rather be treated by a 14-year-old than a professional?”

“I have things I would prefer to keep on the down low medically about myself that she already knows.”

He and the Boss just looked at each other for a bit before shrugging. “Let’s give it a shot. Luckily for us the vet also treats my men off the books so there should be people medicine here as well. What do you need?”

Luz then stated questioning the man about his medical history before giving a list of supplies. After a little searching the requested medication and a splint. All that was left was applying the numbing agent, realigning the bone, applying the splint and dressing, and then finished up with some antibiotics to prevent infection.

“That should do it. Be sure to have it followed up with the actual doctor/vet when they return next week in case I messed something up.”

She then turned to the Boss. “Now that the result of my clumsiness is all fixed up, lets talk about your bird.”

She then walked over to the monk parakeet in the cage. “5 days ago, she started getting specks of red in her poop, droopy posture, and excessive thirst.”

Luz looked up at him. “What change happened before the symptoms started?”

“I got a new cage for her a week ago. She only started having the poop stuff happened recently, but I thought it was the biggest thing that could help diagnose her so I started with that.”

Luz nodded. “Well, you’re right about that. Is there a x-ray machine here and blood work equipment?”

The two men looked at each other before shrugging. Luz just sighed.

“Ok then, how about this? I will take Lulu back home with me and use my mom’s clinic to see what I can do and get back to you. In the meantime, get a different brand of cage because the big thing I can think of at the moment is that the current cage might have led in it. It lines up with the symptoms and isn’t harmful or expensive to do anyway if I’m wrong.”

The boss looked nervous before nodding. “Ok, but if she dies-“

“Me and my mom will be face down in the harbor with two bullets in the back of both our heads. Despite what it may appear, you are not in the top ten scariest people I have ever met or the first to try and kill me.”

She them picked up the bird cage and walked to the door. “I’ll call you as soon as I get a conformation on what is wrong.”

Jacob and Luz then walked out of the vet and into the alley before they all mounted up and flew back home.

The Clinic

Willow, Gus, and Amity held their hands over Lulu with spell circles around their wrists as Luz talked them through the lessons, she had in Beast Keeping Class while reading her notes. Of them, Willow was having the most luck in doing it.

“It’s honestly not the different from diagnosing how plants are sick. The biology is different enough that it hard to diagnose, but the magic is similar enough for me to do.”

“I’ll take what I can get. What do you see?”

“So far, its dose seems like it is lead poisoning. Luckily for us, plants can get it too and we learn how to heal it. What do your notes say on doing it for animals?”

She then flipped the pages until she reached the specific lesson. “Ok, here it is.” She then scrunched up her face before diving back to her back pack and pulling out another set of notes labeled ‘plant track’ and started flipping pages. After finding the corresponding page, she then compared the two sets of notes.

“Great news, according to my notes, the magic to flush out lead poisoning is only slightly different between plants and animals.”

Willow smiled before getting to work, with Luz mentioning what exactly the differences between the two were. After a few minutes and a lot of white and pasty poop under Lulu later, all the lead was cleared out.

“That should do it. All she needs to do is drink lots of water and she should be ok.”

Luz nodded. “We should probably keep her for a bit to sell the illusion that we are treating her normally. It usually takes a while for the non-magical treatment to help, so I will give him a call and have her returned in about a week.”

One Week Later

“Lulu! I missed you so much!”

It was heartwarming to see the mob boss reunited with his beloved bird. The normal vet had returned and given her a once over, confirming that Luz did a great job patching her up.

“How much do I owe you?”

Luz brought up a list she had of all the supplies she had would have used if she was treating Lulu the normal way and handed it over to him.

“That’s it?”

“This is my first time actually doing off the books vet work for money. I was just going to do this at cost and then talk to your vet to figure out how much I should charge for future patients in the Gravesfield area. I don’t think we have any illegal pet owners there, but if either of you know of a few that could be sent my way I would appreciate it.”

The vet just nodded. “I can do that easily. I actually do have a patient or two in that area. They probably won’t feel confirmable with a teenager doing more than check ups at the moments, but it can help you get your foot in the door and free me up a little. If you get anything you don’t feel comfortable with or can’t do anything about, send them to me. Ok?

Luz just smiled. “I can do that.”

The boss then spoke up. “I actually have a different idea on how to pay you instead of just handing you money or drugs for this.”

Luz just turned to look at him. “What?”

HE then lifted up a brief case with some paperwork in it. “I did some digging and found out that the head of the clinic where your mom works is actually having some financial trouble due to the current owner skimming a lot off the top-“

“¡QUÉ! ¡Eso bastó! ¡Le negó a mamá un aumento porque dijo que estaban recibiendo menos negocios! Voy a-"

“Calm down their kid! I already have a plan to deal with him.

She just gave him a glare that sent shivers down the spine of the hardened criminal. “If you plan to kill him, don’t bother. I am more than capable of doing that and hiding the body myself.”

“Um, my idea was more just getting him arrested and putting your mom in charge of the clinic. Even if you don’t keep her in the loop with what you are doing, it can be a useful front for your off the books vet work, money laundering, and maybe some off the books human medical work.”

Luz just blinked at that. “What was that last one?”

“A lot of the same supplies and techniques for treating animals are the same as those for people. If you are as good at that as you are for my Lulu and Bob last week, you can probably do well as a back-alley doctor. Probably won’t get much business in that area, but diversification is always good to have.”

“And with the Cop and Feds figuring out that the Plant Coven is coming from that area, it is only a matter of time before that kind of business starts heating up.”

He just shrugged. “That too. So, do you think your mom can handle running the clinic?”

Luz just smiled. “She has been complaining about her boss for years and pointing out all the things she could do to improve it. She will jump at the chance.”

In the Shack

Luz stood in front of a chalkboard with the rest of the Hexsquad sitting in front of her.

“Ok, so this is how we are going to do this.”

She then pointed to a picture of the clinic. “The clinic only has 4 vets working in it now, and are responsible for all the pets in Gravesfield.”

She then pointed to a picture of her mom. “Mami is going to be juggling doing vet work, running the business, and taking care of us. The good news is that between all that and us living with her, we can most easily slip the small number of illegal pet owners into the books as people owning legal pets that she treated.”

Next were pictures of the two pets, a monkey and a venomous snake.

“As far as the books are aware, these two are a cat and a black rat snake. I will be treating them either after hours or on home calls. If we need to do something beyond what is within my abilities, I will call Willow to work her magic.”

Willow just smiled. “With Luz’s notes and my experience healing plants, I should be able of patching them up.”

At that, Hunter’s eyes widened and he suddenly stood up. “I had an idea!”

Everyone turned to him as he walked up to the board.

“You plan on charging them for the medication that you aren’t using thanks to Willow and writing down in the books that it was used, right?”

She nodded.

“So what would happen when they do a inventory and figure out that they have more of the drug then they should?”

Luz sighed. “I was going to subtly donate it to a charity from a anonymous source. Figured it would help some pet owners who were not as well off.”

Hunter frowned a little at that. “Don’t these kinds of medications have serial numbers or something on them? the charities could easily back track them to here and bring up suspicion.”

Luz grimaced at that. “Damn it! Any other ideas beyond just throwing medicine away?”

He smiled. “We can sell if off the books to the vet/back-alley doctor you met, or even to the ones that work at Willow’s fights. It’s like she said, certain medicines can easily be used on humans just as much as animals. It would help both out with keeping their activities hidden from the cops and we can get more money.”

He then looked thoughtful for a moment. “We would either need to launder it through the Society or put a few fake clients on the clinic list to launder it there.”

Luz just smiled. “I was already going to do that anyway. Hunter, you are a genius!”