Penelope
Last night had been great—well except for that bit with his cousin, I mused as I rode the elevator down to HR.
And it was no skin off my back in the sense that I didn’t care what that classist idiot thought. I wasn’t ashamed of how I grew up. My mom raised me to the best of her ability as a single mother on a low income.
Besides, his words didn’t reflect upon Vincent or the rest of their family.
Still, I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much. Because you could never tell how someone was going to react to finding out that you were essentially leading a double life.
But I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of hope. Maybe this could work out between us.
There was a spring in my step as I made my way down to the HR department, feeling like I was on cloud nine.
“So, I heard from a little birdy that someone’s been sleeping with the boss,” Rebecca began, as soon as I walked into the HR office.
That woman knew way more than she should have. Honestly, but then it’s not like the shifters couldn’t tell from scent alone. She must have been told by someone in upper management.
Maybe I could play dumb?
Looking away from his computer screen, Thomas asked, “What?”
I couldn’t hide my groan, wishing to melt into the floor. If someone could die from mortification, I would have right then and there.
Thomas whirled on me, demanding, “You know something about this?”
Before I could come up with a response, Rebecca replied, “Oh, didn’t you know? It’s Penny.”
I definitely couldn’t play dumb now.
Some kind of HR this was—blatantly just exposing someone like that.
Huffing, I replied, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Rebecca gave me a pout, “Boo, you’re no fun.”
I sniffed, incensed. “I’m here for work, not fun.”
“Fine, fine. We’ll stop teasing,” she replied, looking at the paperwork in my hands, “Did you have something for me?”
“Yeah, here.”
I placed the papers in her extended hand and she gave it a one over, murmuring, “Okay, I’ll get that in there for you.”
“Thanks.”
Just as I was leaving to head back upstairs, I noticed Thomas sliding his chair over towards Rebecca’s desk, holding out some paperwork as he asked, “That reminds me, can you start the paperwork for Miss Gomez’s dismissal?”
My mouth went dry.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
Thomas glanced back at me, “Huh?”
“That name, who was it again?”
I wasn’t sure if I was hoping I’d heard her correctly or not because if I had it meant that Jacqueline might be crucial to my case, but it also meant that she was in danger if she wasn’t already dead.
“It was Jacqueline Gomez.”
Damn it.
FIFTEEN
“And when was the last time you saw Ms. Gomez?” I asked, giving the missing woman's desk a once over.
It hadn’t been hard at all to get the woman, another accountant, talking about her missing coworker at all—I didn’t even need to spin a tale or anything like normal.
Well, one less lie to keep track of.
The woman seemed to be mulling it over for a brief moment before murmuring, “I think it was Thursday or Friday of last week. I hate to be nosey but is she okay?”
Her question piqued my interest. She wouldn’t have asked if there wasn’t reason for concern.
“Why do you ask?”
She nibbled her lip before finally saying, “Well, the last couple of weeks, she’s been acting…. Kind of off.”
“What do you mean by ‘off’?”
She sighed and started for her desk. Instinctually, I followed. “Well, she’s been acting a little… paranoid I guess would be the best word to use. I hate to say it, but she really was acting like someone was out to get her.”
Well, it’s not like Jacqueline was wrong. Something was up, because after looking into her employment records with us, she’d never missed work like this.
“Do you think she’s okay?”
To be frank, no I didn’t think she was. But I couldn’t just out and say that.
Giving her a small reassuring smile, I murmured, “I don’t know, but we’re looking into it.”
“Okay, if I can be of any help, just let me know.”
“You’ve already done so much.”
Just as I was turning to leave, she spoke again, “Oh that’s right, I found this key at my desk last week.” She made her way back to my side, a key outstretched in my direction. “I think it might be Jackie’s because after she left for the day she stopped by my desk for a minute. I found it on the floor not long after that.”
Plucking the offered key from her hand, I gave it a once over before giving her another small smile. I could tell from the shape of it alone that it was from a safety deposit box.
“Thank you, I’ll see to it that it gets into the right hands,” I informed her before walking away. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent a text to my IT liaison for the Agency, Stacy—she was also one of our various plants we had in the police force for Nashville and so had insider access—and asked her to track everywhere Miss Gomez had been in the last couple of months so I could find the bank she’d used.
This key might very well lead me to who was behind her demise.
I had very little doubt in my mind that the girl was dead. In fact, if she’d stumbled across something about the case I was looking into, it was almost guaranteed—from the sheer amount of money that had been pilfered before I’d gotten involved—that she was no longer with the living.
I already knew her address from her file. Right now, it was just a matter of time before I could investigate further due to my secretarial duties. And dealing with Vincent.
I don’t know what the hell I was thinking getting involved with my boss like I was. The moment word got out that I was an operative within the Agency, I knew he wouldn’t be able to stomach the thought of me. And it would eventually get out what I was. Whether it be during this case or not didn’t matter.
While I didn’t regret working for the Agency, I hated how it limited my already diminished romance options. Not that I’d been actively trying to date or anything. But most supernatural people who weren’t a part of the Agency didn’t want to have anything to do with us.
I was playing with fire and I was going to get burned.
* * *
Since Vincent had another meeting with our other branch, I went ahead and left for the day so I could check out the girls apartment. I did make a quick pit stop to change into something a little more muted and masked my hair so I wouldn’t stand out or be identified later.
It was still early afternoon by the time I reached the apartment building. Buzzed in by one of the various tenets by pretending to be from the cable company, I made my way up to her apartment.
The hallways were empty and it didn’t look like there were any cameras to be on the lookout for, though I still kept my hood up and I parked several blocks away just to be on the safe side.
Pulling out my lockpicking kit, I set to work on the door.
The lock mechanisms were laughably easy.
I had the door unlocked in less than a minute, stuffing the kit back into my pocket as I strode inside, shutting the door closed behind me just in case someone got curious.
There had been signs of a struggle. It wasn’t much, just an end table flipped over—most likely by Jacqueline in the struggle—but other than that, nothing looked like it might be out of place.
I was looking for anything that might reveal the location of where the safety deposit box might be. I took a few minutes and checked the bookshelf by the tv first but found nothing. The end tables had nothing in them either.
Not seeing anything too informative in the main living space, I decided to take a look in her room.
Just as I was walking thr
ough the threshold into the girls bedroom, I heard the softest of sounds, and had to fight the instinct to call upon my flames. I didn’t want to give away my advantage, plus they very well could get out of hand and cause the building to burn down.
There was an inhuman growl that sent shivers down my spine as the intruder lept into action and I barely had time to move out of the way, stumbling into the end table beside me.
They were covered from head to toe in black like me so it was kind of startling to see in essence a reflection of myself. I didn’t let it trip me up for long, kicking myself into high gear for this fight between life and death.
They didn’t give me a chance to recover before they were lunging towards me. Throwing myself out of the way, I slammed into the opposite wall, my shoulder taking the brunt of it.
I split my attention between keeping my flames at bay and my attacker, a female—if the subtle curves were anything to go by.
They’d completely destroyed the wooden end table, stepping out of the wreckage as I righted myself. I didn’t want to put my eggs in one basket as I debated internally whether or not she was a demon, shifter or vampire.
She closed the distance with an unnatural speed but not enough that I couldn’t block her fist with my arms, barely getting them up in time. Definitely not a demon because my necklace wasn’t reacting, and with this distance, there was no way it wouldn’t if she had any demonic blood within her.
The power behind her swing threw me into the wall again, but this time she was upon me, her clawed hand grasping my throat.
My hands clutched at hers, trying desperately to pull her fingers from my throat.
Squeezing mercilessly, she used her strength to lift me into the air, demanding, “Who the fuck are you?”
She was a vampire.
I could tell immediately from the lisp she was packing as she spoke. All vampires—when excited, aroused or anything else that got the blood pumping with adrenaline—had one. It was very distinct and their teeth were usually one of the first things to give them away.
“N-nobody,” I replied, forcing my voice to quiver as I kicked at the air.
“Well, your luck just ran out, thief. You picked the wrong house to break into.”
“P-please, don’t hurt me,” I pleaded, tears springing into my eyes.
“Awww. That’s so cute.” She leaned her face towards mine and gave me a smile that inflicted me with goosebumps, before murmuring, “No amount of tears are going to make me pity you.”
Without giving her the chance to crush my throat, I took firm hold of her arm with both of mine and superheated my hand. The apartment filled with her immediate scream as the pain took hold. I accidentally lost my grip on her hand when she released my throat, allowing her to spring away from me.
“What the fuck!” She demanded, crashing to her knees as she clutched at her wounded arm. Something fell out of her back pocket, unnoticed by the woman who was currently focused on her injury.
“Awww, did you get a boo-boo?” I asked sarcastically, rubbing my throat. I was definitely going to have to see someone about my neck because the bruise that it was going to form would be impossible for me to cover up.
I didn’t feel any pity for the murderous vampire. If anyone deserved pity, it was Miss Gomez. All I could feel towards the woman in front of me was overwhelming anger.
“Where is she? Where is Jacqueline?” I demanded, allowing my flames to manifest around my hands.
“Wouldn’t you like to know, bitch.”
Closing the distance between us, I retorted, “Now, now. Name calling isn’t nice.”
“Fuck you,” she snarled.
“Nah. I’m not into murderers,” before I could take another step in her direction, she hastily stood, backing out of the hallway and into the open living room.
“I’ll kill you for this,” she seethed, before she lept for the window, the glass exploding outward with the force of the impact. It didn’t stop the woman one bit in her effort to escape pursuit.
Running to the window, I glanced out to see if I could spot her and follow.
She was gone. Long gone.
Shit.
I knew I didn’t have long. With her making such a loud disturbance, I knew that the police would be on route.
I picked up the wallet that had fallen out of her pocket, sticking it in my own.
I’d look at it later.
Stepping into the bedroom, I immediately went for the nightstand beside her bed, digging through the various papers scattered about inside its drawer.
From the state the room was in, particularly the closet, I knew that I’d surprised her in the middle of their own snooping. Thank God I’d shown up when I had.
Peeking through all the papers was the corner of a floral looking paper—it looked out of place with all the other papers it was mixed in with.
I frowned, looking over the floral printed sheet. It seemed familiar—I wracked my brain trying to place it. The writing was in shorthand, but I knew with time I’d be able to decipher it without too much trouble.
And then it hit me. I’d seen the stationary on her desk.
This had to be it.
Every other document in the nightstand had detailed notes but this—this was the only one written out in shorthand.
I’d found it.
With the nearing sirens, I just grabbed all the documents that had been mixed in with the one I needed just to be certain and made to escape.
I’d have to make sense of it all later.
* * *
There was only one bank in the whole of Nashville that Miss Gomez used, thank the heavens.
Stacy didn’t take too long to get back to me with the information I’d needed and so after leaving the apartment, I figured I could run by the bank and get whatever might be in the safety deposit box.
While in the car prior to going into the bank, I’d made sure to cover up any markings from my earlier scuffle might have left so I didn’t attract any attention. Thankfully no bruises.
Yet.
I was able to get inside and to the vault without issue since I looked a bit similar to Miss Gomez, I was able to use her ID to get in—luckily the wallet the vampire had dropped earlier had been Jacquelines.
It didn’t take long to find hers along the wall. I wasted no time in getting the safety deposit box open. Inside the metal container was only one thing.
A flash drive.
SIXTEEN
As soon as I’d left the bank, I’d met up with Stacy.
She’d been working with me on this case since the start, giving me helpful hints on what to look for. It was just unfortunate that I’d been having no luck finding anything to help with my case.
They’d covered their tracks well.
But with everything going on with Miss Gomez, I had the distinct feeling that something had changed. Maybe they had gotten too cocky and they’d slipped up.
There was something on that flash drive, I could feel it in my bones.
“Here, I found this at the office,” I informed her, producing the flash drive from my pocket, “It belonged to Miss Gomez. She’s been awol for a few days now.”
“I’ll check it out. Anything else?” She asked, pocketing the flash drive.
“Yeah, is there any way you could pull a report from twenty-five years ago?” I asked. Ever since Johanna had told me about Neill Abbot’s death, something about the circumstances had rubbed at me the wrong way.
She nodded. “If it’s in the system.”
“Thanks. It’s for a car accident—a Neill Abbott.”
“Sure thing. Give me an hour. If I can find it, I’ll send it to your phone.”
“Okay, thanks. Much appreciated.”
I headed home wanting a nice long shower.
It didn’t take me long to get there from our meeting spot. I didn’t dally and just headed straight back for the bathroom—the shower was calling my name.
I stripped quickly and tossed my clothes in the
laundry hamper before I turned on the shower. When the water had finally got to an acceptable heat level, I stepped inside.
The aching tension eased out of me as the water flowed over my skin.
Fuck, that felt good.
When I had finally finished washing up and was toweling off, my phone went off with Stacy’s unique text message notification—it had only been about forty-five minutes since our meeting but that was ever dependable Stacy for you—the police have just found the body of Jacqueline Gomez by the riverbank.
Well, shit.
* * *
Vincent
Last night had been great, except for when my cousin decided to be an asshole to Penny. I don’t know what the hell crawled up his ass and died, but him speaking about her—to her—like that was completely unacceptable. And at the next pack meeting, I was definitely going to have to teach him a thing or two and put him in his place.
My wolf was worked up in a frenzy at the thought of him; the force of my growl reverberated in my chest.
That bastard—who was he to talk about Penny like that? This was the twenty-first century, it was time to move past all that classist bullshit.
I turned my thoughts back to Penny because thinking of my cousin was just pissing me off. Just the thought of her calmed me.
My mother might have been right. My wolf very well may have seen what I couldn’t—that Penelope was my mate. How I hadn’t seen it before, I didn’t know. But man did I feel mighty stupid.
For her to be right in front of me and me blinded to her and deaf to my wolf… I felt like a mighty fool. But at least I’d wised up and saw her now.
She was it.
Penelope was my future.
And I was looking forward to it.
A loud chirp from my pocket took me out of my internal musings. Pulling my phone out, I gave the screen a cursory glance, and briefly skimmed over the text.
I felt my heart drop.
Shit, shit, shit.
* * *
Undercover Secretary (Supernatural Society Book 1) Page 8
