“Come on, Kylie,” the old lady chirruped. “Spill!”
Sheesh! Kylie bit her lip. “I just—well he said that he never wanted to have a family because he comes from a family of people who shouldn’t be breeding. I guess that was the long and short of it really. He feels like his family line should end. Now. Before worse things happen.”
“Worse things?”
Yeah, what did that mean? That was kind of what Kylie had been hoping Wankenfurter could tell her. But the old lady wasn’t able to offer much and now Kylie could not help but think about what Hilary had told her.
“Kylie?”
“Hilary Allenwood told me that Titus is a murderous werewolf.”
Now Ms. Wankenfurter drew back and gasped. “Hypertrichosis? Really! I would have never guessed!” Then the woman seemed to reconsider. “No. There is no way a man like Titus, who is so clean cut without a bit of hair on his forehead or outside of regular beard range, could be afflicted with that condition.”
“I’m sorry. What did you just say?” Kylie felt like her mouth was hanging open. “Hyper what?”
“Hypertrichosis. It’s often referred to as werewolf syndrome.” Ms. Wankenfurter sounded like a documentary on the subject. “Those who suffer from it often have uncontrollable hair growth all over their bodies. They start to resemble a bit of a hairy beast and so it was thought that a werewolf had bitten these people. Before science proved otherwise, of course.”
“How do you know that?” Kylie could not stop herself from asking. “Who knows that stuff?”
Mrs. Wankenfurter looked offended. “Well, I do for starters. Any well-read, well-educated individual would know that!”
“Sure.” Kylie was not at all convinced this was true. But she was willing to just take it with a grain of salt. After all, she’d just gleaned some very interesting information. “And you think that’s what Hilary Allenwood was referring to?”
Ms. Wankenfurter tapped her lower lip thoughtfully. “Well, perhaps, but why would she think that of Titus? Perhaps it was his family. Maybe that is why he told you he doesn’t want to have children. He’s normal, but his family line is afflicted with that condition. It would be a reason to stop breeding I would imagine.”
“Oh.” This suddenly made perfect sense, especially since Titus had told Kylie his was a medical condition.
Mrs. Wankenfurter gave a brisk snort. “So, the real question is whether or not you can live with a man who is part dog. What do you think of that?”
“Excuse me?” A man who was part dog? What was she suggesting? That Titus would pee on the furniture and hump her leg like Pugsley did?
Ms. Wankenfurter shook her head. “I can see you haven’t really thought this through. That’s something you should do, my dear.”
“Why?”
“Because you obviously carry a torch for the young man, that’s why.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s all in the chemistry really. I could tell right away. There are positively sparks coming off the two of you whenever you see each other. It’s all rather exciting to an old widow like me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But of course, Kylie did. There was some crazy chemistry going on between her and Titus. She just didn’t understand where it was coming from. And now he was part dog?
“Well!” Ms. Wankenfurter went scurrying for the front door. “I have others in the neighborhood to visit. I want a double of our neighborhood watch patrols! We have got to catch this intruder before something bad happens.”
“The intruder...” It occurred to Kylie that Ms. Wankenfurter likely didn’t know they had at least discovered the identity of the prowler if not the reasons behind the annoying prowling. On the other hand, maybe it would be better to keep the old woman in the dark for a while longer.
But Ms. Wankenfurter would have made one hell of an interrogator. “Yes? Spit it out, Kylie. I can see that you’ve got something to say. Did Titus figure out who it was and why they wanted to break into my house? Was it my china? Or maybe the silver. I have quite a lot of my mother and my grandmother’s things, you know?”
“It wasn’t that kind of theft,” Kylie hedged. “I might call it more of a theft of information.”
“That bitch!” Ms. Wankenfurter’s outburst surprised even her. She flung her hands up to cover her mouth and looked momentarily chagrined. Then she looked mad as hell. She put her hands down, and shook her shoulders. It was all quite dramatic. “Pardon my French,” Ms. Wankenfurter said stiffly. “But you’re talking about Hilary Allenwood, aren’t you? I know you are. It has to be her. That little twit! I should have known. I keep files you know.”
Kylie was having a bit of trouble keeping up. “Yes. I know, but how does she know that you keep files.”
“Well, I told her of course. It wasn’t on purpose mind you. We were just talking and she was bragging about her investigative prowess—as if she’s got any—and I happened to mention that I keep files of my own about things or people I find interesting.”
It was pointless to go casting blame, but really it was ridiculous to think there was any other reason Hilary Allenwood had been not only prowling their neighborhood, but also breaking and entering Ms. Wankenfurter’s home. Obviously, Hilary was convinced Ms. Wankenfurter had information on Titus Holbrook. And why wouldn’t she? The nosy old woman lived across the street from Titus. Hilary was likely champing at the bit to see what the old woman had cooked up. But so far, Titus’s patrols had kept Hilary from getting what she wanted—most likely. Although, Kylie didn’t actually know that.
“Ms. Wankenfurter, did you happen to check on those files at your home when you got released from the rehab facility?”
“Of course I did!” Ursuline Wankenfurter drew herself up as though she had been gravely insulted. Then she sort of looked thoughtful. “Well, I suppose I might have just given it all a cursory glance really. It wasn’t as if I had time to actually thumb through anything. But all of the files were there of course.”
“You need to go check,” Kylie said flatly. “As in you need to pull out every single one of those files and check them to make sure the contents are still there. I have a bad feeling you might be out of luck.”
Chapter Eleven
“Do you think this is a bad omen?” Duke asked, his face set in lines of concern. He wiggled his fishing pole to make the line bounce a little. “You know, the fact that I can’t catch a single fish at my fishing bachelor party? Is that a bad sign? Who here believes in signs?”
Titus had been dozing on the lounge chair. The sun was fully in the sky now. In fact, it was probably about noon. They’d been floating in the first cove for what seemed like ages. Then Younger had insisted they try another cove around the other side of the bluff. And they’d stayed there for a while. And now they were at location number three where Younger admitted he tended to feed the fish so they gathered more frequently. And still not a bite on anyone’s bait.
“The beer is gone,” Younger observed. Then he sighed and picked up the last donut to cram it into his mouth. “I think we’re going to have to drive into town to get a bite to eat. What sounds good to everyone? I guess we could just eat at the marina…”
“Hey!” Duke said tersely. “I’m asking a serious question here!”
“No,” Adam argued calmly. He seemed to be enjoying himself out there on the lake without needing to catch a thing. He was stretched out on one of the seats with his ballcap pulled low over his face. He didn’t move it to issue an answer to Duke. “You asked if any of us believed in signs. I think if that individual existed on this boat, he would have answered.”
Ash was nodding. “Adam’s right. Besides, do we really seem like the sort of guys who believe in signs? We’re all in the law enforcement business—with the exception of Adam, of course—no offense intended.”
“None taken,” Adam said with obvious amusement. “You couldn’t pay me enough to do your job.”
Titus snorted. “He would rather bab
ysit spoiled entertainers.”
“I would!” Adam agreed.
Younger was waving his hands over his head. “Hey! Look, I’m sorry guys. I don’t know what the problem is. Normally, there are plenty of fish. I can see other boats. They’re catching fish.” He tapped a gauge near the driver’s seat. “Even the fish finder says there are fish nearby. I don’t get why they all seem to be steering clear of my boat.”
“How come Titus didn’t even bother to try?” Duke looked miffed. Then he pointed at Titus. “Hey! How come you knew there was no point in throwing a pole out there to try to catch some fish?”
Titus sighed. This was getting ridiculous. “Because I never catch fish. Well, not like this.”
“Then how?” Duke demanded. He glowered down at Titus from his enormous height as though he wanted a demonstration right now.
Titus wondered what they would all do if he gave them a demonstration. If Titus just shifted into his wolf form right there and dove into the water, found a bit of rocky shore to stand on, and then tickled a fish out of the water with his bare hand—er, his paw. Titus had a feeling they would lose their shit. They would start shouting and there would be all kinds of accusations and people would get upset and then Titus would get upset and all of a sudden nobody would be enjoying themselves anymore.
Titus decided to deflect. “I think that when I leave to go on my sabbatical, I’m going to leave Ash in charge of the office. Duke, what is your opinion on that?”
Duke blinked. It was kind of obvious that it was taking his brain more than a few minutes to actually process what he’d just been told. When it finally clicked, his expression of mild irritation and curiosity slid straight to pissed off. “You’re not just leaving, Titus. When are you going to get that through your thick head? You can’t just go. It doesn’t work like that!”
“But it sort of does,” Titus argued. He glanced at the others. They were all staring at him with varying degrees of disbelief. Except Adam. And that is where Titus turned his attention. “Adam, you don’t seem surprised.”
“And you’ve never seemed like the sort of man who gets involved,” Adam replied. “I’ve known plenty of people like you in the past, especially in show business where it’s so difficult for people to keep their private life private. They compartmentalize. That’s what you do. You have your neighborhood, your home, your work, and you don’t tend to mix them together. You don’t socialize on any front and only have minimal participation in what could be considered social rituals.”
Duke glowered at Adam. “Who are you? Dr. Freud?”
“I don’t think that’s exactly Freudian,” Ash told Duke. “I think it’s common sense. Think about it. Who always manages to find an excuse not to go to any happy hours that we arrange? Who is absent if we grab breakfast?”
“I’ve grabbed breakfast with Titus before!” Duke protested.
Ash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, me too. When he’s taking one of us along and there’s a job involved. I’m talking about the purely social stuff. That’s not Titus’s thing.”
Titus wasn’t entirely sure how comfortable he was with the idea of being talked about as though he had suddenly left the room. But then, they were getting it. And that was a positive. Right? Soon, they would be realizing he was not going to hang around town and wait for Hilary Allenwood to roast him over an open fire and spit on the ashes.
“Hilary Allenwood is a problem,” Titus told them all. “I don’t know why she’s obsessed with making sure I get some kind of justice served against me. I’m sure she has a reason. But if I leave, that reason just doesn’t matter anymore. Her attention has to focus elsewhere. And hopefully, that will mean she stops prowling my neighborhood and harassing my neighbors and my customers and my employees.” Titus let that all sit for a moment. Did they have any idea how much of a pain in the ass that woman had become?
Ash nodded his head. “I get it, boss. But you know that it won’t stop. She’s just going to start harassing us full-time thinking we’re hiding you.”
“Yeah!” Younger piped up. “Ash is right. That crazy loon will stalk you until we all put a stop to it.”
Titus was already nodding his head. “She will stalk me until she has something else to occupy her time. Soon enough that will be a lawsuit against the paper and herself filed by Kylie Overton. But once that’s over, she’s probably going to get worse. She’ll have nothing to keep her occupied because I think we know that one good libel lawsuit is going to finish off that newspaper.”
“And then what happens?” Younger wanted to know. “Are you going to come back?”
“I don’t know. What if I like it where I’m going? Any suggestions?” Titus asked suddenly. “Maine seems open, but then there are a few states between here and Maine. Maybe I’ll find somewhere that I’d like to stop for a night or two and then just stay.”
“Like a drifter in an old movie,” Younger observed. “Great plan, boss.”
Titus gave Younger a droll stare. “That’s how I ended up here, Younger.”
“Seriously?” Duke looked mystified. “I suppose if you were going to start a business and you visited and it was nice enough and you decided there was a place for your business, then maybe.”
“You moved down here because you answered an ad,” Titus reminded Duke.
Why were they acting like this was such a big deal? Titus was trying to get himself psyched up for the big move. They weren’t helping. And every time he thought about actually leaving, he wondered what would happen to Kylie. Would she find someone? Would she ever realize that guys really didn’t see the whole sterility thing as a big deal if they were decent human beings not looking for a broodmare? Would she fall in love? And with whom?
Titus found himself looking at his employees and wondering if he would have approved of Kylie being with any one of them. Of course, they were all attached at this point. Hell, Ash was married and Duke was engaged. Titus didn’t think it would be long before Younger fell in and popped the question to his sweetheart as well. He was just slower about these things. In the end, there wasn’t a readily available and appropriate guy for Kylie. And why was he trying to convince himself that this was his problem anyway?
“Uh, boss?” Younger was snapping his fingers in Titus’s face.
Titus pulled his lips back from his teeth and snapped at Younger’s hand. Younger yanked it back as though he really thought Titus might bite his fingers off. Titus chuckled. “What?”
“You just sort of blinked out,” Younger told him.
Titus sighed. “I’ve got a neighbor who is a really nice girl. She’s just having difficulty finding the right guy. And for some reason, she’s been talking to me about it like I’m a therapist or something.”
Now, that was not necessarily true. Kylie had not been confiding in Titus as though he was her therapist. The two of them had been discussing their single status. But it seemed lame to tell his friends that. Strike that. Not his friends. His coworkers. Big difference.
“Your neighbor?” Ash was the one to speak, but Younger, Duke, and even Adam were all staring at him as though he’d just lost his mind. “Did you suddenly decide to go matchmaker or something?”
What was he talking about? “Go matchmaker?”
“Yeah!” Ash snorted. “What? You want to make sure your neighbor is married off happily ever after before you leave the area?”
Younger snapped his fingers. “Well, tell us about this girl. We know people in town. Locally. We could maybe find her a guy.”
“She’s kind of a pain in the ass,” Titus said suddenly. Then he stopped. That wasn’t true. He cleared his throat. “What I meant to say is that she’s kind of high maintenance. But beautiful. Girl-next-door kind of hot. If you know what I mean. She’s got long brown hair and big brown eyes and she piles her hair on top of her head like she never worries about all of that frivolous stuff. It’s great!”
They were all looking at each other. Adam was the one to clear his throat and shake his hea
d. “I hate to tell you, Titus, but if you’re going to try to pretend to find this girl a guy, you’re going to have to make it sound a little less like you’re already half in love with her yourself. They’re going to think she’s actually already spoken for.”
“What? No!” Titus shook his head and waved his hands so emphatically that he could feel the boat sway in the water. “That’s not the case at all. I don’t have a thing for her.”
He stopped talking. He felt as though he had a big neon sign above his head flashing the word LIAR. Except he didn’t have a thing for Kylie Overton. Not only didn’t he, but he couldn’t. She just wasn’t for him. Yet she tasted like sunlight, like by kissing her he was kissing the sun, which was probably just as dangerous. She was a flame and he was going to get burned. How many more clichés could he come up with to describe this crap? End of story.
“Yeah,” Younger said lazily as he cranked the boat engine and started to pull up the anchor. “You’ve totally got a thing for her. A big thing.”
“A thing,” Ash agreed.
Duke was nodding hard and Adam was laughing. No. They were all laughing. At him. It was a humbling experience. Titus was tempted to tell them he’d been the one chasing all the fish away just to get them to change the subject.
“So,” Titus said suddenly. “Ash will be running the office. End of story. Nobody else has managed to come up with any other decent ideas, so I’m going to go with that.”
Ash cleared his throat as the boat began chugging its way backwards in order to allow Younger room to maneuver the enormous craft out of the cove. “Yeah, so you never actually asked if I wanted this gig.” Ash held out his hands. “I refuse to take over here.”
“Then I’ll close the office and move on anyway,” Titus retorted.
Duke grunted something that sounded like the words, damned fool. “No, you’re not.”
“I’ll move on if I damn well want to!” Titus was starting to feel as though he’d fallen into a trap. Maybe just a little anyway. “It’s my office.”
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 103
