by Rain Oxford
“We don’t care what you do to it as long as your money is good,” Luana said. “Are they going to come back?”
“Probably,” I answered. “They think your son is going to be their master’s enemy. We might need to move you to the university for the baby’s safety.”
“The dungeon should be plenty safe,” Henry suggested.
“I’m not staying in a dungeon like some peasant.”
“We can take care of ourselves and our seven grand,” Matheus said.
Henry narrowed his eyes, obviously catching Matheus’s slip. “We will check in to make sure you’re taking care of him. And I want to see sonograms.”
“Whatever. It’s a girl anyway, not a boy.”
Chapter 5
We made it back home and found Scott sitting on my bed. Henry immediately picked his son up. “Sorry I had to leave you on your own for a while, Kitten.”
“It’s okay, Daddy, I know you had to work.”
Henry checked his watch. “It’s early, but we might as well get to work.” He picked up Scott. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Hot chocolate.”
“Okay.”
Henry started to walk out. “He can’t just have hot chocolate for breakfast. Hot chocolate isn’t healthy,” I said.
“Milk, eggs, toast, and sausage, then.”
“Okay,” Scott said easily. The kid never argued.
Although I really wanted to work on Scott’s case, I knew Darwin was taking care of that. I grabbed my jacket, wallet, and phone, then went out to the living room. I nearly tripped over a toy in the hallway. Henry was already fixing breakfast.
“I’m heading to the office,” I said. “Did you see where I put my laptop?” I pushed Scott’s jacket and toys off the coffee table, but it wasn’t there. Henry really enjoyed getting toys and games for his son. Even though a lot of it was overcompensation, I didn’t think it would hurt the kid, especially since most of it was educational. Scott was still learning what he liked.
“I put it in the hallway closet.”
I opened the closet and saw it on the shelf above the hanger bar. Then I just sighed when I realized why Henry had put it up; there was multi-colored finger paint all over it. When I shut the door and turned, Henry was right behind me. “I should have put it up before I took my shower, so this is my fault.”
“It’s not anyone’s fault. We need to talk, though.”
“I understand. You invited me to work for you, not move myself and my son into your home.”
“It’s not that. He’s a great kid and you are excellent to work with, but I’m not a family man. I’m not even a roommate man, and spending months at the university is getting a bit too much for me. Even when I was married to Regina, I fought her for months to keep my own place, and when I did let her move in, she was rarely home. After this last semester, if we live that long, I’m going to start looking for a new place. I still want to work with you, and Darwin if he’s available, but I need more personal space.”
“The last thing I want to do is chase you out of your apartment.”
“Seriously, I don’t mind. I don’t need a place this big and I like knowing you and Kitten are in a safe neighborhood.” The events over the last few days also proved that I needed to separate my personal life from my work life, which was getting hard to do when work kept endangering my friends.
“Wait on the decision until you graduate. I’m pretty sure Vincent is going to ask you to be on the council.”
“I have no interest in being on the wizard council.”
“According to Darwin, they might be doing away with the wizard part altogether and making it the paranormal council.”
“The fae are going to hate that. I doubt the shifters are going to roll with it either. Anyway, I need to get back on Julia’s case.”
“The coffee is almost ready.”
“I’ll get one at the office.”
“Alright. I’ll meet you there after dropping Scott---”
“Don’t worry about it,” I interrupted. “You two should have a family day.”
Henry’s top priority was his son, which was exactly how it should be. Unfortunately, I predicted there would be many more problems before we discovered exactly what happened to him. Until we figured it out, I really didn’t think Henry should leave Scott alone again.
* * *
As I drove to my office, I considered what I learned about Krechea, which wasn’t much. Hunt, Vincent, and I were assuming Krechea would be fighting tooth and claw for the keys, but there had to be a reason why he wanted them. Langril knew. It would help tremendously if the bastard had told me what Krechea was after. How was I supposed to stop someone when I didn’t know what he wanted?
He fought so hard to get the key for a reason. Maybe it wasn’t the key but the world he was after. Some pure vampires had made it to Dothra, so he knew about them. Could he have known this key led to the vampire world? But if he just came to Earth to get the key from me…
No, that’s not right. He wouldn’t be that stupid. If he wanted to defeat me, he had the perfect opportunity to when he was in Dothra with Astrid. Langril said Krechea wanted to kill him more than getting the key, Felicity said Krechea wanted the keys so that he could kill Langril, and Janus had said that if Krechea got any of the keys for himself, Earth would be destroyed. The question was, could I trust any of these people?
I understood why Krechea wanted to kill Langril; Langril was a bastard. He was also one of my favorite professors at Quintessence, and I didn’t know whether that said something about me or the school.
Several times, I had to focus completely on driving, because along with backed up traffic, there were mass power outages, numerous detours, and drivers who were just plain being idiots. Throughout most of the drive, I felt the same presence that had kept me awake at Stephen’s coven.
As soon as I pulled into my parking spot, I saw Julia standing in front of my office. It wasn’t even sunrise yet. “Is everything okay?” I asked when I reached her. I unlocked the door and held it open for her.
“Yes, I just didn’t want to stay at the motel any longer.”
“Sorry I had to leave you for longer than I’d planned. Are you hungry? We should go to the diner.”
“I’m not hungry. Can you just find out my husband’s name? I’m sure he’s going insane.” When she sat down in the seat in front of her desk, I sat down in my chair and opened my laptop.
“I know you’re anxious, Julia, but I’m afraid it isn’t going to be easy.”
Since there was a record of the accident and not of her stay in the hospital, I knew whoever tried to get rid of them was not as tech-savvy as Marcus, but they did have some skill. The biggest problem in finding her husband was that there were no records of her visitors.
“Since the hospital had your name, he should have been contacted when you woke. Unfortunately, the only accident that matched your description happened two years ago.”
The blood drained from her face. “Maybe… maybe he did visit me and he just hasn’t in the last week because he was busy.”
“Maybe, but it also looks like your hospital records were tampered with.”
“So my car accident wasn’t an accident?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want you spending any more time at the motel. That’s why I was worried when I saw you here.”
“I didn’t sense anyone watching me or anything.”
“I’m going to do some searching. Are you sure you’re not hungry?”
“The motel had free breakfast.” I opened up the web-browser and she noticed my laptop. “Oh, how old is the little one?”
“He’s five. Do you remember anything since?” I searched Google Images for “Julia Emerson” and scrolled through the pictures.
“Nothing. Did he run out of paper?”
“I don’t know; he was with his father. Henry has pretty much all the artistic talents and I think Scott is going to be just like him.” I opened F
acebook and searched for her name again, and still didn’t find anyone who looked like her.
“Oh… you’re… I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were…”
After a moment, I looked up at her. “Huh? You didn’t realize I was what?”
“Involved.”
“I’m not.” Her cheeks reddened and I suddenly got it. “Oh, no. Scott isn’t my son and Henry isn’t my partner. I mean, he is my partner, but only in a job sense, and he’s new. Let’s just focus on your case.”
“Sorry.”
I studied her closely. Some women wore a pound of makeup, whether it was to enhance the features they liked or to hide the ones they didn’t. I didn’t care for it at all because I’d seen what happened when they got all sweaty, but that was just my own personal opinion. Some women wore natural-looking makeup, which I definitely preferred. “Where did you get your makeup?” I asked.
“I’m not wearing any.”
Although I had seen some witches with a little makeup, I had never once seen a shifter, fae, or vampire wearing it. Since it was a fast way to spot a paranormal, I learned to see the difference. “You have eye shadow on. Hospitals don’t put makeup on you.”
“No, I haven’t put any makeup on since I woke up.”
I wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t have a reason to lie to me. Either way, I had a hunch. I searched Linkedin to see if she had a profile. “There we go. You’re a secretary. That might be why I didn’t find a Facebook page; you wouldn’t want your work and social life mixing.”
“A secretary? That’s so boring.”
I laughed as I searched for the address of the company. “I know some secretaries who save their boss’s life every day.” I also knew that too many secretaries overheard something they shouldn’t. “I’m going to check on this place; it’s not far. I think it might be best if you stay here.”
“Why?”
My instincts were telling me not to take her to the company. “I don’t know the whole situation and it would be better to do this my way.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and groaned when I remembered that I had killed it. Instead, I reached out for Henry’s mind. “I need you to come down to the office to watch over a client.”
“Do I need to drop Scott off at your mother’s?”
“That’s up to you. I don’t expect her to be attacked; I just don’t want her to be alone.”
“Alright. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“See you then.” I shut down my laptop. “Henry works for me and he’s going to come and stay with you while I check out the company.” Ten minutes later, I started to get concerned. I connected with Henry’s mind again. “Are you almost here?”
“Sorry. I tried to call you, but I guess you killed your phone again. Kitten couldn’t find his shoes. We’re heading out the door now.”
“Okay, I’m going to go. I should be done in a few hours. I’m also going to pick up another phone.” I assured Julia that Henry would arrive soon and described him to her. Ten minutes later, I was pulling into the parking lot of the law firm where Julia Emerson worked.
It was a very simple place, both inside and out, with a small, dimly lit reception area. The entrance was barely wider than a hallway with benches on both sides and a heavy wooden desk at the end. Behind the desk was a young woman with bottle-blond hair, heavy makeup, and a scowl. She was chatting on the phone as I walked up to the desk.
“Hang on,” she said after a few minutes. She looked up at me and popped her gum. “Yeah? You got an appointment?”
“Yes,” I lied.
She glanced at her computer with disdain. “Name?”
“Devon Sanders.”
She pulled out the keyboard tray and started to type something. I put my hands on the counter and focused on fire. Visualizing heat was easy after all the practice I had lighting candles and torches at Quintessence. It wasn’t a flame I was going for this time, though.
The woman grunted and smacked the monitor. “Piece of shit computer ain’t working. When’s your appointment?”
“My appointment is at eight.”
“It’s seven-fifty-eight.”
“That’s two minutes from now.”
She paused to do the math in her mind. “Okay, well, Mr. Emerson ain’t in yet, so yur gonna have’ta wait.”
“Yes, I expected as much.” I sat down to wait. Mr. Emerson? So did Julia work for her husband? There were other possibilities, but this was the simplest one. After about ten minutes, the woman hung up the phone and I approached her desk. “It’s now way past my appointment. Is he in?”
“I’ll check.” She pushed a button on the phone and put it to her ear. “Yeah, a Mr. Sanders here to see you. Yeah, he’s got an appointment. I told you about it, you just weren’t listening.” She popped her gum again and looked up at me. “What’cha need him for?”
“A client of mine was in a car accident.”
She nodded. “Insurance crap,” she said to her boss before hanging up. “He said go on in.” She pointed down a hallway to the right.
In the hallway, there was a door to the left, which led to a bathroom, and two doors on the right. The first door on the right opened into a small kitchen, while the second opened into a decent-sized office. The carpet was light brown, as were the walls. A work desk that had its fair share of dents was across the room with a middle-aged man sitting behind it. The bookshelf to my right was crammed with dusty law books that had obviously not been touched in months. I suspected that Mr. Emerson got a lot more use out of the wide-screen TV to my left.
“Mr. Sanders, I apologize for my secretary’s… antics. How can I help you today?”
Mr. Emerson had graying, receding, ash-blond hair with hazel eyes. His blue suit was well-worn and his hands had print stains from resting on newspaper pages. There was no wedding ring or even a tan line from one. On his desk were a stack of files in an organizer, a cup of pens, a name plaque, and a picture of him and Julia.
He had a picture but he didn’t still wear the ring? “That’s a lovely wife you have there.”
“Yes, she is. Ms. Kent said you needed to see me about insurance.”
“Actually, it’s about a car accident. More specifically, it’s about your wife’s car accident.”
His eyes widened until I thought they’d pop out, and then he stood fast enough that his chair hit the wall. “What do you know about that?” His polite tone had changed to a hiss of suspicion.
I ignored his aggression. “Do you know anyone who would want to kill your wife?”
He blanched. “No! Of course not! Julia never did anything to upset anyone!”
“What did you two argue about on the night of her accident? What did she accuse you of?” I asked.
“How did you know about that? Who are you?”
“I’m a private investigator.”
“Get out of here! You’re not a cop, so get out of my office!”
I started to let my magic take control, but I pulled back at the last second. I refused to become like John. I had always been able to handle cases without resorting to magic. “If I need to get one, you won’t be able to keep it quiet. Right now, I’m only interested in finding out what happened to Julia.”
It was as much common sense as it was instincts to keep Julia’s whereabouts to myself. First of all, even if he didn’t know why her records were tampered with, he should have been notified when she woke up. Second, he wasn’t wearing his ring, suggesting they had problems in the marriage. If I put that together with his obviously under-qualified secretary, it suggested Mr. Emerson might have had something to do with his wife’s accident.
“I don’t have to talk to you.”
“No, you don’t right now. I didn’t expect you to. You’re a legal consultant; I’m sure you have clients to call. I’ll give you some time to get your story together and I’ll be back with some motivation.”
“Are you threatening me?!”
“Of course. You lawyers are the best at placing the
blame using the law; we’re best at finding the perpetrator using methods that the cops can’t. I laugh at legal tape.” I was lying, of course.
Personally, I stayed above the law unless it conflicted with the paranormal world. I’ve killed two people and as illegal as that was, they were both murderers that humans wouldn’t have been able to contain. Either way, I knew some private investigators who loved to break the rules and this lawyer had something to hide.
“What did you two argue about right before her car accident?”
“She wanted me to come home. She said she was afraid that someone was in the house with her. The police looked into it, though; there were no broken locks or windows.”
“Did you work late often?”
“At that time, yes. I started working late about a month or so before her accident.”
“Did she find that suspicious?”
“No, she knew why I was working late. We were married for about a year when she found out that I was sleeping with my secretary, Amanda. She bashed up Amanda’s car and stalked her until Amanda quit. Julia hired herself as my new secretary. So I started sleeping with the barista down the block. When she hired a P.I. and found out about that, too, she decided we should have an open marriage, but only as long as it was both of us together. She said she would kill me and the woman I was with if I tried to sleep with someone without her.”
Okay, that was a new one. “So why did you start working late?”
“Julia didn’t like the one-night-stands, so she got us a girlfriend. I had to take on extra cases to keep her and Elena happy.”
Another one I wasn’t expecting. “How did Elena feel about it?”
“Elena was an engineer who got fired for inappropriate behavior. She tried being a self-employed ‘knitter and sewist,’ but she didn’t make much, so I had to support her and my wife. She was happy with it until Julia’s accident. Then she came to work for me as my assistant. She’s taking the month off to have a baby.”
“A baby?”
