True Nature

by Neely Powell

  “How is it you couldn’t get a search warrant before?” Hunter asked.

  “Eric was here, in his pajamas and apparently dead asleep when we arrived,” Mike said. “The engine of his car was cool. There was nothing to indicate he had been out. We were on scene just after the murder.”

  “What about the mother’s car?” I asked.

  “She doesn’t have one,” Mike explained with an exasperated grunt. “But she sometimes drives a car belonging to her sister, who lives just over there.” He pointed down the block. “Mrs. Russo had her own set of keys. We didn’t know that until this morning.

  “Everything came together after Kelly talked. We asked the right questions, and the DA got a warrant.” Mike put his hands on his hips and looked back at the Russo house. “We found everything we need for an indictment. Kelly shouldn’t have to testify.”

  “I hope not,” I said.

  “Half the neighborhood heard Mrs. Russo’s screamed confession a few minutes ago. With the physical evidence, it’s a slam dunk.”

  Mike turned to me. “Thanks for everything, Zoe. You were smart to do what you did. Bringing your cat in was a stroke of genius.”

  “It was actually a loaner from a friend,” I said. Here I went again—lying to Mike because of Hunter. “I’m just glad I could help. I wanted justice for Kinley and her girls. I thought Eric was guilty.”

  “For his daughters’ sakes, I’m glad we were wrong,” Mike replied. “This will be tough enough on them.”

  We stood there for an awkward moment. I couldn’t help but wonder how it would be if our intimate debacle hadn’t occurred. I had rushed into something that had ended in disaster. So typical.

  Mike shook hands with the men beside me, his eyes meeting Hunter’s for a brief second. Then he turned and walked away without a backward glance.

  Hunter looked at me. “He still doesn’t believe you about our relationship, does he?”

  I glared at him. Sometimes he had the sensitivity of a spoiled child.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “Go to my place and have some brunch.”

  “I need to get back to the list of Hayden Clinic staff,” I said. “So far I’m striking out, but there is a long list of employees, just like the radiology tech told Evan. Quite a few people I’ve called gave me other names.”

  “You can access your files and search the Internet at my place as well as at the office,” Hunter protested. “Please. Evan will fix us a great meal.”

  Evan, who had been very quiet, nodded. “You should listen to Hunter. You’ve not been sleeping well.”

  I had barely slept last night, worried we put Kelly through a fruitless emotional wringer.

  “Come on,” Hunter said. “Evan will drive Master PI Zoe Buchanan to my place for a celebratory feast.”

  “You’re getting bossy,” Evan said. “Ordering me to make brunch and drive you around. I am a highly trained soldier, not a chef or chauffeur.”

  “Home, Jeeves,” Hunter said.

  I smiled despite myself at the slight tightening of Evan’s usually calm features.

  Chapter 23

  Hunter was feeling pretty good. Maybe it was the half dozen Belgian waffles he had enjoyed with fruit and bacon. Or perhaps it was knowing Kinley’s murderer was behind bars. His part in Antonia’s arrest helped to make up for his failing to protect someone who had depended on him.

  He stretched and looked out on the unseasonably beautiful Jersey City day. The view through the French doors in his dining room showed blue skies and the Manhattan skyline sparkling on the opposite shore.

  “You should put that stuff down for a while,” he told Zoe, who had barely waited for the brunch dishes to be cleared before she opened her laptop. She was studiously conducting Internet searches of former employees from the Hayden Clinic. “It’s a beautiful day. Let’s go somewhere.”

  She shook her head. “Lizzie’s breathing down my neck. She’s convinced her missing sister is connected to the reason why her mother cut her father out of the will. She wants some ammunition to take to the hearing.”

  “She could just give her father money and be done with him.”

  “This isn’t about money,” Zoe said. “It’s about her sister.”

  “You’re just as obsessed as she is,” Hunter claimed with a laugh.

  “I can’t help it. I like finding answers.”

  Reflecting on his own feelings of satisfaction about the morning’s events, Hunter agreed. “Helping someone resolve a big issue is a pretty damn good feeling.” In truth, that’s what he had always enjoyed about his law practice.

  Evan brought in a fresh pot of coffee and topped off all three mugs. He nodded toward the window. “Hard to believe it’s supposed to snow tomorrow.”

  Hunter grimaced. “All the more reason to get out of here today. Let’s go run by the river.”

  Evan was silent, no doubt thinking of all the ways the chimera might snatch Hunter.

  “Nana scared Michael Killin off at the memorial service,” Hunter said with pride. “Haven’t the troops reported that he and his minions have been hunkered down in his apartment fortress all week?”

  “We’d be fools to think it will stay that way,” Evan retorted.

  Hunter sighed. He hated sitting around and waiting for something to happen. He was almost disappointed the Killins hadn’t made a move on him. He was ready to take them on.

  He was getting back to normal. He’d spent an extremely pleasant two hours with Mandy yesterday at her house. Charlie was on the west coast, and she dismissed the servants.

  Evan’s disapproval had been plain, but he and the others guarded the perimeter of the Morris property while Hunter lost himself in Mandy’s voluptuous body.

  He’d also shifted and gone running Tuesday and Wednesday nights with no sign of his mutant enemy. On a more disappointing note, there had been no sign of Cyn when they had stopped for coffee.

  He knew she needed to keep her distance from him, but he worried about her. Though she claimed knowledge and connections with the supernatural world, Hunter suspected she spent most of her time alone. Zoe and Evan now knew about Cyn’s son and her desire to ensure the chimera never found him.

  Hunter felt more comfortable with his new role. In the past two days, while he and Evan toured new properties, a plan had formed in his mind. He needed to discuss it with Zoe.

  “Leave that for a minute.” He pointed at the computer. When she didn’t react, he pushed down the top.

  “Hey! I may be on to someone interesting. A young doctor who worked with Hayden for longer than most of them now practices in Manhattan. He’s a big-time OB-GYN to the beautiful people. He might know something.”

  “Groovy,” Hunter said. “But I need to talk about something else.” He got his laptop and pulled up some photographs he had taken yesterday at a warehouse complex in Riverdale. “Look at this place. Isn’t it cool?”

  Zoe clicked through the photographs for a few moments, a frown creasing her smooth forehead. “All I see is a big glass and brick building—with most of the glass broken. It’s surrounded by broken concrete and weeds and a bunch of warehouses.”

  “It offers great protection and can easily be renovated and secured.”

  “And?”

  “It would be a great place to live.”

  She squinted at the photographs again, blinked, then looked back at Hunter. “I think the stress has finally gotten to you.”

  “The location is perfect and it’s in better shape than it looks. We could live in apartments on the upper floors. The ground floor would be the office—”

  “Office?” Zoe interrupted. “What office?”

  “We could move the office there and live on the upper floors.”

  “We?” Zoe just stared him. “You mean all of us?”

  “You’d have your own floor and lots of privacy.”

  “Living in the same building as you should enhance my romantic life,” she commented dryly. “Working with y
ou has caused me enough problems.”

  “Not everyone is like Detective Scala,” Evan said. “There are men who would be secure enough in themselves not to be threatened by what you and Hunter share.”

  Zoe darted him a harsh look, but as usual Evan was oblivious to her resentment. She returned her focus to Hunter. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Dead serious. I want to make some changes.”

  “I thought you weren’t going to make any quick decisions.”

  “I have to be realistic. The chimera won’t just go away. I have to find a way to live with the threat. Grandda moved to the mountains, but that’s not my style. I need a home and an office that offer protection. I’ve got to think like a predator. I must be alert at all times for danger and ready to fight for my life on a moment’s notice. This warehouse property includes a couple of acres and lots of trees. It’s a place where I could be myself when I wanted.”

  “Be a cat, in other words,” Zoe said.

  “Be a shifter,” he corrected.

  She spoke slowly. “I understand that you need to live some place more private. But it’s hard to imagine clients coming to a bunker.”

  “It won’t look like bunker,” Hunter protested. “And perhaps new clients might need our fortifications as well as our special talents for investigation and protection.”

  Sitting back in her chair, Zoe gave him a steady look. “I don’t understand.”

  “What we’re doing now is great,” Hunter said. “But helping Kelly, working to find Lizzie’s sister...that’s the kind of stuff we should be doing all the time. Maybe we can help Cyn and others like her.”

  Zoe said nothing, but Hunter could see the hurt in her eyes.

  He took a deep breath. “Here it is in a nutshell…we’ll all be investigators, in a firm that promises to find whatever you’re searching for—whether it’s a relative, a family inheritance, someone who has been missing for years, or the murderer in an unsolved case. Whatever you seek, we’ll find.”

  Evan nodded, but Zoe hesitated. “You’re talking about a new partnership with the three of us?”

  “There are forces at work here that dictate we’re all stuck together,” Hunter said. “Isn’t it practical to use our skills as a team? Evan is a security expert. While he’s working to protect me, he could consult on other cases, help us plan strategy.”

  “Where would we advertise our services?” Zoe asked with acid in her tone. “In the weird classifieds of Out There?”

  Hunter decided that was a good idea. “Why not?”

  He had the latest issue of Out There. Since he now knew more about Cyn, he believed the publication was more than a tabloid full of alien abduction stories and Big Foot sightings.

  “I’d like to be a part of something like this,” Evan spoke up. “It was great to help Kelly, and I’m enjoying searching for leads for Lizzie.”

  “Come on, Zoe,” Hunter said. “You know you hate the other stuff we do. That’s why you’re putting so much effort into finding a sister that most people say never existed. That’s why you kept pushing to find a way to help Kelly. You love cases like this.”

  “But we don’t get enough of these kinds of cases to pay the bills.”

  “Fortunately, thanks to Grandda, that’s not something we have to worry about.”

  That set Zoe off. She stood. “I’m not living off your family’s fortune. I make my own way in the world.”

  “I think we’d get plenty of cases to make a living.” Evan looked at Zoe. “Besides, your primary job is the same as mine—protecting Hunter.”

  “Oh, and I’m so good at that,” she returned. “I’m able to predict what’s going to happen, but not in time to help him.”

  “You will,” Evan said.

  She brushed him off with a flip of her hand. “So what if I agree that we change the focus of the practice and move the office? That doesn’t mean I need to live in an armed compound.”

  “It would be easier to protect you,” Evan pointed out.

  “And that should be the point of my life—making things easier for you?” she demanded.

  “It would make me feel better if you were closer,” Hunter said.

  Zoe rubbed at her face, looking exhausted. “But there’s my home and Bernie next door…”

  “You’d see Bernie all the time. There’s more to this, Zoe. I want to search for other shapeshifters. According to Evan and my father, the rest of the MacRae clan will be contacting me soon. But there must be more of them out there that we don’t know about. Cyn said there are many who guard against the Killins. I don’t know who they are, but I’d like to meet them. Maybe we could connect and take on Michael Killin as a structured group.”

  “Is that all we’re going to do?” Zoe argued. “Just spend our time as vigilantes looking for cat people and werewolves?”

  Hunter swallowed his impatience. “I don’t want to dedicate my life finding other shapeshifters. Nor do I want us working only jobs with supernatural connections. We’ll do it between other cases. I thought this would mean more freedom for you to pursue work you love.”

  Zoe sighed as she sat down again. “It’s a lot to think about.”

  “But you will think about it?”

  Before she could reply, Evan added, “I want to work with you, Zoe. I can help you refine your gift.”

  Zoe sucked in a breath, and Hunter feared an explosion.

  He was grateful when his phone went off. “It’s Cyn,” he said.

  “I need to see you,” she said without preamble.

  “You can come to my place.”

  “That’s too risky. Meet me in a public place. Come to the mall closest to the coffee shop where we met.”

  Hunter calculated. She sounded fearful that someone was listening. “But where—”

  “Think about it and you’ll know where. Second level, near the middle, as soon as you can. I’ll find you.”

  The phone clicked off. “I think she’s in trouble.”

  Evan mobilized his forces to provide eyes and ears against chimera.

  An hour later, Hunter walked into the mall. Evan and Zoe trailed him at a discreet distance. The mall was crowded with shoppers. Valentine’s Day decorations were displayed in every corner.

  Hunter scented Cyn not long after he exited the escalator on the second floor. She wore a bulky coat and had covered her flame-colored hair with a knit cap. He spotted her at a jewelry kiosk near the center of the mall. She tipped her chin at him and walked away. He fell in step beside her.

  “What’s up?”

  In answer, she handed him a small box, an innocuous looking silver foil package. Hunter lifted the lid and saw a square school photograph of a dark-haired young boy.

  “My son,” Cyn said. “Look under.”

  Hunter picked up the photo. Beneath it lay a claw. Though small, it was curved and sharp and lethal.

  Cyn took the package back from Hunter and slipped it in her pocket.

  “Someone sent you this?” he demanded.

  Cyn paused at a glass railing that overlooked the first floor. Only then did Hunter notice she was limping. “Are you hurt?”

  She shook her head and darted glances all around. “I’m fine. They found my apartment last night. They were waiting when I got home from teaching a late class.”

  Hunter knew who “they” were.

  “I ran after I walked in on them,” Cyn continued. “They chased me, caught me in the hall, and pulled me down the stairwell to the parking garage. I got away once, but tripped and fell. I hurt my knee, and they jumped me.”

  Hunter wanted to pepper her with questions.

  She drew a deep breath. “Two of them held me while the other delivered this package. They said you couldn’t help me.”

  “Me?”

  “They called you The MacRae.”

  “You’re sure they’re chimera? Did they shift?”

  “No, but I smelled them. They left me at the bottom of the stairs.” She shook her
head, as if to erase the memory. “I didn’t go back to my apartment. I left my car in the garage. I called a friend from a pay phone, and he came for me.”

  “We’ll protect you.”

  “I have to get to my boy. A colleague at school who understands is taking my classes for the semester. I’m going to John. He and my parents may have to move.”

  “The chimera could trail you,” Hunter said. “It’s not safe for any of you. Let me help—”

  “He’s my son, and my parents and I will protect him the same way we always have.” Cyn walked away.

  Hunter caught her by the elbow. “You can’t just leave like this.”

  “I wanted you to know. You’re not safe. They know everything you’re doing.”

  “High-tech surveillance, maybe,” he muttered.

  “Or magic?” She arched her eyebrow. “There’s a new wickedness in the air. Those of us who feel it are frightened. I have to be with my family. You should see to yours.”

  Cyn pulled away, tugging her hat down and threading her way through the shoppers.

  This time Hunter let her go. His chest clenched with fury.

  “What did she want?” Evan asked.

  Hunter shrugged him off. “Where’s Zoe?” He looked around, relieved when he spotted her conservative gray raincoat moving toward them. His hands shook as he pulled out his cell and punched in a number.

  “What is it?” Evan demanded.

  Not answering, Hunter spoke as soon as he heard Marie’s voice on the line. “I need my father.”

  As he knew she would, Marie put him through to Stirling’s private line immediately.

  “Hunter?” his father asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “Are you okay? What about Meagan and Mother?”

  “Your sister is sitting here in my office, going over some company reports,” Stirling replied. “It’s Thursday, so your Mother is no doubt at Elizabeth Arden. What’s wrong?”

  “Chymera threatened a friend of mine. My first thought was for the three of you.”

  “We’re fine, but are you?”