“Because we know enough to remain under wraps. The supernatural world doesn’t take too kindly to being fucked with. But I’m guessing you realize that now. There are plenty of other people who need my protection and I’m not going to stand here and argue with you. But if a werewolf did kill your colleague, he won’t stop there. He’s marked all of you, and he’ll come back until the job is done.”
He heard Marley’s quiet gasp as Bill simply stared at him. “Are you trying to scare me into giving you a job?”
Rifter gave him the bored expression of someone who didn’t really care one way or another before turning and calling over his shoulder, “I’m just telling you the truth—do with it what you want. Oh, and good luck with your problem.”
The door slammed and he and Jinx walked away, hoping their calculated move worked.
They barely got halfway down the walk before the door opened behind him. “Wait, please.”
It was Marley. “Look, he’s just being protective. We’re scared because of what happened to Paula. Really scared. But Bill’s on the brink of a major TV pilot built around him because of the evidence he’s collected.”
“Are you hiring me?” Rifter asked as Bill came out on the porch behind Marley.
“Can you help keep the reporters and the humans away as well as protect me from the werewolf?” Bill asked.
“We can,” Rifter said. “My partner and I can stay around the clock to provide all the security you need and we’ll travel with you to your other jobs. We’re trained. We’re also former Special Forces.”
That seemed to impress Bill somewhat. He pressed his lips together tightly and rocked on his heels for a long moment before saying, “Fine. Can you start immediately? We have another job tonight.”
“Yes,” Rifter confirmed.
“Come inside and we can discuss your fees. You’ll also have to sign waivers not to disclose anything you learn about our organization or any of the cases.”
“Not a problem,” Rifter said as Jinx snorted softly.
“Have you really dealt with the paranormal, up close and personal, like I have?” Bill asked just before he opened the door to let Rifter and Jinx into the house.
“Some,” Rifter said. “I’m sure I didn’t have the depth and breadth of your experience, but I can handle myself.”
Bill stared at him. “You’re either born with a paranormal radar or you’re not.”
“You can really sense paranormal beings?” Jinx asked.
“As sure as you’re standing there,” Bill said confidently. “Luckily, right now, we’re alone.”
“Thankfully,” Rifter said as Jinx muttered, “She’s here,” and motioned behind to Bill with a slight tilt of his head to let him know Paula had arrived.
And yes, Bill was totally alone with two Dire wolves and a ghost and his paranormal radar.
“Where’s the proof you have?” Rifter asked about an hour later, once paperwork and other matters had been settled. He sat at the long table in the middle of the room with Bill while Rifter stood guard at the front door.
“Someplace safe,” Bill said.
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” Rifter asked. “Because a werewolf can rip a safe open as easily as a paper bag.”
“Maybe we should move it to, like, a bank or something,” Marley blurted out.
“Not a bad idea,” Rifter said. “I’ll escort you there.”
“It’s hidden,” Bill said tightly. “How about you keep us safe and we’ll worry about the tape, okay?”
“Don’t you think I should see it, so I’m in the loop?” Rifter asked. “I need to know what he looks like if I’m going to keep you safe from him.”
“If I wasn’t going to show the police, I’m not showing you,” Bill said.
Ah, of course certain police officers would want that tape. This would be a rare instance of the Dires and the police working on a common goal, albeit for cross-purposes, since the head police officer was the brother of the current weretrapper leader.
Right now, Bill was holding all the cards and––he didn’t realize—seven hundred pounds of wolf at his mercy.
And the wolves didn’t like that at all.
Chapter Six
The PNR Center had booked a séance for midnight, and Bill went to return some phone calls and center himself—his words which nearly made Rifter choke—before either Rifter or Jinx could stop him. No reason to make him suspicious—he’d get a chance to inspect the house later when it was empty by bringing Cyd in to watch the place.
“We’re just going to check the first floor out,” Rifter told Marley.
“Go for it. I’m going to make some coffee for the crew—they’ll be here in about an hour—and then order some dinner. Chinese okay with you guys?” she asked.
“Love it,” Jinx said. “We’ll pay. Just order a lot of food. Quadruple what you’d normally get.”
“You guys will really eat that much?” she asked.
“You have no idea,” Jinx assured her, and Rifter added, “We work out a lot.”
She shrugged and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving them alone.
The PNR Center was housed in a typical old Victorian; it had seen better days but it was clean and filled with modern technology, along with everything someone who knew nothing about the paranormal would buy to aid them.
Rifter surveyed the expensive EMF detectors and bookshelves filled with tomes about the others. Meanwhile, Bill didn’t have a clue what to do with the others right under his nose.
They walked around the remainder of the first floor, looking at windows and locks—and communicating in voices no one but another wolf could hear.
“A Were’s been in this house recently,” Rifter said as he ran his hand along the ledge of the window, locking the old frame tight. The scent was everywhere.
“Guessing we’re not the first wolves working for Bill.” Jinx looked around. “We should run background checks on all employees. Tell Bill it’s SOP.”
“I have a feeling we’ll have to sneak those checks in.” Rifter glanced toward the computer that sat on Marley’s desk. “If we get an IP, Stray can access it.”
“You distract the human.”
It was easier than arguing. “Marley, I’m going to need a tour of the place when you’re done. Have to check all access points,” Rifter called.
“Oh, okay.” She came out of the kitchen with a mug, her hands wrapped around it as if seeking warmth. “We just can’t go to the third floor—Bill doesn’t like to be disturbed before a séance because he needs to concentrate.”
“I’ll bet he does,” Jinx muttered from behind Rifter.
“I can just imagine,” Rifter answered Marley. “Let’s just check out the second floor then, if that’s all right.”
Marley’s expression tightened but she started walking toward the staircase. “That’s Paula’s apartment.”
“I’m sure the police have already been through it.”
“They have. Bill packed a lot of her stuff already this morning to give to her mom,” Marley said over her shoulder as they climbed the stairs.
The rooms she showed him reeked of Were, even more strongly than the downstairs had. The bed especially, even though the mattress was stripped bare. Rifter noted blankets and a pillow on the couch in the living room, and a wide open suitcase.
“That’s my stuff,” Marley explained. “Bill wanted me to stay here until everything was safe, so I brought my stuff over this morning. I’m not really comfortable staying in this room, but I guess since the murder didn’t happen here . . .”
She trailed off, a visible shudder going through her body.
“Have you ever been threatened?” he asked.
“No. But Paula hadn’t been either. She was so happy las
t night before she left here.” Tears rose in Marley’s eyes again and this time she brushed them away impatiently. “I didn’t know her that long, but I felt like she and I had become good friends.”
“We’ll get it figured out,” Rifter assured her. While he didn’t care about her boss, Marley was for sure an innocent.
Whether or not she really did have a psychic gift, Jinx should be able to suss out easily enough. “You need to start being more careful. You opened the door like it was nothing for us. You have to stop doing that,” he told her.
She no doubt believed wolves only came out at night, but hey, she was really goddamned wrong. They preferred night but they weren’t vamps and could easily come out during the day. “You really believe that Paula was killed by a werewolf.”
“I don’t not believe it.”
“You really believe in wolves?” she persisted.
“Don’t you?” Rifter shot the question right back at her.
“I believe in ghosts. I mean, I’ve seen one and if I can do that . . . well, who’s to say there aren’t more paranormal creatures out there?”
“You saw the video?”
“Yes. And I don’t see how it could be a fake. And I’m not a pushover. I mean, Bill told me Paula’s body was covered with deep claw marks. What else am I supposed to believe?”
Marley hadn’t felt any sense of comfort until Rifter and Jinx arrived. From the first moment she’d spotted the big Harleys, painted with symbols that told her they must be custom and expensive. She took in the men’s size and the leather jackets and heavy boots and the easy air of don’t-fuck-with-me they exuded, and she knew she had to make Bill hire them.
Tonight would be her first night bunking here. Having Bill close helped her feel moderately better, but she hadn’t been looking forward to nightfall, or to firing the weapon with the silver bullet he’d given her.
God, did that even work? She didn’t plan on finding out.
And now, with one big man camped out downstairs and the other ten feet from her, she could finally breathe easy.
So why did she still feel so off center? She shivered, rubbing her arms as the familiar feeling of cold washed over her, and she shook it off so fast Rifter looked concerned.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly, before Rifter could ask. He stared at her like he didn’t believe it for a second, but all he said was, “Do you know how to fire the gun that’s under the couch pillows?”
She looked at the couch and saw the butt of the gun sticking out from under a cushion. “No.”
“Then give it to me. It’s more dangerous than helpful.”
She slid her hand under the cushions where the gun and the bullets were, separately. She put them into Rifter’s hand, noticing his slight grin at the bullets. “Bill said they would work.”
Rifter’s eyes pierced hers. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
Jinx got Stray into Marley’s computer to investigate the entire crew. He figured Bill would have several copies of the tape and, no doubt, at least one of them would be upstairs with him.
He’d already gotten the lay of the land. No ghosts here for sure, and no signs of Paula. Yet.
Maybe she was really into Vice. Most ghosts did seem to like him, although Jinx would never give him the satisfaction of telling him so.
Cocky bastard.
“So let me get this straight,” Vice was currently saying over the phone. “Bill’s got a Were working there that’s stupid enough to be killing humans. Doesn’t make sense.”
It didn’t. For a Were to be around humans on a regular basis, the wolf would need to have an awful lot of self control. That didn’t jive with the whole rogue, moon crazed theory.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky with the names and addresses,” Jinx said.
“None of them look familiar,” Stray said. “Can’t believe a wolf’s there.”
The doorbell rang and Marley called down, “The food’s here.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he called to her, and when he heard Rifter and Marley coming down the stairs he told Stray, “Gotta run—check in later.”
He opened the door and paid the delivery guy who handed him five bags of food in return. He put them down on the big table near Marley’s desk.
“I’m going to check out the property before I eat—you stay here with Marley,” Rifter told him before heading outside.
Marley opened the bags and spread out the containers on the dining room table that sat in the middle of the room. She brought out napkins and sodas from the kitchen, and while Jinx ate standing up and watching the windows, she went to a desk with a laptop and tons of stacked papers and picked at her chicken and snow peas.
Jinx, on the other hand, wolfed down several containers before broaching the topic of the tape with her. “So, do you know what the wolf looks like in human form?”
She glanced up at him as she shoved the chopsticks in the container and put it on the desk in front of her. “You can’t really tell from the tape. At least I couldn’t. Bill said he wanted to show me the most important part—I was a witness in case it got lost or something.”
“Rifter and I really need to see it.”
“Look, I understand but there’s no way Bill’s going to let that happen. It’s his entire future—he’s been doing this job for ten years and says he’s seen things people only dream about—or think are made for TV movies—and now, he can prove to the world that monsters do exist.”
It sounded like a prepared speech and something Marley didn’t believe at all, but he still bristled. “Some humans can be classified as monsters, too.”
“Now you’re on the side of the monsters?” Marley asked.
“If they don’t bother me, I don’t bother them. And I don’t think of ghosts as monsters.”
Now it was her turn to look offended. “I don’t either. And we don’t hurt any of them.”
“But you invade their privacy,” he pointed out. “Look, I’ve got more to gain from people like you all than the ones who respect the otherworld.”
“You really believe too, don’t you?”
“Yes ma’am.” He figured he should probably leave some food for Rifter, threw the empty containers away and grabbed a soda. He pulled a chair next to her and motioned to the piles. “Lots of paperwork with this job?”
“These are all from people who claim to have ghosts or need our help or say they’re seen a vampire or wolf or something,” she said as she shuffled through the envelopes. “It takes forever to sift through them—and a lot more to figure out which are legit or not. Especially the ghost ones. Most people just have bad pipes.”
Well hell, the girl knew something. “So when did you start doing this?”
“About a month ago,” she admitted. “Not very long at all.”
“Because you saw a ghost?” he guessed and she gave a small laugh.
“How’d you guess?” She fingered the open flap of an envelope as she spoke. “I was just starting my junior year. I moved into a new dorm and I saw her. She was standing at the foot of my bed and her mouth was moving like she was trying to tell me something really important. I got scared and ran out. The next day, I called Bill—he’s pretty famous on campus—and he went into the room and said he helped the girl cross over. And then he asked me to work with him.”
Yeah, the ghost Marley saw in her room was no doubt still there, and Jinx made a mental note to fix that. “Is that the first ghost you saw?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. Too quickly, but Jinx would’ve been able to smell the lie either way. For now, he let it pass.
“So you dropped out of school to come work here?” he asked.
“It seemed like a great opportunity. Bill promised he’d help me out with my ability. I haven’t seen anything since that night, but I’ve he
ard them—and we’ve recorded orbs and stuff.”
“Why didn’t Bill record that one?” he asked.
“He tried, but it didn’t come out.”
Jinx knew Marley had been marked, which meant the Were thought she was in on whatever Bill had secretly done. It appeared that Marley, Bill and Paula were the only three who’d actually seen the tape—Paula had been the only one present to see it in the flesh, according to Bill’s claims.
But who the hell could believe anything Bill said?
Chapter Seven
Jinx went through some of the mail with Marley while Rifter still paced outside, waiting for Cyd to arrive.
The letters were ridiculous. Jinx was pretty sure most of them were fakes and he’d given up and let Marley go through them patiently, one at a time while he ate and listened for anything unusual.
A few minutes before ten, Bill came downstairs and ate a quick dinner. Rifter brought Cyd inside and introduced him, telling him that Cyd would remain stationed in the house to make sure no one came close while they were out filming.
“He’s good?” Bill asked.
“The best. No one’s getting through him,” Rifter said. Cyd lifted his chin at the praise from the Dire, because it was true, not made up for Bill’s benefit. After being thrown out of his own pack for being moon crazed, to make a comeback with the Dires was something any Were should be mighty proud of.
Jinx showed Cyd around. The young Were already knew his real job was to find the tape and anything else they’d missed while they were all gone. Vice would patrol around Clyde’s tonight with Cain, and Stray would continue to monitor the computer. If this wasn’t an isolated occurrence, those wolves would deal with it.
And Jinx and Rifter were stuck headed to some old house to investigate the paranormal.
Elders help us all.
“Make sure you don’t get in any camera shots tonight,” Bill was warning him and Rifter now.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Rifter said as professionally as possibly, mainly to cover the sound of Jinx’s low growl.
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