by Dale Mayer
Dear God, had he been in there while she was asleep?
“Do you think whoever killed that animal was inside your house?”
Anna stared at Katina. “He had to because I found that knife inside Flynn’s pocket, and the jacket was in my bedroom.” She gripped Katina’s hand hard. “I just don’t know if he was when I was there.”
She cast her mind back over the most recent time line. “The dogs were fine last night when I took them for a walk at eight, and when I went to bed at eleven, there was nothing wrong, no sign of a disturbance. But between then and six this morning, the owl was left, but the dogs didn’t kick up a ruckus.” She shivered. “I just can’t stand the thought of somebody hurting my animals.”
She lifted her coffee cup and took a sip, sniffling back the tears. When she heard loud sounds—signifying the men were coming inside—she stiffened and hugged the cup a little harder.
Katina gripped her fingers with her own. “Don’t worry about the men.”
Anna shot her friend a look. “How can I not?” She shook her head. “I wasn’t exactly a calm, rational female when I got here.”
“And you had good reason to be upset.” Alfred walked over at that moment and put a plate of tarts down in front of the two women.
Katina gasped in surprise. “Alfred, these look absolutely delicious.”
“When life gets us down, sometimes we all need a treat.” He disappeared with a quiet smile.
Anna watched him go. “How come all the good men are in that age bracket?”
“In Alfred’s case I’d take the jump,” Katina said with a laugh. “If Merk wasn’t around, that is.”
Anna slid her friend a sidelong glance. “You guys tying the knot again?”
“Quite possibly. He hasn’t asked me officially. Afterward I’d have to answer, officially, and we would then make plans—officially.” She shrugged. “We haven’t gotten that far.”
“I’m really happy for you. Obviously you were meant to find each other again.”
“I wish I didn’t have to be kidnapped or tormented like I was to make that happen.”
“But you did what was right, and that’s what counts.”
The two women shared smiles. They’d been friends a long time. They had a damn good idea of just how rough the world could be. Especially when it came to two women alone. Anna’s mother was alive—if that was what you called somebody who spent a lifetime in and out of jail. They’d parted ways when Anna was sixteen. She’d had a really rough upbringing, and maybe that accounted partly for why she would go off the handle at times. One of the biggest things that burned her ass was injustice. She was always there for the underdog. Which was how she got herself into so much trouble.
And why she helped the animal world.
The shelter was a full-time job in all ways but income. She was constantly looking for ways to increase the donations and took on other small jobs to help out. Yet it was hard to keep the money rolling in. She worked as a dog walker and did any number of other odd errands to pay the bills, but every month there seemed to be a shortfall. She had a couple companies that donated a lot of the cat and dog food. But the vet bills were getting pretty rough. She’d wondered about putting herself through school and becoming one herself just so she could look after the animals.
The men arrived and took seats on both sides of the big table. Anna glanced at Katina, who smiled brightly at everyone. Anna really hadn’t had a chance to look at any of them, other than Flynn. Now she felt really bad because Levi had sent Flynn to watch over her when Katina had become a target. And instead of actually thanking him for looking after her, she’d flown off the handle at Flynn.
Always wanting to own up to her mistakes, she straightened and whispered to Katina, “Which one is Levi?”
Katina looked at her in surprise, then as if she realized Anna didn’t know any of the men, set out to do introductions. One by one, when the man’s name was called, they nodded their heads at her.
She realized they all looked at her a little strangely. “I’m sorry for the explosive entrance,” she said. “Waking up to find the gutted owl on my doorstep and Flynn’s knife in his jacket pocket in my bedroom appears to have sent me over the edge. I’m not normally this volatile, but I care about animals greatly, and it’s really unnerving to think that the asshole who did this”—she couldn’t help glancing over at Flynn—“had not only been in my house but in my bedroom.”
Several of the men straightened as if they hadn’t quite made that connection. And of course, why would they? She hadn’t given them all the information. She turned to the man Katina had introduced as Levi. He was studying her with a different expression, but didn’t appear to be mad, although from the look in his eyes, she wasn’t exactly sure what he was feeling.
Hurriedly she said, “I never got a chance to thank you for allowing Flynn to look after me and mine while Katina was in trouble.”
“And yet, as soon as we remove Flynn, you get into your own?”
She shook her head. “Well, not quite. He left, what? Seven—eight days ago? He stopped by once, but this just happened last night.”
Silence reigned as the men looked at each other. Levi nodded. “But if somebody had been watching the place, they would know you were no longer around. So if you were out of the picture, why put the knife in your pocket to firmly put you back into the picture?”
Silence.
One of the other men, a monster of a tank, leaned over the table and asked Anna, “Did you tell the police about the knife?”
She shook her head. “No. They came this morning and spent a short time there. When they left, I went into my bedroom, and that’s when I saw the jacket.”
“And you didn’t call them again?”
She shook her head. “No, but I should have. For some reason I came racing here instead.” She made a funny face. “Like I said, I don’t normally fly off the handle like this.”
An odd snort came out of Flynn’s mouth.
She glared at him. “Although some people do seem to prick my temper a little more than most.”
One of the men on the other side of the table, she thought his name was Rhodes, spoke then. “Flynn’s like that. He does it to more than you, believe me.”
“Hey, that’s not fair.” Flynn laid his hands on the table. “I didn’t do anything.”
“But somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it look like you did,” Levi said. “We need to know why. And if it’s connected to anything else.”
“To anything else?” Flynn asked. “What do you mean?”
“You were looking after Anna because of Katina’s kidnapping case. It’s possible that whoever is implicating you now could be a part of that case in some way.”
Katina straightened beside Anna. “Oh, please, don’t say that. I thought for sure we got everybody.”
“And given the time frame, chances are we have. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t connected to something else. Not only did Flynn leave your place, he then hooked up with Logan.”
Levi turned to stare at a different man, leaning against the kitchen wall, one Anna hadn’t seen before.
“Logan has been attached to several of our cases, so it’s possible Anna and her shelter were just caught in the crosswinds of something much bigger, deeper, and uglier.”
Levi turned to study Anna.
She gave him a small smile. Her only thought was holy shit. She didn’t know this man, but he seemed to be searching her, studying her, like he knew something she didn’t. It was a daunting feeling.
Just as she was about to nervously ask Levi what was the matter, one of the most strikingly beautiful women she’d ever seen walked into the room. Levi lit up. The woman sat beside him, smiling directly at Anna, and said, “Hi, I’m Ice.”
“Hi, pleased to meet you.”
Obviously Ice and Levi were partners. There was just something about the way they sat together, not to mention they were perfectly matched, like a tight couple. F
ascinated, Anna watched as they appeared to have a low conversation, almost in code as they finished each other’s sentences.
Finally, Levi turned back to Anna. “As much as we hate to dig into your personal life, we have to ask a few questions.”
She straightened and frowned at him. “What does that have to do with this?”
“Is there anybody who hates you enough to do something like this? Any neighbors who hate the fact you have the shelter and maybe want to shut you down? Do you know anybody who would be angry enough at Flynn for being in your life that he might find this an avenue to turn you away from him?”
Her jaw dropped. Slowly, she pulled herself together. She considered the questions for several moments. “I’ve never heard any official complaints, but I know several of my neighbors weren’t too happy with my animal shelter. I do have a large piece of land on the outskirts of the city, and most of the properties there are almost as large, so there’s distance between us. I get a lot of traffic through my place, but it would be hard for my neighbors to have any grounds for complaint as it’s not steady.
“I don’t think we ever truly realize who might hate us or just dislike us. As far as I know, there’s nobody with a grudge against me. I haven’t had any major breakups, put anybody in jail, nor had arguments with anybody to that extent. So that shouldn’t be a concern. As for anybody who’d be angry at Flynn being there, well, it only makes sense that I would have somebody around the place to help out. I have in the past. Flynn was only there for a few weeks.” She frowned at Levi. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
From the far side of the table Flynn said, “He’s asking about past boyfriends who might think I was somebody you were hanging out with.”
She sent him a frown. “As you well know, I don’t have a boyfriend, so it’s not an issue.”
“And what about Jonas?”
“What about him?” she snapped. “We only met for coffee once at the mall, then he started hanging around the place because he’s lonely. I don’t think he has many friends, but we didn’t have a relationship.”
“He’s not taking no for an answer,” Flynn reminded her. “I sent him away that day, remember?”
She stared at him for a moment, and then her confusion cleared. “Sure, but that was only one time. He was just trying to see me. You know he comes around now and then. I figured he was harmless. Whatever mood you were in, you didn’t want to let him in.”
“Well, maybe it was because he was high. He was completely stoned out of his mind and shouldn’t have been there.”
She shrugged. “That’s not unusual apparently. He’s like that most of the time he’s been around the house.”
“He was also very angry at seeing me there.”
“Well, you were inside my house.”
Silence.
She slumped back into her chair. “He was upset because he saw you inside my house and figured you were my new boyfriend.” She looked at the men at the table. “So now you’re all considering it was Jonas who killed the owl, and placed a knife in Flynn’s jacket pocket to incriminate him, so I’d be angry?”
She looked around at all the faces and added, “Right, of course. But that wouldn’t work as I do know who Flynn is inside.” She dropped her head in her hands. “If I hadn’t been so upset and scared, I wouldn’t have said what I did in the first place.”
Glumly, she stared at Flynn. “For the record, I don’t believe you had anything to do with killing that owl. I saw you work around my animals. You’re just not that kind of a guy.” She stared down at the table. “Now I feel like an idiot.”
Katina, still sitting beside her, said, “No, it was fear. And coming here was right. You came here to get help. Whoever it was thought they’d set Flynn up and got the opposite reaction to what they expected. The good thing is, they don’t know about it.”
Anna turned to frown at Katina. “I don’t get it.”
“They might have thought you’d fly down here and break it off with Flynn. But instead you came to be safe, and get help. So instead of breaking up with Flynn, all you’ve done is get his attention to help solve this for you.” Katina smiled. “The opposite reaction. But still the right thing for you to do.”
Feeling like a fool and wishing she could just leave now, Anna muttered, “It doesn’t feel like it.”
Just then Alfred arrived bearing platters of big sandwiches and wraps cut in pretty little pieces.
Hurriedly, Anna stood up and pushed her chair back. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on your luncheon.”
Katina stood up beside her. “Don’t worry about it. You’re welcome here.”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
The two wrangled back and forth until Flynn stood up and roared, “Sit down.”
Silence. Again.
Anna glared at him. “You’re not in my house on Levi’s orders, so you don’t get to boss me around any longer.”
In a low deadly voice, he leaned across the table, his large hands flat on the surface, and snapped, “Sit down, damn it, or I’m coming over there and making you.”
“Don’t you dare threaten me,” she growled right back, leaning over, her hands near his on the table, shoving her face in his. “Just you try it.”
Then she heard it. A snicker. Then a choked laugh. And suddenly the entire group at the table erupted in laughter.
Mortified, she sat back down and buried her face in Katina’s shoulder. Arms came around her, and she realized her best friend was laughing too.
Such was her day.
*
As the laughter broke out, Flynn sat down with a hard bump. How nice that he and Anna had provided entertainment for the crew. It wasn’t exactly how he wanted to introduce them to her. She really was special. He had hoped that having a break from each other would make her seem less so in his eyes. New attractions were always deadly. He wanted some time away to ensure what they had was potential enough to go after.
Her accusations had stunned him. Her apology just now only slightly less so. He glared down into his coffee cup, wondering how long it would take for this hilarity to die down.
When the laughter finally stilled, Levi spoke up. “First thing is to get the knife to the police. Should be simple enough to test it to determine if it was used.”
Logan, sitting opposite Katina at the table, said to Levi, “We can test that here, you know.”
Levi tilted his head at Logan.
“It’s really simple to determine certain things about blood,” Logan said. “But our sampling must be small so the police can have the rest for whatever tests they have to do.” He nodded toward Anna. “If you want to come with me after lunch, we can see what our testing kit can find.”
“Thank you,” she said in a neutral tone.
Flynn studied her downcast head. This had been a tough morning for her. He couldn’t imagine the shock of finding the bloody knife in his jacket pocket. He knew it was his, just as he did that he’d lost it; therefore, he hadn’t been the one to bloody it. Not this most recent time at least. It may have some on the blade, but it could be human, and it would be a degraded sample—something from a long time ago during one of the more ugly missions he’d been a part of in the Middle East. He’d cleaned his knife, but the best labs could always find evidence—and they would find something.
Still it was bothersome. He hated to think of her all alone in that place with a madman running around killing animals. It was a very small step from that to humans, as he knew all too well. Nothing like being in the military—particularly when he’d been over in Afghanistan and Iraq—to shake his belief in humanity.
The atrocities he’d seen had been shocking. He had no problem with animals being killed for food, but he hated to see them starved, abused, injured, or toyed with. It was one of the reasons he’d been so happy to help Anna. It gave him a chance to reconnect with the animal world he’d missed so much.
And for that he was grateful.
&n
bsp; Stone, who had been quiet up until now, asked, “Any chance the man who did this was either the previous owner or neighbor?”
Anna frowned at him. “It’s possible, but I don’t know why now though.”
“But it is a line to tug,” Flynn said. Not that he had the time. He was supposed to be heading out of town. At least he’d really been hoping to, but according to Levi that wouldn’t happen now.
“First things first, let me take a look at the blood on the knife.” Logan glanced over at Flynn. “You still have it?”
Flynn pulled the bag out of his pocket and handed it over.
Logan stood up and said, “With any luck I’ve got five minutes to set up my tests before you guys eat everything. The actual results take longer.” He turned and disappeared out the door they had come in.
Stone stood up, picked up his cup of coffee, refilled it at the sidebar and followed Logan.
Flynn watched as several of the women got up and went to the kitchen to help Alfred bring out the rest of lunch.
The others stayed seated at the table and talked about opening a lab in the compound, but they needed the money set aside for it before doing so. Expansions were expensive, and all kinds of equipment were needed. Apparently, a morgue quickly became a hot topic as well. From what he’d heard about the attacks on the compound so far, he conceded that would be a need. Though a large walk-in freezer would be a better option.
After lunch, several people headed back to whatever they were doing before the interruption.
The place was large, and well over a dozen people were in and out on a regular basis. He was one of the newest and still finding his own place. Having Anna storm in this morning had just added to his problems. But he was more concerned about her.
Katina still sat very close to Anna, their heads huddled together as they talked. He wondered what it was like to have a friend like that.
Guys had buddies. They hunted, fixed cars, and barbecued together with a case of beer open beside them as they talked about everything, but nothing personal. These two women shared such a special bond. And he wondered how that worked for them.
