by Riley Storm
In the end though, hope won out over fear, this time at least. Liz knew it wouldn’t always be like that, and that Valla would be on a very short string. But maybe…maybe he was more than she thought.
“Fine,” she said. “One chance. You can have one chance.”
Valla hissed in delight, beaming from eye to eye. “Thank you, Liz. Thank you. I appreciate that.”
She stepped back as he came in to hug her. “Whoa there. Listen. We may have made this together, but we’re, we’re not a thing. You and I, that was a one-time event. This is about our baby, not you and me. That’s…that’s not anything, just don’t even go there, okay?”
Stepping back, Valla nodded, looking contrite. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking there. Won’t happen again, I promise.”
Ignoring the slight dismay at his promise to never touch her again, Liz nodded. “Good.”
“Okay, so what now?” Valla pressed.
This is so going to backfire on you. Why are you doing this?
The fact that negative thoughts were already intruding into her mind didn’t bode well for Valla. There was no way Liz was going to let herself begin to believe in him. No, she was giving him a chance because she owed him one, that was all.
He’s going to screw up. You know this, so prepare for it, don’t let yourself get sucked into anything else. Give him his chance, then you can feel confident in telling him to get lost.
“Thursday,” she said, wondering why she’d ever caved in the first place.
“What about it?”
“I have a doctor’s appointment. This Thursday.” She gave him the information.
“Got it,” Valla said, nodding.
“Are you going to…I don’t know, write it down? Make a note of it?” she asked when he just stared at her while she recited the address, time and doctor’s name.
“I’ve got it up here,” he said, tapping the side of his head.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Already she was having regrets about this.
“Valla, this is serious,” she said forcefully. “This is a living thing we’re dealing with here. A piece of both of us, growing inside of me. If you can’t take this seriously…”
“I am,” he said, face contorting unhappily. “Why do you not think I am?”
“What if you forget?” she asked dryly. “Most people write this sort of thing down.”
“I have an excellent memory,” he countered. “It’s in there, trust me.” He recited everything back to her, rote. “See?”
Liz looked away, not wanting him to see the distress on her face. This was ridiculous, she didn’t need to put up with his attitude.
“Okay. Fine. Be there then,” she said just a bit sharply.
“I will,” he said. “I will, I promise you.”
No, you won’t.
“Can you go now?” she asked bluntly. “I need to do some work. For my job.”
Valla looked around, his eyes taking in the outer frame of the structure that would become the Outreach Center. “Of course. Yeah of course. I have to poke around a bit, check out a few things my brothers asked me to. I won’t get in your way though, I promise.”
That’s a lot of promises, Valla. Let’s see what they mean to you, shall we?
Unfortunately, Liz knew from experience that the promises of a father often meant little to nothing at all.
She doubted Valla’s would be any different.
12
“Where to now?” Chase asked once Valla had wandered off to do whatever it was he’d come there to do.
“Now time to get back to work. Let’s see what we can see with some video cameras, and then I want to interview everyone, starting from the top, working our way down,” she said, mind already starting to get back into puzzle-solving mode. “Someone has to know something, and we’re not going to stop until we find out who it is. Trucks don’t just fly off into the middle of the night, now, do they boys?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Peter replied tightly. “Who was that guy?”
“That one is my problem,” she said. “All of them?” She waved vaguely to mean everyone working on the Outreach Center. “Those are your problem. Stay focused on it.”
“Of course.”
“We need to come up with some questions to ask these people as well,” she said, walking back toward the little office, trying hard not to look over her shoulder, to catch another glimpse of Valla.
Who cares what he’s doing? Let him go, you have your own job to focus on.
“Cheryl told us she had the footage from the night of the last theft pulled up already,” Peter informed her as she climbed the metal stairs, footsteps ringing loudly.
“Perfect. Let’s start with that then.”
She followed Peter’s outstretched hand to one of the trio of computer desks in the room and plunked down into it with a sigh, relieved to be both back inside, and away from any more conversations with Valla. She really wanted him out of her head.
Pushing the buttons on the screen, she let the video play at two-times normal speed. There was the truck, she noted, watching it sit there as night came on in full force, the cut timber covered in tarps to protect it from the element.
Then abruptly, it was gone.
She sat upright, backing up the footage until the truck reappeared.
“What the hell?” she said, playing it back at normal speed. It was there in one frame. Then the next, just empty. “How is that possible?”
But neither Chase nor Peter had any comment. They were just as stumped as she was.
“It reappeared the next night?” she asked, fast-forwarding the tape after making a mental note of what time it disappeared.
“Yeah. In the same spot,” Peter replied. He too was focused on the screen.
They watched in amazement as the reverse happened the next night. The empty truck just reappeared.
“A magic trick? That’s what it looked like. As if someone abracadabra-ed the shit out of that truck. Poof, there and then gone, and then back. Could they have used mirrors or something to distract us while it was moved?”
Chase shook his head. “No. we have other cameras covering the entrances and exits. None of those caught a thing according to Cheryl. No signs of it opening or closing.”
“Okay. If we rule out the fact that the truck can’t have just poofed into thin air, then we know it was driven out of here, and brought back. See look, we know it was moved,” she said, pointing out the location of the rear of the flatbed in the still-frame of when it was returned, and then quickly zipping back to the time before it left. “See, there’s a lot less room between that and the crane once it’s been returned. Someone parked it farther back.”
The two bodyguards couldn’t find fault with her line of logic.
“So, we know someone moved the truck. Which means, that what we’re seeing here,” she said, pointing at the screen. “Is wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean someone has gone in and edited the video,” she stated, feeling confident about her choice. “Which means that at least someone working for us on site is in league with the thieves,” she finished quietly. “But who? How do we find them?”
Neither Chase nor Peter had any suggestions.
“Weren’t you a cop?” she asked Peter when neither of them responded. “Haven’t you done this investigation stuff? I’m not a detective.”
Peter shrugged. “I worked in the special weapons division after I got out of patrol.”
She eyed him, his rough look, tattoos and cold eyes. “Yeah, okay, I buy that. Alright then, we’ll just go the easy way. From the top down. Can one of you go find Grigory? He’s the site supervisor.”
Peter and Chase looked at one another, shrugged, and then whipped out their hands for a quick game of rock-paper-scissor.
“Are you for real?” she said, gaping as Chase lost and shuffled out the door.
This is going to get real tedious, real quick. Thank you s
o much for this duty, Cheryl. I really appreciate it.
It wasn’t long before Chase returned, bringing a harried-looking older gentleman with wispy hair and big round glasses into the office.
“Grigory,” she said, standing up to shake his hand. The pair had met on several occasions, and each time, she’d been impressed by the intellect and strength of personality hiding behind the rather dopey-looking exterior.
“Liz, how nice to see you. What can I do for you?” His eyes darted toward the door.
“Don’t worry,” she said, giving him her best disarming smile. “I’ll try be as quick as possible. But this is going to help you as well as me.”
Grigory frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’m here looking into the disappearing supplies,” she explained. “We need to find some proof to get the police to act. So, here I am, and here these two are. You may see them around. As long as they aren’t actively interfering with your work, let them have free roam, would you?”
“Uh, sure,” Grigory said, giving Chase and Peter a quick once-over. “Whatever you say. If you can find those supplies and stop new ones from going missing, that would certainly speed things up around here. We’re already a week or so behind, and it’s only going to get worse if we can’t stop it.”
“That’s my goal,” she assured him. “But to do that, I have some questions I need answered.”
“Sure, anything.” Grigory sat down opposite her.
“First off, have we had any issues with any employees? People losing their mind after being fired, making threats, that sort of thing?”
“None,” Grigory replied immediately.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. We should have, by all rights,” he said, looking thoughtful. “But we haven’t. It’s got to be the first job I’ve worked on in decades where we haven’t had that. There’s always some lowlife who gets through the hiring process and then proceeds to give us shit for firing them when they do nothing.”
She nodded in understanding. “Okay, second question. Who has access to this room? To the security cameras and equipment.”
This time, Grigory had to pause to think over his answer. “I guess a lot of people,” he admitted. “Easily two dozen or more. And of course, any one of them could let others in. It’s just a simple key code after all. It’s not like there’s anything of real value kept in here. We never thought to keep it locked down.”
Liz nodded, sinking back into her thoughts. She’d been hoping for a much more succinct answer. Like five, perhaps. How was she supposed to go through dozens of people to find out who was the one editing the footage, and do all her normal work at the same time?
It was ridiculous. She could see now why Cheryl had pawned the job off on her. While Liz would have a hard time, Cheryl would have become so overwhelmed, it likely would have tested her sanity to its absolute limits.
Just like Valla is going to test mine over this whole pregnancy thing.
“Who’s Valla?”
She jerked upright as Grigory spoke, looking at her.
“What?”
“You just said something about Valla testing you to see if you’re pregnant?”
Liz clapped both hands over her mouth in horror. “Oh, my God. Grigory. I’m so sorry. That wasn’t supposed to be directed at you!”
Gathering her jacket and bag she got up, beyond flustered. “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back later.”
All but fleeing from the office under the confused stares of the three men, she retreated to the relative safety of her car—only to look to the left and see Valla’s red sports coupe still parked right nearby.
“No. No, no, no,” she moaned, starting up her car and pulling out.
Why couldn’t he just go back to how it was before? When she didn’t know who he was or have to worry about looking out for him.
The car jerked to a stop as that thought prompted another. A way to bypass everything, including the tedious task of interviewing everyone who might have had access to that room.
“Thank you, Valla. About time you did something good for my mind, and not my body,” she said with a laugh, bouncing her hands off the steering wheel in elation.
This is going to be so much easier!
13
Two days had passed.
Forty-eight hours.
Now it was time, and Valla was ready. There were two hours left until her appointment. It took him between forty-five minutes to an hour to reach town if he went at the speed limit, which rarely happened.
That gave an hour buffer. Hopefully, that would be early enough, but he hadn’t asked Liz how far ahead to show up. Thankfully, Cheryl had been up wandering the halls the night before, and in a moment of weakness, he’d asked her. She’d smiled, told him that an hour was plenty of time. Then she’d encouraged him to keep up the good work, that Liz would come around eventually.
Now he was heading down the main hallway. An hour ago, he’d brought his car up front so that it was prepped and ready for him. No surprises to be had on that front either. Today was going to be perfect.
“Have you seen Victor?”
He turned as Francis came out of a side hallway abruptly, startling him. For a human, the steward moved exceptionally lightly on his feet, oftentimes managing to get closer to him than he’d prefer before his presence was revealed.
Today, it had been easy, because Valla was more than distracted, his mind somewhere far away. His entire being was centered on Liz and the life she was carrying within her. Those were his priorities.
“No, not recently,” he said apologetically. “Why?”
“There’s a delegation from Ursa here to see him,” Francis said, shrugging his shoulders in response to Valla’s raised eyebrows. The steward didn’t know why they were here either.
“You tried his quarters, I assume?”
Francis nodded. “Yes. I’m just on my way to the kitchens now.”
“I’m sure he’s around here somewhere,” Valla said. “I don’t think he was planning to leave the Keep today. Keep searching for him. It’ll do those arrogant bear shifters good to be kept waiting. Help remind them who the real power is here,” Valla said, puffing out his chest with dramatic flair.
Francis rolled his eyes. “Oh yes, much power, very wow.”
Valla frowned at the odd phrasing, but let it pass as Francis wandered down another side corridor in search of Victor.
Curiosity overcame him at this point, and, given that he would have to head the same direction anyway, Valla found his feet guiding him toward the main entrance to Drakon Keep. Perhaps he could source out the reason for the House Ursa visit. They certainly weren’t expecting the bear shifters to come calling, but there had to be a reason.
He heard the big creatures before he even opened the front door. Their voices were loud, and they walked heavily.
“You’re not Victor,” one of them said as he pushed the door open to see the double quartet standing around.
“Did I claim to be?” Valla snapped, not appreciating the lack of proper manners. They were guests on House Draconis property. “Who the hell are you, and why should I not send you packing right now?”
The bear shifter bristled at the icy tone. “My name is Konine. I have business with Victor. I need to talk to him.”
“Business?” Valla said, lifting an eyebrow in question at the suitably vague answer, indicating he wasn’t satisfied with the single word.
“Yes. Personal business, between the two of us. I don’t wish to discuss it publicly,” Konine continued, suddenly seeming slightly more contrite.
Now what brought that attitude change on I wonder, hmm? What suddenly clicked into place in your brain?
Valla glanced at his watch. Still plenty of time. He could afford another minute or two of toying with the bear shifter, but no more than that. Just enough to leave him riled up, so that Victor would have to deal with the consequences.
“Really,” he drawled. “I didn’t know that Vict
or had taken up with you lot. Must be something beneath his notice. Probably why he hasn’t informed me about it.”
The bear shifters all growled at the obvious slight against their importance, but none of them said anything about it. Not even Konine, the apparent leader. The silence was more telling than anything at this point. Valla pondered this and the reasoning behind it, but he was only able to come to a single conclusion.
They wanted him to go before Victor arrived.
Of course. Who would want to tangle with two dragon shifters?
It was a deceptive difference in power though, because while Valla could look a majority of the bear shifters dead in the eye, he did have to tilt his head back to meet a few stares, including Konine’s. On top of that, even the smallest of the bear shifters outmassed him by twenty or thirty pounds, with their biggest—a thick-browed brute with long shaggy black hair—had to be a solid fifty or more pounds of muscle larger.
Yet despite all that, Valla could wipe the floor with any of them if they tried. A bear shifter simply was no match for a member of the Drakon family, no matter how hard they tried.
Eight of them, however…
Valla suddenly felt like he understood why they were here. Grinning from ear to ear, he clapped Konine on the shoulder. “Well, you boys have fun, okay? I think I hear Victor coming. Make sure you tell him I endorse this little bit of business, won’t you?”
Konine frowned, not sure if he believed what Valla was saying or not, but he nodded anyway. “Of course. Thank you.”
Whistling happily to himself at the knowledge of what was coming to the arrogant water dragon, Valla sauntered over to his car. Yes, today was turning out just great. Victor would get his, and Liz would be more than happy to see him there when she arrived for this appointment.
Everything was coming up Valla!
Behind him, he heard footsteps echoing down the main hallway. That would be Victor, his hearing told him based on the stride. Valla got into his car and closed the door, firing up the engine even as his eyes were glued to the rear-view mirror. This would be too good to pass up.
