Furred Lines

by Renee George

  “For the FBI?”

  “No, for the Tri-State Council.”

  I groaned. “What have they got to do with this?” I’d heard all about the fiasco at the Tri-State Council meeting two years ago when Peculiar had been picked to host the event. Two deaths and a kidnapping had occurred that week as a result. If it hadn’t been for the two newcomers in town, Chavvah Trimmel and Sunny Haddock, the killers might have kept on their spree. I didn’t know either lady very well.

  “We work for the FBI, Nicole, but as therians, we’re in a position to help our kind. Do you know what would happen if humans found out about us?”

  “I have a fair idea, Mr. Patronizing.” I’d thought many times of ways that our kind might fully integrate into human society. “But would it really be that awful? After all, there are many of us who protect humans every day, military, doctors, nurses, EMTs, firefighters, and law enforcement. If we were allowed to perform to our fullest abilities, we could show them that we are assets, not enemies.”

  “It’s naïve to think that humans as a whole are going to embrace our otherness. People, even our own kind, tend to fear the unknown, and we would be feared by many. All that aside, until the powers that be deem it time to come out of our metaphorical furry closets, do you really want humans to find out about us by accident? Like if a shifter murderer, kidnapper, rapist, or thief was the reason our species was placed in the spotlight.”

  “That would be bad.”

  Dom smiled. “Is that your clinical opinion?”

  “My clinical opinion is that the man is intelligent and organized.”

  “And what makes you think it’s a man?”

  “All the victims have been therianthropic men whom our unknown subject has somehow subdued. This last one put up a struggle, and still, the unsub was able to take him down. I’ve known some pretty strong women, and if these were human victims, I’d say it could go either way, but our kind is harder to take down.” I shook my head. “We’re definitely looking for a male. Someone aged twenty-six to upwards of sixty.” Therianthropes aged much slower than humans. We still died of old age, but old age tended to occur after one-hundred twenty years, and we could potentially live to be one-hundred and eighty to two-hundred years before dying of natural causes. “I’ll need more information than what’s in the files to discern more. Also, I think we should look over the past two to three decades to see if this kind of thing has happened before. If we could find more victims, that will give us even more information about his age.”

  “Good idea,” Dom said.

  “Thanks. I have one or two every now and then.” I smiled.

  “You also have a really nice smile.”

  I blinked, dumbstruck over the out-of-the-blue compliment. I frowned. “Stop flirting with me.” I took the key out of the ignition. “We should go in.”

  Dom grinned, his gray-green eyes sparkling like polished jade. “I’ll follow you in a moment. I need to make a call.”

  The FBI offices were located in a building that shared space with an investment company called Truman & Associates. Big letters near the entrance marked the company as important. There was no similar signage for the FBI field office.

  When I walked into the field office, I was startled to see a familiar face talking with a middle-aged man in a gray suit.

  “Eldin?” I asked.

  Eldin Farraday, a tall guy, with a thin, but handsome face, smiled warmly as he recognized me. “Nic!” He came around the desk where he was standing, pushed his way past swinging door by the front counter and swept me up in his arms. His affectionate hug nearly broke my spine. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I was assigned to the Little Piggy case,” I told him when he set me back down on the floor. He still had his arms around me, and I pressed my ear against his chest and listened, familiarly, to the sound of his heartbeat. I sagged against my friend. “Damn, it’s good to see you.”

  “Deputy Farraday,” Dominic said, his voice low and what I could only describe as grouchy. “Did Sheriff Taylor send you?”

  “He thought I might be able to help,” Eldin said, his arms still around me. “I didn’t know Nic was coming, though. If I had, I’d have worn her favorite cologne.”

  I leaned back and beamed up at him. “I don’t like Fahrenheit that much,” I lied.

  He kissed me quickly on the mouth, a light peck. “I’ve missed you, Nic. You don’t come home often enough.”

  “I’ve missed you too.” I pulled away from Eldin’s embrace.

  The blond-haired man, who I assumed was Agent Resnik, smiled at me. “You greet all your colleagues that way? If so, where do I line up?”

  “No, she doesn’t,” Dom answered as he stiffly passed Eldin and me to greet the agent. “How are you, Resnik?” he said to the man as he held out his hand.

  “Good, Tartan. You?”

  “Real good.” I watched as Dominic shook off whatever bug had crawled up his butt to paste on his charming smile. “The hugger is my partner, Nicole Taylor.”

  I walked to the back and shook Resnik’s hand. “Sorry about that. Deputy Farraday and I grew up together. He’s an old friend.”

  “I need to get new friends,” the blond said, his smile widening. “I hope you guys can shed some light on this case. I’ve hit a dead end, and this one hasn’t followed the same pattern as the others. I’m not even sure it’s the same guy.”

  “How so?” Dom asked.

  “Well, for one, evidence was left behind. For another, the guy’s body hasn’t shown up yet.”

  “I can’t believe anyone in Peculiar has anything to do with this, Agent,” Eldin said to Resnik.

  When I was a child I might have agreed, but I wasn’t a child anymore, and our small town had had enough of its fair share of crime over the past two decades for me to believe it was possible. Unfortunately, therians were just like humans when it came to greed, lust, and revenge. Luckily, they also had the same capacity for humor, kindness, and love.

  “Honestly,” Resnik said. “I’d never even heard of Peculiar until this case, and I’ve been assigned to the Ozarks for a decade now.”

  Not hearing about an all shifter town was by design. Peculiar worked hard to stay off the radar. Which is why there was only one road in and out of town—no through traffic from one destination to another. If you were going to Peculiar, it had to be by design or pure accident. The fact that this case was drawing attention to the place probably scared the crap out of my dad.

  Oh. Dominic hadn’t requested me on the case, my father had. I glared at my partner. He shrugged and gave me the “what?” eyebrow raise.

  “Later,” I mouthed. “Agent Resnik, what can you tell us about the abducted man?”

  Resnik took us to a corkboard with pictures from the current and previous abductees and their corresponding small toes, the Blonde Bear Café’s loyalty card, a footprint, a broken porch rail with four large scratches, and some droplets of blood.

  “Any of that blood from the suspect?”

  “No.” Resnik rubbed a hand through his hair. “Blood belongs to the vic. Bloody nose, we suspect, there was some mucus in the sample.”

  Neither Dom, Eldin, nor I asked about the scratch marks on the rail.

  Resnik tapped the third man’s picture. “Our newest victim. Ray Lieberman. President of Lark Manufacturing, a company that makes stainless steel appliances. Wife. Five kids and another on the way. Married twenty years, no prior legal problems. Solid guy as far as we can tell.”

  “Any enemies?” Dominic asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Do you think he’s dead?”

  Eldin raised his chin. “You think he’s not?”

  “There’s a struggle and no body.” I looked at Resnik. “Any fingerprints on the card?”

  “Several, but no hits, which means he doesn’t have a record.” The blond agent shrugged. “We’re flying blind here without a map.”

  I looked at Dominic. “What next?”

 
“You go to Peculiar with Deputy Farraday.” His expression soured as he gave me the directive. “I’ve got some business I have to take care of here in Springfield.”

  “Do you want me to stay and help?”

  “It’s personal, not professional.”

  “Oh.” I handed him the keys. “See you later.”

  “I’ll join you in Peculiar this afternoon. Line up some accommodations for us when you get there.”

  “I’ll get you a hotel room at the Peculiar B & B. If I know my mom, my bed at home is already made-up.” I glanced at Eldin. “Looks like it’s you and me,” I said.

  “Just like old times.” He grinned.

  Dominic scowled. “Coordinate with the sheriff and try to remember that you’re there on official business. This isn’t a coming home party.”

  I stared him straight in the eye. “You obviously don’t know my mother.”

  Chapter Three

  “It’s so great to see you, El. How’s your folks?” His father had been ill with Fox Flu the last time I’d been back. It was an ailment that affected, well, foxes, and other species that are close kin. The virus affected muscles and nerves in fox shifters, and sometimes, it affected smooth muscles, like the intestines and lungs. When it did, it was usually a death sentence. My mom had told me a couple of months back that Mr. Farraday had finally shaken the illness and was on his way to getting his life back to normal. I’d said a big thank you to the universe.

  Eldin Farraday had once been my sweetheart in high school. My first love, so to speak, but other than some kissing and heavy petting in the back seat of his mother’s van our senior year, our relationship hadn’t amounted to much. Still, I’d always seen him as an ideal mate. Sweet, strong, and loyal. Those were qualities not easy to come by these days. And I still cared about him.

  “Dad’s doing much better. He’s still weak in the legs, and he’s working on getting his grip strength back, but the physical therapy is going well, and Doc Smith said he should make a full recovery over time.”

  “Well, if Doc says he’s on the mend then I believe it.” I reached over the squeezed Eldin’s hand. He looped his fingers and mine and gave me a squeeze back.

  “Thanks for asking, Nic.” He took his hand back and put it on the steering wheel. “So, you’re a big FBI agent now, huh? That’s pretty exciting,” he said, changing the subject.

  “Yep, that’s me. Big.”

  Eldin chuckled, and the warmth of his humor wrapped me up like a cozy blanket. “I’ve missed you, Nic. You should come home more often.”

  “I get home plenty,” I said.

  “As long as a federal crime is involved.”

  “Well, that’s a given.” I shook my head. “Though technically, I was doing a favor for my aunt last time. It wasn’t an official case.” I gave Eldin a light punch on the shoulder. “You know, I’ve missed you too. We didn’t get much time to visit the last time I was home.”

  “I’m sorry about your aunt.” He shook his head. “I know she was an unpleasant woman. God knows, she could try the patience of a saint, but she didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

  I shrugged. Evelyn Meyers never met a person she couldn’t piss off but, for whatever reason, I’d come running when she asked me to investigate her neighbor Milo Green. I still can’t believe my dad thought I might be involved in Aunt Evelyn’s murder. “She wasn’t the kind of person to let you in,” I told Eldin, “but still, my mom lost her sister, and that means something.”

  “What do you want to do first when we get to town? Check in with your mom or your dad?”

  “We better see Dad first. I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with the local law enforcement.” The corner of my mouth tugged up in a smile I couldn’t hide.

  “Your dad about blew a vein when he found out you’d joined the FBI.”

  “Believe me. I brought an umbrella for that conversation.”

  Eldin glanced at me, his brow raised.

  “You know, for the blood spray.”

  He laughed. “Smart girl. But then, you’ve always been smart.”

  “Says the guy who used to cheat off my math homework.”

  “I always changed it just enough so Mr. Peters wouldn’t suspect.” He grinned.

  Less than an hour of small talk about high school and the good ol’ days later, Eldin pulled his police cruiser into a parking spot outside the sheriff’s station.

  “Time to face the music,” I said.

  Eldin hummed the Jaws’ theme song as we exited the vehicle. Tyler Thompson walked out of the station as we were headed inside.

  “Hey, Nicole,” he said. “Good to see you.”

  I nodded my head. “You too.”

  The sheriff’s station smelled like mildew, copier ink, and stale coffee. The crime board, as I’d called it when dad would take me to work with him, only had one open case on it, a reported theft at the Paw-On Pawn Shop on Main Street.

  My dad sat behind his desk in his office, the dark circles under his eyes darker than normal, even for a raccoon shifter. He rubbed his temples. His shoulders slumped forward as if he carried the weight of the entire town on his shoulders. I guess in a way, he did. I fought back the impulse to crawl onto his lap like I had when I was small. Instead, I knocked on the frame of his open door.

  “Hey, Dad.”

  His eyes slowly pivoted up and met my gaze. He gave me a tired smile. “Hey, kiddo. Come on in.”

  I sat in the chair across from him. “Are you okay?”

  He shooed away my concern. “Fine, fine. Just got off the phone with Stenson. He’s threatening to send a representative if we don’t clear up this mess.”

  President Stenson, the new Tri-State Council President, had a bug up his butt about my dad since my Aunt Evelyn’s case. Stenson had been having an affair with Evelyn, and he felt that my dad had mishandled the investigation. Which he had, but in his defense, he’d thought he was protecting me. Still, all therianthropes in the Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas area were subject to the law of the council. They were our system of government, and Stenson had the authority to interfere if he wanted to take it that far.

  “We’ll just have to clear things up before that happens,” I said.

  Dad smiled. “That’s my girl.” He rubbed his face. “Darling, there hasn’t been any disappearances in over three years.”

  “This isn’t like then, Dad. No one is selling therians to hunters for sport.”

  “No, there is just some sick bastard, who apparently frequents our town, possibly someone we know, and who is carving people up and chopping off toes.”

  “Just one toe.”

  Dad shook his head. “That’s not funny.”

  “Not even a little bit,” I agreed.

  “Stop it.”

  “I’m only the tiniest bit ashamed.”

  My dad leaned forward and tried to stare me down. “Little girl, I can still take you over my knee.”

  From the door, Eldin said, “Can I watch?”

  At the same time, Dad and I said, “Shut up, Eldin.” Then we locked gazes again. I cracked first. I laughed as I looked away. I could never beat my dad in a stare-off.

  “Your mom is expecting you,” Dad said.

  “I need to get up to speed on any evidence you all have gathered then get a room at the motel for Agent Tartan.” I already figured out my mother would not abide me getting a motel room. I wasn’t even going to argue about it.

  “Nonsense.” Dad stood up and pulled the creases out of the trousers before he walked over to his coffee maker and refilled his cup. “Tartan can take the guest room.”

  Wait. What? I felt a mild sense of panic at the idea of Dominic staying at my parents’ house. With me. Ack! “I don’t think Dom would be all that comfortable there.”

  “Oh, you don’t, do you? Go on and call your mother. Tell her you want to break her number one rule about hospitality.”

  Dang. He had me there. “You’ve been married to mom for too long,” I g
roused.

  “There will never be enough years for me.”

  My heart softened, and a small sigh of resignation escaped. “Fine. We’ll stay at the house.” In a way, I was glad. I still had clothes at home, and I’d only packed enough clothes for a couple of days. Which had been dumb, considering I had no idea how long this case would last. “But, just so you know, this is a federal investigation, Dad. We have to follow the FBI protocols.”

  “Look at her all grown up,” Eldin said.

  “Deputy Farraday,” Dad said. “Don’t you have work to do?”

  “Uhm, yes, Sheriff. Getting on it.” Eldin smirked and gave me a quick salute before he hustled back to his desk.

  I turned my attention back to Dad. “Any leads about Little Piggy?”

  Dad’s exasperation was written on his face. “Not a gol-darn clue. I haven’t had a chance to question the Blondina, Roger, Selena, and Brandon. Farraday is running the prints against those of anyone we’ve arrested here in town, but so far I’ve got nothing.”

  “Brandon is back in town?”

  “Yeah, after he got out of the Army, he struggled a little. Blondina and Roger talked him into coming back home.”

  That’s good. I’m glad Brandon’s back.” Brandon Messer had been a nice guy in high school, even if he had a little temper, but what hormonal teenage therianthrope didn’t. He was an all-around athlete, good student, and he and Donna Kurts had been the prom King and Queen our senior year.

  “Did he and Donna ever get married?”

  Dad shrugged. “No. Brandon married a gal who was also in the Army. An integrator. Things didn’t work out. Another reason his parents wanted him home. Donna married Brett Johnson. He owns the feed store outside of town.”

  “I remember Brett.” He was older than Donna, who was my age, by about ten years, but in therian terms, an age difference wasn’t that noticeable until a shifter got closer to one-hundred-years-old. “Isn’t he related to the Delbert and Elbert?” The twin opossum shifters ran the general store in town. When I was young, the two men used to give me candy whenever dad or mom took me into their store.