Risk

by Jaime Johnesee

  It didn’t upset Kelly that much and was more a joke than anything because she knew how Quinn was about his diet. Besides, we all agreed there were worse things he could be doing.

  “What do you want to grab for dinner?”

  “Should we be discussing this stuff on the clock?” I fidgeted with my cuff.

  “I don’t think it’s a problem, do you?” Alex looked at me and I fidgeted more. “I mean we have to talk about something while waiting for Quinn. What’s wrong with talking about what we want for dinner? If we were friends going out for dinner we would talk about it, yeah? You just talked about you and him having bacon wrapped cheeseburgers.”

  “Yeah, those were awesome. I just … well, let’s face it, women don’t have it easy in this business. I want to keep my professional life as professional as possible and I have a weak spot when it comes to you.”

  I figured, why beat around the bush? He always said he wanted honesty. I’d do my best to give it to him.

  “I understand, and I have one for you, too, but I think a little talk about dinner is okay because it’s something we would do as coworkers or friends.”

  “Okay, I agree. I’m looking forward to rabbit tonight.”

  “How about we run first and you can get your rabbit in there?”

  I loved running with Alex.

  “I’m actually hungry for rabbit, myself. I figured a good stew or pie would be lovely. Something with a thick rich gravy.”

  “That actually does sound good. Okay, what is your favorite place for bunny, besides your backyard?”

  “Corona’s. The chef there does amazing things with rabbit and venison.”

  “I’ll call and get us a reservation.”

  “Use my name. They’ll find a table.” I’d once helped the head chef with a stalker that had fallen too in love with their cooking.

  “Will do. Do you think Quinn is ready?”

  I glanced over at my partner and saw him looking more than slightly exacerbated.

  “More than. Let’s give him a few more minutes, though; he made a joke about hockey fans this morning. I figure a little while longer makes us even.” Quinn looked up at me and I mimed a bit of hockey for him, then grinned.

  He closed his eyes and I could see him count to ten. When he opened them and looked at me, I grinned even broader and waved. Ginger sidled closer and began rubbing his arm. He narrowed his eyes at me and I laughed.

  “You’re a hard woman, Reece.” Al chuckled.

  “Hey, you know better than anyone, if you pull a cat’s tail you’re going to get bit.” I winked.

  “True enough.” I could see a flash of his tiger in his eyes.

  “Fine, if it gets me some delicious braised rabbit and pappardelle, I’ll be nice.”

  Alex and I walked over to Q who breathed an audible sigh of relief. Audible to everyone but Ginger, who was too busy trying to get Quinn to take her number to notice he was more than slightly uncomfortable.

  My phone beeped a notification, a text from the office saying that the other witness called and wouldn’t be able to make it. She said she was going out of town. Fuck. That meant she was never going to talk to us.

  “Well, it looks like the other witness isn’t going to be able to make it. We have to head back to the office and get started on that lead. Thank you so much for your help.” I smiled apologetically at Ginger.

  “Thank y’all for the eats. I hope you find him.”

  “Thank you, Ginger.” Quinn smiled politely and quickly stood, ready to leave.

  “Should I call you if I hear something?” She looked at Quinn with what I believe was supposed to be a seductive smile. The effect was probably not what she’d intended.

  “Just call the main office number and be careful.” Quinn faux-smiled again and bee-lined for the car. We piled in and drove back to the office, taking turns teasing him about his new girlfriend.

  Chapter 5

  “I’M GOING TO rest until you need me. Wake me when that happens.” Alex smiled, kissed my cheek, and took off in the direction of the elevators, presumably to head to the bunkie, a little room with a couple sets of bunkbeds for those nights we work long hours.

  “I think maybe Quinn should handle questioning him.” My boss was wearing his game face. Not a good sign.

  “Aw, Gerry, come on.” This was ridiculous.

  “Sam, I think you’re too close to the case. I think you’ll just serve to amuse Danvers, especially if he’s as coldhearted as you make him out to be.”

  “Possibly. Or maybe I will crack him faster than anyone else because he feels so superior to me. Hell, he may not even know about me being a shifter.” There was a hiss to my words and I could see Quinn wince.

  “Hey, I’m not saying you aren’t amazing at cracking these assholes. I’m saying it might not be a good idea this time. We have to assume he does know. I’m going off that assumption because the attempt to frame you at the Grisly scene came from someone nearby.”

  “We knew that, though.”

  “But we don’t know the one behind it. Danvers has to know who ordered the attempt, or possibly the assassination on Grisly. He will most likely try to lure you in and, I love ya, Sam, but you’ve got a helluva temper. I just don’t think it’s wise to risk it.”

  “Q, come on. You know that I can control it.”

  “Really, because your eyes aren’t blue right now. They’re a muddied greenish color. I know what that means, Sam. I can’t let you in there with him, not if there is a chance you’ll shift. We can’t have that shit on cameras right now. Someone gets a hold of that and there is no choice but for supers to come out.”

  “I would never allow my anger to endanger the entire super community. I’m not that selfish.”

  “No, Sam, you’re not, but you are that honest.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that you won’t be able to keep your feelings to yourself. It’s a good thing. Especially with everything you’ve seen in this life. All the evil.”

  “Says the guy who exploded at McNamara. Look, I don’t know about a good thing, but I know that, in being honest, I never have to worry about remembering a lie. We’ve all seen evil, that comes with the job.”

  “As true as that may be, we haven’t all walked through the evil ourselves. We also have never stood to lose everything and be labeled a monster.” Quinn smiled gently at me.

  “Fine. You interrogate, I’ll watch and text you some questions for him from time to time.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “You owe me for this.” I pointed at him and smiled. “Big.”

  “What? This was me saving your ass, sister! Lay it on me, Sam, make me angry.”

  For some reason, when he went into interrogation looking pissed off, guilty people jumped to confess.

  “Oh, I know, I’m going to stop helping you cheat on your cholesterol diet.” I grinned evilly.

  Getting Quinn all riled up beforehand always helped sell it when he went in the room.

  “That’s some torturous shit right there.”

  “Not only will I not help you, but I’ll teach Kelly the warning signs about how to tell when you’re cheating.”

  “Bitch.” He winked at me.

  “Go, sell it! And, Q, remember Edward John Markenson!” I pushed him toward the door.

  I knew I’d done my job respectably because he looked like he wanted to punch me. Even though I knew he never would, I still sighed in relief when he turned and walked into the interrogation room, instead. The mere mention of the name of one of our former suspects was enough to whip Quinn into a rage. Ed was a serial killer who preyed on children. He was only slightly worse than Albert Fish, and with his evil not yet dulled by history.

  There was a moment when our guns were drawn on the guy that I thought for sure my brother from another was going to put a bullet in him even though he was surrendering. Hell, there was a moment there I thought for sure I might put a bullet in him. He sure as hell deserved it
, and worse, but we had to be the good guys.

  I’m grateful we are, sometimes. That day, however, I wished I’d had the ethical grayness to pull the trigger. An inmate did the job for us a year and a half later, so, there’s that.

  “I was surprised to see you in here, Jeremy,” Quinn said to Danvers as he handed the man a cup of coffee that looked suspiciously familiar.

  I looked to my right and realized it was my cup of coffee. I scowled. Even though Q couldn’t see me, he held the coffee out to Danvers then turned and smirked through the one-way mirror. He knew me well enough to know I was scowling back at him.

  “Dick,” I muttered, smiling somewhat as I texted him what I’d just said. He rarely got one over on me like this.

  He received my text and smiled and waved quite obviously in my direction and I realized he must have a plan in mind.

  “Sorry about that. My boss had a few questions he wanted to ask. I had no clue he was going to bring you in or I’d have given you a heads up.”

  “Would you have? Really?” Danvers stared inquisitively at Quinn.

  Q did his best to continue looking apologetic. Though every so often he turned his back to the camera, faced the glass, aka me, and rolled his eyes.

  “Oh, absolutely. You were really kind to my partner and I when we came to talk.” Quinn was one of those people who could fake sincerity really well because he truly was a sincere person, except when interrogating.

  You can’t blame him for that, though; the law makes allowances for us to lie in order to trip up a suspect. We’d never cross the boundaries laid out by the law, but when necessary, we weren’t afraid to put a toe on the line, either.

  “Well, to be honest, you two were polite and treated me better than most. They seem to feel like it’s my job to deal with these freaks. Even when I actually tried to help them, they still didn’t give a shit, pretty much just like the animals they are. I suppose you could say I am a little disillusioned with my job.”

  “A little? You sold sixty women and men into slavery. I’d say that’s a hell of a lot of disillusionment, Jeremy.”

  “Look, it’s not like they’re people. They’re beasts. Horrible beasts who prey on humans.”

  “What about the ones who’ve never harmed a soul? The ones who helped their communities and have lived long and very decent lives. Not only have they not harmed people, but they’ve been helping them?” Quinn spread out three files.

  “That’s a joke. Weres like that don’t exist.” He nodded at the files. “What’s that?”

  “These are three women you helped find their way into the sex slave trade. The first one, she’s a mom of two, kidnapped from a grocery store parking lot, her infant son left in the car for three hours alone on a hot day. The second was a sweet girl working three jobs to pay for her cancer-riddled mother’s health care. She’d been accepted into Harvard Medical. This one, she was an art student who spent her summers building houses for the poor. Do you see where I’m going with this?”

  “Right, I want a lawyer. Obviously you don’t understand where I’m coming from. These aren’t average humans, they are monsters! Great, vicious beasts with the capacity to kill and terrorize! Even their children are monsters, deserving of death!” He was ranting so fiercely that spittle was flying everywhere and I was reminded of a Newfoundland my neighbor had when I was a kid.

  Quinn could’ve used Fluffernuts’ drool rag right about now. He was getting showered with Danvers’ mad dog frothing.

  “You mean like that fourteen-year-old girl you kidnapped and sold to a Russian drug czar?” Quinn stepped back a bit to try and avoid the saliva while he slapped the girl’s school picture next to that of one of her battered and bloody corpse.

  “She wasn’t a girl; she was a monster.”

  I texted Quinn, “This could go on all day. It’s time to pretend he’s swaying you.”

  “You keep saying that. But, what kind of monster could a child like that really be?” Quinn sat forward in his chair and pointed at the girl’s school picture. He kept eye contact to show he was listening.

  “Oh, but they’re not kids. Even the weakest of them can turn into massive, violent, and terrible creatures. They’re horrifying thousand pound beasts that look as though they were dredged up from the depths of Hell itself!”

  Ugh! I hate these stupid bigots who don’t even bother to read about what they’ve decided to condemn. We are the same size in our animal form as we are when human. We can’t just grow mass. Sorry, it’s a pet peeve of mine. Stupid ignorant dunces. Okay. I’m done.

  “You have to be yanking my chain. Really?” Quinn sold it well.

  “I’m telling you the God’s honest truth.”

  “I have to admit it does sound rather terrifying. How do they become these things?”

  He leaned forward in his seat and crossed one leg over the other so that his ankle rested on his other knee and his elbows atop his thighs. With his eyes open slightly wider and his head cocked to one side, he was emulating the behavior of someone interested in what Danvers had to say.

  Danvers bought it. “They are terrifying. They shed their human skin and walk as a beast. When daylight comes, they sleep soundly, taking the time to regrow their façade of humanity.” He was gesticulating wildly and speaking faster than before so that he began to slur a bit as his words, and spit, ran faster than his tongue.

  “How do you know what they are; do you see them? Have you seen them commit any crimes?” Quinn sat forward even more, putting his foot back on the floor and his elbows on knees, hands on chin.

  He looked up in manufactured adoration at the man who was supposed to be helping the very people he’d been selling into slavery.

  “Oh, yes. I saw a huge beast with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion … it was—”

  Quinn cut him off. “They can do that?”

  “Oh, yes, some of them can turn into all sorts of nightmarish creatures. So long as they’ve seen the form they can change into it.”

  I snorted. Wouldn’t that be fucking awesome? Of course it would get weird when there were three of the same movie star spotted in different countries. How cool would it be to pull off an Angelina? I’d have to grow a few inches, but, hey, if we’re dreaming—

  “Can they all do this?”

  “No, only the oldest of them.” Danvers spoke like a man convinced he knew the truth and Quinn played to it.

  “The oldest of them?”

  “Yes, these beings can live thousands of years.”

  I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. I couldn’t wait ’til they got to the part where I breathed fire or flew or farted grenades out of my ass.

  “So the older they get the more power they have?” Quinn asked.

  I had to give him points for not cracking and chuckling. Hell, he got points simply for not even smiling at the ludicrous things Jeremy Danvers was raving about.

  “Yes. I was just trying to help humanity by getting these beings away from our children.”

  “So you sold those people into slavery to help all of us?” Quinn cocked his head.

  “Yes!” He let out a huge sigh of relief. “I am so glad you get it.”

  “I don’t.”

  “What?” The smile that had come with his relief fled just as quickly.

  Quinn stopped the tape and leaned in quietly saying, “I don’t get it. Shifters are just humans affected by viruses. Viruses created by science, not curses from God or the Devil. They don’t turn into giant beasts; they can reshape their body, but they can’t add weight, and can only shift to the predetermined DNA created by the virus.” He crossed his arms over his chest before continuing.

  “Also, there is no avian were virus. They are all mammalian. Not to mention that I happen to know for a fact shifters aren’t the mindless beasts you keep referring to them as. They have the same human mind when they’re in animal form and can even speak just as well. Sometimes instinct overrides sense, but they aren’t mindless.” Quinn stood
from the table, his chair squealing over the floor as it backed up.

  “They’ve gotten to you, traitor!” Jeremy’s look of horror was replaced by one of disgust as he threw up his cuffed hands in front of him and flipped Quinn the bird.

  Quinn stood, but before turning back on the tape, he said, “You should go back to school and study biology, Danvers. By the way, thanks for admitting to the trafficking and selling of people. You’re going to jail for a long time. Maybe you can get that bio degree in there.”

  “Wait. I want a deal. I can get you names … and hard proof of what they’re doing.”

  “What who is doing?” Quinn asked at the same time I did.

  “Look, I just arranged the sales. I don’t do the abductions. Honest. Those are done by the officers. I never laid eyes on any of the people that were sold.”

  “What, you mean police officers?” Quinn pressed.

  My stomach dropped.

  “Yeah, cops from Birmingham, Homewood, and Vestavia Hills. They wanted to get the shifters and vamps out of their communities, so whenever they found out about one they’d give their name to someone, and then those people would kidnap them and drop them off at the warehouse. I swear to you; I was only responsible for the transactions. I never kidnapped anyone myself.”

  “No, you just sold them off to be raped and murdered. That’s so much better,” Quinn snarled, shaking his head as he walked to the door. “I’ll be back later. Get comfortable.”

  He grabbed the files off the table and gave Jeremy Danvers a scathing look before leaving the room. Quinn turned to me as he closed the door behind him. “Jesus, Sam, do you think he’s telling the truth? Do you think cops are in on it?” He looked sickened by the thought.

  “It makes sense. This many people going missing should have rung alarm bells all over the place. If cops were in on it, they could have been losing missing persons reports and making sure that no evidence turned up at all.” I didn’t want to believe it, but I couldn’t escape the facts that were staring us in the face.

  “How many more are there around the country? How many are there who are so misinformed that they think you’re all demonically possessed monsters, hell bent on death and destruction?” Quinn’s face paled further from the shock and disbelief.