by Geonn Cannon
She was furious with herself for letting it happen, but also for the sense of relief she felt. She didn't like the idea of a hunter walking around fully aware of who she was, especially after name-dropping Lorne. If Jacqueline had survived and somehow gotten free, she could have signed Ari's death warrant. She wished there could have been another way even though she knew Jacqueline wouldn't have hesitated to kill both her and Serena. Hell, she'd coldly discussed killing two children like someone talking about an extermination. In the end, that as all she and Serena were to her. They were pests that needed to be eliminated. She couldn't afford to be that brutal about hunters, but she also couldn't waste too much energy mourning for them.
Serena came back from the bedroom in a tailored blouse and slacks. Her feet were still bare, and her hair was damp and pushed away from her face to indicate she'd splashed some water on her face. She still looked like she was buzzed, and Ari made a point not to turn her back on the woman.
"What do we do now?" Serena asked.
"I don't have a fucking clue." She rubbed her face and thought for a moment. "You said she'd only worked with you for six weeks. Where did you find her?"
Serena said, "I didn't. The gallery where I show my work sent her over. She arrived not long before the blizzard hit, and she turned out to be a godsend. The whole time she was poisoning my family."
Ari tensed. "Your kids... she could have been dosing them. You should call and make sure everyone is all right. If they had the wolfsbane in their system it could make them lose control at any time."
Serena was already dialing her phone. "What do I tell her?"
"Just tell her to keep an eye on them. Let her know what's going on. Jacqueline implied that she was waiting until the kids got home to take you all out together."
"Then why did she kill Logan first?"
Ari shrugged. "He was the alpha. He was bigger than her, stronger, and she eliminated him so he wouldn't be an issue later on."
Serena said, "Shows how much she knows. I was the alpha of this family."
"Obviously," Ari said.
Serena put the phone to her ear and began pacing the length of the room as she waited for an answer. Ari went into the office Jacqueline had been using and searched her desk. She found a wallet that belonged to Jacqueline Ramsey, and she copied down the home address before searching the rest of the wallet's contents.
A small packet of pale brown powder brought her up short, making her freeze for a few seconds before she carefully withdrew it. She recognized it from her own exposure, the cloud of dust her mother had blown into her face to show her the danger they were facing. She placed it on the desk as Serena spoke to her mother in the other room, her voice becoming a low Gaelic growl as she explained the events and revelations of the past hour.
Ari found an envelope for the wolfsbane and folded it into quarters, lessening the chance anything might slip out of the plastic and spill onto her skin or into her pockets. She searched the rest of the office until she finally found Jacqueline's cell phone plugged into a charger on the far wall. She was going through it when Serena came to find her. She looked even worse than she had earlier, gaunt and worn out, and she leaned against the wall as she spoke.
"Mother says that the kids are fine, but she's taking precautions to make sure they aren't infected. Is there anything I should do to prevent myself from getting sick again?"
"Jacqueline said that she'd infected your tea, but she could have spread it anywhere. Silverware, dishes... I suggest having someone come in and boil... hell, forget that, just throw it all out and buy new stuff."
"What are you going to do?"
"Someone's going to wonder what happened to Jacqueline. This will be the first place they look. How quickly can you get out of town?"
Serena closed her eyes and sighed as if the very idea was too exhausting to contemplate. Ari remembered her own reaction to the wolfsbane and felt sympathy for her.
"I can have someone pick me up within the hour and take me to the airport."
"Okay. I'm going to see if I can keep anyone from getting suspicious, but it'll be better if you're not here if they do come looking."
Serena said, "Thank you. And..." She furrowed her brow. "I'm sorry. For what I did. I can't believe you're still helping me after... after I tried to..."
"You didn't try to do anything," Ari said. "It was the wolfsbane. I've been there, I know what it does to people."
"How long do the effects last?"
"In my case, it knocked me out for a good three days. You need to be wary of feeling sleepy and lazy for a little while. But after the initial burst of violence there weren't any more. As long as you can avoid being exposed again, you should be fine."
Serena took a deep breath. "I'm scared to touch anything in my own house for fear of getting exposed again. I can't even take a shower because what if it's in the faucet? And I am dying for a glass of wine."
Ari said, "If there was ever a morning that justified drinking straight from the bottle, I think this is it."
"I think you have a point. But I'll wait until I've driven myself to the airport before I get drunk."
"Solid plan. And after everything that's happened, I haven't had a chance to express my condolences about your husband."
Serena nodded. "Thank you. I don't think it's quite hit home yet. I'm very glad you were here."
"I am, too." In the long run, at least, it was true.
"Do you have any idea what we're going to do with the body?"
Ari wanted to say it was Serena's problem, wanted to walk away claiming she'd been against the killing, but she felt equal responsibility for what had happened. "I don't know how organized the hunters are, but there's a chance she was supposed to report in. If anyone realizes she's missing they're going to come here first. They have people in the police department, and they probably have a presence at the airports. They might be able to stop you from getting out of the country if they know you've killed her." Ari took Jacqueline's phone out of her pocket and scrolled through the sent messages.
"So we cover it up."
"Could be easier than I thought. She's been sending progress reports every day at six."
Serena said, "That's when she gets off work and goes home."
"Okay. So we just have to send a progress report to keep people from getting suspicious. I'll take care of that. As for the body, if no one is going to come looking for her and no one is going to be here, we can just take her down to the garage."
"The garage." Serena looked ill, but she nodded. "Okay. Yeah. Her car is in the first slot, the closest to the house. You can put her in there."
"That, uh, may be easier said than done. I know she looks small, but there's a reason people say something is ‘dead weight.' I can't carry her down there by myself."
Serena looked into the living room. "God. This is whole morning has been surreal. Okay. Yes, I'll help you take her down."
Ari pushed up her sleeves. "Which side do you want to take?"
They checked outside to make sure there weren't any boats nearby that could see what they were doing. The fortifications between the Ahearn property and their neighbors meant they didn't have to worry about prying eyes from next door as they gathered Jacqueline's wrapped body and carried it across the deck and down the stairs.
"Have you ever moved a dead body before?" Serena asked, breathing heavily as she backed down the deck stairs to the backyard.
"Can't say I've had that experience, no. Seen a couple, though. Not exactly a fan."
"I can understand why."
They entered the garage through the side door. Ari had taken the keys out of Jacqueline's purse and unlocked the car, then helped place her behind the wheel. She knew that any medical examiner would be able to tell she'd been moved, but she put off that worry until the body was actually discovered. They closed the car door and Ari looked around the dark garage. It was cold enough that the body might be preserved long enough to obscure time of death when the police
did become involved.
"If anyone asks, you heard about your husband's death and felt you needed to tell your kids in person. That's why you left so abruptly. As far as you know, Jacqueline is holding down the fort. I'll back that story up when I sent the progress report from her phone."
"These hunters, the ones like Jackie. Do you know how many there are?"
Ari shook her head. "A few hundred, probably a lot more. They're all over the world, but they're converging on this part of the world because the canidae population is so high."
"Are they going to just keep hunting us forever?"
"Allegedly this is hunting season. They call January wolf manoth."
"So once January is over they'll leave us alone?"
"No," Ari said. "I think they're finally getting an opportunity to stretch their muscles and they won't go quietly when the month ends. I think the only way they'll stop is if we stop them."
Serena said, "If that's the case, Miss Willow, then you should get over your aversion to killing very quickly."
#
Dale had just taken out her phone to dial Ari when the office phone rang. She returned the cell to her pocket and lifted the receiver. "Bitches Investigations, how may we help you?"
"Is this Ariadne Willow's agency?"
"Yes, sir. I'm afraid she's not available at the moment."
"Oh. Uh, okay. This is Milhous, I'm the doorman at the Bull and Terrier. It's a bar she comes to every now and again..."
Dale remembered hearing Ari talking about it. "She's mentioned you. I'm her partner, Dale Frye. Can I give her a message?"
"No, we're just calling up the regulars we have numbers for. She needs to stay away from here for the time being. Bartender showed up to get everything ready for opening up tonight and found a couple of people had broken in. He didn't think anything was taken but he found a lot of brown powder on the floor of the back room. We think he was spreading some of that wolfsbane around. We decided better safe than sorry."
"Probably wise," Dale said. "You're going to lock the place up, right?"
"Already done. None of us are getting close to it. We're trying to find a way to clean it up."
Dale chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "Look, why don't I come down and take a look? I won't be affected even if the place is painted with wolfsbane, and I can see just how contaminated it is."
"Oh. Would you mind? I mean, we've been trying to think of someone we'd trust to do that, but the fact is we don't really hang around with, uh..."
Dale smiled. "With people like me? I understand. You may not know me, but you know Ari. And she trusts me. Is that enough?"
"It's enough in my book. We'd really appreciate it."
"I'm happy to help any way I can." She looked at the clock and tried to remember how far away the bar was. She knew it was north of town, but not exactly where it was. "I think I can get there in about half an hour."
"Okay. Thanks again. I didn't expect you to come help us out. I really was just calling to warn Ariadne about what was going on."
Dale said, "I'm happy to help. I might not be canidae by birth, but thanks to Ari I'm part of the family. I don't like it when people mess with my family. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"We'll keep an eye out for you."
She hung up and took out her phone. She didn't even try to call Ari in case she was in the middle of something, so she sent a text that explained where she was going and why. The address to the bar was in Ari's address book, and she found the driving directions online. She tucked her hair under a knit cap and put on her jacket before locking the office behind her.
She knew Ari went to the bar infrequently, but she'd never been invited along. She understood why; it was a canidae bar, and no matter how close she was with Ari, she would never be one of them. And she knew sometimes Ari needed to be with her own people. It was her version of hanging out with a pack. Dale had her own ways of decompressing and she liked to be alone as much as the next gal. Going to the bar without Ari felt a bit like a betrayal, but she was in a unique position to protect canidae from wolfsbane. She had an obligation to help.
She also couldn't deny that she felt a bit of a thrill from getting a call and running out to investigate a break-in. Ordinarily she just passed the information off to Ari and watched her go off to have the adventures. It was exciting to be on the flip side of the equation for a change.
The bar was in the University District in a cluster of other similar establishments, like a ghetto of drinking holes. Dale eventually found the right one after passing it twice. There was a sign that pointed down a dark flight of stairs that, even upon closer inspection, seemed like the basement entrance of the restaurant on the corner. She parked at the curb and walked across the parking lot to the alley entrance. A small group of men and women standing around the back door, and the largest of them broke away and moved to intercept her. He was massive, black, and the muscles straining his T-shirt made him look like a beating waiting to happen.
"Hey. I'm Milhous... are you Ariadne's friend?"
His voice was gentle, and she found herself smiling as she approached. She took the hand he offered, her small fingers completely enveloped in his. "I am. I'm Dale Frye. What exactly happened?"
Milhous turned and led her back to the group. "Barry, that's the afternoon ‘tender, came in to set up and found a van parked here with the back doors open. He went downstairs, found ‘em messing around in the back, chased ‘em out. He got a partial license plate and he saw they had boxes of that wolfsbane shit Ariadne's been talking about. He already had a tickle at the back of his throat so he didn't want to risk going back in, and he didn't want anyone else going in, either."
One of the men standing near the door glanced up when they got closer, and Dale assumed he was Barry. "Hi. I'm... a private investigator." They didn't have to know she was just Ari's assistant. "You don't have to worry about coming up with a cover story for me. I know what's going on here. How do you feel? Any nausea or strange thoughts?"
"I think I'm okay for now. How long you think it'll be before I snap?"
"I don't know. You may not have been exposed enough to completely lose control. If I were you I'd go home and get some rest, wait for it to blow over. After a couple of days you should be out of danger."
"Me and everyone around me," he said. "People are saying this stuff makes us go berserk. We attack people we love, just tear ‘em to bits. Is that going to happen to me?"
"I doubt it," Dale said softly. "Could you tell me where you saw the brown powder?"
Barry pushed away from the wall. "I'll show you. It's easier than trying to explain."
"Are you sure?"
"Hell, I been down there once. Either I'm infected or I'm not. A few more minutes won't make a difference."
"I appreciate it." She took off her cap and ruffled her hair so it would lay flat. Barry stopped moving and stared at her, and she noticed that everyone else was staring as well. "What? What did I do?"
Milhous said, "You have red hair."
Dale furrowed her brow. "Yeah."
"No, it's... I'm not judging. I just didn't know Ariadne went for that kind of thing."
"Redheads?"
"No. Uh. Look, never mind."
Dale looked at the gathered group. "Am I missing something?"
Barry said, "Look, let's just go down and check things out, all right? I don't want to be outside if this thing hits me. The longer we stand here gawking, the longer it'll take me to get home."
Dale followed him inside. The back door led directly to a store room crowded with boxes of liquor. Rows of shelves held crates of glasses, coasters, napkins, and other ephemera that all bars required. Barry turned on the lights and walked to one of the shelves. "This is where I found the powder. One of the guys was in here and he bum-rushed me on his way out. I started to chase him and another guy came out through the main door and knocked me down. That's when I saw the powder here on the ground." He started to stretch his toe out to touch it
.
"No, I see it. Stay back."
He retreated and covered his nose and mouth with the collar of his T-shirt. Dale crouched next to the spill and touched a little with her pinkie. She brought it to her nose, smelled carefully, and then used one of the napkins to wrap the finger up until she had a chance to wash it properly. She pulled out one of the boxes near the spill and sniffed again. "Kind of cinnamon..."
"Huh?"
She shrugged. "You or Ari could probably be a lot more specific about its scent, but I smell something like cinnamon. They were dusting the glasses with the wolfsbane." She looked back at him. "So. What's the joke about my hair?"
"Huh?" he said again.
Dale stood up. "Outside, when I took off my hat. It just seemed like it was a weirdly big deal that I have red hair. Is that some kind of canidae joke?"
He looked down at his feet. "Oh, that. No. Uh, not-not really. I mean, it's..." He chuckled. "Are you a hood?"
"I don't know what that is."
"They're usually college girls. They know about us, and it turns them on. So they get together and come down here. They find one of us to take home for a screw, and the canidae... you know... changes? During the..."
Dale raised an eyebrow. "They become the wolf during sex?"
"Different strokes, right?"
Dale shuddered. "I guess. But... no, for the record, I am not a hood. They all have red hair?"
"Most of them. I'm sure some of them dye it to fit in with the crowd. Milhous doesn't like it, but the management doesn't really care. He says if a human girl shows up with red hair, she gets an exemption and he has to let her in."
"Wow." She shook her head and went to the swinging door between the store room and the bar. "Well, just for the record, that's not me. I'm going to look around and see if I can find anywhere they messed with in the main bar. Hang out here."
"No problem."
She wet a towel in the sink and used it to wipe down any surfaces the hunters may have applied wolfsbane to, checking the color of the towel to see if it was discolored before she moved to the next item. She found a sprinkling of dust near the glasses, and more around the patron-side of the bar. She realized there was a chance she was also wiping away fingerprints of the people responsible, but it didn't seem likely the police would be very interested in a break-in where nothing was taken and the only evidence was a little dust.