by R. Lee Moore
“Good point,” Decker replied thoughtfully.
“That's what I thought,” Tamina said. “I got a tablet here, can't tell you how I got it, but it's got a suspect on there. Don't know who it is, but if you can grab an image I'm sure that'll help a lot. I'll leave it in the mailbox by my door. Pick it up as soon as you can. Tonight preferably. Don't want it to go missing.”
“I'm guessing I really don't want to know what you're up to,” Decker said. “But I'm sure I'll hear about it in the morning. Good luck and don't get yourself fired over this.”
Tamina smirked and hung up. Even with as much leeway as the law gave her, she'd be lucky if she didn't get thrown in a deep dark cell over what she had in mind. Well, she thought. If she was going to go down she might as well enjoy herself and get at least some measure of justice for the victims doing it.
After gathering a bit of information online, and dropping the tablet into her mailbox and securing the latch tightly, she headed down the stairs to her car. She knew where she was going, and what she was going to do when she got there. There was just one piece of the puzzle missing, and luckily she knew just who to call to get that missing piece.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When Tamina rolled into the parking lot outside the office complex that housed Jennifer King's production company, she'd thought she was going to have to sit around and wait until the backup she'd called for arrived. Instead, she was pleasantly surprised to find the tall athletic looking redhead nonchalantly straddling the back of a motorcycle already waiting for her.
She almost didn't recognize the woman when she first saw her, and if she hadn't spotted the long flowing flame red hair trailing loose down her back, she probably wouldn't have. It felt wrong somehow to see Siobhan out of uniform looking so casual, yet looking so predatory at the same time.
“Hey Red,” Tamina called out as she got out of the Firebird and gave a wave.
“I was sleeping, and it's supposed to be my day off, Martinez,” Siobhan said with a tired yawn. “Ramirez said this was important, though. It better be. I don't have the patience for you right now.”
Tamina grinned as she walked by.
“Have I ever done you wrong, Red?” she said. She could see the other woman's silent response in her narrowed eyes intently staring into her. “Yeah, it's important. C'mon. You're going to love this. Trust me.”
Siobhan's only response was a disapproving grumble as she fell into step behind Tamina. The both of them made their way to the double glass doors that led into the lobby, stopping only long enough for Tamina to do a quick scan of the office directory to find the production offices.
“Third floor,” Tamina said over her shoulder as she started walking towards the bank of elevators on the far wall next to a security desk.
The little man behind the desk rose up to his feet immediately as they drew close and hurriedly flagged both women down calling out for their attention. Tamina didn't bother stopping or even acknowledging the man's existence. She left that to the woman behind her.
Siobhan paused mid-step, turned slowly to face the man, and let out a soft whispering inhuman growl. The growl combined with the woman's narrow-eyed glare sent the security officer falling back into his chair stammering out his desperate and frantic apologies. Siobhan never had to say much. She might not have looked threatening or intimidating at first glance, but all it ever took was seeing the look in her eyes and people had the sudden urge to be elsewhere.
The two of them took the elevator up to the third floor in silence. Once they exited they were confronted by a long empty hallway, and a locked door flanked by a pair of glass windows that stretched from the floor to the ceiling on either side. Tamina peered through the windows impatiently, searching for any signs of life beyond the glass.
Most of the offices she could see appeared to be empty, but it was late enough that she didn't expect to see many people around anyway. She could still see a few lights on in a set of private offices tucked away in the back highlighting the faint outline of a shadowy silhouette moving back and forth behind blind covered windows. Someone was still home.
Tamina jiggled the door handle experimentally, and when it wouldn't budge, she gave the woman at her side a meaningful look and stepped out of her way. Siobhan scowled and moved forward to lean her back against the door. With a sharp mule kick, the door behind her splintered and was torn free from both lock and hinge. What was left went sailing violently behind her hard enough to flip the receptionist's desk it crashed into end over end in a tumbling shower of debris against the wall.
“Really hope for your sake I'm not here just to open up doors for you,” Siobhan said as she stepped out of the way.
Tamina didn't bother answering as she briskly brushed past the other woman into the office. Her focus was on the office door in the back that had flung itself open revealing a shocked and angry Jennifer King standing in the doorway of her office. The anger dissolved the moment the woman laid eyes on Tamina. Fearful recognition flickered over the woman's face making Tamina smile in satisfaction. There it was, Tamina thought. That was the reaction she wanted.
“Jennifer King,” Tamina called out as she marched purposefully towards the other woman. “Just the woman I'm looking for. Got a few questions for you.”
The other woman shrieked out in terror, and promptly slammed her door shut. That was a good start, Tamina thought. That kind of fear was useful. She could work with fear. It made her job a lot easier.
When she got to the office door, Tamina didn't even need to say anything. She just moved out of Siobhan's way and let the redhead drive her shoulder into the door taking it off its hinges for her. The door might not have been locked, but Tamina felt the dramatic effect it had on Jennifer King was more than worth the excess.
The woman screamed from behind her desk, phone in shaky hands with a wild panicked look in eyes still bruised and somewhat swollen from their last encounter.
“Stay back,” King whispered hoarsely. “I've nothing to say to you. Security and the police are already on their way. You need to leave.”
Tamina laughed.
“That's nice, but I don't think so,” she said. “See I got some questions, and I figured you'd be the perfect person to give me answers. So, I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you.”
“No,” King declared vehemently. “I'm not telling you anything. My lawyers-“
“Ain't gonna do shit,” Tamina said cutting her off. “But yeah, I thought that's how you were going to play this, that's why I brought my friend here. I thought maybe if I introduced the two of you, it might change your mind. Maybe give you a new perspective, know what I'm saying.”
“The police-” King started.
“Yea, you said that already,” Tamina interrupted. “Wouldn't hold your breath on them getting here in time, though.”
She casually flopped into an empty chair, and kicked her feet up on the desk in front of her with an unfriendly smile. At first, she kept herself silent letting her eyes speak for her and watching the woman across from her tremble. Fear was a good motivator. It was fear turning the gears in Jennifer King's that was likely conjuring up thoughts and images of all the pain and torment that lay ahead of her. All at the hands of the two women that had forced their way into her office. The woman had been rattled, and that was all the opening Tamina needed.
“I'd like you to meet Siobhan. Believe it or not, she's got even less patience than I do when it comes to people being uncooperative,” she said. “She's just not a people person like I am.”
King shot her eyes back and forth between the two women in front of her fearfully. She was trembling and her face had turned ashen with fear. Tamina watched King's reactions with amused interest. She could see the panic and the desperation filling her eyes and the woman's discomfort sent a cruel thrill all the way through her. I'm going to enjoy this, Tamina thought to herself.
The woman started shouting wildly and calling out for help as she frantically started pu
nching numbers on the phone in front of her. She didn't get very far before Siobhan glided forward and tore the phone from her hands and flung it negligently over her shoulder.
“See what I mean,” Tamina said simply. “See, the thing you got to know about Siobhan, is that when she was just a kid someone decided to up and turn her into a werewolf against her will. I'm sure she was a pretty sweet kid, but she's gotten all kinds of grumpy since then, though. I mean, can't really blame her for that, can you? Anyway, she has this thing about werewolves doing things they shouldn't, and the people that help them do those things. She just kind of loses her senses and all semblance of self-control. Kinda just goes wild. Know what I mean?”
King's reaction was just about what Tamina expected it to be, and it confirmed everything she had already begun suspecting about the woman. An overwhelming sheer terror that washed over the woman hard enough to cause her entire body to shake uncontrollably. The kind of fear that started her babbling incoherently. It was nice, but it wasn't what Tamina was interested in at the moment. She was more interested in Siobhan's reaction to what was being said. She was the key to Tamina's whole plan after all.
Siobhan's had gone quiet and still, and her eyes had narrowed with a keen suspicious interest in Tamina. The kind of interest that told Tamina that if the conversation was going in the direction that the redhead thought it was going, bad things were going to happen. That was what Tamina wanted.
“For example,” Tamina started. “If someone was to say lure someone who trusted them to a film shoot, knowing that they were going to be filmed being murdered and eaten alive by a werewolf. That's the kind of thing that Siobhan has a real big problem with. If it were me, I'd really hate to be the person who was involved with that sorta thing.”
The look on Jennifer King's face when she saw the quick burn of Siobhan's eyes from emerald green to glowing amber told Tamina that everything she'd suspected was true. It explained why the production company had fought against giving Decker the information they had on Amy Lynn. They were most likely stalling for time to get rid of anything that incriminated themselves. It might have worked if Tamina hadn't been involved.
There was shouting behind her, and Tamina turned her head to see office security rushing through the remains of the lobby door. If it had been LAPD, Tamina might have been a bit concerned, but they were just security. They didn't have the training nor the resources to deal with what was going on. The combination of Tamina drawing her sidearm from her jacket and aiming it in their direction, and the snarling growls of the quickly enraging werewolf beside her was enough to make them rethink their options. Without hesitation, they bolted back the way they came leaving Tamina and Siobhan alone with Jennifer King.
They'd likely be on the phone with LAPD pretty quickly after that, which meant that there wasn't going to be much time for Tamina to get what she wanted without interruptions. She still had time though. She could make it work.
“I-I don't know what you're talking about,” King sputtered out.
Tamina turned her attention back to the other woman and shook her head sadly.
“Yeah, don't care,” she told her. “Look, I've had a really long week. I've been beaten up, shot at, tossed around like a rag-doll by a vampire. I'm just not in the mood to deal with your bullshit right now. Besides, you made it pretty clear you weren't going to cooperate. That being the case, I'm not even gonna bother asking you any questions. I'm just going to sit back here and let you talk to my friend instead. I'm sure you'll have lots to say to her. She can be kinda persuasive when she wants to be.”
If Jennifer King was going to respond, she never got the chance. Siobhan lunged forward before the other woman even knew what was happening, and wrapped her long fingers around her wrist. The she-wolf let loose with a deep throated ominous sounding growl, and slowly tightened her grip.
There was a sickening crunch of bone that was quickly drowned out by the shrieking scream Jennifer King let out. The woman's knees buckled, and she fell writhing onto the top of her desk struggling desperately to free herself from Siobhan's grasp.
“Please!“ King cried out over and over.
Tamina felt her rage bursting violently inside her hearing the other woman's pleas. She shot up to her feet and drew herself close enough to look into the pain-filled terrified eyes of the other woman. It was all she could do to keep herself from putting a bullet in the woman's skull right then and there.
“Really,” Tamina seethed. “Because I've seen the videos of what happens at those shoots. I've seen those men and women begging and pleading for mercy, for someone to help them just like you're doing now. You want to guess how that turned out for them?”
Tamina forced herself to take a step back. She had to keep control of herself, or she was going to kill the woman right there on the spot before she got anything out of her.
“I wonder, were you there when Amy Lynn was begging for her life?” she demanded coldly. “Did you stand there like everyone else and watch the werewolf sink its teeth into her, or did you just take the money and run? No. No you stayed and watched the whole time didn't you?”
King began to thrash and kick wildly all around her at anything she could reach. Tamina could see the abject terror in the woman's eyes as the sinking reality of the situation dawned on her heavily. She had to have known that neither Tamina nor Siobhan were going to give her sympathy or mercy. Not after what she'd done. She didn't deserve it.
Siobhan's skin had already begun to ripple and writhe with the change. She was in control, but Tamina could see that it was just hanging on by the barest of threads. Her skin was starting to split open all across her face. Her bones already cracking and reshaping themselves inside her. What flashes of pain there might have been in those amber eyes were hidden away by the feral rage burning through them. She was close. Maybe a bit too close, Tamina thought. She didn't want the wolf to tear King apart before she got all the information she needed.
“I-It wasn't me!“ King screamed.
“Liar,” Siobhan snarled in instant response.
Some shapeshifters could tell when a person was lying to them. Their senses could be honed into something that had a similar effect as a lie detector, and Tamina might have neglected to mention how Siobhan always reacted violently to being lied too.
The she-wolf was in motion before Tamina could stop her. Before she knew it, she'd twisted King's arm and brutally bent it the wrong way to the point where the back of the woman's hand pressed up against her shoulder blades. Tamina winced and quickly averted her eyes. Both from the horrific gurgled scream that came out of King's mouth, and from the sight of her shattered bone ripping through her flesh and sticking out with jagged edges into the air.
“Siobhan!” Tamina shouted over her shoulder. The wolf had escalated things a little quicker than she'd anticipated. “Ease up a little. She can't talk if she's too busy screaming and bleeding out all over the floor.”
“She'll talk,” the wolf growled ominously. The things she'd just heard had enraged her almost past the point of no return. “I'll keep breaking things until she does.”
“I'll talk!” King screamed out in tearful agreement. “Please. Anything you want. Please stop!“
Siobhan didn't let up, and Tamina didn't feel like stopping her. At least not right away. This woman was responsible for Amy Lynn's murder. She deserved everything she was getting, and then some. If Siobhan forced her to feel even a sliver of what Amy Lynn had gone through, Tamina didn't see a problem with it as long as she got what she wanted first.
“You set her up didn't you?” Tamina demanded after getting Siobhan to ease up just a little.
“Yes,” King screamed out pitifully.
“Why?” Tamina asked coldly. “And don't even think about lying, because I have no interest in stopping her from inflicting as much pain as she wants on you.”
“She was leaving,” King cried. “She was leaving after everything we did for her. I-I made her. She was nothing without me!
Nothing!”
That was the wrong thing to say. Tamina pulled herself back to keep herself from killing her right then and there. She didn't trust herself not to after what she'd just heard. This woman had sent Amy Lynn to her death out of spite. Out of some self-entitled ego driven bullshit.
“Break something else,” Tamina raged.
“No!” King screamed.
Siobhan was only too happy to oblige. She gripped the woman's hand, and squeezed until all the bones in her fingers started popping and breaking in rapid succession with an almost popcorn sound. King started thrashing violently on top of the desk. The agony had twisted her expression into a misshapen mask of pain and ripped raw sounding screams from her lips.
“I told you what was going to happen if I ever found out you were doing something like this didn't I,” Tamina said pitilessly. “Who are they? Who'd you sell her out to?”
“I-I don't know,” King cried out earning her an angered snarl from the werewolf tormenting her. “Please-Please I don't know who they are. I swear. They-they contacted me.”
“About Amy?” Tamina demanded. “Was she specifically requested.”
“Yes!“ King wailed. “I-I don't know why. Please. You have to believe me.”
“Mhm,” Tamina said pulling out her phone. “You're going to tell me how to get in touch with whoever these people are. I don't care what you have to do, who you have to talk to. You're going to do it. Otherwise, you aren't making it out of here alive.”
“I can't,” King wailed. “I told you I don't know who they are. Someone gave them my number. I don't know who.”
Tamina shook her head.
“Wrong answer,” she growled. “Unless you want me to leave the room and leave you all alone with Siobhan, you're going to give me what I want. I know you know how to get a hold of these people and where they are. This doesn't end until you do, and you've got a lot of bones left for Siobhan to break.”