Going Under

by Lauren Dane

  “Yes. Especially now.”

  “Like how?”

  “Do you really want to know? Don’t you want plausible deniability? Or whatever.”

  She held her eye roll in check. “I’m not your attorney. I need to know. I’m fine not answering a question if I feel that’s what’s necessary. And I don’t need to know every little detail. I just need to know what you’re doing. If it comes up I should have the information. It vexes me when I should know things and I don’t.”

  He blew out a breath. “We want to know what all the powerful humans in the area are up to. What their affiliations are. Lark thought it was best to keep an eye on PURITY headquarters to see who came and went.”

  “Smart.” And it was. These people had a big say in whatever direction all this went. It was important to know who they were inside. What they supported and believed in.

  “So that’s pretty much it. We look into donations for the big anti-Other organizations. Who goes to dinner with whom. That sort of thing.”

  “Have you connected with your counterparts in different, um, Other groups? I don’t even know what to call it, them, jamborees, packs, nests, whatever.”

  He snorted a laugh and pulled into a spot next to a parking meter.

  “Lark has made some connections. I’ve worked some with Megan Warden, she’s the Enforcer for Cascadia. Smart. The vampires aren’t as open to us as the shifters have been. They’re scared of Lark though.”

  Molly could believe it. The woman may have been tiny and blue haired, but Molly knew a predator when she saw one and Lark was that.

  “Well, I’m meeting with someone from the local nest next week so I can bring it up then.”

  He groaned. “You are? Did you clear it with Faine? You can’t go unescorted.”

  “Rita made the arrangements. She told me she’d clear it with your office.”

  He got out and moved to her side to open her door. His gaze never stopped moving as she got out.

  “By the way, that spell you did last night—outside the restaurant—what was it?”

  “Do you want to learn it?”

  She nodded.

  “I’ll teach you tomorrow.”

  * * *

  NO one looked at them twice as they were met by Detective Alder. When he saw Gage he glowered a little and Molly watched him, learning him as he took them back to his desk and had them sit.

  “Detective Alder, this is Molly Ryan. She’s the one who received the death threat I told you about.”

  “Why didn’t you report this yesterday?”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Detective.” Molly held a hand out and, as she suspected, he was raised well enough to take it. “I appreciate your seeing us today.” She brought her chair a little closer and changed the pitch of her voice slightly. He’d have to pay closer attention, which is what she wanted. “Shall I be totally honest about why we didn’t come in yesterday?”

  He looked surprised. She sensed Gage’s surprise as well, but he let her go without interruption.

  “Yes, that’s the point, Ms. Ryan.”

  She smiled charmingly. “Oh please, do call me Molly. We did report this yesterday of course.” She flipped open her notepad. “I’ve got the details here. We called it in and as no one was available to come to us, we made this appointment for today. I’m sure you understand what it is to have so many things to do at work you can’t stop for anything else. I had several prior engagements and then of course after dinner we were assaulted by PURITY protesters outside the restaurant. Busy day. That’s why we came in today.”

  Detective Alder wanted to dislike her. She could sense it. But she needed to make that impossible. Needed him to see her as a person. Clearly he saw her as an Other, and that was fine. She was an Other after all. But she was a person. He’d help a person; he was a police officer after all.

  He cleared his throat. “Assaulted? Did you report this?”

  “We called it in once we got Ms. Ryan to the car safely. Dispatch said they’d send someone over. We had guards posted outside the restaurant and by their reports no one showed up for an hour. But the officers on the scene did speak with the owner and make sure the protesters didn’t block fire exits or harm anyone coming or going.”

  Molly leaned in just a little. “Seems to me, Detective Alder, that it’s bad for business, bad for the city and bad for her citizens if they can’t even eat a burrito in peace. If we can’t express our beliefs without harming other people, what does that say about our beliefs? We don’t expect their rights of free speech to be violated, of course. We just don’t want to be physically attacked. The two things are not mutually exclusive.” She used a little bit schoolteacher, a little bit librarian and a little bit mother. It was a lecture and a tease all at once.

  There was a little upward movement at the edges of his mouth. Just for a brief moment, but she knew she was winning him over. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She pushed the copy of the email they’d received his way. “We sent the original with the header information to your email address here.”

  He read it, his face darkening as he did. Once he finished he looked up at her. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

  “You and me both, Detective. I’m not used to death threats. Heck, I’m in PR and I’ve never received one before.”

  He looked her over and shook his head. “We’ll look into it. I can’t promise you much. We’re short staffed and a lot of this email stuff is a dead end.”

  “Used an anonymizer. We tried to track it as well.”

  Alder looked to Gage. “You keeping an eye on her then? In case?”

  Gage nodded. “Yes, she’s being guarded at all times. As are many of our leadership. This isn’t the first death threat we’ve received since the Magister.”

  Alder blew out a long breath. “Did you report any of them?”

  “After the first you mean? When one of your compatriots told me I was lucky no one had killed us yet and to keep my head down and it would blow over?”

  Molly sat straighter, shocked. She’d have to speak with Gage about not springing that stuff on her.

  “Who said that to you?” Alder’s eyes went hard, his jaw tightened. He was offended by that sort of thing. She knew he’d do the right thing, even if he was uncomfortable with the whole coming out of Others.

  Gage gave him a name and Molly made a little note to be sure to follow up as well. It was not to be tolerated.

  “My apologies Ms. Ryan. Molly. I promise you I’m taking this seriously. I’ll do what I can. But you need to stay vigilant. There are plenty of kooks who don’t bother with threat notes. They just cut straight to the point. Gage, I’ll get back with you on the other threats. I’d like to see them all. Just get them into my hands directly and we’ll be sure they’re taken seriously.”

  They stood and Alder walked them out, shaking her hand before turning to Gage. “We should make some time to talk about all this. Maybe work on liaising better.”

  Gage relaxed his spine just a little. “I’d appreciate it.”

  * * *

  HE walked her out, not saying much until they’d pulled away from the curb and headed away.

  “You’re fucking amazing. That’s all I’m saying.”

  She turned her body toward him. “What makes you say that? I mean, thank you and all.”

  “It’s not only your magick. You have a great deal of personal charisma and charm. That’s one thing and it opens the door for you to make a point. But it’s the way you use your charm and then your brain and posture and what you say and how you say it to totally get past people’s defenses. It’s brilliant.”

  “Oh. Well.” She ducked her head. “Thank you.”

  “What’s your plan for the day? Where to next?” He didn’t want to embarrass her but he definitely planned to go to Meriel to tell her what an amazing job she’d done that morning.

  “I have some phone calls to make, but those notes are here with me so I can do them from my hotel room easily
enough. I have some press releases to write. I want to update the website with a little statement about what happened last night.”

  “All right. How about you come with me out to my mother’s house today? I want to check on her. She lost her brother, my uncle. Well, you knew that part.”

  He found himself talking more than he’d planned to with her. At first he’d suspected her magick, but it was more that she was a good listener and maybe just a little bit that he wanted her to know him. She was new to Seattle after all and needed friends. He could do that.

  “You can make your calls first and then take your laptop to her place. I can guarantee you she’ll have a fire going and some soup cooking. She’s got a big glassed-in porch that overlooks her garden and the Cedar River down the hill. You can work on your press releases there, right?”

  “I don’t want to be in the way. I can work from the hotel and you can go see her. I promise not to leave or do anything silly.”

  “No. I think she’d enjoy having you there. She needs a visit and the company and really it gives me an excuse to drop in. I can tell her you need the company. She’s a doctor as well as one of those nurturers. She likes being useful.”

  “But chafes at the idea of being a burden?”

  Shocked that she was so spot on, he held his words back for a moment. “Yes. I want to check on her but I don’t want her to think I’m only checking on her because I’m worried.”

  “All right. It should take me an hour or two to get the calls taken care of. So let’s go to the office. I’ll do them there and you can get all the information to Detective Alder.”

  “Deal.” He’d be able to watch them both.

  “Rosa, my foster mom? She’s a nurturer too.” Molly spoke as they got onto the elevator at the Owen building.

  “She’s a teacher. Or, was a teacher I guess. They’re trying to fire her. Her union is protecting her, thank goodness, but there’s a lot of pressure for her to retire early.”

  “You said she came into your life later on?”

  “Yes. I was thirteen. She was my humanities teacher in seventh grade. She knew I had magick. She asked me about it one day but I didn’t know what she was talking about. Lucky for me, she called my mother and they met. It was hard for us to believe at first. But when someone shows you they can do magick and then helps you do some yourself it’s sort of impossible to deny.”

  The elevator doors slid apart and that openness fell away, replaced by her reserve. He wanted more, damn it.

  “This is us. I’ll text you when I’m finished, all right?”

  Reluctant, he nodded. “Yes. See you in a bit.”

  He wandered back toward his office but veered off to see if Meriel was around, which of course she was.

  He tapped on her door and she looked up, tiredness all around her eyes. “Hey there, do you have a few minutes?”

  “Yes, of course.” She pointed to the table near the windows. “Sit and I’ll get us both a cup of coffee.”

  He did, staring out over the city below. This high up the rain was still snow and it fell past his gaze, easing his anxiety a little.

  “Loving this thing Dom gave me.” She indicated the single-cup coffeemaker as she put a mug in front of him. “I’d offer you milk but I know you don’t use it. Sugar is right there.” She sat. “I tell myself I don’t actually drink more coffee every day since I got it. I do have tea and hot cocoa and stuff.” Meriel sipped with a happy sigh. “Oh, the lies we tell ourselves.”

  He laughed.

  Molly eased back in her chair, watching him carefully. “I saw the interview with Molly. She’s really good at this stuff. Briggs had zero idea what to do. She cornered him so well.”

  “She did. She was that way just a bit ago at the police station. Alder has been all right so far. But she charmed him past all right and into downright helpful. Even outraged on our behalf.”

  “So it went well then? The cop thing?”

  “Reported the death threat against her. The others too. In fact when I mentioned the reception we got the first time we tried to report he was not pleased. Asked me to send everything we had directly to him. That’s next on my list. I have to hand it to her, I was really dead set against even bothering with the authorities and she’s turned me around. Reported that bullshit from last night too.”

  “Molly and I had a talk about it yesterday. Reporting things to the cops and FBI I mean. She sees it as our right as citizens and she’s not going to let them shirk.” Meriel shrugged. “She’s right of course. I think her perspective is important. Especially now. She remembers what it means to be human in a different way than we who’ve grown up in clans do.”

  “You made a good choice when you hired her.”

  “She handling it all okay? You see her more than I do.”

  “Death threats are no fun. She was shaken up last night when the protesters rushed us. But she refused to take the back way. She’s strong.”

  Meriel nodded. He filled her in on everything else and by the time he’d left, he felt better. Meriel had that way about her.

  Chapter 10

  BY the time they headed back to the hotel it had been a very, very long day. Molly had enjoyed her time at Gage’s parents’ house. His father had been warm and welcoming, interested in what Molly did for a living. His mother, well, she’d been overjoyed to see Gage when they’d arrived.

  It’d been easy for an outsider to see how much Shelley had needed the visit from her son. She’d tutted over how thin he’d looked and the shadows under his eyes before she turned her attention to Molly.

  She’d fed them both. Repeatedly as the time had worn on. True to Gage’s word, Molly had been able to work and finish her press releases in the sunroom that had overlooked the garden. No one had bothered her except to bring her a cup of tea here and there.

  And when she’d finished up, they’d all ended up watching a movie and gorging on pizza and popcorn. It had been the first time in well over a month that Molly had actually relaxed. She’d really needed something delightfully normal and it had been that in spades.

  “You were good to my mom today. Thank you.” Gage came into her room to do his usual checking under the bed and testing the wards.

  She put her shoes in the hall closet and hung her coat up as well. “She was the one who was good to me. I was thinking on the way back here that this evening was the first time I felt truly relaxed since . . . well, before the Magister.”

  He stood in her entry and she waved him all the way inside. “Are you staying here tonight?” She blushed. “I mean, next door? If so, I’ve got a bottle of wine if you’d like a glass.”

  He’d reached out to her when she’d really needed it. Plus she liked being with him. He smelled good. Made her feel safe and there was no denying he was nice to look at.

  And she wasn’t ready to be alone yet.

  He smiled. “Yes. I sent Faine home for the weekend. A glass of wine sounds good.”

  “I’ll be right back. I’m going to change out of these work clothes. There may be some cheese or something like that in the fridge. Meriel sent over a basket yesterday.”

  She ducked into the bedroom and then stood there as she tried to figure out what to wear. Sweats? No. Yoga pants? Yes, that would work. She didn’t look herself in the eye in the mirror because for heaven’s sake, the man did not care what she wore! But she did.

  She carefully hung her work clothes up, thankful for the washer and dryer stacked in a nearby closet. It wouldn’t be that hard to live in the hotel for a bit, especially when she could wash her clothes and make her meals.

  When she emerged he’d opened the connecting door to the other room and he’d kicked off his boots, padding around in his socks. She paused, arrested for a moment by the sight and not understanding why. He wasn’t naked for goodness’ sake.

  “There you are.” He smiled her way as his gaze moved up her body, lingering at her breasts, making her glad she wore the snug long-sleeved shirt. He cleared his
throat. “I took the liberty of uncorking the wine and getting the glasses.”

  They ended up settled on the small couch in the living area. She tucked her feet beneath her and grabbed her glass.

  “Wait.” He held his aloft. “To successes. Big and small.”

  She clinked her glass with his before sipping.

  “I’m a little superstitious. I like to make a toast when I drink spirits. It feels like I’m wasting magick if I don’t.”

  She smiled. “I like that. So, what made you decide to be a hunter?”

  “Family business. My father was a hunter. He only retired a few years ago. Before that it was my grandfather, his brother, and so on. There’s been a Garrity in the Hunter Corps since the first years of Clan Owen. Hell, since we all lived on the East Coast. That or Hunters. That’s Nell’s family.”

  “Nell is the hunter out on maternity leave now? The one who was kidnapped just shortly ago?”

  He nodded, the anger on his face drawing deep lines into his forehead. This Nell was clearly important to him.

  “Yes. She and her husband have faded into some well-deserved obscurity. He was wary about her job before. But after the kidnapping, well, let’s just say he is not enthused about the family business at this point. Though he is part owner of Heart of Darkness still. They have a newborn so that’s rightfully their focus. A little girl named Libby.”

  Babies helped you remember what was important in ways nothing else could. “I get that. And I understand why she’d back off. You two were close then?”

  “She’s like a sister. I’m just glad she and the baby are all right. But I miss having her around. Lark and I work well together, don’t get me wrong. I like her. She’s smart and capable and I think she and I run a tight crew.”

  “But it’s not the same.”

  “No. It isn’t.” He snorted. “Do you have a best friend like that?”

  “I did. She . . . the Magister.” Molly licked her lips, suddenly unable to control her emotions.

  He took her hand and she shook her head. “No. I can’t. Not now.”

  He kissed her knuckles and her lids flew up. He filled her vision.