“Wait.” The single word echoed.
Zed’s lips twitched at the corners before he turned. “Yes?”
“I don’t mind if you walk me to the door.”
From her position, she could reach out and touch the door. What she wanted was someone to have her back once she got inside, someone to tell her it would be okay if it turned out the worst was true.
“Are you sure?” He backed another step toward the truck. “I don’t want to impose.”
“This restaurant hasn’t closed early once in the thirty years it’s been open.” Her fingers curled in the air as if gripping Zed’s shadow might haul him closer. “She rarely gets sick, and when she does, she calls in family to keep the place running. Mom hasn’t heard about this, or I would have known before I got here.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I’d like to put off calling the police until I see if she left a note for the family inside or…” Her bottom lip trembled. “I don’t want to panic Mom for nothing.”
“I’m happy to help.” His long strides ate up the distance between them, and he hesitated on the edge of the asphalt when the woman skittered away from me. “She won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“A lot of folks say that about their dogs.” Her gaze challenged him. “Just because she won’t bite you doesn’t mean she won’t bite me.”
“Fair enough,” he conceded the point.
Zed gave her space to lead us to the back door, also marked with a P. She unlocked it and nudged it inward, holding it open in silent invitation to join her. He accepted without comment, allowing her to keep her pride.
“Can you tie her, um, Dell, up out there?” She gestured toward a black squiggle of metal it took me a second to recognize as the bike rack she must have been eyeballing earlier. “Aunt Li would have a cow if I let a dog into her restaurant.”
“Don’t argue.” I padded toward it and sat. “Tie me up, but leave the door cracked. I’ll nose my way in.”
“Sure thing, boss.” He didn’t tie me off so much as he wrapped the rope around one of the piped loops. Free of his “pet,” the woman welcomed him across the threshold. Acting the part of the gentleman, Zed got between her and the knob, taking control of the door and stopping it from closing flush with the frame. A minute or two passed. “We’re in the kitchen. You better get while the getting’s good.”
Walking away provided enough resistance to free me. Careful of my sensitive nose, I wedged it in the crack Zed had left for me and nudged open the door. I trotted in, gagged as my oxygen vanished, and hit the floor on my butt. The closing door had clamped down on the frayed end of the lead and choked me. Suppressing a growl that would blow my cover, I doubled back, bit the rope and yanked it through the gap. Afraid of getting tangled again, I kept the end clenched between my teeth as I started exploring the dining area, doing my best impression of that self-walking dog meme.
The smells of humans, fae and wargs mingled here, but none gave off the bright-sharp Faerie scent that tingled in my nose and announced a deserter’s presence. With the possibility eliminated, I made the only logical conclusion. Our perpetrator was local. Fae territorial dispute maybe? No. Probably not. Ms. Zhuang was human.
I huffed out a breath, wishing Cam were here. She was the one who had attended marshal academy, not me. I was flying by the seat of my pants and—newsflash—I wasn’t wearing any.
Whoever was behind the disappearances must be luring his or her victims from their places of business. How else were they taking them without signs of a struggle? Butler was a quiet town, but far from dead. Even after dark, it had a faint pulse. Did that mean the person responsible was casting glamour over themselves and their victims to cover up evidence of a crime? Glamour wasn’t a sound barrier, but people trusted their eyes over all other senses.
A disturbing thought occurred to me. With a glamour-happy fae on the loose, who’s to say they hadn’t appeared to Tim as Tina? Or to Ms. Zhuang as her niece? Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. They could lure anyone with the right motivation. Too bad I didn’t know what theirs was.
Pounding beats drummed in my head. This detective stuff was harder than it looked on TV.
Muffled voices set me on alert as the whoosh of a swinging door warned me I was no longer alone in the customer-friendly area of the restaurant. Zed and the woman exited the kitchen, and she cocked her head at the front door. A dreamy expression settled on her face as she reached for the note taped to the glass.
While they were otherwise occupied, I slipped into the kitchen and started exploring the preparation area. Not a single item was out of place, and not a single drop of blood had been spilled here. Not within the last few days at least. But the telltale stink of well-done electronics assaulted my nose near the dual stainless refrigerators. Those would require immediate replacements. So had Ms. Zhuang not opened Panda that morning? Or had she noticed the dead appliances and rushed to purchase new ones? Or had she not gotten the chance?
One thing was for certain, no work had been accomplished here today. The fridges filled with supplies gradually achieving room temperature had made that an impossibility. And the entire place was spotless.
The Cantina had been spick and span, too, but I had assumed that was due to Mrs. O helping her husband clean before she went home for the night. What if there was more to it than that? What if this was some other type of sterilization?
I’d heard of erasure spells. Even sniffed the nose-numbing, scentless vacuum that cleansed the air after a proper casting. But those wiped objects in a confined area clean of magic and its accompanying scents versus it being a spell that magically put away dishes and put away groceries Fantasia-style.
“Joann?” Zed’s voice rumbled from the other room.
I peeked into the dining area and found Ms. Zhuang’s niece standing at the door with the sign in her hands and a glazed look in her eyes. She didn’t blink at the sound of her name being called. I got the distinct feeling the lights were on, but no one was home.
“Put the note back where it came from and lead her outside.” I shouldered through the door into the room with them. For once, the woman—Joann apparently—didn’t recoil. She didn’t react, period. “I have a theory I want to test.” I started toward the exit then pulled up short. “Wipe anything you touched in the areas usually off-limits to customers.”
As far as I knew, Zed didn’t have a criminal record, with fae or human law enforcement agencies, but I didn’t want to take chances. All the crime shows I had ever seen made it seem like fingerprints were as good as photo IDs, and I didn’t want anyone matching them up to us.
“All right.”
He darted into the kitchen, snapped on a clear rubber glove and grabbed a damp cloth from the sink. He made quick work of cleaning the surfaces he had come into contact with then tossed the rag into a bucket labeled “dirty.” He took the sign from her fingers and pressed it to the glass then led her out by the wrist with the glove acting as a barrier between them. Joann didn’t speak, blink or protest her treatment as he leaned her against the car’s door to help her balance.
“This is wrong.” He noted my retreat into the alley with a scowl. “We can’t leave her like this.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to.” Not if I was right about this. “Come on. Get over here.”
He obeyed with reluctance that would have earned him a nip had he been a wolf too. Together we stood watch over Joann. A good ten minutes passed before she gasped for air, sucking in deep breaths through pale lips. Her dark eyes widened at her surroundings, confusion written over her face.
“Let her see you approach.” I nudged him with my head. “Slowly.”
Reenacting our earlier arrival, we made it two steps before Joann leaned through the open window of her car, snagged her purse off the front seat and whipped out an industrial-size can of Mace she aimed at Zed’s face and then at mine. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“Zed Ames.” He cast me a dubious look. “I came from just over
there.” He indicated the shadows. “I was walking my dog.”
“That is not a dog.” A strange expression tugged at her face. “I…” She lowered the can a fraction. “How did I get here?” She aimed the question at herself. “I was in the car…and then…”
Zed held statue-still so as not to startle her into hosing us with pepper spray. “Is there anyone I can call for you?”
“No.” She patted her pockets until she located a ring of keys. “Thanks, but I’m good.” She gestured toward Panda. “That’s my aunt’s restaurant.”
Taking the out we had been offered, I leaned against the rope. “We should make our exit while she’s still disoriented.”
He was slow to follow. “I don’t feel right leaving her in this condition.”
He wasn’t the only one. The poor woman had had her bell rung by some kind of magical something, and she was about to get a second, even nastier surprise when she realized her aunt was missing. “Do you actually have a phone, or were you intending to use someone else’s?”
He made a familiar move that usually signified he was going for his wallet, but he came out with a thin phone instead. “Cam gave it to me for emergencies.”
“Good. Call the cops and report a disoriented woman walking around the parking lot behind Panda. Point out how late it is, and tell them you’re afraid she’ll injure herself or wander into traffic.” Such as it was. “Maybe then they’ll dispatch help faster. Hey. Wait a minute.” I flattened my ears against my head. “Why didn’t I get a phone?”
He tapped the sliver of black plastic against his thigh. “What did you do with the last one?”
“I…” I had a vague memory of Cam issuing me a burner phone before the Lorimar pack bond was cemented so we could keep in touch. God only knew where it ended up during the move. “Okay, fine. I see your point.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” he teased.
“Ugh.” Boys. Befriending them meant expecting penis jokes to pop up in casual conversation. “Don’t remind me how many times I’ve seen your junk.”
“What’s a little social nudity between friends?” Forehead wrinkled, he started tapping at the device in his palm. Five minutes later, he had managed to dial 911. Ten minutes later, he finished walking the dispatcher through our cover story then promised to wait around until the cops arrived.
“Can they track you with that?”
“I doubt it. It’s one of those units you buy at a big box store and fuel with minutes on plastic cards you buy in the checkout line. As long as you pay in cash and use a dummy email, it doesn’t leave a trail.” His eyes narrowed in suspicion at its screen. “Just in case, I think I’ll burn it when we get home.”
Even as tech challenged as I was, I knew burner phones weren’t literally phones you set on fire when you finished with them. In this case, a smidge of arson might not be a bad idea though. “Knock yourself out.”
“You probably shouldn’t be here when the cops arrive.” He smirked at me. “Unless you want me to explain your BM schedule to them too?”
“One day, Zed, you’re going to pay for this. I don’t know when or how, but it’s going to happen.” And it would probably involve laxatives mixed into an easy-to-stir form of takeout. “I promised myself a hunt, so don’t wait up if I get home late.”
“Be careful, and avoid the main road.” He bent down and ruffled my fur then scratched my ears until my back leg thumped. “Maybe Cam is rubbing off on you. This whole junior detective thing looks good on you. Maybe a mystery was all you needed to get your mind off things.”
Things being code for He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Answering required more time to form a response than I had. Sirens wailed in the distance, and I took my exit cue before animal control got called.
Chapter 9
A hunting we will go… A hunting we will go…
The wolf, unamused by my off-key singing while she was shoulder-deep in grass ripe with chipmunk smells, placed her paw on my consciousness and pushed down enough I took the hint. Either I shut up and went along for the ride, or I woke up naked in a field with no memory of how I’d gotten there.
Chuckling, I subsided and let her have her fun. After the craziness of the past few days, she’d earned it.
Thick grasses tickled my flanks, and I breathed in the cool air, weighing its difference in my lungs and deciding I liked its brisk edge. Tennessee itself wasn’t my problem. I liked the area just fine. Some things, like the higher mountains and denser forests, reminded me enough of Georgia I could pretend I was back in Villanow. Except the only way I could visit my old hometown was in my dreams.
Being exiled by Bessemer meant there was no going back, and maybe that’s why I clung to the idea of home so hard. Unlike the others, who stood a slim chance of visiting with our former alpha’s blessing, assuming they bowed and scraped enough to satisfy his pride, I would be killed for trespassing.
Thinking of home was like worrying a sore tooth. You know poking it will hurt, and yet you can’t keep your tongue from jabbing at the tender spots.
The wolf swatted me again, ready to bite me if I didn’t stop leaking human thoughts into what should have been a carefree romp punctuated by the munch of ground squirrels between her teeth.
A scent tantalized her nose, and she locked her knees where she stood. Water pooled in her mouth as a blur of dark brown scurried past. The wolf broke free of me, giving chase. Five easy strides, and she ducked her head, snapping her jaws. Warm copper flowed over her tongue while I tried not to think too hard about the crunching noises cute, furry woodland creatures made. Honestly? This deep in the wolf’s mind, it only made my stomach rumble.
The tickle of a song whispered on the breeze, and I urged the wolf closer to the edge of the grassy pasture. The masculine voice raised hairs down her spine while it turned my middle to warm goo. A muzzy part of my brain warned here be magic, and a whine lodged in the wolf’s throat, but no amount of mental caution flags could slow me as I tumbled down an embankment in my quest to follow the enchanting sound.
My paw wrung an overgrown chipmunk hole, and this time I went down hard, bumping my chin on the ground and clacking my teeth together. I bit my tongue in the process, and the taste of pennies filled my mouth. That burst of pain shattered my hold over the wolf, and she spun on her heel and ran until her nostrils stung with each inhale and her eyes watered from the chill in the air.
Panicked by my despondence, she did what I normally forbade her to do and bolted for the road. From here it was a straight shot home that allowed her to avoid the fences or homeowners armed with rifles and un-wolf-friendly dispositions. She reached the parking lot at the RV park before withdrawing in a rush that jerked me through an unexpected change bordering on a seizure.
That’s how Moore found me, delirious and naked in the gravel. I would be lying if I didn’t say my gut pitched at my vulnerable position and how he towered over me. I couldn’t take him in a fight without the wolf, and she was nowhere to be found.
“Not that I don’t appreciate the view,” he said, eyes locked on mine, “but don’t you need sun if you’re going to tan?”
“Do I look like I’m sunbathing?” I snapped, curling on my side. “Make yourself useful. Go find Abram.”
Try as I might, the pack bond slipped through my grasp. My head was too muddled to maintain a connection, and my eyes rolled shut.
“Dell?” A spike of honest concern lifted Moore’s voice.
A door slammed off in the distance. “What’s going on out here?” Footsteps crunched over gravel. “What’s wrong with her?”
I cracked my eyes open in time to see Enzo squaring off against Moore.
“I don’t know.” Moore raised his hands. “I’m on sentry duty. I found her like this.”
“Dell?” Enzo leaned over me. “Can you hear me?”
I attempted to nod. Bad idea. I rolled on my side and dry heaved until my empty stomach gave up the fight.
“I’m going to pick y
ou up now, okay?” Enzo’s fingers brushed my bare hip, and he yanked his hand back like that small contact had burned him. “I’m sorry about this. I apologize in advance.”
The witch scooped me up and cradled me against his chest before Moore recovered enough to bully his way back into the conversation.
“You’re not pack, witch. We don’t need your magic.” He puffed out his chest. “Give her to me, she’s my beta.”
The possessive thread in his tone churned my gut, and I almost emptied my tender belly again.
“I’ll take whatever help I can get.” My head lolled against Enzo’s shoulder. “Go find Abram, Moore. Please?”
Moore grunted but set off at a trot. I didn’t ask why he didn’t just ping Abram mind to mind, and he didn’t say. Whatever got him gone worked for me. The threat of finding myself bundled in his arms was too much for me right now.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Enzo peered down at me, eyes on my face and not an inch lower. “I don’t see any cuts or bruising.”
“I don’t know.” I focused on breathing in and out and not losing consciousness. “I was hunting chipmunks in a pasture outside town. I heard…” I shut my eyes and focused but hit a blank space in my memory. “I can’t remember what. Everything after that third chipmunk is a haze.”
His lips pursed in consideration. “Could you find the location again?”
“Maybe by scent?” The general area was the same as where I usually hunted. “I would have left a trail.”
Assuming whoever or whatever scrambled my brains hadn’t covered it behind me.
“Aisha told me you’re working a missing persons case.”
A growl tickled the back of my throat. “Why were you talking to Aisha?”
The indulgent twinkle in his eyes made me cringe. I hadn’t meant to come off as possessive, just pissed.
“I was on my way to the lake earlier and spotted Nathalie and Aisha in the parking lot. Nathalie was checking in with the sentries and left me to babysit Aisha.” He shook his head. “Her words, not mine.” He jostled me as he wrestled with the door. “I asked if she’d seen you around, and she said you were busy with a case in town.” He peered down at me. “Investigative work is new for you, right?”
Promise the Moon (Lorimar Pack Book 1) Page 9