by Ivy Sinclair
She was halfway to the door when she realized the potential error of her thought process. Her building, low rent and dilapidated as it was, had a secure entryway. It wouldn’t be possible for someone to get into her building. At least, not without being buzzed in. Someone could have knocked on her door in error. She supposed that could be the case, but she was still cautious as she approached the door. She pushed up on her tiptoes as she looked out the peephole. She couldn’t see anyone outside. She took a step back from the door.
Then she remembered something. She went back to her living room. She found the envelope in the plastic bag. What she was looking for was something that her drunken, exhausted mind had missed. It was the fact that there was no postage mark in the top right corner of the envelope. This had not come to her in the mail. This had been delivered straight to her mailbox.
Now Maggie was terrified. Why had this random anonymous person decided she was the one who needed to receive this information? It had to be because of the publicity around her name in the media when it came to shifter cases. She wondered what that person would think when they realized that she had inadvertently climbed into bed with the enemy.
Maggie made her way back to the door. She slowly opened it with the chain still on it and looked out through the open slit. She didn’t see anyone in the hallway. She unlocked the chain and opened the door further. That was when she saw the delivery on her doormat. It was a single black rose.
“I don’t know who it came from,” she repeated to Tony an hour later. He was sitting in her living room. As if she thought she’d ever see the day. He was huge. Maggie’s apartment was barely 700 square feet. With Tony in it, it felt like he took up the entire space. He had been the first person that she could think of calling when she realized that she might be a target for something far more sinister than she realized.
“Okay. So you got a package delivered to your office. Then last night you came home, you found the envelope in the mail with these pictures. This morning, you discovered the black rose on your doormat.”
“Thanks for the play by play, but I’m well aware of the facts, Tony. I’m the one who is the prosecutor here.” Maggie had a throbbing headache that had started the moment she spied the rose. Tony’s intense line of questioning was driving her nuts.
“You’re sure that this wouldn’t be from some ex-boyfriend or jilted admirer?”
“I think the timing is just a bit of a stretch of a coincidence, don’t you?” Maggie asked. She knew in her gut that the person who had sent the two envelopes was the same person who had left the rose on her doormat. She just didn’t understand what the meaning was behind it. Was it a threat or was it something else?
“Black roses would indicate some kind of affection that was unrequited,” Tony said thoughtfully.
“Can you stop trying to psychoanalyze the situation for a minute, please? I’m being threatened here. I don’t understand why I’ve been targeted to be the one involved in all of this.” Maggie was near hysterics now. Two days ago she had a great job, she had everything that she could really want in life outside of perhaps a relationship. Even that was something that she felt like would come eventually. She was successful, and she was on the way up. Now she felt everything had been torn apart around her, and it all started and ended with the man sitting across from her. She was pissed off.
“I’m trying to help you figure out who could have done this,” Tony said carefully. “I’m trying to help you, and let’s not forget that you called me.”
Maggie leaned back on the couch. “I know, I know. And I know I’m the one who called you. But this is scary.”
Tony moved so he sat next to her on the couch. He didn’t touch her, though. “Maggie, I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The words were said so sincerely that Maggie felt her heart skip a beat. Even after everything she knew had possibly happened that night of October 23, 1999, she still felt completely safe with Tony next to her. Wasn’t that why she had called him to begin with? Her heart and her mind had been in two different places, but her mind was starting to catch up now. And because it had, she was afraid of the situation, but in a completely different way than she was scared of the other one.
“What are we going to do?”
Tony picked up the legal pad that was sitting on the coffee table. Maggie tried to snatch it out of his hand, but he kept it away from her easily by putting it up out of her reach. “I think that you are already heading down the right path if I understand what I see on this notepad.”
“So you want me to dig into that night?” Maggie asked. She had to think that Tony would be reluctant about this particular topic, especially if it could expose that he was actually guilty.
“To be honest, Maggie, I know that Eric has looked into this as much as he could without trying to raise any suspicions. I’ve done the same. Kyle, on the other hand, doesn’t want to have anything to do with it, so we don’t even bring it up to him. But it is disconcerting to have twelve hours of your life unaccounted for. I want to know the truth.”
His earnestness was what drew her in. Why would someone who had murderous tendencies want to possibly expose them? That didn’t make sense. She knew that Tony believed he was innocent. If he wasn’t, she had a feeling that he would be able to explain it away with one of his many psychoanalytic theories that he had been putting forward on the witness stand for years. She realized with a flash of understanding that Tony had in a way been arguing for himself all of this time. He had been prepping for the day when he might have to explain himself. It was a stunning conclusion.
“I don’t know what I could possibly find if you and Eric have already looked into this. You guys have way more resources than I have.”
“But you have something we don’t have. You have the experienced eye of someone who looks at these kinds of cases all the time. You know who to call, and you know how to locate resources that we don’t have. There are people out there who trust you. They would trust you more than they would trust me or Eric or someone from the Urban Dwellers organization. You’re also human. You’re not part of the Urban Dwellers. People will tell you things they won’t tell us.”
“Regardless, if I do talk to someone who is a potential witness, I have to tell them that I am being contracted on behalf of the Urban Dwellers organization.”
“No, you’re not.” Tony said with a smile.
“What do you mean? I signed the contract myself. I know who I am representing.”
Eric leaned over to his briefcase and pulled it up. He took out the contract document and handed it to her. “You really should have read the contract before you signed it. Look again at who you’re representing.”
“I’m representing Gethsemane Enterprises. Your company,” Maggie said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Tony shook his head. “No, I am a silent board member of that particular organization. The CEO is very much human. All the work that is done is research that is all above board and leans heavily in the interest of humans. It’s a cover organization that we formed years ago, for exactly this express purpose. There are times when we can’t appear to have shifter allegiances to get our work done.”
“This says that I am representing you,” Maggie said stubbornly.
“It says that you are representing me under the umbrella of this particular organization. All you need to do is tell people that you’re working on behalf of this company. You don’t have to tell them that I’m the one from the company who retained you.”
Maggie wanted to reach over and bat Tony over the head. “An omission is still a lie, remember?”
“Welcome to this side of the table,” Tony said. He had a small smirk on his face. “I know those do-gooder qualities worked really well when you were representing the state in your cases. You’re going to have to start getting your hands a little dirty when you’re working on cases like this. Don’t you want to be able to get the truth? Which way do you want it, Ms. O’Hara? Do yo
u want the truth or do you want to stick to your ethics?”
Now definitely Maggie wanted to smack him. This conversation was not going at all the way that she wanted it to. She wanted Tony to come over and somehow miraculously save the day. That had been a silly idea.
“So, road trip?” Tony asked her.
Maggie’s mouth fell open. “What?”
“It’s homecoming week at St. Ignacious. A lot of the alums are going back for it. I figure you can go with me, and it’s an all-expenses paid business trip for you. While we’re there, we can take a look around. See if there’s anything to see.”
Maggie couldn’t believe it. “You want me to go on a trip with you?”
“A trip that is directly related to the case,” Tony said. His face softened. “I don’t have to remind you that there is someone who has targeted you. It would make me feel better if you were with me until we can figure out who that is.”
Maggie had a hard time arguing with that logic. “Homecoming, huh?”
Tony’s face broke out in a wide smile. “I know, I know, it’s kind of hokey. But actually, it’s a lot of fun. I think that you will have a great time despite yourself.”
“If I agree to this, I want to be clear that I am not going to have fun or be your date. I’m going strictly in a business capacity. That means separate rooms.”
Tony’s smile grew even wider. He gave her a small salute. “Always one to want to make sure we’re following the letter of the contract. That was fine, Ms. O’Hara. Separate rooms it is.”
Maggie couldn’t believe that she was agreeing to this. It seemed crazy. Moments later, Tony was on his phone talking to his assistant. He told him that he was adding one person to the flight itinerary and to book her a hotel room. He hung up the phone a few moments later. He looked at her expectantly. “It’s all set.”
“So when are we leaving?” Maggie asked.
Tony looked at his watch. “Well, I was supposed to be at the airport ten minutes ago. So how quickly do you think you can pack?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Maggie would never admit it to Tony in ten million years, but she was having fun. After having gotten over the shock that she was expected to leave her apartment and her cat for several days, she hastily threw a bunch of clothes into her suitcase and was escorted out the door.
Tony promised her that if there was anything that she needed and had forgotten, they could go on a shopping spree. She reminded him that she did not work on the kind of salary that allowed for shopping sprees. He told her that if there was something that she needed to expense it to him as part of her fee. She stopped arguing with him after that. There was no point.
The next new experience was flying in a private jet. Maggie had never been in a private jet; her whole perspective was based on what she had seen on TV or in the movies. It had been a bit of a shock to enter to the airport and be driven to the garage that housed the private jets. Tony, Eric, and Kyle apparently shared a private jet between the three of them for Urban Dweller business. After less than five minutes in one, she definitely could see the appeal.
The plane was small and sleek and seated eight people inside. The interior was designed for maximum comfort. It seemed like every time she turned around, there was a flight attendant next to her asking her if there was anything that she needed. If she kept hanging around Tony, she was going to get spoiled. Since she figured it would never happen again, she decided to enjoy every minute of it.
Her head was still achy from all the liquor the night before, so she decided to play it safe. Seltzer water was all that she ordered. There was also a meal that was provided by Tony’s private chef. She kept wondering when the luxuries were going to end, but it didn’t appear it was going to be any time soon.
About halfway through the flight, the copilot came back and spoke to Tony. It seemed that their delayed departure was causing some consternation with the airfield outside of Croftsborrow. Tony offered the equivalent of a bribe to ensure they landed on time, since apparently they had a schedule once they landed. Maggie didn’t want to know anything about Tony’s less than aboveboard activities, whether he was her client or not. She spent the majority of the flight studying her notes. Tony had brought along the file that he had showed to her at his apartment. She compared the pictures with the driver’s licenses, and indeed it appeared that the three women were the same. He also emailed her all the information that the Urban Dwellers had dug up on the girls, although it wasn’t much.
It was baffling to her that since the date of the incident, no one had seen or heard from the girls again, which seemed to lend credence to the idea that something bad had happened to them that night. But what was more unsettling was that no missing reports had ever been filed for them. She double-checked Tony’s intel several times. Things weren’t adding up.
Two of the girls were eighteen at the time of their disappearance, and one of them was nineteen. They all listed addresses that were in a town called Franklins Bluff, which was about fifty miles away from St. Ignacious. She asked Tony how he might have met these three women. He said he had no idea. Even though they were allowed off school property, they rarely went outside of Croftsborrow unless they were going home for the holidays. He didn’t remember meeting any one of the three girls at all.
She studied their pictures. All of the girls were pretty. One had remarkably striking fire engine red hair. Her name was Jillian. Allison and Tiffany were both brunettes and so closely resembled each other that Maggie thought they had to be related despite their different last names.
Maggie was glad that she had decided to use the flight to work. It made her feel like there was some semblance of normalcy in her life. Tony was working as well. He had told her that he had a medical conference coming up where he had been asked to be the keynote speaker to present highlights from his latest research. She wondered what it was like to jet set all over the world. It seemed as if Tony was always up to something, be it on the witness stand, speaking at conferences, or writing research articles for magazines. He was a man in demand.
Maggie looked up from her laptop and stretched. She saw Tony staring intently at his laptop screen. She took the opportunity to study him for a moment. From the side, he had a striking profile. His hair was tussled again in the way that she remembered from the evening before. It made him appear younger than his thirty-five years. She had heard that shifters aged more slowly than humans in general. She didn’t know if that was true, because she hadn’t known a shifter long enough to be able to tell if there were aging affects or not. His biceps made it appear as if he spent a good deal of time in the gym.
Maggie couldn’t help but wonder then what his wolf looked like. Would it have the same kind of blondish gray locks that Tony had? Would it be oversize or were wolf shifters the same size as regular wolves? She had no idea. These were all new thoughts to her, and when Tony looked up and caught her staring at him, she flushed.
“Can I ask what you’re thinking about?” he asked with an amused smile.
“I was just wondering how big you are.” Maggie wanted to die when she heard the words come out of her mouth and saw Tony’s eyes widen in surprise. “I mean your wolf. I was wondering how big your wolf is.” She heard those words out loud, and they weren’t much better.
Tony threw his head back and laughed. “That is the first time I’ve ever heard someone ask me that question like that,” he said.
Maggie was mortified. “Can I try that again?”
She felt like she was in that awkward time when she was just figuring out a case and she still wasn’t quite sure how she would articulate her argument. She spent an immense amount of time practicing in front of the mirror just to make sure that she always said everything just so precisely right. She never wanted to say the wrong thing and feared being embarrassed. She was practiced and methodical in everything that she did. This whole situation had blown all of that carefully cultivated poise to hell.
Tony shook his head. “It’s oka
y. I understand. You want to know if when I’m in my wolf form, if I’m the same size as regular wolves?”
“Yes, That’s what I was thinking and not articulating well at all.”
Tony looked at her thoughtfully again. “Most women want to try to forget that there is an animal part of me. I mean, they like the idea that I’m a shifter, but they don’t actually want to see the wolf. It’s interesting that you want to know more.”
Maggie wasn’t quite sure what to make of that statement. “You’re my client, and I’m going through your case file, and the thought just occurred to me. You never know what detail might have relevance to a case.” She had been wondering about him that way for a completely different reason, but she wasn’t going to admit it.
She could tell that Tony didn’t believe her, but he seemed willing to humor her. “When I’m in my wolf form, I am slightly larger than your average North American gray wolf. It’s just enough that if you saw me next to one, you would be able to tell there was something different about me. That was really the whole crux of it, isn’t it? In my human form, there’s always something about me that gives it away that I am not quite 100% human. It’s the same as if I tried to integrate into the animal world. They would know just by looking at me that I was not 100% one of them.”
That was quite possibly one of the saddest things Maggie had ever heard. “So you truly do straddle both worlds.”
“Yes,” he said. “And there are some shifters, not many, that end up relating more to their animal side than their human side. They form clans that stay in their phased form the majority of the time. Those clans are few and far between, but they are out there. They’re usually found in some of the most remote places of the world, because they don’t want to be around humans. There is an anger that they feel toward that part of themselves even though it continually calls out to them. It’s a very different dynamic than those of us who choose to exist most of the time in our human form.”