“I’ll have an officer record your statement. We need to know, in your words, when you received the emails, when you replied, how much you paid and when, how the failed entrapment scheme went down, why you didn’t come to the police straight off, and any effects the release of the tape had on your private or professional life. Do you have any questions?”
“Do I have to testify in front of people?”
“If Ms. Thatcher takes the plea bargain then your statement will be enough. If we are forced to take this to trial, you will be asked to testify. A case like this would be quick and painless. Defense would mostly be challenging why you didn’t come to us and how badly it hurt you—to try to lessen Ms. Thatcher’s sentence.”
“I’d like to avoid that, if at all possible.”
“I’ll put it on record that you are in support of a plea bargain.”
“Uh—you know, she sounds pretty shook up about all this. I’m okay with her getting a light sentence. Is there any way I can get my money back? Life is pretty tight.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He stood and offered his hand. “Thanks for coming in so promptly, Jules.”
“Thank you for wrapping this up for me.”
When he stepped outside, a man walked up to him and said, “Excuse me, are you Mr. Beauregard?”
“Who are you?”
“Jeremy Curtis. You are Julius Beauregard. The video online is poor but it sure looks like you.”
“What do you want?”
“Just to ask you a few questions. When did you become a werebear? What’s it like? How many of you are there? What are your plans now that you’re out?”
“You a reporter?”
The small man nodded. His smile was eager.
“I don’t want to do any interviews. Excuse me.”
Jeremy trailed after him. “Why were you at the police station? Does it have to do with your case? Did they catch the blackmailer?”
“Ask the cops.”
“What were their demands? How much did you pay?”
Jules unlocked his car door. “For a reporter, you’re not very perceptive. I don’t want to talk to the press—at all. Excuse me.” He got in the car and pulled out of the lot, careful not to drive over the little reporter. He drove two blocks up and pulled into a coffee shop parking lot.
Since Remy had given him the day off, and since Kaylee was working, Jules called his father. The hotel put him through to his father’s room.
“Hello?”
“Dad? It’s Jules. Today just opened up. Can I come by?”
“I was just on my way down for breakfast. How far out are you?”
“Five, maybe ten.”
“I’ll wait in the lobby for you. Have you eaten?”
“A little.”
“Then we’ll have breakfast at the hotel. They have a wonderful eggs benedict, and their hash browns are perfect.”
“I’m on my way.”
The Riverfront was every inch a five-star hotel. Tasteful, elegant décor in modern yet classic color schemes, staff in dress pants, white shirts, and crisp black vests, and not a speck of dust or litter anywhere in the lobby. Gabriele was off to one side talking with a young woman in a staff uniform. She was smiling at him and laughed at something he said.
Gabriele looked up. “Ah, Jules. You’ve made it.” He looked down at her again. “Thank you again.”
“Anything you need,” she said. She smiled at Jules. “Welcome to the Riverfront. Excuse me.”
“Everything okay?” Jules said.
“Perfect.” He put a hand on Jules’ elbow and steered him towards the dining room. “Except that I’m starving.”
Jules took one look at the dining room and tried to back pedal. “Don’t they have a little breakfast nook, with continental waffles and stuff?”
“Nonsense. I want a proper breakfast. It’s my treat Jules.”
Jules nodded and followed his father to a table. At least in his casual business attire he didn’t look as out of place as he felt. Gabriele picked up the menu. “Ham or sausages today?”
Jules picked up his menu. Out of habit, the first thing he looked at was the prices. He paled a little. Swallowing his protest at the price, he tried to focus on what each option offered. Pancakes, eggs, waffles, what did he feel like this morning?
A waitress came up to the table and said, “Good morning. Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“A coffee please,” Jules said. “Black.”
“I’ll have coffee as well,” Gabriele said. “Dark roast, moka brewed. Bring the cream and sugar to the table please.”
“Certainly.”
“That’s some pretty fancy coffee,” Jules said.
“Ah, but the flavor is so much richer than standard coffee. You should try it.”
The waitress returned with a carafe and filled Jules’ cup. She smiled. “Your dark roast will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” Gabriele said.
Jules sipped his coffee and shrugged. “This is already better quality than I’m used to.”
“You’re on a tight budget, I take it.”
“Very tight. The print shop didn’t pay out millions to the designers every year.”
“But you pay for the apartment yourself?”
“Yeah. And the groceries too. I haven’t borrowed money since I graduated, and I only borrowed money for tuition.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I worry about you. I know the economy isn’t the greatest right now, and I don’t want to see my only son slipping into debt. It’s not a bad apartment you know. Small, not a great location, but nice enough.”
“Thank you.”
“And a car too. When did you get that?”
“Not long ago.”
“Secondhand?”
He nodded.
“Nothing wrong with that, if it runs. Most people start with a secondhand car. I got my first car in ’81. It was a ’71 Pinto. What a piece of junk it was. Moved up to a better secondhand car a few years later.”
1981. Of course his dad had gotten his first car at eighteen. His stepsisters had probably gotten their first cars at eighteen too. At eighteen, Jules had been working as many hours as his school schedule allowed just to help his mom pay all the bills. Neither of them could afford a car at that point. He hadn’t been able to afford this car either. He focused his attention on the menu.
The waitress came back and set a coffee in front of Gabriele. “Are you ready to order?”
“Yes. I’ll have the eggs benedict. Two eggs, three sausages, well done please, and brown toast.”
She jotted that down and turned to Jules. “And for you?”
“Denver omelet please.”
“Two eggs or three?”
“Oh, uh, three.”
“Bacon, ham, or sausage?”
“Bacon, well done.”
“White, brown, rye, or gluten free toast?”
“Rye is fine.”
“Is that everything?”
“Yes, thank you,” Gabriele said.
“I’ll bring that out as soon as it’s ready.”
“So, what’s it like in your new clan?” Jules said. It felt strange asking that. Gabriele wasn’t exactly ‘new’ to his clan anymore, he had been living there just over ten years now. But Jules hadn’t spoken to Gabriele in all that time.
Gabriele shrugged and sipped his coffee. “It’s a clan like any other. We have very little to do with each other really, aside from the full moon and the occasional meeting. We’re a large clan, the third largest in North America and the largest in the US. Almost half our clan is female, and we have six youngsters who have, in the last year, made their first change.”
“That’s impressive,” Jules said. “It’s nice to see a clan prospering and growing.”
“Your clan is not.”
“Jane joined us from Canada. And Brock and Gia are expecting their first. Gia seems set on a huge family, so chances are good that some of them will be shi
fters.”
“And the rest of you?”
“Brock’s the only one who’s married.”
“And this Jane, I seem to recall her transfer was the center of some controversy.”
“Nothing that reached us here,” Jules said. “Jane doesn’t talk about home much, except that she lost her parents.”
“I remember that. Hunting accident. That’s what happens when werebears go out into the woods on the full moon like savages.”
Jules took a gulp of coffee. He didn’t think Jane was a savage at all, but it sounded childish to say it out loud.
“Your Kaylee is not a shifter.”
“No, she’s not. Neither is my mother. Or my stepmother.” Why did you say that?
Gabriele froze, his cup halfway to his mouth. After a moment, he said, “good point,” and took another sip of coffee. “Of course, there were no females my age in the clan when I married.”
“You’re not trying to set me up with Jane, are you?”
“I’m curious why you found Kaylee, and indeed why Brock married Gia, when one of your own kind is available.”
“Uh, because she’s not interested? Because it would feel like I was marrying my sister? Because Brock loves Gia, and Gia loves him?”
“Love can be a fickle thing. Look at your mother and me. My wife and I loved each other very much, but that didn’t stop us from having marital troubles. I fell in love with your mother, truly I did. I never meant to get her pregnant. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. I reconciled with my wife and told your mother it was over. She took it well, all things considered, until she learned she was pregnant. That made my life interesting for a while. I tried, you know. I tried at first to make it work, to balance your mother and my wife. To balance the girls and you. Between the clan, my job, and having two families, it got to be too much. I was young still. Things were going badly with my wife again. She threatened to leave with the girls.”
“It’s okay,” Jules said, even though it wasn’t really. He’d always known his father had been forced to choose, and that he had chosen his elegant, blonde, suburban-queen wife and his lovely blonde sweet daughters over his Cajun-ghetto mistress and the son who looked too much like her. “You would have lost out either way. It’s a long time ago.”
“Jules, you are a man of rare understanding. I thank you for that.”
Their food arrived and Jules busied himself cutting his egg and spreading jam on his toast. It was a welcome distraction.
“But you were asking about the clan. We have to have a much larger meeting place for the full moon because of how big the clan has become. It’s a large warehouse, very new, on the edge of town.”
“Does that make it more difficult to keep everyone’s identity a secret?”
“Sometimes. We don’t have any high-profile members in our clan. No billionaires, no mayors. Our clan chief is known to the local authorities, as is required by the council of clans, but otherwise only a half dozen of our bears are out.”
“Any blackmail cases?”
“One recently. It was dealt with quickly and quietly. How is your blackmail case coming along?”
“That’s why I have the day off. I just came from the police station. They caught her.”
“Who?”
“The blackmailer.”
“It was a woman? How odd. I was fully expecting a man, middle-aged, disgruntled, impoverished, and with ties—or at least sympathies—to the Human Order.”
“I was surprised too. She worked in the baggage department at the airport. The guy in security who gave her a copy of the tape lost his job as well. He’s under investigation for breach of privacy. Not sure if anything will come of that.”
“But they are charging her?”
He nodded. “They think she’ll take a plea bargain since she already confessed.”
“Huh. That’s what’s wrong with the world today. Letting criminals off easy because they have a sob story. Are they getting you your money back?”
“Don’t know yet.”
“Typical. I know a good lawyer. I’ll get you his number.”
“I don’t think I need a lawyer. I’m represented by the DA.”
“And the DA works hand in hand with the cops. If you just let this go, you’ll never see that money.” He already had his phone out. “This will just take a second. I could even call him if you wanted.”
“No, I don’t want you to call him for me. I don’t want to call him for me. I don’t need a lawyer.”
Gabriele half looked up and said, “Jules,” in that ‘father-knows-best’ tone.
“Gabriele,” Jules replied.
Gabriele put the phone down and sighed. “You’re right. It’s your choice of course. I forget that you grew up while I was gone. I still see a teenager across the table from me. That’s why I really appreciate this time together. Just be patient with me.”
“We haven’t seen each other in a decade. We both need time.”
“There’s that understanding again. You must get it from your mother.”
“Have you changed your mind? Do you want to see her at all while you’re here?”
“No. No, it’s for the best. Have you told her I’m in town?”
“I haven’t spoken to her yet. Kaylee and I are having dinner with her later this week. Should I keep it a secret?”
“Really, that’s up to you. I am here at your pleasure after all.”
Something in his father’s voice made him drop his eyes. “It’s not like that.”
“According to clan law, that’s exactly what it is. If you had told Remy you did not want to spend time with me I’d already be home. Don’t worry, it doesn’t offend me.”
“That’s good. I don’t think Remy was trying to be offensive.”
“Well, what shall we do for the day? You’re too old for zoos and museums and random trips to the mall.”
“We don’t have to do anything. We can just sit somewhere and talk all day. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Yes. Yes, we do. All right then. That’s what we’ll do.”
They were back at the warehouse the next evening. It was good he had spent all weekend with Kaylee, but after not seeing her since driving her to work the day before he was missing her fiercely. He’d called her on his lunch break today just to hear her laugh. He wasn’t paying attention to the road and hit a rather large pot hole with the front passenger tire.
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 51