by Tina Gower
He slammed his locker shut.
Not a date.
He was not dating Kate. Ever. She'd made that clear and he had to accept it. He wasn’t going to mess things up for her. Not after the incredibly huge thing she was doing for him. He’d never be able to repay her for this, so the least he could do was get it through his thick skull that they would never date.
He found a blue plastic chair, set it outside the interrogation room, and sat.
You know? He’d never even thought of dating before she took it off the table. Until Lipski and her cousin had put the thought into his mind as a possibility. Stupid family. Stupid friends. He clenched his fist and bit his knuckles.
“Hungry?” Lipski held out a sack of potato chips.
Ian took one for distraction. “Thanks.”
“So how are we going to go in? You going to be a hard-ass or am I? Let’s both be hard asses, that’s more fun.” Lipski almost bit down on his chip, but his face lit up instead. “Oh, I got a better one. She’ll expect us to be assholes. Let’s be nice. That will throw her off.”
“I can’t be nice.” Ian reached for another handful of chips. “It’s not in my DNA.”
“You’re right. Don’t speak. I’ll do the talking. You just analyze what she doesn’t say.”
“Fine.”
“That’s it? I’m not going to get any lip from you?” He deposited the rest of the bag of chips into Ian’s lap. “Get these away from me. They're horrible for my cholesterol.”
Ian shrugged and went in for another handful.
Lipski elbowed him. “I mean it. You’re a lot better lately. Calmer. Keep it up, whatever you’re doing.” He pulled out his phone and types out a text. “I’ll let your dads know.”
Ian glared. “I’ll call my own dads.”
“Well, if you did that a little more often then they wouldn’t call me for updates, now would they?” He hit send. “You’re not a dad yet. You wouldn’t understand.”
Ian shoved in another mouthful of chips, getting a craving for Kate. Wanting to punch Liza in the face for hurting her. The aggressive impulse made him pause, and he checked the label to see if the chips had been fried with animal fats. Then he remembered: he could have meat now. He could have a whole hamburger if he wanted, compliments of pack bonding.
But the more he thought of it, the idea of being part animal and eating another animal seemed kind of weird. Maybe just one. For old time's sake. He tossed the chip bag into the trash. He wouldn’t eat the burger in front of Lipski, because that would be too big of a clue. Lipski knew wolves.
It felt weird to be able to rationalize. He hadn’t done that in a long time. Hadn’t thought clearly for years. He'd only known emotion and reaction.
Lipski punched his thigh. “We’re up.”
Wu opened the door from inside and they filed into the interrogation room. Ian lowered his eyes until they adjusted to the florescent lighting. The rest of the precinct had switched over to LED lights years ago, due to some study that had shown fluorescent bulbs caused irritability in a work environment. But when they went to change the interrogation room, someone had interjected that maybe they wanted the suspects to be a little irritable. Maybe that discomfort would throw off a perp and lead to a confession.
There'd been no evidence that it worked, but it sure made interrogation irritating for the officers involved. A few weeks ago, when Ian had still been a lone wolf, he’d left one of these rooms in cuffs after getting a little too aggressive with an alleged rapist.
Although the lights probably weren’t all to blame for that one.
Wu sat in the middle chair facing Liza Hamilton, who had already been cuffed to the table. Her bottle blonde hair looked slightly frizzier than when he’d apprehended her at the carnival. He blinked, realizing that had been almost a week ago now. He was used to the days dragging along; now he couldn’t keep up.
“Ms. Hamilton, these are officers Hank Lipski and Ian Beck—”
“I know who that one is.” She smiled at Ian and crossed her arms on the table, laying her chin on her wrists. “Good afternoon, puppy.” She made barking noises.
Ian lowered himself into the chair, not reacting to her taunt.
Wu held the coin placed in the evidence baggie in front of him. “Does this look familiar to you?”
She didn’t look at the coin. “Why would it?”
Ian tipped his head at the coin Wu continued to hold up. “It has your scent all over it.”
She blew an exasperated breath from her lips. “As if coins aren’t passed from person to person—any of whom could have a scent similar to mine.”
Lipski chuckled as if he was already over this interview before it started. “Then why don’t you look at the damn thing?”
She straightened, made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, crossed her arms and muttered to herself. “Stupid cops. Stupid. Stupid.” Then she held out her hand. “Fine, pass it over.”
Wu slid the baggie to the center of the table, keeping his hands on the evidence.
“Nope. Can’t see it. You’ll have to take it out of the bag.”
“Sorry," Lipski answered. "No can do.”
She moved as far forward as her restraints would allow, making a show of what she thought of her inconveniently restricted movement. She glanced at the coin only briefly, but her eyes dilated, giving away that she’d seen it before. “Nope. Don’t know what that is.”
Her blood pressure spiked and her heart skipped as she spoke. Gotcha.
“It has special markings,” Wu said. “Looks like runes of some kind. Analysis says it’s the Wyrd symbol.”
She shook her head. “I’m not a druid.”
Lipski didn’t let her excuse go. “Witches use runes, too.”
“I don’t. Don’t need to. Are we done?”
Wu tucked the baggie into his blazer and looked at both men for a cue.
Ian tapped the table. “Not yet, Ms. Hamilton.”
She grinned. “I thought so. You want to know what we have planned for that actuary who stopped us cleaning house on the net.”
“Cleaning house. Like you were just there clearing out a few cobwebs.” Ian narrowed all his focus onto her, forgetting about the other two officers in the room for a moment. “You attempted to murder the oracles under your care, and you weren’t going to stop there.”
“No. I would have killed that actuary, too, for being in our way.”
Ian’s fingernails pierced his palm. Liza had been holding Kate down and choking her when he'd came into the carnival ride to find her.
She watched him. “But you had to get protective.”
“You were trying to kill her and twenty-seven oracles. Protecting people from murder is my job.” He fought the urge to rip out her spine.
Liza gripped the edge of her chair. “And protecting people from you and your government's influence on the fates is mine. Just because something's legal doesn’t make it right. I could make it a law to only chew gum on Sundays and you’d be required to enforce it. That’s why wolves make great cops. You’re obedient, even in the face of inconsistency. The law doesn’t have to make sense. It doesn’t even have to be ethical. You’ll follow it blindly as long as some idiots in suits tell you so.”
“I’m not here to philosophize with you, Ms. Hamilton—”
“No, you’re here to try and pin more crimes into my file without my lawyer present. You think you can use me to tidy up your unsolved cases? Think again. You’ll regret this when my lawyer gets a hold of it.”
Wu shifted in his chair, maybe getting nervous that the L-word had been used. Nobody wanted to drag legal into this. “We can plea for a lightening of your sentence if you’re willing to assist in another case.”
“I’m not. Willing.” She brushed off her orange jumpsuit sleeves as if they were fine silks. “Thanks, gentlemen, but I’m not rolling over.”
The three of them looked at each other. It was obvious she wasn’t going to give much.
/> “We’ll be in touch, Ms. Hamilton,” Wu said.
“As will we.” Her gaze fell on Ian, sliding down to his palms and the crescent marks his fingernails had left there. Her body language—feet pointed toward him, spending more time looking at him than anyone else in the room, her flush and excitement when she'd mentioned Kate’s role in the arrest—told him she’d taken a special interest in him, which meant she'd taken a special interest in Kate, too.
It took a show of strength to lift his body from the chair after her veiled threat to Kate. It took effort not to reach over the table and cut her throat with his teeth. She’d carefully phrased her last words so they’d only make sense to Ian. If he hadn’t been grounded from several pack sessions with Kate, he would have made himself look like an idiot going berserk on her.
The three men exited the room and left Liza for the jail guards to collect.
Lipski rolled his eyes and crossed his arms once they reached the break room. “Well, that was a complete waste of time.” He glanced at Ian. “Anything?”
Ian nodded. “She’s seen the coin before. She recognized it. Her eyes dilated.”
Both men nodded and grunted as if this confirmed their own suspicions.
Lipski was the first to burst the euphoria of the lead. “Except we can’t do much with that information if she doesn’t cooperate.”
“We’ll email the pictures we have of the coin around. Ask if anyone else has seen it on the streets. We’ll get some of our local store owners on board. Coin collectors. Ask the witching community.” Wu waved his hands to indicate the usual protocol.
“Like an APB on a coin. Got it.” Lipski flicked the baggie Wu held out between them. “Keep us updated.”
Wu headed over to evidence to return the coin.
Lipski sprawled out on the couch in the break room. “Dinner tonight is vegetarian. Angela's making some stir fry with the thin crispy noodles you like. Five o’clock sharp. Kid number three has a mid-term tomorrow and we need to get dinner moving quickly. I saw you’re not on the schedule, and I heard you took another shift after last night. You know Henderson gets twitchy when you work too many hours in a row and too many days a week. Give the gal a break for once.”
Ian shook his head. “I’m supposed to meet a friend.”
“You have a friend?” Lipski squinted his eyes, the tip of his tongue stuck out on one side. He did that when he was thinking, usually when he didn’t buy some bull being loaded in his direction.
“No.” Ian forced a quick laugh. “I meant to say that it’s for Accidental. Just returning all those files I’m supposed to look over before they close, and after that I have a dinner meeting with an actuary. To go over the case notes.”
“With Miles?”
Ian let Lipski’s question hang. “Hey, I should get on those. I didn’t get a chance to look at them before heading here.” He inched back a step, toward the locker room.
“All right.” But Lipski sat forward and set his elbows on his knees. “You okay, Ian?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You’re fine?” He stood up, made a fist, and brought his shoulders up to his ears with a grimace.
Ian realized Lipski was mimicking his exact posture. Oh, right. He forced himself to loosen. He probably could have gone to both dinner invitations. It would have made things easier and kept his partner off his back, but after he finished here he planned on dropping off the files and picking up Kate and then not letting her out of his sight for the next several days.
“I’m all keyed up after seeing Liza again.” He carefully avoided mentioning Kate and the threat, even though Lipski would be perfect back-up. His partner would believe him if he said Liza was going to go after Kate, but then he’d have to deal with the inevitable curiosity. And if Lipski saw Ian and Kate together he’d figure it out. He knew wolves, yeah, but he also knew Ian. Ian wouldn’t be able to hide whatever was going on with Kate.
His to-do list had grown:
Keep Kate safe from Liza’s threat.
Keep Kate from Lipski.
Keep Kate from knowing about his little infatuation with her.
Keep Kate’s secret so she wouldn’t get in trouble at work.
All of the Keep Kate list blended together into one big Keep Kate manta in his head. But he couldn’t keep her. She didn’t belong to him. It was temporary.
“What was Liza talking about with that actuary?” Lipski asked.
Ian watched him out of the corner of his eye. Did he suspect something? Surely he was just being paranoid. “She probably isn’t exactly friendly toward the actuary who got her caught and broke down her plan.”
Lipski snorted a laugh. “Naw, probably not. She one of yours?”
He bristled at the automatic possessiveness he wanted to answer that question in. “She’s in Accidental Death, yeah.”
“I read the case file. Her report. She’s brilliant. A lot of people admiring her and the way she handled that case.”
Ian’s grin spread across his face. “She’s sharp.” Caring. Understanding. Loyal. His gaze snapped to Lipski. “Professional.”
“Right.” He nodded. For a second he thought Lipski might dive more into that obvious smoke screen—the too quick and defensive insistence Kate was nothing more than a co-worker—but instead, he took a small step, blocking Ian’s path to the lockers. “You sure you don’t want any help with the files?”
“No, but thanks. I want to prove I can function without everyone holding my hand.”
The explanation worked, so Ian sneaked into the locker room to retrieve the files, then went right to work at his cubicle like a good liaison. Lipski threw a rubber ball against the wall that separated the space between them for about twenty minutes before Angela called and told him she was home from her mother’s. There were hints at having the house to themselves for a few hours before the two kids still living at home got back from baseball practice. He left in a rush after that.
Thank you Angela and timely hormones. But then no thanks because it made Ian think about his own hormones and the trouble he was having keeping them in check. Then his thoughts wandered to Kate, and it took him longer than it should have to complete all the files.
He raced the clock to get out the door, carefully avoiding the people in the office who looked like they might stop him and try to talk or ask him to work their shift tonight. He avoided the entire corner where Morale’s cubicle was located. He’d just had a baby, and was the most likely candidate to ask for a favor Ian wouldn’t be able to say no to.
Safe in his car, he kept his foot in an even pressure on the gas. No speeding. His fuel light indicated he’d need to stop at a restaurant in the next few days for more oil. He was running low on the french fry oil he’d put in last.
At Kate’s office he dropped the files off, and Yang stopped him in the file room to compliment him on his use of their filing system. Oh, right. The green folders Kate had given him.
“Before you know it, I won’t have a job. You’ll be doing it for me,” She said, deftly plopping envelopes into each cubby.
“Nobody can do your job.” He grinned at her. “I’d cry at the first paper cut. I’d mumble into the phone. And I can barely sort my laundry, so I won’t do well sorting this place out.” He scanned the office, using his speech to search for Kate.
Her office door was shut. Lights off. He frowned.
Yang’s lips quirked into a knowing smile, but her eyes never left the cubbies. “She’s already gone home for the day. Gretchen said she caught her nodding off at her desk, so she made up some excuse about the computer system being down and sent both her and Miles away. Otherwise, you know Kate, she’d stay here all night.”
“I don’t know Kate.” He made the denial a little too quickly.
Yang spared him a long look. “Uh huh.” Then back to her sorting. “She takes the bus. Left about ten minutes ago.”
“The bus?” He didn’t like that she’d be so exposed. Riding public transportation mea
nt she’d be open to possible attacks. Then he realized Yang was reading him like a book. He cleared his throat. “I mean, good for her. Excellent choice for the environment and all.” He gestured behind him. “I have to go back to work. If you’ll excuse me.”
He kept his cool until he was out of Yang’s sight and then he jogged down the hall, catching the elevator as it eased shut. His arm stopped the doors and a few of the suits with glasses and clipboards helped. He nodded his thanks and tried not to sweat while he waited at each floor for actuaries to get on and off. Gods, didn’t any of these guys ever leave?
Finally, he darted off at the mezzanine level and out to the buses, just in time to hear the only one at the curb hiss off from the stop and putt down the street into traffic. He was tempted to chase after it and pull it over, but that would be against Kate’s rules. It would make a scene, and she’d be angry that they were once again associated with each other outside of work. There would likely be people on the bus who would gossip about it later, no matter what excuse he invented.
So he sprinted for the block where he’d parked his car and went down the next street where traffic wasn’t as heavy, turning back onto the main drag until he caught up to the bus. He diligently followed behind it, slowing as it made stops and turning off around the block to get back behind it whenever he got ahead.
At the hospital a tingle ran along his spine. It was the one where Jack was recovering, and it was right along her route. He had a feeling her visits were common, and pulled over into the parking lot on that hunch. Sure enough, she exited the bus, checking her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. She walked with shoulders back, determined.
So much for her getting off early to rest. She came in his direction through the cars, her gaze fixed on the hospital entrance. The hairs along his neck bristled, and he shoved his hat down and slunk into the driver’s seat.
There was a quick knock at the passenger window. Shit.
He rolled the window down.
She poked her head in, smiled. “Are you following me?”
“Yes.”