by A. J. Mayall
Jack Hoffman nearly shifted to his wolven form as his cell buzzing unexpectedly broke the silence. Ever since the date, he’d been on pins and needles, his lupine instincts making him hunger to keep close to Suzette.
Family is at my place. Want to meet the reasons I’m so fucked up?
Jack grinned, and grabbed his keys. His phone buzzed again.
Bring clothing you can shift in. ;)
Phoenix worriedly stepped into the headquarters of the Rouge Mal Police Department. While he had a couple friends there, the video was sure to sour the majority of the force toward him.
This place is just like a DMV.
As he stood in line, waiting to talk to the clerk at the front desk, he did his best to look inconspicuous: he fixed his hair, took off his jacket and folded it under his arm. He felt like he was in junior high again and being sent to the principal’s office. When his turn came, the clerk was looking down at paperwork and typing on a fliptop.
“Are you here to fill out a report?” the man said, not raising his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Nature of the incident?”
“Missing Persons.”
“Are you a friend or relative?”
He was quick to say friend, but in all honesty, he didn’t know Jeremy that well.
“Neither,” he relented.
“Then what is the nature of the relationship?”
“He was a client of mine, and seems to have vanished.”
“Your name?”
“McGee. Phoenix McGee.”
In Phoenix’s life, he had heard people speak of the old stereotype made famous in Western films when someone walks into a saloon and the bar goes silent, everyone turning to look. He never thought he would encounter that chill, that sense of foreboding as he stood at the front desk, the officer lifting his gaze as heads turned like a wave crashing into him. Some smiling wide, some scowling, all staring. His was a known name in this building.
“Can I ask the name of the missing person or persons?” asked the clerk in a choking tone.
Phoenix closed his eyes and paused, dragging his lower teeth over his upper lip before speaking. “Jeremy and Margaret Benton.”
The clerk nodded as he typed. Whispers filtered through the precinct.
“I’ll have one of our Missing Persons team come out for you. Let me send them the details.” The clerk typed a few more words and swiped the file into the network. Half a minute later a deep, thunderous voice called out from the back of the station as a door swung open.
“Is this someone’s idea of a fucking joke?”
Officer Dorian Franklin stormed toward the front office, looking to frighten the clerk who obviously was pulling a prank. Then he and the private eye met eyes once more.
“Oh, hell no!”
Phoenix put on his jacket and looked to the clerk, fear visible in the detective’s eyes.
“He’s Missing Persons?”
“The Pack is the best at tracking…”
“Oh. Shit.”
“‘Oh, shit’ is right, McGee!” Dorian slammed the door leading to the back of the precinct open, the wood and half frosted glass behind the clerk shaking as he did so. “So, seems you’ve lost track of a client of yours, huh?”
“Listen, Officer, what happened has nothing to do with this.”
“Are you so sure, McGee? You see, what I think happened is you humiliated them online and in the news, and they decided to go on a trip, reconcile their marriage.”
“I stopped by their house, it’s stripped bare, someone’s been in there too!”
Dorian glared. “So they moved abruptly, due to some circumstance that made them uncomfortable in their current environment. I wonder what might have happened to them recently that could cause that?”
“Officer, please. I went to Prescott Electronics, where they worked, one day they leave the office, and by the time everyone is there the next morning, the offices are cleaned out.”
“Who told you that?”
“Someone who worked there, they seemed kinda uneasy about the whole thing.” Phoenix stepped forward, a bit of frustration and anger in his voice. “Listen buddy, I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble because your Pack couldn’t keep it in their pants, but two people are missing now.”
“You call me Officer Franklin. I’m not your buddy.”
“Whatever. They’re missing! Something is going on.”
The larger man laughed and shook his head in disbelief at the situation.
“Let me guess, he never paid you? Well, I’ll make sure it’s at the top of my list of things to do.” He grinned wide and wicked, hate in his eyes, turned on his heels, and headed back to the The Pack’s office. Phoenix reached out to grab Dorian by the shoulder. Next he knew, he was on his back, his wrist throbbing in pain as Dorian growled down at him.
“You. Do. Not. Touch. Me. Grab me again, and I’ll have you for assault.”
With that, Dorian released the detective’s wrist and slammed the door, only to knock on the glass behind the desk clerk, who then turned and listened. “He comes in again, you send him to a couple of beat rookies.”
The clerk nodded and looked to Phoenix, the other people waiting having backed up a few feet from the altercation. A few phones were out, taking photos and videos of the event. Finally, the clerk whispered.
“I loved the video.”
Phoenix looked at him with disgust and put on his jacket and turned to walk out the door.
Gregori Stevenson stood in his way, golf-clapping with a chuckle.
When Jack had arrived, the hustle and bustle of boxes being loaded into the rather spacious apartment puzzled him. Suzette put a few fingers to her lips and whistled to get his attention. Everyone turned to look at Suzette, then at Jack.
“Mom, Dad, this is Jack. Jack, Mom and Dad.”
Jack shook the hand of Suzette’s father firmly. “A pleasure, sir.”
He was tall, like Suzette, wide in the shoulders, and a war seemed to be waged between a life of office work and luxury and time spent in the gym. His hair was dark with flecks of grey at the temples. Jack thought he looked like he could have been a turn-of-the-century stage magician. Beside him was a shorter, fuller faced woman. She was strikingly beautiful, her hair in a bob, her once crimson locks streaked as well with grey. They both wore slacks and button up shirts.
“No need for that, I’m Gabe, this is my wife Carla. Come on in, grab a box. Suzy tells us you’re a police officer?”
“That I am s…Gabe. I work in Missing Persons. Just started a few months ago, and graduated top of my class at the academy.”
Carla smiled and let the two men walk in further before sidling beside Suzette. “He’s cute.”
“I noticed.”
“He’s polite.”
“Again, noticed.”
“Possible rising star in the police force? Are you really thinking of settling down? Finally?”
“Mom!”
“Shhhh! I’m just saying. I mean I always thought you and Phoenix would end up together, but—”
She looked at her mother incredulously, face twisting in disgust. “Me and Phoenix?” She whispered, “Never in a million years.”
“Shame, I think he’s cute, too.”
“Mother!” she whispered and stormed after Jack. Carla chuckled and watched her daughter run off in a huff.
Jack pulled Suzette aside after being introduced to Claudia and Angelique, looking perplexed.
“What’s going on?”
“You’ve been volunteered to help Angelique move from Mom and Dad’s to here.”
Jack rubbed his forehead. “Okay. I mean, sure, I’ll help, but why me?”
“Simple. You have a truck,” came the reply, matter-of-factly.
“Is that it?”
“Well you can lift a bed by yourself, if you shift.”
“You’re pretty strong yourself and you have, like, five people here.”
“True, but there’s something you
forgot.”
“That would be?” Jack asked, honestly curious.
“I really don’t want to.”
Jack looked at the wry grin on Suzette’s face and laughed. She’d won this round.
“Why does everything I do involve food?” Phoenix muttered under his breath as he looked over the menu. Stevenson was the last person Phoenix wanted to break bread with, but he wanted to get the payment out of the way, and Gregori had insisted.
“I recommend the salmon,” the grey haired man said, folding up the menu and handing it to the waitress, “but today, I’ll have the lobster ravioli.”
“Do I look like the kind of person who can afford the salmon?”
“Not really, I’ll just take it out of the payment, I was told you’re waiting on some checks, anyways.”
Phoenix shook his head and looked at Stevenson, then at the waitress. He acquiesced to the call of the salmon.
“So, we could have done this at an ATM. Why wine and dine me?”
“Because the offer is still on the table. Hell, if you take it now, you won’t even have to make that payment, we’ll cover it all.”
“Why do you have to be like this, Gregori? I already told you my answer.”
“I should be asking you the same thing, McGee. Sure, we’ve not exactly had the best of times, but why are you turning down a golden opportunity like this? Come work for Pyramidion! We could use someone with your talents.”
Phoenix toyed with the straw wrapper set beside his soda, not making eye contact. “You answered your question. You want my talents.”
Gregori rubbed his temples and leaned forward. “What do you want me to say? This is business; you try to get the best in the business. You’re so damn stubborn, Phoenix. Do you only want to get by, undercutting everyone on insurance fraud forever? Hoping to high heaven something juicy comes across your doorstep? You’ve got a good reputation, kid, but you’re lousy at maintaining your image.”
“I want to do my own thing, that’s all. I have my own place, I’m not beholden to anyone,” he paused, before meeting Gregori’s eyes, “besides Francesca, and that’s just temporary.”
“So, there’s nothing I can do to convince you?” asked Gregori, between bites of breadstick.
“Sorry, but no. I got myself into this mess, I’ll get myself out. I just need to know what happened to my client.”
“Well, lay the details on me, maybe I can help,” Gregori said off-handedly.
Phoenix stopped at that. He could tell Gregori was sincere.
“After all the drama we’ve been through?”
“Kid, you’re new to this, give you a few more years and you’ll come around. We might not see eye to eye, and maybe Pyramidion was a bit aggressive in trying to recruit you, but you’re still in the business. Consider this a temporary truce before the end of the meal.”
Phoenix retold the details of how the Bentons has seemingly been erased, the various aspects of the cover-up. Gregori listened as food was brought and consumed, taking in every detail.
“Phoenix, if I were you, I’d go back tomorrow and give the place a proper once-over. You’re right; this sounds fishy, but you have to put the timeframe back. Assume they have been gone since the moment you last heard from them. Push it forward with any details you get, but don’t assume they were home last night.”
“Thanks man, let me transfer the money to you. You know, maybe I did have you pegged all wrong.”
They both pulled out their phones and tapped them together, as if toasting a potential alliance, funds moving from Phoenix’s account to the escrow account set up for Francesca.
Gregori patted his full stomach and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, nature calls.”
Minutes passed and the waitress returned with the check. Phoenix took a peek whistling at the total, then looked up.
“My dining partner is in the restroom.”
She looked at him, perplexed. “Sir, he left. He told me to give you a few minutes to let your stomach settle before dropping off the bill. Said something about you needing time to digest all those slawdogs and that it was your turn.”
Phoenix’s eyes went wide, realizing why the truce was to be over at the end of the meal.
“Son of a…”
Hours later and with under twenty dollars in his personal checking, Phoenix sat in his loft, in thought. He considered using this time to go to the Cloister, thinking the inane distraction might let the back of his mind figure out what to do next, but something told him not to.
He wondered what it could be that caused all this. Something to do with their job? Was it the video? Something they had with the cops?
He could have slapped himself. He fished out a pocket recorder from a drawer, and turned it on, letting the thoughts and words free flow out of his mind.
“Okay, so she worked in the police and she knew The Pack which is Missing Persons so she knows about the ways that people disappear and that means that this could be her idea and the fact that she high profile and got in trouble means that something may have been done and what am I thinking what am I thinking why do I wanna say this looks like a busted cover but for what could this be a witness protection thing I don’t know come on McGee you can do this solve this damn thing.”
He took in a deep breath and stopped the recording, playing it back to himself over and over. He knew where to begin. It made a kind of sense, even if he was wrong. The idea of them being in protective custody fit them disappearing, but Margaret was ex-police, and was living the same life she had before. Something on the edge of his mind, something that explained people disappearing, eluded him. He looked to the bed and saw the plastic eyes of Bouncer staring up at the ceiling.
“Okay buddy, if you got any ideas, you gotta let me know. At this rate, I’ll never get paid.” He paused, ashamed of himself for thinking of the money first. “Or know if those folks are safe. If I put them in some sort of danger, I’ll never forgive myself.”
He sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about the whole set of events, that he was missing something vital, something he overlooked. Something he wasn’t concerned with when he was doing the initial investigation. He walked downstairs to the back office, erasing the floor-to-ceiling whiteboards.
In the middle he wrote “Jeremy and Margaret Benton” with lines leading off to Prescott Electronics, The Pack, adultery, disappearance, house wiped, office wiped, and finally “cloak and dagger relocation??? / silenced”.
He needed a way to get to what the police knew, but his only insider worked in the morgue. If anything, he could verify if the Bentons were still alive. Just a call to Bailey, a quick run through of the files there, and he could know which direction to take.
He grabbed his phone and clicked a familiar number.
Justin Bailey sat in the chilled room of the county morgue. He had his phone plugged into a portable speaker set to listen to music while he sat at his desk filling in the reports of the day. So far, only a couple bodies had been brought in. They were quickly identified and put into storage. He sent emails off to some of the local mortuaries for pickup. He looked up when the music suddenly cut out, disconnecting the phone from the cradle before it blasted his ringtone.
“Hello?” he said, more focused on his paperwork than the call.
“Hey, it’s Phoenix.”
Justin inwardly groaned. “Oh God…Phoenix, whatever it is you’ve gotten yourself into, I’m not interested.”
“Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, chill!”
“What do you want, Phoenix? You never call unless you need something.”
“Fine. I need you to check something, if you could. I’m looking for a couple who have gone missing, and I need to know if you have them in your system. If they come in, can you let me know?”
Justin looked around the empty room, rubbing his temples. As far as McGee requests went, this was pretty reasonable, understandable, and considerate.
“What are the names?”
“Jeremy and Margaret Ben
ton.”
Justin ran a few searches. The names didn’t sound familiar to him but that wasn’t to say he couldn’t find information from other coroners’ offices.
“I’ve gone back about a month, statewide, nothing there. How long ago would this have been?”
“Earlier this week. If you see or hear anything, call me?”
“You know I shouldn’t…”
“I hear a ‘but’ there…”
“But I’ll call you. This is the last time, got it?”
“Thanks again, man. Let me know if you need anything.”
“No problem, just take care of yourself and tell Suzette I said hello.”
“Will do, Justin! Thanks, again.”
“Later!”
Justin ended the call and plugged the phone back into the speaker cradle. He swiped through his music list and relaxed as new wave filled the room. He stood, alone but for his many guests in the lockers, and hoped his friend hadn’t finally gotten in over his head.
Dinner was set, and Jack stood at the edge of the living room, sweat streaked on his brow, a look of nervous trepidation in his gaze. He had just finished moving the last of Angelique’s furniture in, and had shifted back down. As he stood there, seemingly frozen, he fidgeted with the buttons to tighten up his shirt.
There was an awkward pause as Jack’s eyes darted around the collected group of them, then focused on Suzette who gave him a quizzical look, pointing to the nearest empty seat. A wave of relief crossed his face as he darted over and sat.
“Sorry, it’s a werewolf thing.”
Claudia passed Jack a bowl of mashed potatoes before asking, “What do you mean?”
“Pack mentality. It’s like a familial bond. I’m an outsider here, and my instinct when it comes to a pack activity, and I’m not a part of it, is to flee.”
Angelique was the next to pipe up, a wry grin on her face. “You kept looking at Suz. What, she’s the alpha here?”
Jack shrugged, “Well, it is her place and she is assertive.”
Suzette elbowed him in the ribs. “Hey! Talk nice or no kibble. That goes for the rest of you, too. I’m the Alpha here, he said so. Seriously, what else am I going to have to deal with tonight?”