“Enforcer Baine, this is Annia Melcott,” Captain Galling said. “Enforcer Melcott, meet Sunaya Baine. She’s our newest recruit.”
“A pleasure,” Annia said, holding out a slender hand. Her dark brown eyes twinkled as she measured me. “I’ve heard interesting things about you.”
“I’m sure you have.” Refusing to take the bait, I grasped her hand, taking a second to study her. Her palms were calloused, her nails trimmed, but they were painted a deep burgundy with gold designs on the ring fingers. Her leathers were high quality, certainly not bought in a secondhand shop, and her boots looked brand new. The scabbard of the sword leaning against the chair she’d vacated was made of lacquered wood, and the cross-guard of the sword was carved into an intricate pattern. Not a throwaway weapon—it was expensive, and the knives she wore looked to be of similar quality. Her auburn hair was sleek and shiny, her face was flawless, and the confident way she carried herself told me she was used to getting what she wanted.
I hated her on the spot.
“So,” Annia said in a voice like silk as we sat down. “Why have you called Enforcer Baine in here? I thought we were discussing a new case for me?”
“The case is for both of you,” Captain Galling said, and I stiffened. I was going to have to work with this uptown girl? I had no doubt she came from money—she was probably in this line of work for the thrills, not because she actually needed the cash. “It’s up to you two how you’re going to split the bounty, which isn’t anything to write home about, mind you.” He raised his eyebrows at me, as if that last statement was specifically for me.
“I can handle it on my own,” I insisted as bitterness welled up inside me. A small bounty meant a small case, and being forced to split it with another enforcer was just an added insult. “I don’t need a partner.”
“Neither do I,” Annia said, her cupid’s bow mouth turning down. “You know I work solo, Captain. Why are you having me team up with a rookie?”
“This particular case would be best solved by both a shifter nose and a human,” Galling said brusquely. “Since it is impossible to combine those qualities in a single person, I am putting both of you on this case.” His eyes narrowed as he looked between the two of us. “If you can’t work together, there are other human and shifter enforcers I can give this to.” His forbidding tone left no doubt in my mind that if I refused to cooperate, this would be the last case he gave me.
“No!” Annia and I both exclaimed at the same time.
We exchanged looks of annoyance, and then Annia said to the captain, “Of course we’ll take the case, sir.”
“Excellent.” He tossed a manila folder at me, which I reflexively caught. “Now get out of my office, and don’t come back until you’ve solved this.”
“Let’s go to my desk,” Annia muttered as we left the Captain’s office. “We can study the file together.”
I said nothing, simply clutched the folder a little tighter as Annia and I took the stairs to the fourth floor, one level down. Of all the people Captain Galling had to stick me with, why her? It was bad enough I’d have to share this bounty with someone—having to give half of it to a snooty rich girl who didn’t even need the money was like rubbing salt in an open wound.
The fourth floor of the Enforcer’s Guild was where the smaller crews and solo enforcers worked, with workstations spread out across the open-floor space. Annia’s was toward the back—a simple desk with a typewriter, various office knickknacks, and a framed picture of a freckle-faced redhead who couldn’t be more than ten. I frowned curiously as I noticed the oil smudge on the girl’s cheek, and the aviator’s cap and overalls she wore.
“Who’s that?” I asked as we sat down. I didn’t feel guilty about prying—sticking my nose into other people’s business was an acceptable trait for an enforcer.
“Hmm?” Annia glanced toward the photograph, and her dark brown eyes warmed. “That’s my kid sister Noria. She’s always tinkering with stuff in our late father’s garage. I think she’s going to be an inventor someday, if Mother doesn’t kill her first.” She laughed softly.
“Oh. That’s nice.” I shifted in my chair, a little uncomfortable now. I didn’t want to think of Annia as a human being—someone with a family, with a heart. So instead, I opened the file and pulled out the case sheet. “You want me to read this out loud?”
“No!” Annia glanced around, then scowled at me. “We don’t want another enforcer overhearing the details. They might decide to snag the bounty for themselves. We’ll read this silently, then discuss.”
“Right,” I muttered, my cheeks warming as we leaned over the paper. Annia shouldn’t have had to remind me of that. No wonder the Main Crew had tossed me out on my ass—I was acting just like the rookie they’d accused me of being.
The details of the case were sparse and straightforward. A middle-class Maintown couple, Marlin and Coralia Thotting, had reported their daughter missing. Ten-year-old Cerlina Thotting was an only child who’d gone to school the day before yesterday, but never returned home. Our task was to find the missing child.
“We’ll be splitting this fifty-fifty, I’m guessing?” I asked when Annia finally leaned back from the folder.
“Of course,” Annia said. “The credit is more important to me than the money, but as long as you pull your weight, I don’t see why you can’t get equal credit.”
“Likewise,” I said, even though that wasn’t strictly true. I wanted to move out of Roanas’s house and get my own steambike, not necessarily in that order. And if I wanted to do that any time soon, I needed to prove myself on this case so Captain Galling would trust me with my own bounties in the future. If that meant working with a human socialite playing enforcer, then that was what I’d do, even if it was a damned bitter pill to swallow.
3
“Well?” Annia raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you coming?”
I folded my arms across my chest as I stared at the steambike Annia was sitting astride. It was a beautiful, sleek machine, all chrome and steel, with roses and thorns etched into the gleaming black finish. And it had no doubt cost a fucking fortune.
“We can’t all afford steambikes,” I muttered, trying to sound like I wasn’t absolutely burning up with envy inside. “My bike’s over in the corner.”
Annia glanced over at the rickety bicycle I’d indicated with a jerk of my chin, then rolled her eyes. “You’re not riding that. You’ll never be able to keep up, and I don’t want to wait around for you. Get on.” She scooted forward, then patted the seat behind her. “There’s a half-helmet and goggles in the right saddlebag.”
I wanted to protest, but I didn’t have a leg to stand on. Annia was right—I would take way too long on my bicycle, and if we were running this case as partners, we needed to stick together. So, I grabbed the helmet, then slung a leg over the bike and perched on the seat as far away from Annia as I could manage.
“What—are you afraid I’ve got fleas?” Annia reached back, and I let out a startled yelp as she grabbed my waist and yanked me against her. “Snuggle up, kitty cat. I don’t need you turning into roadkill during your first day on the job.” Her silken voice held a distinctly amused note, and my ears burned. Was she teasing me? Before I could ask, she slid her visor down, then started up the engine. I cringed as it emitted a high-pitched whistle, and gripped Annia’s waist a little harder than I should have.
“Hey.” She flicked her visor up again. “I said snuggle, not suffocate. I have to drive this thing.”
“Sorry.” I loosened my grip, and she kicked off, shooting down the street.
As we sped through traffic, I tried to forget that I had my arms around a stranger, so I could enjoy the ride. But since I was only wearing a half-helmet, the icy wind ripped at my skin, and I was forced to tuck my face against Annia’s shoulder. She smelled like floral soap and spice, mixed with leather and that tang of old blood.
Like the enforcer who’d come to visit this morning, I thought. Annia must have seen c
ombat, and had drawn blood during it. Of course, I’d known she couldn’t be just good looks and money—the sword at her side was a real weapon, and the calluses on her palms told me she practiced with it regularly. But it was beginning to sink in that she might actually be able to do a bit more than charm her bounties into submission with those long eyelashes and that silken voice.
Stop thinking about Annia, I told myself sternly. You’re on the job now. I turned my attention back to the case sheet, which I’d memorized before we left. We were on our way to interview the parents in their Maintown residence, to get what details we could. Were they good parents? I wondered, or had they been harsh, as Aunt Mafiela had been to me? I couldn’t imagine behaving so cruelly toward my own child, and even my aunt had treated her own children well enough. But parental abuse did happen.
Still, I shouldn’t assume anything. I had to approach this case with an open mind. Right now, there were two main possibilities—either the child had run away from home, or she’d been kidnapped. If she was a runaway, we might be able to find her loitering in one of the hidey-holes in the city that homeless children used. They were usually abandoned buildings or hidden alleyways tucked behind industrial complexes. I was intimately acquainted with most of them, as I’d moved between several of those places during the months I’d been a homeless child. I tried not to think about those dark days after Mafiela had kicked me out, before Roanas had found me and taken me in. As a shifter, I’d been able to use my abilities to avoid the pimps who preyed on runaways, but other children hadn’t been so lucky. Hopefully, little Cerlina hadn’t already ended up in the greedy clutches of men like that.
Annia pulled up in front of a townhouse located at the foot of one of Solantha’s many hills. She parked the bike, and we stood outside for a moment, studying the space. It was a two-story home, constructed of dark brown stone, with a small yard in front. The bushes were trimmed, and though the planters beneath the windows were barren, I had a feeling they were full of colorful blossoms in the summer. The curtains in the windows were drawn shut against the afternoon sun, and there was not a spot of grime on the sparkling glass—or on anything else that I could see.
“It’s a nice place,” Annia said, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets. “Looks clean and well maintained from the outside.” She glanced at the steamcar parked in front of the garage, then added, “That model is at least five years old, but the paint looks new. It’s been taken care of.”
“Yeah. Looks like a good home.” But I knew from experience that just because a house looked nice on the outside didn’t mean all was well behind closed doors.
Since Maintowners weren’t always friendly with shifters, I let Annia take the lead, following her onto the porch and stepping back ever so slightly as she knocked on the green-painted wooden door. I picked up the sound of a chair creaking, then footsteps pattering against a carpet. They drew close, stopping just outside the door, and I caught the scent of a woman, mixed with a subtle fragrance. Probably checking us out through the peephole.
The locks clicked as they disengaged, and the door swung open to reveal a woman with sable hair and milky skin who looked about thirty-five. She wore a high-waisted grey dress that flattered her figure, drawing attention to her large bust and away from her thicker waistline. Her pale skin seemed stretched too tight across her face, and the dark circles beneath her hazel eyes told me she hadn’t slept well.
“Good afternoon,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse. “You’re from the Enforcer’s Guild?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Annia said gravely. “I’m Enforcer Annia Melcott, and this is my partner, Enforcer Sunaya Baine. We spoke on the phone a little earlier.”
“Yes, we did.” The woman’s eyes flickered briefly as she glanced toward me, and I knew she wasn’t entirely comfortable with my shifter heritage. But she stepped back and waved us through. “Please come in. My husband had to run out to the store, but he’ll be back any minute. I told him you were coming.”
As I’d anticipated, the interior of the house was as welcoming and clean as the outside. Hardwood floors gleamed beneath our feet, and cream-colored paper with a flower pattern covered the walls around us. Directly in front of us was a carpeted staircase that led up to the second floor, and to our left was a sitting area with green corduroy couches and small, dark wooden tables. A fire danced merrily in the stone grate, at odds with the anxiety and grief etched into Coralia Thotting’s face.
Mrs. Thotting offered us tea and cookies, and I did my best not to scarf them all down as we talked. That was incredibly difficult, as I hadn’t finished my breakfast and had skipped lunch. The aching hunger in my stomach, which had faded into the background, came roaring back as soon as those cookies, smelling so wonderfully of sugar and butter, were set down in front of us. Shifters had very fast metabolisms, and we had to eat constantly to replenish our energy.
“What do you and your husband do for a living, Mrs. Thotting?” Annia asked as I munched on a ginger cookie.
“Marlin is an accountant,” she said, folding her hands around her cup of tea. She did not bring the liquid to her lips, and I suspected she was using the cup more for warmth than anything else. “He provides well for us, but I also work at a nearby plant nursery for half the day, while Cerlina is in school.” Her lower lip wobbled a little.
“I see. So, you’re at home to see your daughter off to school, and then home again to receive her?” Annia asked.
“Yes. And she always comes straight here, unless she is going to a friend’s house, and she never does that without prearranging it with me first.” Tears gleamed in Mrs. Thotting’s eyes. “I don’t understand why this is happening.”
The front door swung open, and a tall man in a dark brown coat and matching hat stepped inside. He shut the door against the nippy air, and Mrs. Thotting stood and hurried over to him.
“You’re just in time,” she said as she took his hat and coat. Beneath it, he wore a white linen shirt and tan slacks. A lean man, but not slight by any means, with regular features. “The enforcers are here.”
“Yes, I see that.” Mr. Thotting kissed his wife’s cheek, then took her hand and led her back to the couch. His eyes, a steady grey, assessed us as we stood to greet him. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Of course.” Annia introduced us, then said, “We want to get Cerlina home safe as soon as we can.”
“Good,” Mr. Thotting said with feeling as he joined his wife on the couch. His big hand wrapped around her small one, and she squeezed his fingers tight enough to make her knuckles whiten. “You should go and question her school then. I tried to make inquiries there, but they wouldn’t tell me much. They have to protect the privacy of the other students, or so they claim.” His expression darkened with frustration.
“Do you think some of the other children know what happened, then?” I asked. “Or that a parent could have been responsible?”
Mr. Thotting ran a hand through his dirty-blond hair. “I don’t know what to think,” he admitted, a note of despair creeping into his voice. “Cerlina goes to a good school. We moved into this section of Maintown a year and a half ago for my work, and she’s acclimated very nicely to the new environment. We live in a safe neighborhood. My wife goes to all the parent-teacher meetings, and I attend them when I can. The teachers are wonderful, and the parents we’ve met seem like good people too.”
“Cerlina is such a well-behaved child,” Mrs. Thotting added in a soft voice that ached with sadness. “I just can’t understand why anyone would do this to her. To us.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
Annia asked Mrs. Thotting to recount the day that Cerlina went missing, which was two days ago, starting with when she had woken the child up. According to her story, everything was completely normal, and Cerlina had been in good spirits when she’d left for school. There had been no indication that anything unusual was going on in her daughter’s life.
“And things are going well here at home?” Annia pr
obed gently.
“Very well,” Mr. Thotting confirmed. “Cerlina does her chores, we spend time together as family, and she keeps up with her schoolwork. She would have never run away, if that’s what you’re insinuating.” His grey eyes narrowed.
“We believe you, Mr. Thotting,” I said, my tone placating. My sensitive shifter nose told me he was being truthful, and that both parents were genuinely worried about their missing daughter. “But as you know, we have to ask these kinds of questions. We have to be thorough.”
“Of course,” Mrs. Thotting agreed, her voice a little stronger now. “We want the best for our child. We want her home safe.”
“Do you have a photograph of her?” Annia asked.
“I have one here,” Mr. Thotting said, pulling out his wallet. He removed a small, rectangular item from it and handed it over—a school portrait. Annia took it from him, and we both leaned in to study the picture. I held in a sigh of relief as I took in the girl’s braces and unremarkable features—she might grow into a reasonably attractive woman someday, but as it stood now, she would hardly appeal to the pimps who roamed the streets in search of pretty young girls.
“Has anyone new entered your daughter’s life recently?” Annia asked after she’d pocketed the photograph. “Any new friends, or anyone who has visited your family recently?”
“My brother Melan has been staying with us for the last three weeks,” Mrs. Thotting admitted. “He’s from Nebara. He lost his job there when the company he worked for went under. He’s out job hunting right now, or he’d be here speaking with you as well. He’s never shown any ill-intent toward Cerlina—the two of them have been getting along very well. I won’t entertain the idea that he had anything to do with her disappearance.” She lifted her chin, her gaze challenging now.
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