Mercenary

by Jennifer Blackstream

  “Jeffrey hasn’t had a girlfriend since I’ve known him,” Barbara said slowly. “Honestly, he was always a bit of a loner. I never saw him with a friend besides Roger. And we’re his emergency contacts, so I don’t think he has family either.”

  “So he’s a close friend of yours? Both you and your husband?”

  Barbara frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Liam hesitated. “Forgive me for asking these questions at a time like this,” he gestured toward Roger lying in the bed. “But I have to ask. We’ve been to Mr. Carter’s house, and he had several pictures of you.”

  “I told you, we were friends,” Barbara said. “Is it so unusual that he would have pictures of me?”

  I studied her face as carefully as I dared. She sounded surprised, but it was hard to tell if she truly hadn’t known about the pictures, or if this was just part of her act.

  Liam shrugged. “Some of the pictures had the feel of more than friends.”

  This time the confusion in Barbara’s eyes was genuine. It only lasted for a second, then her mask slid back into place. “I’m sure you misread it, Detective. Jeff is just a friend.”

  Liam’s nostrils flared, and tension pulled his shoulders tight. A second later, Ian’s voice preceded him into the room. “Barbara, you underestimate your allure. As always.”

  Chapter 19

  Barbara rolled her eyes at Ian as he strode in with two cups of coffee in his hands. Not hospital coffee, but a take-out gourmet brew that smelled heavenly. He handed one to Barbara, and she slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “No teasing, Ian. These rangers think something horrible has happened to Jeff.” Her face grew serious. “How bad was it? The blood?”

  Ian’s eyes sharpened at her words. He stared at me, hard, and a second later, his eyebrows twitched up. He’d seen through my spell.

  I held my breath, waiting to see if Ian would rat me out, but he didn’t. Instead, he inclined his head, just a little. Acknowledging he knew.

  “Enough blood to be concerned, but not enough to eliminate hope,” Liam answered honestly. “So you have no idea where he might be, or how we could get a hold of him?”

  “No, I’m sorry.” Barbara looked over his shoulder at Ian. “Have you found anything?”

  Ian tore his attention from me to give Barbara a sad look. “No, I’m afraid not.”

  I swallowed a curse of frustration. It would be pointless to continue questioning her now that Ian was in the room. Our questions could very well give him more information than we wanted him to have.

  “Well, take my card,” Liam said, giving Barbara a business card from his shirt pocket. “Call me if you think of anything else.”

  “I will. And you’ll let me know if you find Jeff?” She bit her lip. “I feel awful I wasn’t more worried before now. I just thought he was camping.” Her voice dropped to a dramatic whisper. “I thought he was camping.” She looked at Roger.

  If I hadn’t spoken to her about Jeff’s disappearance during our first meeting, I might have believed her. Barbara was an excellent liar.

  Liam and I left, and to my consternation, Ian followed us out. As soon as we exited the building, he stopped me.

  “Ms. Renard, you’ve picked up a partner since the last time I saw you.” He studied Liam and held out his hand. “Ian Walsh.”

  Liam accepted the handshake as if he were already planning to wash his hands after. “Liam Osbourne.”

  “Are you the reason Shade has made such progress? I suppose finding blood would be easier with a wolf at your side. May I ask where you found it?”

  Something nagged at the back of my mind, something that bothered me about his question, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. “Did you know Jeff was a wild magic ranger?”

  “Yes.”

  “So that’s another thing you didn’t tell me,” I said coldly.

  Ian frowned. “I have not lied to you, Ms. Renard. If I haven’t chosen to tell you every detail I know, then it’s because I had a responsibility to maintain the confidence placed in me by someone else. Jeff’s secrets are not mine to reveal.” He met my eyes suddenly. “Did you lie to me?”

  “About what?”

  “About Roger not telling you anything before you put him to sleep.” He took a step closer, and Liam tensed. “Roger was my friend. I want to find out who’s responsible for this. It’s as much my case as yours, and I am the one Barbara has enlisted to find him. So there is no reason for you to keep secrets from me.”

  I met his eyes without flinching. “I’m sorry, but I have a responsibility to maintain the confidence placed in me. If you’ll excuse us?”

  Ian’s eyes darkened, but he didn’t stop me when I stepped around him. I walked to Liam’s truck, and we both climbed inside. Ian stood watching us for a long minute before going back inside.

  “Did you see the dhampir in the room across the hall from Roger?” Liam asked.

  “No.” I stared at him. “A dhampir?”

  Liam nodded. “Looked like he favored his human half more than his vampire half, but I know a dhampir when I smell one. And this particular dhampir works for Anton Winters.” He glanced at me. “Didn’t you say Winters has a special interest in Roger?”

  “I did.” I looked at the building as if I could see through the walls to the man Liam was talking about. “He must have people here watching Roger. I should have figured he would.”

  “Good news is we don’t have to worry about an attack here,” Liam observed. “Unless of course Winters decides he wants Roger dead.”

  An image of Charbel rose in my mind, the look he’d given me when he talked about Anton Winters. He hadn’t said anything out loud about my history with the vampire, and he could have. I’d assumed that maybe he knew Liam would disapprove, and was holding that information over my head so I’d work harder trying to clear his brother. But maybe he was wrong about how Liam would react to the information. Maybe I’d been wrong.

  “How do you know the dhampir works for Anton Winters?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual. “Have you worked with him before?”

  Liam barked out a laugh. “No. I’ve never worked for the bloodsucker myself. But he has an irritating desire to keep abreast of all things powerful in the Otherworld. So it’s not unusual for alphas to run into him or one of his cronies from time to time as he feels out opportunities for one of his precious contracts.”

  There went that hope. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “I’ll be right back. Scath is watching Roger, I want to look around back and see if I can find her. Ask her about the bird.”

  Liam nodded, but something about the way he was studying me made me think some emotion had made it onto my face. Probably my damn eyebrows. I turned as quickly as I could without looking like I was running away and circled around the back of the building, searching for Scath.

  Borvo Springs was beautifully landscaped, with a scattering of large, shade-providing trees, long sloping benches, and perfectly trimmed flower beds.

  Scath was curled up around the foot of one of the larger trees. It wasn’t even four o’ clock, so the sun was still blindingly bright. The large black animal shouldn’t have been able to hide, but being fey gave her an advantage. I would have missed her myself if I hadn’t been looking for her.

  I realized she was lying in a spot that let her see through the window into Roger’s room. I stayed out of sight and called to her, just in case Ian was in the room again and might glimpse me. Thankfully, I was standing upwind, and she caught my scent. She tilted her head at my park ranger disguise, but obligingly came to my call.

  “Have you seen a raven?” I asked her. “One that seemed to be hanging around Roger?”

  Scath looked up. I followed her gaze and saw a raven in the tree above her. The bird looked down at me, tilted its head, then flew down a few branches.

  My heart pounded. “Hello.”

  The raven opened its beak. “Blackjack.”

  “Blackjack? Is that your name?”

&nbs
p; “Blackjack,” the bird repeated. It looked toward the window I knew was Roger’s. “Roger. Barbara. Ian.” It snapped its beak.

  Adrenaline shot through my veins, and I forced myself to stay calm to avoid scaring the bird away. “Ian. You know Ian.”

  “Ian.” The bird snapped its beak again, then raised its wings.

  I threw out a hand. “Wait!”

  The bird paused, tilting its head the way all birds seemed to favor.

  “Roger is hurt.” I kept my hand out as if I could somehow will the raven not to fly away. Beside me, Scath watched the exchange with a distinctly bored expression. “He’s hurt, and he needs my help. I can’t help him without Jeff.” Very slowly, I unzipped the pouch. “Bizbee, do I have any dog food in there?”

  “Of course ye do. Because why wouldn’t ye have dog food in yer pocket? There’s seven open packs of half eaten gummi sharks too, if ye want to know.”

  He sounded sarcastic, but a second later he dropped a small sample pouch of dog treats into my palm. Neatly labeled with a Post-it of course.

  I opened the bag and dumped the treats into my palm. “Here.”

  The raven eyed the treats, then me, then Scath. Its gaze flicked to my pouch, and the intensity of its stare almost made me step backward for fear that it would try to dive in after Bizbee. Finally, Blackjack hopped down. One branch, then another, until it —or rather he—landed on my arm.

  Blackjack was not a small bird. I would guess he weighed at least four pounds, probably more, and his wingspan was four and a half feet if it was an inch. My arm sagged as he perched at the break in my elbow and gobbled down the dog food.

  It wasn’t much food, so I had to act fast. I called my magic, holding it inside me and winding it into a tight coil, preparing the spell as deep inside my body as I could. Animals had a sense for magic, and putting spells on them could be tricky if you needed to be touching them to do it. As soon as the spell was ready, I envisioned it shooting through my body, up through my arm and into the raven’s bony feet—and let it go.

  Blackjack cawed in protest, giving me a scary open-beak shriek before launching himself into the air. I held my breath as I watched him fly away, then sagged with relief as I felt the spell hold fast.

  “Please go to Jeff,” I murmured.

  Scath snorted in a less than supportive fashion and I scowled at her. “Why do you help when you don’t care?”

  Another snort was the only answer I got. I shook my head and returned to Liam’s truck, dropping my glamour once I’d climbed inside. “Tell me you have a map in your glove box.”

  Liam frowned. “Of course. Why?”

  I retrieved the map and opened it to lay it flat over my thighs, hoping that Liam included among his talents the ability to re-fold a map. “I found Jeff’s animal companion, Blackjack. We were right, it’s a raven. I managed to hold onto him long enough to tag him—magically speaking.” I looked down at the map and held my hand over it. I breathed easier when a silver dot appeared, moving at considerable speed.

  Liam glanced at the map, noted the location of the dot, and started the truck. “I’m surprised the bird would leave his master, especially if Jeff is hurt.”

  “If Jeff only really had one close friend—Roger—then it makes sense that he would be worried about him after what happened at Acme, and want his raven to check up on him. Ravens are already intelligent birds, but a raven who’s also an animal companion, used to working closely with a human, would be even more so.” I paused to point out the windshield. “Turn left at the light.”

  Liam did what I said, and I smiled as the silver dot on the map slowed down. “Blackjack’s not far from here, this won’t take long.” I glanced at Liam. “If Jeff was hurt as bad as the blood suggests, then he’d need medical attention. Either he didn’t find it, and he’s dead, or he did find it, and someone is taking care of him. Either way, the raven would have been able to leave him to check on Roger.”

  Scath shifted in the backseat, pushing off her side as she stared intently out the window. Liam glanced back at her.

  “She knows we’re close. Can she see the bird?”

  I looked up at the sky. “I don’t see it.”

  The cat sith leaned closer to the window. She was definitely watching something.

  “The collar she’s wearing looks like Sonar’s.”

  I nodded. “Same spell.”

  Liam was quiet for a moment. He hadn’t said much about the cat sith when I’d come back with her. I’d been surprised he didn’t ask more questions. But then again, maybe big animals just weren’t that interesting when you routinely spent time with a pack of werewolves.

  I’d had the thought that maybe Liam could tell me something about Scath that I didn’t know. It still bothered me that Arianne had seen something when she looked at Scath with her third eye. I wanted to know what she saw, but not bad enough to open my own third eye.

  The silver dot on the map stopped, and Liam parked on the side of the street as close as he could get. My disguise spell had run its course and faded away but I hoped I wouldn’t need it where we were going. I frowned and looked at the broken beer bottles at the bottom of the porch steps to the house closest to me. Several of the yards had a variety of refuse lying on the grass, ranging from broken children’s toys to old tires.

  “Not the best neighborhood to get medical help,” I observed.

  “Makes you wonder who he’s seeing.”

  Scath stepped forward, putting one huge paw on the armrest between the two front seats. She stared at a house up ahead, and there was a tension in her body like a coiled spring.

  “I think that’s the house.”

  We both followed Scath’s gaze. One house on the block stood out from the others. It was impossibly clean, not a hint of peeling paint around the window frames or a loose shingle on the roof. The yard was emerald green, without a single blade of grass leaning over the pebble-free driveway, and the red brick building was a real estate agent’s dream.

  We got out of the car and I studied the house some more as we approached. No ivy, no dirt. The place was pristine. Too pristine. “Brownies did this.”

  “Brownies?”

  I nodded. “A type of fey. Basically, they clean your house.”

  “So he’s Other, or he’s a human familiar enough with the Otherworld to hire brownies.”

  I shook my head. “You can’t hire brownies. They do the work for free, and they only do it if they like you. Whoever lives here has earned their respect enough for them to take care of not just his home, but his yard and his driveway.”

  Liam knocked on the door. “Let’s meet this medicine man.”

  The door swung open and a face appeared. A familiar face.

  “Dr. Dannon?” I asked, surprised.

  The tall black man stood with his usual impeccable posture, and behind his wire-rimmed glasses, kind brown eyes crinkled in recognition. “Ms. Renard. Nice to see you again.” He nodded at Liam. “Always a pleasure, Detective Sergeant Osbourne.” He paused, looking from me to Liam. “What brings you here?”

  Scath sniffed, pushing her nose farther into the doorway. Then she looked up at me. Despite her lack of enthusiasm, I thought I understood what she was trying to tell me.

  We’d found Jeff.

  “We’re looking for a friend of ours, Doctor,” I said, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice. “Jeffrey Carter?”

  Liam recovered his shock at finding our Otherworld assault victim at the home of the Medina County coroner and nodded.

  “Who’s he?”

  Dr. Dannon had a good pokerface. But not Otherworld good.

  “He’s a Ranger in the army. We believe he was injured two weeks ago, and we think he came here for help.”

  Still the doctor didn’t react. And he didn’t move out of the doorway. “I’m sorry, I’ve never heard of Jeffrey Carter.”

  I pointed at Scath. “My dog says he’s here.” I leaned in a little, tying a piece of magic to my voice. “I beli
eve Mr. Carter is in danger, doctor. We really do need to see him.”

  Dr. Dannon glanced from me to Liam, who spoke up. “She’s right. We’re not here to hurt him, we just need to make sure he’s all right. We need to know what happened the night he was attacked. Specifically, who attacked him.”

  The coroner sighed and gestured for us to come inside. “I’m afraid he’s not going to be able to answer your questions. He hasn’t regained consciousness since the night I found him.”

  The inside of Dr. Dannon’s house was as clean as the outside. The books on the bookshelves were perfectly straight, the kitchen counters were spotless, and there wasn’t a speck of dust to be found. I studied Dr. Dannon as he led us to a set of steep steps and began climbing to the second floor. What had the doctor done to earn the loyalty of a brownie?

  The top of the stairs opened up to the right into an attic-style area redesigned as a small bedroom. To my surprise, Dr. Dannon didn’t go to the right, but rather faced the tapestry hanging from the wall to the left. He pushed aside the tapestry to reveal a door handle set into the wall.

  “A secret room.” Liam was studying the doctor too, blue eyes crystal clear. “You’re full of surprises doctor.”

  Dr. Dannon didn’t answer, just pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was small, not much bigger than one of the more spacious walk-in closets I’d been in. Most of the room was taken up by a small hospital bed, a stand for hanging fluids, and a small machine that monitored the patient’s vital signs.

  Jeff Carter lay in the bed, as still as death. The machine registered a weak heartbeat, promising he was alive, but to look at him I wouldn’t have thought he’d make it.

  “He called me two weeks ago,” Dr. Dannon said, his low baritone voice serious. “I found him passed out by Nine Mile Creek. Someone tried to disembowel him.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how he survived it. He lost more blood than he should have been able to recover from, and I stitched up two tears in his intestines. But he suffered no infections, and he’s still breathing.”

  If Jeff was routinely in dangerous situations, then I guessed he was like me and had gotten very familiar with stabilization spells. Emergency magic basically delayed death long enough for you to get medical help. It only worked if you knew you needed it in time to cast it before you died, but when it worked, it was one of the best spells to have at your disposal.