by Alexis Davie
Piper stood up.
“I’ll get an Uber,” she said.
“Suit yourself,” Levi said. His tone softened. “Just be careful, okay?”
Piper left Levi’s office without looking back or responding to his plea for her to be careful. She was now surer than ever that she wasn’t being paranoid. There was something going on here, something she couldn’t put her finger on. It was bigger than a drug dealer, and somehow, Piper was right at the center of it.
8
Levi had called another pack meeting. He couldn’t remember the last time the pack had met in formal circumstances so many times in such a short space of time. He thought maybe they were getting a bit sick of it, and his thought was backed up by the fact that the meeting was already half an hour late starting, and Mal and Ria hadn’t even bothered to show up. He was done waiting. He would deal with Mal and Ria later, make them see that if he said a pack meeting was important, he expected them to be present, even if they disagreed with him.
He stood up and looked around at the pack members who had bothered to show up.
“We were right about the hunter’s identity,” Levi said. “It’s Paul Brackenstone.”
“You’re kind of stealing my thunder there, boss,” Violet said. She frowned slightly. “Wait. How did you know? Have you seen him around town?”
“Yes,” Levi confirmed. “But I couldn’t do anything about it. It was way too public. He was in the bar last night. With Piper. I got her out of there, but I think she’s starting to get suspicious of me.”
“Surely that confirms it, then,” Federico said. “We have to find a way to get Piper to leave the town. Having her here is endangering all of us.”
“It’s too late for that,” Levi said. “He already knows who I am, remember? Even if Piper leaves town, it won’t make us safe. He might follow her first so he doesn’t lose track of her, but he’ll come back for us. And that means we won’t even know when to expect his attack. It makes us vulnerable. And besides, we’re not in the habit of turning our backs on people who need our help. Especially when they’re our own kind.”
“You like her, don’t you? Piper, I mean,” Nancy said.
“Excuse me?” Levi said.
“Oh, come on, Levi. You like her. I can tell. I could feel the chemistry between you two when you were interviewing me,” Nancy said.
Levi looked down at the ground for a moment and then he decided to just be honest about this. The pack were his family. The very least they deserved was his honesty.
“Okay, yes, I like Piper. My instincts tell me she’s special. Maybe even the one. But that’s not the reason I’m insisting on helping her, and I really hope you all know that. Besides, she hates me, so there’s no chance of anything happening between us.”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” Nancy said with a smile. “The chemistry in that interview room wasn’t just coming from your side of the table.”
“Whatever,” Levi said, dismissing Nancy’s words even though they set his heart racing.
Could it be true? Could Piper like him? It didn’t matter. What mattered was keeping the pack, Piper, and the whole town safe from Paul.
“I think it’s time to tell Piper everything,” Levi said. “Paul is trying to get close to her, and having the chief of police warning her off him isn’t going to help. If anything, it will only make her more determined to hang around him. If I tell her the truth, maybe she’ll at least be a little more vigilant.”
“And it won’t hurt that she’ll see why you’ve been an asshole to her,” Nancy grinned.
Levi rolled his eyes.
“Does anyone have any objections to that?” he asked.
“How well do you know her?” Justin asked. “Can we trust her to keep our identities a secret?”
“I think we can,” Levi said. “She is a bear herself, after all. But to be on the safe side, I’m planning on telling her who I am and about the pack, but I’m not planning on giving her any details of who exactly you guys are.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” Violet said. “She’s not going to talk. No one will believe her if she does, and she’s only risking her own secret coming out if she finds anyone willing to listen. If I were her and my life was in danger, I’d want to know about it.”
“Right, then that’s settled,” Levi said. “I’ll head over to her place this evening and talk to her.”
He had barely gotten the sentence out of his mouth when the door burst open and Ria ran in.
“Nice of you to join us, Ria,” Levi said.
The rest of his admonishing words froze on his lips when he saw Ria’s tear-stained face.
“What happened?” he asked, already crossing the floor to her side and guiding her into a chair.
“We were tracking the hunter. He knew we were there, Levi. He… he shot Mal. Mal… oh my God… Mal is dead.”
Ria burst into fresh tears as the rest of the pack exploded with questions and shouting. Levi hugged Ria to him, letting her get it all out, and then he gently pried himself out of her arms and stood back up. He watched until Ria angrily wiped the tears from her face and then he clapped his hands together sharply.
“Enough!” he shouted, getting the pack’s attention off Ria and back onto him. His voice was quieter when he went on. “Enough questions. We’ll reconvene tomorrow. Let Ria have tonight to get her head straight.”
Levi couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a mate and although his bear was going berserk inside of him, he ignored it, needing to give Ria time to grieve. Ria shook her head, her face determined now.
“No, Levi. We need to get on with this. We need to get revenge on that bastard for Mal,” Ria said fiercely.
“Are you sure you’re okay to talk about this now?” Levi pressed her.
“I’m sure,” she confirmed.
“Then whenever you’re ready, tell us what happened,” Levi said.
“I take it Violet already told you the hunter is Paul Brackenstone?” Ria started.
Levi nodded, seeing no point in explaining that he had known the identity before the meeting started.
“Mal and I were on our way over here and we saw him. We decided to follow him. He was heading for the Marriott Hotel. It looks like that’s where he’s staying. Anyway, we were on the tree-lined road leading to the hotel, and out of nowhere, Paul turned on us. He had a fucking crossbow in his bag. We turned, but it was too late. He shot Mal. I barely escaped with my life,” Ria said.
Her voice fluctuated between a stone-cold detachment and a fiery anger. Levi wasn’t sure which was worse to hear.
“So now that we know his location, we should be able to get to him easily enough,” Levi said. “We’ll wait for darkness to fall, and we’ll go over there and tear the bastard limb from limb.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ria said.
Levi looked at her, shocked. He had expected her to be the first one to agree to this. If anything, he had thought the problem he would have with Ria was convincing her to wait until it was dark rather than going now and risking exposure.
“We did some digging as you know. Paul has a wife and two children. His parents are still alive. If he doesn’t come home, they’re going to start asking questions. And the Marriott is a nice hotel. Are you seriously telling me you don’t think they’ll have CCTV? We’ll be suspects,” Ria pointed out. “And one thing will lead to another and we’ll have to leave town and go into hiding. Levi, I know we usually handle our own business, but I’m just not ready to leave Bethany Beach behind, because it means leaving Mal behind.”
“So what do you suggest?” Federico asked. “That we just let him get away with it?”
“Fuck, no,” Ria said. “I’m suggesting you handle this in your official capacity as chief of police, Levi. I’m suggesting you do exactly what you would do if I was a member of the public who came to you and told you I was out taking a walk with my boyfriend and some bastard shot him dead.”
Levi nodde
d his head slowly.
“That could work. In some ways, it’s a better retribution. Instead of Paul going out in a blaze of glory, he’ll go to jail. He’ll be seen as a murderer and he’ll have to live with knowing he put his family through that stigma.”
“And he’ll have to live with knowing he’s locked away and his family aren’t safe,” Ria said. She hurried on before Levi had a chance to protest. “I’m not saying we should actually go after them. We’re not monsters and I would never condone hurting innocent humans, particularly not children. But Paul believes we’re monsters. He will expect that’s what we’ll do. And that constant waiting for one of us to strike will weigh on him over the years, until eventually, it’ll break him.”
Levi thought for a moment and then he nodded his head slowly.
“I like it,” he said. “We get revenge for Mal without even having to get blood on our hands.”
“Can you make it happen, Levi?” Nancy asked. “Can you make this charge stick?”
“Damn right, I can,” Levi said. “Is everyone in agreement that we do it this way?”
The pack nodded as one and Levi pulled his cell phone out.
“Right, then let’s do it. I’ll call for backup and we’ll go and arrest this bastard. Ria, the story is you panicked and ran because you thought you were next. In your panic, you didn’t think to call 911, so you came here instead. You caught a quick glimpse of the guy’s face before you ran and you recognized the guy as that author who’s been hanging around town. That’s how we know who to arrest. Got it?”
“Got it,” Ria confirmed.
9
Piper hurried into the police station. It seemed that Nancy Maynard had started a trend as she had received another call from someone who had been arrested and wanted her as their lawyer. This time, the call had come from a man who was accused of a murder. The call had shocked Piper. She didn’t imagine Bethany Beach was the sort of town that had regular murders going down, but even though the chief had proven he wasn’t likely to do any real detective work and actually catch the right person, she was sure he wouldn’t imagine an actual murder. There had to have been a murder even if the person she was going to the station to see hadn’t actually done it.
She realized as she stepped into the station that the man on the phone hadn’t told her his name, and in her shock, she hadn’t asked. Oh well, too late to do anything about that now, she thought to herself. Surely they don’t have more than one person here accused of murder.
She moved to the front desk where a different desk sergeant sat, and she smiled a wide smile at him.
“Can I help you, miss?” he asked.
“My name is Piper Lee. I’m here to see my client. He’s been arrested as a suspect in a murder investigation,” Piper said.
“What is your client’s name?” the desk sergeant asked.
“I don’t know,” Piper was forced to admit sheepishly. “He just called me to come down here and represent him and, well, it was only when I got here I realized I hadn’t asked his name.”
The desk sergeant laughed softly but didn’t comment. Piper bit her lip. She couldn’t really comment on the laughter—the desk sergeant had a right to laugh, and it wasn’t a nasty laugh, it was more of a sympathetic laugh. She just hoped he didn’t know she’d been a defense lawyer in New York where turning up to the police station without your client’s name could have resulted in ten or twenty people it could potentially be. At least if he thought she’d always been a small-town lawyer, it would mean she’d likely never had multiple suspects in one place for the same crime.
“I’m guessing you want Chief Carter. He’s in interview room one,” the desk sergeant said. “Do you know where that is?”
“I do. Thank you,” Piper said, heading off down the corridor to the now familiar interview room.
She reached the room and pushed the door open. Her jaw dropped when she saw who the client was. It was Paul, the man she had been talking to in the bar the other night. She walked into the room, trying to hide her surprise.
“Chief Carter, I would like some time alone with my client,” she said.
“Actually, I’d rather like to speak to you first,” Levi said.
He stood up and headed for the door to the room, not giving Piper a real chance to argue the point. She sighed and followed him into the hallway, deciding it would be easier just to hear what he had to say before she talked to Paul.
“Listen, Piper, I really don’t think you should take on this case. This man…”
“Enough,” Piper interrupted, holding up a hand to silence Levi. “I don’t need your permission to take this or any other case, and I as sure as hell didn’t ask for your opinion on this. Now, I’m going in there and you’re going to give my client his legal rights and wait out here until we’re done. Is that clear?”
Levi looked like he was going to argue with her for a moment, but then he sighed and nodded his head.
“Fine. Just be careful, okay? I know you think I’m the bad guy here, and no doubt you think that man is some innocent scapegoat, but he’s dangerous, Piper,” Levi said.
Piper could hear the genuine concern in Levi’s words. She looked at him, really looked at him, searching his eyes for answers to all of the questions she had. Her breath caught in her throat slightly as she looked into Levi’s eyes. She felt her center clenching slightly as she imagined what it would be like to kiss him, to feel his hands on her body.
She cleared her throat and looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks starting to redden. She pushed the door to the interview room back open. She couldn’t resist a quick glance over her shoulder. Levi was watching her, a half-smile on his face, which he quickly covered by running his hand over his lips when she turned around.
She looked away quickly, glad that the strange chemistry she felt between her and Levi seemed to be affecting him too. She stepped into the interview room and closed the door behind her, resisting the urge to slam it. She went to sit in the seat beside Paul.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Paul said as she sat down.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” Piper said, looking at Paul and trying to read his expression.
“What did he tell you?” he asked, nodding toward the closed door.
“Nothing,” Piper said. “And besides, I want to hear your version of what happened, okay?”
“There’s really not much to tell,” Paul said. “Just the chief won’t seem to hear my story. I had been into town, down at the beach, actually, and I was walking back to my hotel. I heard a noise coming from behind the trees on the side of the road. When I looked, there was a bear. I happened to have my crossbow with me…”
“Wait,” Piper said, her eyes widening. “You had a crossbow with you?”
“Yes,” Paul said. “I’d been down on the beach doing some target practice. I’m quite the archery enthusiast. I realize it’s not to everyone’s taste, but that doesn’t make it illegal, right?”
“Right,” Piper said.
The idea of him walking around the town with a crossbow admittedly made Piper a little nervous, but he was right. Technically, it wasn’t illegal.
“Go on,” she prompted when she realized Paul was waiting for her to speak.
“I shot the bear. I have no idea if that’s legal or not, and honestly, Piper, I feel bad about it. But I panicked, okay? I mean, there was a fucking bear coming at me. After I shot it, I heard a woman screaming on the road behind me, back toward the town. I didn’t know if she had been hurt or if she was just scared, so I went running in that direction to see if I could help her. At the time, I wasn’t thinking straight. I mean, I get it now. This poor woman sees a stranger running toward her with a crossbow, I can see why she panicked and ran. But I had no intention of hurting her. And I didn’t kill anyone. I killed a bear. That’s it. I think the woman let the panic get to her a bit too much and got confused somewhere along the line. I really thought this would be easy enough to sort out. Like, once the chie
f went out there and saw the only body there was a bear, you know? But apparently I was wrong about that.”
“Okay,” Piper said, nodding her head thoughtfully.
Something about Paul’s story didn’t quite add up, but she wasn’t here to prove he was guilty. She was here to make sure his legal rights were met and he wasn’t coerced in any way into saying something he didn’t really believe to be true.
“I’m going to tell Chief Carter to come back in. He’s going to question you again. Just tell him what you’ve just told me. If I tell you not to answer a question, don’t answer it. Does that make sense?”
Paul nodded.
“If at any point during the interview, you feel uncomfortable or you’d like a break, just ask,” she said.
“Got it,” Paul said. “What’s going to happen to me?”
“Well, technically, shooting bears for sport is illegal, but in the case of self-defense, then it’s fine,” Piper said.
“But what about the actual murder charge?” Paul asked.
“If your story is accurate, it shouldn’t take long to establish the only body at the scene is that of a bear. And when no one is reported as missing, that should be enough to get the murder charge dropped,” Piper explained.
“Okay. Then I’m ready,” Paul said.
He didn’t sound ready, but he was likely as ready as he was ever going to be. Piper nodded and went to the door. She pulled it open, ready to step out into the hallway and go to Levi’s office. It wasn’t necessary. He was still standing in the spot she had left him outside of the door. She raised an eyebrow.
“I told you. He’s dangerous. I was just making sure you were safe in there,” Levi said.
Piper opened her mouth to snap at him, but something stopped her. There was a truth in Levi’s eyes that told her he genuinely believed Paul was dangerous and she thought she could even smell a hint of fear on Levi. He obviously had just been looking out for her, so she bit back her words. Even if Paul’s story turned out to be true, Levi believed at this moment that he was dangerous. Piper believed that—she didn’t think Levi was just trying to eavesdrop.