“It’s just a question.”
“It’s just bullshit is what it is.”
“Mrs. Hardwick thinks there was something between them.” Cooper paused, unsure what to say about the photos.
“Well, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. There was no affair. He was, what, in his thirties? She was only nineteen when she died, for fuck’s sake.”
“Which means you were twelve. How do you know what was going on?”
“I knew my sister, okay? She liked Hardwick. He tried to help her out. But there was nothing sexual going on. What’s this about?”
Cooper frowned. It was the first positive thing someone had said about the man yet. “What do you mean he was trying to help her?”
“She was going through a bad time, you know that. She was...unhappy.”
“So how did Hardwick help with that?”
Stephen hesitated, then shook his head dismissively. “I don’t know. Like you said yourself, I was twelve.”
“Stephen, if you know something—”
“No.”
Cooper looked at him critically. The old stony Stephen of their childhood was back. The one who would stare you straight in the eye and lie to your face when asked if he’d eaten that day or if he’d been to school that week. He was hiding something. Protecting someone. But why? What was the point now after all these years?
“Whatever it is, it can’t hurt Rose anymore,” Cooper said softly. “But it can help uncover the truth.”
He reached out to touch his arm, and Stephen shifted just subtly out of reach. Cooper froze, then put his hand back down. What—? A cold heavy pit solidified in his stomach. He pushed it down deeper. There were any number of reasons Stephen didn’t want to be touched by him. It didn’t mean—
Forget it. He had a murder to solve.
“You don’t understand. It’s not just Rose’s secrets,” Stephen was saying. He looked down the hall at his son. “Why are you dragging all this up?”
“They just pulled Hardwick’s bones out of my backyard. My dad’s not handling it well.”
“My sister had nothing to do with that. Besides, Ed’s tough.”
“Stephen...” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “The FBI just crashed the party and took him in for questioning.”
Stephen’s eyes widened.
“Dean and Sophie followed them to the station. His station. He may be tough, but like I said, he’s not handling it well. I don’t want to see him hurting. I don’t think you do either. He’s always been good to you. You’re as much a son to him as I am. More.”
“You know that’s not true,” Stephen said automatically. He made a face, then took a step toward Cooper. “Look, someone was bothering her. I heard Rose and our mom talking about it once. Someone had taken some photos of her that would have ruined her life. She didn’t know who. The photos just started showing up in the mail with demands for money. I got the mail then, so I’m the one who found it. She cried and begged our mom to help her.” His mouth twisted. “She just said Rose had gotten what she deserved for being so...careless.”
He took a deep breath and looked at Cooper. “You’re right. Your dad was more of a parent to me than Margaret ever was, and I’m sorry I can’t help him now. But Rose had nothing to do with this. Hardwick wasn’t the one harassing her. He was helping her. He loaned her the money for the pay-offs and promised her he’d find out who was doing it. He said he’d fix it.”
“Why would he do that?”
Stephen opened his mouth, and a piercing yelp rang through the hall like an animal in terror or pain. Both he and Cooper whipped around. Park was out of the bathroom and standing at the end of the hall where Callum had evidently run into him and fallen backwards. The kid was on his butt and staring up at Park like he was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen.
Cooper barely had enough time to register the scene before Stephen disappeared from beside him and was suddenly down the hall and tossing his wide-eyed son behind him toward Cooper. He then shoved Park back, and an enormous snarl echoed through the hallway.
“Oliver!” Cooper ran toward the men. “What the hell are you—”
But it wasn’t Park who had growled. It was Stephen.
Chapter Ten
Stephen’s teeth had elongated and his normally blunt features seemed sharper. His eyes had widened to a glowing green-blue and he was leaning forward, right in Park’s face, emitting a constant growl.
Park wasn’t making a sound and his teeth weren’t out, but his lips were tightly pressed together and the whites of his eyes had all but been obliterated by luminescent gold. They were both staring at each other, unmoving, the tension in the air suffocating.
“Oliver—” Cooper stepped forward, and Park’s eyes darted toward the movement just before Stephen took advantage of his distraction and slammed into Park, knocking him hard into the wall.
“Stay the fuck away from my kid.” Stephen’s voice came out like an electric bass, low and graveled.
“I didn’t touch him,” Park spat out, barely intelligible from his tight jaw. His whole body was shaking, but his expression didn’t seem afraid—it was more like he was straining to hold something up. Or in. “Back off me.”
“No. First you’re going to stay away from my family.”
“I have no interest in your family.”
“And stay away from the Daytons.”
Park’s lip twitched, and then suddenly it was Stephen up against the wall, their positions switched.
“Daddy!” Callum yelled when Stephen tried to knee Park and was suddenly flying down the hall and landing in a sprawl of limbs. Two leaping jumps and Park was crouching over him. Now he was making noise.
The kid ran down the hall faster than Cooper could, threw himself onto Park’s back, and bit down on his shoulder. Park grunted, reached back, and grabbed at the child and Stephen roared up, looking terrifying. Park slammed him back down and held him there with one hand around his throat while he pulled Callum up and off of him with the other and held him dangling in the air like a puppy.
“Enough,” Park said, his voice different than usual, frightening. The kid stopped wriggling immediately and Stephen’s whole body shuddered, though his face was still twisted with fury.
“Oliver.” Cooper finally reached them. He grabbed Park’s shoulder without thinking and felt his body go eerily still under his fingers. He let go. “Let’s all just back away, okay?”
Park didn’t move at first. Then he carefully lowered Callum to the floor and, after another hesitation, released Stephen, stood and quickly backed away, pulling Cooper with him.
Stephen was on his feet as soon as Park stopped moving and had whisked his son up and behind him piggyback style.
No one spoke. The silence was oppressive. What had happened had really only taken under a minute, but it felt like hours. The party, feet away and carrying on obliviously, seemed like another world. None of the wolves moved or even blinked.
“So,” Cooper said, finally. “Et tu, Brute?” He was ignored, but at least whatever stare-off had been happening before was broken.
Stephen pointed one clawed finger at them. “Don’t come near me or mine.”
“Or what?” Park snapped.
“Oliver!” Cooper said, appalled at the aggression in his voice.
“Or next time it won’t be an even fight.”
“Oh, was that what this was?”
Cooper stepped forward. “Stop it. What is wrong with you? Stephen...” He didn’t even know where to begin.
Stephen looked at him “Cooper, I don’t know what you think you know, but you don’t.”
“I know everything. I mean, I didn’t know about you, but I know about this.” Cooper made claw shapes with his hands and shook them vaguely in front of his own face. Beside him, he saw Park roll his eyes.
“Wait—” Something clicked into place, an essential piece to the puzzle that finally started making the overall picture just a little bit clearer. “If you’re...then so was Rose. Right?” He looked to Park for confirmation. “That’s what you meant about Rose’s secrets not just being her own, isn’t it?”
Stephen’s eyes flickered a bit in acknowledgement. “What’s your point?”
Cooper tried to remember Mrs. Hardwick’s exact words.
Nature shots, woods, animals, old knickknacks, and empty chairs...and Rose Daugherty. Naked and filthy and roughed up. Like she’d been rolling around in the dirt.
“Is that what the blackmail was really about? Someone found out she was...” He glanced at Callum, who was still on his father’s back and had buried his face in his jacket. A werewolf? Cooper mouthed.
Stephen frowned and said, “He knows what he is and we’re not ashamed of it.”
“Of course not.” Why would Cooper think it was shameful? “I didn’t mean—”
Stephen shot him a look, and the words died in Cooper’s throat. “I’m sorry,” he said instead.
Stephen hesitated, then slid his son off his back. “Go upstairs and find Mom straight away. Tell her we have to go.”
“Wait, you don’t need to leave,” Cooper said as Callum raced down the hall and disappeared up the stairs.
“Yeah, I really do, with a Park here. And not just a Park but—”
Park growled again, silencing whatever Stephen was going to say. Cooper shot him a look, but was ignored.
“Please,” Cooper said. “Can you tell us more about the blackmail?”
Stephen looked at Park, and Cooper got the distinct impression a conversation was happening without him. It wouldn’t be the first time. Park might not be able to read minds, but he didn’t need to when all wolves were excellent nonverbal communicators and had a rich system of body language and facial cues that Cooper was still struggling to pick up on.
Finally Stephen broke away, expression a little resigned, and looked back at Cooper. “I don’t know much. I was just a kid, too. Rose and I were close. We had to be.” He ran his tongue across his teeth, which were still extended. “Yes, someone was blackmailing her for being a werewolf. It was a different time then. We had no one. We were...alone.” He looked at Park and scowled. “Completely alone, get it? And she obviously couldn’t go to the police.”
“So she turned to Hardwick? Why?” Cooper paused. “Unless he was...”
“No. But he was aware. Some humans are, you know.” Stephen gave him a look too exhausted to be truly amused. “I guess he’d spent time with a pack when he was living in Puerto Rico. He recognized the signs and had already guessed about Rose, so when she got the note and our mom wouldn’t help, he was the only one she could turn to.”
“Who was blackmailing her?”
“I told you, I don’t know. Hardwick took care of everything. He paid the price and got the photos back somehow.”
And then held on to at least some of them. Cooper frowned. “And what did he want in return?”
“Nothing. Not really.” Stephen’s eyes became distant. “Rose was the one to offer. She told me about it, her big plan to pay him back. She was going to sign up for this pageant thing that Hardwick was obsessed with.”
“The Valley Girl pageant?” Cooper said.
“Yeah, that’s it. I guess he thought there was something shady going on and she wanted to help him find proof from the inside.” He smiled. “She thought it would be fun.”
“And did she? Find evidence?”
Stephen looked him in the eye. “No. She died.”
Cooper winced. “Stephen—” He took a step forward but stopped when Stephen shook his head.
“That’s all I know. I told you it has nothing to do with Hardwick’s murder. I’m leaving now and no offense, Cooper, but I don’t want to see you again for a while. Not while you’re with him.”
Cooper nodded mutely, and Stephen backed up most of the hall and then spun and hurried up the stairs.
“Jesus,” Cooper muttered, staring after him. Stephen Daugherty was a wolf. Quiet, shy, awkward Stephen Daugherty, who was Dean’s best friend and always let Cooper play hide-and-seek with them and had once given him half his cake slice when Cooper had dropped his on the floor and Ed refused to cut him another. Cooper had known him all his life. But he’d never really known him at all.
“Jesus,” he repeated, looking wide-eyed at Park. “Do you think Dean knows?”
“About what?”
“Do you think he knows the way to San Jose?” Cooper said sarcastically and made a face, bewildered the question needed clarifying. “Do you think he knows that Stephen is, you know...”
“Another total dickwad from your childhood?” Park said dryly.
“Shut up, he is not. What was all that about anyway? You guys went from zero to sixty over nothing.”
“He got protective of his son.”
“From what, you? You’re not exactly the bogeyman.”
“You don’t see me the same way other people do.” Park’s expression was unreadable.
“I don’t know about that.” Cooper looked away, scuffing the toe of his shoe against the floor. “Shit, Callum left his horse here.” He went to pick the forgotten toy up. “You think I can catch him?”
“I think that would be a bad idea. He doesn’t want to see you again, remember?”
“Yeah. But it kind of sounded like that was just because of you. How did he know who you were?”
“My family is well known around the East Coast packs. You knew that.”
“I thought that was just in Maine,” Cooper said, trying to wrap his head around it all. On their first case together, he’d seen how Park’s ex-pack had influence and power back in Florence, but finding out that reputation spread all the way down here was forcing him to reevaluate the little he knew about them.
And what was that other thing Stephen had started to say? Not just a Park but a...
“Why did—”
Park interrupted him. “Or maybe he doesn’t want to see you and get grilled about the worst time of his life again.”
The silence rang between them.
Park blinked hard. “Sorry. I’m...still a little wound up.”
“No, you’re right. He doesn’t want to see me.”
A wave of guilt came over Cooper. That wasn’t at all how he’d wanted that to go. But it had been informative. Hardwick was not the blackmailer. At least not originally. Whatever Stephen said about it being Rose’s idea to infiltrate the pageant, there was still a bad power dynamic there. A vulnerable, isolated girl with only one adult in her life willing to do the decent thing. It wasn’t unexpected that she’d feel an unnecessary degree of gratitude. Maybe he’d even counted on it. Manipulated her to carry on his obsession with investigating Valley Girl. But what did that have to do with Hardwick’s murder? Rose was already dead by then, and her overdose wasn’t criminal.
He wasn’t the one blackmailing her, but someone could have still blamed Hardwick for Rose’s death potentially, yeah. Pageants weren’t the healthiest environments. Espionage wasn’t known for being great on the nerves, either. Her drug use could have picked up during that time, indirectly making Hardwick responsible. But in that case his killer would have had to know about the blackmail and the subsequent Valley Girl infiltration. Who?
Stephen. Cooper didn’t even want to think it, but he’d obviously adored his sister. They’d dismissed him before because of his age, but being a wolf made him stronger and larger than most twelve-year-olds.
Rose’s mother, Margaret. She had to have felt guilt for not helping her own daughter when she needed it most. Cooper couldn’t even imagine the devastation of losing a child. Margaret may not have been parent of the year, but she’d have felt something, and in the darkness of
that something had likely cast around for someone, anyone, to blame for her loss.
The real blackmailer, whoever that was, would have known at least part of the story as well. But why would he, or she, have gone after Hardwick? Not to avenge Rose, surely. Not when he could be seen as equally responsible if not more so.
Finally, Alex Hardwick. Obviously he hadn’t killed and buried himself. But he might have told someone about the blackmail. Eva, maybe? After Rose’s death he could have been the one to feel the most guilt and been driven to confess his part in it all. He’d used her. Some might even argue he’d used her worse than the blackmailer had because he took advantage of her gratitude. He’d called in a debt when there’d been only basic human decency. And all for what? Because he couldn’t let this suspicion of embezzlement on the Valley Girl board go? What had he even expected Rose to do about that? As a competitor, yeah, she’d get closer to the action than Hardwick could obviously, especially with threats of a lawsuit coming his way, but short of breaking into the board members’ personal files—
Cooper exhaled abruptly.
“You got something,” Park said. At some point he’d moved to sit on the floor. He still looked a bit ashy but better than before.
“What are you talking about?”
“You were doing that thing you do. You know, the thing where you space out and talk to yourself and then grunt and tell me who our new suspect is.”
“I don’t grunt,” Cooper said, mortified. Did he grunt? He definitely talked to himself. He really had to work on that. Especially with ears like Park’s. Especially when so much of his inner monologue these days revolved around said big-eared partner.
He fidgeted. “How are you feeling?”
“All better,” Park said, standing. “I told you, it was nothing. Now tell me who we’re going after.”
Cooper ran his hand through his hair, smoothing it, already afraid to look rumpled and less than perfect. “Do you think the coast is clear upstairs? There’s someone up there I want to talk to. Though I know she’s not going to want to talk to me.”
The Wolf at Bay (Big Bad Wolf) Page 19