“I’m not that stupid. If it was something simple, I would have caught it.”
I chewed my eggs and waited for Ted to contribute something. When he didn’t, I plowed on ahead. “What about the people themselves, anyone thinking about leaving before they did?”
“No,” she said, sure of herself. “No one could hide something like that from me.”
“And they left everything behind?”
“We think so,” Vincent took this one. “But we’re not sure. We don’t have any way to know for sure what was in their rooms.”
“But it’s all Pack property,” Ted said.
“Not anymore,” Amy’s voice was gentle. “Private rooms with locks on the doors.”
“We’ve changed, sweetheart.” His mother’s voice was almost soothing. “And we need your help. I need your help.”
Her words were pleading, but her face wasn’t. She expected that after she said the words and he would come. She expected to be obeyed. That was the last thing Ted would do.
“And I need to get to work.” He stood up with a nod for Vincent and a smile for Amy but nothing for his mother. We didn’t kiss in public, didn’t even hold hands, but when he touched my shoulder I knew how he felt: he wanted to be done with this. I nodded, letting him know I’d take it from here. Ted walked away from half of his meal with Candi’s eyes glued to his backside.
She was over at the table in less than a second. “Was everything okay?”
“Yeah, Candi it was fine.”
“But he’s never walked out like that. I mean, I’d hate to think it was something with his food.” She was fishing. Whatever she caught would be common gossip by the end of the lunch shift.
“He just had to go. You can take his plate, but I’ll finish his coffee. Thanks.” Candi didn’t like to be dismissed but she caught the hint. I stared at my dining companions trying to think of what to say next. There was no point in collecting information if I wasn’t going to be looking into the case. I had a werelion to get to its mom and a vacation to plan, plenty to keep me busy without going behind Ted’s back.
“Why does she think he’s gay?” Susan asked me.
“It’s a long story.” I waved my hand at Candi, cursing myself for not asking for the check before she walked away. “We live in a small town, with his profession people just assumed. And Ted likes his privacy so he lets them go on thinking it.”
“Ted,” she said, trying the name out.
“He’s always been Edward to us,” Vincent told me.
Amy kept her mouth shut and her eyes on her coffee mug.
“People change,” I explained half-heartedly. “I haven’t let anyone outside my family get away with calling me Lizzie since I was ten. It’s part of growing up.”
“You think I abandoned him.” Susan glared at me.
“That’s what he thinks, so yeah, I guess I do.”
“Well, he’s wrong. I was there, he just didn’t see me.”
“Maybe he needed to.”
She laughed, but there was only pain in it, no joy. “I know what you’re thinking, but you’ve never had to walk up the steps of that house feeling your son inside hating you. He didn’t want to see me. He didn’t want to talk about it. In the hospital after we got back, at home, every time I tried to see him, he just vibrated with hate.”
Vincent squeezed her hand but I didn’t have any sympathy. “So?”
“So what was I going to do, force him to sit down with me? Demand he talk it out? Tell him why I made my choices and beg him to forgive me?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m his mother. I shouldn’t have to do any of that.”
I shrugged, because she didn’t need me to say out loud that she was wrong.
“I’m not wrong.”
“Yes, you are. You gave up. It would have been hard every single day. You would have missed the Pack and the way you felt there. He would have taken a long time to get over it or maybe he never would have. He might have thrown it in your face during every single fight when he was a teenager. Instead, you weren’t there, not for the fights, not for him being a teenager. So, he hasn’t gotten over any of it and he probably never will. I’m sorry you made the wrong choice all those years ago, but you can’t change that now.”
I paid Candi on the way out, throwing her an extra-large tip to soothe her feelings. Susan’s eyes drilled into me the whole time, but I didn’t turn around.
8
The best lead to finding Leo’s mother was my brother-in-law, Jeremy, who was filming some big-budget blow-things-up movie down the highway in Hollywood. Lucky for me, the big star always answered my calls. He didn’t have enough time to answer questions over the phone, but happily accepted a lunch date. As always, my brother-in-law loved the idea of having family come by. I ended the call, glad I could make him happy just by sharing a plate of food.
Ted and his mother needed more than a meal or two to work out their differences. And I wasn’t so sure those differences should be worked out. In the time I’d known her, Susan psychically sent pain to Vincent and Amy, two people she considered family, just because they spoke out of turn. She’d also threatened to eat me or at least said she ate people like me. Not exactly mother-of-the-year actions. They made me think LaRue had been right. Ted would be better off with her dead, quickly, quietly, and with no drama, but dead just the same.
If you ignored her, the rest of the Pack seemed to have made a giant leap forward. My magic told me Vincent and Amy hadn’t been lying. They lived in a hotel, they didn’t steal from people, followed the law, and at least acted civilized. Except for his mother, the demons of Ted’s past seemed gone. The problem wasn’t the Pack but whatever was preying on them.
My vacation was still on my mind, but it wouldn’t hurt to look into the Pack’s problem. I just needed a way to do it safely. There didn’t seem to be a good one; Ted would probably move up our vacation timeline just to get me out of his mother’s reach.
My mind wandered all the way to Hollywood. There was no way to guess what Jeremy might know about Nala Renji. He could give me an address on the other side of the state, or not have an address at all. Doubt crept into me. Maybe I should have stayed in town, closer to Susan and the trouble she presented. Ted might need someone to protect him. When I called him, he told me otherwise, promised me it was a normal day, and lied that he hadn’t thought of her since breakfast. It’s funny how my gift works, even over the phone when there isn’t a change in someone’s voice, I can tell a lie. He’d thought about his mother a lot.
The studio gates appeared in front of me as if no time had passed, when really my head had been on werewolf trouble for more than a few miles. I took some time to focus myself while security checked me in. No more werewolves, just werelions. Get the baby home, then worry about the rest of it.
I parked my car in front of the tall rectangle building adorned with a giant green 16. The red light over the door was off, so I headed inside the soundstage. My first steps took me into a giant empty space, and then with another two steps forward it turned into a New York City office building. I wandered between cubicles for a few feet until someone directed me to the left. Back out in the empty space, the director and my darling brother-in-law were chatting about a script.
“Hey Elisabeth!” Jeremy called out when he noticed me. A second later, he’d scooped me off the ground in a hug that lifted me at least three feet.
“Put me down, Mr. Showoff,” I demanded. Jeremy had been making movies longer than I’d be alive, but his enormous biceps were more recent. Sometimes I think he liked being a muscle man action hero more than any of his other roles. “I’m not one of your adoring fans, remember?”
“Thank God, let’s go eat.”
On our way to lunch, we evaded two gaggles of screaming teenage girls. “When are you going to tell the world?”
He held the cafeteria door open for me. “About the wedding? Soon, I guess. The invites go out next week, right?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been keeping track.” I grabbed a pair of trays for us and joined the line.
“You’re bad. If you keep it up, Gina’s going to ask me to set you up with someone.”
“You know better, right?”
“I know Ted would be quietly pissed and William would kick my ass.”
William and Jeremy were both World War II veterans. They’d bonded, but apparently not enough for Jeremy to feel completely safe.
“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” Our meals gathered and paid for, we grabbed a table in the back. “So tell me about the lion trainers the studio uses.”
“That’s a weird one. Is it for a case?”
I nodded, my mouth full of food.
“You want the whole history?”
“The whole thing, but the most important part is if you know Nala Renji?”
“She might be the Nala that works with Expert Encounters.”
I made a gesture for him to give me more.
“I’ll start at the beginning. Back in the 70s, the studio used…” He stopped, looking down at his food. Jeremy’s past wasn’t entirely happy. His eyes came up after a second, and met mine.
I gave him a small nod. There were plenty of stories that would make me stop like that.
“I’ll skip the ugly parts in the 70s. Let’s just say Henry Black was a bastard and I wouldn’t let him train my dog, let alone a lion. In the 80s, the studio started to care more about the animals. Then in ’98, SAG set up all the rules; that’s when we went through a lot of companies instead of just the one.”
“And Nala worked for one of them?”
“Expert Encounters, I think. Supposedly she’s a werelion.”
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“It’s gossip, you know, probably lies. But they say she shifted on set once to keep a panther in line.”
“She killed it?”
“Not sure. I doubt it though. She’s known for being laid back about everything except the way her animals get treated.”
The corpse beside my bed wasn’t the result of someone laid back. Then again, her kid was missing. No one was going to be laid back about that.
“Got her address?”
“Nope. But I know a guy in accounting who can get you the Expert Encounters address. He might even be able to tell you if she’s the right Nala.”
“I’ll take it.” My food was half gone, and I didn’t want to seem rude. “So, how are you doing with the wedding planning?”
“Honestly?”
I nodded.
“I’d rather sell my soul again than disappoint your sister, but this is getting out of hand,” he started. He didn’t finish for another thirty minutes. We rushed over to accounting, he got me the information, and practically ran back to his set. Between what he’d told me and Mom’s expression this morning, someone needed to talk to Gina. Hopefully, that someone didn’t turn out to be me.
Accounting didn’t have Nala’s last name. In fact, they didn’t have Nala listed as working for Expert Encounters at all. They did have a list of all the animal trainers that worked on set in the last three years, and they were willing to give it to Jeremy’s friend. I hated trading on his name, but the thought of Leo at home with Mom got me over it. The list was thirty companies long. I hit a coffee shop and started making calls.
I couldn’t get an answer at four places, and no one at the others had a Nala Renji working for them. One guy sounded like he knew her but when I probed for more he clammed up. With nothing else to do, I went out to his office. Thirty minutes in traffic brought me to a fairly boring office building. Two stories of mirrored glass and well-kept palm trees were the only decorations out front. I checked the directory by the elevator and found the company I wanted on the third floor. When I opened the door, a voice instructed me I was wrong.
“You want the next door down, the next floor up, or the next floor down.” The cheerful tone conveyed the directions even though the man hadn’t seen my face.
“Excuse me?” I asked as I stepped into the room.
“For the dentist, next door down, the attorneys are the next floor up, and the accountants are the next one down. You’re not here for us, no one ever is.” He smiled with teeth white enough to make a toothpaste ad.
“Actually, I am,” I smiled back.
“Really? You want Animal Magic Trainers?”
I nodded, and crossed the room. Magic brushed up against me. I was used to LaRue and Jo feeling like magic, but that feeling rarely came from another hot-blooded person.
“You’re a witch?” he asked, probably feeling the same thing. I gave him a long look, from his curly brown hair and warm red-brown skin down to his polished leather shoes. The pressed dress shirt in light blue and the contrasting green and blue checked tie didn’t do much to impress me. The way he pulled his magic back so it barely tickled did.
“Spirit, you?”
“The same.” He looked me over then leaned forward putting his elbows on the desk. “It helps with the animals, but most people don’t pick up on it.”
“Guess I’m lucky.”
“Or cursed. How can I help you?”
Lying was out. He might know in a minute. Then again, no two witches ever had the exact same abilities. Maybe he wouldn’t know. Still, there was no good reason to risk it. “I’m looking for Nala Renji. My friend bought a pet lion and I need her help with it.”
He took a second, weighing my words. There wasn’t a lie in the bunch, just a few creative uses of the truth. He finally told me, “Nala doesn’t work here.”
My shoulders slumped. “Oh well, twenty-seven places down, three to go. It was nice meeting you.”
Before I stood up completely, he stopped me, “She doesn’t work at any of the other three places, either.”
“Great,” I let my sarcasm come through, hoping he could feel it.
“She hasn’t worked anywhere in the last five months, since she had the baby.”
I struggled to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. “Do you know where I can find her? It’s important.”
He hesitated. “I can tell. I mean, I can feel how important it is, and I think it has something to do with the baby.”
I held still, hoping he couldn’t get enough from my head to do any damage.
“Or maybe it’s just the baby lion your friend got? I’m not really good with people,” he admitted.
I shook my head at him. “You seem pretty good to me. So her address?”
He judged me a little bit more then wrote it out. It wasn’t far and I crossed my fingers that Leo would be back home soon.
“One more thing, do you have a phone number for her?”
“I do but I’d rather not give it out.”
I wanted to fault him for it, but I couldn’t. My story was pretty shady, even if I was a fellow witch.
“How about I call her, let her know you’re coming?”
“That sounds great.” I was halfway to the door when I realized he hadn’t asked my name. “Don’t you want to tell her my name?”
“I figured I’d just tell her to look for the vet with the fake arm,” he said, casually.
My vanity, or maybe my pride, hurt enough that I slammed the office door behind me. I liked to think people didn’t see my silver bands, but really it was just that everyone I knew had already gotten over them. The jerk in front of me used them to identify me like that’s all I was. It stung. I headed to Nala’s place, unconsciously tugging my sleeves down as I walked out of the building.
Nala’s address turned out to be a small farm just past Santa Clarita in the mountains halfway back to my home town. Little Leo was closer to getting back where he belonged. I smiled about it as I pulled into the long driveway. I didn’t see any other cars, just a one-story concrete block ranch house with a red front door and matching shutters. I turned off the car’s engine and checked my gun, making sure the extra clip was in my pocket where it needed to be. Mentally reviewing everything Ted and William taught me
about werelions, I stepped out into the yard.
Nothing greeted me, not even the bark of a dog. At the door, I knocked, putting my fist just above the spot where someone had destroyed the lock. Not a professional job, quick and dirty, splitting the wood. No one answered my knock, but the door swung open with a gentle push. I stepped inside, calling out to see if anyone was home. Quiet greeted me. Homey quiet, not the kind with the hint of blood in the air or destruction. The living room looked normal, baby toys here and there. Black velvet couches, gold accents, and a throw blanket with a fuzzy lion image on it all matched neatly. Not my style, but not vandalized either.
The dining room was simple, the highchair pulled up to the table still held a few stains. I checked the kitchen. The milk wasn’t expired so they hadn’t been gone long. It was a two-bedroom, one bath, and the second bedroom was the baby’s. Not Leo but Noah according to the block letters on the wall. The nursery decorations included photographs that proved the baby my mom was watching belonged in this room. I checked the master bedroom, sticking my head in the closet. Nala had a husband, or at least someone who stayed over enough to leave his shirts on hangers and his clothes on the floor. Before I could check on anything else, I heard a noise from the front of the house. I grabbed my gun and faded into the racks of clothes.
“Nala? You here?” At first the voice sounded friendly but when it didn’t get an answer it changed. “You shouldn’t have left your car out front, you dumb bitch.”
Damn it, there was only one way out of the house and the guy blocked it.
“Where’s Phil, Nala? What’d you do to him?” The voice came closer. “If you killed him, you shouldn’t have come home.”
Phil was probably the dead guy from this morning. Before I could think of anything else, the closet door popped open and the man screamed, “Gotcha.”
Instead, he got my knee in his crotch. He went down and I went over, barely taking time to notice his black hair or pale skin. Down the hall and halfway to the door, another man appeared, cursing loudly.
“Go after her!” the one in the bedroom yelled at him, but I was already out the door. His friend fumbled his gun, not getting it out before I got into my car. The engine came to life as he fixed his shot on me, shouting for me to stop. No way. I hit reverse, hearing the retort of gunshots. A low-slung black car came around the back of the house, and as I backed up, I saw the shooter get into it. I cursed, hoping the other motorists would stay out of my way. But the road was empty. Just me, the giant target, who had nowhere to hide. I put the gas pedal down as hard as I could, keeping my eyes on the rearview mirror. My cell phone sang out Mom’s ring tone. Icy fear grabbed my heart. What if Mom was in trouble? I hit the speaker button.
Missing, Suspected Dead: Elisabeth Hicks, Witch Detective Page 13