Secrets that Simmer (10 page)

“I’m trying to help you figure out who could have done this,” Tony said carefully. “I’m trying to help you, and let’s not forget that you called me.”

Maggie leaned back on the couch. “I know, I know. And I know I’m the one who called you. But this is scary.”

Tony moved so he sat next to her on the couch. He didn’t touch her, though. “Maggie, I promise that I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The words were said so sincerely that Maggie felt her heart skip a beat. Even after everything she knew had possibly happened that night of October 23, 1999, she still felt completely safe with Tony next to her. Wasn’t that why she had called him to begin with? Her heart and her mind had been in two different places, but her mind was starting to catch up now. And because it had, she was afraid of the situation, but in a completely different way than she was scared of the other one.

“What are we going to do?”

Tony picked up the legal pad that was sitting on the coffee table. Maggie tried to snatch it out of his hand, but he kept it away from her easily by putting it up out of her reach. “I think that you are already heading down the right path if I understand what I see on this notepad.”

“So you want me to dig into that night?” Maggie asked. She had to think that Tony would be reluctant about this particular topic, especially if it could expose that he was actually guilty.

“To be honest, Maggie, I know that Eric has looked into this as much as he could without trying to raise any suspicions. I’ve done the same. Kyle, on the other hand, doesn’t want to have anything to do with it, so we don’t even bring it up to him. But it is disconcerting to have twelve hours of your life unaccounted for. I want to know the truth.”

His earnestness was what drew her in. Why would someone who had murderous tendencies want to possibly expose them? That didn’t make sense. She knew that Tony believed he was innocent. If he wasn’t, she had a feeling that he would be able to explain it away with one of his many psychoanalytic theories that he had been putting forward on the witness stand for years. She realized with a flash of understanding that Tony had in a way been arguing for himself all of this time. He had been prepping for the day when he might have to explain himself. It was a stunning conclusion.

“I don’t know what I could possibly find if you and Eric have already looked into this. You guys have way more resources than I have.”

“But you have something we don’t have. You have the experienced eye of someone who looks at these kinds of cases all the time. You know who to call, and you know how to locate resources that we don’t have. There are people out there who trust you. They would trust you more than they would trust me or Eric or someone from the Urban Dwellers organization. You’re also human. You’re not part of the Urban Dwellers. People will tell you things they won’t tell us.”

“Regardless, if I do talk to someone who is a potential witness, I have to tell them that I am being contracted on behalf of the Urban Dwellers organization.”

“No, you’re not.” Tony said with a smile.

“What do you mean? I signed the contract myself. I know who I am representing.”

Eric leaned over to his briefcase and pulled it up. He took out the contract document and handed it to her. “You really should have read the contract before you signed it. Look again at who you’re representing.”

“I’m representing Gethsemane Enterprises. Your company,” Maggie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Tony shook his head. “No, I am a silent board member of that particular organization. The CEO is very much human. All the work that is done is research that is all above board and leans heavily in the interest of humans. It’s a cover organization that we formed years ago, for exactly this express purpose. There are times when we can’t appear to have shifter allegiances to get our work done.”

“This says that I am representing you,” Maggie said stubbornly.

“It says that you are representing me under the umbrella of this particular organization. All you need to do is tell people that you’re working on behalf of this company. You don’t have to tell them that I’m the one from the company who retained you.”

Maggie wanted to reach over and bat Tony over the head. “An omission is still a lie, remember?”

“Welcome to this side of the table,” Tony said. He had a small smirk on his face. “I know those do-gooder qualities worked really well when you were representing the state in your cases. You’re going to have to start getting your hands a little dirty when you’re working on cases like this. Don’t you want to be able to get the truth? Which way do you want it, Ms. O’Hara? Do you want the truth or do you want to stick to your ethics?”

Now definitely Maggie wanted to smack him. This conversation was not going at all the way that she wanted it to. She wanted Tony to come over and somehow miraculously save the day. That had been a silly idea.

“So, road trip?” Tony asked her.

Maggie’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“It’s homecoming week at St. Ignacious. A lot of the alums are going back for it. I figure you can go with me, and it’s an all-expenses paid business trip for you. While we’re there, we can take a look around. See if there’s anything to see.”

Maggie couldn’t believe it. “You want me to go on a trip with you?”

“A trip that is directly related to the case,” Tony said. His face softened. “I don’t have to remind you that there is someone who has targeted you. It would make me feel better if you were with me until we can figure out who that is.”

Maggie had a hard time arguing with that logic. “Homecoming, huh?”

Tony’s face broke out in a wide smile. “I know, I know, it’s kind of hokey. But actually, it’s a lot of fun. I think that you will have a great time despite yourself.”

“If I agree to this, I want to be clear that I am not going to have fun or be your date. I’m going strictly in a business capacity. That means separate rooms.”

Tony’s smile grew even wider. He gave her a small salute. “Always one to want to make sure we’re following the letter of the contract. That was fine, Ms. O’Hara. Separate rooms it is.”

Maggie couldn’t believe that she was agreeing to this. It seemed crazy. Moments later, Tony was on his phone talking to his assistant. He told him that he was adding one person to the flight itinerary and to book her a hotel room. He hung up the phone a few moments later. He looked at her expectantly. “It’s all set.”

“So when are we leaving?” Maggie asked.

Tony looked at his watch. “Well, I was supposed to be at the airport ten minutes ago. So how quickly do you think you can pack?”

Maggie would never admit it to Tony in ten million years, but she was having fun. After having gotten over the shock that she was expected to leave her apartment and her cat for several days, she hastily threw a bunch of clothes into her suitcase and was escorted out the door.

Tony promised her that if there was anything that she needed and had forgotten, they could go on a shopping spree. She reminded him that she did not work on the kind of salary that allowed for shopping sprees. He told her that if there was something that she needed to expense it to him as part of her fee. She stopped arguing with him after that. There was no point.

The next new experience was flying in a private jet. Maggie had never been in a private jet; her whole perspective was based on what she had seen on TV or in the movies. It had been a bit of a shock to enter to the airport and be driven to the garage that housed the private jets. Tony, Eric, and Kyle apparently shared a private jet between the three of them for Urban Dweller business. After less than five minutes in one, she definitely could see the appeal.

The plane was small and sleek and seated eight people inside. The interior was designed for maximum comfort. It seemed like every time she turned around, there was a flight attendant next to her asking her if there was anything that she needed. If she kept hanging around Tony, she was going to get spoiled. Since she figured it would never happen again, she decided to enjoy every minute of it.

Her head was still achy from all the liquor the night before, so she decided to play it safe. Seltzer water was all that she ordered. There was also a meal that was provided by Tony’s private chef. She kept wondering when the luxuries were going to end, but it didn’t appear it was going to be any time soon.

About halfway through the flight, the copilot came back and spoke to Tony. It seemed that their delayed departure was causing some consternation with the airfield outside of Croftsborrow. Tony offered the equivalent of a bribe to ensure they landed on time, since apparently they had a schedule once they landed. Maggie didn’t want to know anything about Tony’s less than aboveboard activities, whether he was her client or not. She spent the majority of the flight studying her notes. Tony had brought along the file that he had showed to her at his apartment. She compared the pictures with the driver’s licenses, and indeed it appeared that the three women were the same. He also emailed her all the information that the Urban Dwellers had dug up on the girls, although it wasn’t much.

It was baffling to her that since the date of the incident, no one had seen or heard from the girls again, which seemed to lend credence to the idea that something bad had happened to them that night. But what was more unsettling was that no missing reports had ever been filed for them. She double-checked Tony’s intel several times. Things weren’t adding up.

Two of the girls were eighteen at the time of their disappearance, and one of them was nineteen. They all listed addresses that were in a town called Franklins Bluff, which was about fifty miles away from St. Ignacious. She asked Tony how he might have met these three women. He said he had no idea. Even though they were allowed off school property, they rarely went outside of Croftsborrow unless they were going home for the holidays. He didn’t remember meeting any one of the three girls at all.

She studied their pictures. All of the girls were pretty. One had remarkably striking fire engine red hair. Her name was Jillian. Allison and Tiffany were both brunettes and so closely resembled each other that Maggie thought they had to be related despite their different last names.

Maggie was glad that she had decided to use the flight to work. It made her feel like there was some semblance of normalcy in her life. Tony was working as well. He had told her that he had a medical conference coming up where he had been asked to be the keynote speaker to present highlights from his latest research. She wondered what it was like to jet set all over the world. It seemed as if Tony was always up to something, be it on the witness stand, speaking at conferences, or writing research articles for magazines. He was a man in demand.

Maggie looked up from her laptop and stretched. She saw Tony staring intently at his laptop screen. She took the opportunity to study him for a moment. From the side, he had a striking profile. His hair was tussled again in the way that she remembered from the evening before. It made him appear younger than his thirty-five years. She had heard that shifters aged more slowly than humans in general. She didn’t know if that was true, because she hadn’t known a shifter long enough to be able to tell if there were aging affects or not. His biceps made it appear as if he spent a good deal of time in the gym.

Maggie couldn’t help but wonder then what his wolf looked like. Would it have the same kind of blondish gray locks that Tony had? Would it be oversize or were wolf shifters the same size as regular wolves? She had no idea. These were all new thoughts to her, and when Tony looked up and caught her staring at him, she flushed.

“Can I ask what you’re thinking about?” he asked with an amused smile.

“I was just wondering how big you are.” Maggie wanted to die when she heard the words come out of her mouth and saw Tony’s eyes widen in surprise. “I mean your wolf. I was wondering how big your wolf is.” She heard those words out loud, and they weren’t much better.

Tony threw his head back and laughed. “That is the first time I’ve ever heard someone ask me that question like that,” he said.

Maggie was mortified. “Can I try that again?”

She felt like she was in that awkward time when she was just figuring out a case and she still wasn’t quite sure how she would articulate her argument. She spent an immense amount of time practicing in front of the mirror just to make sure that she always said everything just so precisely right. She never wanted to say the wrong thing and feared being embarrassed. She was practiced and methodical in everything that she did. This whole situation had blown all of that carefully cultivated poise to hell.

Tony shook his head. “It’s okay. I understand. You want to know if when I’m in my wolf form, if I’m the same size as regular wolves?”

“Yes, That’s what I was thinking and not articulating well at all.”

Tony looked at her thoughtfully again. “Most women want to try to forget that there is an animal part of me. I mean, they like the idea that I’m a shifter, but they don’t actually want to see the wolf. It’s interesting that you want to know more.”

Maggie wasn’t quite sure what to make of that statement. “You’re my client, and I’m going through your case file, and the thought just occurred to me. You never know what detail might have relevance to a case.” She had been wondering about him that way for a completely different reason, but she wasn’t going to admit it.

She could tell that Tony didn’t believe her, but he seemed willing to humor her. “When I’m in my wolf form, I am slightly larger than your average North American gray wolf. It’s just enough that if you saw me next to one, you would be able to tell there was something different about me. That was really the whole crux of it, isn’t it? In my human form, there’s always something about me that gives it away that I am not quite 100% human. It’s the same as if I tried to integrate into the animal world. They would know just by looking at me that I was not 100% one of them.”

That was quite possibly one of the saddest things Maggie had ever heard. “So you truly do straddle both worlds.”

“Yes,” he said. “And there are some shifters, not many, that end up relating more to their animal side than their human side. They form clans that stay in their phased form the majority of the time. Those clans are few and far between, but they are out there. They’re usually found in some of the most remote places of the world, because they don’t want to be around humans. There is an anger that they feel toward that part of themselves even though it continually calls out to them. It’s a very different dynamic than those of us who choose to exist most of the time in our human form.”

Maggie was fascinated yet again. This was yet another dynamic to shifters that she had no idea about. “Have you ever felt like that? Like you wanted to remain as your wolf?”

Tony thought about it. She appreciated that he wasn’t dismissing the question out of hand. “Perhaps. Not often, though. Especially not in the last couple years. There’s just something about walking around on two legs that is more appealing than walking on four. I won’t say there aren’t some benefits of being in my wolf form, and I take full advantage of those when I can, or when it’s necessary. But other than that, I don’t feel the draw unless it happens to be the full moon.” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and Maggie wondered if he was making fun of her.

“So you’re just as affected by the lunar cycle as regular wolves?”

“There’s a reason that we schedule the shifter fights at the club on nights of the full moon if we can. Let’s just say that the crowd is a lot rowdier, but that also means that they spend a hell of a lot more than they would at any other time. It’s not just wolves that feel the pull; pretty much all shifters do to some degree or another.”

Their conversation was interrupted as the plane made its descent to the airfield outside of Croftsborrow. Maggie watched the lush green landscape rush to greet them as the plane landed on the runway. She barely felt the bump as the wheels touched the ground. Maggie loved to fly, and it was something she just didn’t have an opportunity to do that often.

Tony had hired a car to take them into town and on to the school. Maggie soon discovered that Tony was a charming tour guide and well-informed about the area. He told her all about the history of the town and the first settlers there. But he grew most animated as he told her about the Civil War battles that had been fought there. It turned out that Tony was a Civil War buff.

"I know more than my fair share about Civil War history," he confessed. "When my father would drag us to various engagements up and down the East Coast, my favorite part was studying up on the different battles that occurred in those areas. It kept me occupied and out of my parents’ hair. I always did well in history classes, but the chapters on the Civil War were by far my favorite."

Maggie thought that was cool as hell. She figured it was time for her to confess something as well. "My parents loved the idea of the All-American family summer vacation. But we didn’t have a lot of money, so they saved up every year for one big vacation. They always said we’d go someplace different, but we always ended up camping at Niagara Falls. When I was a kid, I’d always pretended it was the end of the world, and I only had my wits and my skills to help me survive. I checked out a lot of books about how to survive in the woods in my day."

Tony thought that was hilarious. "A survivalist, huh?"

"Those are transferable skills. You never know when the zombie apocalypse is going to hit after all," Maggie said with a smug smile. "I think a girl’s got to know how to defend and take care of herself if the world ends."

"You must have loved H.G. Wells then," Tony said. “Truly a classic if there ever was one.”

Maggie flushed. “I listened to War of the Worlds at least a bazillion times. I liked the book too. Because we couldn't afford to travel, reading was the next best escape." Now she was teetering on a line that she wasn’t sure she wanted to cross. She was fine divulging some parts of herself to Tony, but she wasn't ready to let him see everything. Plus, they were just business colleagues after all. There was no need to overshare.

Tony seemed to accept her silence in stride. He pointed out yet another landmark outside the window, and soon she was laughing again at the tales he told her of different pranks that he, Eric, and Kyle had attempted during their time at St. Ignacious. Some of them, they got caught. Most of the time, though, it sounded like they didn’t. No wonder they were so confident taking on the world.

Maggie had seen pictures of St. Ignacious on the internet, but nothing prepared her for the actual approach to the school. The car pulled up to a gate, and the guard at the entrance checked their name off of a list. She looked out the front of the car’s windshield, but she couldn't see the buildings yet. She remarked on that to Tony.

"The school is actually another two miles inside the property," he said. As the car started down the tree-lined lane, Maggie was starting to catch the drift of why.

"So this was because it was important to potentially keep the shifters going through their first phase away from the town?"

"I told you that St. Ignacious takes that responsibility with grave importance. They're not going to let anyone get loose. There are rare instances of situations like Robert’s, but they are few and far between at St. Ignacious. I would have full confidence sending my own children to the school. I have fond memories here, despite the way everything ended."

It surprised her how eager he seemed about visiting his old stomping grounds, given what had happened. There was a part of her that was wondering about his sudden invitation to join him. She had to wonder if the trip was an excuse to be able to spend more time with her. She wasn't normally so confident in a man's attraction to her, but she had known since the benefit that Tony was interested in more than a business relationship with her. Perhaps That was why she was going overboard trying to keep the relationship strictly in professional territory, but with every story that he told her and every laugh he pulled from her lips, she was drawn closer to him.