“I’m enjoying this book,” Meg said, returning to the sorting table. “It’s exciting. I had to read a couple of chapters like this”—she put one hand over her eyes, then moved her fingers to see between them—“but I didn’t mind. Is it okay if Ruth and Merri Lee read it too so we can all give you a review?”
This wasn’t happy Meg. This was brittle cheerfulness. This was Meg trying not to show she was scared.
Simon carefully placed a paw on her shoulder.
No pretend happy or cheerful now.
“Jenni said there was trouble at A Little Bite, but she didn’t know what happened except that it upset Tess. And Ruth called to say I should stay in the office until everyone settled down. Simon?” She touched his face. “Do you need answers?”
“Roo,” he replied sternly. No silver razor. No cuts.
Her fingers combed through his fur as she studied him. “You’re sure?”
He licked her chin. She tasted better than the cookie, so he licked her again.
Her entire body sighed, and she felt more like his Meg again.
She gave him a hug and said, “You’d better get back to work. I’ll let you out. Thanks for bringing the quiche and other food.”
He was outside staring at the closed door before he realized Meg hadn’t given him a chance to play the pester game. That was so unfair, but at least he’d gotten a cookie, a scritch, a hug, and a couple of licks out of it.
He could live with that kind of unfair.
“Want some orange juice?” Pete Denby asked, going to the small fridge in his office.
“Sure,” Monty replied. It would probably burn a hole in his stomach, but he appreciated the offer of a drink that might not be in the Northeast grocery stores much longer since it, like the oranges, came from the Southeast and West Coast regions.
Pete poured two glasses and handed one to Monty before taking his chair behind the desk. “Do you know what’s going on?”
Monty told Pete what he’d seen and what he’d pieced together—and the choice his little sister had to make in an hour.
“Gods, what a choice,” Pete said softly.
“It shouldn’t be a choice.”
“You’re a cop. You know addiction doesn’t just come in the form of a pill or syringe. From the sound of it, your sister is addicted to your brother’s particular form of abuse.” Pete leaned forward. “Do you know why Simon Wolfgard is letting your brother stay? Or why your brother is staying?”
“I can’t guess Simon’s motives, but Jimmy is staying because the use of the apartment is free, and he came here expecting a handout. But the Sanguinati guard the building’s outer door and will keep tabs on everything and everyone.”
“So Cyrus can’t harass Sierra in the hallway or try to push into her apartment to discuss things without someone coming to her defense even if you’re not home.”
Monty nodded. “Jimmy wasn’t expecting the kind of scrutiny he’s under now. Even if Sissy had told him flat out, he’d still think he could get around being in close proximity to cops and Wolves.” He sighed. “Whatever Jimmy thought, my sister is in a bind.”
Pete said nothing. Then: “Did you come here because you needed a sounding board or were you looking for an opinion?”
“What do you think of my mother’s decision?”
“Smart move. No ‘you took his side’ accusations when things go sour, which you know they will. There is an unsavory part to any city, and I don’t think it will take your brother long to find Lakeside’s underbelly.”
“You haven’t even met him yet.”
“I live next door, so I saw enough when you got him and his family settled in. I know Eve brought them a bag of groceries, on Simon’s orders, so that they would have food for the first day or so.”
Monty sat up. “No one mentioned that.” He and Kowalski had picked up pizzas from Hot Crust, and he’d brought one up for Jimmy’s family and one for Sissy and the girls, while he, Lizzy, and Mama had the third. But if he’d understood Nadine’s accusation, Sissy had also brought home dinner last night and shared the food with Jimmy’s family. Had she held on to the pizza, or had that, too, become part of Jimmy’s larder?
“If you were me, what would you do?” Monty asked.
“Does your sister-in-law have any skills?”
Monty looked at Pete.
“Any skills that wouldn’t require you to arrest her?” Pete qualified.
“I don’t think so. As long as I’ve known her, she’s never held a job.”
“Regardless, if I were you, I’d start researching towns that are looking for workers, a place where the rent doesn’t cost more than your month’s pay. Start looking for your sister-in-law and the kids.”
“Three tickets out of town. And where is Jimmy?”
“In the morgue, if you’re lucky. If you’re not lucky, he’ll be one of those humans who disappear without a trace.”
Or some identification will be left at the cairn in Lakeside Park and the police will fill out a DLU form, Monty thought. A Deceased, Location Unknown form was needed in order for a family to receive a death certificate. It was the way the Lakeside Police Department acknowledged that a person had been killed, and most likely eaten, by the terra indigene and no body would be found.
“Your brother is a powder keg, Monty,” Pete continued. “Don’t let him take you down with him.” He hesitated. “Do you want me to come with you when your sister makes her choice?”
“As an attorney, what would you tell her?”
“To do what it takes to keep her children. And that means staying away from Cyrus.”
“When I first came to Lakeside, Simon kept his nephew Sam in a cage to keep the pup safe. It upset all the Wolves and it hurt him every day, but he did it.” Monty looked at Pete. “So I know he won’t hesitate to take those girls away from Sissy if he believes she’ll allow them to be mistreated.”
“If he does take them, do you think he’ll ever give them back?”
Not while Jimmy is alive. But Monty didn’t say that. “Thanks for the talk and the orange juice.”
“I might not have the orange juice the next time, but as an attorney or a friend, I’m here if you need to talk.”
As Monty walked down the outside stairs, he heard a car driving up the access way to the employee parking lot. Captain Burke’s black sedan. He should have called his captain, because Pete was right: Jimmy was a powder keg waiting for a match. Apparently someone else had made the call.
Packs and loyalty. Police and family. And consequences no matter what choice he made.
As Burke came around the corner, heading for the back door of Howling Good Reads, Monty hurried to meet him and give his report.
CHAPTER 9
Firesday, Messis 10
“Meg?”
Following the sound of Merri Lee’s voice, Meg went to the back room of the Liaison’s Office and opened the door for her friend. Then she noticed Sierra standing nearby.
Merri Lee stepped inside. She spoke so quietly Meg could barely hear her. “Could you use the cards to answer a couple of questions?”
Meg glanced at Sierra. “What’s going on?”
“Simon says Sierra has to choose between her children and her brother Cyrus. She’s asked all of us, except Ruth, who’s still in the schoolroom with the children, and we’ve all told her the same thing: Simon will take her girls, will drive her out of the Courtyard if she chooses to be part of Cyrus’s pack. But it’s like she’s lost her brains and won’t believe this can happen. I finally said we’d ask you to look at the cards as the final input before she makes her decision.”