Raven’s Instinct (A Day Care for Shifters #6)

41. Kendra

41

KENDRA

T he agency’s lawyer, Talwick, was a portly human man with a very severe nose and a thick, graying mop of hair. He had kind eyes, though, and was clearly both competent and compassionate.

Kendra felt her nerves settle as he laid out their defense on their third meeting. “You’ve actually done the agency a huge service,” Talwick told her frankly. “You guessed correctly that Mr. Charles Taylor’s wife worked for Stork. We were able to subpoena their texts in light of this case and found correspondence that indicates that his wife was the one suddenly pressing for custody. We are pretty sure why, though there was no clear proof.”

“Because Charlie eventually told her I was a shifter.”

“That is our guess,” Talwick agreed. He was almost jovial. “Earlier correspondence indicates that she wanted to make sure the child ‘was not her problem,’ but we surmise that when Mr. Taylor confided in his spouse about your ability to shift, she changed her tune and realized that Amy might be a valuable asset for her research. We have explicit directives in writing from Mrs. Taylor to her husband to try to spook you into fleeing so that you would look guilty and their claim would be easily approved.”

Kendra realized she was grinding her teeth and forced herself to relax her jaw. She’d come so close to blowing it by running to Canada when he called.

“Did you find anything else in those texts?” Alan wanted to know. He had mostly been quiet but present during Kendra’s first interview, but Kendra felt better for having him there, and he’d told he was at this meeting in part to find out what the lawyer had uncovered that might help the agency’s greater goals.

“There is suggestion but no confirmation that Owen Davis was working with Mrs. Taylor at Stork, but he is definitively attached to Mrs. Douglass’s abduction, so we’ve got him back in selective custody. His phone records were subpoenaed and we found evidence that he had hired the fake ambulance crew and had also been in communication with Veronica Chase. She is being questioned and has moved from a person of interest to a person of intent. We’re already working on a strategy for containing her. We believe that the public nature of the abduction and in particular the hostage situation will give us the authority to keep either of them from being any further trouble. The agency is proposing that we continue to keep an associate agent at the day care center.”

Kendra looked hopefully at Alan. Did this mean he’d be around longer?

“There is one more thing. Miss Emerson was not Mr. Taylor’s only infidelity,” Talwick said apologetically. “He was apparently having another affair during the time of your involvement as well. Mrs. Taylor knew about both of them.”

Alan’s hand tightened on her knee, but Kendra was relieved. Not just that their case was clear, but that her conscience was, too. She had worried—briefly—that she was unfairly withholding a child from a father who wanted her, but Charlie’s motive had never been true, just as he’d never been true, to her or anyone.

“What a surprise. He was a faithless jerk,” she said, and it didn’t hurt. He was a part of her past that she could give appropriate regret to and leave behind forever. “What does this mean for my case? Did child services weigh in on the whole living in a van thing?”

“There is ample precedent for non-traditional methods of shelter, and our agents confirmed that your setup is safe and hygienic. You are a good mother, Miss Emerson, and your references were glowing. You don’t have anything to worry about.” He tapped his paperwork into a tidy file. “In fact, we have two choices from here.”

Kendra blinked. She hadn’t realized there would be anything to do but ride out whatever happened. “What choices?”

“We can have the case dismissed based on this evidence and call it finished. It is highly unlikely that Mr. Taylor would ever have any basis to try again.”

“What’s the other option?”

“We could counter sue for child support. While Mr. Taylor could not hope to achieve custody given this chain of evidence, this opens a case for you to request monetary compensation for your expenses. We could probably expect a settlement of a sum in the hundreds of thousands, given the financial records of the plaintiff.”

Kendra felt all the air leave her chest. “Hundreds of thousands ?”

“Likely not less than a quarter of a million.”

She touched her purse, where the realty listing was still folded. That would be more than a down payment. That would be freedom . “What would I have to do?”

“That would require adding Mr. Taylor to Amy’s birth certificate, which would require a paternity test. We can discuss the option of a legal agreement that no custody would be pursued, or even a restraining order altogether. It would be a more involved case, but I’m completely confident we could win it with restrictions to your satisfaction.”

Kendra considered only for the barest moment. “No. Not worth it, not even a little. I don’t want his name on her birth certificate, and I wouldn’t want to be beholden to him. I already got the best part of this deal. I’m not grabbing for more.”

Talwick looked pleased. “I was hoping you’d say that. While we would certainly win such a settlement, it is the mark of a solid field agent that they can resist a high reward temptation for revenge. You were correct about her moral compass, Agent Petrov.”

“Wait, what?” Kendra turned her gaze to Alan, who smirked back at her.

“Agent Petrov has proposed that you’d make a very capable associate field agent,” Talwick said. “I am not only the agency’s lawyer, I am also head of the training and recruitment department, and part of my work here was to assess your suitability for enrollment.”

Kendra continued to glare at Alan, feeling equal parts thrilled and annoyed. “You knew this?”

“Only part of it,” Alan protested. “I made the proposal to my team head. She’s the one who bumped it up, and I didn’t realize that Talwick was doing two jobs until last week. He asked me to keep it quiet until he’d had a chance to make a final assessment.”

“And this was my final assessment ?” Kendra looked back at Talwick. “What does this even mean? I mean, I’m flattered, but I like being a vet. I wasn’t looking for a change of career. I don’t know if I could give up my job.”

“We wouldn’t ask you to,” Talwick assured her. “We’re looking for civilian staff. Reserve guard, if you will. We would give you specialized training and pay you a stipend to be on call. Your veterinary business would continue, we would only ask that you be available when we need your medical, technical, or physical expertise.”

Kendra remembered the thrill of chasing down the ambulance and the excitement of working next to Alan to catch the men who’d kidnapped Addison. It sounded too good to be true. “What kind of stipend?”

Talwick named a figure that would bring her dream house into reach within months instead of years, as long as her rig stayed running. There was just one question left. She turned to Alan. “What about you? You’re not a reserve guard, you’re an active agent. Are you going to be assigned out of Nickel City?” She glanced sideways at Talwick. Was this too personal a topic to discuss in front of a lawyer? She’d already told the man most of her sordid life story.

“Agent Petrov has already requested a demotion to associate field agent,” Talwick said mildly.

Kendra’s gaze snapped back to Alan. “What does that mean?”

“I’d work full time at Tiny Paws and be on call for the agency when they needed me. Just like you.”

Kendra felt something in her chest relax. They’d be a team. And she couldn’t imagine a team she’d rather be on. There was just one thing: “What about Bernard?”