Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Miles
The first thing I saw was a picture of Paul Ferguson. Even in the photograph, he looked like a typical slimeball. Greasy dark hair, dark eyes that looked like they were hiding a thousand secrets, and a strange smirk on his face.
This was a damn mugshot, for crying out loud.
Why the hell was he smirking?
What a creep.
I flipped the page and read the charges for dear old Paul.
A few counts of burglary—anywhere from a few misdemeanors to something that cost him five years in prison. Several counts of assault and battery. And even a carjacking.
Wow, what a catch.
Most of his crimes were non-violent—not all, but most—but it was clear the man was a thief. And from the look in his eyes in that photo, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done worse crimes—a lot of them—and just hadn’t been caught yet.
I flipped the page, and my brow furrowed.
It looked like Higgins had done his homework and staked out the Whispering Pines Faerie Sanctuary—the place I’d initially tried to take Sola to.
I was beyond glad she’d sent me that vision of the horrible, torturous things they’d done to her there, even if the thought of those things happening to my sweet girl gave me nightmares.
Thank god I hadn’t dropped her off with this sleazeball of a man.
Higgins had pictures of Paul Ferguson entering and exiting the sanctuary in his car, a few of him standing outside the main welcome building, and a few of him just… walking around the grounds.
I flipped to another set of photos, and my eyes widened as I leaned in to get a better look at them all.
There were a ton of photos of him standing on the side of the building where a delivery truck from Faerie Friends Food Supply was parked. Hm. I’d never heard of that company before. But I supposed I didn’t really go around buying a ton of faerie food.
Maybe I should look into it, though, and see if anyone specializes in firebird food. I’d been feeding her fresh fruits, veggies, and some freeze-dried bugs, but it would be nice to have something easy on hand. Especially if that’d guarantee her getting all the vitamins and nutrients she needed.
Hm. Something to think about for sure.
And I could get a feeder or something for the garden pixies that sometimes visited my backyard. The thought made me smile. That would be fun to watch.
I glanced at Sola. Actually, she… would probably like to chase them and perhaps even eat them. So… hmm. I’d have to think about that. I suppose I could just keep my familiar inside if there were pixies in the yard.
Shaking away my thoughts, I concentrated on the photographs.
For some reason, Higgins had a shit-ton of these Faerie Friends Food Supply photos, and I didn’t understand why.
It looked like there were three guys who all came for the deliveries, every single time, if the labeled dates and changes of clothes were any indication. And even though it had only been a week since I’d told Higs about this place, he had three different deliveries photographed. That seemed… odd.
Wouldn’t most businesses do weekly or even bi-weekly deliveries for things like that? It was animal—faerie—feed, but all of that food could be stored and sit for a while before being used. It wasn’t fresh, so it didn’t need to be used immediately. So why all the deliveries?
As I examined the photos, I felt my brow furrow deeper and deeper.
All of the photos were taken in the dark, so Higgins must’ve gotten there super early in the morning to catch these deliveries. I supposed it wasn’t that odd for food deliveries to come early in the morning.
He had several pictures of the three guys, plus Paul Ferguson, carrying two large boxes from the truck into the building.
One photo of them near the truck, and another photo near the side entrance of the building.
From what I could see, it was definitely the same two boxes, and they looked super heavy and awkward as hell to carry.
But why was he so focused on these boxes?
I looked at the first picture where two of the unknowns were pulling one box out of their truck, then looked at the last one where they were walking into the building.
I tried to take in every single detail, memorizing it for later when I went with Higgins to that interview—because of course I’d help him.
He’d piqued my curiosity with this folder, which was his intent, obviously.
So instead of having him come pick it up, I supposed I’d bring it to him and help him with that interview. Ugh.
As I stacked the photos back into a neat pile, I froze when I came upon that first photo again, the one where the guys were pulling a box out of their truck. It was timestamped.
2:36 a.m.
I blinked. The middle of the night? Wait. I pulled out the last photo of them carrying the box inside, checking the timestamp.
2:33 a.m.
I murmured, “What the hell?”
I’d read those photographs out of order, which meant the picture of them closer to the building actually came first. So… so they were loading up the delivery truck, not unloading it.
“Holy shit.”
Had Higgins actually caught them in the act of… well, I wasn’t sure exactly what, but obviously it was something shady.
First of all, why were they making deliveries—or pick-ups, as the case may be—in the middle of the night? That alone made no logical sense.
And second of all, why the hell was a faerie food delivery company picking something up from a sanctuary? Shouldn’t they be the ones giving the sanctuary food? Not the other way around.
I looked at the rest of the photos and paid more attention to the timestamps. From everything I could see, the supposed delivery truck was picking up things of varying sizes every time they stopped by.
When I flipped to the last page of the folder and read over the notes, I shook my head in disgust. According to everything Higgins researched, Faerie Friends Food Supply didn’t even exist.
The business wasn’t registered, there was no website, no social media presence, no phone number, nothing.
So then who in the hell was picking up things from the sanctuary, and why were they doing it in a fake business truck?
What I wouldn’t give for some X-ray vision right now. I’d love to see what was inside those boxes.
Sola landed softly on the table in front of me, having finished her breakfast, and I stared at my amazing familiar.
Humans grabbing her, hurting her, pulling out her feathers.
Terror.
I sucked in a deep breath at the memory that Sola had sent me the first time I’d touched her.
The people at that sanctuary had pulled out her feathers and done who knew what else to her.
They were evil, dangerous, horrible people who absolutely should not be working with faeries or any other living creature.
But if they’d plucked her feathers out like that, did that mean all those boxes were filled with faerie…
parts? Were they selling things, like firebird feathers for good luck?
Or maybe pixie dust, which was toxic to humans in large doses so some people used it to hurt others?
Or dragon scales that people ground up and used in creams and lotions for healing?
I shook my head, disgusted with these men and everything they represented. I’d seen so much depravity when I’d been a detective. It was part of the reason I’d quit.
Not the whole reason, and certainly not the main one, but the horror of what humans did to each other and other creatures had gotten to be too much for me.
Sola leapt from the table and landed on my shoulder, making me jump.
“Damn, you startled me.” I gave her a few pets and shook off those thoughts. I was in a much better place now. I didn’t need to think about all of that.
With a sigh, I put all the photos and paperwork back into the folder, ending with the picture of Paul Ferguson on top, giving the guy one last look.
Just as I went to shut the folder, Sola squawked loudly and started flapping her wings, hitting me in the head over and over again.
I ducked automatically, not that it helped when she was on my shoulder. “Oh my god! Sola! What’s wrong? What’s gotten into you?”
She squawked again, hopped off my shoulder onto the table, and started jumping up and down on top of the folder. She bent in half, squawking down at her own feet as she hopped around and flapped her wings, freaking out—and freaking me out too.
I stared at her in shock. She’d never acted like this before. What the hell was her problem?
My brow furrowed as I really took her in.
She wasn’t just hopping around on top of the folder, she was stomping her clawed feet on Paul Ferguson’s face and squawking right at him.
Reaching out for the bond I could always feel between us, I immediately registered the absolute terror Sola felt while looking at that man’s face.
Without hesitation, I scooped her up, ignoring all the wiggles, held her against my chest, and slammed the stupid folder shut, not giving even one fuck that my familiar had messed up the photo with her claws. Higgins could print a new one for all I cared.
“Shh. I’ve got you, baby girl. You’re okay. You’re safe.”
She let out a soft, sad, and scared-sounding chirp that broke my heart.
“I’ve got you. I won’t let him get you. Never again, baby girl. No one will ever hurt you. Never, ever, ever again.”
She trembled in my arms, but she also tucked her face into my chest, rubbing her head against me, and I could sense she was taking comfort in my embrace.
Not to be left out, Odin meowed from the table where he’d hopped up. I held out one hand to him, and he immediately came over. He rubbed against me, then started rubbing along Sola’s side and face, purring up a storm.
The cat lovin’ seemed to help calm my familiar even more than I could, and once she seemed better, I set her on my lap, scooting my chair back enough to make room for both her and Odin.
“That’s a good boy, Odie. You’re such a sweetheart.”
He rubbed my chest, then kept up the affectionate rubs and headbutts to Sola.
It took a few minutes, but finally, after what felt like an hour but was probably less than ten minutes, Sola started trilling and offering Odin her own rubs.
I blew out a relieved breath and snuggled the two of them for another few minutes before I finally decided I needed to get going and go to my first job of the day.
“You coming with me today, Sola?” I asked her as I set her and Odin on the table so I could stand, stretching and trying to wake my body up. This weekend really kicked my ass, and I was already ready to go back to bed.
If Winter hadn’t left already, I doubt I’d be able to get out the door at all. I really, really wanted him to wrap me in his arms again. A nice, long, peaceful nap sounded lovely right about now.
Ugh, and it was barely eight o’clock in the morning. Blech.
Sola chirped at me, and I somehow knew that meant yes, she was coming with me. Apparently being bonded to her meant I spoke firebird. Or at least, I spoke Sola.
I smiled. “Okay, cool. The first few appointments are follow-ups, so I just need to swing by and pick up my traps, then drop the faeries off at a sanctuary—not the one you came from.”
I kissed the top of her head. Bringing her along would be… interesting, and definitely wouldn’t hide the fact that I was technically a practitioner, even if every practitioner I’d ever met acted like being an empath was way below them.
“We’ll see how this goes with having a firebird with me.”
I snorted because even that sentence sounded weird. I couldn’t imagine how the customers were going to react. Hopefully, they’d all just fall in love with her as easily as I had.
She was certainly sweet enough for that to work.
I gave the top of Odin’s head a kiss too. “I’m sorry you can’t come with me.” What would I do? Put him in one of those baby slings like I’d seen other cat owners do? That would be ridiculous.
Cute. Definitely cute. But also ridiculous. I absolutely couldn’t work with him tied to my chest.
“Too bad Goliath isn’t here to keep you company,” I muttered as I grabbed everything I needed—firebird and file included—and headed for the door.
Hmm. Did Goliath get lonely at Winter’s house all alone? I wonder if we could trust him and Odin enough to leave them together unsupervised so they’d at least have a buddy?
It’d be weird if I asked him to leave his dog at my house, wouldn’t it?
Yeah. Super weird.
We’d only just started dating a couple of days ago, for crying out loud.
That was something I’d have to bring up in the future, though.
Probably way, way, way in the future.
The thought made me smile. The future. Could I really have a future with Winter Alexander Montgomery?
I wasn’t sure of the answer to that, but I really freaking hoped it was yes.