Chapter Eleven
“Okay, spill,” she says, eyes sparkling. “Not the wine. What’s got your face all pinched up like a bad Botox job? And why can’t you leave your computer for even a few minutes?”
I snort, swirling the wine. And yes, all while me keeping my eye on the feed from Mark’s front yard. I tell her why as I sip from the wine.
“Oh, I see. You get one more crazy case and suddenly, you cancel your plans with me all week.”
“I canceled dinner and drinks. Hardly an all-week thing.”
“In college I had week-long benders,” she says.
I snort. “You? When?”
“I let loose, Sam. You aren’t the only one who’s lived.” She points to my laptop. “And what are you waiting and/or looking for, exactly?”
“I’m not sure. I just need to break into a place.”
“The house on the feed?”
“Yeah, that place.”
“What’s stopping you from, you know, just teleporting in there?”
“The resident is immortal. I won’t be able to control him without a fight.”
“What kind of immortal? Werewolf? Were-bunny?”
“That’s the thing. I’m not sure. He’s obsessed with dinosaurs.”
“Oh, crap.”
“Oh, crap is right.”
“A were-dino?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. He’s something, and I need to know what he’s up to.”
“A dinosaur can do some serious damage.”
“I know.”
“So, you just want to poke around his place and you’re waiting for him to leave?”
“That about sums it up.”
“And you set up a spy camera across the street to keep an eye on him?”
“Yes.”
“You’re being careful with this one.”
“He’s an unknown. That. And he has security everywhere.”
“Do you think he knows about your camera set-up?”
“Doubtful.” And I tell Mary Lou about the lengths I went to secretly set it up.
“You commandeered their guest bedroom.”
“Just the window.”
“If he has security everywhere, he’s going to see it’s you when you break in.” My older sister does air quotes around the words ‘break in.’
“I know.”
“You have a plan.”
“I do, yes.”
“I’m still bummed that my one day away from the kids is spent here, staring at the back of your laptop.”
“I’m sorry, Mary Lou. I haven’t had to cancel on you in a while.”
“I know. I’m just being pissy. I got all dressed up.”
“But I told you I had to stay home.”
“I was kind of hoping I could talk you out of it.”
I shake my head. “Sorry, sis. I need to get into his house, and I need to do it when he’s not home.”
“And could go all dino on you?”
“That, and I need him not to keep his guard up.”
“As in being overconfident? And leave everything out in the open?”
“That would be nice.”
“My little sister, a regular puppet master.”
“Only when mind control is off the table. Then I gotta improvise.”
Mary Lou laughs.
“And you look great, by the way,” I add.
“But you’ll be the only one seeing it.”
“Tammy saw it.”
“You know what I mean.”
“We’ll order some Indian food and drink our wine; it’ll be just like we went out.”
“Except you’re going to be staring at your laptop all night.”
I sigh, resting my chin on one hand. “I’m sorry, Mary Louie Louie. But there’s something cooking here, and it’s kind of freaking me out.”
“Because he’s an unknown?”
“Yes.”
“What other shifters are there besides werewolves, bear-shifters and mermaids?”
“Fairy witches?” I offer.
“Ah, like Tammy. Isn’t she like the queen bee shifter?”
“In a way, yes.”
“Because she can go from bear to panther to bird to mouse—all in a night!”
“All in a few minutes. No full moon needed.”
“Exactly. But... she’s not a shifter shifter. It’s fairy magic.”
She nods, getting it but not getting it. Heck, I’m not sure I even get it. “You want some food now, Sammie?” she asks me.
“I do, yes.”
I pull up my food ordering app, and soon $75 worth of Indian food is on its way, as if by magic.
When I’m done, Mary Lou says, “This guy didn’t have an aura then?”
“No, and his eyes looked weird, too.”
“Weird how?”
“For a brief moment, he had a vertical pupil and his lids blinked sideways.”
“Oh, my God. Maybe he’s a crocodile shifter? Crocodiles have pupils like that, right?”
“I think so. Look it up.”
“Alright, hold on.” She pulls out her phone, taps the screen, and sips her wine. “Yes, they do. Apparently, like many ambush predators, it helps them see clearly at night and in the day. I read a book once that featured were-gators.”
“Oh? By who?”
“Hang on, I have it here on my Kindle... a J.R. Rain and H.P. Mallory. It’s part of a series called Misty Hollow.”
I cringe. There’s that name again. Are you seriously plugging your other series, J.R. Rain? Have you no shame?
“Well, I’ve never seen one before, a were-gator, I mean.”
“But you think this guy might be a dino shifter?”
“I hate to say it... but yeah, I’m leaning that way.”
“Because he might have stolen the razor bone?”
“Raptor bone, and yeah.”
“Don’t shifters have to get... you know, bitten by someone infected?”
“They do, unless...”
“Unless what?”
“He’s creating something from scratch.”
“Is that even possible?”
“With the right dark magic, yeah. After all, someone had to create werewolves and vampires.”
I tell her about the books bound in human skin.
“But, he said his grandfather left those for him.”
“He did say that, but... he might have cracked them open, and came across a spell or two. Lord only knows what’s in those books.”
“You want to take a look at that book, don’t you, Sammy?”
“I do, very much so.”
“Please don’t get caught.”
“I won’t.”
“But he will see you on camera.”
“He’ll see someone on camera.”
“Oh my god, you’re going to wear a disguise?”
“As best as I can, yeah. I’m going to try to look like a man.”
She lets out a low whistle. “Good luck with that.”
“Was that sarcasm?” I ask.
“You’re so... girlie-looking. You’re what, all of five foot tall?”
“Five-three, missy.”
“Well, you’re still going to look itty-bitty on his camera.”
“Then I will just look like a little man.”
“What are you hoping to accomplish?”
“I want that book. And I want Max to take a look at it.”
“And know if he single-handedly created a new race of shifters?”
“I do, yes. I also want to explore his house a little more.”
“To see if he has, what, a mad scientist lab in there somewhere?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
Mary Lou reaches across the table, squeezes my hand. “Just be careful. This case sounds, I dunno... off.”
“Welcome to my world.”
“Oh, I’m deep into your world, Sammy. Maybe even a little too deep.”
We drink from our glasses and sit in companionable silence for a few moments, letting the wine warm us both, waiting impatiently for our food delivery...