21. Chapter 21
Bec
Gale’s house was in a nice neighborhood and the house was much larger than I expected. I knew real estate agents could make good money, but I didn’t expect something big enough to handle a sizable family.
“Where was Jim’s car parked?” I asked, setting my helmet on the seat of Marduk’s motorcycle.
Marduk pointed a little further down the street. “Under that tree.”
He would’ve been parked pointing at her place and with a good view of her front door.
“I wish we knew what he was trying to get pictures of,” I said. “Maybe he was looking for Leif?”
Danzig nodded. “Maybe. Angel said he should be able to get access to the pictures soon.”
“That might help,” Marduk said. “But we need to be prepared that Jim might not have gotten a chance to take any pictures of anything interesting.”
“I should go up and knock on the door by myself,” I said. “She might not open the door if you guys are with me.”
“No,” they both said at the same time.
I put my hands on my hips. “Do I need to call Amara?”
Their second no sounded panicked instead of firm, making me chuckle.
Danzig held up a hand. “I have an idea that would keep us out of sight but make sure you’re not going in there alone.”
“Go on,” I said.
“Remember when I hid in the bag of money that Gio was supposed to trade for you and Mila?” he asked. I nodded, and he continued. “I can make myself small enough to hide on your person. That way you’ll look like you’re alone, but you’ll still have me there to protect you.”
“No, wait, I want to hide in her clothing!” Marduk said, pulling Danzig away from where he was standing and taking his place. Between one blink and the next, Marduk seemed to disappear. His clothes dropped to the ground, empty.
“What the hell!” I exclaimed, jumping back.
Danzig made an aggravated sound. “Dumb bastard, why’d you do that out on the street?"
He knelt down and fished through the clothing until he pulled out a small, familiar dark-green snake. He held Marduk up so they were face-to-face.
“That was rude,” Danzig said with a frown.
Marduk remained still except for a slight wave of his head, but he must’ve been talking to Danzig because I could hear the familiar murmuring in the back of my mind.
Danzig nodded. “Okay, fine, you have a point. But let’s talk about it next time.”
Danzig turned and held Marduk out to me. “He can curl up around your wrist, completely hidden by your motorcycle jacket.”
“It’s a good idea,” I said, holding out my hand, my palm up. Marduk slid from Danzig’s grip and onto my palm. Instead of sliding under my sleeve, he curled up and looked up at me with the most adorable little snake face.
“You’re cute,” I murmured, running a finger over his head and down his back. When I lifted my finger, he grabbed it with his tail and guided it back to his head before letting go.
While I petted Marduk, Danzig picked up the clothing and draped it over his bike, grumbling to himself about annoying brothers.
“That’s enough,” Danzig said, nudging Marduk with his finger, making him hiss and pretend to strike out. “Stop that. Wrap around her arm so we can find out if Gale is even home.”
Marduk hissed one last time at his brother, showing needle-sharp fangs. Then he closed his mouth and uncoiled to slide into my sleeve. He felt warm and soft as he secured himself.
I lifted my arm and hooked a finger in the sleeve to pull it back enough to reveal his head.
“Is that comfortable? Are you sure you’re going to be able to breathe?”
I felt deep contentment coming from him, and he tightened himself around me in a snaky hug. What would it feel like if he was a little bigger and hugged my entire body? Maybe the best bear hug ever, or would that be a serpent hug?
“What are you thinking?” Danzig asked.
I looked up at him, pulled out of my thoughts. “Huh?”
“Your body heated up a little,” Danzig said. “And now you’re blushing. Are you thinking about what Marduk did to you when he was in his larger serpent form?”
I hadn’t been, but now that Danzig said that, memories of our time at Mason’s birthday party made my face get even hotter.
“You are. We could—”
I slapped my hand over his mouth. “Stop!”
His eyebrows lifted, but he remained quiet after I dropped my hand away. “Good boy.”
He snorted and stepped away to lean against a nearby tree, showing that he was going to watch me.
That was fair. I turned and headed to the house. My heart was pounding by the time I got to Gale’s front door. I felt foolish for the amount of adrenaline going through my system. All I was doing was ringing a doorbell, it was unlikely anything big was going to happen.
Unfortunately, I was right, nothing happened. I rang again and again, making it clear to anyone inside that I wasn’t leaving until they came to the door. Determination replaced nerves and I pounded my fist against the wood, making the entire door rattle.
Still nothing.
I tried the knob, but it was firmly locked. Then I noticed a sizable gap under the door. I knelt down and pulled my sleeve back to reveal Marduk.
“The door’s locked and no one is answering,” I told him. “Could you slip inside?”
He answered by slithering out from inside my sleeve and under the door. Soon the door was opening, and I was faced by an almost human-sized serpent with his tail around the knob.
He pushed his head into my hand and nudged until my hand was palm up. Then, shrinking back down, starting at his tail and ending with his head so all of him ended up in my hand. He disappeared up my sleeve again with a happy little flick of the tip of his tail.
He liked it there, and I was becoming fond of him wrapped around my arm too.
Danzig appeared at my side as I stood up. “Should I assume that no one is home?”
“I can't imagine they were able to ignore all my ringing and banging,” I said and stepped inside with Danzig right behind me. The place was sparsely furnished with only a single chair and a folding table in the dining room.
I stepped further into the house. “This doesn’t look right.”
“Not at all,” Danzig agreed. “It doesn’t feel like anyone actually lives here. I can feel the remnants of auras, several humans and the casket druid, but no one has been here for at least a week.”
“Then there’s no danger in searching the place,” I said.
Danzig nodded, and we went through every room. They were all empty, and we ended up back at the folding table.
“This is weird," I muttered.
“It is,” Danzig agreed, then turned and looked at a door at the end of the kitchen. “Wait, there's one more place to look.”
I followed him to the door into a two-car garage full of boxes. They were stacked to the ceiling with only enough room to walk a path to the far wall.
“What’s going on here?” I murmured. I pulled the top box off the nearest stack and opened it. That didn’t help. The contents made me more confused.
I frowned. “What am I looking at?”
“That’s fur,” Danzig said, peering over my shoulder. “Amur leopard fur. They’re critically endangered.”
I opened the next box. “Is this a horn?”
Danzig nodded. “Rhino horn.”
I looked around the room. “I bet every box contains something like fur or a horn. This is disgusting."
“This is our link between Gale, Leif, and the casket druid,” Danzig said.
“I don't get the connection,” I said.
Danzig pointed to the boxes. “They were providing him with items for his magic.”
“It’s still weird," I said, rubbing my hands on my jeans. I felt horrible simply from touching these items.
“What do you mean?” Danzig asked.
“It’s obvious no one lives here,” I said, pointing around the room. “But this was listed as Gale’s most recent address. Where is she actually living? And if Gale and Leif were giving him what he needed, why are Leif and his friends dead? Does this mean Gale is probably a pile of dust somewhere?”
I felt Marduk sending me comforting feelings. I reached into my sleeve and petted his head.
“She could be dead,” Danzig said, looking around with a slight frown.
A thought suddenly hit me. “I need to get into Jim’s office. If he’s mixed up in this, then he might’ve left some notes in his office. Grab Marduk’s clothes so he can change in here. Then we're leaving.”
Danzig shot me a grin. “I like it when you're all commanding.”
I rolled my eyes and gave him a shove. “Move it.”
As he left to fetch the clothing, Marduk slithered out from my sleeve and up my arm. He wrapped around my neck, and I stroked a finger over him.
“Someday, when things aren’t so dire, I want to wear you all day like this,” I whispered.
I felt his approval as Danzig came back into the house.
“Stop flirting and get dressed,” he grumped.
Marduk's amusement was palpable as he slipped off my body.
It wasn't long before he was dressed, and we were on the road heading to Jim's office.
“I could’ve stayed wrapped around your arm while Danzig rode us to the office,” Marduk grumbled. He wasn't truly upset that we'd made him shift back to his human form. I think he wanted to make sure I knew he enjoyed being my jewelry.
“I’ll wear you again in the future,” I said for the fourth time and felt the same joy coming from him as when I'd said it the first time.
“But I wanted you to wear me now.” He was close to sounding whiny. “Not only am I no longer wrapped around your soft skin, but you’re riding behind Danzig. It’s not fair.”
“Sucks to be you,” Danzig sang, and twisted the throttle to jet over a lane and toward our off-ramp.
“Both of you stop,” I said. “Or none gets to ride with me ever again.”
“I’m sorry,” they chorused together.
Soon we were parking in a spot in front of Jim’s office. I hopped off Danzig’s bike and dug out my keys to open the door. Once inside, I typed in the code to the security system, then unlatched and pulled off my helmet.
I was getting better at that. I didn’t need the guys to do it for me any longer. I was halfway to being a motorcycle rider, right?
I grinned at my own humor as I set the helmet down on my desk. After a little searching through my pockets, I found the little tools I’d brought from home.
“What’s that?” Marduk asked, putting his helmet down next to mine.
I held up the open case. “Lock picks.”
He gave me an approving grin. “You’re a resourceful human.”
“Or one who liked to break into the library at school so I didn’t have to go home right away,” I said, kneeling at Jim’s door.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a spare key or a master key to this place,” Danzig said.
I shrugged. “This is the first time he’s locked this door since I came to work for him. I guess he figured I wouldn’t need it.”
It was a basic lock and didn’t take me long to open. The door swung in to reveal nothing amiss. There weren't any glowing crystals, tusks, or printed pictures of someone looking nefarious while holding a bag.
The guys followed me in, but they remained standing while I sat down at Jim’s desk and went through some of the file folders there. The spreadsheet I’d given him last week was still there and completely blank. When I lifted the spreadsheet, I found an unfamiliar client contract underneath
I flipped past the first page of boilerplate contract information to find the client’s name. “Justice for the Voiceless,” I murmured.
“That sounds familiar," Danzig said.
“It was the name of the group the woman belonged to,” Marduk said. “The one that came in on Friday, and we saw the picture of Leif.”
“Right,” I said with a nod and flipped the page on the contract.
Danzig and Marduk moved so they could look over my shoulder.
“Is that a common retainer amount?” Danzig asked.
“No, it’s not,” I said looking at the number on the second page. “That’s way more than I’ve ever seen on a contract. This would explain why he was so tense last week and called me in on Friday to open the office. He probably put everything else aside to dedicate his time to this case.”
Marduk pulled out his phone and tapped for a moment. “It says here that Justice for the Voiceless is a nonprofit that fights the exotic animal trade.”
“That explains so much!” I said, relieved to find out that Jim was on the side of good.
“It does,” Danzig said.
Marduk’s phone chimed. He tapped, then grunted. “That’s interesting.”
He turned the phone to show me and Danzig a picture of a picture. It wasn’t great quality, but it was clearly Gale talking to our casket druid.
“Angel sent that to me,” Marduk said. “It was the only picture that was recovered from the camera’s memory card.”
“That’s not surprising,” I said. “We already knew Gale was involved.”
“Look closer,” Marduk said, pointing to someone standing in the open door of Gale’s house.
“That’s Leif!” I exclaimed, then the timeline hit me. “Wait, he’s alive?”
“That means we don’t know who got hit by the spell at his house,” Danzig said. “It also means it was probably Leif who attacked Jim. He would’ve been focused on Gale and the druid, allowing Leif to sneak up on him.”
“That also explains why no one was at the house," Marduk said. “They would’ve wanted to leave the area until emergency services were all gone.”
“There was so much in that garage,” I said. “They’re going to want to come back for it.”
The brothers looked at each other, then at me.
I grinned and clapped my hands together. “You know what this means, right?”
“Please no,” Danzig said.
“Stakeout!” I sang.
“We can’t leave Hugo alone all night,” Marduk said.
“That’s fine,” I answered with a grin. “I can watch the place by myself.”
The guys looked at each other, then back at me.
“Fine,” Danzig said with a defeated sigh, then he perked up. “We can bring Hugo with us. He might make it more entertaining, and he’ll give us a good excuse to walk around the neighborhood.”
“We’re renting a bigger car,” Marduk said and turned to stomp out of the office.