Chapter 14
Annia and I showed up at Lakin’s house at eight in the morning, and we split up, Annia taking half of the phone call list, Lakin and me taking the other. At first I’d protested not having my own list, but Lakin insisted and I relented. After all, this was his case, not mine.
“So,” I said as I settled onto my steambike. “Where are we headed first?”
“We’re going to visit Tyron and Myrna Laniren.”
“Laniren?” I echoed, racking my brain for the familiar name. “Wait, aren’t those Tylin’s parents? The wolf shifter from the local pack?”
“That’s right.” Lakin started up his engine. “I thought it would be good for you to see them for yourself, since it was their son’s disappearance that sparked Sillara’s investigation.”
“Well that’s very thoughtful of you.”
Lakin grinned before putting his helmet on. “I try.”
The wolf clan was located on the west side of Shiftertown, closer to the heart of the city.
Small, wood-framed houses lined the streets, some in better condition than others, and because it was summer there were many shifter children out on the sidewalks and the front yards, laughing and playing.
Their mothers stared watchfully at us from their front porches, colorful shifter eyes narrowed on our bikes as we passed.
Most shifters didn’t own bikes or cars – for one, vehicles were expensive, and for shifters they weren’t really necessary as many of them could travel just as fast in beast form.
The children stared wide-eyed at our bikes as we zipped by, curiosity and excitement on their little faces, and it reminded me of how excited I’d been when I’d first laid eyes on a steambike myself.
I’d been sixteen years old, tagging along on an errand with Roanas in Rowanville when a trio of enforcers had shot out of the Guild parking lot riding steambikes.
I’d been transfixed by the vehicles, with their large wheels and shiny handlebars, and the way the riders moved so fast on them, leaving nothing but clouds of hot steam in their wake.
It had taken me six years, from that very point on, to save up for my own bike, and I loved it to death.
The Laniren house was at the top of a hill – a small, two-bedroom dwelling with white siding and robin’s egg blue shutters and roofing tile. I narrowed my eyes as we parked across the street from the house – the paint looked new, the tiles freshly laid, unlike many of the houses we’d passed.
“Looks like the Lanirens have spruced up their house a bit,” I commented.
Lakin’s eyes narrowed as he nodded. We crossed the street, and the woman playing in the front yard with her toddler froze at our approach, her pale-blue wolf shifter eyes narrowing on me.
“Good morning, Mrs. Laniren,” Lakin greeted her as she stood, scooping her toddler up and propping the child on her hip. “This is my associate, Enforcer Baine. We’d like to speak with you and your husband, if that’s possible.”
“I know who you are,” Myrna said, her eyes still focused on me.
She was a pretty woman, with long, curly brown hair and a decent figure wrapped up in a simple green dress, but the look in her eyes as she stared at me was downright ugly.
“You’re the hybrid, the one in favor with the Chief Mage.
What would you care about my son’s disappearance? ”
“The enforcer who was working on your case, Sillara Tarenan, was a friend of mine,” I said coolly, ignoring the scorn in Myrna’s eyes.
“We believe she was killed for looking into your son’s disappearance, and I have a vested interest in finding her killer, so I’m helping Inspector Lakin out today. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Well, I’m afraid my husband isn’t home today.
” The toddler on her hip babbled, reaching a hand out toward me as she stared up at me, and Myrna shifted her stance, putting distance between me and the baby.
The blatant show of distrust stung, and I forced my gaze away from the baby’s wide blue eyes.
“He’s working, and will be until dinner. ”
“That’s quite alright, Mrs. Laniren,” Lakin said smoothly. “We can just talk to you in the meantime. Is there somewhere more private we can go?”
Tears suddenly filled Myrna’s eyes. “You… you’re not here to give me bad news, are you? My son isn’t dead. He can’t be dead!” Her already pale cheeks turned a dead white.
“No, no of course not.” Lakin placed a soothing arm on Myrna’s shoulder. “We’re just trying to run down a lead that may help us with your son’s whereabouts, and I need to ask you a few more questions.”
“Very well.” Myrna sniffed, then turned around. “Come this way.”
She led us inside, and my eyes narrowed as I studied the interior.
The granite countertop separating the kitchen to my left from the rest of the living room looked fairly new – it was blemish-free and sparkling, as were the refrigerator, stove and cabinets.
Of course that could possibly be attributed to Myrna’s cleaning skills; she could just be really good at maintaining her house.
But the living room beyond boasted fairly expensive looking furniture – stuffed couches, gleaming oak side tables, a thick Garaian rug… and the hardwood floor that creaked beneath my feet looked new.
“Can I get you anything?” Myrna asked Lakin with a tired sigh as she set her daughter down in a playpen set up alongside the wall. The little girl instantly plopped down onto her butt and reached for a stuffed wolf to play with.
“No, we’re fine,” Lakin assured her. He allowed his eyes to play across the furniture as we sat down on a dark green love seat, as if he hadn’t already taken in the surroundings. “You have a very nice home, Mrs. Laniren.”
“Thank you.” A brief smile lightened Myrna’s face, taking off a few years.
Since shifters normally lived to around three hundred, we aged much more slowly than humans, but stress could still take a toll on our looks.
“We had everything redone a few months ago and I’ve worked hard to maintain it.
Which isn’t as easy as it sounds when you have a toddler around.
” She glanced fondly at her child, and pity stirred in my chest. It was clear she loved her son as much as she did her daughter – it was probably killing her that he was gone.
“That must have been quite expensive.”
Myrna sighed again. “It was.” Lines tightened around her pale blue eyes as she, too, looked around the room.
“We never really intended to fix up the entire house, but the pipes were rusting and the roof badly needed repair, and when rats started chewing through our electrical wiring… oh, it was just horrible.” She dragged her hands through her curly hair.
“If Tyron hadn’t gotten us that loan, I don’t know what we would have done with the house. ”
“Loan?” I asked, my heart leaping as Myrna confirmed my suspicions. “Where did you get the loan from?”
“Sandin Federal Bank.” Myrna narrowed her eyes at me. “Why do you ask?”
“Have you been keeping up with your loan payments, Mrs. Laniren?” Lakin asked.
“Of course!’ Myrna’s face flushed. “We’re responsible people. We wouldn’t take on a debt that we couldn’t pay.” But Lakin and I could both smell the lie, and she knew it.
“Mrs. Laniren, nobody is trying to judge you,” Lakin said soothingly. “We’re just trying to get more information. Are you sure that you were keeping up with your payments? You never missed any, not even one?”
Myrna sighed. “Well, we did miss a few of them, but never two in a row, and we always tried to pay extra the following month to keep up. It happens to everyone, doesn’t it?”
“Of course,” Lakin said smoothly. “Did you ever receive any threatening communication from the bank when you missed the payments? Phone calls, letters?”
“I don’t understand. Why are you asking all this?”
“Some information has recently come to light,” I butted in, impatient to cut to the chase.
“Information suggesting that all of the families of the recent kidnapping victims may have been struggling with debt payments. We’re trying to see if there might be some connection, something that could lead us to the kidnapper, and aside from the fact that you’re all shifters, the debt problems are the only common theme we’re finding. ”
The blood drained from Myrna’s face. “Are you saying that Tylin was taken from us because we weren’t making our payments?”
“We can’t be sure,” Lakin said gently. “But we’re not ruling it out, either.”
The color abruptly rushed back into Myrna’s face, turning her skin bright red.
“I knew we never should have taken on that loan!” she growled, jumping to her feet.
She bared her fangs as she began pacing back and forth across the rug, her expression livid.
“I’m going to kill Tyron when he gets home! ”
The toddler let out a distressed wail at the sound of her mother’s voice, and Myrna’s expression softened as she dropped down to her knees in front of the playpen to scoop up her daughter.
“Don’t worry, Liv,” she cooed, rocking the small child. “Mommy’s okay. You don’t need to be upset.” She dropped a kiss on the top of her daughter’s curly head and I heard her whisper, “I’m just so glad I still have you here.”
My heart ached at the pain in her voice, and for once I was glad to be unattached – I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I had a child and he was taken from me.
I may not have been a mother, but the maternal instinct stirred inside me at the sight of this woman’s pain, and for a moment I wanted to comfort her.
But I didn’t, because I knew she wouldn’t accept comfort, not from an outcast like me.
“So was it your husband’s idea to seek out a loan in order to make the repairs on your house?” Lakin asked.
Myrna placed her toddler back in the playpen, then turned toward us, a simmering anger burning behind her eyes.
“Yes, it was Tyron’s idea to take advantage of the interest-free loans being advertised.
He was initially only going to take out enough money to fix the bare necessities, but Sandin Federal offered him five times the amount, and it was more money than Tyron and I had ever seen in our lives.
I couldn’t find it in me to be angry when he came skipping home with that pouch of gold in his hand.
But I’m angry now.” Her lower lip trembled as she clenched her fists.
“If I’d known that money was going to bring tragedy down on my family, I would have made him return it right away. ”
“So did you receive any threats from Sandin Federal?” I asked. “Anything beyond the usual late payment notices?”
Myrna hesitated. “Not at first, no, and never directly. But there were a few times I heard Tyron arguing with what sounded like a creditor, so it’s entirely possible we were threatened and I just never knew.
” She bared her fangs. “Just you wait until he gets home. I am absolutely going to murder him!”
Lakin and I exchanged a look, and I had a feeling he was going to send one of his deputies around to make sure Myrna didn’t follow through on her threat.
We didn’t get much more out of Myrna after that, so we moved onto the rest of the interviews on our list. About half of the victims had family in Rowanville while the other half were within the state of Canalo but out of town, so Lakin made some phone calls while I hopped on my bike to pay a few house calls.
The shifters in Rowanville I could handle – they didn’t have the same level of prejudice against me that the Shiftertown residents did.
One for one, we found out the same thing – all of the victims, or their families, had taken a loan from Sandin Federal Bank at some point within the year, and each of them had failed to make payments.
“Well,” Lakin said after we’d finished exchanging reports. “The evidence seems pretty conclusive at this point. The investor has got to be someone with significant control at Sandin Federal Bank, and access to confidential files.”
“No kidding.” An image of Warin Danrian’s fear-filled eyes flashed in my mind. “I think it’s time we head back to Sandin Federal ourselves to find out what Mr. Danrian was hiding. I have a feeling he knows exactly who that damned investor is, and where we can find him.”