The Severed Thread (16 page)

“Yes, play dates.  You know, a parent makes a date with the parent of another child so the kids can get together to play?  This usually takes place at one of the children’s homes or at park, etc.”  By the bewildered look on his face, I assumed that this was not only an alien concept but also the last excuse he could have ever imagined that I would present for my visit to Liam McCallister’s home.

“You don’t have any children,” he recovered himself enough to point out.

“You are correct.  I don’t have any children of my own but I have several friends who do.  And, since play dates usually take place during the day, I imagine you can see the difficulty arranging something like this would pose for a vampire.”  I shrugged because it was so simple really. 
I
almost believed Penny’s play date was the only reason I went there last night.  “Liam asked me to help with the arrangements.”

“You expect me to believe you discussed
play dates
with the Philadelphia Area Clan Master last night?”

I leaned forward in my chair.  “Agent McCabe, why do
you
think I went to Liam McCallister’s home last night?”  Well that seemed to stump him because he didn’t reply for several seconds.   I just waited and watched the play of emotions on his face - frustration, indecision and bewilderment with a sprinkle of annoyance.  It was beautiful. 

“If you could see your face right now,” I chuckled, unable to stop myself.  “I assume that this is the last thing you expected me to say?”

“Yeah well, Liam McCallister is not known for his interest in play dates and little kids,” he said sheepishly.  “You have to admit, it sounds a bit farfetched.”

“Here,” I said producing my phone, scrolling to the text I had fortuitously sent to Corbin earlier this morning.  “As you can see, my friend Corbin was as surprised as you were.” 

I handed my phone to the agent so he could read the text I sent at seven-thirty this morning asking Corbin if he thought his sister Marsha and her kids would be up for having a play date with McCallister’s daughter.  The ‘
WTF?
’ that Corbin replied seemed to echo Agent McCabe’s sentiments exactly.

“At least I’m not the only one that was surprised by that story.  The text does confirm your description of last evening’s events.”  He said the last bit almost grudgingly. 

“Just so we are clear, agent.  I shared that story as a courtesy.  I’m under no misapprehension that I was required to tell you anything.  In fact, I think my attorney will be furious with me for talking with you at all without him being present.”  That reminded me, I had not heard back from Corbin yet regarding my message last night.  I still needed to speak with him about being my attorney in lieu of Joshua Levy.  I would need to rectify that later today.

“I would like to keep this cordial between us, because I really do want to do everything I can to help you find my brother’s killer,” I continued before he could respond.   “It seems to me that you should be focusing more of your resources in that area and less of them following me around.”  His expression darkened at the reprimand.  I may have gone too far with that last taunt but it was done now.  I would have to see where he decided to go with his response.

“You know, you are absolutely correct Ms. Lassiter,” he said standing up and heading towards the door.  “Your attorney is going to be furious.”  He paused.  “I do have just one final question though.”

I raised my eyebrows in inquiry.

“Did you ever consider that Liam McCallister might have something to do with what happened to your brother?  He does, after all, control nearly everything disreputable that goes on in this city.”

“Oh yes,” I assured him with a nod.  “I have definitely considered that possibility.”

“And?”

“I’m sure you know what they say about keeping your friends close.”

“Sun Tzu was a smart man.  I will be in touch,” he said before disappearing through the door.  I counted slowly to twenty before dialing Samantha’s number. 

“Hello?” she said.

“Um, can you get down here?  Like
now
!”

“Be there in a sec.”  True to her word, she came barreling through my door seconds later. 

“What’s up?” she asked, peering at me closely.  “Ooh, you don’t look so hot.”

“I’m sure I don’t.  The last,” I looked at the time on my phone, “fourteen hours have been more than a little unusual.”  I was so looking forward to twenty-four hours without anything crazy happening.  Unfortunately, that did not appear to be in the cards for any time soon.

“What happened?”

“Well let’s see.  First, I had a bizarre evening with Liam McCallister where he persuaded me to set-up a play date for his ward.  Then as I’m getting off the elevator this morning I nearly run over Agent McCabe who proceeds to question me about my meeting with McCallister.  I called him out on having me followed by the way.”

“I have so many questions, that I’m not sure where to start,” she responded with a frown.  “Oh, oh, I know…” She raised her hand, swinging it wildly in the air.  “How’d you get roped into organizing a play date?  You don’t even have kids.”

“That’s exactly what Agent McCabe wanted to know,” I said with a laugh.  “You should see this kid Sam.  She was so cute standing there in her froggy pajamas asking me if I had pointy ears.  It made me sad seeing how cut off she is from other kids her age.  It seems living in a house full of vampires can really cramp a little kid’s social calendar.” 

“I can see that,” she said nodding.  “What I don’t get is how you became the cruise director for her fun time?”  I was still trying to figure out where McCallister was angling with that request myself. 

“I suggested that she might need some play dates and McCallister asked when I could organize one.”

“And you agreed to do this because…?” she asked with a perplexed look.

“Because he offered to renegotiate our arrangement in exchange for the play date,” I told her lifting one shoulder in a shrug.

“Renegotiate how?”

“He offered to cut back the shipments to eleven as opposed to the previously agreed upon twelve.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Ah, yeah.”  Like I said before, the man knows how to motivate people.  “I texted Corbin this morning to see if Marsha might be up for a little fun with her kids and Penny.”

“I can only imagine Corbin’s response to that request.”  She laughed while shaking her head in amusement.

“It was along the lines of ‘
WTF?
’” I explained, mimicking little bunny ear quotes with my fingers.

“I bet it was,” she laughed again.  “So what happened with Agent McCabe after you ran him down getting off the elevator?”

“Well he wanted to know why I had met with McCallister.  It was hilarious actually.  He was so shocked by my play date answer it was all I could do not to laugh out loud.  Then I told him he should be using his resources to track down my brother’s killer instead of having me followed.”

“What did he have to say about that?”

“He asked if it occurred to me that Liam McCallister might be my brother’s killer.”

“Wow, doesn’t beat around the bush does he?”  She seemed impressed.  I had to admit that I was too; everyone else was caught up in maneuvers and sub-plots while McCabe seemed to just want to cut through the bullshit and find out the real story.  I felt a little bad I wasn’t helping him but it couldn’t be helped.

 “What did you say?” she finally asked when I didn’t respond.

“That I had considered it and then I quoted Sun Tzu.”

“Ah,” she said, immediately understanding.  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“Yep.”

“Interesting.”  She said before shaking her head as if trying to rid herself of whatever she was thinking.  “Okay.  Back to McCallister.  Are you really going to set-up a play date for his kid after he threatened you?  Threatened us?”

Hmm, good question.  “Yeah, I think I am.”  I wasn’t really sure it would end up being a smart decision in the long run, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to cut a month off our agreement.  One less shipment was one less chance of getting caught, not to mention a little less muck on my soul for helping a drug dealer.  It was also a nice thing to do for Penny.  “The kid is sweet and she needs friends.  It doesn’t really matter who her guardian is.”

“You think you might be playing with fire there?”

“Possibly but I feel like I have to do it.  It seems a pretty easy task in exchange for shaving a month off the agreement.” 

“Okay, just don’t say that I never warned you that something feels off about the request.  It seems an abrupt departure from the guy holding you by the neck the other night.”  I couldn’t bring myself to tell her about the humiliating date offer.  I was afraid to hear what her theory might be with that added into the equation.

“Before I forget, can you ask Johanna to have this couriered over to the Clan Home?”  I handed over a manila envelope addressed to Liam McCallister.  Samantha raised her eyebrows at me.

“What is it?”

“Just a little insurance that I hope I won’t need.”  Samantha seemed to be waiting to see if I would elaborate further.  I didn’t.

“Sure,” she finally said.

“Thanks.  So, what happened around here yesterday while I was out?” I asked changing the subject.

“Mostly,” she said.  “It was business as usual.” 

“Mostly?”

“Well,” she said, “Sal is moving Jason’s work through with a minimum of fuss.  He seems to have a real feel for it.”

“But?” I prompted her.  She was obviously dragging her feet about something.

“I didn’t want to bring this up because it’s probably nothing.”

“I doubt it’s nothing if you’re worried about it,” I said while rummaging through my desk looking for a pen.  “And I can tell you are worried about it.  You have those little ridges going between your eyebrows.”  She always got those when she was upset about something.

“There were some inconsistencies in the employee retirement fund report I received yesterday for Lassiter Shipping.”  

“What type of inconsistencies?” I said looking up from my foray into the bowels of my desk.

“Well, it might have been a typo but the balances for the line items didn’t add up to the total overall balance.”

“Is it a new statement form?  If they changed the statement, the programmer might have messed up the coding that calculates everything.”

“It’s possible.”  She sounded doubtful, not a good sign.  “But, the statement looks the same as it always did.  What worried me was that the totals seem consistent with what
should
be in the accounts.  But,” she hesitated, “if the line items are correct, it would indicate that there is a significant shortage.”  I was sure I was not going to like the answer to my next question.

“What type of shortage are we talking about?”

“I was working on figuring that out when you called.”

“What’s your best estimate?”

“Just a little under three million dollars.”  Yeah, I was right, didn’t like the answer.

“Why did I get out of bed today?” I muttered, after putting my head down on my desk in frustration.  “Can you dig a little deeper and let me know what you find?” I asked, my voice muffled by my desk blotter.  I straightened in my chair and gave her a wan smile.  Hopefully it was just a computer glitch.  I really needed something to just be a mistake.  You know, something a little software upgrade could sort out.  Yeah right. 

“You got it.”

Chapter 15

The morning of Jason’s funeral dawned with a cheerless misty haze blanketing the area.  Everything was muted, the sounds, the light, the vitality of the day.  It seemed appropriate somehow that everything felt damp and dreary.  It fit my mood perfectly.  I had risen early, unable to sleep, plagued with thoughts of the hectic day ahead of me.  I was trying to meditate on the back patio when the sound of movement in the bushes at the perimeter of the yard caught my attention.  On alert, I strained to see in the dim light.

A large silver wolf crept silently from the shadowy border, all gangly legs and wiry sinew.  It stopped a few feet into the yard, tongue lolling and raised its snout into the damp air, dragging the myriad of scents through his nose.  I froze as it turned its golden gaze on me.  I knew a man was also behind those citrine irises but I still didn’t want to do anything to appear threatening.  The wolf was at the fore and a creature of the wild, not always understanding the subtleties of human interactions.  It knew pack and mate, pups and prey, survival and dominance.  Approaching slowly, it sniffed and snuffled quietly before finally stopping to regard me from the grass just beyond the edge of the flagstones. 

“Good morning Corbin.  I was not expecting to see you till this afternoon.”  Corbin’s wolf looked at me another moment before sitting, tongue again lolling, tail giving a few lazy wags.  He was such a beautiful creature and his coat gleamed as the first rays of sunlight won their battle with the oppressive fog.

“If you want breakfast, I would be happy to get you something.”  I smiled as he closed the distance between us rubbing his head against my arm and knees as he stretched along the side of my chair.  He was marking his territory.  The scent would be gone after my shower but it still pleased me that Corbin’s wolf was comfortable enough to be this relaxed with me.  I reached out and gently ran my fingers through his silken fur.  “How about you shift while I go find you some clothes to wear?”  The slobbery lick my hand received was all the confirmation I needed.

“Alright, my friend,” I laughed while stroking the fur on his head.  “I’ll be right back.”  I had to have something that would fit his six foot frame.  I found an old pair of Jason’s sweat pants in the guest bedroom along with an oversized t-shirt that I sometimes wore to bed.   When I got back outside, Corbin the man was casually lounging naked in one of my patio chairs.

“Here you go,” I said, handing over the clothes.  Corbin flashed me a smile of thanks as he rose and slipped unselfconsciously into the clothes.  I was glad that going commando did not appear to be an issue because I definitely did not have any men’s underwear lying around.  I was envious of how comfortable he was with his body.  I guess being a fitness nut made it easier - no unsightly muffin top to be self-conscious about.