relationship rule of my own, and it’s called ‘no harm, no foul.’ I’m a big girl. I can take a ‘no, thank you,’ especially when it’s delivered like this one was, and for solid reasons that the scientist in me can’t even begin to argue with.” She moved into his space again, got him by the collar and tugged him down.
He thought about resisting but didn’t have it in him. His body yielded to her and he lowered his face to hers as his heart thudded softly in his chest.
She kissed him on the cheek. “Good night, Jack.”
It was an effort of will not to turn his lips to hers, not toreach for her and hang on tight. Instead, he said, “Goodnight, Tori. And thanks for everything.”
“Everything?”
“Having dinner with me. Pushing me to talk about Kayla a little…and the rest of it.”
She sighed softly, gave his collar one last tug and then let him go and stepped away. “Don’t stay out here forever brooding, okay? I want to get an early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay.” Turning back to the railing, he braced his forearms and stared out into the night as he listened to her footsteps fade down the stairwell, then go muted on the packed dirt. Moments later, the door to the main house opened and closed, leaving him alone in the darkness.
He stayed there for a long, long time. Long enough, even, to convince himself that if he squinted, he could almost see the lights of Bear Claw City. Home.
For a change, the thought didn’t make him feel any better.
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID you’d get rid of the scientist and her cop.” The edge in the Investor’s voice sent an unpleasant jolt through Percy, one that said You’re in trouble.
Granted, he’d been in trouble almost since the beginning when the voters upgraded him from acting mayor to mayor and he’d celebrated with a far-too-expensive weekend in Vegas that he’d used city money to cover. Couple that with a get-rich-quick promise from an old friend that had turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and a couple of other dips into the till, and he’d been tap-dancing to hide the embezzlement behind Bear Claw’s financial woes for years now. He’d become an expert at making things disappear from one place and reappear in another, at least until thewhole al-Jihad terrorism scare had put the city under some serious federal scrutiny. Then, he’d needed to repay the money, and do it fast.
Thus, the Investor.
Now, though, as Percy looked around his office at city hall—at the glossy wood and stacked library shelves, the acre of polished desk, the fleet of sleek computers and the wall of photos of him mugging with a select handful of celebs who came through Bear Claw each year—he wished he’d told the Investor to take a hike when he’d gotten that first phone call. He would have found another way. He always had before.
At the time, though, the offer had seemed like the answer to his prayers—money in exchange for access to the Forgotten. A real estate transaction, nothing more. But when that had gone sour and the voice on the phone had started asking for more and more, things had started rolling downhill, accelerating fast. These days, he was asking for the impossible.
“I did what I could.” Percy kept his voice level. Don’t let him know you’re afraid.
“They were out at the old campsite again today.”
“Not officially.”
“I don’t give a crap whether it’s an official investigation or not!” The Investor’s voice cracked down the line. “You said you’d get them out of the damn forest!”
“Like I said, I did what I could,” Percy insisted, darting a look at his office door, even though he’d closed and locked it himself. “It’s not like I can call over to the cops and have Williams ordered down off the mountain. He’s on leave. And besides, it’d look suspicious.”
“It’ll look a damn sight more suspicious when I leak your real financials to the media.”
A prickle of greasy sweat itched along Percy’s spine.
He thought about resisting but didn’t have it in him. His body yielded to her and he lowered his face to hers as his heart thudded softly in his chest.
She kissed him on the cheek. “Good night, Jack.”
It was an effort of will not to turn his lips to hers, not toreach for her and hang on tight. Instead, he said, “Goodnight, Tori. And thanks for everything.”
“Everything?”
“Having dinner with me. Pushing me to talk about Kayla a little…and the rest of it.”
She sighed softly, gave his collar one last tug and then let him go and stepped away. “Don’t stay out here forever brooding, okay? I want to get an early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah, okay.” Turning back to the railing, he braced his forearms and stared out into the night as he listened to her footsteps fade down the stairwell, then go muted on the packed dirt. Moments later, the door to the main house opened and closed, leaving him alone in the darkness.
He stayed there for a long, long time. Long enough, even, to convince himself that if he squinted, he could almost see the lights of Bear Claw City. Home.
For a change, the thought didn’t make him feel any better.
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID you’d get rid of the scientist and her cop.” The edge in the Investor’s voice sent an unpleasant jolt through Percy, one that said You’re in trouble.
Granted, he’d been in trouble almost since the beginning when the voters upgraded him from acting mayor to mayor and he’d celebrated with a far-too-expensive weekend in Vegas that he’d used city money to cover. Couple that with a get-rich-quick promise from an old friend that had turned out to be a Ponzi scheme and a couple of other dips into the till, and he’d been tap-dancing to hide the embezzlement behind Bear Claw’s financial woes for years now. He’d become an expert at making things disappear from one place and reappear in another, at least until thewhole al-Jihad terrorism scare had put the city under some serious federal scrutiny. Then, he’d needed to repay the money, and do it fast.
Thus, the Investor.
Now, though, as Percy looked around his office at city hall—at the glossy wood and stacked library shelves, the acre of polished desk, the fleet of sleek computers and the wall of photos of him mugging with a select handful of celebs who came through Bear Claw each year—he wished he’d told the Investor to take a hike when he’d gotten that first phone call. He would have found another way. He always had before.
At the time, though, the offer had seemed like the answer to his prayers—money in exchange for access to the Forgotten. A real estate transaction, nothing more. But when that had gone sour and the voice on the phone had started asking for more and more, things had started rolling downhill, accelerating fast. These days, he was asking for the impossible.
“I did what I could.” Percy kept his voice level. Don’t let him know you’re afraid.
“They were out at the old campsite again today.”
“Not officially.”
“I don’t give a crap whether it’s an official investigation or not!” The Investor’s voice cracked down the line. “You said you’d get them out of the damn forest!”
“Like I said, I did what I could,” Percy insisted, darting a look at his office door, even though he’d closed and locked it himself. “It’s not like I can call over to the cops and have Williams ordered down off the mountain. He’s on leave. And besides, it’d look suspicious.”
“It’ll look a damn sight more suspicious when I leak your real financials to the media.”
A prickle of greasy sweat itched along Percy’s spine.
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