"Ah, I remember him. He's missing."
"Yes. Jason is one of our newest pack members. Tonight is the full moon. He wouldn't risk going out alone today of all days. His sponsor went over to his house, and he was gone."
"Sponsor like in AA?"
"Something like that."
"Any signs of a struggle?"
"No."
I stood up dragging the phone in one hand. I tried to think past the leaden tiredness. How dare Richard sound so cheerful. "Peggy Smitz's husband--Ronnie caught him with another woman. A clerk may have sold him silver bullets."
There was silence on the other end of the phone. I could hear his soft breathing, but that was all. The breathing was a little fast.
"Talk to me, Richard."
"If he killed Peggy, then we'll handle it."
"Has it occurred to you that he could be behind all the disappearances?" I asked.
"I don't see how."
"Why not? A silver bullet will take care of any shapeshifter. No great skill involved. You just need to be someone that the shapeshifter trusts."
More silence finally. "Okay, what do you want to do?"
"Ronnie and I were going to confront him this morning. With Jason missing we don't have time to pussyfoot around. Can you supply me with a shapeshifter or two to help threaten Smitz? Maybe with a little muscle power we can get to the truth faster."
"I have to teach school today, and I can't afford for him to know what I am."
"I didn't ask for you to come. Just for some of you to come. Make sure they look intimidating, though. Irving may be a werewolf, but he isn't very scary."
"I'll send someone. To your apartment?"
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Soon as you can. And, Richard."
"Yes."
"Don't tell anybody what we suspect about George Smitz. I don't want to find him clawed up when we get there."
"I wouldn't do that."
"You wouldn't, but Marcus might, and I know Raina would."
"I'll tell them you have a suspect and want some backup. I won't tell them who."
"Great, thanks."
"If you find Jason before they kill him, I'll owe you one."
"I'll take the payment in carnal favors," I said. The minute I said it, I wished I hadn't. It was sort of true, but after last night, not down to my toes.
He laughed. "Done. I've got to go to work. I love you."
I hesitated just a second. "I love you, too. Teach the kiddies well today."
He was quiet for a space of heartbeats. He'd heard the hesitation. "I will. Bye."
"Bye." When I'd hung up, I stood there for a minute. If someone was just walking up and shooting shifters, then Jason was dead. The best I'd be able to do would be to locate the body. It was better than nothing, but not much.
33
WE PULLED UP in front of George Smitz's house at a little after nine that morning. Ronnie was driving. I was riding shotgun. Gabriel and Raina were in the backseat. If asked, I would have chosen different people for backup. I also wouldn't have chosen my boyfriend's old lover for backup. What had Richard been thinking? Or maybe Raina hadn't given him a choice. Her coming today, not the sex. I still wasn't sure how I felt about that. All right. I knew how I felt. I was pissed. But I'd slept with someone else. Glass houses and all. In any case, Richard had given me exactly what I'd asked for: scary, intimidating shapeshifters. I wasn't used to getting exactly what I asked for. Next time I'd be more specific.
Gabriel was dressed in black leather again. It could almost have been the same outfit I'd first seen him in, down to the metal-studded gauntlet on his right hand. Maybe his whole closet was one great big leather fest. The earrings were gone. The holes even in the harder cartilage of the ears had healed.
Raina was dressed normally enough. Sort of. She was wearing an ankle-length fur coat. Fox. Cannibalism is one thing, but wearing the skin of your dead? It seemed a little cold blooded even for the psycho bitch from hell. All right, she was a wolf, not a fox, but heck, I didn't wear fur on moral grounds. She flaunted it.
She leaned over the back of the seat. "What are we doing in front of Peggy's house?"
It was time to spill the beans. Why didn't I want to do it? I undid the seat belt and turned to face her. She was looking at me, face pleasant enough. On her lycanthrope bone structure she had all high cheekbones and a luscious mouth. Maybe she planned on doing something nefarious today.
Gabriel had draped himself over the backseat. The gauntleted hand trailed down Ronnie's arm. Even through her suede coat she shivered. "Touch me again, and I am going to feed you that hand." She'd scooted away from him as far as the steering wheel would allow, which wasn't far. Gabriel had touched her several times on the drive over. Teasing, nothing embarrassing, but it was bothersome.
"Hands are very bony. I prefer a more tender cut of meat. Breast or thigh is my preference," Gabriel said. His grey eyes were startling even in sunlight, maybe more so. They had a quality of light to the grey that was almost luminous. I'd seen eyes like that before, but I still couldn't place it.
"Gabriel, I know you are a pain in the ass. I know you're enjoying the hell out of teasing Ronnie, but if you don't stop it we're going to see just how good your recuperative powers are."
He slid across the seat, closer to me. Not necessarily an improvement. "I'm yours anytime you want me."
"Is coming that close to dying really your idea of sex?"
"As long as it hurts," Gabriel said.
Ronnie looked at us with wide eyes. "You have got to tell me about your evening."
"You really don't want to know," I said.
"Why are we here?" Raina asked again. She wasn't going to be distracted by Mr. Leather. Good for her. Bad for me. Her gaze was intense, as if my face were the most important thing in the world. Was this what Marcus saw in her? A lot of men are very flattered by undivided attention. Then aren't we all?
"Ronnie?"
She got the pictures out of her purse. They were the kind of pictures that didn't need any explanation. George had left his drapes up, very careless.
Gabriel curled back into the seat, flipping through the shots, a big smile on his face. He got to one particular shot, and laughed. "Very impressive."
Raina's reaction was very different. She wasn't amused. She was angry. "You brought us out here to punish him for cheating on Peggy?"
"Not exactly," I said. "We think he is responsible for her disappearance. If he's responsible for one disappearance, he could be responsible for more."
Raina looked at me. The concentration was just as pure but now I had to fight an urge to squirm. Her rage was pure and simple. George had hurt a pack member. He would pay for that. There was no uncertainty in her gaze, only an instant rage.
"Let Ronnie and I do the talking. The two of you are here to intimidate him if we need it."
"If there is any chance he has Jason, we don't have time to be subtle," Raina said.
I agreed with her, but not out loud. "We talk, you stay in the background and look menacing. Unless we ask. Okay?"
"I'm here because Richard asked me," Raina said. "He's an alpha male. I obey his orders."
"Somehow I don't picture you obeying anybody's orders," I said.
She flashed me a very nasty smile. "I obey the orders I want to obey."
That I believed. I jerked a thumb at Gabriel. "Who called in him?"
"I chose him. Gabriel is very good at intimidation."
He was big, leather clad, metal studded, and had sharp, pointy teeth. Yeah, I'd say that was intimidating.
"Your word that you'll stay in the background unless we need you."
"Richard said we are to obey you as we would obey him," Raina said.
"Great. Since you obey Richard only when it suits you, what does that mean?"
Raina laughed. It had a hard, brittle edge to it. The kind of laughter that made you think of mad scientists and people locked too long in solitary. "I will let you hand
le it, Anita Blake, as long as you are doing a good job. Jason is my pack member. I will not let your squeamishness endanger him."
I was liking this less and less. "I'm not squeamish."
She smiled. "That is true. My apologies."
"You're not a wolf," I said. "What are you getting out of this?"
Gabriel smiled, flashing sharp, pointy teeth. He was still flipping through the pictures. "Marcus and Richard will owe me a favor. The whole damn pack will owe me one."
I nodded. It was a motive I believed. "Give the pictures back to Ronnie. No smart remarks, just do it."
He pouted, sticking out his lower lip. It would have worked better without the fangs. But he handed the pictures to Ronnie. His fingertips brushed her hand, lingering a little, but he didn't say anything. That had been what I asked. Were all shapeshifters so damn literal?
His strange eyes stared at me. I suddenly remembered where I'd seen those eyes. Behind a mask in a film that I'd rather not have seen. Gabriel was the other man in the snuff film. I hadn't had enough sleep to hide the shock. I felt my face crumble with it and couldn't stop it.
Gabriel turned his head to one side, like a dog. "Why are you looking at me like I just sprouted a second head?"
What could I say? "Your eyes. I just figured out where I've seen them."
"Yes." He moved closer, putting his chin on the back of the seat, letting me have a good look at those luminous eyes. "Where?"
"The zoo. You're a leopard." Liar, liar, pants on fire, but I couldn't think of a better one, not this quick.
He blinked, staring at me. "Meow, but that wasn't what you were thinking." He sounded very sure of himself.
"Believe it or not, I don't give a damn. It's the best answer you're getting."
He stayed there, chin indenting the upholstery. You couldn't see his shoulders, so his head looked disembodied, like a head on a pike. Accurate, if Edward found out who he was. And Edward would find out. I'd tell him, gladly, if it would stop any more of those films from being made. Of course, I wasn't sure it would stop them. They were Raina's brainchild. Supposedly, she didn't know about the alternate ending. Yeah, right, and I moonlighted as the Easter Bunny.
Ronnie was staring at me. She knew me too well. I hadn't told her about the snuff film. Now I'd introduced her to two of the stars. Shit. We got out of the car into the bright, chilly winter sunlight. We walked up the sidewalk with a shapeshifter following at our backs that I had seen murder a woman on screen and feed from her still-twitching body. God help George Smitz if he was guilty. God help us all if he wasn't. Jason was missing. One of the newest pack members, Richard had said. If George Smitz didn't have him, who did?
34
RAINA GRABBED MY hand before it could touch the doorbell. Her grip had been very fast. I hadn't had time to react at all. Her nails were long and perfectly manicured with nail polish the color of burnt pumpkins. Those orange-brown nails dug into my wrist just enough to indent the skin. She let me feel the strength in that delicate hand. She didn't hurt me, but the smile on her face said she could. I smiled back. She was strong, but she wasn't a vampire. I was betting I could get to a gun before she could finish crushing my wrist.
She didn't crush my wrist. She let go. "Perhaps Gabriel and I should go in the back way. You did say you wanted us to stay in the background." She was smiling and looking oh, so reasonable. The nail marks in my skin hadn't filled out yet.
"I mean, look at us, Ms. Blake. Even if we say nothing, he can't ignore us."
She had a point. "How will the two of you get in the back door if it's locked?"
Raina gave me a look worthy of Edward, as if I'd asked a very stupid question. Was I the only one who didn't know how to pick a lock? "Fine, go to it."
Raina smiled and walked off through the snow. Her auburn hair gleamed against the fox fur coat. Her high-heeled brown boots left sharp little prints in the melting snow. Gabriel trailed after her. The chains on his leather jacket jingled as he walked. His metal-studded cowboy boots smashed over Raina's daintier prints almost as if it were purposeful.
"Nobody's going to mistake them for door-to-door salespeople," Ronnie said.
I glanced at our jeans, my Nikes, her snow boots, my leather jacket, her long suede coat. "Us either," I said.
"Good point."
I rang the bell.
We stood on the little front porch listening to the eaves drip. We were having one of those strange winter thaws that Missouri is famous for. The snow was all soft and fading like a snowman in the sunshine. But it wouldn't last. Getting this much snow at all in December was unusual here. We usually didn't get real snow until January or February.
It was taking a long time for Mr. Smitz to come to the door. Finally I heard movement. Something heavy enough to be a person moving toward the door. George Smitz opened the door in a bloodstained apron over jeans and a pale blue T-shirt.
There was a bloodstain on one shoulder, as if he'd lifted a side of beef and it had bled on him. He wiped his hands on his apron, palms flat, skin stretching along the fabric as if he couldn't get them clean. Maybe he just wasn't used to being covered in blood. Or maybe his palms were sweating.
I smiled and offered him my hand. He took it. His palm was sweaty. Nervous. Great. "How are you, Mr. Smitz?"
He shook hands with Ronnie and ushered us inside. We were standing in a little entryway. There was a closet to one side, a mirror on the opposite wall with a low table. A vase full of yellow silk flowers sat on the table. The walls were pale yellow and matched the flowers.
"May I take your coats?"
If he was a murderer, he was the most polite one I'd ever met. "No, thanks, we'll keep them with us."
"Peggy always got on to me if I didn't ask for people's coats. 'George, you weren't raised in a barn, ask them if you can take their coats.'" The imitation sounded accurate.
We stepped out into the living room. It was wallpapered in pale yellow with brown flowers done very small. The couch, the love seat, the recliner were all a pale, pale yellow, almost white. There were more silk flowers on the pale wood end table. Yellow.
The pictures on the wall, the knickknacks on the shelves, even the carpet underfoot was yellow. It was like being inside a lemon drop.
Either it showed on my face or George was used to it. "Yellow was Peggy's favorite color."
"Was?"
"I mean is. Oh, God." He collapsed on the pale lemon couch, face hidden in his big hands. He was the only thing in the room that didn't match the yellow lace curtains. "It's been so awful, wondering." He looked up at us. Tears glistened in his eyes. It was Academy Award caliber.
"Ms. Sims said she had news about Peggy. Have you found her? Is she all right?" His eyes were so sincere it hurt to look into them. I still couldn't tell he was lying. If I hadn't seen the pictures of him with another woman, I wouldn't have believed it. Of course, adultery wasn't murder. He could be guilty of one and not the other. Sure.
Ronnie sat on the couch, as far away from him as she could get but still rather companiable. Cozier than I was willing to be with the son of a bitch. If I ever managed to get married and my husband cheated on me, it wouldn't be me to go missing.
"Please sit down, Ms. Blake. I'm sorry, I'm not being a very good host."
I perched on the edge of the yellow recliner. "I thought you worked construction, Mr. Smitz. What's with the apron?"
"Peggy's dad can't run the store by himself. He deeded it to her years ago. I may have to quit working construction. But you know, he's family. I can't leave him in the lurch. Peggy did most of the work. Dad's almost ninety-two. He just can't do it all."
"Do you inherit the butcher shop?" I asked. We'd automatically gone into good cop, bad cop. Guess which one I was.
He blinked at me. "Well, yes. I suppose so."
He didn't ask if she was all right this time. He just looked at me with his soulful eyes.
"You love your wife?"
"Yes, of course. What kind of question is that?" H
e looked less sad and more angry now.
"Ronnie," I said softly.
She took the pictures out of her purse and gave them to him. The front picture showed him embracing the dark-haired woman. Peggy Smitz had been a blond.
Color crept up his face. Not so much red as purplish. He slammed the pictures down on the coffee table without looking at the rest. They slid across the table, images of him and the woman in various states of undress. Kissing, groping, nearly doing it standing up.
His face went from red to purplish. His eyes bulged. He stood up, his breath coming in fast, harsh gasps. "What the hell are these?"
"I think the pictures are self-explanatory," I said.
"I hired you to find my wife, not to spy on me." He turned on Ronnie, towering over her. His big hands balled into even bigger fists. The muscles in his arms bulged, veins standing out like worms.
Ronnie stood up, using her five feet and nine inches to good advantage. She was calm. If she was worried about facing down a man that outweighed her by a hundred pounds, it didn't show.
"Where's Peggy, George?"
He glanced at me, then back to Ronnie. He raised a hand as if he would strike her.
"Where'd you hide the body?"
He whirled on me. I just sat there and looked at him. He'd have to come over or around the coffee table to get to me. I was pretty sure I could be out of reach. Or have a gun. Or put him through a window. That last was sounding better and better.
"Get out of my house."
Ronnie had stepped back out of reach. He stood there like a purple-faced mountain, swaying between us.
"Get out of my house."
"Can't do that, George. We know you killed her." Maybe know was too strong a word, but "we're pretty sure you killed her" didn't have the right ring. "Unless you really plan to start swinging, I'd sit down, Georgie-boy."
"Yes, by all means sit down, George." I didn't look behind me to see where Raina was. I didn't think George would really hurt me, but better to be cautious. Taking my eyes off a guy who weighed over two hundred pounds sounded like a bad idea.
He stared at Raina. He looked confused. "What the hell is this?"
Ronnie said, "Oh, my God." She was staring behind me with her mouth open.
Something was going on behind my back, but what? I stood, eyes all for George, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. I stepped away from him just to be safe. When I had enough distance to be safe. I could see the doorway.