Binds that Burn: A Werepanther Romance Suspense (Urban Dwellers Book 3) Page 11

  Nina walked outside and opened the bag. Inside, there was a piece of paper with an address. She got back into the waiting taxi and gave the driver the address. It was this weird kind of game of hide and seek to get in touch with her contact, but she could appreciate that he didn’t want to be easily found.

  The taxi took her three blocks away to a Chinese restaurant. Apparently, her contact had been hungry for lunch.

  Nina walked in and scanned the faces at the tables. She saw her contact sitting at one near the back. She suspected that he knew she was coming. Joe stood out wherever he went simply because of his size. He had to top 6’5” and weighed more than 300 lbs. Nina figured he was in his late forties. His hair was thinning on top. Really, he looked like a middle-aged, washed-up wrestler.

  As she approached him, she saw that he was playing a game of Sudoku. Typical. Joe didn’t look up from his puzzle. “Nina. I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” he said.

  Nina sat down in the chair across from him. “Joe.”

  She didn’t know Joe’s real name. The first time he had introduced himself to her, he said his name was Joe Nobody, clearly a cover. That was probably something to do with the fact that Joe dealt in fake identities, so somewhere along the way, he probably figured he’d make one up for himself. Joe was the best identity thief in the country, and he sold those identities on the black market. He’d chosen to set up shop in Copper City, of all places.

  Joe was freelance. That was what Nina had started to call the group that didn’t affiliate themselves with any one group or clan. They ran goods and services completely free trade. Whoever was the highest bidder was the one who would get the goods.

  Nina pulled the file out of her briefcase. She set it down in front of her, but didn’t open it. There was one more requisite part of their initial exchange. This was the part that she hated, and Joe loved.

  “Knock knock,” Joe said.

  “Who’s there,” Nina said with a sigh.

  “Cash.”

  “Cash who?”

  “No thanks, but I’ll take some peanuts if you got ‘em.”

  Joe slapped the table and started to laugh. It was a deep belly laugh that sent vibrations through the floor.

  Nina hoped that was it for the day. Joe was an aspiring standup comic. He liked to test his material out on his clients. It was kind of like an initiation. If someone didn’t play along or worse yet, didn’t laugh, Joe had no use for them. She had heard stories about a man who sat there for hours listening to Joe go on and on, telling his jokes one after another. He forgot to laugh at one joke, and Joe kicked the guy’s teeth in. No matter how he played it, Joe’s sense of humor lacked on multiple fronts.

  He slurped on a bowl of miso soup while Nina watched, trying to keep any sign of the disgust she felt for him off her face. She also knew that she couldn’t rush Joe. Joe did things in his own good time.

  He looked at her, and she felt the weight of his stare as he looked her over from head to toe. Joe had asked her out once. It had been an incredibly awkward conversation. She wasn’t prone to going out with criminals. Apparently, somewhere along the way, she had made an exception for Eric, and maybe that was why.

  “You don’t look so good, Nina,” Joe said. “Have some soup. It’s on me.”

  There was no way in hell that Nina was going to take anything from Joe. First of all, she would never want to be in his debt for anything, even a measly bowl of soup. Second of all, she didn’t want Joe to think in any way, shape, or form that breaking bread together meant they were on a date. And lastly, there was no way that she could be sure there wasn’t something in the soup that would knock her off her butt.

  Of course, she had no idea what her current transitional metabolism would do if someone tried to drug her anyway. She almost thought of risking it just to find out. But then she saw an image of a ticking bomb in her mind. If she wanted to live, messing around with Joe was the last thing she should be doing.

  “Thanks, but I’ve already had lunch. I’m feeling pretty full.”

  Nina expected that at the moment she said that, her stomach would start to growl and give away her lie. She was feeling kind of hungry. But she wasn’t quite sure what she was hungry for. The cooked meat of sesame chicken on Joe’s plate looked overdone.

  She knew then that some kind of changes were starting to take hold. She was the kind of woman who liked her steaks well done. Now, the only thing she could think about was a slice of meat, bloody and raw. It turned her stomach and made her mouth water at the same time. She knew she needed to keep a lid on what was happening with her body. She couldn’t afford to show any weakness in front of Joe. It had taken her far too long to get their relationship to this uneasy point.

  “So what exactly is it you need from me today, Nina Rodriguez?” Joe asked, curling his tongue around his enunciation of her name. She knew that he got off on saying her name like that. It was something that she didn’t understand, but Nina wasn’t going to upset the apple cart by ever saying anything. Joe was temperamental on the best of days.

  She opened the file in front of her. There were two pictures of Jillian in the file of paperwork. One was a close-up of Jillian that Maggie had given her and said was from Jillian’s senior year of high school. The other was a scan of the driver’s license that the police had found in Jillian’s purse in Eric’s apartment. Nina knew she was taking a bit of a risk. If Joe had helped Jillian, it was possible that he knew that she was dead. Nina’s inquiries with her contacts so far had been relatively low risk. Delving into the water with the bigger fish meant she might get caught in a net.

  She picked up the pictures and looked at them. Jillian was a pretty woman. Then something clicked in her head. She remembered that, in person, Jillian looked just like her high school picture. But, that picture had been taken in 1998. Jillian was thirty-seven years old, but she looked no different than she did when she was eighteen.

  Things were starting to turn in Nina’s head. The case was starting to get far more interesting, and she was also starting to gather why she had been kept on the outside. That bothered her more than she would admit. Now she was 100% on the inside; she should be told everything. That was something she would have to take up with Eric the next time she saw him.

  “This girl,” she said. She tapped the scanned picture of the ID in front of Joe. “I’m looking for her.” She waited to see Joe’s reaction. If he was up to date on what had been going on in Copper City in the last couple of days, he was going to understand that this wasn’t the exact truth.

  Joe looked at the picture. His face gave nothing away. “Well, I guess if you’re looking for her, you should probably head down to the Copper City Funeral Home. I think I saw the visitation was scheduled for this afternoon.”

  Shit. He knew.

  “I’m asking because I was wondering if she had been a client of yours,” Nina said as she backpedaled. “I’m just doing a little fact checking. Seems like she was in Copper City with a fake ID. Mindy Michelson was not her real name.”

  Mindy Michelson was the name that was on the ID. Now Nina didn’t know if the Urban Dwellers knew this bit of information. The purse had been found on the table in the entrance to Eric’s condo. The police had been keeping the name of the victim under wraps so far for good reason. They were looking for information about her. Nina had been surprised, therefore, when Maggie said the woman’s name was Jillian Anderson.

  That was how Nina knew that Jillian had been in Copper City under a different name. That seemed to speak that she had seen someone who had given her a fake ID, and if you wanted to keep off the radar of everyone in the city, Urban Dwellers, shifters, humans, or whoever, you went to Joe Nobody. Everybody knew that. Everybody except the people that Joe was trying not be affiliated with. He was incredibly paranoid about being taken out so someone else could take over his business.

  “I don’t know anything about that,” Joe said. “Sorry you made the trip. But like I said, I’ll buy you a cup of
soup for your trouble.”

  Nina leaned on the table and looked Joe dead in the eye. “Come on, Joe. It’s me. You and I both know that Mindy Michelson came to you when she came to the city. That hair would be hard to miss. And if she’s dead, what does it matter if you tell me that you talked to her or not? I mean, she’s gone. You help me out in being able to answer a couple questions for my clients, and I’ll pay you a little extra for your trouble. It seems like a win-win to me. Besides, when did you get ethics?”

  Joe’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know if I find you amusing or annoying, Ms. Rodriguez.”

  Nina knew that that was supposed to be a threat. When Joe didn’t like someone, he did things. Things that were usually uncomfortable and meant you might not be able to show up for work the next day. When Joe liked you, you got information. There was no reason that he wouldn’t like her, other than the fact that she had turned down his date and his soup.

  Joe’s eyes focused on something over her shoulder, and then she saw his eyes widen before they narrowed again. She turned around before she even thought to wonder what he had seen. Rather who he had seen. She sighed. Eric stood there in his three-piece suit in the middle of the restaurant. He stuck out like a sore thumb, and he stalked directly toward her.

  She couldn’t even think how he had found her, but then, Eric had his ways. She had a feeling it was pointless to get mad about it. Eric was proving to be a pain in the ass, which was just about right in her estimation.

  “Nina, fancy meeting you here.” Eric said the words with a condescending tone. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Joe immediately tensed.

  “You haven’t introduced me to your friend,” Eric said.

  “Eric, this is Joe. Joe,” she didn’t even get the rest of the sentence out.

  “I know who you are,” Joe said. “You’re one of those Urban Dwellers.”

  Nina wanted to hide her face behind her hands. This was exactly why she didn’t want Eric to come with her. Everybody knew who the Urban Dwellers were. Everybody also knew who Eric was. Of the three of them, Eric was the one that incited the most media attention because he was the one that was the most visible. Plus, when Eric had an opinion about something, he never hesitated to share it publicly with anyone who would listen. It made him likable and affable in some crowds, but really rubbed other people the wrong way. She could tell by the look on Joe’s face that he was one of the latter.

  “I guess you have me at a disadvantage, friend,” Eric said.

  “I am not your friend,” Joe said. He drew himself up in his chair to his full sitting height.

  He was going for the intimidation play, which wouldn’t sit well with Eric at all. She really hoped she wasn’t about to see a fight. She thought it probably would be slightly amusing to see Joe kick Eric’s ass, but deep down she knew that wasn’t really what she wanted.

  “Boys, boys, calm down. We’re all friends here,” she said sarcastically. “I think my business is done anyways. I’m going to get out of here.”

  “Don’t leave on my account,” Eric said.

  That was exactly why she was leaving. She was frustrated now because she knew that once she had Eric back on her tail, she wasn’t going to be able to be as effective as she would’ve been alone. She could tell that Joe had already clammed up. She might as well leave. She wasn’t going to get anywhere with him.

  “Perhaps you can share with me your business here with Joe,” Eric said.

  “We were just having lunch,” Joe said.

  “Really,” Eric said. He pushed a piece of paper across the table. “I understand that you are a man who deals in information. It appears that my friend Nina was looking for information from you, and judging by the look on her face, she didn’t get it. If you tell me, I will pay you for it.”

  Nina wondered if Eric knew anything or if he was just talking out of his ass. Joe had gone out of his way to fly under the radar of the likes of Eric. He was human, after all. It said a lot about his overinflated ego that he was willing to take on one of the Urban Dwellers.

  Still, Eric had probably taken the most diplomatic route of any available to him. Joe was a freelancer, so he did work for the highest bidder. Nina couldn’t afford to pay anything more than her standard rates. That was a hundred bucks for every bit of information. She saw Joe look at the piece of paper, and his eyes widened.

  “So are we friends yet?” Eric said.

  “I think we might be,” Joe said. His voice was suddenly far more cordial.

  “Excellent,” Eric said. “Tell me what Nina was here looking for. And, what the hell? I like you, Joe. If you tell me what you know in the next sixty seconds, I will double the amount that you see there.”

  Now it was Nina’s turn to widen her eyes. What the hell was Eric doing?

  “She was looking for a broad. A broad with bright red hair. It’s kind of funny. Didn’t you kill a woman who looked kind of like that just a couple days ago?” Joe said slyly. Nina felt her heart start to race.

  “What did Ms. Rodriguez want to know about the woman?” Eric appeared unfazed.

  “She wanted to know if I knew anything about her,” Joe did not give up the fact that he was the one who gave Jillian her ID. Nina assumed he wouldn’t want Eric too far up in his business.

  “Do you? Do you know anything about her?” Eric asked. He leaned back in his chair, far too comfortable looking for Nina’s taste.

  “I might have seen her around,” Joe said.

  Nina knew it. Nobody came to Copper City and got a fake ID without seeing Joe.

  “Where did you see her?”

  “Over off 12th maybe a couple of times,” Joe said. “She and I only had one transaction. But it’s a small city when you think about it.”

  “And yet this is the first time that you and I have ever met,” Eric said with a small shrug.

  “We just don’t run in the same circles, man,” Joe said. “You highfalutin rich fellows wouldn’t want to get your shoes dirty walking around this kind of slum neighborhood.”

  Nina knew that was probably true. Quite frankly, she was surprised to see Eric in the neighborhood at all. Of course, she knew that was her fault. She was the one who had somehow brought him here, which was a question that was still open. She planned to get to the bottom of that before the day was done.

  She started to feel anxious again. She needed to find Jillian. She didn’t know what she was going to do when she did find her, but she just needed to find her soon.

  As if Eric sensed her anxiousness, he asked Joe again, “Could you be a bit more specific. Over on 12th where?”

  “Yeah, I don’t prescribe to that kind of thing, but there is a shop over there that is run by some woman I see on TV sometimes at like 2 o’clock in the morning. Those weird infomercials. You know the ones where the old broad says she can talk to the dead? Yeah, I saw her go into that lady’s place.”

  “Madame Rivaldi?” Nina was shocked.

  Madame Rivaldi had shown up in Copper City about five years ago. She was a strange woman who said that she could speak to the dead. She was a featured medium on many of the late-night talk shows. She had made quite a trade and a name for herself in a short amount of time.

  Eric pushed back in his chair. He motioned to Nina to get up. “We’re leaving.”

  “Is that it?” Joe asked. He seemed to think that there was going to be more to the interaction. Nina supposed she understood. The conversation seemed a bit too easy.

  “Oh, we will be talking again. I guarantee it.” Eric smiled, but Nina almost thought that she could see his panther underneath.

  Nina had no choice but to follow him out the door. She looked back over her shoulder. That was when she saw the thing that scared her the most. Joe was on the phone, watching them as he spoke. He smirked at her and gave her a small wave.

  Nina knew then that there was a storm brewing.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Eric had been frustrated when he discovered that Nina had e
luded him. He was trying to help her, but it seemed like every time he turned around, she ran away from him. He didn’t get it, and he didn’t understand. He didn’t want her to transition or worse any more than she did. Why couldn’t she accept his help?

  As they stepped out onto the sidewalk outside of the Chinese restaurant, he saw Nina come to a halt. Cal stood there next to the limo, waiting for them.

  Cal opened the door, and Eric could see Nina hesitated. She looked at him with a look of chagrin. “Could you be any less obvious?”

  This wasn’t what he expected her to say at all. “What? This is how you get around town with the minimal amount of fuss. Look, we need to talk.”

  “I can’t believe you expect anyone to talk to you when you show up the way that you just did.”

  This was not the argument Eric wanted to or expected to have. “Get in the car.” His tone brokered no argument. She was going to get in the car, or he would throw her over his shoulder and stuff her into it himself. Nina must have read the expression on his face, because she finally did as he asked. Once they were inside, Eric immediately put up the divider between them and Cal. It was time that he and Nina had a bit of a heart-to-heart.

  Nina looked away from him with her arms crossed over her chest. He sent a message through the communication device up front to give Cal the address, so he knew where to go.

  “You are putting yourself in danger and other people as well, by running around without me,” he started.

  “I don’t understand why you are being persistent. Fine, if you guys want to put a babysitter on me, send me around with Cal. But I don’t need you, the Copper City Jack the Ripper, following me around while I’m trying to chase down my leads. People aren’t going to talk to me when you’re with me. People are afraid of you and what you’d do to them if you found out about them.”

  Nina’s conjecture rocked Eric back on his heels. “Can we pull this apart one thing at a time?” he asked in a quiet voice, even though his tendency was to do the exact opposite. He was ready to raise his voice. He almost wanted to shake her. Her stubborn determination to push him away was driving him nuts.