Telling Ashley most of everything had been like pushing a stack of sandbags off my chest. I felt like I could breathe. Better than that, I could even see myself thinking about the future. At least farther ahead than the next job that was dropped into my lap by Peter.

Jessica Long came by, a makeup bag over one shoulder and a stack of clothes in the other, as well as a plastic bag full of shoes dangling from one finger. Ashley had gotten out of the shower a little while before and was in my room trying on a couple different outfits. Jessica came stepping out of the bedroom, brushing a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear as she approached me and Richard at the kitchen table.

“Want some coffee, babe?” Richard asked, getting up from his chair.

“No, no,” she said as she pulled out the chair across from me and sat down, “I’m fine. So, you and Ashley, huh? Richard says you found your mate?”

I grinned. “Guess so. Surprised the hell out of me, that’s for damn sure.”

“She’s a good one.”

“Yep.”

“So…” she began slowly, but stopped. It was like she was searching for just the exact words needed. “Have you told her?” she asked, emphasizing the word “told.”

Richard and I looked at each other.

She leaned in close. “About you being a freaking wolf.”

I sat back in my chair and scratched my chin. “Not, uh, exactly. We had some other things to work out first.”

Jessica and Richard exchanged glances. “You know,” she said, “that’s kind of a huge bomb. One you don’t necessarily want to just drop on a girl after you’ve been dating a while.”

I leaned in. “Ain’t exactly something you wanna talk about before the first date, neither.”

“She needs to know,” Jessica said, her voice almost a hiss. “It almost didn’t work between me and Richard.”

“But it did, didn’t it?” I asked.

“Because he fucking saved my life, Frank!”

“Well, I’ve already done that part of it, haven’t I?”

She rolled her eyes. “Richard, can you help me out here?”

My pack mate, her fiancé, just sipped his coffee. Sensible man, that one, not wanting to get in the middle of this. He set his coffee down. “Think I’m going to give Peter a call, let him know the status on everything.”

Jessica huffed and rolled her eyes as he got up from the table, taking his coffee with him. She followed him with a narrow gaze as he stepped out onto the balcony. When he disappeared, she swiveled her gaze back on me like a fifty caliber machine gun. “Well, I still think you should tell her sooner rather than later.”

I tried not to shrink beneath that gaze of hers, but damn, it was hard. I felt myself sink lower in my seat. “Fine. Do you want me to do it before she talks to the cops? Or after? We’re still in the middle of a case, you know, and her life still may be in danger. Your fiancé and I weren’t exactly staying up all night playing Yahtzee here. We were on guard duty.”

She made a placating gesture with her hands. “Okay. I understand that. But soon, Frank. You need to let her know soon. It might be second nature to you, but it’s awfully strange to everyone who isn’t a shifter. It’s not exactly like you guys are just part of the Elk’s Lodge or something. It’s pretty earth-shattering to find out.”

“Why?” I asked. “It’s not like you come home and Richard’s just lounging around on the couch as a wolf or chewing up your shoes or anything, is he?”

She raised an eyebrow and gave me a look.

“You’ve got be shitting me. Really? He lays around on the couch?”

“I’ve found wolf hair.” She took a sip of coffee. “He says it’s just from Eli and Wallach, but I know better.”

I laughed. The idea of Richard lounging around in his wolf form with the dogs in her living room was just absurd. “Well, until you catch him, I guess you don’t have any proof.”

She made a face. “Well, that’s not the point. It’s like telling someone gravity only exists most of the time, or, I don’t know, that some men can turn into wolves.”

“Women, too.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Tell her as soon as you can. Okay?”

“Okay, Jessica. I will.”

“Promise me, Frank.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “I promise. I’ll tell her as soon as this is over. No waiting for her to find out because my wolf hair ends up on the couch. Okay?”

She nodded, breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess. I think that’s the best I’m going to get out of you, anyways.”

I gave her a grin and decided to change the subject. “Think those clothes will fit her?”

She gave me a small shrug. “We’re both about the same size. I don’t know if it’ll be appropriate, though. All I could find was a nice blouse and some slacks.”

“You honestly think her normal wardrobe would have been more appropriate?”

“Ironically, no, probably not. But under normal circumstances she could’ve at least gone down to Durango to go shopping.”

As Jessica finished her sentence, Ashley came bustling out of the bedroom. “What do you guys think?” she called as she came into the kitchen. Her eyes went well with the dark blue blouse she’d chosen, and the black slacks were about as somber as you could get for a police interview. She gave a little spin. “I thought to myself, ‘W-W-B-H-D.’ What Would Barbara Hacks Do?”

I chuckled as Jessica and I nodded approvingly. “Looks good,” Jessica said.

“There are heels to match this, right?”

“Flats. But, yeah, should be in the bag.”

I picked up my cell and checked the time. We were getting close to our appointment time, and Sheriff Peak hated nothing more than being kept waiting. “Ladies, I hate to cut this episode of business-eye for the trust fund girl short, but reckon we better hurry this along.”

“Right,” Jessica said, getting up from the table. “I’ll find your shoes. You start getting your makeup on.”

“Got it,” Ashley said, then went shuffling back through the kitchen on her stocking-ed feet.

I got up and poured myself some more coffee, then headed out onto the balcony to join Richard. I stopped with the door pulled halfway open. “And be conservative with the makeup!”

“I know what I’m doing, Frank!”

I grinned and went out onto the balcony.

Richard stood there, both hands on the railing of the balcony.

“Peter say we’re all good still?”

Richard nodded. “Yep. Still on. Still nothing on the names, though. Lacy picked up some interesting info on that Simon Falkowski buddy of yours, though. You know he worked with Bridgewater before going down to Brazil?”

Bridgewater had been one of the myriad of private contractors that operated throughout Iraq in ‘04 and ‘05 before being effectively kicked out of the country by the Iraqi government due to “excessive force.” I tried to steer clear of guys like them while I was over there. Most of them seemed to have a “shoot first, ask questions second” kind of mindset. They barely had any rules of engagement they followed, and they seemed to prefer it that way.

“What about these Eagle Eye people he’s working with?”

“He’s actually a partner,” Richard said. “Set it up with a number of old co-workers.”

“Lemme guess. Guys he worked with at Bridgewater.”

“Got it in one, bucko.”

“Shit. So a bunch of paramilitary guys are helping out M Three to hunt down its primary partner. Anything else?”

“Nothing yet. No cartel members have checked into any clinics–”

“–ain’t exactly a surprise.”

“And no more info on your Russian.”

I took a sip of coffee and leaned back against the railing. “What I don’t understand is where the hell her father went. You know? He’s headed this way, right? At least, that’s what they say, and we’ll take them at their word, I guess.”

“Why else would they be here?”

I nodded. “Exactly. So where the fuck is he? Our littlest hacker dig up anything on other properties? Places he might be hanging out?”

He shook his head. “Nope, still nothing. Only thing we can find that’s even vaguely connected to him is the cabin Ashley was staying in. Hell, Lacy even got hold of his credit cards, and those stopped getting charged east of the Mississippi. He made a large cash withdrawal, and then he just went off the grid.”

“How big?”

“About five grand.”

“Ain’t even walking around money for Maxwell.”

“And definitely isn’t enough for him to get out of the country and start a new life.”

I shook my head. “Hear ya on that.”

“So, what, then? He just disappeared?”

“Dunno. I mean, I could start a new life on five grand but it ain’t gonna be a nice one.”

“Well, my bet’s on him still being around. Plenty of places to hide around here.”

“Unless someone got him already. Who’s to say the Russians and the cartel are the only ones hunting this guy?”

“Don’t forget the FBI.”

I looked back through the window into the living room, to Jessica and Ashley talking in the kitchen. I just shook my head. This was going to screw Ashley up something fierce by the time everything was said and done. And the longer it dragged on, the worse it would be. Right now, she was handling it pretty well, but I had a feeling that was just because of her and me. If I hadn’t been here with a shoulder to cry on, there was no telling what kind of world of hurt she’d be in. Especially with those two harpies, Elizabeth and Barbara Hacks, in her life.

“Yeah,” I said after a long while. “Can’t forget the suits. Second you do, they might come after you.”

Richard nodded and straightened up from the balcony railing. “I know I didn’t say anything in there earlier, but–”

“You sure as shit are now.”

“–you gotta tell her, man.”

“I know, pardner,” I said, taking a sip of my dwindling coffee. “I know. Like I said, let’s get through this interview with the sheriff, then we’ll see where this rabbit hole leads us. Alright?”

He nodded. “Alright. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.”