Avery spied Tom Murphy’s daughter; she was working on the checkout and sporting a weary expression.
She was working at a grocery store part time while trying to go to college. Murphy had two daughters. One – Greta - was beautiful, tall, confident and scary as hell, but this was his other daughter - small, scowly and completely made miserable by her dad’s behavior.
The other daughter had left town after Murphy was poisoned – which only increased the rumors that it was her that poisoned him. She hadn’t been seen since.
Avery felt pity for Gretchen – her mom died when she was a baby, and she had always been overshadowed by her sister and harassed because of her dad’s questionable business dealings. It was alleged that she was abducted when she was sixteen – though it was just a rumor, and whatever happened, she was soon back with her dad. Gretchen wouldn’t answer questions on the matter.
Gretchen eyed her dispassionately as Avery approached. “What?”
Avery opened her mouth, and Gretchen hushed her.
“No, I don’t know what my dad’s up to. Do you mind, you’re holding up my line.”
Avery glanced at the annoyed shoppers behind her and smiled. The males in line softened, though she only enraged the females more.
“Have you seen this woman?”
Avery flashed a picture of Dr. Kringle.
Gretchen pursed her lips. “Why would I?”
“When was the last time you spoke to your father?”
“I’ve no idea. Maybe my birthday. Or a week after when he finally remembered. Now, do you mind?”
Avery nodded, and her lioness huffed impatiently. “Thanks for your time.”
Gretchen snorted, and Avery walked away.
Surveillance wasn’t bringing up anything, so she had decided to speak to a few people Murphy knew. Though, they would rather die than admit they even knew him. She was hoping his daughter might resent him enough to be helpful.
Avery rolled her shoulders. She should go home, take a nap, wait for the cute boy from the comic store and then maybe another nap before her own shift watching Murphy.
She thought of Winston. He was darn cute, too. That easy smile, his messy hair. Mmmm, yeah, she was looking forward to seeing him again.
*
Kay held back a sob. Nine was dead. Clearly, they had given him too much of the serum, and his body couldn’t handle it.
“Damnit,” Froggett grumbled and poked the body.
“Stop it!” hissed Kay. “Show some respect.”
“What? He’s dead. We should open him up and find out what killed him.”
“I’ll have to tell Marlowe that he’s gone.”
Froggett harrumphed. Losing one of the subjects was annoying for him, but he could care less about the life that was now extinguished – all thanks to them. “I’ll start prepping him for autopsy – we need to check this won’t happen to the others.”
She glanced around at the other test subjects, they seemed angrier than usual, and she didn’t blame them. Nobody was going to be happy at losing this guy.
*
Avery beamed as she led him into her apartment. “Thank you so much for this.”
“Uh, no problem. Nice apartment.”
Winston gave her a nervous smile. Obviously, it wasn’t the first time he had been there, but he wanted to act casual, like it was.
“Thank you.” She looked over the picture. “You’re very talented,” she commented.
“Oh, ah, thank you.”
His teachers had never been particularly thrilled with his abilities – thinking his comic-like drawings childish. But hearing Avery say that meant a hell of a lot more than their opinions ever had.
“Though, I think Wolfman is a little more muscled in real life.”
“Really?” he squeaked.
His wolf preened but Winston had to figure that his costume was showing a physique that he definitely did not have. If anything, he had been very generous when it came to the drawing, but, it thrilled him to hear Avery say that. He felt so masculine and…
He let out a generous sneeze and managed to get snot all over his hand. Crap.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered as his cheeks flamed.
Avery led him into the kitchen and helped him wash his hands and clean up. Then he sneezed again, and she managed to catch it with a tissue.
“I’m really sorry.”
“It’s just a sneeze,” she said dismissively.
“Oh, I think I’ve found the source,” he muttered as he caught sight of several large bouquets of flowers on her kitchen table.
He was never very good when it came to his many allergies.
“Allergies?”
“Yeah,” he sighed.
“Hold on; I’ll put them in the bathroom.”
Avery scooped up the flowers and disappeared for a few moments. She came back with a concerned expression. “Better?”
He nodded, though his nostrils appeared to be closing. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry for allergies,” she said reassuringly. “I’m a little sorry I was sent them in the first place – they’re from your friend at the comic store. The creepy one who knows more countries than an atlas.”
“Howie?!” His beast yowled in a fury.
“Yep, guess he heard where I live,” she growled in disgust.
“Crap, I’m…”
Avery held up her hand. “Don’t be sorry, it’s really not your fault. Though, the flowers aren’t nearly as bad as this.”
She pulled out a box that was from a high-end lingerie store.
“You do not want to look inside.” Avery shuddered, and he could only imagine what was in there. Actually, he couldn’t. Female lingerie was mostly a mystery to him. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at his mom’s underwear.
“Can you return it to him? And tell him not in a million years?”
Winston nodded. “I’m sorry about him.”
Avery placed her hand on his arm, and his whole body tingled. “Seriously, not your fault.”
He was trying to think of something witty to say when his phone belted out the Star Trek theme tune. He fumbled and quickly switched it off.
“Don’t you need to get that?”
“Ah no, it’s just a friend of mine.”
She smiled politely.
“We’re just going to see a special screening of a movie and he’s afraid that it’ll be fully booked.”
For someone who went by the nickname Destroyer, he could be a real old woman about things. Actually, no, that was insulting to older women. Winston had planned on spending the whole evening as Wolfman, but Destroyer begged him to come out. It was a group outing; Destroyer was going, along with a guy and a girl he knew from work. Given that he was trying to get closer to the girl, he wanted someone there to distract the other guy. Winston guessed he could put off his crimefighting for a couple of hours. Destroyer happily hacked into the DMV database for him, so it was the least he could do in return.
“Really, what movie?”
“It’s The Princess Bride.”
Avery blinked at him. It was an old movie – she probably had no idea.
“My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” she quoted in terrific imitation.
Winston gaped. She’s so perfect cooed his wolf.
“I love that movie,” she enthused. “Inconceivable!” Avery let out a musical laugh.
“Wow, yeah, wow. Maybe you should be the one seeing it…”
“I’d love to!”
“Oh, ah…”
“What time does it start? I have to get to work at ten, but as long as it’s over by then…”
“It should be.”
“Great, I’ll get my jacket.”
Avery grinned and darted away.
Okaaaay… He hadn’t expected that, but surely it wasn’t a bad thing… right? He was falling for her big time, so surely being near her would be great, wouldn’t it? His wolf yipped. However, he couldn’t help but worry that it was only going to make things harder for him when she came to her senses and ultimately told him to take a hike.