Page 139 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

He scoffs. “Six months.”

“A year, that’s the shortest it’s reasonable to ask for an institutional, cultural change.”

“I’ll give you a year. I’ll have some stipulations. Let’s call them milestones. I’ll email them to you.”

The dart idea seems better and better. “You do that.”

“Our littles are already friends, you know,” Sutter says, his smile cracking wide.

That doesn’t make us friends. I’ll have to get past the whole threatening to dismantle my second family thing, first.

“I appreciate your help with Fleur,” I say, a little grudgingly.

The smirk slides off his face. He sits forward, letting his hands dangle between his knees. “You’re welcome. I’m sincere in my desire to help. Since Myles is involved, I can guess where things are going. I’m not ex-military the way you and he are but I’ve been hunting game since I was old enough to hold a rifle.” He sits back and tips his head. “Hunting a wolf instead of a deer? I don’t reckon it would be that different.”

I’ve never hunted deer, or wolves but I suspect it is very different. It breaks something inside you, to kill another human being. It’s a Rubicon you can’t ever come back from. A wound that never heals. It’s always there, you always know there’s something you’re capable of doing that other people aren’t. Something deeply, deeply wrong, no matter how right the reasons.

I’ve seen a lot of those “two kinds of people in the world” memes but the true two kinds of people in the world are thosewho have murdered and those who haven’t. I’ve come to terms with being among the former. I never want to encourage anyone to join that particular clique.

“How do you know Myles?” I ask instead of addressing the elephant in the room.

“I have a family problem, which is also a corporate problem since my business is a family business. Someone who knows someone recommended Myles to me as ... well, a fixer. I need some corporate espionage done on the very down low. After interviewing Myles, I put him on retainer for a year. As we were talking, I realized we share certaininterests. I mentioned I’d just joined Blunts. With a man like Myles, it’s important to be scrupulously honest. A whiff of dishonesty and I’d never hear from him again. I told him about my intentions for the club?—”

“Did you hire him to help you?” I interject.

If Myles accepted that assignment, I’ll strangle him.

“No. Myles told me he wouldn’t do anything to risk not being accepted in your circle of caregivers and littles. I understand and respect his boundary.”

“Playgroup’s great but it’s not a substitute for Blunts,” I say. “I’ll accept your whole probation thing because I believe I can turn Blunts around but I’m warning you, I will fight you tooth and nail if you try to shut down my club.”

“I believe you.” Sutter’s smirk slides back into place. “Nothing like a game against a worthy adversary, right?”

If he thinks he’s my Moriarty, he can fucking well think again.

“Sure. Are we done?” I ask.

“Not quite. I’d like to formally hire you and your partners to investigate Andrew Selman and his wolfpack.”

“Why? You’ve already got Myles on retainer.”

“A number of reasons including client confidentiality. I have a feeling we’re going to need it before we’re done.”

I can’t argue with that. “I’ll work up a cost estimate and email it to you. Ten doesn’t work for us but if he’s going to hare off tracking wolfpack members, I’d like to get his costs covered somehow.”

“I don’t need a cost estimate,” Sutter responds with a wave. “I’ll put you on retainer same as Myles. Thirty grand to start. If you anticipate going over that in a week, email me.”

He slides his business card across my desk.

Sutter James, CEO

Whitley James Wineries

Winterwyne Entertainment Group

Who the hell is this kid? CEO at twenty-two? Throwing around thirty-thousand-dollar retainers? He’s bullshitting; he has to be. If he’s not, I need to get Max on him and make sure he’s not fronting a drug cartel or something.

“Okay, I’ll email you my terms of business. Any issues, call me.”

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