Page 29 of Shadow Scorching

Next morning,the blanket of snow had frozen over, as a light snowfall dusted the yard. I shivered, but still couldn’t stop smiling. Though cold, it was beautiful.

Penn was in her nightie and robe, making pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

“You want soup tonight?” she asked. “I think I want to make a beef vegetable soup.”

“That sounds good,” I said. “Remember, I’m supposed to go to the gym so I’ll probably be late.”

“Are you still going, with your hurt arm?” she asked. “You need me to dress that again?”

“Thanks, but no. The liquid bandage will dissolve in a few days. And yes, I can at least do cardio.Ifthe gym is open, that is. It might close early, given the weather.” I settled at the table as she brought over the food. “Tomorrow, I’ll do laundry. If youhave anything that needs dropped off at the dry cleaners, leave it hanging on the coat rack, if you would.”

While Penn had taken over the cooking, I had taken over the laundry. We both cleaned house together on the weekends.

“So, what besides the gym is on the agenda?” Penn asked, handing me the maple syrup.

“Not much, all our clients rescheduled. I guess we do what research we can on Michael’s house. Oh, and I have to sign up for that stupid app that Dante asked me to, and see if I can set out enough bait for Jet Shy to bite.”

Penn snorted. “Lovely. Have fun. May you get lots of nibbles.” She cut into her pancakes.

“Right, just what I need,” I said. “I should makeyoudo it.”

“I don’t have the temperament. I’d scare him off and you’d be no closer to the truth than you are now. Not that I have any doubt that he’s a scam artist, from what you’ve told me.” Penn set to her breakfast. “This morning, I’ll finish reading through what Carson sent me and let you know what I think. I can pack orders for my shop this afternoon.”

“How’s the store doing?” I asked.

“Good. Better than when it was in an actual storefront.”

We finished breakfast, she made me a triple shot white-chocolate raspberry latte to go, and I gave the kitties a cuddle before heading out into the frozen world.

As I wovethrough the streets, I kept myself alert. The city had turned into an ice rink. Snowplows were out and about, but given that Seattle had hundreds of streets and a lot of them were steep, the plows couldn’t handle the grade. In fact, Seattle didn’tevenhavededicated snowplows—they outfitted trucks with the blades and sent them out.

Queen Anne would be closed, of course, along with several others. Even the flat streets were dangerous. As I slowly crept along, a van in front of me spun out. In slow motion, it listed to the left and hit the curb. Luckily, there were few cars parked along the street and the van bumped against the curb without getting damaged.

I managed to make it to work without incident, and saw that Sophia’s car was there, but Dante, Carson, and Orik didn’t seem to have arrived yet. To my surprise, however, as I entered the office, I saw Dante sitting beside Sophia.

“Hey, I caught a ride in,” he said. “My neighbor has all-weather tires and he offered me a ride in, and he said he’d pick me up at five. I need to leave right on time.”

“That was nice of him,” I said. “What about Carson and Orik?”

“Carson’s stuck. The eastside got slammed, and he’s in the Juanita area of Kirkland. He got seven inches of snow. Orik’s battery died. He’ll be in later, if he can get a jump.” Sophia handed me printout. “Here’s the info on one of our clients coming in next week.”

I glanced at it. The man’s name was Tedly, and he was Fae. Apparently, he was having problems with some sort of creature that had killed two of his five of his cows, leaving them ‘turned inside’ out on his property. He had an urban ranch, with five acres, and he sold eggs and homemade cheese at the farmer’s market.

“Well, this doesn’t look good. I’d chalk it up to a rival, except the state of the cows.” I glanced over at Sophia. “They weren’t just killed?”

She grimaced. “No. They wereturned insideout, all right. He showed me the pictures and they’re nasty.”

“Well, file this till next week,” I said. “Meanwhile, I’m going to call Michael and make sure he’s doing all right. Penn’s going over all the footage Carson sent her last night. Dante, why don’t you keep watch on the cameras today, until Orik gets here.Ifhe makes it.”

I headed back to my office, wondering what we’d be able to get done today.

By noon,Devon had called me from the gym and cancelled till our next appointment—Monday. Orik hadn’t managed to get out of his driveway. The day was setting up to be a complete bust. I hadn’t even managed to get hold of Michael yet.

I was about to suggest that we all go home when Dante came racing into my office.

“We have a problem,” he said. “Follow me.”

I followed him into Carson and Orik’s office, where the computers were monitoring the Caramite house.

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