Page 35 of Raven's Instinct
You said that about bringing the raven dead mice, her owl pointed out.And he said he’d like them.
Hisravenwould like them, Kendra said.But I am not trying to drum up a romantic life.She couldn’t help but remember his kiss, and the feel of his hands.
Clarice blathered on about Molly Flash and an episode on Bigfoot in the area, clearly starved for friendly conversation. “It was filmed down at Belle Lake, have you been to the lodge out there? I haven’t, but it sounds so nice. There might be a sea monster in the lake, I heard. It’s kind of a long drive, but it’s not as long as the drive to Las Vegas. That’s where I’m from, and it was a lot further to go than I thought it would be.”
Kendra listened with her mind racing, trying to filter the important bits from the chatter, until she found an opportunity to escape…and ran straight down the street to Alan.
24
ALAN
Alan spent the entire morning trying not to moon over the memory of Kendra’s kiss or fret over her abrupt departure at Amy’s drop-off.
The Tiny Paws kids were a thorough distraction. Gil needed to be constantly reminded not to climb things and cannonball off of them, Jennifer was fighting with Franzi and Tara over some imagined slight, and Lucy didn’t quite set things on fire, but there were several smoking near-misses. Amy was still molting like mad, and one of the younger boys, Ryan, was apparently allergic to her downy feathers. Alan had to remind him constantly to cover his sneezes, and he used up half a bottle of weak bleach solution following around after him, even though he didn’t think the kid was actually contagious.
Alan had a little stab of unease right before the door alerted near noon. He checked his phone and saw Kendra standing there, her arms wrapped around her and her face drawn into a scowl that was obvious even to the grainy security camera.
He buzzed her in and peeled two kids off his legs to go meet her at the gate. She wasn’t due to pick up Amy until late that afternoon, so he’d have known something was up, even without the tickle of instinct suggesting it.
Kendra didn’t offer to take off her shoes and come into the room, so they faced off over the baby gate. “Do you know that Cherry’s landlord is suspicious about the kids here?”
“Veronica Chase. We have a file on her. Why? How do you know that?”
“I was window shopping at the real estate office down the street and she came storming in threatening to yank Cherry’s contract.”
“Do you know why?” Alan was sorting through his memory of Veronica’s file. She and Cherry had never been particularly chummy, and he knew that Veronica was trying to raise the rent, while Cherry had to be careful about her clients, protect their secrets, and keep the aging building running smoothly. Alan had already met her plumber, Roderick, who was the father of one of Amy’s agemates. He did most of his work for Cherry pro bono because Veronica dug in her heels about paying legitimate expenses. Cherry also had to balance letting Veronica in to fix things while keeping her very unstealthy kids from betraying their secrets.
“Clarice says that Veronica thinks Cherry is a witch and the kids are part of some kind of supernatural cult. She’s a little too close to the truth, Alan!”
“Who’s Clarice?” Alan asked crisply. His earlier distraction, thinking about Kendra’s kiss, was completely squashed in the business of the moment as he assessed this new threat.
“Veronica’s assistant.”
“Tell me more about her,” Alan commanded, not noticing when he’d slipped out his friendly and easy-going Tiny Paws facade. “Height? Build? Eye color?”
“Not very tall, a little on the round side. Glasses, I didn’t notice her eyes. Shoulder-length blonde hair, kind of frizzy but not really curly. Impractical nails, reddish-purple, slightly chipped. Generic brand clothing. No kids.Nota shifter.”
Alan wasn’t surprised that Kendra had a good eye for details. She’d be a good field agent. And being a vet would be a great cover, he realized.
Kendra blinked rapidly, like something had just occurred to her. “She’s from Las Vegas! You said that company was there! Stork. Could she be aplant?”
“She doesn’t match any of my primary suspects,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s probably just a coincidence that she’s from Vegas. You are, and that doesn’t make you a plant.”
Kendra froze in place, her face shuttering. “How did you know that I’m from Las Vegas?” she asked dangerously.
Oh.Alan hadn’t gotten around to telling her about his research yet. “I looked you up,” he said contritely. “Nothing secretive. I didn’t use any back channel databases, just what’s online. I just thought...”
“Thought you should snoop on me? Was that before or after we kissed?”
“After,” Alan said honestly, keeping his voice quiet and intense. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that I wanted more than a notch in your ledger. I’m not going to say it was entirely right tosnoop, but I’m not sorry to know more about you and you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Outrage flashed in her eyes and Alan feared he’d worded that poorly.
“Did you plan on telling me you’d gone diving into my sordid past?”
“I did. Today, as a matter of fact.”
Kendra was clearly assessing his answer and Alan met her gaze steadily. “You’ve let your social media languish,” he said drolly. “I didn’t figure it was worth sending a friend request.”
