Page 38 of Fixer
After another twenty minutes of catastrophizing, a cab pulled over at the curb and Wade climbed out.I strode forward as he straightened and hauled him into a hug.Not the kiss I wanted, out there on the street, but his solid body against mine and the smell of him in my nose settled the pacing wolf inside me.
Pack.Mate.Ours.
The way Wade nuzzled under my chin, audibly sniffing me, suggested he was seeking the same reassurance.
I squeezed him hard, then made myself let go.“What happened?Where’s your car?”
He took a bag out of the back seat, paid off the driver, and watched him speed away.“The damned thing wouldn’t start.I caught a Greyhound bus down into Niles, and found a cab as fast as I could.Sorry I’m late.”
“I’m just glad you’re here.Come on in.I’ll give you the ten-cent tour, but we have to get going.Work first, reunion later.”I led him into my tiny street-level office.I’d painted over the front window because no one going to a private eye wants to be on display.The white coating let through plenty of light for werewolf eyes.“Desk over there, my own filing cabinets.”
Wade barked a laugh, and I knew why.My own cabinet drawers were each strapped shut with an individual chain and combination lock.
“Well, I showed you the reason for that, right?”
“Good thing the mayor wasn’t as smart as you.”
“Dark-room back there.”I gestured.No doubt Wade could smell the chemicals, despite the light-tight door.“I can make negatives, prints, slides, enlargements.Visual evidence is important.”I pointed out the second small room.“Recording gear, climbing gear, whatever I might need.That third door there leads to the stairs.I live on the second floor.”
Wade turned in a slow circle.“It’s more businesslike than I expected.”
“It is a business.Dad’s money got used on the farm.I have to support myself.”I grinned.“Plus I like detective work.I’m a snoop at heart.”The clock on the wall reminded me time was ticking, though.“I wanted to take you upstairs and show you my bed, but if I do that, we’re going to be too late.”
“Damn that stupid alternator,” Wade said.“Can I kiss you, at least?”
“Hell, yeah.C’mere.”I opened my arms and Wade leaned into my embrace, his face raised to mine.Our kiss surprised me, not hot and wild, but slow and satisfying.Hello,andI missed you, andstay with me.
I hated to break the moment, but we were on a tight schedule.I pulled out of his arms and stepped back.“Okay, my car’s in the alley, all loaded to go.”
“You’ll explain on the way?”
“Yep.”I locked the front door, led him out the back, and locked up there too, setting my alarm— more modern than the city hall’s, with actual motion sensors in every room.Technology grew more advanced all the time.
I’d left my car in the loading zone out back, and once we were seated, I drove down the alley and turned onto the street.The sun had set, and dusk was falling.I turned on my headlights and filled Wade in as I headed for our rendezvous.“We’re meeting Harvey Rosswurn.He was the easier nut to crack.He’s a total cliché, having an affair with his secretary.Well, his ex-secretary.His current one is for real, but the previous broad now works in a real estate office, and sleeps with him on the side.”
“How did you find out?”
“Surveillance.They met at a motel two days ago.One story, cheap place.They really should fix their blinds.”
“You have pictures?”
I flashed him a knowing smile.“I have lots of pictures.”
Wade chewed his lower lip.“You don’t feel it’s cheap to use them for our own good?”
My stomach twisted at that implied criticism of what I did, maybe who I was, since this was far from my first rodeo, but I played the question off lightly.“Hell, I’m saving your city millions in taxpayer dollars.Not cheap at all.”
“You don’t think the papers from the mayor’s office would be enough?”
“Maybe.Only, at this point it’s just a proposal, right?The valuations for the buildings are inflated, but they could just claim those were estimates, and the final figures would be revised as needed, once the project was approved.They could still lower the valuations and go through with their plan, even if their profits were cut way down.The paperwork puts their plans in a bad light, but as long as it’s hypothetical, it’s not yet criminal.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.Plus… Men respond to emotional risk a lot more dramatically than facts.Threatening to tell his wife about his cheating?That hits him where he lives, making him afraid of us, versusLet me get my lawyer on this.”
I could feel Wade’s gaze on me as I negotiated city traffic amid the blaring horns and crazy drivers.“You really think about all the angles, huh?”
“Fixer’s job.Like, if some human sees a wolf shifting, one way to keep them from mentioning it is to make them believe they’ll be ridiculed and humiliated for claiming something so ridiculous.Playing on their emotions is a lot less violent than making them disappear, but it takes psychology.”Dad had pushed me through alotof human psych texts in addition to sharing his decades of experience.
