Page 44 of Alpha Rising (Secrets of the Northland Shifters)

Chicken Producers of America,

something calledMaverick Enterprises…

My finger stopped on the seventh entry:Lady Luck, Incorporated.

“That’s the one!” Sarah exclaimed. “Let’s pull it up and see what it is.”

She slid into my desk chair and fired up my computer, logging on to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website and punching in the identification number for Lady Luck, Incorporated.

I stood behind her with one hand braced on the desk and the other clutching the back of my chair.

Up popped a black and white image of an old-fashioned saloon girl with a pair of dice. She was set in a shield with a black outline. The wordsLADY LUCKwere at the top and underscored twice—one line bright purple, the other red. The ends of the red line were capped with tiny hearts.

The details said that the company was incorporated in the State of Delaware—as many U.S. companies were—but it had a corporate address in Austin, Texas.

Sarah hit a button and the printer behind me whirred to life. I turned to retrieve the paper, then laid it on my desk and opened my top left-hand drawer. I pulled out the fabric remnant I’d found in the woods near my father’s body and laid it atop the printout.

The finished edge matched the right side of the Lady Luck shield, and the C-K lined up perfectly.

Air seized in my throat. I moved my hand from the back of my chair to Sarah’s shoulder.

She didn’t seem surprised by the perfect match. Her scent was something akin to a chemical victory cheer, and she was already pulling up the company’s website.

The logo appeared on my computer screen. Behind the image was a moving graphic of falling poker chips with aclinkety-clinkaudio file.

Below the graphics were the words:

START PLAYING YOUR FAVORITE CASINO GAMES ONLINE! FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN VEGAS WITHOUT EVERY LEAVING THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME…

“What’s your connection to gamblers?” Sarah asked.

“None.”

She looked up at me with those wide gray eyes. “You’ve never hosted a retreat for people in the gambling industry?"

“No.”

“Was your dad a gambler?”

“Not that I know of.” But I couldn’t help thinking of the money that was missing from the resort’s bank accounts. I’d never been able to track it down.

That deficit had almost ruined us. If not for Sarah’s efforts, we might have had to sell the business and all our property to the developer. If things had gone differently, our land might already be surveyed, uprooted, and bulldozed for hotels and shopping malls.

Sarah sat back in my chair. “This is amazing, but I’m still not completely convinced last night had nothing to do with me. Online gambling sounds exactly like the sort of thing a crime boss like DaBruzzi would be involved in.”

“How can you say that?” I tapped the fabric remnant that was still lying atop the printout, its details perfectly aligned. “This is obviously about my dad and whoever shot him.”

“Yeah,” she said reluctantly. “But then why did they takeme?”

“Because you were the person who interrupted their search of my office.” I straightened and looked around at the mess. “I wish I knew what they’d been looking for.”

“But I wasn’t just some random person, Reese. They knew my name.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What do you mean?”

“They specifically asked me if my name was Sarah.”

I stared at her for a long second, trying to make sense of that. Failing, I shook my head.

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