Underdogs
Geonn Cannon

Supposed Crimes LLC

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 Geonn Cannon

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-938108-01-3

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This is an old story.

You've heard it countless times, starting in your childhood. Some of it changes, but the details remain the same. A young girl, innocent and brave. A sickly grandmother who lives in the woods. An encounter with a wolf. Everyone knows how it ends, the encounter in the grandmother's house and the heroic woodsman who comes to her eventual rescue. No one questions the obvious errors in this story. Why does the grandmother live alone in the dark and frightening woods? What sort of mother would allow a young girl to travel through these woods on her own with no protection other than a simple red shawl? Despite these obvious inaccuracies, the story remains largely unchanged through the centuries since it was first told. This is to be expected.

Lies rarely change.

The truth is far less sordid and lacks any sort of moral. There was a little girl who lived in a village near the woods. The name of her village does not matter, nor does the country where she resided. Unlike stories, names change constantly as battles are lost and wars are won. The woman in the woods is not her grandmother but a dear family friend. She is not ill with any disease even a modern doctor would recognize. The girl is given a basket of fresh bread and sent down a dark trail on her own. It's a trip she must take on her own, her mother says, though the girl is frightened.

The encounter with the wolf is far more frightening than the brothers Grimm would have their readers believe. The girl is attacked ferociously, forced to defend herself with whatever is at hand. A stick, a rock, her own hands. The wolf finally flees and the little girl continues on toward her destination.

Far from a simple rustic cabin, the woman she has been sent to lives in a lavish home. Smoke is rising from the chimney as she approaches, still trembling from her encounter, and she enters the home in search of warmth and comfort.

The woman is not confined to bed, does not appear ill at all. She bears the marks from a fight, bruised about the face and neck. Her eyebrow is split from a fierce blow, though her clothing bears no stain or tear. The woman invites the girl to sit, but the girl is frightened. Here comes the litany of observations from the astute young girl, which is included in each retelling of this time-worn tale.

"What big ears..."

"What big eyes..."

"What big hands..."

In the stories, the grandmother's place has been usurped by the wolf. In truth, the older woman and the wolf are one and the same. She waited many years until she decided the girl was ready to reveal her true nature. She transforms in front of the girl to prove what she is saying is the truth. The girl attempts to flee but, in her fright, feels the Change coming over her as well. She becomes a wolf, like the older woman.

She wakes later, unsure of what has transpired. The older woman feeds her, soothes her, and wraps her in the only clothing that didn't tear when the girl transformed: her red hooded cloak. She promises to keep the girl safe and teach her to properly use her gift.

In the stories that are told to children, the little girl and her 'grandmother' are cast as victims. The naïve little girl is fooled, the grandmother devoured, the brave hunter saves the day.

In reality, the girl and her mentor are the darkness that lurks in the woods. The women are what the hunter fears when the sky begins to darken. They are the things other children are told to fear when the sun goes down.

There have always been wolves in the woods.

Beware.

-- excerpt from Karl Magnusson's unpublished collection of essays, Canidae in the Modern World, collected 1933

#

Chapter One

Ariadne Willow was technically a wolf, with thick brown fur and eyes that tended toward yellow under the correct lighting. Her face and muzzle were dark brown and could make it look as if she was wearing a mask. She was two and a half feet tall at the shoulder when standing at full height. Under ordinary circumstances she could pass for a domestic pet, maybe a German shepherd or a husky, but passing wouldn't help her now.

The back of the lot was marked by a fence that had fallen into disrepair. Ari didn't slow down as she scanned for an opening. The one she found was just barely big enough for her to fit through, although she left behind a few hairs on the splintering slats. The man pursuing her cried out wordlessly in frustration and she heard his bulk slam into the fence when he couldn't stop quickly enough. Ari didn't pause to look back as he started trying to clamber over the fence to continue his chase.

Ari was in a dirt lot now. She found tire ruts and followed them to the street, turned right, and ran into the neighborhood. She passed the Animal Control truck, which was idling at the curb with her overweight predator's partner sitting in the passenger seat with a cup of coffee. Ari crossed the street just before he saw her and shouted for her to stop through his open window.

Dogs in the neighborhood barked in response to her presence to warn her away from their territory. She had gone three blocks before she stopped on the corner and risked a look back. No signs of pursuit. Ari looked around her as she caught her breath. The intersection stretched off into darkness on both sides with no sign of people.

She started walking north, moving at a fast clip in case the animal control guys were trying to catch up with her. The houses and trimmed lawns gave way to a strip mall and Ari walked between the tall stone wall and the back of the building. The pavement was cracked and dirty and stained with old grease and motor oil that formed an almost visible wall in front of her. She moved through the pungent curtain and ignored the delicious odors coming from the dumpsters she passed.

There was a concrete ditch that ended in a narrow tunnel that led under the street. Ari stepped carefully into the ditch and sat on her haunches. There was no real switch she had to flick and no magic button to start the transformation. She simply willed it to begin and she felt her body changing. Her paws twitched against the pavement, her head bowed, and a pitiful whine rose at the back of her throat.

The thick brown pelt receded into her body as her limbs retracted. She stretched her neck out as her face was rearranged into a more human visage. Her bones broke. Both shoulders, every bone in her hand, her hip. Her body assumed its new form and the bones snapped back into their correct arrangement. Ari gasped in pain and relief, baring her now blunt teeth as her muscles twisted under her skin. Sweat poured down her body, dripping off her nose and running down the middle of her back as she crouched on all fours in the drainage ditch.

In place of the wolf was a lithe brunette woman. Her eyes were bright blue, the same as the wolf. The muscles of her arms and legs flexed, her lean stomach ballooned in and out with her rough breathing. Sweat beaded a face that belonged a Renaissance painting rather than crouching naked in a filthy drainage ditch. Her fingers flexed as if testing the texture of the ground on which she was kneeling. Her mouth had reformed into a Cupid's bow, and they trembled as she tried to catch her breath.

Lank hair hung loose in front of her face, her nostrils flaring as she waited for the vice-like pain to relax around her muscles. The aches ran down to the bone, making her tremble as she finally rose up and scooted forward. She reached into the tunnel, past the leaves and twigs and mud that accumulated against the grate after every rain until she found the nylon strap of a duffel bag. She pulled it free and dropped it onto the concrete.

Inside, old clothes from Goodwill were wrapped in white plastic bags from Wal-Mart. The words SHIRT, PANTS, UNDERWEAR were written on the outside of the bags so she knew what was inside without ripping it open. She chose a T-shirt and cargo pants. The army boots that took up the bottom of the bag didn't have laces, but they were tight enough that they stayed on. Her T-shirt had a picture of Daisy Duck on the chest, her faded face distorted by the curve of even Ari's modest bust.

Ari ran her fingers through the rat's nest of her hair, returning it to a semblance of style so she didn't look homeless. An outer zipper on the bag had change, which Ari pocketed before she zipped the bag up again and returned it to her stash. When she stood, pain shot down her spine and she had to bite back a shout. She rubbed the small of her back until the spotlight of anguish turned into a pinprick of light. When she climbed out of the ditch, she saw the Animal Control truck driving slowly down a side street. The passenger was shining a flashlight out his window, shining into bushes and along fences but shying away from porches and windows.

She walked casually away from the ditch with her hands in her pockets. The truck approached her slowly and she acted wary as the passenger called out to her. "Excuse me, miss. Have you seen a big ol' dog running around out here?"

"No, I'm sorry. Is it dangerous?"

"Not that we know of. Just a big son of a gun. Got a call from a lady worried it was gonna eat her cat. Be careful if you see it, all right?"

She nodded and waved as the truck continued on its journey. Once it was out of sight, Ari crossed the street and walked close to half a mile before she found an all-night diner. It was lit from within, like the rest of the street was a theatre and the interior of the diner was the stage. Ari stepped inside, into the warmth and quiet chatter.

There were two other customers present. A man with a beaten fedora was turned around in his booth to talk with a hunchbacked black man seated at the end of the bar. Both men turned their heads toward her as she came in, nodded their hellos, and went back to their conversation. A waitress started moving as soon as Ari came through the door and they reached the same spot at the same time. She placed a napkin in front of Ari and smiled. "What can I get for ya, hon?"

"I'd really like to use your phone, if I could. I need to call for a ride."

"Here." The hunchbacked black man stood up and moved close enough to offer his phone to her. "Betty don't like lettin' people use the house phone. You callin' someone to take you back home?"

"Yeah."

"Good for you. Ain't no shame in goin' back to where you loved."

Ari realized they thought she was a runaway. She wasn't that young. She smiled and took the phone with her thanks.

Betty said, "I'll get you a glass of milk while you're waiting, hon."

She was going to protest and ask for coffee instead, but milk sounded very appetizing to her. She thanked Betty and dialed Dale Frye's number. It only rang once before it was answered.

"Ariadne Willow cab service."

"You're going to make me feel guilty."

Dale chuckled. "Where are you?"

She picked up the menu tucked between the ketchup bottle and the napkin dispenser. The diner's address was written at the bottom, and she read it over the phone. "Take your time. The folks here are pretty nice."

"Okay. Do you know what time it is?"

There was a neon clock hanging over the kitchen pass-through. "A little past four."

"Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Dale. I'll keep an eye out." She hung up and held the phone back to its owner. "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."

"I do what I can." He smiled and offered his hand. "Friends call me Boss Tweed, on account of my style." He plucked the collar of his jacket which was, naturally, tweed. "That over there is Rooster 'cause he's always up 'fore the dawn."

Ari smiled and waved to the other man. "I'm Ariadne."

Tweed straightened as much as his stooped shoulders would let him. "The finder of ways, the guide through the maze. Nice strong name for a lovely young lady."

Ari shrugged. "I do all right." She took a sip of the milk Betty had delivered. The taste of ice cold milk while the sky was still dark outside brought her back to the days when she was a little girl getting ready for school. Her mother in the kitchen, dressed in her robe and looking exhausted. At the time Ari had just assumed her mother was like all the other kids' parents. Too much to do and not enough hours. But now she knew the truth. Her mother had been canidae, and spent a vast majority of nights out roaming the neighborhood. Some nights she had transformed mere minutes before Ari came downstairs for her breakfast, forcing a smile even as her body ached.

Oh, those magical days of blissful ignorance. Ari sipped her milk and sucked her top lip into her mouth as she stared into the glass. Tweed seemed to sense her reluctance to talk and returned to his conversation with Rooster. She listened half-mindedly, smiling when one of them made a joke and nodding when Betty offered her a refill.

Twenty minutes after she returned Tweed's phone, he nudged her arm. "Hey, thread-girl. Is that your friend?"

Ari twisted on the stool and saw Dale's car pulling up in front of the diner. "Thanks, Tweed." She reached into her pocket and began counting out change.

Tweed put his hand on her arm. "Do me a favor, thread-girl. Let me say I bought a drink for a beautiful woman. It's been so long."

"Boss Tweed, I don't believe that for a second. But it's a deal." She bid goodnight to Rooster and Betty before she headed out to where Dale had parked.

Dale smiled when she saw Ari and she waved her fingers in greeting. Dale's hair was hidden under a baseball cap, and she wore eyeglasses with thick black frames. When Ari got into the passenger seat, she saw Dale was wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt with a cartoon duck on the front, and her pajama pants had tiny yellow ducks cavorting over her thighs.

"Hey. We match."

Ari looked down at the Walt Disney duck on her own chest. "Luck of the draw, I guess. Sorry to wake you."

"It's okay. My dreams weren't that interesting anyway. Your apartment or the office?"

"Home, please." She leaned back and closed her eyes to take full advantage of the lumbar support. Dale pulled away from the curb.

After they had gone a few blocks, Ari could sense Dale glancing over at her. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hmm. Just a little rough around the edges. I got chased by Animal Control."

"You didn't hurt them, did you?"

Ari smiled. "Just their pride." She remembered the reason she wolfed out in the first place. "Oh, Mrs. Beancounter's husband is definitely cheating on her." Mrs. Beancounter, actually Lynn Pettit, had hired them to find out if her accountant husband was cheating. Ari had discovered people tended to notice when she sat across from their house with a camera, so she always did her first stakeout as the wolf. No one acted secretive around dogs. Two hours in the front yard of Mr. Pettit's secretary's house and Ari saw them drive up. He gave her a little grope as they walked into the garage, completely ignoring the stray dog trotting across the lawn and glancing in at them. Now that she knew there was a reason for the stakeout, she just had to go back at a later date and get the photographic evidence.

"Another day, another cheater." Dale sighed. "What's forever for?"

"Hm?"

"Old song." Dale shook her head and watched the street out the window. "These people actually have someone who cares about them, who agrees to marry them, but it's not enough. No, they have to have girlfriends and boyfriends and a little piece of tail on the side. When some of us who would kill for someone to spend some time with have to go to bed alone."

Ari shrank in her seat. Dale's last relationship had failed, and it was partially Ari's fault. It was tough to date a werewolf's assistant. Ari looked out the window, her guilt implicit in her silence. She pressed her feet against the floorboards and let her head fall back against the headrest.

"I'm sorry." Dale cleared her throat. "I didn't get a lot of sleep, so I'm grumpy."

"S'okay." Ari's voice was soft.

Dale reached down and turned on the stereo. A Keb' Mo' CD was in the player, a remnant from a former girlfriend that Dale had decided to keep around. Ari closed her eyes as she listened to the music, and all too soon the car had slowed to a stop. Ari sat up before Dale tried to wake her. "Home?"

"I've heard there's no place like it."

Ari spontaneously decided to hug Dale. "Thanks for the ride."

"Hey. Yeah. No problem." Dale put her arms around Ari and held the hug. After a moment she said, "I wasn't blaming you. Natalie wasn't your fault."

"I know." Ari returned to her own seat. "But I don't think I thank you enough for everything you do."

"Answer the phone, make appointments and coffee, drive around town in the middle of the night. All part of the job description. See you in a few hours."

Ari nodded and climbed stiffly from the car. She stretched and groaned as she forced her body out of its comfortable seated position, and Dale leaned forward. She rested her hand in the passenger seat recently warmed by Ari's rump and looked up at her. "Hey. You're hurting."

"It's not too bad."

"Let me come up and give you a rubdown."

Ari shook her head before Dale finished speaking. "You've done enough. Go home and try to get some more sleep. I'll be fine."

Dale didn't look convinced. "Ari..."

"I'm fine, Dale. Trust me."

"Okay. Sleep well."

Ari nodded and closed the door. She stepped back and waved to Dale through the back window of the car before she turned and went inside. The stairs were a trial, both legs screaming at her for not living in a building with an elevator by the time she reached her apartment. She unlocked the door with the key she had hidden in a loose floor molding and stretched her arms straight out behind her as she crossed the dark living room.

The small vestibule of her apartment branched out in three directions. To the left was the entrance to a small kitchen blocked in by cabinets and a counter. To the right was her bedroom and bathroom. Straight ahead was her cozy living room. She had just enough space for a couch and a desk, both of which were angled so she could see out the balcony doors to see Elliott Bay between the neighboring buildings.

Ari went down the curved hall - which was technically a dog-leg, and she'd had to hide her smirk when the landlord described it as such - and into her tiny bathroom. She stripped out of the clothes from her stash and drew herself a hot bath, easing her weary body down onto the side of the tub as it filled.

The water was almost too hot to bear, but that was how she liked it after a transformation. It opened her pores, loosened her muscles, and made her feel like putty. She reclined against the curve of the tub, her arms stretched out along the sides and her feet propped up in the opposite corner.

A massage from Dale would have been heavenly, but she was trying to avoid requesting those until absolutely necessary. Things were weird between them lately. Dale's last girlfriend had basically forced Dale to choose between staying in the relationship and staying with Ari. Ari still had her assistant, and Dale was single. According to Dale, the choice had been easy. Even so, Ari felt incredibly guilty for being the cause of the breakup.

Dale was her best friend. There were complicated emotions between them. They had kissed more than once, and crossed the line of appropriate behavior a few more times, but Ari was frightened of taking it any farther than that. She was capital-B Bad at relationships, and she wasn't going to make Dale another victim of her poor judgment and crappy girlfriendism.

Ari sank lower in the tub, letting the water rise above her shoulders. She propped her feet against the tile wall so she wouldn't sink any farther, rolled her head until her cheek was against the porcelain, and dozed. She was fast asleep long before the water turned cold.

Perhaps prompted by the cold milk and unearthed memories of school-day mornings, Ari dreamed of her mother. She had grown up in a normal little yellow house in a suburb of Seattle and attended school like all the other little girls in their neighborhood. Gwyneth Willow raised Ari on her own, her father a non-entity for her entire life. Ari's room was in a small apartment over the garage with a window that overlooked the park across the street. The ceilings were sloped like a cathedral, and Ari remembered hiding in the corner with the ceiling and floor and two walls pressing against her from all sides.

Starting around the age of nine, Ari's mother began wearing fewer clothes around the house. Before long her nudity was commonplace. Ari didn't find it unusual, and understood that clothes were only absolutely necessary outside. In the safety of their house they were optional. Ari was twelve before she received the truth. She sat on the couch while her mother, casually naked, demonstrated how a canidae transformed. They had talked about it, and she had shown Ari pictures of herself in wolf form. Whenever Ari asked to see it for real, Gwyneth would stroke her hair and promise, "Maybe when you're older."

On Ari's fourteenth birthday, Gwyneth revealed that she had inherited the canidae gene. Only a partial truth, but Ari didn't discover that until much later. Ari's first transformation was horrific. She thought the pain would never end and then, when she was in wolf form, she ran away fearing that she would have to do it all over again to be a little girl again. She was scared of being a wolf forever, but even more scared of going through so much pain all over again.

Gwyneth found her, calmed her, and she convinced Ari to transform back into her "true form."

After that, Ari would come home from school at the normal time. She would do her homework in her attic bedroom. She would nap, and then go downstairs for dinner. Afterward she and her mother would change together on the covered back porch. Gwyneth taught her all the things a wolf needed to know in order to survive in an urban environment. She taught Ari that a wolf ran much faster than a little girl, that they could squirm through much tighter spaces than should have been possible, and the best way to find food.

Gwyneth taught Ari about clothing stashes. Sometimes it wasn't feasible to remain in wolf-form all the way home. Exhaustion, weather, any number of things could necessitate a change. So she showed Ari how to hide bags of clothing where they wouldn't be discovered. Ari stocked the stashes with old clothes and delighted in the memory tests her mother gave her so she wouldn't forget where they were.

"Oh, look. We're on Court Street. If you're ever here at night, what's the closest stash?"

Ari would scrunch up her face trying to remember and then point. "Pasture Park, in back of the old horse stables. The third stall from the end under some planks of wood."

Gwyneth would inevitably smile and stroke Ari's hair for a job well done.

The lies came out later; Ari had indeed inherited the canidae gene from her mother, but it was dormant. The obstetrician confirmed Ari would never be able to transform. Gwyneth's response had been to find another doctor who was willing to do an insanely risky procedure. The doctor removed Ari's blood and replaced it with the blood of a canidae with an active gene. Ari barely survived the treatment, but she eventually recovered. The procedure was deemed a success.

Ari discovered the truth when she was seventeen. Her betrayal and hurt had vied for dominance, but eventually anger won the draw. She left home and never went back.

When she woke, her face was wet. She wiped at what she thought were tears until she realized she had sunk low enough that her cheek was in the now-tepid water. She pushed herself up and breathed deeply. Sleep and soaking had soothed her muscles enough that she was able to walk like the young woman she was. She drained the tub, put on a robe, and went to spend the rest of the night in bed.

She ignored the fact that the morning sun was already shining in her bedroom window as she finally crawled naked under the blankets and drifted back to sleep.

#

Chapter Two

Dale Frye had a rule about how to deal with the frequent interruptions to her sleep cycle. If Ari called her for a ride before three, Dale tried to go back to sleep when she got home. Any time after three, she decided she was up for the morning. She got home a little after four in the morning and started brewing coffee. She let the smell of it waft through her small apartment. She went into her bedroom and changed out her pajamas. She took a second quick shower, supplementing the one she had taken immediately after getting Ari's call, and dressed for work.

Though she could barely remember a life without Ari in it, they'd only worked together for about four and a half years. Dale was between dead-end jobs at the time, keeping a weather eye on her bank account whenever she bought anything. The urge to give in and take yet another position as a mindless drone in an office or, worse, behind a sales counter was crumbling under her desire to buy things and eat. She splurged on a McDonald's lunch as a last meal of her freedom. She walked because she couldn't afford another tank of gas, and took a shortcut through an industrial area.

At first glance, the situation was simple enough. A group of jackass kids had cornered a stray dog, and they were harassing it with firecrackers. What entertainment or fun they could get from assaulting a poor creature was beyond her. She knew the risks. A dog under attack wouldn't differentiate between its tormentors and its savior, but she couldn't just walk away.

Dale dropped the bag and filled her hands with stones. She cursed the boys out, shouting at them until they decided to cut their losses. The dog cringed and growled until Dale offered the meat from her hamburger. After it was gone, the dog licked Dale's face in gratitude.

She was wary of leaving the dog out on its own, so she brought it back to her apartment so it could spent the night somewhere warm and safe. She had taken care of the wounds inflicted by the delinquents and got a small bag of dog food from the corner market. She hated the idea of dumping such a beautiful dog at the kennel, but there was no way she would be able to take care of it long-term.

Dale put a thick blanket and pillow on the couch for the dog, wished her a goodnight, and then took herself to bed. A few hours later she was aware of someone in her bedroom. She was still half asleep when a slender, warm body slipped under the blanket next to her. She put her arms around the mystery woman before her eyes fluttered open, and she was staring into the eyes of a naked stranger.

Dale had screamed and hit her with a pillow, her shouts drowning out the brunette's attempts to explain. Dale fell out of bed, and the other woman wrapped the sheet around her body as she climbed off the opposite side. "Let me explain. Let me just explain."

"Explain what? Where did you come from?" Dale was wearing panties and a tank top. She pulled a pillow off the bed and clutched it to her chest, raking her hair out of her face as she stared at the intruder without blinking. She had already taken out her contact lenses and she'd only gotten a quick look at the blurry woman, but even so she could tell she was unarmed.

"I was... on the couch."

Dale risked a look toward the bedroom door. "With the dog?"

The woman pushed her hands through her hair. "Oh. Uh, I sort of... was the dog. My name's Ariadne Willow. Maybe we should go into the other room and discuss this."

Dale pointed out a robe she could take and Ari fled to the other room. Safe behind a closed door, Dale had sat on the edge of her bed until she stopped shaking. Then she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and her glasses before she went out to hear what the bed intruder had to say.

Ari explained everything. She thanked Dale for saving her from the kids, a memory that had only come back to her while she was waiting for Dale to come out of the bedroom. Dale spent most of the conversation trying to figure out what Ari had done with the dog. When she finally accepted the completely insane idea that Ari really was the dog, her anger fizzled. She couldn't be mad at someone she herself literally walked into the apartment.

Ari still felt she owed Dale a debt. She explained she was a struggling private investigator and needed someone to come in and straighten things up. It was supposed to be a one day job, maybe two, and Dale was eager for the change to bulk up her bank account a little. And working for a private investigator was a lot better than filling out applications in Rainier Square. She took the job and, at the end of the first day, Ari asked her to stay on full time.

Dale had her head on the kitchen counter, eyes closed. The smell of brewing coffee had lulled her into slumber. She sat up and stretched, checked the time, and poured herself a cup of the brew that had filled her dreams. Ari was most likely dead to the world; she often slept past noon after running around all night as the wolf.

She put her hair into a ponytail and read the newspaper as she savored her coffee. When the cup was empty, she filled a travel mug and left the apartment. It was funny how things worked out. She spent a long time bouncing from one job to the next with no real endgame in mind. Then she saved a dog and ended up with a career she loved. No one ever said they wanted to grow up and be a private investigator's assistant. Dale never even considered it as an option. But now that she had the job, she wasn't going to let it go.

Their office was just over a mile and a half from Dale's apartment. She walked it, deciding the fresh air would help wake her up. Sometimes she would spot a stray animal, a cat or a dog, and wonder if it was a pet that got lost, a homeless animal, or a person exploring the city through a different set of eyes. There were all kinds of shifters; felidae turned into different kinds of cats, and ursidae turned into bears. Ari claimed there were rumors of cetacean who could turn into whales, but Dale didn't buy it. Although sometime of the people she saw at the supermarket now and again... it wasn't so unlikely.

They rented an office in a red-brick building, splitting the space with another business. The windows of their neighbors had been bricked over, and the two narrow windows on either side of the perpetually locked door simply said "Den of Antiquities" on one side and "By appointment only" on the other. There was no phone number or contact information given. Neither she nor Ari had ever seen anyone enter or leave the store. Dale passed the front door with the urge to knock but, as she did every day, she fought back the desire and kept walking.

The name 'Bitches Investigations' had been her idea. Ari was working under the shingle of Willow Detection Services. Dale told her that it sounded like people who looked for trees. When Dale suggested the alternative, Ari had fallen in love with it. She got the name painted onto the fogged glass of the door within the week.

Dale loved the first part of the day, having the entire office to herself to simply enjoy her kingdom. Her desk was in what they jokingly called the "waiting area." They hardly ever had clients waiting. They got their jobs over the phone, or they met with them at a location of the clients' choosing. The door to Ari's office was open, but Dale ignored it as she went behind her desk and took a seat.

To her surprise, there was a message waiting in voicemail. She put it on speakerphone and leaned back to listen. Dale's voice was the outgoing message: "You've reached the office of Bitches Investigations. We're not in right now. Please leave your message for Ariadne Willow after the tone. Thank you."

The message was from a man, his voice clipped and professional. He spoke like someone who made official pronouncements for a living. Dale tensed and feared some kind of audit. "Ms. Willow, my name is Oliver Echols. I would like to set up an appointment to speak with you sometime in the near future in regards to hiring you for a case. Please contact us to let us know when you might be free for such a meeting." He listed off two phone numbers, which Dale scribbled down on a piece of paper. "I hope we can meet up soon. Once again, this is Oliver Echols--"

Dale shut off the recording and picked up the phone. She dialed the first of the two numbers he had left and leaned back in her chair.

"Oliver Echols."

"Hello, Mr. Echols, this is Dale Frye from Bitches Investigations. I just wanted to see if we could go ahead and set up a meeting between you and Ms. Willow sometime this afternoon."

"Ah, marvelous. This afternoon would be marvelous."

They worked out the details and decided that four would be the best time for everyone involved, and Dale thanked him for the call. She checked the clock and decided to let Ari sleep until one before calling to let her know they had another job to do.

#

Hangovers were bad enough. Puking her guts out after a night of raucous drinking she could understand. Gluttony was followed by punishment. But to be kneeling in front of the toilet just because she'd eaten something bad the night before was just mean. Sometimes she ate the offensive things during canidae blackouts. Sometimes it was just something with a unique smell that made her wolf brain snatch it up and swallow without her human consciousness even realizing what had happened. But a couple of times per month, she found herself in the same situation.

Ari refused to look and see what the causes were. She always put the toilet lid down and flushed it away, waiting until the hollow whoosh had fallen silent before she pushed herself to her feet and continued with her morning ablutions. She went to the sink and washed her hands despite having just washed them in the shower. She pampered her hands and feet, knowing the punishment she put them through on a regular basis. She rubbed aloe vera into her palms and rubbed lotion onto the heels of her feet.

When she was done, she went into the bedroom and dressed in the slacks from a charcoal pinstripe suit, a vermilion blouse, and a vest that matched the pants. She wore black and white saddle shoes to complete the image and smiled at her reflection in the mirror as she went past it. If only she had the fedora, she would be the epitome of private investigator cliché. "Here's looking at you, kid," she whispered as she left the bedroom and headed out of the apartment.

Dale had called to wake her up an hour and a half ago, and told her to be at the Pluto Bar and Grill by four. She drove her Rambler to the diner and arrived early enough to order a late lunch. She was sitting at the counter finishing her patty melt when a man entered and surveyed the room from just inside the doorway.

He was tall and blocky, like he'd been carved from a tree trunk and wrapped in a suit. The suit itself was finely tailored, but it looked like he had gained a few pounds since the measurements were taken. His head was a block with the face carved onto one side, his small ears tucked hidden underneath a helmet of black hair. His eyes were a bit too small for the size of his head, and they swept across the half-empty room until they came to rest on Ari.

His thick black eyebrows rose slightly, and she straightened and turned toward him in greeting. "Ariadne Willow. You must be--"

"Oliver Echols. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Willow. May we sit?" He gestured at one of the empty tables nearby.

Ari paid for her meal before she moved. Echols let her sit first before undoing the buttons of his jacket and sitting across from her. A waitress approached and was sent away with a polite wave of Echols' hand. When he smiles, his thin lips spread like they were learning the move for the first time, and his cheeks just barely wrinkled from the effort.

"Allow me to explain the terms of the agreement before we go any further. Today you will receive a check for seventy-five hundred dollars regardless of whether or not you decide to take the case."

Ari blinked. "Seventy-five hundred dollars?"

"I've been authorized to go as high as ten thousand, if that would suit you."

Ari leaned back. "Yeah, it suits me well."

"In exchange for this money, you will consider the case on its merits. You will not use the information gathered at this meeting for any extortion or blackmail purposes. The things you are told will be shared in the strictest confidence. Betrayal of this confidence will result in prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. Am I understood?"

"Loud and clear. You have my interest, at least."

"Are you willing to sign a written agreement to that effect?"

Ari nodded. "Sure."

Echols smiled again. "Fantastic. You can sign in the car." He stood up and started for the door.

"Whoa." Ari whistled and he turned back to her. "Where are we supposed to be going?"

"To meet the client. I'm simply a facilitator." He checked his watch. "We're expected in thirty minutes. We should get on the road soon."

Ari stood up. "Never go with a hippie to a second location."

"Hippie?"

"Never mind. I'm just supposed to get into a car with you and... go? Go where?"

"That will be covered in the confidentiality agreement. I'm not allowed to reveal that in a public location."

Ari laughed. "Wow. You're definitely the most formal kidnapper I've ever met."

"Please, Ms. Willow. I have no intention of harming you, nor does my employer. We simply require a certain level of discretion when dealing with certain... unsavory elements."

"Like a lowly private investigator who named her agency 'Bitches'?"

Another plastic smile. "For starters."

Ari rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Okay. Ten grand. I've done dumber things for far less money. Lead the way."

Echols nodded his square chin and escorted Ari out of the diner. A black town car was sitting at the curb, and Echols opened the back door for her. Ari climbed in and scooted across to give Echols room to join her. His bulk made the seat sink underneath him and lift under Ari, and she resisted the urge to brace her hands against the ceiling. Echols leaned forward to address the driver. "Home, please."

When he settled back against the seat, he opened a briefcase that was sitting in the floor. He placed a contract on top of it and passed the whole thing to Ari. "Feel free to read it. It isn't a long ride, but it's not a long contract either."

Ari skimmed the legalese and it basically just said what Echols had explained in the diner. If she revealed any of the information she was about to learn to the media, the initial check would be revoked. She and Dale would be prosecuted. Yadda yadda. She signed her name at the bottom and passed it back.

"So where are we going? Private airstrip so you can fly me to Area 54?" He glanced at her. "You know, Area 54. Where the aliens and the Air Force folk go to party down? Like Studio 54 and Area..." He remained stoic until her smile faded. "Geez. Okay, so no jokes. Where are we going?"

"In due time."

Ari sighed and contented herself with looking out the window. The city rolled by, man-made blue and silver mixing with natural browns and greens. She loved the way the city rolled and meandered with the shape of the land. Roads seemed to dip straight down and then the forest seemed to rise all around them. It was nearly impossible to forget that they were just a part of the environment here. Ari wanted to roll the window down so she could smell the sap and bark, the soil and broken leaves mixing with the fumes and grease that came from city life. She reached for the button, but she was a bit wary of how Echols might react.

They left the city proper and Ari checked her watch. It was a quarter past four, and she was already miles away from her last known location. If it was a kidnapping, she had just screwed any chances she had of being found. She spotted a red-brick turret rising through the trees and she smiled. "Hey, it's the Gavin House."

"So it is." Echols sounded amused, so she turned to look at him. He wasn't craning his neck to look past her. He didn't seem interested in the house at all.

"Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Oh, yes." He clicked the briefcase shut and rested his hands on top of the leather.

Ari wanted to ask him more, but the car had slowed and turned off the main road. She leaned to one side so she could see around the driver. They had pulled into the wide delta of a brick driveway that was blocked by a wrought-iron gate. The driver rolled down his window and punched a code into the security box.

"You have to be kidding me."

"Perhaps now you better understand our need for privacy, Ms. Willow."

Ari settled against the back of the seat and shook her head in shock.

The driveway ran a serpentine pattern around a central island of trees that blocked the house from view. It was a fortress, the ground floor surrounded by a castle wall disguised as a veranda. Thick pillars supported a steeply-angled awning that deepened the shadows around the doors and windows. The windows on the second floor were all heavily-curtained. The turret that was visible from the street was the only uncovered glass in the building, and it contained a large bell. Urban legend stated the bell used to chime every evening while the Gavin family patriarch was fighting in Europe. It ceased only when word came that he had died in battle, and the tower windows were glassed in.

Ari thought of all the other Gavin family stories she had heard in the past. For years they were a mysterious, Gothic fairy tale that school kids told each other for cheap scares. Katherine Gavin was a vampire, tucked away in the woods and waiting for victims to jump the wall around her property. The family was really a pagan cult performing bloody rituals in their basement to gain eternal life. Ari's favorite was that the entire family had died off decades ago, but the blind and deaf butler hadn't realized it yet and just kept the house running while his mistress rotted in the upstairs bedroom.

Of course in the past ten years or so, the Gavins had become a much more realistic presence in Seattle society, thanks to the antics of the daughter Laura. She was the first member of the family to flaunt her wealth and infamy. She brought the Gavin family into the mainstream high society with her extravagant parties and frequent tabloid appearances. She was Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan rolled up into a petite blonde package.

Echols led her onto the porch, and Ari felt like she was being given the keys to Santa's workshop. She was about to see the inside of the Gavin House. She held her breath as if there was a magical incantation involved, and Echols opened the door. Ari followed him inside and took a moment to look around.

She was on a raised platform that led directly into a massive living room. A grand piano, dwarfed by the empty space on all sides, stood in front of a curved wall of windows that looked out onto an empty acre bordered by the wilderness. Ari knew there was another wall somewhere in the trees, but at the moment it looked as if the house simply bled back into the woods. There were stairs on either side of the room, and Echols led her to the right.

Portraits of past family members hung in the living room. They went from ostentatious oil paintings to more modern photographs, with Laura Gavin's picture looking more like something cut out of a magazine than a portrait. She was winking into the camera, standing sideways with one hand resting on her cocked hip.

On the second floor, Echols held up a hand to stop her from following him further. He went to a set of double doors and knocked once, entering after he received acknowledgement from the other side. He took one step over the threshold and clasped his hands behind his back. "Mrs. Gavin, Ms. Ariadne Willow has arrived."

Ari's pulse jumped. Even with Laura Gavin's popularity, Katherine Gavin had remained reclusive. Echols turned and held up his hand, using all four fingers to make a stiff 'come' gesture. Ari didn't even resent being treated like a trained dog if it meant she got to be in a room with Katherine Gavin herself.

She entered the private office. Katherine Gavin had stood before Ari came into the room, and she stepped around the desk as they examined each other. Katherine's face was kindly, but with a stern jaw and lips that seemed as unaccustomed to smiling as Echols'. The collar of her cream-white shirt covered her throat and made her lift her chin just slightly, just enough that she seemed to be looking down her nose at Ari. Her cinnamon-colored hair was braided, the end of it resting on her left shoulder.

"Ariadne Willow. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Gavin."

Katherine ignored the hand Ari offered. "This meeting is not about pleasure, Ms. Willow. This is business. I would like to hire you."

#

Chapter Three

Echols closed the door behind him when he was dismissed. Katherine gestured at a seating area in front of the office's large windows. "Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Not when I'm on the clock."

Katherine smiled. It was a surprisingly genuine smile, and it looked right at home on her face. "You would be surprised how many people don't draw that line. Water? Tea?"

Ari shrugged and took a seat on the couch. Katherine sat in the armchair at the head of the coffee table, taking the position of power in the area. "You're the one paying me to be here. We can waste as much time as you want."

"Ah, yes. I suppose Mr. Echols had to offer you the full fifteen thousand before you agreed?"

"Ha." Ari looked at the closed doors as if she could see Echols through them. "That's one shrewd negotiator you have there, Mrs. Gavin."

She held her hands out palm-up. "One doesn't become rich by paying full price for anything. But I know that a hefty prize was necessary to convince someone like you to get into a car with a man she didn't know. I hope you understand why I couldn't meet you in person, and why we had to go through the rigmarole of secrecy."

"Yeah, sure. You'd rather your daughter be the only Gavin in the tabloids."

Katherine nodded slowly. "So you follow Laura's troubles?"

"Just enough to know she has some. Drugs and drinking. I think she's on her second or third stint in rehab."

"She finished her third two months ago, but it appears this one has taken." She straightened in her seat, one leg crossed over the other. "Her last little misadventure ended with a near overdose. The doctor who saved her life said she was dead for two full minutes before he managed to bring her back. According to Laura, that frightened her enough to make rehab a formality. She got clean."

Ari nodded. "Good for her."

"Yes, if it's true." Katherine clasped her hands in her lap. "I have my doubts. Laura has promised me she's gotten clean countless times. Rehab always does its magic and I have a few weeks where I allow myself to hope it's true. Then I get a phone call from the press asking for a statement, or a police officer buzzes the gate to bring her home. You mentioned how often she ends up in the tabloids. Consider my wealth, my influence. Think about how many instances I was able to cover up. Policemen doing favors for me. Charges swept under the rug and silences bought. And yet she is still in the rags twice a week because I simply cannot cover up everything.

"So I allow myself to hope, and she invariably leaves me disappointed. In the past I have allowed her transgressions. I accepted her regressions. But that option will not be available to me much longer. I have cancer. The doctors are hopeful, but there's a very good chance that Laura will soon be the last surviving member of the Gavin family. A legacy that goes back before the Civil War, resting on the shoulders of a drug-addicted wild child."

Ari just nodded. Katherine turned toward the window. The late afternoon light coming through the window was hazy and thin. It made the room look like an underdeveloped black and white photograph. After a moment, Katherine sighed and turned back to Ari.

"I suppose it's the same with every generation. I'm sure my ancestor who fought for the South would be horrified that a woman is the head of the Gavin family. But I want to be certain I'm leaving my family in the right hands. That is where you come in, Ms. Willow."

"You want me to check her out and make sure she stays clean."

"More than that. I want a detailed account of how she spends her days. Laura falls because of the people with whom she chooses to surround herself. I want to be certain those people are out of her life. I suppose you wondered why I chose your agency."

Ari smiled. "Well, I can hardly picture you skimming the phone book and picking my name at random."

"I was intrigued by your choice of agency name. It brings to mind tenacity. So I asked around and discovered some former clients of yours."

That brought Ari up short. "Whoa, wait. You looked at our client list?"

"A partial list."

"That's confidential. And illegal. How did you even--"

Katherine sighed. "I couldn't very well ask you for references without divulging who I was and what I wanted. It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Of course, that's just a figure of speech; a Gavin never begs."

Ari decided to let the matter drop for now. Dale would be pissed if she found out, but the damage had been done.

"Mr. Echols spoke to a few of your clients without divulging his identity, or the fact he was investigating you. He discovered you have a reputation for the uncanny. Donald Kozak of Emerald City Storage said he hired you to keep an eye on the premises. You never showed up on his security cameras, and he was prepared to demand his money back. Then you produced results. You found his thief despite the fact there was no evidence of you ever being on-site."

Ari remembered the case. She had patrolled the storage company as the wolf, which showed up many times on camera. Kozak demanded to know how she had done it, but Ari simply told him it was a trade secret.

"I don't want Laura to know she's under surveillance. She's spotted Mr. Echols when I've sent him, and she's always on her best behavior. I need to know how she acts when she thinks no one is watching. If you agree to take the case, I'll want at least seven days of surveillance with complete notes."

"This is just a two-person operation. We can't feasibly have twenty-four seven surveillance on your daughter."

"I wouldn't expect you to. The majority of the day will be fine. I'd prefer if you handled all the surveillance yourself. The fewer people who are involved in this, the better. I'll pay you five thousand dollars per day, plus whatever expenses you incur."

Ari wondered if people's eyes ever really turned into dollar signs, or if that was just from the cartoons. She refrained to reach up and check.

"That sounds reasonable."

Katherine winked, the corners of her mouth turned up. "It sounds extravagant. But I understand silence comes at a price. For the right amount you might be tempted to snap a few photographs and sell them to the highest bidder. If I am the highest bidder, I have nothing to worry about. There is no deadline, pardon the expression, for when my cancer becomes an issue. But I would like you to begin as soon as possible if you agree to take the case."

Ari nodded. "You can stop qualifying it with 'if I agree.' I'll take the case. I think I can start tomorrow provided it works with Laura's schedule."

Katherine smiled. "Excellent. Thank you." She stood up and walked back to her desk. She returned with a small leather-bound journal, which she handed to Ari. "This contains everything you need to know for your... hm. What is the proper phrase? Staking out?"

"Surveillance works fine."

Katherine sat down again. "Needless to say, that remains with you at all times. If anyone should acquire it--"

"Bad news for your daughter. I'll guard it with my life."

"Well, I doubt it will have to go that far. Will you need anything else, Ms. Willow?"

Ari hesitated and then said, "I have one question you might find a little odd. It goes to character." Katherine nodded for her to continue. "How would your daughter react to an abandoned dog that looked like it needed help?"

Katherine furrowed her brow and turned her head to the side. "What an odd question. I suppose she would see it as a kindred spirit. She has often spoken in interviews about how she feels as if I've cut her off and left her out in the cold, so she would feel obliged to help the dog if it seemed safe and friendly. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes, thanks. I think that's all I need for now."

They both stood and Katherine escorted her to the door. "Mr. Echols will arrange for you to be taken back to your car, and he'll also have a check for you, as promised. I would like updates on your progress, say, on Monday and Wednesday? And then a final update on Friday."

"Actually, I would rather stay on until next Sunday. That will give me two weekends to watch her. If she's going to fall off the wagon, it would probably--"

"You're right, of course. So nine days on the job. That will go a long way to convincing me that Laura truly is on the right path." She opened the office door and extended her hand. "Thank you, Ms. Willow."

Ari shook her hand. "I hope I can find the answer you're looking for."

Katherine nodded and Ari left the office. Echols was standing at the top of the stairs, and Ari wondered if he had somehow been summoned, or if he had just been waiting there the entire time. He removed an envelope from the inner pocket of his suit jacket and held it out to her. "As promised. Did you agree to take the case?"

"I did."

He turned and led her down the stairs. "Excellent. I hope this is the start of a long relationship."

Ari couldn't tell if he was hitting on her or not. "Actually, I'll be spending the majority of my time getting to know Laura."

"Yes, but I will be your go-between with Mrs. Gavin." He turned and smiled at her. Unlike the smiles he'd treated her to earlier, this one did reach his eyes. The result was alarming, and Ari quickly looked away. Echols followed her across the living room, and Ari paused to look at the portrait of Laura again. Had she posed before or during her addiction phase? Was she high when the picture was taken?

Echols passed her and opened the front door. He waited and ushered her out with a motion of his hand. "The car is waiting, Ms. Willow."

"Sure." She took an extra moment to savor the fact she was inside the Gavin House before she walked outside. The air was crisp and cold, and the sky had turned from blue to pale violet. She wished she had worn the jacket that went with the rest of her suit. She let herself into the car while Echols went around to the other side. He climbed in and the seat shifted under his weight again.

"So how long have you been working for the Gavins?"

"Thirteen years. Since Laura was a little girl."

The mystery of why she'd turned to drugs was a little clearer. If Ari had grown up around a brute like this, she might have tried a few reality-altered substances herself. The car pulled away from the curb and Ari craned her neck to get one last look at the Gavin House. She couldn't believe she had actually been inside the mythical Gavin House. Not only that, she had a check for ten thousand dollars in her pocket and a promise of forty-five thousand more. The very thought of earning that much money in a single week made her head swim. She already had a battle plan in mind for how she was going to watch Laura without getting caught. It would mean a lot of long days in wolf form, but for the kind of money she was going to be earning, she would cope.

The iron gates closed behind the car and they started the long journey back to where she had left her car.

#

Dale didn't like putting a label on her job. Mainly because doing so would force her to include "housekeeper." Her main tasks were to take phone calls, balance their books, pay the bills, and keep track of Ari's appointments. Though it was mostly unnecessary, she also typed up reports detailing their cases in the event it one day became necessary to take a look back. But during slow days when Ari wasn't around and there was no paperwork to do, she spent her time dusting and tidying up.

When the phone rang a little after six, she was washing the window behind Ari's desk. She took off the rubber gloves she used for cleaning and answered without checking the display. "Bitches Investigations, how may we help you?"

"It's me."

Dale sat down in Ari's chair and put her feet up on the desk. "Hey, it's about time. That was a pretty long meeting."

"That's why I'm calling. Have you had dinner yet?"

"I was just about to see what we had in the cupboard."

"Perfect timing, then. Go home, put on your nicest outfit. Then meet me at Rook's."

Dale blinked. "Whoa. I guess that answers my question about how the meeting went." She checked her watch. "Give me, um." She remembered she had walked to work that morning. "Give me an hour."

"Sounds good."

She put away her cleaning supplies and turned out the lights. Dinner at Rook's was not something offered lightly. Just walking in the door guaranteed ending the night a hundred dollars poorer. Ari's meeting must have gone extremely well, but she forced herself not to get too excited. She walked quickly back home, undressing as soon as she was through the front door. She jumped in the shower, washed her hair and scrubbed away the sweat from her near-job from the office, and let her hair dry as she scanned her closet for something that looked appropriate for Rook's. There was a fine line between looking dressed-up and looking like a professional.

She finally decided on a sleeveless green dress and a few pieces of jewelry. She did her makeup and used the hair dryer before styling her hair up. When she was finished, she decided she looked like she belonged in a classy place like Rook's, so she blew a kiss at her reflection. She checked her watch; she would be fashionably late, but Ari wouldn't complain.

Dale drove to Rook's, more excited by the idea of a night out than hearing details of Ari's meeting. Her last relationship with Natalie had involved more nights at home than going out on the town. The last time she had really dressed up and gone out on a date was with Lisa. She could barely remember where they had gone. She discovered she was smiling at the thought of a night out with Ari.

Not that this was a date. She needed to get that established firmly in her mind right away. She and Ari had danced close to the line between friendship and lovers more than once, came darn near crossing it a time or two. But neither of them was willing to take it that one extra step and risk what they had. She was Ari's Girl Friday. She kept the business running smoothly, she drove all over town in the middle of the night when Ari needed a safe ride home, and she massaged the kinks out of Ari's muscles after she transformed. Trying to add sex to that would just throw the entire thing out of balance, not to mention it would make the massages all the more awkward if they ever broke up.

It was a crappy way to think about relationships, in terms of what would happen after the break-up, but experience taught her to prepare for the worst. That way she could only be pleasantly surprised.

Dale left her car with the valet at Rooks and went inside. A hostess smiled at her as soon as she was through the door. "Hi. Ah, Willow?"

"Of course. Right this way." The girl took a menu from the slot on her lectern and led her into the main dining room. She spotted Ari immediately, sitting alone at a two-top table and waiting patiently. Or as patiently as Ari got. She was holding her fork over the candle in the center of the table, her head ducked so she could watch the smoke curl around the tines. She raised her eyes as the hostess approached her table, then straightened and stopped playing with her silverware.

Dale was glad she'd taken the time to assert to herself this wasn't a date. Ari was a beautiful woman on an ordinary day, but made up for a date, she was gorgeous. She wore a purple blouse and a thin gold necklace. When she stood, Dale saw that she was wearing a black skirt. Her hair was down and subtly styled in waves. Dale could almost feel the disappointment and jealousy emanating from the men in their vicinity and she smiled as she sat across from Ari.

They ordered drinks and Dale raised her eyebrows. "A skirt? God. The meeting must have gone phenomenally. Big payday?"

"I could tell you," Ari said. "But do you want to hear the punchline before you hear the rest of the joke?" She sipped her water. "By the way, you look outstanding."

Dale blushed and glanced around to gauge her appearance compared to the people around them. To her surprise, everyone looking her way seemed either jealous or impressed.

"Looks like we both clean up nice."

Ari said, "I never doubted it. So, did you hear stories about the Gavin House when you were growing up?"

Dale smiled. "Witch covens, inbreeding, mummies... oh, yeah. Lots of slumber party horror stories about that place. What's that got to do with anything?"

"I spent the afternoon there." She casually sipped her water as the waitress brought their drinks. Dale managed to order her usual steak dinner - medium well - and waited impatiently while Ari did the same and sent the waitress away. Ari's lips were curved in a sly smile; she was obviously enjoying Dale's shock and confusion.

"You were at the Gavin House? I thought the meeting was at Pluto Bar."

Ari nodded. "Yep. I met with a representative of the Gavin clan at the bar, and he paid me ten thousand dollars to attend a meeting with Katherine Gavin."

Dale coughed on her water. Ari started to stand up, but Dale waved her off. She touched her throat once she could breathe normally and blinked across the table. "Ten grand? What kind of job is she going to pay you ten grand for?"

"Oh, no. The ten grand was just to hear her out. She's giving us five grand a day for nine days of work."

Dale could only stare. "Is that the punchline?"

Ari imitated a rim shot.

"Holy shit, Ariadne Willow."

Ari laughed.

"What does she want us to do?"

"That, my dear," Ari brushed a finger over the side of her nose, "is confidential. But I will need your help on it."

"Of course." She could barely form coherent sentences. The agency did okay, but her paycheck was usually contingent on how much money they had in the company account. Having that much money in the bank would be a huge relief. She held up her hands and looked at her palms. "My skin is tingling."

Ari laughed. "I'm glad I could make your day."

"That means you took the case?"

"Of course. It's easy enough, even if it is secretive. The worst part about it is that I'll have to do a lot of paperwork. It'll be the easiest forty-five thousand dollars we've ever made."

"Fifty-five," Dale said. "With the fee for hearing her out."

"Right." Ari picked up her water glass. "To Bitches finally being in the red."

Dale frowned. "Black."

"Black is good? But black is death."

"Red light means stop. As in stop spending."

Ari tilted her head. "Are you sure?"

She smiled. "Ari, I do the books for the agency. Trust me, we need to be in the black."

"If you say so. Cheers."

Dale tapped her glass against Ari's. It would be nice to enjoy an expensive meal without worrying about where the money would come from. She rolled her shoulders and relaxed in her seat. She decided she was going to enjoy being stared at and admired.

#

They each had two glasses of wine with their dinner. By the time they paid their check - which made both of them choke despite the knowledge of what was sitting in Ari's pocket - they were both a little tipsy. They bypassed the valet stand, Dale leaning heavily on Ari's arm as they walked. "We're not in trouble," Dale said, serious for the first time since Ari announced their upcoming windfall. They'd spent their dinner discussing all the things they were going to splurge on; boats, sports cars, a pony apiece.

"I mean, we have money in the bank. We can buy gas, food, groceries. We're safe. But knowing this money is coming in... I mean, fifty grand is a good year for us."

"It is."

Dale couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of having that big of a cushion in their account. Her weight was welcome against Ari's side. They rounded the corner, planning to walk around the block at least twice to burn off their drinks. Still, there was an itch of doubt.

"Why us, though?"

"I've been trying not to ask myself that all afternoon. Maybe she just looked in the phone book and stopped when she reached the B agencies." Ari decided not to bring up the fact Katherine Gavin had somehow gotten into their client files. It wouldn't do anything but make Dale upset, and they could shore up their security later just as a precaution. And it was hard to be very angry at a security breach that was bringing in more money than Ari had ever seen on a single case.

Dale's hand tensed around Ari's elbow. "Oh, no. Ari, look." She pointed up. The sky was clear, save for a single cloud. It clung to the bottom of the full moon, making it look as if the moon was resting on a boat of cotton.

Ari snorted, bared her teeth, and hunched her shoulders. "Can't... stop... change. Becoming... wolf. Must tear off... really expensive clothes..."

Dale laughed. "It's a good thing that's just a myth. It would suck if you could only wolf out a couple of days per month."

"It might be easier on my bones if I was restricted to that, though."

Dale's smile faded. "How are you feeling, speaking of?"

"I'll be fine. The Gavin case is going to require a few transformations back and forth."

"Try to keep it to a minimum, okay? Just for my peace of mind."

Ari rubbed Dale's arm. "I'll be fine. Besides, it doesn't matter how many times I wolf out on this job. When we're done, I can take a whole month off without worrying about money."

Dale sighed. "That will be very nice. Very nice." She rested her head on Ari's shoulder.

Ari looked down at her. She was mostly sober, but Dale could barely keep her eyes open. "I think you're a dangerous combination of tipsy and sleepy. Want a ride home?"

"Yes."

Ari guided Dale back around the corner. The chill in the air added to the feeling that it was the last day of summer and they had to go back to school in the morning. In a way it sort of was. Her plan was to take Dale home, then spend the night reading the portfolio Katherine had given her about Laura. She would give Dale the finer points of what she'd been hired to do once they got to the office. She had a plan in place, a method of investigation that would give her full access to Laura Gavin and her life. She would have to spend a lot of hours as the wolf, but that wasn't exactly a hardship.

"Hey, Ari." Dale's voice was sleepy and soft, and Ari's heart warmed to it.

"Yeah."

"I'm going to name my pony Biscuit."

Ari laughed. "Sweetie, you are wasted."

"Take me drunk, I'm home."

Ari rubbed Dale's back as they returned to the valet stand to retrieve her car.

#

Chapter Four

There was a framed map of Seattle on one wall in Ari's office, and Dale stood in front of it with small stickers when Ari read out an address. It was late in the morning the day after Ari took the Gavin job, and the noontime sun was shining through the window behind her desk. It seemed brighter than it had the day before; she made a mental note to mention that to Dale, with her thanks, but it slipped her mind almost immediately.

She turned a page in the journal Katherine Gavin had given her, a Dummy's Guide to Laura Gavin. "On the weekends, she volunteers at a soup kitchen. The, uh, St. Roch's Soup Kitchen on Fourth and Commerce." She looked up as Dale checked the phone book and then placed a sticker on the glass of the framed map. "Sounds like a real hellion, doesn't she?"

"Maybe she feels guilty. A lot to make up for."

Ari nodded. "Do you know much about Laura Gavin's debauchery?"

"Too much. She was Letterman's favorite target for a while. The number one reason not to get drunk on New Years' Eve, Laura Gavin already drank everything anyway."

"Hm." Ari flipped to another page and then looked at the map. "Seems like she's staying to a confined area right now. She sticks to the water, it looks like."

Dale smiled. "Maybe she's a cetacae in hiding."

"They're real," Ari insisted.

"Sure they are." Ari growled at her and went back to thumbing. Dale leaned against the wall next to the map. "So we're going with the old standard?"

Ari shrugged. "Sure. It's a classic. She sees me as a stray, takes me in, and you're my despondent owner. You beg her to look after me for a couple of days while you're out of town. Then I have free rein of her apartment when she's out for the day." She flipped through a few pages. "According to this, she's gone from around eleven in the morning to five in the afternoon most weekdays. She works part-time in the mailroom of a corporate office downtown. Plenty of snooping time."

Dale nodded. "The only problem with that is you'll be transforming back and forth to the wolf multiple times during the day. Are you sure you can handle that?"

"I'll have to." She closed the journal and put it on the desk. "If it gets really bad, I'll call you and you can 'come home early' to pick me up."

"Okay." Dale looked unhappy with giving in. "But before you go, I want to give you a full rubdown. I mean it, Ari. Preventative medicine, ounce of prevention... if you're going to be changing multiple times in a short window, I want to make sure you're okay."

"As you wish." Ari leaned forward and looked at the map. "We need to decide on where best to ambush her with the lost dog routine. Work or home?"

"Work." Dale pointed at St. Roch's on the map. "She'll be in a helpful mindset."

Ari stood up and stretched. "Okay. We'll head over there around the time she's leaving for home. Say four?" Dale agreed. "I'll go grab some lunch. What do you say, fresh lobster flown in from Maine?"

"How about sandwiches from the deli on the corner?"

Ari smiled. "Just because we have money doesn't mean we should waste it. You're too good for me, Dale. And... that's why I hope you don't mind this." She took an envelope off her desk and handed it to Dale. "I wanted to wait for the right moment to give it to you. I didn't want it to seem like a grand gesture or anything other than... you know, what it is."

Dale opened the envelope and withdrew a check for four thousand dollars. "What is this for?"

"Delayed paychecks, all the weeks when I could barely reimburse you for the gas it took to get to the office, the times you paid for my lunch out of your pocket because I hadn't had a case in a month. That's happened way too many times in the past, and I know they'll happen again. You kept me afloat, and it's because of you I was around to get that money from Katherine Gavin. It's not what you're worth... it's not even what you deserve out of the advance. But it's yours."

"I don't know what to say." Dale rubbed at the corner of her eyes and sniffled. "Thank you, Ari."

"I wanted you to know that I appreciate you. Money might be a tacky way of doing it--"

"No, no. Money is good, money spends." She laughed and hugged Ari. "Thanks, boss."

"Don't mention it, employee." Ari rubbed Dale's back before breaking the hug. "Okay, sandwiches. Roast beef on wheat?"

Dale nodded.

Ari checked her wallet and made sure she had cash before she left the office. She had written the check to Dale immediately after dropping off Katherine Gavin's check at the bank. In a perfect world she would have just signed the whole ten grand over to Dale, but the business needed a cushion. When the job was over and they got the full amount, she planned to give Dale another big bonus and a paid vacation. She had more than earned it over the years.

When she left the building, she put on her sunglasses and looked up at the sky. Overcast, but still bright. She could smell the rain, but it was staying out of the city. She smiled and stuck her hands in her pockets as she started to walk. It was a beautiful day, there was money in the bank, and she had a few hours before she had to start working. She was going to enjoy it.

#

After lunch, Dale insisted on giving Ari a rubdown. Dale's massages started not long after she became a permanent fixture at the agency, on a night after Ari had transformed for the fifth time in seven days. She had tried to get up off the park bench when Dale pulled up, but a muscle in her lower back refused to cooperate. Dale got her into the car, drove her home, and gave her an impromptu massage on the couch. The next morning, Ari felt better than she had in years, but she refrained from requesting the massages. Getting naked and being massaged by her attractive friend was not something she felt comfortable asking for.

But Dale knew how important it was, and it was strictly a part of her job. She seemed as uncomfortable doing it as she did balancing the bank account or replenishing Ari's clothing stashes around the city.

Dale went out into the main office while Ari undressed. She left her underwear on, but she still put a towel around her waist before she lay down on the couch. She had just folded her hands under her head when Dale knocked on the door. "You decent?"

"Yeah."

She came in with a bottle of massage oil and a towel. She had taken off her blouse, leaving her in a simple cotton T-shirt tucked into her slacks. Ari stared at her a moment, admiring the way the cotton accentuated her curves, and then closed her eyes. These massages were risking temptation enough without letting her mind wander.

Dale turned on the stereo before she walked over to the couch. She put the bottle of oil on the back of the couch so it rested against the wall. Standing beside the couch, she lightly touched Ari's neck. "Are you hurting right now?"

"No." Dale probed Ari's shoulders with her fingers and Ari hissed. "Okay, a little. But not worse than usual."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay. Just relax and let me do my magic."

Ari wasn't going to argue. Whenever Dale was dating someone, she became more reluctant to offer the massages. So during those periods, Ari tried massage parlors, and she once hired a private masseuse. The massage parlor had felt unspeakably creepy, and the private masseuse offered to turn the massage into something much different for a little extra cash. Ari had paid and gotten the happy ending, but the massage wasn't as therapeutic. The simply truth was that if she wanted true relief, she needed Dale.

Dale started on Ari's left leg. She flattened her hand and gently rubbed the muscles of Ari's calf, moving slowly but steadily higher. She smoothed her hand over Ari's thigh. She kneaded her hands back down, avoiding the knee as Ari was a bit ticklish there, and bent her leg. She pressed her thumbs into the arch of Ari's foot and worked the toes individually.

Ari pressed her cheek against her hands. One leg down and she already felt like a new woman. Dale did the same to Ari's other leg, and then casually straddled her waist with practiced ease. She opened the oil and spilled some onto her hands. When it was warm, she put her hands on Ari's back and worked the tired muscles. Ari grunted and turned her head, resting her forehead on her fingers.

"That's perfect, Dale."

"Relaxed?"

"Mm-hmm."

Dale ran her hands down Ari's back on either side of her spine. She found a knot and worked it out with two curled fingers before moving on. Back up to her neck, gently pinching until Ari relaxed. She brushed Ari's hair away from her neck and used her thumbs to rub the base of Ari's skull. Ari's eyes were closed, and her body had gone limp from the neck down. Dale moved down, resting her rear on Ari's legs as she massaged her arms. She rolled her thumbs in Ari's palms, and then slid her fingertips down each of Ari's fingers from base to tip.

The massage lasted close to forty-five minutes. "Okay. Feel good?"

"Yeah."

Dale climbed off the couch and turned her back as Ari sat up. She put on her T-shirt and wrapped the towel around her waist. "Thanks, Dale. You really are a lifesaver."

"I do what I can." She smiled and faced Ari again. "So, are you ready?"

Ari looked at the oversized clock on the wall. It was a little past three. "Yeah, we might as well go if we want to be in place." She went to the desk and took out her most loathed accessory. There was a new addition to it, and she flipped the small silver disc over to read the inscription. It had the word 'Tule,' plus Dale's cell phone number. "When did we decide on a name?"

"We didn't. I'm the wolf's owner, I get to pick its name."

"I don't get any say in it? You named me Tool?"

"Too-lee. It's from a song my dad used to sing to me." She held out her hand. "Here."

Ari handed her the red leather dog collar. She preferred to put it on while she was still human, well before she transformed. It gave her a chance to get used to the feel of it. If Dale tried attaching it once Ari was the wolf, she resisted and made it a huge hassle. She gathered her hair and turned around, presenting her neck as if Dale was awarding her a medal.

She secured the collar carefully. "Is that too tight?"

"It's perfect." Ari slipped a finger under the collar and tugged. There was just enough room for movement. The size of her neck didn't change much when she transformed, so the collar wouldn't choke her. She made sure that the collar was situated so that the tag was centered over her throat. "Thanks, Dale. For everything."

"No problem. You want to change now, or when we get there?"

"When we get there. I want to scope the place out, and the wolf brain might affect comprehension." She picked up her pants and stepped into them. She followed Dale out of the office barefoot, not bothering with shoes she would just have to take off in five minutes anyway. She turned out the light and locked the door as Dale led the way to her car.

#

St. Roch's Soup Kitchen was a small wooden building attached to the back of a Baptist church. Dale parked down the block from the church, joining the row of cars that were parked half on the grass and half on the asphalt. Ari was in the backseat, draped with a blanket. Dale scanned the parking lot of the church until she spotted the blue Prius that the journal identified as Laura Gavin's car. "She's there. Any idea what she's supposed to look like?"

"You don't know what Laura Gavin looks like? What, you've never been in a supermarket check-out lane?"

"Well, I figured she might be in disguise."

Ari shook her head. "That was in the journal. Echols said she showed up as herself. She figured the paparazzi took pictures of her drunk and partying, they can get pictures of her doing community service, too. How about you? Ready to cry?"

Dale took a deep breath. "Give me a second to think of something really sad."

"Remember in *batteries not included when the former boxer fixed--"

"Shut up."

"--the stillborn alien, and he held it in his big giant hands and said, 'We bring good things to life'?"

Dale shook her head. "You don't play fair, Ari."

"And when the landlady thought the thug was her dead son?"

"Evil woman." She took a deep breath, shakier this time, and wiped at her eyes. She could feel the tears building up. If she just focused on sad thoughts, she would be able to pull off the con. "Okay. I think that started the process. You want to go ahead and change?"

Ari said, "Might as well. I'll head straight over to Laura's neighborhood and hang out until she shows up."

"Be careful."

Ari reached into the front seat and tapped her index finger against Dale's chest over her heart. In a slow, raspy voice she said, "I'll... be... right... here."

"Oh, you bitch. E.T. is no fair."

Ari chuckled and retreated to the backseat. Dale kept her eyes forward; she hated being present when Ari transformed. The sounds gave her nightmares. Ari slipped out of her clothes and wrapped the blanket around her like a shroud. Dale braced herself and closed her eyes. Maybe she wouldn't need to force herself to cry; hearing Ari's anguished change of shape could usually make the waterworks start.

She heard the initial intake of air, breath being sucked through Ari's nostrils, and Dale jumped at the sound of a bone breaking. There was no sound more nauseating in her experience. Tears flowed down her face, not entirely prompted by Ari's movie memories, and she turned to stare out the window. Ari's grunting turned into growls, and soon the movement in the backseat ceased.

Dale twisted in her seat. Ari shook off the blanket and looked up at her. She licked Dale's cheek, and Dale pushed her away. "Get off of me, you mutt. Be careful out there. I'm serious."

Ari dipped her head in a very human nod. Dale got out of the car and let Ari out, watching her trot away down a narrow alley. Once she was gone, Dale got back into her car. It wouldn't help her at all if some random Samaritan helped her before Laura Gavin even showed up. She checked her watch and settled in to wait.

When it was close to the end of Laura's shift, Dale got out of the car and started pacing down the street. She pretended to be looking under and between cars, going down the alleys and coming back out looking harried and helpless. Her tears were flowing freely now; she had Brandi Carlile's song 'That Year' running through her head. She spotted Laura Gavin and let her shoulders slump with defeat.

Laura was taller in person than the media made her look. Her strawberry blonde hair was short and gathered in a ponytail. She was dressed down in sweatpants and a sweatshirt from the University of Washington. Dale dropped onto the sloped grass, her feet on the street between two cars, and dropped her head. She called back on her experience of crying alone in her room as a teenager and tried to look like someone who didn't want to be caught being emotional.

The question came barely two minutes later. "Hey... surely it can't be that bad."

Dale looked over her shoulder and quickly wiped at her face. "God, that's so embarrassing. I'm sorry."

Laura crouched beside her. "Don't be embarrassed. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, I..." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "My dog ran off. I've been looking for her all afternoon, but I haven't found her. I don't even have time to make flyers because I've got to be at the airport in, in..." She looked at her watch and laughed mirthlessly. "Ten minutes ago. I can't miss my flight. I'll lose my job. But my dog is out there somewhere."

Laura had straightened her back and was looking around. "Well, if someone finds her, maybe they could take her to a shelter."

"I called and asked if they would hold her. But if no one claims her..." She looked down and shook her head. Laura reached over and rubbed her back, and Dale felt horrible for conning her like this. "I can't believe I have to leave my dog."

"What does she look like?"

Dale sniffled. "She's beautiful. Big, with brown fur and very blue eyes. She's wearing a red collar with her name on it."

"I live around here, and I walk back and forth a lot. If I find her, how about I hold onto her until you get back?"

"I can't ask you to do that."

Laura chuckled. "You didn't ask me to do anything. I'm imposing on your sadness here." She squeezed Dale's shoulder. "To tell you the truth, I hate those shelters. Sticking the poor things in cages all day and night, feeding them the bare minimum of kibble. No, if I see your dog, I'll take her in. I'll keep her safe for you."

Dale turned and looked at her. "You're so sweet. You're just... hey. I know you."

Laura ducked her head and a bit of hair fell over her eyes. "No, you don't. I just look like a bad influence." She smiled. "I can't help it. I love dogs. And the thought of one with beautiful blue eyes running around alone on the streets would break my heart. What's her name?"

"Tule. If you call her, she'll come right to you. She's the friendliest dog in the world." She sniffled and held out her hand. "I'm Dale. Dale Frye."

"Nice to meet you, Dale. I'm Laura." Laura shook Dale's hand, then helped her stand up. "All right. Responsibility has officially been passed. You go to the airport, do what you have to do for work, and I'll take over for you with the dog."

"You're just so nice. Why? What do you get out of it?"

"Karma." Laura shrugged. "I've done a lot of selfish things. I spent a good decade of my life thinking the world revolved around me. This is my good deed for the day."

Dale nodded down the street. "Ironic coming from someone who just left a soup kitchen."

"Days are long. If you can fit more than one good deed into them, go for it."

Dale reached into her pocket and took out her wallet. "Well, here." She handed over fifty dollars. "If you do find her, you'll need to buy food and stuff until I get back." Laura didn't reach for it. "Please, take it. I wouldn't feel right if you didn't."

"If you insist. But if I don't find her, I'm going to get this back to you."

They exchanged information, and Dale spontaneously hugged Laura. It was rare to meet someone who was so insistent on helping, and Dale felt like a complete tool for using Laura's good nature against her.

"Go, you're going to miss your plane. Just go and relax. Don't worry about it anymore, okay?"

"Okay." Dale wiped at her cheeks. "Thank you again. You're definitely getting karma points for this. Thank you."

Laura laughed. "No problem. I'll keep my eyes peeled, okay?"

Dale nodded and thanked her, then hurried to her car as if she was in a rush to catch her plane. Laura waved goodbye to her, and Dale signed 'thank you' through the glass as she pulled away. The trap was set; now Laura just had to walk into it. She wished Ari luck as she drove off and left the soup kitchen in her rearview mirror.

#

Chapter Five

Ari ignored the people who tried to entice her near enough to read her tag. She was a wolf on a mission, and they gave up after she passed by without a second glance. People occasionally let their dogs roam free in their neighborhood. Animal Control didn't like it, but Ari could care less what those bastards thought. Yeah, fuck those fuckers always chasing me and running me in circles. She focused her mind and pushed the canidae stream of consciousness aside. She had to stay on track.

She found Laura's building and circled it so she would have an idea of the landscape. There was a garbage-laden alley on either side, and an access road ran behind Laura's apartments and the next building. A trellis of fire escapes ran down the backs of both buildings. Ari trotted back to the street and sat with her head on her forepaws as she watched for Laura. The scents from the dumpster behind her were intoxicating and she licked her chops several times. Her stomach felt empty, despite her lunch.

Finally, she spotted Laura on the next block. Ari stood, stretched, and carefully crossed the street. She couldn't make it look too easy; she had to act like a dog that happened to have gotten loose and would be wary of strangers. She walked down the street as casually as possible, lifting her head to the people she passed but darting away if they tried to touch her. She was nearly to the corner when she heard someone calling her "pet name."

"Tule? Tule, here girl." Ari acted like the sound of the word caught her attention and looked around. Laura crossed the street and crouched a safe distance away. Ari took a step away from her. Laura smiled. "Hey, it is you. Hey, girl. Hey, Tule. Your girl is very worried about you. My name is Laura. Dale wants me to make sure you're safe while she's gone. Will you let me take care of you until she gets back?"

Laura held out her hand, fingers curled into a fist, and presented the back of her hand to Ari. Ari sniffed it and gave it a tentative lick.

"Not gonna hurt you." She carefully touched Ari's neck and felt around until she reached the tag. "Tule. It's you all right. What a pretty name for a pretty dog. Your girl was right, you are beautiful. What do you say, wanna come home with me?"

Ari barked and Laura laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on."

She led Ari across the street and into her building. Laura's apartment was on the ground floor, shaded by the forty-five degree angle of the stairs. She unlocked the door and stepped aside the let Ari enter first. The living room was cozy, connected to a small, dark dining room and a cramped kitchen. The furniture all looked second- or even third-hand. If Ari hadn't known who Laura was before, she never would have guessed it from this humble abode.

"Me casa and all that. Um." She closed the door and went into the living room. She took a blanket off the back of the couch and spread it over the cushions. "I hope you know you're not allowed on the furniture. It's cheap but it's mine." She scratched her upper lip and then went into the kitchen. Ari could see her through the wide opening that served as the door and sat just inside the front door of the apartment. She didn't want to look too eager to be there.

Laura defrosted something in the microwave and then started boiling water. While dinner was underway, she crossed back through the living room. She smiled at Ari. "Well, you don't have to hang out in the foyer. Give yourself the grand tour. Just follow the carpeting and try not to get lost."

Ari would have smiled at the joke if she was capable. She stood and tentatively explored the space. There was a small antechamber attached to the living room that branched out into a bathroom, a bedroom, and a small study. Ari checked these all out, sniffing the air for any hint of drugs. She had taken a drug detection course with Glory, the private eye she apprenticed under when she wanted to get her license, and she still had the skills. There were faint traces, but she reminded herself that Laura had only been out of rehab for two months. Traces might have lasted that long.

She wandered through the bathroom, sniffing the sink and mirrors. The perfume and makeup scents were overwhelming, and she almost gagged at the sickly sweet odor of the fingernail polish. It smelled like candy, but no candy anyone would want to eat. She sneezed to clear her palate and wandered into the bedroom.

Laura was standing by the bed, naked save for a pair of panties. She was talking on the phone, but turned when she sensed she was being watched. Ari tensed and started to back out, but Laura spotted her.

"Hey, pervert. How long have you been standing there?"

Ari reluctantly remained. No dog would politely turn its back until she was decent. Ari reluctantly wandered deeper into the bedroom, continuing her tour while trying to keep the pretty naked lady out of her line of sight.

Laura spoke into the phone. "No, I was just talking to Tule. But anyway, I wanted to let you know that she's safe. You can take care of what you need to take care of without worrying about her. I'll take good care of her. Three days is nothing. I'm happy to do it. I'd love to have a dog, but I don't want the commitment of having one for years and years. So it's a good compromise." She laughed. "Yeah, loaner dogs. You could make a fortune with one as pretty and well-behaved as this one."

She turned the phone and looked at Ari.

"She laughed when I said you were well-behaved."

Only because she knows me too well.

"Want to talk with her? It would probably be nice for her to hear your voice. Make her feel more at home."

Ari huffed a sigh. She hated when she saw people talking to their pets over the phone, but she supposed this was a special case.

"Tule. Come here." Ari looked at Laura, who was now kneeling naked and holding the phone out to her. Ari crossed the room and Laura pressed the phone next to her ear. "Know who that is?"

Ari, in wolf form, was practically deaf to the noises that came over a phone line. She recognized Dale's voice, but she only got a handful of the actual words. "...peeping on... dirty dog... safe... watching you." The rest was a garble of nonsense sounds and static. It was like trying to translate a message of dots and dashes without knowing Morse code. Ari barked and walked away.

"Looks like she's done speaking with you. I'll take good care of her. I'll keep in touch and let you know if anything... Oh, there is one more thing. Is she housebroken?"

Ari tensed. The idea of Laura taking her out for a walk... a leash wrapped around one hand and a baggie in the other. Forcing Laura to pick up... Ari trembled, but Dale apparently saved her.

"Oh, good. Well, that's all the news from here. Enjoy your flight. Bye-bye." She hung up and went to the closet to choose an outfit. Ari sniffed Laura's bed. Scents of sex, but very few new scents. Any sex that had happened in this bed lately had been solo affairs. Ari looked around and tried to connect it with the wild girl she read about in the papers. She was constantly high, she was always dating someone else, and she was famous simply for being famous. A year or two back, rumors had circulated about a sex tape that featured her and four other people.

The girl currently buttoning a plain blue dress in her simple little bedroom did not jibe with those accounts. But she was the same girl. Her eyes were the same brilliant blue, even if now they weren't accessorized by bloodshot veins and heavy black bags. Ari felt relief that not only would the job be easy, there was a chance she would be able to give Katherine Gavin some good news about her daughter.

Laura checked the dress in the mirror and motioned for Ari to follow her. "C'mon. Din-din." She scratched Ari between the ears as she passed, and Ari followed her. They went through the living room and into the kitchen. Ari sat on the tile while Laura, barefoot, browned the meat.

Ari's stomach growled. She really wished she had eaten something more substantive for lunch. She wasn't sure when she would get a chance to eat again. Dale was supposed to have given Laura some money; maybe she'd go out and buy kibble. Her stomach lurched at the idea. Maybe when she was starving. She had eaten kibble in the past. It was not an experience she was looking forward to repeating.

While the meat cooked, Laura boiled some pasta. She hummed while she cooked and, at a point when the meal could be left alone, she went into the living room and turned on the stereo. Music started to play. Similar to the interference on cell phones, Ari also didn't hear music the same way she did as a human. It was the strangest difference in her senses. She could see in color, but everything was muted under a gray filter like there was a constant fog. The music sounded like clangs and whistles. She couldn't make out the words of the man singing. Clank, wheeze, whistle, tap-tap, ding, wheeze, whistle. Laura seemed to enjoy it, however, and danced as she stood at the stove.

Ari took advantage of her position to examine Laura's legs and toes. No signs of surreptitious injections, free even of old scars.

Laura finished the meat and taste-tested the noodles. When she was satisfied, she took a bowl out of the cupboard and served it up. Just meat in one bowl, meat and noodles in the other. Laura put the bowl of meat in the refrigerator and carried the other into the dining room. The lamp overhead was weak, but it was bright enough to eat by. She left her food to cool while she retrieved a laptop from the living room.

Her true wealth was revealed by the computer. It was top of the line, still new enough that it shined even in the dim light. She logged on and tapped idly at the keyboard as she ate. Occasionally she would put her food aside and type something longer, or she would chuckle at something she read.

When she was finished eating, she carried her bowl into the kitchen and rinsed it out. She took the bowl of cold meat out of the fridge. Ari had just enough time to wonder why she would cook meat just to cool it off in the fridge when Laura bent down and placed the bowl in front of her. "I think that's cooled enough for you."

Ground beef? Ground beef?

Ari shot to her feet and started eating. Her wolf mind was greedy, and she had to fight to keep herself from choking a couple of times. Laura laughed and sat with her back against the counter. She stroked Ari's back, rubbing her between the shoulders as she scarfed down the meal.

"I know I'm spoiling you, but I know how it feels to be homesick. Spending a night in a strange place... you deserve a treat."

Ari stopped eating long enough to nuzzle Laura's leg with her snout.

"Aw, you're welcome. Don't expect this kind of treatment every night, hear me?"

Ari finished her meal and licked the sides of the bowl. Laura took the bowl and washed it well, setting it separately from the other dishes. She reached down to pet Ari again when there was a knock on the door. Laura's hand hesitated and her entire body went still. Ari looked at her, then twisted and looked toward the door. She smelled something, but it wasn't necessarily bad. It smelled of ice and trees. Tempting smells, subtle smells. Someone who, even at this late hour, was fresh as the morning.

Laura smoothed her hands down her dress, nervously touched her hair, and went to answer the door. She peered through the peephole, standing on her toes to do it, and opened the door with a flourish. "Well, this is a surprise."

"A good one, I hope."

Laura kissed her guest on the cheek and then invited him inside. Ari stood and examined the man. He was a few inches taller than Laura, with dark skin and black hair cut short enough that it seemed drawn onto the skin. He wore a polo shirt that did nothing to hide his broad shoulders, and a pair of tan chinos. There was a leather satchel slung across his chest. The man caught Ari's movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to look at her.

"You never told me you had a dog."

"I don't. She's a loaner." She chuckled at the joke. "Tule, this is Neal. Neal, this is Tule."

He smiled and held out his hand with the palm slightly cupped. "Tule? Wow. Does she know how to shake?"

Ari put her paw in his hand.

"Guess so," Neal said. "Hi, Tule. Nice to meet you."

Laura shifted nervously on bare feet, tugging at her dress as if she wished she'd worn something different. "So, um, what brings you by? I have a phone."

"Is this a bad time?" He turned to face her, Ari forgotten as he focused on the other human being in the room. Ari loved the anonymity being a wolf afforded her; the things people would say in front of a dog...

"No! No. I just would have cleaned. Maybe changed clothes or... something. Never mind. Uh, sit down."

He walked to the couch and sat. Laura hesitated and then sat beside him. He took off the satchel and laid it on the coffee table. He explained as he opened it. "You said something about helping out with the fundraiser, so I thought I would bring over a few things so you could get a feel for what we were doing."

"Oh, thank you." She took the first papers he handed to her and skimmed them. "You could have just given me these Monday at work."

"I thought you might want to go over them over the weekend. I know how little time you have for yourself during the week."

Laura smiled. "This looks really great. When do you need me?"

"Sign-ups start next month. If you wouldn't mind keeping track of the applications and maybe acting as treasurer--"

"You'd trust Guzzling Gavin with the registration fees?"

Neal shook his head. "Absolutely not. But you? Yeah, I would trust you in a heartbeat."

Laura seemed melancholy. "I'm the same woman I was three months ago."

"No, you're not." He touched her hair and tucked a strand behind her ear. "You changed your whole life. You got away from your family and their influence, and you're remaking yourself. You're making yourself into the person you should always have ended up as. And I think that person is pretty darn great."

Laura looked up at him and suddenly leaned in to kiss him.

Ari went into the kitchen and slipped under the table where she couldn't observe. She had played the voyeur enough for one night. She heard Neal muttering, "Wait, wait," and the sounds of kissing stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"I... I don't want..."

"You don't want me?"

Neal answered almost before she finished asking. "No, that's not what I was going to say. I was just going to say that maybe we shouldn't rush into anything."

"The old me used to rush into things. Jump into bed with guys the second I met them, or have sex with someone when I wasn't entirely sure of their name. But I've known you since rehab, Neal. You made it stick for me, and you showed me there was a way out. I was stuck in a movie, and that was the only part I'd been given, but you showed me another story I could be in." Ari heard her kiss him again. "I want this," she whispered. "I want you. I've wanted you for a long time, but I waited until I was absolutely sure it was a decision I wouldn't regret."

"And now you're sure?"

Laura laughed. "No. I was sure about three weeks ago. But this is the first time we've been alone since then."

More kissing. Ari remained under the table. This time, Neal didn't stop the kiss. Ari put her head down and put her forepaws over her head as best she could. It didn't do much to block out the sounds, the quiet moans or the sighs or the sound of lips pulling apart and coming back together. Ari twitched and considered getting up to scratch at the door. Nature's calling, better let me out of the apartment while you do whatever you're doing, hahahaha LET ME OUT.

Laura said, "Come with me." The couch creaked as they stood and Ari resurfaced just enough to see Laura lead him into the bedroom. She left the door open a crack, and the bedsprings protested as they put their weight onto the mattress. They left the light off, relying on the light from the living room to spill in.

Ari went into the far corner of the dining room, as far as she could get from the bedroom without leaving the apartment. She curled up and prepared to force herself into a trance state so she wouldn't overhear anything she didn't want to hear.

She had almost succeeded, spending almost five minutes staring at nothing and filling her head with nonsense, when she heard a drawer slide open. Her head rose, her ears pricked up.

She hadn't smelled any drugs when she went through the apartment the first time, but Neal was a new element. He could have brought some in his pockets. Maybe the whole conversation they'd had on the couch was subterfuge. Laura was used to tabloids staking her out. Maybe she was worried about a listening device. Talk about fundraisers and what a good person she was, and then the real drug deal went down in the bedroom. Maybe she didn't have odd activity in her bank account because she was paying for the drugs another way.

Reluctantly, Ari got to her feet. Apparently she wasn't done playing the voyeur yet.

She nudged the bedroom door open with her shoulder and tried not to look directly at the bed. Neal's back, glistening with sweat and framed by Laura's comparatively very pale legs. The bottom of Laura's right foot, her toes curled. The nightstand drawer was still open, and Ari inched close enough to look inside. A vibrator, a small bottle of lubrication, and the object she had most likely gone in search of, a box of condoms. It was torn open, and the wrapper of the condom was lying in the tangled sheets.

"Oh, my God," Laura said suddenly, almost laughing. "This dog is the biggest pervert I've ever seen. Tule, go... go on..."

Neal laughed, and Laura couldn't help but join him. Ari turned and left the room as their laughter was muffled by more kissing, more moaning. She sat on the other side of the couch and put her head on her paws, waiting for the inevitable end to their activities. She dozed, she listened to them grunt and moan and cry out. At one point Laura started crying, and Ari got to her feet to come to her aid. But her canidae hearing picked up Neal's whispers: "It's okay. Sh. It's all right." Soon enough, her sobs turned into kisses and they were starting up again.

Finally, Neal and Laura left the bedroom. They kissed in front of the couch after Neal gathered his things. He was dressed, but Laura had just wrapped herself in the sheet to see him to the door. Her face was red, her hair mussed, and she looked about ten years younger than she had before she went into the bedroom.

He cupped her face and put his free hand on her hip. "I can spend the night, you know."

"No. I need to, uh, be alone to process. But I am really, really happy that we did this." She kissed him again, on her toes to meet his lips. Ari was afraid it was going to turn into yet another round, but she pulled back and scratched the base of his skull with her fingernails before she let him go. She walked him to the door and they whispered their goodnights. He was about to walk away but then came back.

"Oh, shit. The fundraiser. Are you--"

"I'll do it." She laughed. "Do you need me to sign anything?"

"No. We'll take care of that on Monday. Night, Laura."

She waved goodbye and shut the door, twisting the locks before she rested her forehead against the wood. She took a deep breath, turned, and looked at Ari. Her grin widened as she aimed an accusing finger at her. "Peeping Tule. Naughty pup. I'm going to have to start locking doors around here."

That would be nice.

Laura crouched, keeping the sheet over her chest by pinning the material under her arms. She cupped Ari's face and looked into her eyes. "It's been a really long time since I did that. A lot longer since doing that felt good. Maybe you're my good luck charm." She kissed the flat part of Ari's head. "Thank you, Tule. You definitely earned your hamburger dinner."

Ari felt guilty. She was a spy, hired to snoop into every aspect of Laura's private life. She turned and licked Laura's inner wrist.

"Loaner dogs." Laura laughed. "It's not a bad idea, you know? I know some people who would pay good money for a loaner dog. Especially one that got them laid." Her smile faltered. "No. Getting laid is what I used to do. Tonight, I made love." She seemed giddy just saying the words. She kissed the top of Ari's head again, then stood up and said, "I'm going to take a shower. If you're on the bed when I get out, I won't kick you off."

Ari watched her go into the bathroom and took the opportunity to search the bedroom. To a human, the smell of sex would simply be noticeable. But to Ari the musk was overwhelming. Pheromones wafted on the breeze from the vents, arousing her but not so much that she couldn't fight it. She checked the drawers, under the pillow, the pockets of the dress Laura had been wearing, and under the bed. No drugs.

Relieved, Ari climbed onto the foot of the bed and curled up. She was half-asleep when Laura came into the room, changed into her pajamas, and slid under the covers without the sheet. Ari turned and draped herself over Laura's feet.

"Goodnight, Tule."

Ari took a deep breath and crossed her paws under her head, waiting for Laura to fall asleep so her real work could begin.

#

Chapter Six

Dale checked her watch. The man who had gone into the apartment came out two hours later. She wrote down the time next to his license plate number. She put the pad and pencil down on the seat and pushed her glasses up to pinch the bridge of her nose. She was dressed for bed, her contact lenses left behind in her apartment, but she couldn't sleep knowing Ari was out there alone. So despite the fact that Katherine Gavin had insisted on an invisible surveillance, she was going to make sure Ari was safe before she left her alone without backup.

The light in the ground floor apartment's window went out close to ten minutes after the guest left. Dale smirked as she thought of what Ari might have been 'forced' to witness. She would give it another fifteen minutes before she headed home. Ari had often spent the night in the homes of people they were hired to watch. It made staking out a lot easier. Just as frequently, Ari would find ways to sneak out during the night and spend a few hours in human form.

She was startled by a sudden knock on the window next to her head. She realized she was close to asleep, and the man standing next to her car seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She looked in the back window to see if a cop had pulled up, but the street was deserted. She rolled down her window just enough for conversation.

"Can I help you?"

"Dale Frye of Bitches Investigations?"

She tensed. "Who's asking?"

He slipped a card through the gap in the window. She took it and squinted to read the lettering. "Oliver Echols."

"We spoke on the phone."

"Right. What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you. I thought Mrs. Gavin was clear about the surveillance being as invisible as possible."

Dale smiled. "Do you see Ariadne anywhere, Mr. Echols? Trust me, I'm just the backup."

"Be that as it may, Ms. Frye, if we have any reason to believe Laura was aware of your surveillance, this entire investigation will be a waste of time. It's easy for her to be on the best behavior when someone is watching, because she knows the watcher will eventually leave. Not even Mrs. Gavin can pay someone to watch Laura forever."

"So you're here pro-bono?"

She could see his reptilian smile even in the dim glow washing over the car from the nearby streetlight. "I'm here to make sure Mrs. Gavin gets her money worth. I won't be looking over your shoulder every step of the way, but I thought you and Ms. Willow should be aware I am around."

"Good to know."

"Take care, Ms. Frye." He straightened and looked down the street, as if looking for Ari. When he was satisfied she wasn't there, he turned and walked across the street. Dale watched him go until he was almost indistinguishable from shadow. She shuddered at the run-in, grateful she was wearing a jacket over her pajamas. When she looked again, Echols had completely vanished from sight.

"Creepy." She started the car and pulled away from the curb. She gave Laura's apartment one final glance as she went by, banishing Oliver Echols from her mind.

#

Ari transformed in the bathroom and put on Laura's robe before she ventured out into the dark apartment. She searched the little desk in the living room and thumbed through the fundraiser information Neal left. Then she stood in the middle of the living room and tried to think of something else to investigate. Her back and shoulders were sore. She set aside three whole days to search the apartment based on the size of the Gavin House. Now she was in it, she realized that she barely needed an entire morning. She would call Dale in the morning while Laura was at work and tell her they could cut her "trip" short.

Ari was about to transform again when she heard movement in the bedroom. The bed squeaked as Laura climbed out from under the covers. Ari pressed her back against the wall and stood very still as Laura stumbled to the bathroom. She turned on the light, hissed as it burned her eyes, and used the toilet without closing the door. Ari slipped silently around the couch to the kitchen. She couldn't guarantee silence when she transformed, and she didn't dare risk it.

The toilet flushed and Laura padded back to the bedroom. She paused at the doorway. "Tule. Tch, tch. C'mon, girl."

The bed squeaked again, the blankets rustled a bit, and soon the apartment had fallen still once more. Ari crouched in the back corner of the dining room and shed the robe. She didn't dare return it to the bathroom and risk being seen. She closed her eyes and concentrated on being absolutely silent as she became the wolf again.

Her skin rippled and thickened and erupted in fur. Her fingers splayed and then curled together. She arched her back as her coccyx extended and became her tail. God, she hated having a tail. She shook herself, rustling her fur as she stretched her legs out in front of her. She twisted from side to side and then moved gingerly through the apartment. She climbed onto the bed and Laura gasped quietly at her sudden arrival.

"Hey, Tule." Her voice trailed off at the end of Ari's fake name as she drifted off again.

Ari used Laura's ankle as a pillow and closed her eyes. She didn't let herself sleep fully; she dozed and rested without allowing a deep sleep. More than once she had inadvertently transformed in her sleep. She didn't want Laura to wake up with a strange naked woman in her bed. The night dragged on, and Laura occasionally murmured in her sleep. She said Neal's name a few times, and her hands moved under the blankets in a pattern that gave Ari all the information she needed about the dream's content.

The day slowly started to brighten the window, turning the blinds from dismal gray to pale brown. Laura stirred and rolled onto her back, lifting her head in surprise when she felt Ari's weight around her feet. She smiled and lifted her foot under the blankets, turning it into a giant mitt as she rubbed Ari's side. "Hey, doggy."

Ari stood up as Laura sat up. "Did you have a nice night staying with Auntie Laura? Your girl told me that I can just let you out to do your business. Said you wouldn't take long. But if I let you go, you have to promise to come back, okay? I made Dale a promise and I don't want to be in trouble if you get lost again."

Ari huffed and nodded.

"Wow, you're amazing. Okay." She kissed the side of Ari's neck and slipped out of bed. She put on a pair of cut-off sweatpants and a T-shirt, then gestured for Ari to follow her. She opened the apartment door and crouched in front of her. "There's a Pomeranian in 2-B. Stay away from her, because she's vicious. See you back here after my shower."

She stood, and Ari left the apartment. A door at the back of the lobby was propped open with a cinder block. Ari passed it and went to the entrance of the alley. She looked both directions for an appropriate place to do her business. Using the bathroom as the wolf was the height of indignity. Occasionally it was necessary, so she tried to get as much privacy as possible.

There was a little park across the street. She went there and found a shady spot. When she was finished, she did her best to bury what had been left. When she waited on the sidewalk to cross the street, she spotted a familiar face walking toward her. Oliver Echols was speaking on a cell phone as he walked, one hand shoved into the pocket of his coat. He was wearing a flat cap pulled low on his brow to cover his face. "Didn't side hide or hair of the Willow girl, but her partner was parked outside. They might be taking shifts." He glanced at Ari as he stepped around her. "Maybe Willow is just better at hiding. Yes, ma'am."

Aw, Dale. Checking up on me? How sweet.

Her amusement at Dale staking out her stakeout was overwhelmed by Echols' presence. Katherine Gavin said the whole reason she'd hired Ari was because Laura kept spotting Echols' surveillance. So what was he doing there? She stared at him as he walked away from her, pausing at the crosswalk before he hung up and jogged across the street. She hoped he was simply checking up on the new girl, making sure Ari was as good as she claimed to be.

She returned to Laura's apartment and sat in the corner under the stairs. She wasn't waiting long before the door opened and Laura smiled down at her. "Hello, there. All done?" She was showered and dressed, wearing a red blouse and houndstooth slacks held up by thick black suspenders. "Come on in. I have breakfast."

Ari went into the apartment and into the kitchen. She knew better than to hope for more ground beef, but she still sniffed the air expectantly.

"Dale is going to be so mad at me, but I can't help spoiling you." She put down a plate with two sausage patties. Ari devoured them while Laura finished making her breakfast.

"I'm going to work today, so you're going to have to be good while I'm out. I have to..." She smiled and bit her bottom lip. "I have to go see Neal at the foundation, too. That oughta be fun, huh?" She looked down at Ari. "You want to know the truth, Tule? I feel like a virgin who just had her first sleepover. I know it's ridiculous. Even you probably saw that stupid sex tape where I got... well." She waved her hand in dismissal. "Suffice to say, it's common knowledge I'm no virgin. But I feel like this is the first time I've really made love. That counts, right? I mean, that counts more than, you know, fumbling with some guy who works for my mom."

Ari tensed. She had a fairly good idea which guy she was referring to, and the idea sickened her.

"Neal's a really good guy, too. I held myself back for as long as I could. I didn't want to be that girl again, you know? The girl who shook hands by spreading her legs." She screwed up her face. "I was trying to throw myself away. I wasn't a person; I was just a toy in the Gavin House play set. But I showed them, huh? I'm a person now. I have a job, I have a boyfriend, I--" She looked at Ari and then crouched next to her. "And I'm getting a dog. You sealed the deal, baby. Lots of responsibility, but you are just great. I love talking to you." She smiled. "Do you understand a damn thing I'm saying, or are you just being good so I'll give you more sausage?"

Can't I be doing both?

Laura kissed her head again. "You're a good dog."

She stood up and finished cooking. When she was done, she tossed Ari a piece of charred bacon that Ari snatched out of the air.

"Maybe Dale will just let me keep you."

Depends on what day you ask her.

She took a seat at the table and Ari patiently sat beside her chair while she ate. Every now and then Laura would reach down with her free hand to scratch Ari's head. Ari closed her eyes and stretched out her neck. Her secret fetish was being petted, stroked, rubbed. She didn't want to have sex as the wolf, which she was sure would just be nauseating, but she understood why animals were so crazy about it.

Laura rinsed her breakfast dishes in the sink and slipped on her shoes. "Okay. The foundation and then work. If I have a minute, I might swing by around ten to see how you're doing. Don't mess up Auntie Laura's apartment, okay? I already love you too much to be mad at you." She scratched Ari's head again and then left the apartment.

She loves me? I'm seriously going to Hell for this job.

Ari watched through the window as Laura left the building and walked away down the street. She went the opposite direction from Echols, which made Ari feel a little better about her sighting, and she dropped to all fours again. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

Ninety seconds and unspeakable pain later, a naked woman was crouched in front of the window of Laura's living room. She stood and cried out as muscles in her back twisted wrong. She rocked from side to side, one hand over her spine, and mimed the 'little teapot short and stout' dance until she was capable of moving. She went into the bedroom and found a shirt in Laura's closet big enough to cover her decently while she snooped.

She picked up the phone and dialed Dale's number.

"This is Dale Frye."

"Hello, Dale Frye, this is Ariadne Willow."

Dale chuckled. "Morning. How do you feel?"

Ari absently rubbed her back through her shirt. "Fair enough. I don't think I'm going to need the full three days to search this place. I think if I take today to search I'll have seen everything there is to see."

"And more, from what I hear. Did you really walk into her room while she was naked?"

If only that was all. She cleared her throat. "It was a complete accident, I swear." Dale chuckled. "Speaking of seeing more, I heard you were hanging around outside the apartment last night."

"Who told you-- Echols?"

"You saw him see you?"

"He spoke to me. Creepy-ass son of a bitch."

Ari couldn't disagree. "I saw him this morning on the street. Talking on the phone to Katherine Gavin, I suppose. He didn't recognize me in my fur coat."

Dale chuckled. "What's the verdict so far on Laura?"

"That's another reason I'm cutting my surveillance short. I think I could watch her for three weeks and not come up with anything. I never thought people could change who they were so completely, but this girl is not tabloid fodder. I really believe she's changed herself. I can't even imagine her doing half the stuff I've read about."

"Katherine Gavin should be happy about that. Think she'll honor the agreement even if we don't need the full nine days?"

"Hey, she wanted a full nine days of observation. I'm going to do my best to give that to her." She opened a drawer and found a small book bound with soft leather. It was bound with a strip of rawhide. She turned down the top corner of the cover and saw handwritten words on the pale tan pages inside. "I might have just found her diary."

"Gonna read it?"

"I might skim. I hate that part of the job."

"I know. How are you otherwise?"

Ari smiled. "I told you I'm fine. I transformed once during the night to get a feel for the place in my own skin, and now I'm me. I'll turn into the wolf again before she gets home this afternoon, and I'll just keep that form until you come pick me up. That's two transformations. No problem whatsoever."

"That's four transformations, Ari."

"I don't count going from person to wolf. It doesn't hurt as bad."

"But it does hurt."

Ari rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to argue this with you again, Dale. The only time you can massage me is when I'm human, so changing into a human is the only transformation that matters. And since I'm the one doing the transforming, I get to make the distinction."

"Fine, fine. Be stubborn."

Ari stuck her tongue out at the phone, but she was still smiling. "Thanks for worrying about me, Dale. It means a lot."

"Well, someone has to. I'll call tomorrow afternoon and tell her that I'm coming to pick you up. She should be relieved."

"Don't be so sure. I'm a very lovable dog."

Dale laughed. "Well, I'm sure you are. You can't talk when you're the wolf."

Ari barked into the phone, which only made Dale laugh harder.

"I'll talk to you soon. See you, Dale."

"See you."

Ari hung up and untied the string holding the diary closed. On the top of the first page, eight words were written in elegant purple print: "Last Will and Testament of Laura Marjory Gavin." Ari felt a chill reading those words and forced herself to continue. "I, being of sound fucking mind, am going to kill my shitty self. Whatever I have is really Mawmaw's, so I guess I have nothing to leave behind but my damned body. Do with it what you will, becoz that's all anyone did when I was alive. 'Pardonay moi monshore. I did not do it on purpose.'"

The end of the 'will' was a quote of Marie Antoinette's last words, spoken on her way to the guillotine when she stepped on her executioner's foot. Ari had always liked that quote better than the stupid cake one, but seeing it here in Laura's handwriting made her sick to the stomach. The girl who had fed a stranger's dog hamburger and sausage, who had hummed and danced in the kitchen while she cooked, had written these words in anticipation of suicide.

It was dated five months ago.

The next page, dated a week later, was much simpler. "Maybe I don't have to die to kill who I am."

There was a large gap in time between that entry and the third, which detailed her third entry to rehab, checking herself in this time. She wrote how she felt "oddly naked" standing in the lobby all alone without a manager or Oliver standing with her and holding her arm. "That's what I needed," she wrote. "Like all those books Mr. Jordan tried to make me read for school and I could never get through them but when I tried to read them on my own just for entertainment they were so much better. This is something I needed to decide to do for myself without anyone forcing me. I needed to decide."

Ari skimmed the rehab entries until she spotted Neal's name. "That cute volunteer guy came by again. Our therapists here - well MY THERAPIST here - is big on giving back to the community. He says it's what I need to do in order to break out of my cycle of self-destruction. Volunteer guy is named Neal. He's fuckable but I'm fighting the urge. I'm not going to be that girl anymore. Neal doesn't seem to want that anyway (maybe he's gay? lol get over yourself, Laura) so he's just a nice guy who wants to help me help myself. That's some Jerry Maguire shit, except Jerry actually fucked Renee Zellwhatever, I think."

Ari smiled and flipped forward. One page was taken up by two words written in several inks, traced and retraced over and over again. They were surrounded by hearts, fireworks, smiley faces, cat faces, and random curlicues.

"I'M CLEAN!"

The page facing it was mostly blank except for five words written in a serious little block in the middle of the space. The words were stacked, one on top of the other. "And I'm Staying That Way."

Ari closed the diary, wrapped the strip of rawhide around it again, and placed it reverently in the drawer. "I hope you did," she whispered. Part of her couldn't wait to tell Katherine Gavin what she'd found, while another felt betrayed by the idea of sharing what she had just learned. She felt like Laura was her friend, and getting paid to spy on her was making Ari less and less comfortable.

So much for the idea of easy money.

She focused on her work. The sooner she finished the job, the faster she could put aside her conscience and sell what she had learned to Laura's mother. She longed for a job where she just had to prove someone was sleeping with his secretary. Ari sighed and continued searching the apartment.

#

Chapter Seven

"Wild child Laura Gavin is at it again..." The so-called reporter - surely they weren't called journalists or anchormen - on the TV program was standing on a neon blue set, dressed in a TV-Dad type sweater and khakis. His hair was heavily-gelled, and he spoke fast to try and fool his viewers into thinking what he had to say actually meant something. On a large rectangular screen behind him was a candid shot of Laura Gavin, her eyes hidden behind big sunglasses and her lips parted either in mid-word or in surprise.

Ari had found the DVD on top of the entertainment center. It was labeled Greatest Misses in what Ari could now easily identify as Laura's handwriting. The twerp on TV was still detailing Laura's latest antics. "...at the nightclub claim that the fight was started by the other girl, but Guzzling Gavin as she's come to be known refused to let it go. The fight ended when security was forced to drag Laura out of the club where she was picked up by her ever-present bodyguard Oliver Echols. The Gavin family couldn't be reached for comment - as usual - but we here at America's Watercooler got exclusive access to--"

Ari skipped ahead on the DVD. Apparently Laura was a favorite subject for America's Watercooler, but there were also segments from Access Hollywood and Inside Edition. Letterman, of course, was represented by a couple of Top Tens and monologues. The DVD was full of footage of a complete stranger. Ari recognized Laura Gavin only in the pictures.

The girl the reporters were talking about, that the comics were laughing about, was an aggressive brat with a temper and a superiority complex. Seeing what she used to be made her current life all the more impressive. She also understood Katherine Gavin's reluctance to accept it was permanent. It was all almost too good to be true.

No one would put on airs for a dog. Besides, there was one major difference between the Laura she'd spent the night with and the woman on all the tabloids. In none of the video footage, and not one of the photographs, was she smiling. She had a scowl, she had a smirk, and she had a middle finger that got a lot of pixelation. The old Laura Gavin wasn't just a drug addict, she was intensely unhappy.

Ari took the DVD out of the machine and returned it to the case. It was nearly nine-thirty, so she braced herself and undressed. She transformed in the study and walked on all fours into the living room. She sat in front of the coffee table and put her head down on her paws. She slept until she heard a key in the door, rising to her feet as Laura came inside.

"Hey, Tule! I just wanted to check on you."

Ari tried to match that cheerful, lively voice with the person she'd just heard shouting, "Get that *bleep*  camera out of my godd*mn face before I feed it to you, you little c*ntlicker." She failed.

Laura was carrying a white plastic bag, and Ari followed her because she smelled food within. It wasn't as appetizing as the other meals she had gotten in the apartment, and she resigned herself to what was about to happen. Laura unloaded her stuff, put a few things in the fridge, and then knelt on the floor. She had brought a bowl of water out with her and set it down next to an empty plate. "I figured Dale would be very upset if she knew I only gave you people food, so I thought you should have an appropriate lunch."

It was Pedigree. Ari could choke down that better than some other brands. Laura opened the can with a hand crank opener, and Ari sniffed the air. Chopped beef, chicken and liver. She'd had worse. Hell, it was probably indistinguishable from a liver dinner at some fancy restaurant. She steeled herself as Laura dished it out, trying to look excited as she started eating.

"Good girl." Laura stroked her neck as she forced herself to eat. "I talked to Neal this morning. He wants to take me out. You think I should say yes?"

Ari lifted her head and stared at her. Laura laughed.

"Of course I'm going to say yes. I just wanted someone's opinion." Ari went back to her meal. "You're a very good confidante, Tule."

Oh, God, twist the knife a little harder, why don't you?

"It feels so weird to actually like a guy. To want to be with him and just, like, sit at home and watch TV. And I bet he never saw himself with someone like me, either." She laughed. "God, taking me home to mama and daddy. I'll be surprised if they don't disown him." She picked up a strand of her blonde hair and held it in front of her eyes. "This might not help, either. Some people get so bent out of shape about stuff like that."

Ari licked her chops and left about a quarter of the food on her plate.

"Gonna save the rest for later, huh? It's all about portion control." She pushed herself up. "Okay. I have to go to work. I'll see you tonight." She bent down and kissed the top of Ari's head before she went into the bedroom. She came out with a bag banging against her hip. She blew a kiss to Ari as she left, waved her fingers, and locked the door on her way out of the apartment.

Ari hurried to the bathroom to throw up the meal Laura had kindly, lovingly prepared for her.

#

Dale went into the office and used Ari's computer to do research. Googling the name Laura Gavin gave her a hundred million hits. She combined the name with Oliver Echols and narrowed it down considerably. A fan site had a page dedicated entirely to Laura's 'ever-present guardian angel.' He seemed to have a sizable following of his own, with a frightening amount of girls who visited the site labeling his photo gallery as 'absolutely H-O-T sexy!' and 'scrumpable.' Dale had to use Urban Dictionary to figure out what that one meant and immediately regretted it. Kids these days.

The photos in the gallery were mostly candid shots of Laura with Echols looming in the background. Dale didn't see the attraction, but then she thought about it a little. A strong man, always nearby but never getting in your way. She wondered how many of the girls lusting after him had unresolved daddy issues.

There was a biography. Everyone on the internet had a bio. Dale was grateful, since it made her job easier, but she wondered how many bios were completely unnecessary. She clicked on Echols'. He was a former Seattle cop with just a bit of military training, although he had never been sent overseas. Divorced, no kids. The Gavin family hired him as private security for their home, but Laura quickly became his sole priority.

Dale clicked back. When Laura first started showing up at clubs, she was eighteen years old. There was a frisson of buzz about someone from the near-mythical Gavin family appearing in public, but no photographs or detailed accounts of her very first exposure to the world. Dale wondered why, after years of reclusion, Katherine had agreed to let Laura make such a spectacle of herself in the first place. The Gavin family had prided itself on secrecy for as long as Dale could remember, hence the urban legends.

There was also a question about how, exactly, Laura got hooked on drugs. Maybe Dale was just a naïve grown-up, but she didn't think it would have been very easy for someone as young and recognizable as Laura to get her hands on drugs. Her suspicion fell solely on Echols. She left the fan site, knowing their information was biased at best. She looked up Oliver Echols and found a few news stories that predated his connection to the Gavin family.

His departure from the police department was the result of an ethics investigation. He chose to resign rather than take the situation to court. Internal Affairs suspected that Echols and several of his fellow patrolmen received cash payments from high profile suspects to look the other way. The evidence was circumstantial; Echols and his alleged co-conspirators had been smart enough not to splurge on expensive cars or houses if they did receive payoffs. Eventually the pressure became great enough that Echols simply fell on his sword and resigned.

Three months later, he started showing up in tabloid pictures as personal security for the Gavin family.

She searched the Seattle Beacon's website for news stories that mentioned Katherine Gavin, going back five years to stories published before Laura made the family a household name again. The majority of hits were mentions of charitable donations, grants, and other good works. She found one story where the police had been called to the Gavin House to deal with a possible intruder. Dale clicked on the story and spotted exactly what she had expected.

"Responding to the call, Officers John Harrison and Oliver Echols searched the grounds and found no evidence of the intruder."

Dale assumed that was when Echols started his relationship with the Gavin family. She wondered if Katherine Gavin had anything to do with the payoffs that ended Echols' career. Paying the cops to keep Laura out of trouble... it would certainly be within Katherine's character. Ari's contract on the job was just to confirm Laura was clean. It sounded like she was fulfilling that, but Dale thought there was more to be done. If Echols was supplying Laura with drugs, then he had to be taken out of the equation if her rebirth was going to last.

She had another twenty-four hours or so before she had to go pick up Ari, so she could put that time to good use by confirming the source of Laura's drugs. Judging from the tabloids, Laura's old friends and fellow party girls weren't exactly the 'seal of confession' type of confidantes. She put on her coat and a pageboy cap, slipped on her glasses, and hoped she could pass as being six - okay, maybe seven - years younger than she really was.

#

Ari had a new respect for the house pets who watched out windows all day, then jumped on their owners the second they came in the door. It was insanely boring to walk around the apartment all afternoon. She considered changing back and going for a quick jog, but she didn't have a key and didn't want to leave Laura's apartment unlocked. Besides, she promised Dale she would keep transformations to a bare minimum during this case.

She sniffed the remaining food on the plate and realized that Laura would worry if it was still there when she got home. God, it never ends with this case. She steeled herself and ate as much as she could. She had flushed the evidence of her earlier sickness, but she was determined to keep this serving down as long as possible.

Ari was in the kitchen drinking from the water dish when she heard the apartment door open. She lifted her head, water dripping from her muzzle, and wondered why Laura would be home so early. She walked out of the kitchen and bumped into the pressed legs of Echols' slacks. She retreated, ears flat and baring her teeth. Echols took a step back as well.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He reached down to touch her, but Ari barked and he withdrew his hand. "Just relax, pooch. I'm supposed to be here."

The hell you are.

Echols looked at the plate of food and bent down to pick it up. "Here. Chow down, mutt. I won't be here long and then you can go back to pissing on all the furniture."

Ari swung her front paw and knocked the plate out of his hand. Echols started to shout something, but Ari lunged at him. She slammed her head into his crotch and knocked him backward. "You stupid..." She grabbed his tie in her teeth and tugged on it. Echols punched her in the side of the head and Ari's vision went sideways. "Stupid fucking dog." Ari let go of the tie and backed away. Echols smoothed a hand down his tie and advanced on her. "Thousand things in this apartment a dumb mutt like you could accidentally choke on. Wanna see how many of them I can find?"

Ari lowered herself, her forepaws flat on the carpet with her rear in the air, ready to pounce. Echols lunged at her, and Ari tried to bite his sleeve. He grabbed hold of her collar and jerked it upward, hoisting Ari off her feet. She yelped as the leather cut into her throat and cut off her air. She kicked and twisted, trying to fight him as he carried her through the living room. "Bitch. Little bitch guard dog. If I wanted Laura to know I was here, I'd leave you as a calling card, you know that? Pieces of you all over the apartment. Maybe another time."

He hurled her into the spare room like she was a toy. She hit the wall and yelped in pain, rolling onto her feet just in time to see him slam the door. Ari ran to it, her claws futilely scrabbling at the door. She threw her weight against it, barking as loud as she could without damaging her throat. It was already raw from her impromptu choking.

After what seemed like an hour, the door swung in toward her. She tried to attack, but Echols was holding something that held her back. The baseball bat looked massive from her perspective, and he swung the blunt end in her face to let her get a good look at it before he banged it against the carpet. Ari cowed.

"I could make it look like a break-in. Steal some of her stuff." He hit the ground again. "Hero guard dog could take a beating. Or maybe she left the door open, dog got out... shit happens. Be a good dog and sit your ass down in here." He pointed at her with the baseball bat, and Ari reluctantly backed away. She didn't want to attack him until she knew exactly what the hell was going on.

But you're definitely on my shit list, Mr. Echols.

He turned away from the door and crossed the living room quickly. Ari only moved when she heard the front door close, his key jingling in the lock before he left. Ari wondered if Laura knew Echols had a key to her apartment, and just how many times he had been inside it without her knowledge. She stepped out of the spare room and looked into the living room.

In the small hallway that connected the three back rooms, she paused. She lifted her head and turned toward the bedroom.

Drugs. There were drugs in the apartment.

She moved to the bedroom and tried to pin down the scent. Cocaine. She sniffed the bed and the nightstand. She used her paw to pull the nightstand drawer out. The condoms sent up a red flag, and she pulled the drawer out. Oh, shit, the condoms are coated with cocaine. Echols must have tainted a batch at home and then switched them out. Ari's breath became rough with anger. Laura got clean, felt comfortable and safe enough to start a physical relationship with someone, and Echols was going to use that against her? If Ari had just been observing Laura's behavior, she would have reported back evidence of drug use.

Ari debated her options and then pulled the drawer out of the nightstand. It hit the ground with a thud, Laura's sexual paraphernalia scattering on the floor. Ari sidestepped the vibrator and used her paw to push the condoms away from the rest of the group. How much could a dog conceivably get away with? She didn't want to ruin Laura's carpet, but her options were limited. She used her teeth to pull a towel out of the hamper, and she pushed the box of condoms on top of it. Once the carpet was protected, Ari focused on the food sitting in her stomach like a stone. It didn't take long before her gorge rose and she deposited it on top of and into the tainted box. She hacked and licked her chops and turned her back.

As she relieved herself, her lips spread in a smile. Take that, Echols.

#

"Othello's ensign, or cartoon parrot. Four letters."

"Iago," Dale said. She spelled it. The desk sergeant filled in the answer on his crossword. A uniformed cop brought in a guy wearing handcuffs, checked him in at the front desk like he was a concierge and then took him downstairs.

Dale had been waiting at the precinct for almost an hour. She had a few hours before the clubs Laura used to frequent would be open for business, so she came up with a surefire plan to kill time and gain information. Unfortunately it seemed like the woman she had come to see was standing her up. She was about to give up and go to the second part of her plan when Diana Rios finally appeared. "I was about to think they hadn't told you I was here."

"They told me. Thanks for keeping an eye on her, Kyle."

"No problem. I might actually finish one of these crosswords thanks to her."

Diana scoffed. "I'll alert the press. Come on back, Dale." She pushed open the swinging door and escorted Dale through. She pointed to a desk in the far corner of the room and followed Dale over. "So what did she get caught up in this time?"

"Nothing major, I swear."

Diana muttered, "Sure."

Ari and Diana had dated a while back. Dale wasn't crystal clear on the details, but the breakup hadn't exactly been amicable. Still, Diana helped them out from time to time when she was able. She wasn't overly thrilled to do it, however. She lowered herself into her seat with a grunt and leaned back with her arms crossed.

"I need to know about a cop who was on the force about five years ago."

"Before my time."

Dale said, "His name was Oliver Echols."

Diana's face betrayed her interest. "Oh. I remember hearing about that when it happened. He works for the Gavin family now, I think. Personal security for that tabloid magnet girl."

"Do you know any cops who might remember Echols? Might be able to give me an idea of what he's like?"

"He's a prick."

Dale and Diana both turned toward the man who had spoken. He was an older detective with a beer gut straining the limits of his shirt. He was sitting two desks away and had twisted in his seat to face the women.

"Who wants to know about Echols?"

"Dale, meet Wayne Sydney. Wayne, this is Dale Frye. She works for a private investigator named Ariadne Willow." A pause, and then, "She's one of the good guys. For the most part. Usually"

Dale smiled her thanks. "I just want to know what I'm dealing with. Forewarned is forearmed, right?"

"Watch your back. That's what you got to know." He used the tip of his pen to sweep the room. "Everyone around you is here because they love the job. Echols was here because he liked the power. He really loved having the badge because it meant people had to give him respect. That's why he took the payoffs. Another form of respect and power. Good riddance to the guy. He never belonged here, and he was never one of us. You have to deal with him, make sure you watch your back."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Detective Sydney."

Diana said, "Whatever you're doing, if it involves Echols, then it also involves the Gavin family. You've heard the stories?"

"The urban legends, or the stories about Laura Gavin's wild behavior?"

"Either. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into with that family. Katherine Gavin is a philanthropist, but she's also compulsively secretive. Don't try to dig into her life. Don't get on her bad side. She'll crush you."

Dale smiled. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about us."

"You guys are a pain in the ass, but I'm used to you. If you get on the Gavin family's bad side, Katherine can make you go away. Just watch yourselves."

"We're just a small private investigation agency. No one suspects the little guy." She winked. "Always bet on the underdogs."

#

Chapter Eight

"Bad dog." Laura carried the towel back to the hamper after scrubbing it in the bathtub. "But I guess I should be grateful that you were polite about it. I've never seen a dog lay down a towel for their sick before."

Ari was lying in the bedroom doorway, hoping her contrite expression was suitably convincing. The box of condoms had been tossed in the trash, as she'd hoped. Even if Laura had been furious, it would have been worth enduring the punishment to save her from using them.

"But really... my rubbers? You had to do that now, right after they become necessary again? They sat in my drawer for two darn months gathering dust, and the day after I finally use one..." She shook her head. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous of Neal. But you're a girl. I don't do that anymore." She shrugged and grinned. "Plus you're a dog. I didn't even go there on my craziest night."

Ari lifted her head and worked her facial muscles. She wasn't exactly adept at canine expressions, but apparently it did the trick.

"Oh, honey." Laura knelt in front of her and took Ari's face in her hands. "It's not your fault you got sick. I was just being a little grumpy." She kissed Ari between the eyes. "You did good but, next time, try to use the toilet like a person would, okay?"

Ari huffed and licked Laura's wrist.

"Good girl."

She stood up and went to the closet. "Now, since you had enough etiquette and grace to hurl on a towel instead of the carpet, I want your opinion." She opened the closet and dug around until she found two dresses. She held them in front of her one at a time. "Blue or purple?"

Ari focused and barked, "Green."

Laura's eyes widened, and then she smiled. "Did you just say green?" She put back the two choices and searched until she found a green dress. She held it up in front of herself and moved in front of the mirror. "I don't even know why I bought this. Maybe it was St. Patrick's Day or something. Green, huh? I defer to your judgment."

She hooked the dress on the back of the closet door and started to undress. Ari stood up and walked out of the room. She needed to find a way to warn Laura about Echols, but she couldn't think of a way to do it without blowing her cover. Even if she had Dale mention something, Laura would know she was being watched and it would blow Katherine Gavin's sole requirement of their surveillance.

I can't leave her alone until I know what Echols is up to. Why would he plant the drugs? What does he gain by getting Laura hooked again?

Ari was convinced that getting Echols out of the picture would ensure Laura's sobriety continued. She would just have to keep an eye on Laura for the next week and make sure Echols didn't try to sabotage her again, then give her report to Katherine. She wished she had saved one of the drugged condoms as evidence.

Laura came out of the bedroom wearing the green dress. "There you are. What do you think? It's not exactly a date, but I want to look nice for him. But not extremely-- God, I'm a mess, aren't I, Tule?"

Her cell phone rang, and she returned to the bedroom to retrieve it. "This is Laura. Dale! Hello." She walked back into the living room. "I was just scolding her a bit. No, nothing bad. Typical doggie stuff." She sat on the couch and patted the cushion next to her. Ari approached and sat to one side of Laura's legs. "Oh, really? That's... great, I guess. No, it's just that she's a really great dog. I totally understand your breakdown the other day." She reached out and rubbed Ari's head. "I'll be sad to see her go, but I'm glad she'll be back home. Tomorrow evening would be fine. Um, around six? Sure. Okay, I'll see you then. Bye-bye."

She hung up and looked at the phone. She crossed her arms over her knees and leaned down to look into Ari's eyes.

"Your girl Dale got an early flight back, so she's going to pick you up tomorrow. I am going to miss you, girl." She slid off the couch and wrapped her arms around Ari's neck.

Great. Like I didn't feel bad enough.

"Hey. I have an idea. Why don't you come with me tonight? You can be my good luck charm. Plus it means we'll get a chance to hang out a little more before I give you back."

And it means your apartment will be unprotected in case Echols decides to make another visit. Of course, if he doesn't know about his little condom trap being foiled, he won't have a reason.

Ari barked a little and rubbed her head against Laura's.

"Excellent. I'll finished getting ready and you can... well. I'll loan you some makeup and a pair of heels, but you're on your own for the dress."

Laura stood up and went into the bathroom. Ari watched her go and then went to the front door. If she had fingers, she could rig some way to alert her if Echols entered the apartment while they were gone. She would have to rely on scenting. She dropped her head and sniffed along the edge of the door, sweeping back and forth around the carpet. She picked up thick evidence of Laura, naturally, and a touch of Neal's presence. Echols, of course, was there as well. She focused on his odor and separated it from the others.

She made a map of it in her mind so she would be able to determine if it was fresh after their night out. Laura's smell was the peak, and everyone else's odors were the foothills gathered around the base. Echols was medium high, which meant he was a frequent visitor. The thought made Ari furious. She bared her teeth but bit it back before it turned into a full growl.

Laura came out of the bathroom and Ari went to greet her. She was grateful that she didn't have the ability to speak, because all that would have come out was a stunned, "Wow." Even with her silence, Laura seemed to realize Ari was impressed.

"Well, looks like I still got it. Do you think Neal will like?" She did a spin and Ari barked. "Good, good. Now, I don't actually own a leash... anymore... so you'll have to be very good and stay with me. Can you do that?"

A woman who looks like you, I'd follow anywhere.

"Good girl. And I'll leave it up to you to keep me in line. I don't want to regress into the old Laura."

Not as long as I'm around.

Laura left a lamp on next to the couch and guided Ari out of the apartment. When they were outside, Ari scanned the street for any signs Echols was waiting. The coast was clear, so she relaxed and trotted down the sidewalk next to Laura.

#

Dale was getting a rude awakening. She was, it seemed, geriatric.

She always thought that looking down the barrel of thirty meant that she was still in her twenties, and that meant she was still considered young. But leaning against the brick wall of Pause, she was starting to reconsider. She was at the door, but the bouncer had waved in a half dozen people behind her while she waited. He didn't even feign being unbiased; he looked her up and down and then waved in blondes and girls wearing more makeup than clothing.

Another woman soon joined Dale against the wall. Haggard at the ripe old age of, Dale guessed, twenty-five, she checked her phone and then shared a smile with Dale. "Hi."

"Hey. Maybe we should start a senior-citizens' club out here. Show that you were born in the eighties and you're automatically in. Plus, you get an AARP card."

The other woman laughed. "Billion dollar idea. I'm Maggie."

"Hey, Maggie. Dale." They shook hands. "This is a ridiculous idea, huh? I just thought it might be fun to dance, hear some music. See what the kids are doing for fun these days."

Maggie sighed. "Yeah. I'm finally getting out after a breakup only to discover I was put out to pasture. I should have just stuck with her."

Dale's antennae rose. "Her?"

"Sorry. I'm not hitting on you. If I wanted a--"

"No, it's good, it gave me an idea. You want to get into the club?" Maggie shrugged. "Then follow my lead." She took Maggie's hand and moved toward the bouncer. He eyed them suspiciously, obviously preparing to give them the brush-off. "Hey, Bruno. You think we're not sexy enough to get into the club?"

She brushed Maggie's cheek with her free hand, looked for permission, and found it when Maggie slightly leaned forward. They kissed, and Maggie pushed her hand into Dale's hair. Dale slipped her arms around Maggie's waist, fingers sliding under the waistband of her jeans to pull her closer. The people in the line behind them began to wolf whistle and hoot, and the bouncer actually allowed himself a smile.

Dale broke the kiss and brushed her lips over Maggie's cheek before she turned to face the bouncer again. She raised her eyebrow.

"Okay, that's sexy." He gestured for them to go in.

Dale took Maggie's hand, waved to the crowd, and went through the forbidden door. Maggie laughed once they were inside, turning to put her hand on Dale's shoulder.

"That was inspired. And a surprisingly fantastic kiss."

"Happy to help. If you want to buy me a drink later to say thanks, I won't object."

Maggie kissed Dale's cheek. "I'll keep my eye out for you. Have fun."

There was a wide curved corridor that served as a buffer zone between the entrance and the dance floor. The buffer zone included the bar, bathrooms and small intimate booths where people could sit and enjoy the music. Dale went to the bar and settled on a stool. The bartender was a few years older than her, black and bald, and moved like his service was part of a much larger dance. When he meandered her way, she smiled and held up a twenty. He raised his eyebrows and hovered. Dale had to lean forward and raise her voice so that he could hear her.

"I heard Laura Gavin used to hang out here."

He shook his head. "Been a long, long time. A couple of weeks, at least." Dale resisted rolling her eyes. Time inside a club was so bizarrely skewed. "Heard she got clean. You want pictures, you're better off camping outside that soup kitchen she works at."

"I'm actually looking for anyone who might have hung out with her here."

"Bad crowd."

"Does that mean you made them move on, or that you don't think I'm capable of holding my own with them?"

He smiled and served a few other customers before he returned to her. "They're here. A couple of them, anyway. What do you want with them?"

"I just want to ask a few questions. Character references, I suppose."

The bartender scanned the crowd over her head and pointed. "Right there is one of them. The guy who looks like a horse."

Dale looked and was surprised to immediately see who the bartender meant. He had a long, shovel-shaped face with an oversized nose and an overbite. She handed over the bartender's money and joined the dance floor. The horse had a thick mess of curls in the middle of his forehead, but the hair was smooth on either side of his head. His ears were too large for his head. She joined the group dancing near him and, at a natural point, turned and started dancing with him.

He seemed surprised, but he met her rhythm. Dale waved hello to him, and he nodded a greeting. He was smiling broadly, sure he'd just gotten lucky. She knew in his mind that she was already at his apartment and half naked. She hooked her finger to make him lean down and shouted near his ear so that only he heard what she said.

"I've never met an equidae before. Your friends know what you are?"

He straightened suddenly and looked around, backing quickly away from her. Dale grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

"I just want to talk. I'll pay you for your time. Say twenty bucks for five minutes of your time? And you can keep your little secret."

He grimaced, baring plank-like teeth, and motioned for her to follow him. He led her off the dance floor and to the buffer area. Once they were at a booth, he dropped onto the seat and Dale sat across the table from him. "I'm Dale."

"Bishop. How'd you spot me?"

"You're not exactly the most subtle shifter around. But I know a canidae, so that helped me out a bit."

He looked her up and down and Dale rolled her eyes. "So what are you? A fox?"

"Nice line. Save it for the shifter clubs. I hear you used to be real close with Laura Gavin."

Bishop slapped the table. "Man, I... I didn't do anything. I stayed away from her just like your boss said." A realization passed over his face. "He's canidae? That explains a lot. Fucking Doberman or something, right?"

"Who are you talking about? What are you talking about?"

Bishop stared at her. "You're not with him?"

"Who?"

"Echols."

Dale shook her head. "No. Echols is kind of a douche."

"You're telling me. He showed up a few months ago, right before Laura went into rehab. He asked me about someone who was goin' to release another sex tape of Laura. He threatened to break my legs if I didn't tell him, so I spilled my guts. He said that if I ever messed with Laura again, he'd come back and made good on his threat. So I stopped hanging around with her. Little while later I heard she was back in 'hab, and it's been a long time since I saw her anywhere."

"Rehab is already short for drug rehabilitation. Don't shorten it anymore. It makes you sound like a 'ron."

"A what?"

"A moron. See what I mean? Was there going to be another sex tape?"

Bishop shrugged. "That's what I heard. I mean, girl wasn't exactly shy. She used to half-fuck people right here on the dance floor before the manager threatened to ban her. She wasn't exactly discriminate. If someone showed up with a video camera, she probably just asked if she could put on some makeup first. I'm surprised there aren't more out there."

"Did anyone else here hang out with Laura before her last trip to rehab?"

Bishop looked over the crowd. "Nah. There's a new club called Fit to Touch. A lot of people have been checking that out. It opened up after Laura was already gone."

Dale thanked him and put his money down on the table, along with a card. "If you think of anything else, give me a call."

She started to get out of the booth, but he grabbed her wrist. "Hey. You can keep the cash if you want to pay me back another way. You ever heard of hung like a horse?" He winked and flashed his tombstone-shaped teeth again.

"Sorry. I prefer them smaller." She held up two fingers. "Clitoris sized."

He let go of her hand and Dale left him behind in the booth. So there was a second sex tape in the ether that was bouncing around in the months before Laura got clean. Echols found out about it and did everything in his power to make sure it never got out. Dale wondered if the second tape had anything to do with Laura's decision to get clean.

She hoped Ari was having better luck with her night.

#

"If I'm embarrassing myself, I want you to tell me right now."

Laura laughed. "Not even a little bit. It's sweet."

"And cheap."

"Nothing wrong with cheap."

Laura and Neal were walking down a street near St. Roch's with Ari walking between them. Both of the bipedal people had ice cream cones. They had eaten in the back of the soup kitchen. Neal served some nice minestrone that he'd made special. When he realized that Ari was there, he had whipped up a quick meal of ground beef on Laura's suggestion and seasoned it with a bit of gravy. She was grateful that being in wolf form curbed her appetite enough that one plate of real food per day was all she really needed.

Neal examined his ice cream before taking another lick. "You know, I'm actually very nervous about dating you."

"Heard all the horror stories, huh?"

"No. Well, yeah. But that's not what I meant. I mean, not really." He sighed and smiled. "I'm making a lot of sense tonight, huh?"

Laura laughed. "You're doing great."

"I guess I'm still worried about you'll think I'm interested in the old you. Guzzling Gavin. I want to make sure you know which version of you I'm interested in." He reached out with his free hand and laced their fingers together. Laura smiled and focused on her ice cream. "And maybe if you know how much I like you, you'll be less likely to fall back into your old ways."

"I don't think we have to worry too much about that. The idea of going out to drink is not..." She shook her head. "I had some really bad days in rehab, and right after rehab, but I think I've turned the corner. It's still a battle, I think, but... it's a battle I'm winning."

"Let me know if you need any help fighting."

She turned and stood on her toes to kiss him. Ari politely looked away to give them their privacy, taking the opportunity to scan their surroundings. They were a block away from the soup kitchen, near a main thoroughfare that connected the side street to-- Ari's train of thought was brought up short by the sight of a familiar shape sitting in a parked car. Echols was sitting up straight, his face uncovered, brazenly not hiding the fact he was there and spying.

Ari barked, startling both Laura and Neal.

"Hey, girl. Calm-- Tule!"

Ari started running. She crossed the street and ran directly for Echols' car. He watched her approach, his lips curled into a sneer as he recognized her. Laura called her name again, obviously pursuing. Ari leapt onto the hood of Echols' car and barked at him through the glass. He glared at her and reached for something behind the steering wheel.

"Tule, what the hell are you..." Laura's voice trailed off. When it returned, it was full of fury. "Oh, you have to be kidding me. What the hell are you doing here, Chuckles?"

Chuckles? Ari fell in love with Laura all over again, still baring her teeth through the windshield.

Echols opened the door and climbed out of the car. Ari kept her head down, her ears back. Neal hurried to catch up with them as Laura coaxed Ari off the car.

"Get a leash for your damn mutt."

Laura knelt down to smooth her hands over Ari's head, calming her, and then looked up at Echols. "How does she even know who you are? I'm not questioning her judgment, but... how does she know you're a douche?"

Neal joined them, holding both his ice cream and Laura's. "Dogs can sense character."

"Not from down the block, through a closed car door." Laura stood up. "Were you in my damn apartment again?" She moved closer, not giving him a chance to answer before she shouted, "Were you in my apartment again?"

"Your mother is concerned for you. She wanted me to make sure you had enough food in your pantry." He looked down at the dog. "You shouldn't pick up strays."

Laura's face was red. "Stay out of my apartment and my life, you fucking creep." She slapped him suddenly, the contact sounding as loud as a slamming door.

Ari suddenly saw Guzzling Gavin, the girl who had been so gleefully pursued by photographers and reporters. Laura's eyes were rimmed with tears, which finally broke free and rolled down her face. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Neal stepped forward, not as threatening as he might have been without an ice cream cone in each hand. "Listen, sir, why don't you just get back into your car and call it a night, okay? Laura obviously doesn't want you here."

"Laura spent the first few years of her life being told what to want, and she spent the rest of her life with me holding her hand. If you think she's a grown-up because she's kept an apartment for two months, then I leave her to you. You can pick up the pieces when she inevitably falls off the wagon. The household staff and I have a betting pool. I'm guessing another three months, but I've always been an optimist."

Laura spun, grabbed one ice cream from Neal and twisted to face forward all in one smooth move. She thrust her arm out like a swordswoman going in for the killing blow. She buried the soft serve in Echols' right eye, knocking him back a few steps in surprise. "You bitch!" Echols' arm swung out, but Ari leapt for him. She bit his wrist in midair and dropped, letting her weight pull his arm down. His balance shifted and he went down hard on one knee.

Echols brought his other hand up and slammed his fist into the middle of Ari's spine. Pain shot out from the point of impact and Ari's legs went limp under her. She hit the ground and whimpered pitifully as Echols fumbled back to his feet.

It looked like he was wearing a white, liquid eyepatch over his right eye. His face was red around the edges.

"Let's all calm down," Neal shouted, his voice echoing off the neighboring buildings. "Sir, please leave. Right now."

Echols straightened his jacket and got into the car. Laura scooped Ari up and moved her out of the street. Echols squealed his tires as he sped off, and Laura glared at his taillights until they were out of sight. She had laid Ari on the sidewalk and gingerly stroked her fur. "Oh, Tule. I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Please be okay. Thank you so much. I'm so sorry." She buried her face in the fur of Ari's neck and began to sob.

Ari, her head on the pavement as she waited for the pain in her back to fade so she could try to put weight on her back legs, looked up at Neal. He was standing behind Laura, looking between her, Ari and the corner where Echols' car had disappeared. He looked completely lost, confused, and forlorn as he watched his friend sob into a dog's fur while ice cream melted over his fingers.

#

Chapter Nine

Ari was able to walk once the pain from the punch faded, but Neal still offered to carry her back to Laura's car. They put her in the backseat and Laura stood in the open driver's door. Neal still looked shaken. Laura had explained who Echols was on the walk back to the soup kitchen, and he seemed understanding. Laura begged off the rest of their night, and he agreed. They kissed goodbye, a very tender kiss, and Ari relaxed. Neal wasn't scared off by the encounter. He brushed his hand over Laura's hair and made her promise to call him. She agreed she would and watched him go back into the soup kitchen.

Laura drove a few blocks before she pulled over to the side of the road. She placed her hands at the top of the steering wheel, rested her forehead against them, and began to sob.

Ari pushed herself into a sitting position and scrambled into the front seat. She pawed Laura's arm, nuzzled her head, and whimpered until Laura sat up and petted her. "I wish I still hung out with a bad crowd. There has to be someone I used to know who'd be willing to kill Echols for me." She laughed without much humor and wiped her cheeks.

Hell, your mom is paying me enough. I'll do it for you gratis.

Laura took a deep, steadying breath and blinked her tears away. She pulled away from the curb and drove back home with the occasional brush of her cheeks. She parked and escorted Ari back to the apartment. She paused inside the door and looked toward the bedroom, then crouched down and looked into Ari's eyes. "The condoms. Were you trying to warn me about Echols? Oh, my God. You didn't dump the drawer, motherfucking Echols did. Oh, Tule." She kissed Ari on the head again. "You really are my guardian angel good luck charm. Think your girl will sell you to me?" She smiled. "Nah. She's too smart to let you go I'll bet."

Ari licked Laura's face. I wish I was the friend you think I am. I wish I got to know you because I wanted to and not because I was being paid to spy.

"Come on. Let's get you something tasty to munch on. I think you like people food more than dog food, so I'll spoil you a little bit more. You earned it tonight. You took a punch for me. I never thought a dog would do that, but you... you're special."

Ari followed Laura into the kitchen and watched as she prepared a meal. She realized that she didn't have to use her position for evil. She wasn't working for Katherine Gavin anymore. She decided she was going to be working for Laura from that point onward.

Your mother is going to be overjoyed at the report I give her. Anyone would be honored to have daughter like you, and I'm going to make sure she knows how lucky she is.

#

Ari sniffed all around the entrance of Laura's apartment and determined Echols hadn't been back. Laura showered and changed into her pajamas, and they watched TV on the couch together until Laura declared it was time for bed. She took Ari out for a quick walk and escorted her back into the house when her business was done.

Once Laura was in a deep sleep, Ari climbed out of bed. Her promise to Dale was at the front of her mind as she transformed in the bathroom. She stretched her arms out to the side, then reached back and massaged where Echols had punched her. The muscles were still sore, but the pain had blended with the pain of transformation to where she couldn't tell which was which. She put on Laura's robe and moved quietly into the living room.

She examined the windows and tested their security. She planned to make a note in her final report telling Katherine to insist Laura change the locks on the apartment. A better plan would be to eliminate Echols entirely, but she wasn't going to count on that keeping Laura safe. Just because he was unemployed wouldn't keep him away from her. Obsessions could take over a person. Getting fired could just make him escalate into harming her.

"What're you doin', my 'partment?"

Ari turned around quickly, almost knocking over a lamp in her haste. Laura was standing at the entrance to the living room, still wearing the satin shorts and matching top she'd worn to bed. She looked confused, dazed, and she swayed from the effort of remaining upright. Ari realized she was sleepwalking and moved deeper into the shadows.

"It's me, Laura. Tule. Remember?"

"Oh right." Her walk was more of a zombie-like shuffle, her feet rustling the carpet as she moved without lifting them. "Want som'thin' to eat? I have... sandwiches. I'll make you a sandwich. Okay. Come on, doggie."

Ari followed her and stood at the kitchen's entrance. The darkness in the rest of the apartment kept Ari shadowed when Laura turned on the little light over the stove. "You're a really pretty dog. How come you're a lady?"

"Because you're having a dream right now. I guess you wanted me to talk back."

Laura smiled. "Oh. Am I bugging you? Talking to you so much?"

"No. I like it."

"Good." She took three slices of cheese out of the fridge and carefully unwrapped them on the counter. She stacked them, then cut them from corner to corner. She handed one triangle to Ari. "Here. I'll share."

"Thanks." She looked at the triple cheese stack and put it down. Laura took a bite of hers and chewed it thoughtfully. She looked at Ari. "Why are you wearing my robe?"

"I'm not. You're dreaming that I am so I won't be naked. That would be awkward, don't you think?"

"Mm-hmm." She closed her eyes and sagged against the fridge. "God. I hate that Echols hurt you. Did he hurt you when he was here earlier?"

Ari reached up and rubbed her neck on either side of the leather collar. "No, it's fine." She hesitated to ask the next question, but she knew she would never get another opportunity like this. If Laura was offended, she could just write it off as part of a dream. "Did Echols ever hurt you?"

"I was a teenager. He was always around. And I liked sex." She made an ugly face. "I figured why not."

Ari averted her gaze. Forget killing him for free. I'll give Katherine a refund if I can just hurt Echols a little bit.

"He didn't start getting nasty until I told him I wanted to stop. Mama told me to suck it up. I think she wanted us to end up together. Not like I had a lot of options living at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. So rather than surrender to a lack of options, I left. I broke the seal on the Tupperware container." She popped her lips. "And the Gavin family was in the spotlight again. And I made sure that Mama couldn't ignore what her little girl was up to." She looked down at her feet. "And that is how I became the well-rounded woman who was plastered all over the internet with two dicks in my mouth."

"I'm sorry."

Laura was staring at the wall. Ari thought she might have fallen back into slumber. She lifted her chin and laughed suddenly. "I like Neal."

"I like him, too. He seems great for you."

"His dad won't like me."

"Because you're white?"

Laura shook her head. "No, because I'm me. It wouldn't look good. Neal's a good boy."

"And you're a good girl. I don't care what anyone says about you, or what silly little nicknames they give you. What you did took a lot of strength and courage. You saved yourself. A lot of people aren't able to do that." She thought of herself on the streets, content to continue spiraling the drain until someone reached down and hauled her up by her collar. Even then, she'd been in a rut until Bitches really took off. If it hadn't been for Eva and Dale, Ari shuddered to think where she would have ended up. The fact Laura had done the same thing all by herself...

"You're amazing to me, Laura."

"Aw." She walked over to Ari and rubbed her head, then stroked her hair. She stared into Ari's eyes and blinked rapidly. "Wow. This is very weird."

Ari smiled. "It's your dream."

"Mm-hmm." She dropped her hands and hooked her finger under Ari's collar. "Let's go back to bed."

"Uh..."

"Come on, Tule."

Ari reluctantly let Laura lead her out of the kitchen and through the living room. Laura crawled into bed and, after a moment, Ari followed her. She stretched along the bottom of the bed, tugging Laura's robe down to make sure she was covered up as Laura settled against the pillows. Laura chuckled and looked down at her. "I hope I remember this dream when I wake up. It's so weird. It's so weird. But you're so pretty as a lady."

"Thank you," Ari said. "You're not so bad yourself. It's unfortunate you don't sleep with girls anymore."

Laura snickered. "Good night, Tule."

"Good night, Laura. Don't worry. I'll keep watch over you."

"'Kay," Laura whispered. She was already drifting back to sleep. Ari waited until she was lightly snoring before she climbed out of bed and returned to the bathroom. She transformed again and returned to the bedroom. She sat on the foot of the bed, facing the door just in case Echols made another attempt on Laura.

In the morning, Laura sat up and stretched before she nudged Ari with her foot. "Hey. You're gorgeous in my dreams, you know that?"

Ari looked up and stared blankly at her.

"Not that you're ugly now." She kissed the top of Ari's head. "But I might make an exception to my boys-only rule if you really looked like that."

Ari's ear twitched. Oh, really. The thought was immediately followed by, Don't even think about it, Ariadne. She watched Laura walk out of the bedroom, shedding her pajamas as she went. She would never be able to look Laura in the eye after spying on her naked so many times. She jumped off the bed and went to the front door.

Dale would come to pick her up that evening. The temptation would be removed, and she could focus on her real job of proving Laura was the daughter Katherine Gavin hoped she was.

#

Laura called in sick the next morning, claiming she felt guilty about keeping Ari cooped up in the apartment all weekend. They went to a dog park and Ari let her wolf brain take over for the game of catch. She often imagined her brain as an airplane cockpit that was split down the middle by a chain link fence. On one side was her human consciousness, and the wolf was on the other. Often the wolf was blinded and left in the shadows while Ari let her human side run the show. But every now and then she would close the shutter on her human side and let the wolf steer. There was some bleed-through, but the majority of her memory blackouts were due to letting the wolf be in charge a little too long.

So Ari "slept" while the wolf did all the doggy things Laura wanted to do before giving her up. They played catch in a wide green field near a group of college students. One of the girls noticed Ari, so she had to deal with a multitude of new smells and sounds. The wolf withstood the petting better than Ari would have.

On the walk home, Ari kept an eye out for Echols. Either the fight had scared him off or he was getting better at staying hidden. When they got back to the apartment Ari did a quick search of the apartment. No sign of Echols' presence, and everything seemed to be in place. Laura watched her and knelt down to rub her neck when she returned to the living room.

"Everything check out, Tule? Is the apartment safe for me?"

Ari barked and Laura kissed her head. "Good dog."

Laura gave her some more ground beef, a goodbye meal, and they ate together in the living room. Laura sat with her back against the couch and Ari was sitting next to her when the doorbell rang. Laura sighed and scratched Ari between the ears. "I'm gonna miss you, girl. You were great company. And my guardian angel." She kissed the top of Ari's head again as she got to her feet and went to answer the door.

Dale was wearing a black-and-blue scarf and her old suit jacket. Ari got to her feet and started wagging her tail. It really was an unconscious decision; it was so great to see Dale again that the wolf brain simply took over for her.

"Hey. Thank you again so much for watching her."

"No problem. You and I need to get married."

Dale blinked. "Pardon me?"

"Just a quickie wedding, and then a divorce. In the settlement, I'll agree to shared custody of the dog."

Dale laughed. "So I gather she was a perfect princess the whole time she was here."

Ari barked.

Laura crossed her arms and looked down at Ari. "She convinced me that I really need to get a dog of my own. She came to my rescue a couple of times."

Dale knelt in front of Ari and hooked a leash onto her collar. "Yeah, she's good at that." She winked at Ari and then stood up. Laura was holding out the fifty dollar bill Dale had given her. "Oh, no. That was for you. Even if you didn't have to buy her any food--"

"Hey, we talked about loaner dogs. If that business was real, I'd be the one paying you. Tule was an absolute treat, and I loved having her here. If you ever have to go out of town again and don't want to put her in a kennel, please keep my number."

"Wow. Thank you so much." She looked down at Ari. "Looks like you made a new friend."

"She's not the only one." Laura sat down and held out her hand. "See you later, Tule."

Ari placed her paw in Laura's and they shook. Laura laughed and stood up.

"Okay. Quick like a band-aid. I hope I see you both around."

"That would be great. I'm glad Tule behaved for you. We'll be in touch for sure."

Laura nodded. "Bye, Tule."

Ari barked and Laura escorted them both to the door. They said their final goodbyes and Dale led Ari out of the building. "Geez. You just can't turn it off, can you?"

Ari huffed and climbed into the backseat of Dale's car. One of Ari's outfits was on a hanger draped over the passenger side door like a curtain and Ari curled up against it as Dale got behind the wheel. She drove to a deserted street and pulled to the curb. She checked her mirrors and said, "Okay, you're clear. I know it's killing you to wait, so go ahead."

Ari eagerly transformed. Her foot slipped off the seat, and she twisted at the waist and arched her back as she sat up. Her fur rippled and, when it settled, it had retracted back into her pink-gray skin. Once the fur was gone, her skin softened and became a healthier human color. When her skull reshaped, she yelled out and rubbed the bridge of her nose until the tremors passed. Sometimes it felt like a slap to the back of the head, other times it felt like spikes through her eyes. She noticed that Dale had both hands over her ears and her head turned so she couldn't even see the transformation even in her periphery.

Ari reached over the seat and tapped her shoulder. "Okay, it's done."

"Welcome back."

"Thanks." Ari lifted her hips and shimmied into her jeans. She pulled the T-shirt over her head and flipped her hair out of the collar. Her ratio of human-to-wolf was abysmal, but being in her own clothes was enough to make her feel like herself again. She crawled into the passenger seat and put on her shoes. Dale touched her shoulder and Ari lifted her chin so the collar could be removed.

"So did you find out anything interesting during your pooch stakeout?"

"Echols is as big a prick as we guessed. He put cocaine on some condoms and snuck them into Laura's nightstand. On top of being a hugely asshole thing to do, I'm trying not to be disgusted by the fact that he knew her brand." Dale groaned. "Then last night they had a little dust-up that got a little physical. I know Laura is clean, but the only way she'll stay like that is if Echols is fired. Even that won't guarantee he'd leave her alone."

"You could call the police and report the break-in."

"I don't have any evidence. As far as I know he used a key that Laura gave him before she knew any better. All I can do is tell Mrs. Gavin that Echols is the only thing standing between Laura and a sober life." She looked at Dale and touched her hair. "I missed you."

Dale laughed. "You're sweet. I missed you, too. I found out some stuff on my own." She explained what she had learned of Echols' career in law enforcement and its undignified end. "Someone Laura used to party with said there was a rumor of a second sex tape. Echols was trying to find it and, not long afterward, Laura ended up in rehab."

"You think the second tape is what made her get clean?"

Dale shrugged. "It could be. I, uh... I didn't watch it. But I found a few reviews of it online."

"People review porn?" Dale nodded. Ari wrinkled her nose. "How would you even do that? Porn is subjective. What works for me won't necessarily work for you."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I've seen some of your girlfriends."

Ari laughed. "So what did you find while scouring the internet for porn? God, it must have taken you all night to even find a website."

"Ha," Dale said. "Anyway, the first sex tape was pretty damn raunchy, apparently. Group sex, no holds barred. If that didn't make her want to get sober, I'm terrified to think of what the second one might have had."

Ari thought about the idea of Echols taking Laura's virginity. "Maybe it's not what was on the tape, but who."

"Whom."

"Really?"

Dale shrugged. "I don't know. I'm going to take you home so you can take one of those decadent showers you like. Do you need a massage?"

Ari shook her head. "I spent enough time as a wolf that my little switches back and forth didn't really affect me. I may change my tune in the morning, but I think the shower will be enough. Thanks, though. I'm going to type up some surveillance for Katherine Gavin, too. I think I need to drop in on her with my report so I can tell her about Echols face-to-face."

"I think that's a good idea. Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Tonight is for pampering and relaxing."

Dale nodded. "I could drop you off and then go get you something to eat. People food."

"Laura actually fed me mostly people food. It was great." Her stomach twisted and growled at the subject. "Actually, if you want to pick up some chicken, that would really hit the spot."

Dale grinned. "Done. Bucket?"

"Sure."

She parked in front of Ari's building. "I'll be back in about an hour with some food. I have some other errands to run, so take your time in the tub." Dale opened the glove compartment and handed Ari her wallet and keys.

Ari took them and squeezed Dale's hand. "Thanks, Dale."

She got out of the car and went upstairs. She passed one of her neighbors on the stairs, and the man smiled and nodded to her. Being acknowledged as a person was odd after spending so much time as a dog. It was easy to see how guarded people were with strangers. They always had big grins and great friendliness for animals, but a person always got a sideways look and a tight smile. People trusted dogs more than other people, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

She let herself into her apartment and tossed her wallet onto the kitchen counter. She did a quick circuit of her apartment, turned on the stereo so there wouldn't be silence, and stood in the middle of her living room. She closed her eyes and swayed on her feet as she got used to the feel of being home, of being human. She rubbed the pad of her thumb over her fingers.

When she finally went to the bathroom, she undressed and looked at herself in the mirror. She turned her head to the side and examined the curve of her jaw. She widened her eyes, blue and almond-shaped, and examined her teeth. Her dentist was canidae and had explained to her that, during a transformation, her teeth twisted and reformed like the rest of her skeleton. Some of them retracted into her gums while the others sharpened and rearranged themselves.

She stuck out her tongue at her reflection. Plump, pink, human.

Her hand slid over her hip and across the curve of her ass. No tail.

She was human. The wolf was just one aspect of her existence. She bound her hair in a ponytail and went to fill the bathtub. She planned to spend the time until Dale's arrival soaking in a bubble bath.

#

Chapter Ten

Ari dressed for dinner just to have the pleasure of being clothed while she ate. She wore a simple white blouse and some old jeans. She stayed barefoot, though. She liked the feel of carpet under her toes. Eating with her fingers was blissful, and she sucked the grease from them instead of wiping them on a napkin. She caught Dale watching her once. "What?"

"Nothing. You're classy, Lassie."

Ari nudged Dale's leg under the table.

"How are you feeling post-change? I know you don't like spending that long as the wolf at a stretch. I know how it starts messing with your mind after a while."

"I'm good." Ari sipped her iced tea. "How have you been? I really did miss you these past couple of days."

"No complaints. There were a couple of times I wished I could just break in to Laura's apartment and have a conversation with you, let you know what was going on."

Ari tilted her head. "Well, you wouldn't have been alone. And maybe you would have made enough of a mess that Laura would change her locks. The idea of Echols having that much access to her life is just creepy beyond belief. I can't wait until I have a chance to face him down as Ari instead of Tule." She pointed across the table. "A name which, by the way, has grown on me. I like it."

"Good. Maybe we'll keep it for the time being."

When they finished their meal, Dale took their plates into Ari's kitchen and bent down to kiss her cheek. "Good to have you back, Ariadne."

"Thanks, Dale. I'm going to visit the Gavin House tomorrow morning. I'll call them tonight and set it up. So feel free to sleep in and get into work late."

Dale agreed and left the apartment. Once she was gone, Ari took the remaining side of macaroni and cheese and went to sit in front of the balcony with her laptop. She opened a document and began typing. She titled the file "Laura Gavin Surveillance, Day One," and closed her eyes to remember the events as they happened, sorting out her wolf memories as they were filtered through a human mind.

When she had a decent feel for the timeline, she started writing.

#

The next morning, Ari printed out her report of the first three days of surveillance. She also copied the file onto a disc and slipped it into the pocket of her coat. She hadn't slept a lot, but it was enough to make her feel refreshed. She had spent the morning practicing for her confrontation with Katherine Gavin, and she was certain she was ready. She didn't know if Echols would be there for it, but she almost hoped so. She wanted to be there if he tried to defend himself.

She drove to the Gavin House, still in shock that she had actually been inside. She buzzed at the front gate and identified herself, and the barrier slid open to let her in. Ariadne Willow, welcome guest at Xanadu. She followed the curving driveway and parked behind a sedan like the one that had brought her there on her original visit. Echols stepped out onto the porch to escort her inside, and Ari couldn't restrain a look of disgust as she approached him.

"Hey, Chuckles. Nice to see you again."

A line appeared between his brows, obviously thrown by her use of Laura's nickname for him. "Ms. Willow. This is a... surprise."

"But not a pleasant one? I'm hurt."

"Are you here to resign from the case? I'm sure no one could think any less of you."

Ari smirked. "Is the missus in?"

Echols turned and walked into the house. Ari assumed she was supposed to follow. Katherine Gavin was in the large living room this morning dressed in jodhpurs and a white riding jacket. Her hair was up, and she was looking out the window when Ari entered the room. Echols cleared his throat and Katherine turned toward him, feigning surprise when she saw Ari standing behind him.

"Miss Willow. This is a pleasant surprise. You should have called ahead; I was just about to go riding."

"That's okay, this won't take long. I just wanted to drop off my report from the first weekend." She stepped forward and dropped the print-out and disc onto the coffee table.

Echols frowned at her and Katherine adjusted her posture. She looked down at the papers. "Report... that's interesting."

"Why? Because Echols told you he didn't see me this weekend? Well, I saw him." She smiled at Echols' confused expression. "I saw him attack Laura and her boyfriend. Not to mention her dog. Real nice, by the way. You can always tell a true asshole by how he treats a dog."

"Language, Miss Willow. You are a guest in this house."

"I apologize. I also witnessed Mr. Echols breaking into Laura's apartment to switch out the condoms in her nightstand with a box he had tainted with cocaine. If she used them, the coke would have been in her system without her ever knowing it. Until she started going into withdrawal, and then... well. Off the wagon."

Echols took a step toward her. "How dare you?"

Ari didn't acknowledge his approach but remained aware of how far away he was. She wouldn't react until he was well within arm's reach. "I was hired to report, I'm reporting. Laura is clean, Mrs. Gavin. She didn't just kick the drugs; she changed who she was. I think that if she does get back on drugs, it won't be because she wasn't trying. It'll be because Mr. Echols here is sabotaging her efforts."

Katherine was holding her hands in front of her, fingers laced together as she looked between Ari and Echols. "Those are heavy accusations, Miss Willow. I don't suppose you have any proof to back them up."

"No, ma'am. I just know what I saw."

Echols said, "I was just making sure you were getting your moneys worth, Mrs. Gavin. That's all."

"By sabotaging Laura?" Ari stepped closer to him. "You're bad for her."

"I have been watching over Laura for most of her life."

"Maybe it's time you let her go."

Katherine slapped her hands together, the sound as loud as a gunshot. "Back off, both of you. I will speak with Mr. Echols about his boundaries with my daughter."

"You do that. You're paying me a lot of money to watch your daughter without being seen. I don't want to forfeit my paycheck because Chuckles here is blundering around and giving away the surveillance. Laura never saw me, but she knew he was watching her. I noted that in my report."

"I'm sure you did. And you have a point. Oliver, I don't want you anywhere near Laura for the remainder of Miss Willow's employment. Is that understood?"

He looked moments away from exploding, but he nodded once, tersely. "Yes, ma'am."

Katherine stood. "Thank you for your report, Miss Willow. I'll go over it this afternoon and call you if I have any questions." She picked up a riding helmet off the floor and walked from the room without formally saying goodbye. Echols moved to corral Ari toward the door, but she didn't move. He bumped into her and Ari shoved his shoulder.

"Miss Willow, you've been asked to leave."

"Actually, I haven't. You're the only one here who has been told to go somewhere."

Echols grimaced.

"If I see you around Laura's place again, you can bet I'll be reporting it to Mrs. Gavin. Do you often ignore her direct orders? How does that usually work out for you?"

"You're here for a week. When all this is over--"

"I'm going to do my best to make sure you leave the Gavin family's employment before me. You're not good for Laura. You're the last thing that's holding her back." She made a cutting motion with two fingers. "You need to be cut so she can be free."

"And who is gonna cut me? You?"

Ari cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "Just hand me the scissors."

She turned and walked away before Echols could order her to leave again. When she got into the car, she saw him standing in the doorway glaring at her. She smiled sweetly and waved as she drove around the sedan and followed the circular driveway around the copse of trees. The gate was open and waiting for her and she left the Gavin House behind her, returning to the relative sanity of the real world.

#

"Day six," Ari muttered. "The thirty-thousand dollar day."

She reached into the passenger seat for the plastic baggie of fruit that Dale had given her that morning. She found an apple slice and popped it into her mouth. It was Wednesday, the middle of the week, the dullest day of the week. The furthest from the weekend a person could ever be. She chewed her apple carefully and watched the front of the building where Laura worked. The mailroom was in the basement, and Ari was parked two streets away where she could still see the downstairs entrance.

She had two additional days of surveillance reports full of mundane activity. Laura went to lunch with Neal, Laura stayed home, Laura watched television. The one thing that tugged at Ari's heartstrings was when Laura visited the animal shelter and window-shopped for a new dog. There was nothing to indicate drug use. More importantly, there was nothing to indicate Echols had disobeyed Katherine's order to stay away. Dale was staking out Laura's apartment whenever she wasn't there, and so far Echols hadn't shown his ugly mug.

At lunch, Laura left the building. Ari followed at a discrete distance, making sure she didn't lose her. They left the business district and were soon deep in a neighborhood. Ari dropped back to put extra distance between them, fumbling with her cell phone and dialing Dale's number.

"Twelve-fifteen and all is well."

"Good to know. Are you free? I might need a second car to tail Laura."

"Ooh, intrigue. Where is she going?"

Ari shook her head as Laura turned onto a neighborhood street. "I have no clue. Somewhere on Milburn."

"Not the nicest neighborhood. Maybe it's something to do with the soup kitchen or the fundraising she does."

Ari nodded. "Yeah, probably. You're in the batter's box. I'll call if I need you for anything."

"I'll keep the phone handy."

Ari hung up and followed Laura through the tree-lined neighborhood. Dale was accurate that it wasn't a nice neighborhood, but the people there still tried to disguise the fact. Most of the lawns were freshly mowed, and hedges were trimmed neatly. The occasional car stood on cinderblocks in driveways. It could very easily fall to ruin or, conversely, it could also easily be gentrified into a really nice place to live. Time would tell.

Laura parked in front of a house, and Ari forced herself to continue past. She went around the corner and then parked a few houses away. She had a pair of binoculars that she hardly ever used because they made her feel like a cliché, but she took them from the glove compartment. Laura was on the front porch, ringing the doorbell in a resigned manner. Dry leaves were piled in the doorway, blown there by the wind, and Ari saw a phone book wrapped in plastic halfway down the walk.

The house was abandoned. Laura seemed to give up and walked toward the driveway. She put her hands on her hips and looked up and down the road. She looked at her watch and then marched back up to the porch. She knocked this time. Finally she tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. She disappeared into the house and shut the door behind her.

"Curious," Ari muttered. She made a note of the address and time. A mailman drove past her, and a UPS truck. Ari checked her watch, rubbed the bridge of her nose, and drummed her hands on the steering wheel. At fifteen minutes, she began to get antsy. Laura's lunch break couldn't possibly be much longer. She would probably already be late as it was. Ari watched the house through her binoculars. It was a squat, gray brick home with a shade tree in the front yard. The large front window was covered by wooden blinds. It was as if the house was a beast that had swallowed Laura whole and then gone back into hibernation.

Finally, twenty minutes after Laura disappeared, Ari gave up waiting. She left the car and walked down the street as casually as possible. When she reached the house, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure she was unobserved before she walked up the driveway. Running and sneaking would get a person caught every time. Ari had long ago learned to simply act as if she belonged wherever she was. Getting away with illegal things was ninety percent attitude.

She opened the fence gate and closed it behind her. The hinge was rusted and squeaked, and she hoped Laura didn't hear it from inside. She was in a concrete-lined dog run, flanked by the house on one side and the fence on the other. She ducked under windows and went to the backyard entrance, peering through the wooden slats before she risked opening it.

Ari found the living room window and carefully peeked inside. The house was completely unfurnished and gray-dark. She saw a few pieces of random detritus on the floor; a coiled wire, some papers... The fireplace was in the middle of the room, connected to the wall by a built-in settee that didn't have any pillows on it.

She tried the back door. It was also unlocked, so she stepped inside. The dining room was to her right, better lit thanks to the French doors that looked out onto the east side of the house. "Laura?" She stepped around the fireplace and saw what had been blocked from view from the window.

Laura's body was lying facedown in the middle of the floor. Blood darkened the tips of her hair and spread in a pool under her head. Ari didn't remember crossing the distance, she only remembered pulling Laura onto her lap. Laura's eyes swam and tried to focus. Her neck was glistening with blood that seemed to be welling up from a wound on her chest. Ari tried her best to staunch the wound with pressure from her hand. She was frantic and, after a moment, heard herself chanting two words over and over: "Don't die. Don't die..."

Laura's eyes swam until they focused on Ari's face. Her lips curled into a smile and she reached up with one bloody hand. "Tule."

"Sh. That's right, Laura." She patted Laura's pockets for her cell phone. "Where... we have to call 911."

"You really are an angel. I knew it."

"Yeah." Ari's voice was rough, forced out through a throat that was trying desperately to clamp shut. She found the cell phone and pulled it free. The buttons were smashed and the screen was dark. "No. Shit, don't..." She threw the phone and cradled Laura's head again.

"Tule."

"Don't try to talk."

Laura's blood was on Ari's jeans now, staining her shirt. She was breathing in gasps, her face hot from trying not to cry. She bent down and pressed her lips to Laura's forehead.

"I love you, Tule."

"I love you, too, Laura. Hold on. Please."

But the body in her arms was limp. When Ari looked into her eyes, they were flat and lifeless. Ari's mouth opened, but no scream came out. She wanted to hit and punch and claw. She wanted to...

Something clattered in the other room. Ari went very still, reverently laying Laura's body on the carpet before she rose to her feet. She kept her head down, her shoulders hunched in a predator's posture. The killer had to still be in the house. Ari bared her teeth, fighting the urge to transform. A wolf wouldn't do any good right now. She needed to be vicious in a way only a human could be.

She stepped into the back hall that led to the bedrooms. The doors were all open, and she didn't see any indication they were occupied. She turned toward the utility room just as the door swung open. The scent of bleach clung to the killer as he lunged at her. Ari ducked and punched him, and he wrapped an arm around her head. He spun and fell backward, and Ari's head cracked against the drywall. Dazed, she stumbled backward. He grabbed the collar of her blouse and hauled her forward, his fist meeting her nose halfway. Ari went down. He fished something out of his pocket and pressed it against her neck.

Ari identified it as a Taser as the electricity coursed through her. She heard the heels of her shoes clattering against the floor, felt the pain in her knuckles as they banged the walls. She felt like there was a bolt of lightning running through her head from one ear to the other, dazzling her brain with light.

And then.

Nothing.

#

The banging woke her. Ari jerked, and the gun in her hand went off. Shouts came from outside: "Shots fired! Shots fired, requesting backup."

Ari was trembling from the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She looked past her feet and saw the hole in the drywall and then focused on the gun in her hand. She tossed it, rolled onto her hands and knees, and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Laura's body, the scent of gunpowder and blood, and-- She could see shapes through the fogged glass in the front door. The police.

I am fucked.

She looked at Laura's body and felt her heart break all over again. She got to her feet and ran for the French doors in the kitchen. She burst through them just as a cop mounted the fence at the front of the house. "Freeze right where you are!"

Ari leapt at the fence directly in front of her and twisted over the top. She landed in the neighbor's yard and ran. She heard shouts from the police officers but ignored them. Whatever they were saying, it was bad for her. She reached the nearest fence and clambered over it. She ignored pain from splinters, the pain of dropping from five feet and hitting solid dirt with both feet. She ran. She jumped another fence. She rolled when she landed, got to her feet, and focused on the next fence she would have to overcome.

She spotted a hedge in one yard and ran to it. She dropped onto her stomach and walked on her elbows until she was completely underneath the prickly green leaves. She tore off her clothes, ripping the fabric without concern for buttons or zippers. She was transforming before she was completely naked, kicking her jeans and underwear away with canine feet. She got onto her stomach again, stretched out her neck, and became entirely wolf.

Finally, she left the safety of the hedge and trotted to the gate. She pushed through it, out into the street, and looked back toward the house where Laura was lying. The front yard was full of police, but there were still enough officers to search the neighborhood. They were like a swarm of beetles, covering every possible escape route.

Ari thought of Laura again and howled without intention, the pain and anguish too much to keep quiet. Cops in their beefy black uniforms, thick jackets and cornered hats, turned toward her and quickly ignored her. Ari looked at her car, which was currently being guarded by two patrol officers. The police knocked on doors and disappeared into backyards with their guns drawn. Yellow tape went up. Cops shouted into their shoulder-mounted radios.

She could hear one of the cops giving his report, red-faced and out of breath from chasing her. "Suspect is brunette, five-eight to five-ten. Brown hair. Wearing a white blouse and blue jeans stained with victim's blood. Suspect is considered armed and dangerous."

One of the officers guarding her car approached and handed the reporting officer a piece of paper.

"Suspect's name is Ariadne Willow."

Ari ran. Behind her, the neighborhood was locked down as the cops prepared to search every nook and cranny for Laura's murderer.

For her.

#

Chapter Eleven

Ari couldn't remember ever running faster. She was slowed by traffic, changing direction at the last moment to take side streets or alleys so she wouldn't be forced to sacrifice momentum. Her goal was single-minded: Dale. She doubted it would take the police long to determine the identity of their victim, and even less time to send someone to Laura's apartment. Even if Dale had time to realize what was happening, she would be trapped. They would take her in and determine her connection to their murder suspect. Dale would go down as an accessory to murder.

She had to get to the apartment before the police did. She cursed fences even as she slipped between their slats, cut across fields and through neighborhoods to cut a fraction of the distance off her journey. Occasionally she heard screeching tires and car horns when she crossed a street, but she never looked back to see how close she had come to being hit. She only cared about reaching Dale in time.

It took her ten minutes to reach the street. Dale was parked at the far end of the street facing Laura's apartment. Ari started barking to draw Dale's attention. When she looked up, Ari started transforming. Her body protested, her palms painfully slapping the pavement as her hind legs twisted painfully. Dale got out of the car and Ari waved for her to get back in. When she reached the car, Dale stretched across the passenger seat and threw open the door.

Ari collapsed in the seat, crossing one arm over her breasts. She was now fully human, drenched with sweat and aching in every joint. "Drive. Go, just get out of here."

Dale started the car and drove without question. The movement of the car closed the door behind Ari, and she scrambled into the backseat.

"What happened?"

Ari cowered in one corner of the backseat, her knees drawn up to her chest. She covered her face with both hands, eyes squeezed shut as she tried to control her trembling.

"Do you need the hospital?" Dale's voice was tender, concerned.

"No." Ari wiped at her eyes. She saw herself in the rearview mirror and quickly looked away. Her skin was ashen, her hair stringy and soaked with her sweat. She was dirty and some of Laura's blood still marred her cheek and hands. "Echols killed Laura."

Dale twisted to look at her before facing forward again. "No. No, there has to be--"

"I saw her. She died in my arms, Dale." Ari pushed her hair out of her face. "He attacked me, knocked me out. He put the gun in my hand. The cops saw me, but I got away. They found my car, they know my name. It's only a matter of time before they know who you are."

"I have to pull over." She sounded ill.

"No. Keep driving, Dale. You have to keep driving. It's only a matter of time before they find the agency, they find you, they... they stop you from getting away."

"Ari..." Dale's voice cracked.

"I know. Just keep driving. I'll think of something."

She looked out the window, hunched low enough that she wouldn't be immediately visible from other cars. Dale drove aimlessly, mindlessly turning when she could and continuing straight so she wouldn't have to think. Ari suddenly lifted her head and scanned their surroundings. "Go north. To, uh, to..." She pressed her thumb against the bridge of her nose as she tried to think. "Pierson."

Dale didn't answer; she just followed Ari's directions. She quickly realized where they were going and began to drive with more confidence. She pulled into a wide parking lot that fronted a defunct carpet store. Dale knew exactly what Ari was after because she had placed it there. The carpet store was almost ten miles from Dale's apartment. They both knew that if Ari ever wandered that far as a wolf, it would take some time for Dale to reach her. The stash hidden here was stocked with not only clothes, but bottles of water, food, and a little bit of cash. Because of that, Dale had made sure it was a little more difficult to find than most of their stashes.

Dale parked in front of the building and looked over her shoulder. "I'll be right back. Will you be okay?"

"Yet to be seen."

Dale got out of the car and went up to the building. She left the car running, and Ari reached up into the front seat to turn on the radio. She scanned the pre-set stations and then scrolled through to find any news broadcasts. "--woman was seen fleeing from the premises, but police have been unable to locate her. More news on this tragic story as it develops."

Ari cursed her bad timing and kept searching. Dale returned a few minutes later with smears of white-gray dust on the thighs of her jeans. She got behind the wheel and handed Ari the bag. Ari tugged out her clothes and started to get dressed. She kept her hands on her thighs as she stared out the windshield. Finally she said, "The whole story, Ari."

Ari recounted it as she dressed, the whole damn mess. Her voice broke when she described finding Laura's body, and she looked at her hands. Most of the blood had been wiped away during transformation and from running through grass, but she could still see it as clear as day. She rubbed her hands on one of the shirts from her stash in an attempt to clean the phantom blood from them. She explained that she had been unconscious and inadvertently fired the gun.

"After that I just ran. I didn't want them to find you staking out her apartment and thinking you were part of it."

Dale took a deep breath. "So what the hell are we going to do?"

"I want to go to Katherine Gavin. It's going to be my word against Echols but, even if he gets there first, I think I can make her listen to reason." She put on her shoes and tossed the bag onto the floor. She climbed into the front seat and pulled her hair back and bound it loosely. "Okay, go."

They left the carpet store and drove toward the Gavin House. They were nearly there when the radio station abruptly cut away from the song they were playing. "Breaking news out of Seattle. Socialite and tabloid darling Laura Gavin has been murdered this afternoon. Her body was found in an abandoned house owned by a fundraising organization Gavin had been volunteering for. Police say they have a suspect in the murders, but are refusing to share more at this time. Katherine Gavin, Laura's famously reclusive mother, just released a statement to the media."

Katherine Gavin's voice sounded flat and odd over the speakers, but it was what she was saying that chilled Ari. "Over the past several weeks, my daughter had been complaining to me about a stalker who had entered her life. This woman was utterly obsessed with Laura. My head of security, Oliver Echols, discovered several journals where this woman detailed my daughter's daily activities to a disturbing degree. The description--"

Ari switched off the radio. For almost a mile, they remained completely silent. Finally, Ari spoke.

"She set me up. She killed her own daughter and she... oh, Jesus." She leaned forward, hands on the back of her head as she squeezed her eyes shut. "My fingerprints are all over Laura's apartment. I handed over the fucking documents she's talking about, and they're going to find even more in my car. It's my word against Echols'."

They were almost to the turn-in of the Gavin House. Ari was about to tell Dale to turn around when she spotted a flash of black and white through the trees. "Shit. Dale, speed up. Go." Dale hit the gas just as the police car slid out from the trees. Its sirens came to life with a chirp, and Dale pressed back into the seat. She was standing on the gas pedal, but her little car could only manage so much.

More sirens wailed; backup for the car chasing them. They were going to get boxed in.

"Dale, I'm so sorry I got you into this."

"You didn't drag me anywhere," Dale said, her voice calmer than her expression. "Hold on." She twisted the wheel and took them onto an access road. Low-hanging branches slapped against the windshield, sounding like gunshots as they broke off against the glass and metal. The road was uneven and tossed them around like they were inside of a clothes dryer, and Ari braced her hand against the ceiling. The cop car continued its pursuit, its red and blue lights made even brighter by the canopy over them.

The access road meandered east, wrapping around the Gavin House. Dale tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "When I was a kid," she panted, "a bunch of us used to come out here... to see if we could prove any... of the urban legends. When I get up here... I'm going to slow down to take a turn. You get out. Change. Run."

"I'm not leaving you behind."

"Ari, we're not going to get away. I can claim ignorance. They won't let you go." She grabbed Ari's hand and squeezed. "I'll be fine. Ari, it's coming up. You have to run or they'll catch you. Please."

Ari grabbed the handle of the car door. She took the bag from the stash and hooked the strap over her shoulder. "Meet me with a Big Mac, tonight after dark. I'll keep away from any PVC-pipe wielding kids this time."

"What?" Dale ran the phrase through her head and realized what Ari was saying. "Right. I'll be there. Coming up here." Dale slowed and turned the corner. Ari opened the door and jumped out of the car. She landed in pine needles, but rolled into the trunk of a sturdy tree. Pain ran along her side, but she ignored it as she stripped off the clothes she had only just put on.

It took her ninety seconds to go from human to wolf. The cop car sped past her halfway through the transformation, but she was far enough off the road that they didn't notice her.

Dale had slammed on the brakes a few dozen yards ahead. She had her hands sticking out of the drivers' side window. The cops parked behind her and jumped from the car, crouching behind their doors. Ari always wondered about that; why bother taking cover behind something that couldn't possibly stop a bullet? She watched as they ordered Dale out of the car, instructing her to lie facedown on the dirt road with her hands stretched over her head.

Dale was handcuffed and hauled to her feet. One of the cops saw Ari and hesitated. "Whoa. There are fucking wolves out here."

Ari turned and ran.

#

They let Dale have a glass of water, but then they left her alone with it for almost forty-five minutes. She put her head down on the table, using both hands as pillows, and tried not to cry. From the moment she'd seen Ari running down the road in mid-change, she knew things were bad. But she never imagined they would be this bad. She was still handcuffed. She was tired, hungry, sore, terrified... she could only imagine what Ari was going through.

The detective finally returned and sat down across from her. He looked kind enough, but Dale knew not to trust appearances. He had introduced himself earlier as Detective Kyle Lorne, and she knew he was her designated good cop for the afternoon. She sat up, not bothering to hide her red eyes. "Where is Ariadne?"

"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us the answer to that question, Ms. Frye."

"I know what you guys think. But you've got it back-asswards. Katherine Gavin hired Ari to watch Laura. She wanted to confirm that Laura really was staying clean after her last trip to rehab, and Ari has a reputation of observing without being seen."

"Mm-hmm." Lorne flipped open his notebook and read something. "Ms. Willow operates a business called... Bitches? Is that right?"

Dale closed her eyes. "Yes."

"And looking over your recorded earnings for the past few years, I can't help but wonder why Katherine Gavin would come to your agency for... well, anything."

"Maybe she was slumming it. Your girlfriend probably knows about that sort of thing."

Lorne smirked and closed his notebook. "Why were you going to the Gavin House this afternoon when we picked you up?"

"I already told you. I was trying to figure out what was happening. I heard about the murder on the radio, and Ari wasn't answering her phone, so I decided to see if Katherine knew about it. I had just gotten there when I heard that insane comment on the radio about how Ari was a stalker. Then the lights and sirens and I, I panicked. I tried to get away."

"That wasn't very smart."

"I didn't claim it was."

He tapped his notebook with two fingers. "The way I see it, Ms. Frye, the only person in this room with a problem is you. All we have to do is find your boss and this case is closed. We have a murder weapon with Ariadne Willow's prints on it. That's been confirmed. We have eyewitness accounts placing her at the scene and firing the weapon at a responding officer. We have her bloodstained clothing which was found stashed under a bush in a nearby backyard, which should have made her escape very... interesting.

"The problem here is what you want me to believe. Either I believe that Ms. Willow's interest in Laura Gavin was professional, in which case I hold you as an accessory until you tell us everything you know. Or I could believe that Ariadne Willow was acting alone, working off an obsession with Laura Gavin that eventually led to murder. If that's the case, it's not necessary to hold you any further and I'll have to let you go."

Dale shook her head. "Ari has a check from Katherine Gavin. She deposited it last week."

"Katherine Gavin admits to writing that check. Ariadne Willow asked for ten thousand dollars in return for leaving Laura alone forever. Looks like she reneged on her promise."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Dale pressed her hands against her stomach and leaned forward. No wonder the bitch had been so generous. It had to look like a payoff.

Lorne pushed back his chair and went around the table. "Give me your hands, Ms. Frye." Dale reluctantly did as he asked. He produced a set of keys and unlocked the cuffs. Dale stared at him as he gathered his notebook and went back to the door.

"What are you doing?" Dale whispered.

He paused in the doorway and looked back at her. "You're free to go. The only reason we have to hold you is if we believed your story. Katherine Gavin's version of events has a lot more credibility than yours."

Dale stood up. "Why, because she's rich and we're poor? Because we're just a little agency? She set us up. She used us to kill her own daughter. Ari was hired--"

"I think your boss told you a story, and you believed it. That's not a crime. It also means you're not an accessory to murder and you're free to go." He turned and walked away, leaving the door open behind him.

Dale stared at the open doorway with shock, anger and sadness. They weren't going to believe her. They weren't even going to listen to her. She walked around the table and left the interrogation room. A uniformed officer who had been standing outside the door escorted her downstairs, where she was given back her wallet and keys.

I'm not free to go. You just want me to lead you straight to wherever Ari is hiding. Her car had been taken to the impound lot, which was closed for the day. She got into a cab and, a few blocks later, saw an innocuous brown sedan following them. Bastards. She leaned forward and tapped the cab driver's shoulder. "Would you mind doing a few errands for me?"

"Your dime, lady."

Dale took out her wallet and handed him a fifty. "I'm not going to come back from one of these places, so in advance."

"Much obliged." He took the money and then looked at her in the rearview. "This is like an honest to God 'give them the slip' sort of thing, huh?"

"Sort of. And I work for a private eye."

He handed the money back over his shoulder. "I've been waiting for this moment since I got my hack license. Hang on, sweetheart. We're going to play a little Pac-Man."

The driver turned on the next corner, going a block before he turned right again. He circled a building and then returned to the route he'd been taking. He sped up, just barely touching the speed limit and slipping through a yellow light before he took another right. He turned left, went through an underground parking garage, and exited on the other side of the building.

"You've thought about this before, haven't you?"

The driver laughed. "Oh, yeah. Just tell me you didn't do anything illegal."

"I didn't. The cops are following me because they want to find my boss, who was framed for murder."

"This is, like, a new game show or something, right? You're pulling my leg."

Dale sighed. "I wish I was."

"Okay, I haven't seen the sedan that was behind us for a couple of blocks. You wanna hop out and I'll keep giving him the slip?"

Dale smiled. "You read my mind. Thank you."

He slowed down and idled in front of a monorail stop. "Here you go. The train should be along soon and it'll take you the rest of the way."

Dale handed him a twenty. "Take it. You earned it."

He touched a finger to the brim of his hat. "I hope you and your boss get things sorted out."

"You and me both." She got out of the cab and hurried out of sight. The cab left and, three minutes later, the sedan sped by. Dale waited until it was well and truly out of sight before she went into the monorail station to buy a ticket. She sat in the most hidden spot of the terminal, trying to be as invisible as possible as she cowered in her seat.

Once she was sitting still, the enormity of what was happening hit her. Ari was wanted for murder. Dale was little more than a fugitive herself. If the cops didn't get their hands on Ari soon, she could look forward to being dragged to the precinct again and again for "further questioning." It was worse for Ari. The cops would eventually get bored of harassing Dale, and they would go away. But they wouldn't stop looking for Ari. She was a murderer, caught at the scene of the crime with more than enough evidence to put her away forever. No. Not put her away forever. The cops thought Ari had killed Laura while holding her prisoner. That was a capital offense. She'd get the death penalty.

The truth wouldn't help them if the police wouldn't believe it. And why would they? What possible reason would Katherine Gavin have for killing her own daughter and then lying about it? Dale knew it was the truth and even she was having a hard time thinking of a motive.

They were David, Katherine Gavin was Goliath, and Dale didn't even have a slingshot.

#

Chapter Twelve

The industrial area where Ari first met Dale had fallen into disrepair in the past few years. The warehouse was still abandoned, and Ari was easily able to break the rusted chain that held the door shut. She pushed the garage door up and rolled underneath it. The interior looked huge without machinery to take up space. Ari sat with her back against the wall and put her arms across her knees.

Laura was dead.

She couldn't process it. A part of her was convinced that if she could just figure a way out of the mess they were in, Laura would go on to live a happy and full life. It was childish and silly, but she couldn't shake the idea. It was much easier to believe that than to accept Laura really was dead. She wiped at her cheeks, unaware she'd been crying until she felt the moisture on her wrist. She was wearing a thin white T-shirt and jeans, neither of which was doing much against the early evening chill.

After an hour, she climbed the creaking stairs to the catwalk that ringed the perimeter of the room. She tested the metal underfoot before she risked putting all of her weight on it and then gingerly walked to the window. She crouched down and looked down onto the street, waiting. A vein was throbbing in her head, and her body was sore. Her race across the city and impromptu transformation while changing back into her right body had taken its toll. Dale's preventative massage felt like eons ago.

Eventually, a cab pulled up in front of the warehouse and Ari watched as Dale climbed out. She went down the stairs and returned to the garage door, pushing it up as Dale started down the loading dock. Ari whistled, and Dale made her way over. A backpack was slung over one shoulder and, in her right hand, she carried a white bag with a familiar golden logo on the side.

Ari smiled. "The Big Mac was just a code."

"I know. I just figured you might be hungry."

Ari helped Dale up and they both went into the warehouse. Dale had a small lantern in the pack and it illuminated a small corner of their hideaway. In addition to the burger, Dale had gotten herself a fish sandwich. They shared an order of French fries and ate in silence. Neither of them knew what to say, so they simply enjoyed their last supper. Ari rubbed her nose and Dale sneezed a few times because of the dust swirling through the empty warehouse.

"So what's our next move?"

Ari looked at her across their impromptu picnic blanket. "There's no 'our' next move. There's my next move, and yours. You're going to shut down the agency. There's some money in the company account, and that's yours. I don't want you to have to worry about finding another job right away."

Dale had gone very still. "What are you talking about?"

Ari shook her head. "I just want to make sure you're taken care of."

"By sending me away?"

"By keeping you safe. By making sure you're not caught up in this bullshit. Katherine Gavin won. I can't fight her."

"So you're not even going to try?"

Ari held her hands out. "Try what? I don't have any tricks big enough to stop someone like her. She'll shut me down before I take two steps. She's been playing us this entire time, just because she wanted someone to take the fall for Laura's murder."

"I still don't understand why she would kill her own flesh and blood."

Ari picked at her burger. "Flesh and blood doesn't mean the same to some people. My mother, for instance." She took a deep breath and leaned back. "I never told you why I left home."

Dale shook her head. "I just figured it was none of my business."

Ari nodded and organized her thoughts before she spoke. "I wasn't born canidae, I was made one. My mother authorized a doctor to perform a risky procedure so I could transform. Being a wolf isn't all bad, but... it's not all good, either. And she did that to me knowing that, even in a best case scenario, I would feel extreme agony every time I transformed. Worst case scenario, the procedure went wrong and I died."

"Oh, God. I'm sorry."

"I'm just saying that some people aren't wired the same as others. Some people could never hurt a stranger, and some people have no problems subjecting their own kids to horrible pain. It's the way of the world."

Dale looked down at her food. "Don't send me away."

"I'm not bringing you with me, Dale. I'm a wanted fugitive, and you're just an innocent bystander."

"You really think Katherine Gavin will just let me be?"

Ari shrugged. "I'm sure Katherine Gavin will do everything in her power to make sure I get punished for Laura's death. Beyond that I don't think she cares. It doesn't matter what she thinks, Dale, because she's already won. We can't fight. Thank you for everything you've done for me. You're the best friend I've ever had. But we're at the end of the road. Bitches Investigations is done."

"Bitch--" Dale stood up and began to pace. "Oh, you stupid... I don't work for you. Do you remember last year when you paid me with coupons? It was a slow month, so you went down to the supermarket and got a Sunday paper, and you gave me the coupon section. That was my paycheck that week. And you honestly think I'm sticking around because of the job?"

"I didn't mean that--"

"Shut up, Ari." Dale stopped pacing and looked down at Ari. "Maybe when you brought me in, it was just a job. But I stayed because of you. I wanted to help you. Because I loved you. I still do." She knelt in front of Ari and took her hands. "Don't push me away now just because things got hard. If you're running, I'm running with you. If you're hiding, then I'll be your lookout. You want me to go? Where, Ariadne? Where exactly would I go? How would I go back to a quiet life after spending all this time with you? I don't have anywhere else. I don't have anybody else without you. We're in this together, Ari."

Ari touched Dale's cheek. A moment later she leaned in and kissed her.

They had kissed before, but this time there was more than just friendship behind it. Ari had fought her attraction to Dale for a long time, whether because they worked together or because one or the other of them was in a relationship. But here, at this moment, all they had was each other. Ari put her arms around Dale's waist and let the kiss linger, her eyes open wide enough to see that Dale's were closed.

When they parted, Ari kissed Dale's cheek. "I love you, too."

"So what's our next step?"

"That doesn't change, Dale. Katherine Gavin is still way too powerful--"

"Oh, forget that. She doesn't know who she messed with. She doesn't know about the wolf. We can use that against her. My grandpa was German, and you know what he used to say when I was scared of the dark? 'Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.' So I say we go to Katherine Fucking Gavin and scare the shit out of her. Show her that she messed with the wrong dog. She's used to people not fighting back, so let's take her by surprise."

Ari considered the proposal. "We'll need time to prepare."

Dale smiled and stroked Ari's cheek. "I have an idea for that."

#

They agreed it would be suspicious if Dale stayed out all night, so Ari transformed into the wolf and let Dale collar and leash her. She didn't know how Ari felt, but the walk back to her apartment was intense déjà vu. An unmarked police car was sitting in front of the building when they arrived. Dale kept her head down as she passed it, ignoring them as she went inside. She only turned on a lamp by the couch, to cut down on the amount of shadows that would be cast on the window shade, and tossed a robe to Ari.

"You can probably change back. I doubt they'll do a surprise search of the place."

A short while later, Ari grunted and said, "You can't be sure of that."

"Still, I'd rather spend the night with you than a dog." She cleared her throat, hoping Ari would ignore the double entendre. Her lips were still sensitive from their kiss. She wasn't going to push it, but she was conflicted by what had happened. She and Ari had both tiptoed up to that line before, but they always retreated for one reason or another. Now they were both single, but the threat of being on the run from the law was looming over their heads.

She got them both a beer out of the fridge and sat beside Ari on the couch to drink it. Ari had been plotting while Dale was procrastinating in the kitchen. "Tomorrow morning, we'll leave for the island. We'll stay there until we can figure out some way to take Katherine Gavin down."

"Sounds good to me."

They tapped the necks of their bottles together and drank. "You know, we could just stay." Dale looked at her to see if she was serious. Ari was staring at the blank square of the television screen. "Live in your grandpa's fishing cabin. Take the ferry to one of the other islands to get groceries."

"Just you and me?"

Ari lifted a shoulder. "What else do we need?" She looked at Dale.

"Are you already drunk?"

"A little bit."

Dale kissed her. They kept their backs against the couch, not twisting toward each other. Dale kept her hands firmly on the beer bottle, her thumbs tracing circles over the smooth glass. After the stress of the day, being arrested and patted down and interrogated and constantly worrying, it was nice to just kiss someone. She could only imagine how badly Ari needed it. She didn't know how long it went on before Ari pulled back.

"You asked if I was drunk so you could say 'we shouldn't do this because we're drunk.' Right?"

"Yeah."

"There's a chance we won't be able to make it to the island. Remember Bryn, my ex?"

"Kitty."

"Yeah. She knows I can change, and she's a cop. If she tells the other boys and girls in blue to be on the lookout for a dog, we'd be toast."

Dale shook her head. "She can't tell them that without exposing herself. And your breakup was amicable enough. Would she really turn on you like that?"

"If she thought I was a murderer..."

Dale said, "No. I don't see anyone who knows you believing that for a second." She took Ari's hand. "Just rest. Tomorrow you'll be safe on the island. As good as off the face of the earth. We'll plot, we'll scheme, and then we'll come back here and take down Echols and his bitchy boss once and for all."

"I like the way you think, Dale." Ari kissed her cheek. Her lips hesitated until Dale turned and they kissed again. Ari pulled back and stroked Dale's hair. "I may be able to get used to that."

Dale just nodded. She put her hand on Ari's wrist to keep her from moving it away.

"I know I told you to leave. But I'm glad you stayed."

"Good. Because I'm not going anywhere, Ari." She turned her head and kissed Ari's wrist. She closed her eyes and eased away from her. "I should probably go to bed. It's been a long day."

"Right. I'll take the couch."

"Uh-huh." Dale brushed her hair behind her ears. Ari retreated, and Dale stood up. "I'll get you a pillow and some, some, um, blankets. Do you want pajamas?"

"Just a long T-shirt would be great."

Dale nodded. "I'll be right back." She went into the bedroom, her face still burning from their kisses. She'd long ago realized she and Ari were basically made for each other. Dale's relationships usually faltered because of her unusually close relationship with her boss, not to mention the strain of repeatedly jumping out of bed at two in the morning to drive out and pick Ari up from some dark street corner. And Ari's relationships were always doomed from the start. There was never a good time to bring up the fact she was a wolf.

The solution to their problem was to just date each other. The attraction was definitely there on both sides. Neither of them wanted to be the one to cross the line, to throw the grenade on their friendship and working relationship. What if it didn't work out? What if they were incompatible and it made things awkward. Dale knew she would never find a better job, and she knew Ari would never find anyone else she trusted.

Or it could go right. They could just add lover to the list of things they were to each other. It could work. It could be the most wonderful thing they'd ever experienced.

She found an old T-shirt and took some spare bedclothes out of the closet. She carried them out to the living room against her chest. "I could only find a Joan Jett shirt. Hope you don't..."

Ari was asleep on the couch. Dale put down the blanket and pillow, knelt by the couch, and brushed Ari's hair out of her face. Ari didn't look to be asleep so much as passed out, utterly exhausted from countless transformations and everything that had happened in between. Ari didn't make friends easily. Dale knew what Laura's death had cost her, and she was willing to be there to pick up the pieces. She would catch Ari when she fell; it was what she did best.

Dale kissed Ari's lips softly. "Goodnight, boss." She draped the blanket gently over her and walked barefoot to the bedroom.

#

The next morning, Dale watched Kyle Lorne in her rearview mirror. He was three or four cars back in the next lane, parked alongside all the other people waiting to drive onto the ferry. The newly-risen sun was shining on the windshield, so Dale couldn't actually see him, but she had watched him follow her all the way from home. He finally got out of the car and walked up to the driver's side window. She rolled it down and glared up at him. "This is bordering on harassment, Detective. I thought you said I was free to go. Does that translate to 'go anywhere you want, but I'll be watching you'?"

"Basically. Where are you headed?"

"A little rest and relaxation on an island. My boss is missing and wanted for murder, so I thought I would take a weekend away. Is that all right with the Seattle Police Department?"

He was still scanning the backseat. "Packed kind of heavily for a weekend trip."

"You know how girls are. Plus I had to bring supplies for Tule."

The dog in the passenger seat had been watching Lorne intently since the window was rolled down. He squinted at her.

"That's quite a dog you have there."

"You don't know the half of it. Look, if you think I'm trying to smuggle Ari to freedom, you're more than welcome to search the car and the trunk. But I swear she is not in this car. And if you're planning to follow us out to the island, you might want check and see just where your jurisdiction runs out. They have their own police out there, you know."

Lorne grinned. "Oh, yeah. I know. I'll be right here when you get back, Ms. Frye. We're not quite done with you yet."

"Joy."

Lorne walked back to his car. Dale looked at Ari. "It's not technically a lie. Ariadne Willow is not in this car. Tule is."

Ari snorted and climbed into the backseat where she could stretch out more comfortably.

"Don't be like that. I don't like lying to the cops. As far as he knows, he's chasing a deranged stalker." She reached over and rubbed Ari's head, leaving her hand on Ari's shoulder until the ferry started loading passengers. She kept her eye on Lorne's car to make sure he didn't follow them. Sure enough, once the space in front of him was clear, he pulled out and made a U-turn to leave the ferry lanes.

"He's going. Looks like we're going to make it."

Ari barked.

"It is not a jinx. Be quiet."

They parked in the belly of the ship, and Dale attached the leash to Ari's collar. "You know, if we were dating, this sort of thing would be really kinky."

Ari licked her face.

Dale pushed Ari's head away with a laugh and led her upstairs. Before she met Ari, she knew she would have been freaked out by the idea of dating a canidae. But she saw Ari as her friend. Her friend who was sometimes a wolf. Other passengers noticed Ari as she passed, and the children asked if they could pet her. Ari was ambivalent about being petted by strangers, but Dale didn't want to draw attention. They were already pushing the envelope by getting special permission to let Ari wander the ship, and they'd only gotten that because they were disembarking at the first stop.

Dale let the kids pet Ari, and then took her to the upper deck. The cold wind buffeted them from all sides, but Ari liked the cold. Dale led her to the railing where they could watch as the ship backed away from the pier. Dale reached down and rubbed the scruff of Ari's neck. If she didn't look down, she could pretend Ari was just sitting down on the deck.

"It's just going to be a couple of days to get our heads straight. So we're sure we're not acting impulsively. We'll take it slow. And then, when we're ready, we're going to come back and make that woman pay for what she did to her daughter."

Ari barked.

Dale leaned against the railing with Ari's weight warm against her side.

#

Chapter Thirteen

They left the ferry on the first stop as promised, delivered to a small rural town safely ensconced in trees. Dale found a small internet café and printed off as much information on Laura Gavin as she could. She went back a few years, gathering stories from her wild days as well as her more recent redemption and, naturally, coverage of her murder. Ari's face was all over the news as a dangerous fugitive. They used a mug shot from one of her public indecency arrests, taken less than half an hour after she transformed. Her skin was clammy, her hair stringy and unwashed, and her eyes were unfocused.

After Dale had everything she needed, she rented a car and loaded it with enough groceries to last them a few days. About a mile outside of town, the pavement ended and the road turned into a dirt route winding through the thick trees that started crowding in on either side. It didn't take long before it was easy to imagine they were in the middle of nowhere, completely cut off from civilization.

It started raining as they drove, fat drops spreading across the windshield like half-dollars of water, trembling from the vibrations in the engine until they spread to cover all the glass. Dale turned on the wipers. The sky visible through the trees darkened to a deep slate gray and made it feel hours later than it really was.

Dale turned down a road that Ari hadn't even seen until they were on it, and followed it through the maze of trees until they parted to reveal her grandfather's land. A cabin was at the far end of the cleared space, looking more like it had been carved from the woods rather than built. Dale parked next to the one tree that was still standing, a sole guardian in the middle of the clearing. Dale got out of the car and stood with an umbrella over the backseat. Two minutes later, Ari emerged in her human form. She quickly dressed in clothes she had gotten out of their luggage and walked toward the tree with Dale. They huddled under the umbrella and looked up at the strangest "branches" Ari had ever seen.

"Odd fruit your grandfather grew."

Dale smiled and reached up to spin the bicycle's front tire. The front of the bike emerged from the tree at about six feet, and the back extended from the other side of the trunk. The metal was rusted and the gears squeaked as the wheel moved. A sign hanging from the handlebars read WILLI'S BIKE-EATING TREE.

"Grandpa parked his bike on a tiny little tree when he was a boy. He left it here when his family went home after summer, and the next year they skipped coming to the cabin so he could go to camp. By the time they came back, the tree had kind of claimed the bike. He decided to see what would happen."

"Wow. This was your German grandfather?"

"Ja. C'mon. Let's get unpacked and start looking for ways to take down the most powerful family in Seattle."

Ari helped Dale unload the car, running back and forth to the cabin as they rain stopped and started. The interior of the cabin was musty but surprisingly not as much as Ari expected. They opened the windows to let the front room air out a little, exchanging it for the crisp ozone smell of the rain. The living room, kitchen and dining room all shared a space, separated by furniture or waist-high counters. Two bedrooms and a bathroom were tacked on to the northern side of the house as afterthoughts. The east wall was dominated by a large picture window draped by lacy, gently wafting curtains.

Ari stood in front of the couch and looked at the layout. "Something is weird about this place, but I can't figure out what."

Dale scanned the room and smiled. "We figured it out when I was a little girl. I always thought the same thing when we came here."

"What is it?"

"I'm not telling." She put the internet printouts on the couch and took off her jacket. "Where do you want to put your conspiracy wall?"

"Right..." Ari pointed at a clear spot on the wall and then realized what was odd about the room. "The furniture isn't aiming at a television. There isn't even a place for the TV."

Dale laughed. "Nope. This place was built before television. My great-grandpa didn't even wire it for electricity, so he didn't have a radio, either."

"No wonder there was a Depression."

Ari took the printouts and a roll of tape to the wall. She took out a photograph of Laura Gavin they'd printed out solely to remember what had been lost and placed it right in the center of the empty wall. She let her thumb linger on the corner of the print-out for a moment before she started hanging more print-outs.

Dale came out of the bedroom as Ari finished with the last sheet. "My bed is made. How's the web?"

"Constructed. Now I just have to figure out what it all means."

Dale joined her in front of the couch and they examined the papers taped to the wall. "Five years ago, Laura Gavin started making appearances in public. She made a big enough splash that the media started taking notice of her almost immediately. After that, you could barely turn on a TV without hearing her name. Then rehab, relapse, sex tape, rehab, relapse. New sex tape?"

"Allegedly. It was only a rumor."

"But one that Echols believed enough to rough up the kids at that club." Dale nodded. "So the mysterious second sex tape is enough to put her in rehab a third time. Why?" She stepped closer to the wall. "There was a whole year between the release of the first tape and her time in rehab. So why was the rumor of the second one enough to get her clean?"

"Assuming the tape is the reason she went."

Ari shrugged. "Let's assume that."

"Okay. Considering what was on the first tape, I can't imagine she did anything more embarrassing in the second one." She chewed her lip. "Maybe the embarrassing thing isn't the plot. Maybe she was ashamed of the cast."

Ari looked at her. "You think she slept with someone she shouldn't have."

"I'm sorry for putting this in your head, but... we don't know how Echols found out about the tape. Maybe--"

"Oh, God." Ari shuddered. She looked at the web. "We know that Laura most likely lost her virginity to him. The relationship could have lasted longer than she wanted it to. What would stop him? She was basically a prisoner and he had complete control. It's no wonder she turned into a wild child once she got free."

"But five years," Dale said. "Why would her mother wait so long to kill her? Why wait until she'd actually cleaned up her act?"

Ari shook her head. "Because of the second sex tape? Maybe that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Dale cleared her throat. "Ari, I don't care what was on the second tape. Trust me. Nothing could be worse than the first one. If Katherine didn't kill her because of that, there's no way the second one would be worth killing over."

Ari paced. Dale sat on the couch and stared at the web on the wall. The type was too small to be seen from that far away, of course, but she could see the headlines. She rested her chin on both fists and waited for inspiration to strike.

Ari finally stopped circling. "Okay, we're the wild cards. Why did she hire us?"

"She wanted someone to blame for the murder. If she didn't have you, the police would probably be looking at Echols since he was the only one with complete access to her life. With you in the picture, the cops don't have to look any further."

Ari sat on the couch beside Dale. "I think she was telling the truth about one thing. I think she has cancer and she wants to make sure her family's legacy is secure before she dies."

"By killing the heir to the family name?"

Ari had grown very still. "No. Not the heir."

Dale looked at her. Ari's face had gone ashen, her eyes darting over the papers. She put a hand on Ari's shoulder. "What? What's wrong?"

"Protecting the Gavin name. Katherine Gavin wanted me to keep an eye on Laura to make sure she was still clean. Her entire goal was to make sure that the Gavin name would be safe after she died. And then I handed in my first report and told her that Laura had a boyfriend. If they got married--"

"No." Dale turned and put her hands on Ari's shoulders to force Ari to look at her. "I won't believe that. No matter how evil Katherine Gavin is, I won't believe that she is that heinous. To kill her daughter just so she wouldn't change her last name? It's moronic, Ari. Don't beat yourself up for no reason, okay? I know that whatever motive she really had is going to sound stupid to us, but that defies credibility by any gauge. And Laura's death wasn't your fault."

"That's why I keep you around, I guess."

Dale smiled and looked at the web again. "Okay, so the rumors of the second sex tape came out. Echols went around trying to figure out who was involved, and apparently he succeeded. I didn't see anything about a second tape surfacing, or even rumors."

"And that only brings up the question of how Echols knew about it."

"Maybe the other person or persons in the video tried to blackmail the family. They called Katherine for a ransom and she sent out Echols instead. Then Katherine set up Laura's murder to prevent any further embarrassment."

Ari narrowed her eyes skeptically. "Even though she'd already gotten clean?"

"Allegedly clean." Dale stood up and went to the wall. She tapped the stories. "A lot of these are from the last two months, and they treat Laura cleaning up her act as a phase. One of them even compared it to Britney shaving her head and Lohan going gay for a while. None of these tabloids believed she was clean and sober."

"She was," Ari insisted. "I saw her. She was not that person anymore."

Dale shrugged. "You had the benefit of living with her for a weekend. You saw her when the mask was off. To everyone else, they just see the party girl hanging out at a soup kitchen and holding down a steady job. They're waiting for the other shoe to drop. We've already decided Katherine's reason for hiring you was a lie. She didn't care what you discovered because she thought she already knew the truth."

Ari was nodding. "Katherine Gavin had cancer. She knew she was dying and she was leaving more than a century of history on Laura's shoulders. The whole sex tape thing came out, and she knew she had to do something. So she hatched a plan."

"But then Laura got clean."

Ari shrugged. "Allegedly clean, as far as Katherine knew. That probably worked into her plans, too. If Laura got killed after turning her life around, that makes Katherine Gavin an object of sympathy. The last scion of her family, her only child cruelly taken from her. And then the kicker... she announces she has cancer. She doesn't have long to live herself. The glorious Gavin family coming to an end. After years of living in obscurity, everyone in Seattle... hell, everyone in the nation, probably, would be watching her. She would probably use the notoriety of Laura's wild child days to raise her own stock. Everyone would be talking about the lamentable end of the once-great Gavin family."

Dale leaned against the wall. "Oh, that is despicable. You can see her doing that?"

Ari nodded. "Oh, yeah."

Dale pushed her hands through her hair and puffed out her cheeks. "Then that's the theory we're going to run with. Are you hungry?"

"A little less so, after putting together those pieces. But we should probably eat."

Dale made sandwiches for them both while Ari poured their drinks. Ari held up her glass to Dale. "To you. For not leaving when I told you. I don't know what I'd do without you. I'd probably have given up by now."

"To you." Their glasses met with a fragile clink. "Without you in my life, I definitely would have given up by now."

Ari tried to pass it off as a joke. "I was just talking about the past couple of days."

"I wasn't." Dale put down her glass. "I never told you this, but I was in a real bad place when we met. You gave me purpose, and a job, and a friend. Three things I had pretty much given up on by that point." She looked down at their sandwiches and leaned back in her seat. "But now, here comes your line."

Ari furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"We're just friends, it would be too complicated so we shouldn't even try. Do you remember when we kissed in my apartment a few months ago?"

"We agreed that you were too vulnerable. You'd just found out your ex had cancer. If I'd taken advantage of you, neither of us would ever forgive me."

Dale nodded. "I know. And now we're on the run from the whole world, so you can use that as your excuse. We can keep up the dance." She pushed away from the table and shook her head. "Sorry. I don't even know why I brought it up." She stood up from the table and started for the door.

"Dale..." Ari chased her across the living room and outside.

Dale stormed off the porch and into the deluge, immediately soaked from the rain. Ari took a running step and closed the distance between her and Dale. She grabbed Dale's arm and spun her around. Dale's hair was already flattened by the rain, her clothes soaked. She looked pale, drowned.

"I admit that I push you away. I've had to fight for everything good in my life, and I'm so scared that if I push any harder it'll all collapse. And I'm scared that if I reach for more, everything will fall apart. But Katherine Gavin took everything from me. My job and my apartment and my reputation. My whole life is lying around me in pieces, but I don't care because you're still with me. I won't let that woman take you away from me." Rain streaked down Ari's face, obscuring the fact she had started crying. "So if you're telling me you want me, I'm not going to push you away. In fact, I could use a kiss right now."

Dale kissed Ari. Ari parted Dale's lips with her tongue and pulled her shirt out from the waistband of her trousers. She pressed her palm against the warm skin underneath and pulled Dale back to the porch, under the awning. They left the door of the cabin open as they went back inside, and Ari looked into Dale's eyes. Dale still looked terrified, heartbroken, and ready to flee.

"We don't have to stop this time. This is the one thing I have left, and I'm not going to hold back anymore. I love you, Dale."

"I love you, too." They kissed again, and Ari unbuttoned Dale's blouse from the lowest button to the highest. She spread the sodden material and Dale dropped the hands. The blouse dropped, revealing a cream-colored bra. She kissed the corner of Dale's mouth, followed by her cheek. She closed her lips on Dale's earlobe. Dale ran her hands over Ari's back during the exploration, her breathing ragged as if she was still crying.

Ari let go of Dale and moved to the couch where her bag was still sitting unpacked. She took out a towel and went back to where Dale was waiting. She tenderly dried Dale's face, her chest, and then tried to dry her hair by ruffling it with the towel as gently as possible. Dale laughed, and Ari smiled. Dale moved the towel down so that it was looped around her neck and pulled Ari to her for another kiss.

They walked to the bedroom Dale had already made up for the night. A sheet was stretched over the mattress and a blanket was folded at the foot of the bed. Dale slipped her hand into Ari's and guided her across the room. She turned and sat down on the foot of the bed, looking up at Ari before she hooked her fingers under the hem of Ari's shirt. Her hands were trembling as she peeled it up, and Ari had to help her get it up and off. Ari hadn't bothered with a bra when she dressed in the car, and Dale sucked in a breath. She'd seen Ari's breasts many times, but in platonic situations.

Now she touched them, stroked the slight curve of them, and leaned in to kiss one dark nipple. She curled her tongue over it, her lips soft as she teased it to erection. Her fingers found the other, and she moaned as Ari stroked her hair. Ari placed one knee on the mattress, letting it rest against Dale's hip, and stared down at her. Dale looked up and met her eyes and she smiled shyly. Ari tilted Dale's head up and bent down to kiss her again.

As they kissed, she lowered Dale to the bed and gently lay on top of her. Dale stroked Ari's chest while Ari finally spread her hand across Dale's back and opened her bra. All the massages, all the stolen glimpses Dale had gotten of Ari's naked body, Ari had never seen Dale naked. She rectified that by breaking the kiss and looking down, drawing a circle around one pink nipple with her thumb. Dale sucked a breath through clenched teeth and arched her back.

"Ariadne..."

She lowered her head and kissed the hollow of Dale's throat, sucking there as she kneaded Dale's breast. Dale reached down and undid Ari's pants, pushing them down her hips and splaying the fingers of her right hand over Ari's rear end to pull her closer. Ari licked up Dale's neck, kissed her jaw, and settled her weight on Dale's hip. She moved her lower body, lifting her head to look into Dale's eyes as she thrust, and Dale began to whimper. Ari's right thigh moved up, muscular and solid against the crotch of Dale's thin trousers, and they moved against each other in a slow rhythm.

"Oh, God, Ariadne."

Ari closed her eyes and shuddered. She didn't want to tell Dale to say her name again, didn't want to be that cliché, but God did she love the way it sounded. Dale kissed Ari's throat and chest as they moved against each other, their breathing becoming too ragged for words. Dale grunted and whimpered, holding back her orgasm. Ari sensed her reluctance and backed off, moving to one side to kick her pants and underwear away. Dale did the same and rolled on top of Ari, pinning her to the mattress.

Ari looked down at Dale, taking in the fold of her stomach, the patch of hair between her legs that was just a touch darker than the hair Ari was accustomed to seeing. She settled between Ari's legs, and Ari put both arms around her. She slipped a hand between Dale's legs and cupped her sex, and Dale's arms trembled as her eyes rolled back.

"Consider this payback for all those massages," Ari whispered, and Dale laughed as they kissed again. Dale's thighs tensed and relaxed as she thrust against Ari. Little moans rode on her breath, and she grinded down on Ari's hand before thrusting up against her once more. She bit Ari's lip playfully, and Ari growled before spinning them again. They hit the headboard, but the pain that shot up Ari's arm was fleeting and quickly forgotten.

They were kissing when Dale came, her hands fluttering against Ari's side like trapped birds until they molded to her cheeks and rested their. She sobbed, laughed, and gave a final tremulous moan before her body went limp. Ari broke the kiss, but pressed her lips to Dale's closed eyes.

"I love you, Dale."

"I love you. I love you, Ariadne." Dale kissed Ari's neck, parting her lips to sweep her tongue over the warm flesh. "Can we do something...?"

"Anything," Ari said. She cupped Dale's face. "What do you want?"

Dale told her how she should be positioned, and Ari complied. She stretched out facedown on the bed and Dale, still naked, climbed on top of her. She massaged Ari's shoulders and moved her hands down. She skimmed Ari's sides, her fingertips just barely touching the gentle swells of Ari's breasts.

She moved lower and parted Ari's legs. "Sometimes in the middle of a massage... I got the image of this. And I always thought if I had the opportunity... I was going to take it." She kissed the curve of Ari's ass, spread her legs apart, and touched her tongue to Ari's sex. Ari sucked in a breath, clutching the pillow with both arms and arching her back.

"I don't... think I... would have objected."

Dale snickered and pressed her tongue between the folds before retreating. Ari was already on a tightrope, and Dale was about to push her over. Dale was amazing with her hands, and she proved it by adding a finger. She stroked softly with her tongue, using her knuckle to apply pressure and part Ari's labia. Ari lifted her legs, threading them under Dale's arms. She pressed her feet against Dale's back, and Dale reached up with her free hand to touch Ari's ass.

Ari came quickly, crying out Dale's name before she pressed down against her. Dale kept her mouth against Ari throughout her orgasm, moaning and sending the vibrations along Ari's sensitive flesh. Ari fell to the mattress like a broken thing, panting as Dale kissed her ass, her hips, the small of her back. Her tongue painted a line over Ari's spine, and Dale pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Ari's neck. Ari shuddered as Dale's tongue passed over her skin, and then Dale settled her weight on top of her.

Dale pushed her arms between Ari's stomach and the bed. Ari reached up and stroked Dale's hip, her lips curling into a smile as she tried to catch her breath.

Dale brushed Ari's hair out of her face and Ari craned her neck for a kiss.

Katherine Gavin may have taken everything else in Ari's life, but she'd left the most important thing. Dale was all she needed. In the morning they would work out a plan of attack. But for tonight, for this storm, all she needed was this bed and her best friend. The rest of the world could wait until morning.

#

Chapter Fourteen

Dale woke with Ari's arms wrapped around her. She smiled into the pillow before she rolled onto her back. Ari was awake and watching her. "Good morning."

"Morning." Ari kissed her, sliding one hand up to the curve of Dale's breast as their tongues met. She still wasn't used to the idea of kissing Ari, and she hoped she never was. She loved the way her heart leapt every time. "How do you feel?"

"I feel great. You?"

Ari stroked Dale's cheek and then moved her hand up into her hair. "I think we should have done this a long time ago."

Dale's skin tingled and she bit her bottom lip. "Me too." She touched Ari's shoulders and moved her hand down to Ari's breast. During their massages, this was always out of bounds. She went to great lengths to avoid accidentally touching Ari here and making things awkward. Now, however, she circled Ari's nipples with her thumbs and slid down to kiss her cleavage.

"Not to ruin your efforts of the entire night by bringing it up," Ari whispered, "but thank you for distracting me. I really needed this."

"I think we both did."

Ari moved her hand down and cupped her mound. Dale's eyes closed and she moved her lips up to Ari's neck. "We really should think about what we're going to do when we get back to the mainland. We have to prepare."

"Spoilsport." Ari tilted her neck to give Dale's lips more room to explore. "Can't we just have a little fun?"

"Multitasking, Ariadne." She grinned and tightened her fingers on Ari's hips.

#

Ari reclined in the curve of the bathtub, her feet resting on the opposite side. The bath was barely big enough for one person, but Dale made it work. She was sitting on Ari's lap, facing her so that Ari could wash her breasts. They kissed, touched each other, and explored the new aspect of their relationship in between bursts of scheming. Ari watched Dale's face as her fingers slipped inside of her, and Dale got used to the way Ari's skin tasted.

They toweled each other off after the bath, which led to more kissing. They barely made it to the bed before giving in to another bout of lovemaking.

"Making up for lost time," Ari said against Dale's stomach.

"All the times our massages could have turned into something else. It's going to take a while before we break even."

"I'm willing to put in overtime if you are."

Dale kissed Ari passionately before she said, "You're the boss."

"Damn right."

"Slave driver."

Ari slapped Dale's hip. "Roll over onto your stomach."

Dale chuckled and did as she was told. Ari straddled Dale's hips. "I think I owe you about twenty dozen of these." She began to rub Dale's shoulders. "I thought of suggesting it a couple of times, but every time it came up I was naked. I figured it would send the wrong message."

"Probably." Dale's voice was utterly relaxed. "That feels good."

"I'm not as good as you. But I'll do my best."

Dale murmured in pleasure as Ari continued to knead her tired muscles.

#

They spent the next two days alternating between making love and planning what they would do when they got home. When the self-imposed deadline of three days passed, they took separate baths and Dale dressed for the trip back home. Ari took the heavier bags outside while Dale finished packing, slinging the last bag over her shoulder and locking the cabin door. Ari was sitting on the porch, mouth open and tail wagging when she saw Dale. Dale knelt in front of her and scratched her ears.

"I've gone to bed with dogs before, but this is the first time I didn't regret it."

Ari rolled her eyes and walked to the car with Dale following. She opened the door and Ari hopped in, moving to the passenger seat and settling in.

"We get on that boat, go home... we're fugitives again. We'll probably be hunted down by the cops, if Echols doesn't get his hands on us first. The only thing better than a scapegoat is a dead scapegoat." She looked at Ari and raised an eyebrow. "We could stay here. Have sex all the time. Forget about the rest of the world."

Ari leaned in and licked Dale's neck, then patted the steering wheel.

"That's what I thought." She smiled and kissed Ari's head. "Okay. Out of the frying pan and into the fire it is."

#

Neal Bradley stared at the open document on his computer screen. The words had long ago started blurring, so he deleted what he'd written. They weren't appropriate, anyway. He leaned back and rubbed his face, trying to organize his thoughts. Tragedy seemed like such a small word for the loss of Laura. They had decided to continue with the fundraiser but they were going to make it a tribute to her memory. Her hard work the past two months deserved recognition. The media had gleefully reported every minute of her partying, they could damn well spend a few days honoring what she had become.

Neal was supposed to write a speech eulogizing her, but nothing he wrote sounded right. It came out flat and trite. He rested his fingers on the keyboard and typed, "I loved her." He tapped the backspace until the phrase was erased. He leaned back in his chair, hearing the ominous squeak from the springs. He was in the room at the soup kitchen that the deacon let him use as an office, and everywhere he looked was a need for money they didn't have. The room needed new chairs, a new desk, a new lamp, a new everything, but the money just wasn't there. That was why Laura suggested the fundraiser that had become her legacy.

He shut down the computer and decided to put off any writing until the morning. Maybe his head would be clearer then. Katherine Gavin was holding a public memorial service for Laura and he planned to attend. Maybe that would help put him in the right frame of mind to write the speech.

After sitting in silence for a while, Neal stood up and slipped into his jacket. He had worked at the kitchen for years before Laura showed up. But now, somehow even being in the building felt pointless. He shut off the lights and locked the door. He heard footsteps on the brick walkway behind him, someone moving quickly around the side of the church.

"We're not open right now. If you need food, you can go to the pantry on Maple Street. Someone will be there to let you in." He turned with his hand in the pocket of his jacket, his fingers wrapping around the small bottle of Mace he kept there. The woman approaching him didn't look dangerous, but desperate people could do crazy things.

"Neal. Uh, sorry. I don't know your last name."

She was dressed like one of the homeless who often showed up after hours for handouts without the preaching. A hoodie over a threadbare sweater and old blue jeans. Her sneakers didn't have laces. He could only just make out her face by the light of the moon, but there was something familiar about it. He let go of his Mace.

"Have we met?"

"Yes. I mean... no, you haven't met me. But I know you. I knew Laura."

The name made the connection in his head. He'd seen this woman's face on the news. "You're her. You're the woman who..." He swung at her, but the woman easily ducked his blow. She grabbed his arm and used his own momentum to throw him to the ground.

"Stop. Please. I don't want to hurt you."

Neal lashed out with his foot, kicking her knee with his sneaker. The woman, Willow, went down. Neal yanked his hand out of his pocket, sending his cell phone and the Mace into the grass. He saw the phone and changed his plan: he had to call the cops. He grabbed for it, but Willow kicked the phone away and threw her body down on top of him.

"I don't wanna hurt you," she said.

"You ought to be in jail!"

"I didn't do it. I didn't kill her. If I had, do you think I would have come here to talk to you?"

Neal struggled to push her off, but she was wiry. Rather than pinning him down with her weight, she constantly knocked his arms away so he couldn't get enough leverage to push himself up. He was flat on the grass with a woman half his size keeping him there. If she had a gun or a knife or any intention to hurt him, she would have done it already.

"You wanna talk? What's there to talk about? You killed Laura."

"No. I didn't. I was set up. I'm a private investigator. I was hired by Laura's mother to make sure she was clean. That's how I know who you are. I need your help to get the person who really killed her. Will you help me?"

Neal turned and rested his forehead on the grass. "All right. Let me up."

After a moment of internal debate, she climbed off of him. He got to his feet and moved away from her, putting a buffer space between them. She held her hands out to show she was unarmed. He watched her for signs of deception, but she looked desperate.

"Bradley."

"What?"

"My last name is Bradley." He held out his hand. "Neal Bradley."

She shook it. "Ari Willow. Nice to meet you."

#

Neal didn't speak as he brewed their tea. Ari stayed in the seat he'd directed her to, rubbing her hands between her knees. The office was cluttered, and the lamp on the desk didn't do much to push back the darkness. He refused to turn his back on her completely, half-turned so he could keep an eye on her. Ari didn't mind. When the tea was ready, he brought her a cup and moved to the relative safety on the other side of the desk.

"Thanks."

"It's just instant."

"I meant for listening to me."

He glared at her. "You said you would explain this."

Ari nodded. "I told you I was hired by Katherine Gavin to watch Laura, to see how she acted when she thought no one was looking. I determined she was clean. I was on the job for six days before I followed her to an abandoned house. When she didn't come out, I investigated. I found her." Ari's voice cracked. "Her bodyguard, Oliver Echols, was inside. He hit me with a Taser and put the gun in my hand. He was probably the one who called the cops, too. When they showed up, I ran. I was covered in Laura's blood, I'd fired the gun when I woke up... I wouldn't have believed I was innocent, so why would the cops?"

Neal watched her, obviously waiting for signs she was lying. "Her bodyguard killed her. Why?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Did Laura ever talk to you about her life?"

He put his cup down. "That's... she told me that stuff in private."

"Mr. Bradley, someone needs to pay for what happened to Laura, and everyone else is looking for the wrong person. Laura deserves the truth."

After a moment he closed his eyes. "Laura told me that she grew up in a dollhouse. She was home-schooled by a private tutor. She never saw kids her own age. So when she got curious about sex, there was really only one candidate for experimentation. So she didn't object when he started showing up in her room late at night. She let it go on a lot longer than she should have. When she finally got away from him, she decided to cut ties to her family altogether."

"So she didn't consider herself a Gavin anymore."

"Absolutely she didn't. She wanted nothing to do with her mother."

Ari leaned back and stared into the shadows. "Her legacy fell apart anyway. I think Katherine Gavin was scared about the end of her family line. Generations of Gavins, and she was the last one. It was resting on her shoulders to either continue the line or make sure her contribution to their name was worthy. And in her mind, Laura was what she left behind."

"That's a really sick motive. I think it's a lot more likely you were obsessed with her. You followed her. And then when you finally made your move, things got out of hand."

Ari struggled to remain calm. "Laura Gavin was one of the best people I've ever known. The idea of her being killed is only made worse by the fact that people are blaming me for it. I really do think I'm responsible. I should have seen what was going on, and I should have protected her better. I knew Echols was bad news, but I just sat there and took notes so I could get my fat paycheck from Katherine."

"How much was she paying you?"

"What the hell does that matter?"

Neal shrugged. "Maybe you're lying. If you're lying, something simple like how much you were supposedly getting paid--"

"Forty-five thousand for nine days work. Five grand a day plus expenses."

Neal stared at her. He reached for his cup, took a sip, and put it down on the desk. "Forty-five grand."

Ari shrugged. "She wanted to make sure I didn't take what I learned to the tabloids."

"No, she didn't." He scoffed and shook his head. "Laura told me that her mother would get out of paying for things whenever she could. Contractors, tutors, instructors. She would find some fault with their performance, and she would use that as a reason not to pay them in full. She said she started to see the pattern when she realized how much was promised to the people she never intended to pay. Forty-five grand. That was her magic number. She would always offer forty-five thousand dollars to someone she never intended to pay. It was like a game to her."

Ari felt a surge of hope.

"All the papers had to say was that Marilyn was found in the nude." Neal spoke the words instead of singing them. His eyes had glazed over slightly, but they focused on Ari. "I don't want that empty house to be what Laura's remembered for. She did a lot of good in the past two months and she deserves to be recognized for it."

"I'll make sure the real killers get what they deserve."

"I hope you do, Ms. Willow."

He rubbed his hands together and then ran them down his face. He stared at her over the desk as if making some mental calculation before he placed both hands flat on the table.

"What can I do to help you?"

#

Dale wore a baseball cap and a puffy jacket and walked toward the office as casually as possible. It was odd to be on the opposite side of the street, to not change direction when she neared the door. But she kept her stride even and looked at the office only in her peripheral vision. There were two suspicious cars parked on opposite ends of the block, and they were both occupied by two people. She assumed the older model belonged to the police, and the shinier one held Echols and some other members of Katherine Gavin's army.

From the street, the building looked the same as always. She couldn't see into the public area that separated their agency from the antique shop, but she didn't have to. She knew their door was crossed with yellow crime scene tape. She was glad she couldn't see it; the thought of being cut off from the most important place in her entire life was too much to bear without seeing it with her own eyes.

When she reached the cop car, she took off her hat and ran a hand through her hair. She glanced at the car, dipped her chin, and looked toward the building as she increased her speed. She had just gone past the back bumper when she heard the driver's side door open. "Ms. Frye." Detective Lorne's voice was unmistakable. "We've been looking for you."

"Please leave me alone. I just wanted to see the agency one more time before I shut it down for good."

Lorne caught up with her at the door of Den of Antiquities. Dale spun to face him, surprising him. "The other car parked on this street." She kept her voice low. "I'm sure you've noticed it. Do you know who is in it?"

"Oliver Echols and another member of Katherine Gavin's security team. It's not surprising they want to know if your boss shows up again."

Dale said, "You don't find it odd that they're sitting on top of your stakeout? Who'd they pay off to make that happen?"

"Yes, Katherine Gavin has money. But it was her daughter. Some allowances are to be expected."

"How much are you going to let her get away with? If Ari comes back, will you shrug off her dead body as justice? 'Well, she got what was coming to her. Case closed.' Gavin and Echols set Ari up for this. Have you checked Laura's phone records? Do you know why she went to that house?" Lorne stared at her, conflict in his eyes. "Don't tell me to clear Ari's name. Tell me to help send the right people to jail."

Lorne looked over his shoulder at the other car. "We dumped her phones. She got a call from a burner phone. No way to trace it. Something a private eye might have access to."

"Or a former cop who resigned after a scandal. Oliver Echols is bad news. You know that. He killed Laura and he pinned it on Ari."

"Conspiracies don't happen in real life, Ms. Frye. The real world--"

"The only difference between fiction and real life is that fiction has to make sense. Katherine Gavin sees herself as the standard-bearer for her entire lineage. Laura was threatening to throw that all away. Katherine did what she felt was necessary to protect her family. She eliminated Laura from the family so that she could be the last surviving member. You've been a cop for more than a day; tell me you haven't seen people do screwed-up shit to each other for less of a reason."

Lorne rubbed his face. "So what you're telling me is that Laura Gavin's real killer is sitting in that car across the street? And you just put all of this together yourself?"

"I do work for a private investigator. I followed the clues."

"If I find out you've been in contact with Ariadne Willow, we're going to have a long discussion."

Dale shrugged. "As long as Echols is in jail where he belongs, I'll be more than happy to sit down with you, Detective."

"Try not to disappear again, Ms. Frye."

"Yes, sir."

He walked back to his car and Dale looked across the street. The windows of the other car were tinted, but she could feel Echols' eyes on her. She saluted him, then presented her middle finger before she turned her back and walked away. She kept her shoulders high and moved casually, knowing he wouldn't dare try anything with a couple of cops watching. She was safe for now, but she knew that Echols wouldn't give her any mercy if they ran into each other again. By telling the cops their theory, she and Ari had just declared war on the Gavin family.

#

Chapter Fifteen

Dale met up with Ari in a dog park. The clothes Ari had worn to meet with Laura's boyfriend were back in the stash, and Ari was once again in her impenetrable disguise of a wolf. The clambered into the backseat, and Dale checked to make sure she was comfortable before she settled in. "Both our apartments and the office are under surveillance. Echols is part of the team watching the office." She glanced at Ari in the rearview mirror. "How did you meeting with Neal go? One bark for good--"

Ari barked once.

"Well, that's something."

She drove to her apartment and twisted in her seat to put the collar around Ari's neck. Ari squirmed and Dale fought to get it secured. "I don't like it, either. But we have to put on a good show for the watchers, okay?" She hooked the leash onto the collar and climbed out of the car. Ari obediently, if reluctantly, trotted alongside her until they were inside. Dale only turned on a single lamp, closing the blinds and curtains so the cops couldn't see in. She went into the bathroom and filled a bowl with water.

When she returned to the living room, Ari was standing next to the couch with an afghan wrapped around her. She had turned on the stereo, and a bluesy country song was playing quietly. Dale was momentarily distracted by the sight of Ari's naked legs, which were exposed almost all the way to her hips. She cleared her throat and said, "You know, you don't have to cover up anymore. I've seen it."

"Right. Force of habit." Ari let go of the blanket and tossed it onto the couch.

"Come on into the bedroom."

"Not the couch?"

Dale shrugged. "Why make pretenses? We're going to end up in bed tonight anyway. Might as well start there."

"Right." Ari went into the bedroom and Dale followed. "It's going to take a while to get used to this. I spent a long time fighting my attraction to you, especially during massages."

"No reason to fight anything this time." She put the bowl of water on the nightstand and turned to Ari. She cupped the back of Ari's head and pulled her close, Ari's lips parting right before they touched Dale's. Dale held the kiss, fluttering her tongue against Ari's mouth before she pulled back and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "Lie down."

Ari did as she was told. Dale quickly stripped, draping her clothes over the hamper before she joined Ari on the mattress. The massage started professionally as always. She worked the muscles of Ari's neck and shoulders, moving down her spine. Those were always the trouble spots, so Dale gave them a thorough working before moving on. Each of Ari's fingers got individual treatment, and Dale kissed the palm before moving to the next.

She turned around to work Ari's feet. Up her calves and to her thighs. Ari spread her legs slightly and Dale, aroused by the possibility, let her hand drift. She closed her eyes as she touched Ari, stroking her gently between the legs before letting the tip of her middle finger push inside. Ari sucked in a breath, and Dale began to thrust gently into her. She kneaded one cheek of Ari's ass with her free hand, rocking her hips against the small of Ari's back before looking over her shoulder. Ari's head was turned to look up at her, lips curved into a slight smile. Dale winked at her and went back to work.

When Ari came, Dale finished the rest of the massage. She worried about how much Ari hurt after changing. She was barely thirty, and every now and again she walked like an arthritic senior citizen. Canidae bodies were supposed to be more resilient, trained during puberty to form and reform into their alternate shapes and back again. Aching joints might just be a problem among all canidae and Dale only noticed it in Ari because they were so close. But she couldn't shake the thought that one day Ari might not be able to switch back and forth even as easily as she did now.

"Okay. You're done." She bent down and kissed Ari's skin before moving toward the headboard. Ari stretched out next to her, slipping one arm under Dale's shoulder and letting the other meander around her hip and stomach. "How do you feel?"

"Not tired," Ari whispered. She kissed Dale and moved her hand to the soft hair between her legs. Dale shifted to accommodate her, and Ari sucked Dale's tongue before she started using two fingers on her. Dale's breath caught, and she held onto Ari as her orgasm hit her. She licked her lips, licking Ari's in the process, and kept her eyes closed as she nuzzled Ari's cheek.

"There's something I never told you about the change. It's not every time, and it's not always very strong. But sometimes I need to remind myself I'm human. I need to stare in a mirror or feel my face." She touched her cheek and then touched Dale's. "Having sex works great, though. Works very well."

Dale smiled. "So is that another thing to add to my duties as your assistant?"

"I'm not paying you for this." She kissed Dale's bottom lip.

"I'm okay with it being a perk."

Ari smiled sadly and stroked Dale's hair. "And that's assuming we have a job when all of this is over. We may have to rely on conjugal visits."

"Are you all set for tomorrow? It's going to be a big day of lawbreaking."

Ari nodded. "I'll be ready. Thanks for distracting me tonight. As bad as things have been, being with you is like breaking the surface. Taking a deep breath before sinking again."

Dale turned her head and kissed Ari's palm, then her wrist. "We'll get through this together. Or, alternatively, I'll say that I was in on it from the start and go to jail with you. We can do our own version of a women-behind-bars movie." She winked.

"I like the way you're thinking, warden."

Dale moved on top of her. "Be quiet and earn your outdoor time, inmate."

Ari smiled as Dale kissed her.

#

It wasn't an official day of mourning, but there was a definite morose feeling in the air. Ari transformed and Dale drove her to the outskirts of town. They parked at the edge of the woods that led to the Gavin House, and Dale knelt on the side of the road with Ari. She took out the satchel one of Ari's canidae friends had designed years ago. It hooked around her forelegs, with another strap around her neck to keep it from sliding. The bag hung down underneath her with enough room for a cell phone and loose clothing, all of which Dale had already provided.

She made sure the straps were secure and rubbed Ari's head. "If Echols isn't at the memorial service, I'm going to make sure he has other things to worry about than what's happening at home. You be careful." She smiled. "I wish I could kiss you for luck." She pressed a kiss to her fingertips, then pressed it to Ari's muzzle. "I'll give you a real one when I see you in person. Literally. Be safe, Ari."

Dale stood up and Ari headed into the woods. She turned navigation over to her wolf side, letting its instinct find paths where Ari would be lost. She cast one final look over her shoulder to see Dale watching her. She barked, lifted her head, and then ran into the woods. She could smell countless other animals, but she forced herself to ignore them. A squirrel ignored her presence until it was too late to run, and the wolf keened at the loss of a snack as Ari forced it to keep running. The squirrel, spared, fled in the other direction without questioning its good fortune.

Crossing the two miles of forest required traversing a small creek and climbing two hills. By the time Ari reached Gavin property she was sore and panting. The stone wall around the property was eight feet tall and, knowing Katherine Gavin, probably wired with all sorts of booby traps. Ari walked the perimeter, her human and wolf minds working together to find a way in. The human part eyed weaknesses, while the wolf part focused on tiny areas it might be able to snake underneath.

The soil had eroded in several places, and wild animals had taken advantage of the small cracks to burrow underneath the gate. None of the tunnels were big enough for a wolf, unfortunately, and Ari kept looking. She found an old wooden gate that was overgrown with ivy. The lock was rusted, and Ari leaned her weight against it to see how sturdy it was. The door stood fast, its hinges frozen in place and bound by thick ropes of weeds. Ari crouched and leapt, her back claws scrambling on the wood as she perched precariously on top of the gate before jumping down onto the Gavin House property.

Ari continued through another fifty yards of woods and up a gentle incline before she reached the actual house. The curtains were drawn on the ground floor windows. Ari crossed the lawn carefully. Oliver Echols might have been the main security for the Gavin family, but he had enough staff to stake out three different places without leaving the house vulnerable. She was nearly to the porch when one of the guards wandered into the yard from the far side of the property.

"Holy shit." He grabbed his radio. "Hey. Dave. There's a wolf in the backyard."

He was answered by a crackle of noise from the radio that Ari couldn't decipher. She remained on the porch in a defensive posture, ears flat and head down.

"Are you crazy? I'm not making this thing mad." He reluctantly took his eyes off her to scan the area around him. "They usually hunt in packs. There's probably ten more of 'em in the woods. Has Mrs. Gavin left yet?" Another crackle. "Okay. Then we'll just leave it alone. Move the trash into the garage. Maybe if it sees we're not a buffet, it won't come back."

Ari bared her teeth, playing on the man's misguided fear. She didn't know if he hadn't seen the bag strapped to her, or if he just assumed it was a piece of trash she'd gotten tangled in. Either way, he seemed convinced she was a man-eater. He backed away, disappearing around the side of the house again, and Ari moved quickly to gain entry. A wrought-iron patio table underneath one of the eaves. Ari used a chair to climb up onto it, leapt onto the roof, and moved carefully across the slanted tiles until she reached a balcony. She clambered over the railing and dropped down onto the flat surface, concealed by the baluster.

Ari transformed and unhooked the bag, letting it drop before she unzipped it and withdrew her clothes. She dressed in a very loose blouse and a pair of baggy jeans, both of which could easily be slipped off to facilitate a quick change back into the wolf. She remained barefoot to make sneaking around easier, but she wiped the mud and grass stains from her feet with a towel Dale had provided.

She slipped her cell phone into her pocket and opened the balcony door. As expected, the door was unlocked and no security alarm began sounding in response to her presence. People with a strong outer defense saw no need to repeat it inside, so Ari had freedom of movement throughout the Gavin House.

If thirteen-year-old Ari could see me now, she thought.

She peeked cautiously into the hallway. The house was completely still. After a long moment waiting for anyone present to give themselves away, Ari entered the hallway. She went to the railing and looked down into the living room. The glaring empty space on the wall drew her eye, and she realized Katherine had already removed the portrait of Laura. Well, she didn't waste any time rewriting the family history. She tightened her jaw and walked toward the end of the hallway.

Ari checked each room she passed until she found what had obviously been Laura's room growing up. It looked like a shrine to a princess, completely untouched since she left the castle. Ari walked into the room and shut the door quietly behind her. Framed photographs hung on the wall and Ari examined them. Family members, portraits of Katherine and a man she assumed to be Laura's father. No posters of teen idols hung up with thumbtacks and Scotch tape here.

She thought of the places she hid important things when she was a girl and searched them first. Under the bed was clean, and none of the molding was loose. The vent was covered by an ornate golden grill, and Ari easily popped it off and reached inside. Nothing. She searched the drawers, which had been emptied out long ago.

"Okay." She drummed her fingers on top of the dresser. "This may not be as easy as I thought."

She went to the window seat and lifted the cushion. The base seemed solid, but there was a recessed area covered by a thin strip of wood between the seat and the wall. Ari lifted it and slipped her hand inside. She was about to give up again when she felt something rectangular at the bottom. She managed to get her fingers around it and tugged it out.

It was a hardback book, the purple cover made dingy by dust. It had a small golden padlock on the front, but it snapped open easily enough. Ari hesitated for a moment before she flipped the cover open. The front page was filled with what looked like a hand-drawn website profile page.

"Laura Gavin. Age: 13. Hobbies: Horse-riding, drawing, reading."

Ari thumbed through the book. It was similar to the diary she'd found in Laura's apartment, just a bit more immature. Ari hadn't expected references to boys, considering Laura's cloistered existence. But boys were one of the main themes in the entries. "Gregory visited today," and "Wayne sat in on my lessons this morning." Ari was confused; she'd always thought of the Gavins as being insanely reclusive, but according to the journal they had entertained guests Laura's age pretty much on a daily basis.

She went earlier and skimmed for any surnames. She quickly found Harry Keyes and one eyebrow shot up. Harold Keyes had just inherited his father's aviation company. Ari looked deeper and found out the Wayne mentioned later was Wayne Bernard, shipping magnate. She figured half the boys mentioned in the book were heirs to some fortune or another. Katherine Gavin hadn't been finding friends for her daughter; she was finding potential husbands. Marriage to the wrong person could erase the Gavin family from history. Marriage to the right name, however, could merge the Gavin name with another legacy. It would not only keep them alive, it would breathe new life into them. The Gavins and, say, the Keyes family combine to make a child who has the bloodline of both.

Ari tried to remember a wealthy family named Echols and came up empty. She doubted Katherine Gavin would have approved of his relationship with little Laura. She thumbed toward the back of the book.

"Ollie came into my room to check on a noise. He woke me up to see if I was okay. I guess I felt scared, so I let him stay. It was a little weird, but I guess that's how it is supposed to be? I don't know."

Ari sneered. "The love almost flies right off the page." She read farther. "Another Ollie night. Ollie was in my room when I woke up. Ollie scared me a little tonight, so I decided not to talk about what I decided." Ari shook her head. She only had one person in her life that she could count on, and he was taken advantage of her. Who could she possibly have turned to for help? Did she even consider going to someone for help? Oliver was her mother's right-hand man, so Laura might have just assumed he had permission.

Ari really wanted to make him pay for what he'd done. She stowed the diary in her pocket and replaced the cushion. The memorial wouldn't last forever, and she had to be out of the house by the time Katherine and the rest of her security returned from it. She checked her watch and continued her search.

#

The memorial took place in the courtyard of the Baptist Church where Laura had done her volunteer work. It was attended by a small group of mourners from the fundraising committee, the soup kitchen employees, Katherine Gavin, her security contingent, and a swarm of media who were politely asked to remain outside of the church. Dale moved through the crowd of reporters and photographers with her hat pulled low and her eyes hidden behind large sunglasses.

Oliver Echols was standing at the archway to the corridor that led to the courtyard. He was dressed in a pristine black suit, his hands casually clasped behind his back as he waited for the memorial to end. Dale lingered at the front of the crowd until his bored gaze landed on her. She waved to him and smiled, and his scowl deepened.

"Excuse me." The man next to her was holding a microphone. "Are you a friend of the family?"

"No." Dale was grateful that her name and face had never been publicized alongside Ari's. "Just someone who respects the hard work that Laura was doing. You guys are going to talk about that, right?"

The reporter looked at the people around him, all of whom were busy preparing their own on-air cutaways and didn't come to his aid.

"Of course we are. Her, ah, her redemption is a big part of why people are so heartbroken about her death."

"Right. Her charity work, everything she was doing to put together the fundraiser... you really should speak with Neal Bradley." She smiled sweetly. "I'm sure you guys are sick of going over and over all the old news. The DUIs and the drunk-and-disorderlies, all the fights in the clubs." She sighed dramatically. "Done to death. Not to mention all the other networks are probably still harping on it. Get with the times, people, you know?" She laughed and nudged him with her elbow.

The reporter laughed as well. "Yeah. Can't get viewers with the same old, right?"

"Exactly. I always liked your channel the best. Keep up the good work." She weaved through the crowd, quietly pardoning herself until she saw another reporter. His microphone had a different network's number on it and she sidled up next to him. "Excuse me. Can I stand here until you go on the air?"

"Sure, I suppose so."

"Thanks." She tugged on her hat and looked at Echols again. He was staring at her, so she focused on the reporter. "I think it's so great you guys are out here, covering the other side of Laura's life. The charitable part." She pointed at his microphone. "You guys, I know, you guys are all about second chances. Everyone else is probably focusing on her life before she turned it around. That's just sad, don't you think?"

The reporter cleared his throat. "Uh, yeah. Yes. I absolutely agree." He glanced around. "Fine works, like her fundraising..."

When his voice trailed off, Dale nodded like she was finishing his thought rather than supplying it. "The volunteer work at the soup kitchen..."

"Of course." He made a note on his pad and Dale smiled. She kept talking to the reporter, already scanning the crowd for her next victim.

#

Chapter Sixteen

Ari stowed Laura's diary in her pack and continued her search of the house. She found photo albums laid out in the room where she had originally met with Katherine, one of them opened to a blank page. Obviously Katherine cared enough to provide photographs for the media. She looked through the books herself and felt another surge of anger. How Katherine could possibly justify killing someone so beautiful and full of life... She took a picture of Laura for herself, so she could remember her.

Downstairs, she moved carefully so the skeleton crew of security guards wouldn't spot her through the few open windows. She found Echols' room by following the scent of him, searching the rooms she passed until she recognized the scent of a man's private living space. The door was locked, but she picked it easily enough and stepped inside. She closed the door behind her and stood at the threshold for a moment to take it all in.

She'd thought of Laura as a prisoner in the house, but it never occurred to her that Echols might have been just as imprisoned. The room was windowless, bare except for a bed and a small desk in one corner. He had a television and a stereo, and a row of books lined the wall leading up to the door. Ari stepped closer to examine the pictures tacked up to the wall over his desk. They were all photographs of Laura, candid shots and posed shots and portraits. All of them had been taken before she left the house; he either didn't care for her behavior in the outside world or she'd just gotten too old for him.

Ari looked under the bed and found a wooden box. She was afraid of what she would find inside, but she still pulled it out and flipped the top open. It took her a moment to process what she was looking at. She had expected porn, shots of Laura that he hadn't felt comfortable hanging in public, trophies of his conquest. What she didn't expect was a dainty ballerina twirling in front of a small mirror. Fur Elise started playing.

A slip of paper was tucked under the shelf holding the ballerina. She removed it and ready blocky handwriting in blue ink: "Happy Birthday, LG. Love Ollie."

"Well." Ari stared at the spinning ballerina again. Somehow it was more disturbing to her than the things she'd expected to find.

She returned the music box to the hidey hole and went to his closet. Rows of suits, as expected, and a line of polished black loafers along the bottom like huge black beetles waiting for the lights to go off. She pushed the clothes aside and examined the back wall. She was about to give up when she felt the clasp and hooked her index finger around it. The secret compartment opened with a single pull.

Ari hoped for another journal, but she was forced to settle for a stack of clippings held together by a binder clip. The articles all told the same basic story as Dale had found online; Officer Oliver Echols implicated in wrongdoing, resigned to save face, former Officer Echols hired by secretive Gavin family, and so on. The paper became older and more yellowed the deeper she went, and soon the articles were covering the Gavin family before Echols came along. Ari sat on the edge of his bed and skimmed them.

Katherine Gavin was the youngest child of Emil and Elizabeth Gavin. She had four older brothers, two of whom died in Vietnam. One died in a boating accident. Ari read their obituaries, which had been dutifully saved by Echols. She looked for any mention of the fourth and final boy, but there was no obituary for a James Gavin. In 1975, Katherine married a second cousin to the Gavin family, Alexander Guthrie.

"Way to keep it in the family, Kathy," Ari muttered.

Katherine, of course, kept her surname to keep the family legacy alive. She inherited the house and all their holdings when her parents died. Alexander died in 1990 when Laura was two-years old and Katherine never remarried.

Ari went back through the articles that mentioned the Gavin family history. Most of it read like a fairy tale, dispatches from Camelot. The Gavins were a family unseen, heard of only through secondary sources. Ari remembered when she was a girl and someone from the family would appear on the news. Alexander at a ribbon-cutting or Katherine attending a fundraiser for one of the family's charitable organizations. Seeing a Gavin on the news was like glimpsing royalty. Seeing one of them in person was like meeting a celebrity.

And now Ari was sitting in a small room under their stairs, in the middle of breaking into their house.

She took the clippings with her. She doubted Echols would notice they were missing but, if he did, she wanted him to know his space had been violated.

Ari had just left Echols' room when she heard the front door open. She froze in the hallway as a voice drifted to her position.

"...to the shack just to take a piss. Just squelch the radio if someone shows up."

She backed up a step, planning to retreat back into Echols' room, but she was too late. The guard came around the corner and came up short when he realized there was someone in front of him. They were separated by about ten feet when he brought his gun up. "Hey..."

Ari ran at him and hit the floor. She landed on her stomach and slid the rest of the distance, knocking him down like she was playing ten-pin. He hit the ground and Ari rolled onto her back, taking the truncheon from his belt. He swung his gun around and Ari rapped him on the knuckles. The gun fell and Ari kicked it away as she got back to her feet. A pungent odor hit her nose and she realized the guard really did need to use the bathroom.

"We have an intruder in the house, all units respond. Repeat, intruder in the house."

Ari ran for the stairs and ascended them two at a time, clutching the clippings in her free hand as she ran across the landing. The front door burst open and two more guards ran into the foyer. One of them spotted her and shouted. Ari ducked down, hoping they wouldn't risk shooting the banister to hit her. She reached the office where she had made her entrance and slammed the door shut. She twisted the lock and knocked a chair over in front of it as she raced to the balcony.

Her shirt came off, followed quickly by her jeans. She shoved them both into the pack, along with the newspaper clippings, and she squirmed into the straps as the guards began banging on the door. She had seconds, and she wasn't sure there was enough time for a leisurely transformation. She bared her teeth, flared her nostrils, and forced the quickest change she'd ever experienced.

It felt like a spike had been driven straight through her skull, piercing her brain. The agony ran down her spine like an angry shiver, and Ari shot out both arms to break her fall. Her hands transformed into paws before they touched the concrete. It felt as if her hands had just been run over by a truck. She bit back the howl of pain that threatened in her wolf throat and leapt over the balcony. Two guards were standing on the back porch, and one of them turned when she jumped down onto the brick patio behind him. Ari barked and he backed up a step.

"It's that damn wolf!"

"We have bigger issues. Just shoot it."

Ari ran, tensing against gunshots that never came. She heard static from radios, but she couldn't make out the words in her current form. She followed the curve of the hill, her muscles twitching from the pain of her impromptu transformation, but she didn't let herself slow down until she reached the tree line.

She clambered over the fence again, running through the woods on instinct alone. When she found the road, she retreated back into the trees and transformed again. This time was sheer agony. Her body was reluctant to transform again after her sloppy change back at the house. Her arms and hands remained hairy a few seconds longer than usual, and her skin looked strangely ashen even in direct sunlight. It hurt to stand fully erect, and she put a hand in the small of her back and forced her body to cooperate. Her spine straightened with a creak and a snap, making her cry out in surprise and pain.

It felt as if she'd traded in her skeleton for the frame of a rusted Buick and now she was trying to force it to move in ways it had long ago forgotten. She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders until she felt a little of her normal elasticity returning. She removed her clothes from the bag and put them on, this time slipping into the sneakers Dale had included in the pack. She fished her phone from the bottom pocket and dialed Dale's number.

#

"You know who you really should be talking to is Neal Bradley. He..." She took her phone out and looked at the number. Ari. "He was really instrumental in helping Laura stay on the right path. I'm sure he's here somewhere if you just ask around. Would you excuse me?" She smiled politely as she backed away from the reporter as she answered the call. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know."

Dale's expression, carefully stoic in case anyone was watching, shattered. Ari's voice was pained.

"Do you need me?"

"Yeah. I mean, I need a ride and probably a massage. I forced a quick transformation. Not my wisest choice ever." She coughed and groaned, and Dale winced. "How did your thing go? Everyone singing Laura's praises?"

"Yeah."

"Good girl," Ari said softly.

Dale tried to smile, but the pain in Ari's voice prevented it. "Where are you? Near where I dropped you off?"

"Around there, yeah. I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Just sit down and relax. Don't do anything strenuous, okay? I love you."

"I love you, too."

Dale hung up and put her phone into her pocket. She was about to cross the street when a large hand clamped down on the back of her neck and squeezed. Echols pushed against her from behind, forcing her to continue walking. "How sweet. Who do you love? Mommy? Daddy? Your boss?" He squeezed harder and Dale hated herself for crying out in pain. "Just got a call from some of my men. Seems like a woman matching Ariadne Willow's description was spotted inside the house. Somehow she managed to escape without anyone seeing her. She's very impressive, your boss."

"I'll pass along your compliments. Sorry, but I have a thing--"

Echols chuckled. "You're not going anywhere just yet, Ms. Frye. I've been listening in to some of the stuff you've been telling these reporters. Mrs. Gavin would like to thank you in person for your kind words."

"Get your hands off of me."

Echols ignored her, grabbing her arm with his other hand when she started to fight him. "Don't make a scene, Ms. Frye. You just convinced all of these fine reporters to listen to you. I would hate for all that work to be undone because they think you're a crazy woman. Just walk normally and everything will be fine."

They crossed the street and Echols all but shoved her into a sedan waiting at the curb. Katherine Gavin was sitting on the passenger side of the backseat, and Dale was separated from her by a large purse. Katherine kept her eyes forward when she spoke.

"Your boss has proven to be better at hiding than we gave her credit for. We expected her to have given up days ago."

"She's tenacious. You made a mistake, you know. You made Ari like your daughter, which means she won't stop until you pay for what you did."

Katherine smiled and finally looked at her. "I'm a Gavin. We never pay for anything. Tell your friend to turn herself in. This little game has gone on long enough."

"What's the end game? You erase the last, embarrassing chapter of your family history so that you can die in peace?"

"My family has sacrificed time and again for this city, for the people here. After the Great Fire, we funded the reconstruction. We helped people regain their lives. We were like gods on Mount Olympus. And now, just over a hundred years later, you expect me to leave our legacy in the hands of a drunk, drug-addicted party girl?"

Dale shook her head. "She turned her life around in the end--"

"Yes, she was full of remorse, wasn't she? She put all the money she had into an animal shelter. She started a scholarship at the University of Washington for underprivileged children."

"And you killed her for it."

"I'm speaking of the first time she completed drug rehabilitation, Ms. Frye. She swore to me she would never touch another drug. That she was done drinking and living her life in a stupor. It lasted one week. I let myself believe it for another week before I saw her face on the news yet again. 'How the Mighty Have Fallen,' I think was the headline.

"After her second rehab, she lived at home for a while so we could keep an eye on her. Thankfully I was home when she overdosed, and the EMTs were able to bring her back. How does someone clean and sober overdose, Ms. Frye?" She stared at Dale for a moment before she faced forward again. "You expect me to believe the third time is a charm."

Dale rolled the thought over in her mind and then nodded. "Ari said she was clean and I trust her judgment. If she says Laura was still clean after two months, I believe her. Besides, Laura had so much more to live for this time. Last time she didn't have a job, she lived at home. She was still the same person who succumbed last time. She had something to keep her afloat without going to drugs. She had a purpose and a boyfriend--"

Katherine snorted. "And when he dumped her? And Neal Bradley would have dumped her eventually. There is no way on Earth that his father would have allowed a marriage to happen."

"What does his father have to do with anything?"

"Neal Bradley's father is Seattle Chief of Police Winston Bradley. He is a very close friend of mine. I asked him to look into a job for Laura, a place where she couldn't get into trouble. His son had the perfect place for her."

Dale closed her eyes. She was glad Laura would never find out her perfect life had been put in place by her mother.

"Do you honestly believe that the chief of police would ever allow his son to marry Guzzling Gavin?" She nearly spit the last two words, her lips curling as if the very act of speaking them left a bad taste in her mouth. "Laura was one bad day away from reverting to that bedraggled slut. She was one bad trip away from ending up dead in an alley. I didn't do what I did just to protect my family's name; I did it to protect her. By dying now, her redemption is eternal. People will remember her as a success story instead of just another celebrity who couldn't stay away from the drugs."

"That's sick," Dale whispered. "How could you have such little faith in your daughter?"

"You watched the news just like the rest of them." She gestured out the window at the reporters. "What was left to have faith in? For over a hundred years, Gavins have done what was necessary to preserve our family and our good name. What I did was no different."

"You murdered your own daughter. Nothing you say will make that right."

Katherine lifted her chin in a haughty manner. "It's not my purpose to convince you. This little charade has gone on much longer than I anticipated. Your employer was supposed to be apprehended at the murder scene. How she managed to escape is not my concern. That she continues to evade the police is. I want Ariadne Willow in custody before my daughter is laid to rest."

Dale smiled. "Good luck to you."

"I won't need luck, Ms. Frye."

Dale opened the door, relieved to discover it wasn't locked. She started to rise from the car when Echols filled her vision. "Get--"

It was the only thing she was able to get out. He pressed a rag against her face and she inadvertently breathed in deep. The rag was coated with something sickly sweet, and the world spun wildly as her legs went out from under her. Echols accepted her weight with his free arm, supporting her and guiding her back into the car like she was a drunken prom date. He folded her into the seat and rummaged in her pockets until he found her phone.

Katherine took Dale's slumped body against her side. "When we get back to the house, secure the premises immediately. I want to be absolutely sure Willow isn't hidden in some passageway."

"Yes, ma'am."

He slammed the door and began going through the call log of Dale's phone.

#

Ari found a soft patch of grass out of view from the road and stretched out. Her bones appreciated the rest, and her muscles relaxed until the pain in them was just a dull throb. She was dozing when her phone rang, and she took it off her chest to look at the display. When she saw Dale's number, she scanned the road and then answered. "Dale? Are you already here?"

"Ms. Frye is a bit hung up at the moment."

Ari didn't remember standing. She heard Echols' voice and was on her feet before she knew she had moved.

"Echols. If you hurt her--"

"She's fine, Ms. Willow. Whether she remains that way is up to you. Ms. Frye will be released safely once you've turned yourself in to the police. We all want this mess to end. It's within your power to end it. You have until seven this evening to get your affairs in order and present yourself to the police, or we'll be forced to do something we don't want to do. It won't really matter to us, though. Easy enough to frame you for two murders."

Ari heard the plastic of her TracFone cracking under pressure from her grip. "Let me talk to her right now."

"It doesn't work that way. Seven tonight, Willow, or you become a fugitive for your employee's murder as well."

The call disconnected and Ari dropped her hands to her sides. She was done. Running around and peeking in desks, digging through old journals and newspaper clippings, trying to gain support from Neal... she was done with all of that. Echols made a dire mistake by threatening Dale. Ari struggled to keep her anger at the Gavin family professional. She tried to look at it like a job, to approach it professionally. No more.

She was done playing the nice doggie.

It was time Katherine Gavin and Oliver Echols met the big bad wolf.

#

Chapter Seventeen

Ari's body hurt less when it was in wolf form, and the wolf could move faster than her. She justified the pros of transforming again so soon, ignoring all the cons as she stripped out of her clothes. Her body protested as the first twinges of the change passed through it, but she ignored them and forced herself into wolf form. She left the bag of her things hidden and took to the road, pushing herself to full speed. She knew that Katherine and Echols planned to take Dale back to the Gavin House. Why bother finding a safe place to hold her when their home was a veritable fortress already? She had until seven and she planned to use as much of the time preparing for Dale's rescue.

She leapt a retaining wall that formed a bookend on the road, scrambling over the stones as she ran up the hill. She didn't need to get all the way to Seattle. She knew a place where she could get everything she needed that was just a few miles away. She was calculating in her head how much time she had. Going to gear up and then getting back to the Gavin House... it was going to be close. She forced herself to run faster, the wolf's body starting to ache from exertion. The aches joined those already present from her ill-advised transformations.

It didn't matter if she was in traction for a month once this whole mess was sorted out. As long as Dale was safe, she could deal with the pain.

#

Dale woke as Echols and another security man dragged her into the house. Their voices woke her, and she struggled to follow what they were saying through the fog of her mind. "...goddamn wolf got her. I think it followed her scent up to the house or something."

"Next time you see a wild animal on the property, just shoot the damn thing."

"We had bigger problems at the time."

Echols hauled Dale up the stairs and noticed she was awake. "We're going to make sure you're nice and comfortable while we wait for your friend to do the smart thing."

Dale laughed weakly. "You don't know Ari very well, do ya?"

"I think she has the right incentive this time." When they reached the top of the stairs, he shoved her forward. She nearly fell, righting herself at the last moment by grabbing the railing. "Walk. I'll tell you where you're going."

"Why did you kill her? Ari told me that it was you in the house. How could you kill someone you were hired to protect?"

"I would do anything for the Gavin family. They gave me everything. They gave me a home and a job when I was forced out of the department. No one else would even cross the street to spit on me and they took me in." He jabbed her in the shoulder and pointed at a door. "Here."

Dale opened the door and turned as she stepped into the room. "You were forced out of your job because you were getting paid off by them. And you grew up with Laura. How could you possibly kill her just because you were told to?"

Echols stepped into the room with her. "You know what she said to me when I went to visit her in rehab? Know what she called me? She called me a rapist."

"You were a thirty-year-old man in bed with a sixteen-year-old girl. What else would you call it?"

"I loved her, damn it. She loved me, too."

"That wasn't love. That was a lack of options."

"She had options. Mrs. Gavin paraded boys in here of every shape and size. She even brought in a couple of girls when the boys didn't seem to do the trick. And when Laura started going out and partying every night, when she made me stand guard outside a bathroom while she gave a blowjob or fucked some bartender, guess who she always ended up with a few days later? Guess who she always called in the middle of the night because something had frightened her. Me. It was always me. But then those idiots at the hospital brainwashed her. Made her forget what we had. She told me that she wanted to put a restraining order out on me 'just in case.'

"She didn't just walk out on her family and her legacy. She walked out on me. I was in love with her and she acted like I was just some guy she used to know. You have any idea how that feels, Ms. Frye?" He was close enough that she could feel his breath when he spoke, but she didn't dare retreat and show him her fear. "It feels bad enough that I probably would have killed her eventually even if Mrs. Gavin hadn't ordered me to do it."

"You're a monster."

Echols smiled, which only made him more monstrous. "Just sit tight. If your friend does what I told her, this will all be over in a couple of hours."

He left the room and shut the door. Dale tried the knob a few seconds later and discovered it was locked from the outside. "Nice place to grow up. Crazy stalker down the hall, doors locked from the outside, Mom trying to marry you off your entire life..." She examined her prison cell in the Gavin House prison.

She had a small bed that looked like it had never been touched, let alone slept in. A portrait of a random member of the Gavin family hung over the bed, the bearded man staring straight out of the frame. Dale tried to imagine sleeping in the room without having nightmares about that face; she failed. There was a desk under the window, and the window was painted shut. She looked outside and saw a featureless stretch of lawn and then thick, dark trees that combined to make a seemingly unbroken canopy.

She pulled the chair out from under the desk and sat down, rubbing her temples to stem the headache planted by the drugs that knocked her out. All she could think about was how pained Ari had sounded on the phone. She'd heard Ari post-change before, had heard that weak tremor under her words, but this time it had sounded borderline crippling.

"It's all right, Ari. Don't do anything stupid. Just keep yourself safe and everything else will work itself out. Please don't do anything stupid."

#

Ari knew what Dale would say if she could see her. She didn't much care.

She climbed the fence and dropped into the backyard, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out. The pain in her knees was immense. Her back felt like it was about to break. She took a deep breath and straightened, limping across the unmowed lawn to the back porch. It was still early afternoon, but all the doors were closed and the curtains were drawn. Ari went to the side of the house to the garage entrance. She slipped inside and scooted along the side of the squad car until she reached the interior entrance.

The house belonged to Bryn Decker, a felidae cop Ari dated for a few months ago. Ari let herself in and listened to the quiet before she went further. The house felt gloomy and made it seem later than it really was. Ari forced herself to calm down. She still had plenty of time to save Dale.

The bedroom door was open a crack. She checked to make sure Bryn was alone before she went inside and climbed onto the bed. Bryn murmured in her sleep, then sat up quickly. Ari was on her before she could grab her gun, one hand on Bryn's shoulder and the other over her mouth. Bryn's eyes were wide over Ari's hand, her brows knit together in anger and confusion before they rose in surprise.

"Hi, Bryn. Don't scream." She lifted her hand.

"You're under arrest."

"Damn. I should have said don't arrest me first."

Bryn struggled. "I'm not kidding around, Ari. Get off of me and put your hands on your head."

"No. I just dropped in to borrow some of your stuff."

"You're a wanted killer, and you want to borrow something? Ari--"

"Bryn, you owe me."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Right before they broke up, Bryn gave Ari a case of canidae robbing jewelry stores. The resulting investigation had also ended up with Dale getting kidnapped and held hostage. Ari had nearly died in the resulting fight, and Dale had been highly traumatized by the ordeal. Now it felt like everything was happening again.

"You owe me," Ari said again.

"What do you need?"

Ari bit back a sigh of relief. "I need a bulletproof vest and a helmet. I won't ask you for guns because I know you'll never give them to me anyway. I just need protection to stay alive long enough to get in and get Dale out."

"Dale's in trouble? Why didn't you just say that?" She pushed herself up and leaned against the headboard. She was wearing an oversized tank top, one shoulder strap slipping loose down onto her arm. "You don't have to do anything. Dale isn't a fugitive. Detective Lorne has eliminated her as a suspect. Let me call my captain."

"And tell him that a wanted fugitive dropped by and gave you the information?"

"I won't tell him where the information came from. If Dale is really in danger--"

Ari shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but no. The people holding Dale might have a plan for that. The cops show up, they pretend that Dale is just their guest and she's free to go. Then they'll just grab her again later. If I want to get her back, I have to go myself."

"Again. Last time you did that, you had to fight off three canidae and they nearly killed you."

"Yeah. Nearly. I'm still here. And I'll still be here after tonight if I have your riot gear."

Bryn looked away and chewed her bottom lip. Finally, she returned her gaze to Ari. "If anyone catches you with it, you stole it."

Ari nodded. "Absolutely."

"In the garage. The stuff you'll want is in the lockbox. Get off me and I'll take you." Ari climbed off her former lover and followed her back through the gloomy house. "You know, you didn't address the most troublesome--"

"I didn't kill Laura Gavin. I'm doing my best to get some justice for her."

Bryn turned and watched Ari for a moment. "You're moving like you got hit by a Mack Truck. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine."

Bryn took her keys and led Ari into the garage. She opened the lockbox and took out a tactical vest that looked like an umpire's uniform. The front was covered with padded segments, and two thick sleeves protected the shoulders and upper arms. She also handed her a helmet and tore the Velcro POLICE patch off the vest. "Don't want you to go down for impersonating a police officer. Not that they won't have enough to put you away for life anyway if they do catch you..." She stood up. "Anything else you need?"

Ari looked at Bryn's civilian car.

"No. Come on, Ari."

"I'll park it a mile away. I just need to cut some time off my trip back." She looked at her watch. "There are other things I need to do, and if I have to run the whole way, I'll never make it before the deadline."

Bryn groaned. "After this, we're even."

"Completely."

She held out her keys and Ari took them. Bryn kept her finger curled around the key ring. "You're not just doing this because you feel responsible for your assistant. You didn't throw yourself into a pit with three vicious canidae because you're a good boss, either. You need to admit how you feel about Dale, Ari."

Ari managed a smile. "You know, I think you have a point there. I'll be sure to tell her exactly how I feel once she's safe."

"Good." She patted Ari's arm. "Now get out of here before I break any more laws. Where else do you have to go?"

"I have to tell someone what I've found out, just in case I don't get a chance to tell him later." She put on the vest, making sure it was secure. "Thank you, Bryn. You didn't have to do this."

"I know." She kissed Ari on the cheek. "Be safe, Ariadne, okay?"

"I'll settle for Dale being safe and getting justice for Laura. Everything beyond that is bonus." She touched Bryn's shoulder and stepped around her to get in the car.

"Ari. Goddamn it." Ari turned and saw Bryn holding a Glock by the barrel. "It's my personal gun. Take it. Don't you fucking dare tell anyone I gave it to you, but I'm not letting you walk into a dangerous situation unarmed. Not again."

Ari took the gun and nodded her thanks. Ari put the gun on the passenger seat of the car as Bryn put up the garage door. Bryn watched from the garage as Ari backed down the driveway, and they waved at each other once before Ari pulled out onto the road. She looked at the clock on the dashboard display and saw that it was just after three. She rolled her shoulders and tried to think of what she was going to say when she got to Neal's place. She needed to let him know about Laura's life, what she had overcome. He deserved to know. If that was all she could do to consider the case closed, she was willing to have the tough conversation.

#

Dale stretched out on the bed, her fingers laced over her stomach. She didn't know what she was waiting for, but there was a definite sense of foreboding in the air. Through her window, she watched as the house security men walked their rounds in teams of two. They were dressed in standard uniforms, but she could see the tell-tale ridges of bulletproof vests under their clothes. Echols and Katherine stayed upstairs; she could hear them talking occasionally when she pressed her ear to the door.

There was a small round clock hanging on the wall near the closet. It was almost six and the light had started to change in the room. She hoped that she wouldn't be there overnight. She paced for a while, lay on the bed, and looked out the window. If they really had caught Ari in the house, they were probably anxious about how she had gotten in and out unseen. They would be loaded for bear.

She stayed on the bed until she heard shouts from outside. She went to the window even though it was impossible to see the front of the house from where she was.

The bedroom door opened and Echols came in looking at his watch. "Okay. Come on."

"What's happening?"

"Your girlfriend decided to change the game." He grabbed Dale's arm and hauled her to the doorway. "Come on."

#

Ari parked Bryn's car a mile away from the Gavin House as promised, and then continued the rest of the way on foot. She was breathing heavily by the time she reached the gates. It felt like there was a red-hot wire burned into the bones of her back and down her arms. Both of her calves felt like they were wrapped in barbed wire. She was sweating heavily when she banged the heel of her hand against the call box, twisting to look at the trees blocking the house from view. The helmet sat low on Ari's head, making her feel like a mushroom brought to life.

The box screeched. "Gavin House. State your purpose for visiting."

"I'm going to make Katherine Gavin pay for killing her daughter." She fired one shot into the speaker and ran to the gate. She'd picked up a few extra items from Neal's house, after their very enlightening conversation. She clambered up the wall next to the gate, hurting her fingers on the stone. The flat top of the fence was covered with embedded stones, sharp enough to dissuade anyone from crawling over it. Ari was wearing Neal's bicycle pads, so she crawled over it on her knees and dropped his climbing rope down the other side. She secured it on the gate and dropped down, kneeling in the shadows by the side of the road.

Three security guards came jogging down the road, guns down as they expected to find her still stuck on the other side of the gate. Ari waited until they were in range before she started firing. She hit the first man in the chest, knocking him down and making the others stop in their tracks. They returned fire, and Ari ducked back behind the trees.

The man Ari had shot was clutching his chest, obviously injured but saved by a vest. The other two guards were out of sight, and Ari ran to him. She kicked his knee, knocking him down and burying her knee in the middle of his back. She disarmed him, taking his guns for herself. "If you promise not to follow me, I'll let you go."

"Yeah. You got my word."

Ari pressed his Taser to his neck and stood up before she zapped him. "I'm not big on the honor system. I just wanted to see if you'd be honest about your dishonesty."

She was panting, trembling from adrenaline and pain as she ran up the driveway.

Four guards were standing in front of the porch, guns at the ready. Ari held a gun in each hand but she knew she would never be able to get them all. Echols was standing in front of the open front doors with Dale. He was holding a Glock in his right hand, but it was by his side. Her hands were bound in front of her, and she was biting down on a gag. Her eyes were red, but she was standing up straight and strong. Ari was so proud of her that it made her heart hurt a little.

"Looks like we have a Mexican standoff, Echols." She moved behind a tree and kept one gun aimed at Echols.

"How do you mean?"

"We're both armed."

"Six guns to your two. Do you really think you stand a chance here?" He waved a hand before she could answer. It's a moot point. This isn't a game, Ms. Willow, no matter how much you try to make it one."

Ari laughed. "I'm the one making it a game? Your boss thinks that whoever ends the game with the most respect wins. Life isn't a game. Laura wasn't a toy she could just throw away because it didn't work the way she wanted it to. I intend to make her pay for that."

"Fine. Commendable. But I didn't give you a choice. I didn't say either turn yourself in or stage some ridiculous one-woman crusade for truth, justice and the American way. I said turn yourself in by seven o'clock, or I would frame you for a second murder."

He brought up his gun and shot Dale in the head.

#

Chapter Eighteen

Dale went down faster than Ari could believe. Her body went limp, and she fell off the porch into the bushes. Into the damn bushes. Ari heard the shout before she realized it was her own, left her cover with her hands on fire before she realized she was shooting. She hit two security guards without even aiming, and the other two started to retreat. She saw abject terror in their eyes as Echols' face went pale and he ducked back into the house. She dropped one of her guns and grabbed the nearest guard, realizing what had scared them only when she saw her arm.

She was transforming.

And then, for the first time in her life... she stopped.

She could feel the muscles vibrating underneath her uncomfortably tight skin, but she didn't pay attention to that. Her fingers had grown narrow, and her fingernails were thick and dark. Claws. She was glad she couldn't see her face, but she could imagine what she looked like. It felt like her skin had been replaced with wet paper, and it was pulled tight over her skull. She could see her nose extending farther out between her eyes than it should have, and her mouth was full of long, sharp canidae teeth.

The guard she was holding pissed his pants. She could smell the sick ammonia smell and wrinkled her nose.

"Don't kill me, don't please don't."

Ari lifted him using reservoirs of strength she didn't know she possessed, then slammed him down. She heard the bones in his legs break, and she tossed his weapons away. She saw Dale lying in the dirt, her legs twisted and still lying on the stone of the porch. Tears burned her eyes but she couldn't bring herself to approach. Mourning Dale now would waste precious time, time she didn't have.

She tossed the crippled guard down and went inside the house. Everything in her body ached from being held mid-change. She felt like her skull was going to implode. She couldn't risk the pain of going back to human form now, and she wouldn't sacrifice her cunning to become a wolf. Being trapped halfway could have its advantages, with her skin being slightly thicker and her other senses improved.

She heard the guard approaching from the living room before she saw him. She grabbed an end table from the hall and hurled it in his direction. She stepped down into the living room as it crashed into him. Echols had a shotgun in his hands and he aimed it at her as she walked brazenly toward him.

"What in God's name are you?"

Ari grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and yanked it away from him. "The big bad wolf." Her voice was guttural, a human's voice passed through a canine throat intended for only howls and barks. "You killed two of the best people I've ever known. Now it's your turn to die." Echols tried to run, but Ari grabbed the back of his collar and hauled him back. She twisted at the waist and hurled him at the wall. Echols hit with a sickening crack and Ari turned away from him to look up the stairs. Her eyes narrowed as she detected a hint of Jean Nate perfume.

She took the stairs three at a time, moving with her back hunched and using her hands for balance. Her movement was part stumble and part lope as her claws scraped the hardwood. She stood up straight when she reached the second floor landing. Her senses were dulled by a steady chime running through her head. It had been rising from the moment she saw Dale fall. She followed the scent of Katherine Gavin to the office and used both hands to shove the door open.

Two bullets buried themselves in the wood of the door and Ari dropped into a crouch. She twisted around the door, hunched over, and launched herself across the room. Katherine fired again, her bullets hitting Ari's vest and altering her trajectory. Ari hit the ground just in front of the desk and jumped up as Katherine came around to finish the job. Ari swung her paw out and knocked the gun away from her, viciously clawing the back of Katherine's hand in the process.

"You killed my best friend."

Katherine backed away, cradling her bloody hand as she moved to put the desk between them again. "What in the hell are you?"

"I'm the monster you were afraid of when you were a little girl. Now I'm here to kill you." Ari put her hands on the desk and pushed. Katherine was hit in the hips, pushed back until she was pinned between the desk and the wall. Ari jumped up and stood on the edge of the desk, breathing heavily. Her muscles were on fire. She felt like thousands of small needles were pricking her over and over again. Her lips puffed out with each sharp exhale of breath.

"You wanted to preserve your family's legacy. And in doing so, you killed the first Gavin in generations who was worthy of respect. You and your ancestors sat in this gilded cage for a hundred years. Hiding behind money. Slapping your name on things so people wouldn't forget you. But Laura was actually doing something. She was helping people. She would have ensured people remembered your family."

Katherine's face was pale and her fingers were dripping on the desk. "She was still a humiliation. It was just a matter of time before she became Guzzling Gavin."

"She'd changed."

"Oh, please. You can't honestly believe people can change in two months."

Ari bent down and put her face in Katherine's, breathing through her nose until Katherine leaned back.

"Look who you're asking," Ari growled.

Katherine's eyes were frightened, but she refused to let the fear spread to other parts of her face. "It's not a full moon, so I know the myths aren't all true. But are some of them?" She swung her uninjured hand, and Ari felt something slice across her bicep. She recoiled and saw Katherine jabbing the letter opener at the spot where her throat her been. "Will the silver in this kill you? Or will it kill you just because it's slid between your third and fourth ribs?"

Ari swatted at the blade and got another cut along her fingers for the trouble. She retreated off the desk and Katherine pushed it just enough to get free.

The gun she'd knocked out of Katherine's hand earlier was lying on the floor and Ari snatched it up. She aimed it at Katherine's head.

"How amusing. A werewolf with a handgun."

"How much of what Echols did was on your order? Were you the one who told him to sneak into Laura's room when she was a girl? Keeping it in the family?"

Katherine made a face. "Oliver was supposed to be a brother to her. When I discovered what he was doing, I was appalled. His father was a blue collar factory worker, for God's sake."

"And that's all that matters in your twisted world." Ari cocked the gun with her awkward combination of pad and thumb. Her body was rebelling at its current state. Sweat was pouring down her body underneath her vest. "You killed your daughter because she was sleeping with the wrong people."

"I did what I had to do. Gavin is more than a name, it's a legacy. The members of this family have a responsibility to protect it. Laura was a mistake, and she didn't deserve to carry on our name. I gave her so many chances, Ms. Willow, and she squandered them. Every time I thought she changed. Every time I thought it would stick. And then I would get yet another bill for rehab. I let her die redeemed."

"You killed her."

"She was going to die anyway. I just made certain it was in a way befitting the Gavin name and not in some opium den. I told Oliver to make sure it was painless. He gave her some of the drugs she was so fond of, and then he did what he had to do."

Ari bared her teeth.

From the edge of the property, they heard a spattering of gunfire followed by a revving engine. Something metallic screeched as it was pulled in a direction it wasn't meant to go. Katherine kept her eyes on Ari, but her brow knit together.

"That would be the police."

"No. I own the police."

"You own a lot of police. Not all of them. I didn't have to find someone who was untainted by your influence; I just had to find one with his own influence. Someone who was as pissed off at you as I was." Ari reached under her vest and pulled out the microphone of the wire Neal Bradley had given her. "He may not have been appropriate for your daughter, but he brought the full force of the Seattle Police Department down on you."

Katherine lunged with the letter opener. Ari didn't want to fire; she wanted Katherine to be tried and convicted for what she had done, so she backed away. Katherine used years of fencing lessons to drive Ari back toward the door. Ari swatted back with her claws and managed to tear the cuff of Katherine's blouse and the skin underneath.

"I should have told Echols to make it look like a murder-suicide."

"Keep digging your grave, Mrs. Gavin."

She lunged and buried the letter opener in the soft skin above Ari's clavicle. Ari howled and Katherine bum-rushed her out the office door. Ari hit the railing and tumbled over, claws tearing at Katherine's blouse as she fell. Katherine grabbed the splintered railing and managed to stay on the landing as Ari plummeted into the living room below. She hit the table and felt something in her back protest and then go disturbingly silent.

Katherine came down the stairs and picked up Echols' discarded gun. Echols himself was still lying sprawled on the carpet where Ari had thrown him. Katherine's blouse was stained with ribbons of dark red blood, her face as pale as a death mask. Through the open door, Ari could hear the police barking orders at the guards who were still protecting the property.

"Former soldiers," Katherine said. "Police officers. They believe in defending the front at all costs."

"They'll get in eventually," Ari gasped, her voice slightly more human. Her body felt like it was melting, her strength seeping out of her as she slowly changed back.

Katherine aimed the gun at her. "I've dug my grave. Nothing left to do but dig it deeper." She stumbled a bit. "Congratulations. You've destroyed a name it took my family centuries to build."

"No. You destroyed it. You and all those Gavins who cowered instead of taking a chance. Laura was the best of you. She made some mistakes when she was a teenager. And you killed her for them. Now you're going to die in prison."

"I'll be long gone before those buffoons get in here. The only consolation is that I'll take you with me." Katherine aimed the shotgun at Ari's head. "And my only regret is that I'll never find out just what the hell you are, werewolf."

"She's not a werewolf."

Katherine swung the gun around to see Dale in the doorway, a security guard's gun gripped in her bound hands.

"She's a canidae, bitch."

Dale fired and Katherine Gavin was knocked back.

The gun fell from Dale's hands, and she hit her knees. The left side of her neck was coated with shiny blood, and her hair was matted.

Ari took the gun from Katherine Gavin and managed to crawl through the wreckage of the living room, up onto the platform, and she pulled Dale to her. Dale's head lolled against Ari's breast, her lips parted and her eyes closed. "Dale... wake up. Dale?"

Dale was limp in her arms, weighing much less than she had any right to. Ari stroked her hair, Dale's blood mingling with hers. A SWAT team came up the driveway with their guns drawn and Ari raised both her hands in the air. She was relieved to see they were entirely human hands. Detective Lorne looked like a kid who had dressed up like a turtle for Halloween when he approached them on the porch.

"Ms. Willow?"

"She's hurt." Other SWAT members ran inside, while Lorne stayed with Ari and Dale. "What the hell was she talking about? Werewolves?"

"It's a long story. Help Dale."

Lorne motioned for someone to join them on the porch. The police swarmed past them and into the Gavin House. Ari didn't notice any of them. She bent down to kiss Dale's forehead, still stroking her hair where the bullet exit wound should have been but miraculously wasn't. "It's okay. Hold on just a little longer, Dale. Just a little longer."

#

Ari moved carefully down the hall, still trying to figure out her crutches. They wrapped around her forearms and it was awkward angling her body between them. She took a deep breath before she stepped into the doorway, smiling despite herself when she spotted Dale. She looked small in the hospital bed, her hands pale and fragile on her stomach. Ari expected to see the top of Dale's head entirely encased in white gauze, but instead there was just a small square on the left side of her head, above her ear. She opened her eyes at the sound of Ari's crutches on the tile, and she grinned brightly.

"You bought me flowers."

Ari looked at the bouquet on the nightstand. "Yeah. Kind of lame, right?"

"They were the first thing I saw when I woke up. It was like you were watching over me. Made me feel safe. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ari used one crutch to pull a chair closer to the bed and sat down with a groan. "How are you feeling?"

"When you wake up in a hospital and ask the nurse what happened, nothing really prepares you to hear 'shot in the head.' I was shot in the head?"

"Yeah." Ari's voice cracked. "Echols. They said the bullet hit your skull at just the right angle. It kind of ricocheted. You might have a pretty nasty scar under your hair, but other than that you're... you'll be fine." She took the crutch off her right arm and took Dale's hand. She squeezed the fingers to make sure they were really there. "If he had taken the time to aim, it would have been... a lot different. But he was showing off. Trying to make a point to me."

"So you saved my life."

Ari frowned. "What?"

"You made him so mad that he missed from point-blank range. He was a cop, Ari. He knows how to shoot a gun. Your ability to piss people off saved my life."

Ari smiled. "I guess if you want to look at it that way. Then I guess we're even."

"How so?"

"Because... y-you shot Katherine Gavin."

Dale raised her eyebrows. "I did? After I was shot in the head? Yay, me."

"You really don't remember?"

"Mm-mm." Dale shook her head. "A lot of the past week or two is a big blur. I was kind of hoping you could fill in the blanks."

Ari closed her eyes and touched Dale's hand to her forehead. How could she possibly just tell her about the steps they'd taken? How far their relationship had gone? She felt like she was cast back to square one without a map. "I wouldn't know where to start."

"Start the day after we got back from the island. After we made love in my apartment."

Ari lifted her head. "You remember that?"

"Come on. It'll take more than a bullet dancing over my skull to make me forget that, Ariadne." She winked. "Will you kiss me just so I know it--"

Ari stood up and pulled Dale to her. She had been aching for the kiss since she woke up in her own hospital room, and it soothed better than any medicine could.

After a few minutes, they pulled apart and Dale touched her forehead to Ari's.

"So the other stuff. What happened to Katherine?"

Ari sniffled. "They managed to stabilize her in the ambulance. They took her to a high security intensive care unit. Turns out the one thing she wasn't lying about when she hired me was her cancer. She'll never live to trial."

Dale closed her eyes. "That's so wrong."

"But there's a silver lining. Do you remember talking to reporters about Laura Gavin's contributions to charity?" Dale thought for a moment and then carefully shook her head. "Well, you told them everything she had done for the soup kitchen. The fundraiser. People interviewed Neal Bradley and got even more stuff. It's all they can talk about. Katherine Gavin is a footnote, and her daughter's name is all over the place."

"I guess that's something."

"Yeah. I'm just worried Katherine was right. It was only two months. Laura had shown promise before, but she always fell back. What if she was right and it was just the calm before the storm?"

"Laura had something this time that she didn't have before. Neal." She rubbed Ari's knuckles with her thumb. "When you have someone strong like that in your corner, you can make it through anything."

Ari smiled. "I guess you're right."

"What happened to you, though? Why are you on crutches?"

Ari looked down at the metallic canes. "A couple of really bad transformations and a fall from a high place onto an antique coffee table. I wrecked my hips, my pelvis, and my spine. Detective Lorne got me to a canidae specialist."

"Ah, our new ally."

"One of them, yeah. Between him and Neal Bradley, the cops agreed to drop all charges against me. They're pretty pissed off that I left the scene of a crime and fired the murder weapon, but under the circumstances they let me off. I had to tell Detective Lorne the whole story, though. Better him than the whole world, I guess. And it's always good to have an ally in the police to help cover up the stuff that's harder to explain."

"Yeah. I saw him on the news talking about the unusual content of Katherine Gavin's taped confession."

Ari chuckled and quoted her favorite part. "'Ariadne Willow had been on the run for several days and did not look her best. Why Katherine Gavin felt the need to attack her personally and call her a werewolf, we'll never know.'"

Dale giggled and set Ari off on a laughing fit. When they both calmed down, Dale reached up and touched Ari's face. "You do look a little haggard. They said you were in a different hospital when I first woke up, but they didn't know anything else."

"Yeah. Three days in splints and a quickie surgery and voila. I'm mobile again. But the damage I did to my bones and muscles will take a little while to heal so that I'm fully functioning. And he, uh... put me on restrictions."

"Uh oh. Are you going to have to wear one of those big collars so you won't scratch your stitches?"

Ari laughed. "No. But I can't change for six weeks."

Dale's eyes widened. "You've never gone that long before."

"No. But as someone very wise recently said to me, when you have someone really strong in your corner, you can make it through anything." She kissed Dale's hand again.

"I love you, Ari."

"I love you, too. So much."

Dale looked at the walls for a clock. "Can you stay? Are visiting hours--"

"Hey. If anyone makes a fuss, I'll just pretend I'm a patient." She scooted her chair closer and put her head down on Dale's hip. "I'm not going anywhere."

#

Epilogue

The rain ended just before they reached the cemetery, so the air was cool and wet. Ari breathed deep as she walked across the droplet-bejeweled grass to where Neal was waiting for her. She wore a tan suede overcoat with a white scarf tucked into the lapels like an ascot. She didn't limp, but she had traded her metallic braces for an ornately carved walking stick.

Neal turned just before she called out to him and he smiled. He stepped away from the grave and greeted her with a smile. "There you are, wolf girl."

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that." Ari reached out with her free hand and shook his.

"Sorry." He looked back at the headstone. "Thank you for this."

Ari stood beside him and read the carving of Laura's name. The date of her birth seemed impossibly recent to her, and the date of death was definitely a few decades too early. "It was the least we could do."

"The funeral, the casket, the headstone... you went above and beyond. It all must have cost a fortune."

"Well, relatively speaking. It took up the rest of the money we had left from the check Katherine Gavin gave us. Dale and I agreed, neither of us wanted the money. Spending it like this felt... appropriate. It belonged to Laura anyway."

Neal smiled. "Did you hear what the news has started calling her? Giving Gavin."

Ari laughed. "A much better nickname."

"Katherine Gavin got the legacy she wanted. People are remembering the good Laura did instead of her mother's schemes. Katherine wanted to erase her, but instead she turned her into a martyr. Laura would have liked that. Foiling her mom's plans one last time."

Ari glanced at him and saw the pain in his expression. "How are you holding up?"

His smile faded and he looked up. He scanned the rolling hill filled with gray stones. "I don't know. I'm not doing too well, but Katherine got what she deserved. So did Laura. I'm taking what comfort I can from the fact Laura knew how I felt about her before..." He swallowed. "Not everyone is so lucky, you know?"

"Yeah."

"So. You were Tule."

Ari laughed. "That's awkward."

"No, not at all. Uh-uh." He cleared his throat. "Well, yeah. Maybe a little bit. I mean, you did walk in on our first night together."

"If it helps, I don't remember anything I saw when I was a wolf."

He looked at her. "That's a lie, isn't it?"

"Just let it stand, Neal."

Neal laughed. He turned to face her. "When Laura came to us, she said that she was tired of waiting for someone to come rescue her. She decided that she needed to rescue herself if she wanted to get up off the ground. I wish she had gotten a chance to know you. Really know you. Because she should have known that someone finally came along to save her."

Ari blinked back tears. "I was just doing my job."

"Your job was to do what Katherine Gavin told you. Instead, you did what was right. Not a lot of people are willing to do that much, especially when it's hard. Especially going against someone as powerful as the Gavin family. Katherine Gavin was going to kill Laura no matter what. I think you coming in when you did... I think that was Laura's guardian angel making sure everything was in place when the time came." He took her hand. "Thank you, Ariadne. And thank your friend, Dale."

"I will. Thank you for believing a crazy lady with an even crazier story."

He laughed. "Stranger things, Ari. Stranger things." He stuck his hands into his pocket and faced the headstone. "I think I'm going to take a walk. Figure out what I wanna say to her before I actually say it out loud. You don't mind if I leave you alone, do you?"

Ari looked past him and saw Dale coming up the hill toward them. "You can leave. I won't be alone."

He kissed her cheek, rubbed her arm, and walked away. Ari watched him go, wishing there was something more she could do. Some way she could ease the burden. But she had done what she could. The woman he loved was being honored for her true self, not some tabloid idea of who she was. Anything more was out of her hands.

Ari left Laura's grave and met Dale halfway up the hill. She was wearing a knit cap until her hair grew back and covered what she was now calling her war wound. "Hey, boss."

"Hello, Ms. Frye."

They kissed hello even though they had just seen each other five minutes earlier in the car.

"I know I said I would give you some time, but..." She held up her cell phone. "Another call forwarded from the office line. Someone wants to hire us. That makes eight this week alone."

"I guess maybe we should start returning some of those calls." She hooked her left arm around Dale's and turned her around. They walked back to the car together, Ari leaning on Dale more than her cane.

"Are you sure you're up for it? It'll be another three weeks before the doctor says it's safe for you to transform."

Ari nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm a pretty good detective even without the wolf."

"Yeah, you are." Dale squeezed Ari's bicep and led her back to the car.

Ari sniffed the air. The rain had passed on, but Ari could smell another brewing just off the coast. It wouldn't arrive for a while, though. She and Dale had plenty of time to get to shelter. Even if they were caught out in it, though, it would be fine. They could survive a little rainstorm every now and again, just as long as they had each other.

#

Members of the canidae family share many traits with their more mundane animal counterparts. They are social animals which prefer to travel in packs. Canidae rarely are found alone in the wild. In certain extreme cases, a canidae will break away from their pack. In these situations they become solitary animals and frequently succumb to the various dangers of attempting to survive on their own.

The only way for a canidae to survive in these situations is to form a bond with a non-canidae human. The humans chosen by a canidae as a partner, whether aware of their companion's condition or not, become invaluable to the well-being of the mental and physical health of the canidae. The two form an intense bond that can survive even the most dire situations. This dependency is the reason most canidae tend to shy away from such a relationship unless absolutely necessary.

A canidae, like a true wolf, is certainly capable of surviving alone in the wild. It will choose to do so unless a suitable mate is found. Should the canidae be fortunate enough to find a mate worthy of their affection, the bond quickly becomes nigh unbreakable.

-- excerpt from Karl Magnusson's unpublished collection of essays, Canidae in the Modern World, collected 1933

END

# #

About the Author

Geonn Cannon was born on the fortieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After almost twenty years, he is cat-less (goodbye, Sahara!). He writes to get the ideas out of his head so he won't mumble to himself in public (which he already does a little more than is socially acceptable). He currently lives in Yukon, Oklahoma, although his mind is still stuck in Washington state. If you see it wandering around the shoreline, just make sure it's warm and comfortable and leave it be.