11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

“ G o out the way you came. Pull the car around front and wait for me.” I swung my bag over my shoulder and tucked the long cardboard box under my arm.

“Yes, ma’am.” Lucas gave a mock salute and ducked out the sliding door.

I locked it behind him, double checked the windows were shut and locked, and proceeded to make my way to the lobby.

Amy caught sight of me as I passed the front desk. Her face puckered from the smell emanating from the box.

“I’m tossing these in the dumpster.” I told her, loud enough for anyone in the lobby to hear.

“Would you like me to call the florist and file a complaint for you, Miss Redford?” Amy asked.

“What?” My sneakers squeaked on the tile floor as I came to an abrupt halt.

“The floral delivery company. Would you like me to call them for you?” She talked slower, as if I had a hard time understanding her the first time.

“I’ll take their number.” I pivoted and race walked over to the front desk. “I’d like to call them myself.”

Amy held her breath as she wrote down the number and slid the piece of paper across the counter. I offered my undying gratitude and rushed outside to meet Lucas.

We had a lead. One that might likely lead us to a dead end. Still, it was more than we had to go on before.

“He used a delivery service.” I waved the slip of paper at Lucas after stowing the flower box in the trunk and climbing inside the car.

“He couldn’t have been that stupid.” Lucas took the sticky note and looked at the number. “Flora and Fauna. I know where that is.”

“You do?” I asked, a tinge of jealousy in my voice. Had there been someone worth sending flowers to while I’d been gone? A year was a long time. Just because I hadn’t been with anyone didn’t mean Lucas hadn’t. “You never sent me flowers.”

“Something I plan to remedy.” Lucas smiled and put the car in gear.

“Maybe hold off on that.” My gaze flicked to the rearview and the reflection of the trunk’s hood.

“Timing is everything.” He peeled out of the parking lot in the direction of Dr. Bennett’s office.

One of the benefits of staying on pack lands was the close proximity of the buildings within its boundaries. Residential properties scattered the mountain side, but the businesses were all situated in one designated quadrant in the center of the reserve.

Under normal circumstances I would have chosen to hoof it from the lodge to Dr. Bennett’s office, but nothing about the situation was normal. Waltzing through town with Lucas on one arm and a putrid box of flowers tucked under the other seemed like a horrible idea. Unless I wanted to attract the attention of every wolf within the pack’s property lines.

Which I did not.

Lucas and I reached the office suites where Dr. Bennett’s practice was located at the same time as Benjamin. His black, extended cab Silverado truck loomed large over Lucas’ Camaro as he pulled into the spot beside us.

I grabbed the keys from the ignition and hopped out of the car to open the trunk. Even with the windows down, the smell managed to permeate the interior over the short drive. Enhanced senses had their downside.

“What the hell is that smell?” Benjamin pinched his nose and stifled a sneeze. “That’s not just the flowers.”

“I can smell it now too.” Lucas was out of the car and headed toward Dr. Bennett’s office.

“So can I.” Outside of the car, the cloying scent of decayed flowers no longer interfered with my sense of smell.

Layered beneath the scent of the disinfectant used to sanitize the doctor’s office and my withered bouquet, was a different kind of decomposition.

Blood – enough to arouse the suspicion that something had happened to the good doctor.

Benjamin led the way, holding his arm out to prevent us from barging in behind him when he used his shoulder as a battering ram on the locked door. From over his shoulder, I could already make out what appeared to be a crime scene.

“Lucas.” Benjamin took extra care not to disturb anything as he stepped into the office. “Call it in.”

The alpha was glacial, not a shred of emotion in his voice or movements. His pulse slow and steady when compared to the erratic beat of my own heart—which felt like it wanted to evacuate my chest.

Lucas pulled his phone from his pocket and called in his team. Trackers took shifts on security detail, patrolling the grounds and acting as our own miniature police unit while they weren’t on assignment. His teammates held criminal justice or forensic science degrees.

Lucas earned his associates, but decided to train under my father and hone the skills necessary to track someone in the wilderness. Theory only went so far. At some point you needed practical lessons. Which is how he became the best the alliance had.

“Benjamin?” I formed his name into a question, asking permission to enter the crime scene with one word.

“Step where I step.” Benjamin walked on eggshells around the files scattered around the floor. “Get out your phone and document what you see. This place will be crawling with trackers in a few minutes. Once that happens, Redford or not, I won’t be able to provide you information without raising questions.”

“Yes, sir.” My response was innate.

He reminded me so much of my father at that moment. Benjamin said his role as alpha was temporary. I hoped to change his mind. There wasn’t anyone better suited to fill my father’s shoes.

I followed him around the office, snapping pictures on my phone and making mental notes of the things I saw and didn’t see.

Namely, Dr. Bennett.

“Do you think he’s still alive?” I asked as I zoomed in on the blood spatter on the wall to the left of the metal filing cabinet which sat in the corner behind Dr. Bennett’s desk.

“No.” Benjamin sounded so certain despite the small amounts of blood we found.

“He sprayed enough disinfectant to mask his scent and left the blood for us to find.” Lucas used his training to separate the various scents in the room.

I’d learned the same skillset from my father as Lucas. Skills I had plenty of time to hone on the road, but I couldn’t get past the aerosol disinfectant spray. It was like a putrid punch to my olfactory.

“It was a message. A variation on the one he sent Lina with the flowers.” Lucas’ theory seemed to pick up where his father left off. “He can come and go as he pleases and take whoever he wants.”

“Not for long.” Benjamin tilted his head to one side and focused on something outside. “Time’s up.”

I picked up the sound of one of the Alliance’s off-road jeeps crunching over loose gravel as it approached the strip of office suites. Two more trackers approached on foot from the woods. I could slip out and hope no one spotted me, but they’d know I was here regardless of whether or not they saw me.

“If anyone asks, you were due for another IV treatment. Lucas and I were here for the results of his blood work.” Benjamin laid out our cover story.

“In two cars?” I asked, certain one of the experienced members of Lucas’ team would see right through the paper-thin excuses.

“They care about why we’re here. Not how we got here.” Lucas offered reassurance, but my mind worked overtime and I was already on to something else.

“Blood work. Benjamin, you’re a genius.” I went to the filing cabinet and reached for the drawer labeled Ra-Se.

“Don’t touch anything.” Benjamin clamped his fingers around my wrist and pulled my hand back.

“Right, sorry. I got excited. Dr. Bennett said he had something to show me, and he asked you to come see him too.” I shifted my gaze from Lucas to Benjamin, waiting for them to hop onto my train of thought. “And he knew I’d bring Lucas. So, he didn’t have to get in touch with him.”

When neither of them did, I rushed through my theory on the killer’s motivation before the trackers busted up our private investigation.

“What was Dr. Bennett working on that involved all of us?” I asked, but didn’t wait for either to respond. “The silver nitrate. Our bloodwork. My father’s bloodwork.”

“You think he found something.” Benjamin nodded. “The results for you and Lucas will be easy to get. Your father’s—"

“Will require my mother’s consent.” I sighed. “After the morning she had? If she even suspects it has anything to do with me, you can forget it. She won’t help.”

“She might surprise you.” Benjamin said, in what I assumed was an attempt to calm the rocky waters between my mother and me.

“I don’t think I can take any more of her surprises.” I took a few more shots of the folders on the floor, focusing in on the labels with patient names on the tabs.

I was relatively certain I had just violated every paragraph of the HIPAA laws, but it was for a good cause, and I felt confident neither of my companions would turn me in.

“Sir.” The trackers in the jeep were the first—well almost the first—on scene and greeted the acting alpha in unison. The two on foot followed, came in seconds later and did the same. Each of them went out of their way to make eye contact with me before giving the scene their full attention.

All of them except for one, who hung back by the door.

“My son and I were on our way to grab something to eat when Miss Redford flagged us down after discovering Dr. Bennett’s office had been ransacked and that he’s missing.” Benjamin switched up the details of our cover story.

“Miss Redford, I’d like to ask you a few questions. If you don’t mind.” The youngest tracker stopped guarding the door and turned his attention to me. “Let’s step outside.”

I hoped he mistook the surprise on my face for shock at the break-in and potential abduction or murder of one of the most trusted members of our pack.

“Yes, of course.” Behind the tracker’s back, I gave Benjamin a WTF look and followed the closest thing we had to a detective out into the parking lot.

“I’m sorry to have to ask you these questions now, I’m sure you must be upset. But it is important that we get as many details as we can while it’s fresh in your mind.”

“Yeah, of course. Whatever I can do to help.” I fought back the eyeroll.

This was the best the council had to offer?

The guy reeked of rookie. He couldn’t be a day over twenty, was probably fresh out of tracking classes and working his way through his degree. Everything he said and did was by the book. Right down to the pen and notepad he pulled out of one of the pockets on his tactical vest.

I took a deep breath and counted to ten when I realized the reason I was out in the parking lot talking with the newbie instead of one of the more seasoned trackers was because this guy wasn’t alpha material and the least likely to sign up for the challenge out of his team.

The goddamned challenge. It affected every aspect of my life. Even who questioned me at a possible murder scene.

“And did you have an appointment with Dr. Bennett?” The rookie asked, his pen poised over the mini-spiral notebook.

“He was squeezing me in for another IV treatment.” I continued the charade and stuck to the parts of Benjamin’s story that he hadn’t changed.

“Treatments for the silver poisoning you received as a result of the injury you sustained yesterday in the woods, correct?” He asked, confirming details I’d already given him.

“Right. My appointment wasn’t on the books. He just told me to come by after the council was finished with me.” I kept my body loose and tried not to arouse any suspicion by looking back at Dr. Bennett’s office too many times.

“Okay.” The rookie wrapped up his inquiry. “You’re planning on staying on pack lands? In case we need to ask you any more questions.”

I couldn’t help but give him the side eye at that question. Based on the other trackers’ reaction to me, news of the council’s decision had spread like wildfire across the pack lands.

“Right. Sorry.” He met my glare with a half-hearted smile and tucked his notepad and pen back into his pocket.

“It’s fine.” I pulled my hair back and twisted it into a loose knot at the base of my neck. “So, I’m good to go?

“Of course. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else. Thanks for your time and being so cooperative.” The rookie turned to join his teammates inside the office, but stopped just outside the door. “I appreciate it.”

“We’ve all been there. You won’t always be the newbie.” I left him ogling my display of kindness from the doorway and walked back to the lodge, glad I hadn’t misdirected my anger and frustration at him.

People transferred in from packs all over the country. It wasn’t easy to adjust to life on the pack lands. If anybody related to that awkward and sometimes painful transition it was me.

I spared a glance at the trunk of Lucas’ car and the cargo stowed within. The follow up with the florist got bumped down a notch on my to do list. Benjamin seemed convinced Dr. Bennett was dead, but I refused to give up hope he was still alive.

Until we had a body that proved otherwise.