Chapter Eleven

They stayed at Ruby's Barbeque for almost three hours since they had time to kill. Two Trees and Uwaite turned out to be a hell of a lot friendlier and outgoing once they had some lunch in them. And since Ari and Eoghan had eaten a bran muffin with that morning's coffee, they paced themselves. It took a while but they each managed to polish off a plate of ribs while they all joked and laughed.

Eoghan shared about a few past cases, even talking about the honeybee shifter without giving anything away about the WITSEC protectee and his boyfriend who were now living in an undisclosed location. Both Two Trees and Uwaite were surprised by his existence. Even though shifters themselves, they'd never met an insect shifter of any kind and they seemed fascinated with that fact. As they sat back finishing off fresh squeezed lemonade, the conversation drifted into Ari's background.

"Your partner told us some stories about his experiences on the job, but you haven't told us any of yours," Uwaite said.

"Are you asking me, Uwaite?"

"First of all, call me Alo. I do have a first name." He looked across the table at the chief. "He does too. It's Joe."

Ari ducked his head, smiling. "I'm sorry. It's ingrained. Army Rangers, U.S. Marshals Service, and now the I.S.R. I'm used to calling people by their last name. No offense meant."

"It's cool. I was just busting your chops."

Ari smiled. "Well, I've only been with the I.S.R. for two months. Before that, like I said, I was a plain old civilian marshal." He spread his hands. "I didn't even know the paranormal world existed until I met Derwin, the honeybee shifter. As for extraterrestrials. Just no! Then I met an alien bat and a space faerie. Then King John Townsend, the vampire king we talked about. I could go on?" He grinned, taking a sip of his tangy and sweet lemonade.

When the two shifters' jaws dropped, Ari chuckled. "And the expressions on your faces right now, are probably what mine looked like during my first few days on the job."

"What is a…space faerie?" Alo asked.

Eoghan and Ari both laughed. "Something you never ever want to meet, trust me," Eoghan replied.

"Extraterrestrial bullshit," Ari said.

"Sounds nasty," Joe said.

"Nasty as hell," Ari replied. "But Derwin is the nicest bee you'd ever want to meet and so is Ralphie."

"Is that this Derwin guy's boyfriend?" Alo asked.

"No, that's the alien bat."

"Shit," Joe said. He exchanged a glance with Alo. "Do you believe in aliens?"

"I mean…I didn't until we met these two but…I guess I do now."

"They're not all bad," Eoghan said. He turned to look at Ari. "Elroy and his crew are nice." Ari nodded in agreement.

"Who's Elroy?"

"He's a Powmay," Eoghan said. "Basically, he's a little gecko type alien who's the nicest guy in the world."

"O—kay," Alo said looking even more hesitant.

Ari sipped more lemonade and grinned.

"So, we haven't talked too much about your clan," Eoghan said. "Clearly, you've got different shifters. Riversong and her brother are opossums, her husband Jack is a squirrel, and you two are grizzly bears."

"Yes. Funny how we can accept shifters but aliens makes us feel uncomfortable." He laughed. "But the variety is typical with larger reservations. We shelter many kinds of shifters on tribal lands. Think of our reservation like you would any human community. You have all kinds of people with different genealogical backgrounds living in the same place. You might have a Mexican-American family living next door to a Chinese immigrant family and so forth," Joe said. "We're no different and we often marry outside of our own classification just like humans have interracial marriages."

"And when you have a mixed shifter couple like Jack and Riversong who have children, what kind of shifters do the children end up becoming?" Ari asked. This stuff fascinated him.

"In the case of their family, the kids could end up being either an opossum, a squirrel, or not a shifter at all," Joe said. "Look at it this way. Everyone has multiple genes which all carry a trait. Some are more dominant. That's why a person might have three children, all with different colored eyes or why a dwarf couple might have an average sized child. It's the same with shifters."

"We have a girl in our IT department with a human parent and a snow leopard shifter parent. She can't shift."

"And neither can a lot of shifter offspring when they have different types of shifters for parents. In the case of the girl in IT, she can't shift because of the human parent. In Jack and Riversong's case, they have three kids and they won't know whether they can shift and what kind of shifter they will be until they're around seven or eight years old," Alo said. "Some kids of shifters don't ever shift for whatever reason. Unless they're born of same species parents who are full blooded shifters, they might not ever shift. It's all in the genes, man. I'm not a scientist. What do I know?"

"So two bear shifters will have a bear shifter," Eoghan concluded.

"Yes." The chief grinned. "Because of the dominant trait in both halves of their blood."

"We did have a bear couple on the rez with a child who shifted into a mountain lion once," Alo said.

"Oh, that's right!" Joe started laughing. "Oopsie."

"The mother had an affair with a mountain lion shifter?" Ari asked, stunned.

"Their next-door neighbor," Joe said. "Super awkward."

"Oh, you think?" Eoghan asked, laughing.

"Both couples are divorced now." Alo shook his head.

Ari and Eoghan did the same. Ari caught him checking his watch. "Time to go back?"

"It's a little after two."

"We should get back to the station. I shouldn't take long lunches out of the office, and Riversong and her escorts are due back at two thirty," Joe said. "She'll want to meet you two, I'm sure."

"Oh, she's met me, remember?" Eoghan said. "She might not be too happy to see me again."

"That's right. You arrested her. I completely forgot," Two Trees said. "But this is a whole different thing. The circumstances are nothing alike. And if Colt Wilkins was abusing her and set up her husband for the grand larceny he's currently serving time for as we suspect, then there's a damned good chance she'll want to see you."

Eoghan shrugged. "If you say so, but I'm not so sure when she learns about us invading her privacy and reading her diary the way we did."

"I know so," Ari said. He watched Joe pick up the check folder and slide several bills into it as Ari reached for his wallet.

Joe stuck out his hand. "I'm not taking your money. This one is on me. You can grab lunch the next time you're here in Tahoe."

"Good enough, thanks," Eoghan replied as they all stood up and walked to their vehicles.

Back at the station, Ari waited in the conference room while Eoghan used the restroom. The chief and deputy had gone back to their desks to return messages and make a few calls when the station door opened, drawing Ari's attention out to the bullpen. Riversong walked in with two young children and carrying a toddler. He immediately recognized her from the mugshots he'd seen as well as the family photos in her house. She was accompanied by two men Ari assumed were the escorts who'd brought her back.

He watched as the chief walked out of his office and greeted her. One of the female deputies took the children into the break room where there were couches and a big chest of toys for visitors to the station who had kids.

Eoghan walked out of the bathroom, and Ari watched his lover smile widely as Riversong returned the smile and shook his hand. It was a relief. Eoghan said something to her and they headed over his way to the conference room.

"Ms. Wilkins, meet my partner, Ari Brown," Eoghan said as they walked up. "Ari, this is Riversong Wilkins."

Ari held out his hand as the small woman glanced up at him shyly and shook it. Her hand was cold and finely boned. "I understand you and your partner did me and my family a great service," she said, offering the hint of a smile.

"I hope so, ma'am."

She glanced at Joe Two Trees. "The chief told me you found my diary."

Ari nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I thought I'd hidden it fairly well. That's some pretty impressive detective work, Marshal. Maybe you missed your calling."

Ari looked down at the ground. "I'm very sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to snoop. We were looking for any clues as to your whereabouts. At that point we couldn't be sure if you'd been kidnapped or had left home on your own."

She reached out and squeezed his arm until he looked up and met big, brown eyes. "Yes, Chief Two Trees explained that to me but don't be sorry. Thanks to you, my Jack might be coming home soon." She turned and glanced out at the bullpen where several people pecked away on computer keyboards. "I just don't know what will happen when poor, little Morgan learns the truth."

"Let's step inside and close the door," Two Trees suggested. "I know your children are too young to have had their first shift, but we all have good hearing, even from birth."

"Yes, of course," Riversong replied.

They all sat at the conference table as Joe shut the door. He took a seat opposite the window where he could keep an eye on the tribal police employees.

"You were saying something about Morgan," he encouraged her to go on.

"Yes," she said, sounding slightly hesitant. "Colt sexually abused me when I was a kid," she began. "He's thirteen years older than me. I was about eleven when it started, and it continued until I finally left home at sixteen. I'd started seeing Jack by then and I wanted to make a life. Jack hadn't had a good upbringing either but he never did anything without reason and he never committed any of those crimes they said he did. He did shoplift but that was because I'd already run away with him, and we were starving. I was already pregnant with Colt's baby and he was just trying to make sure I had something to eat to keep my strength up for the baby."

Tears filled her eyes. "Jack protected me which is why I left with him at such a young age. My parents were deceased, and we were all alone in their house. I used to call it my house of horrors." She sniffled as tears fell.

Two Trees reached for a box of tissues sitting in the center of the conference room table and pushed them toward her. She thanked him and took a couple, immediately blowing her nose.

"So, the shoplifting charge was the only crime Jack actually committed?" Eoghan asked.

"Yes. I'd been seeing Jack from the time I was thirteen but there was never anything sexual between us. I told him that I wouldn't let him do that until we were properly married and he had to get a good job before that ever happened. He couldn't find a job, though. He tried and tried and kept getting turned down. Jack couldn't understand it. He was almost eighteen, much older than most kids who get their first jobs. When he finally asked one of the interviewers at the supermarket why he wouldn't hire him, he told him that with his rap sheet, he was lucky to be out on the streets and not behind bars."

She looked at them with desperation. "My Jack had never been in any trouble at that time. Not a single thing. He'd never been arrested, much less convicted of a crime. So when he asked for a copy of the printout the store manager had which showed a bunch of crimes Jack was supposedly convicted of, he was shocked to see the list. None of it was true. He'd been set up. When he told me, he was utterly stunned. That's when I told him it had to be Colt."

"You thought Colt somehow found a way to manufacture crimes and put them on his record?" Two Trees asked.

"Do you remember Julie Rains?" she asked, looking directly at him.

He frowned and then shook his head. "No, who is she?"

"She used to work for you."

Looking utterly perplexed, he thought for a few seconds before standing up. "Hang on." He walked over to the doorway and leaned out. When he caught Alo's attention, he motioned him over. When he appeared at the door, Two Trees introduced him to Riversong. "Do you remember someone named Julie Rains?"

"The data entry clerk who used to work here at the station?" Alo immediately asked.

"Yes, that's the one," Riversong replied.

"Oh yeah," Joe said. "Now I remember. She quit a few years ago."

"Probably right after Jack was arrested," Riversong said.

"That sounds about right. We had a lot of turnover around the pandemic."

"Well, she was dating Colt," she said. "I think he somehow convinced her to put all those crimes on Jack's record, basically make up a laundry list of crimes that he'd been charged and convicted of. I bet if you check out all those court dates and so-called convictions, it's going to turn out to be a lot of baloney. As soon as I told him that I was dating Jack, Colt must have started the whole thing. It must have been the best day of his life when Jack was caught stealing from the grocery store. I know he knew about it because when he found out I'd run away with Jack, he threw it in my face. But it was too late for me. I was already pregnant with Morgan."

"But it was a few years before Jack was charged with grand larceny," the chief said.

"That's because after I suspected Jack couldn't get work because of something Colt was doing, I told my brother that I'd figure it out and make sure that he was the one who got arrested," she said. "He left us alone for a long time after that. Maybe it took him that long to figure out a way to have Jack charged with a serious crime. He did everything in his power to keep him unemployed. He wanted me to leave him and come back to him. I think he thought by keeping Jack and me destitute, we'd give up and split. But we already had two more kids, and I adored Jack. I still do. That man raised Morgan like she was his own." She shook her head and blew her nose some more. "I honestly think Colt thought we were a couple or something when all I ever wanted to do was to scratch his eyes out every time I saw him."

"Why didn't you protest when we found you at the grocery store?" asked Eoghan.

She heaved out a resigned breath. "I just knew there was no fighting it. Colt's word against ours was going to hold more sway. I was so tired of fighting to survive. I just…just gave in." Her eyes brimmed again and she swiped at them with the back of her hand.

"Does he know Morgan is his child?" Eoghan asked cautiously.

She lifted her head and stared at him with watery eyes. "I never told him. I don't want him to know but if it comes out, I guess I'll have to live with that. He doesn't know that Jack and I weren't a couple that way when Morgan was conceived and I'm not going to tell him voluntarily. He'd make more trouble for me."

"We're going to see to it that it never happens, Ms. Wilkins," Joe said.

Ari felt terrible for the couple and when he glanced over at Eoghan he could tell that his lover was just as upset about the situation. He might even be more so because of the way he'd misjudged Jack when he and Gladys had arrested him all those years ago. He really hoped justice would be done once Colt was charged with sexual abuse on his minor sister and other criminal charges with regard to Jack's incarceration. It was possible to charge him with tampering with internal tribal police documents and records, possible computer hacking. And possibly coercing or hiring Julie Rains to do that in her capacity as a trusted tribal police department employee or whatever else Two Trees could think of to charge him with. Hopefully, Jack's conviction would be overturned and the rest of the couple's life would be a happy one.

"Where is Colt anyway?" Riversong asked after drying her eyes.

"He's locked up and now that I've got the whole story, we need to take this to the tribal council," Joe said. "They might want some testimony from you, though."

"That's fine," she said. "I'm embarrassed that the whole world knows about this and I'm pretty sure that the whole rez will know soon enough. But if I can live my life with my Jack and we can finally be at peace, I'm going to do that." She stood up and smiled at them. "And one more thing." She held up her left hand, wiggling her ring finger with a big grin on her face. "You called me Ms. Wilkins but I'm now Mrs. Vandross. Jack and I were married the last time I visited him in jail."

They all smiled. "Congratulations," Joe said.

"Just get my Jack out of jail so we can have a proper service in church rather than a prison chapel."

"We're on it."

She nodded. "I have all of you to thank for everything you did but now, I need to feed my kids some lunch and then go see my boss about getting my old job back. I left him in the lurch when I took off, so I hope he'll be willing to take me back. He might have already filled the job."

"If he needs to talk to me, you have him call," Joe said, squeezing her shoulder gently. "I think your family has paid enough for what your brother did to you."

She nodded, thanked them all again and walked out into the bullpen with her head held high.

"She's a brave woman," Eoghan said.

"She sure is," Joe said. He glanced at the clock on the wall before looking over at them. "We should go meet with the council. Knowing them, they're already waiting."

"Okay, lead on, Chief."

They followed them out of the station to another building which shared a common wall right next door. The etching on the glass door read Tribal Council Chamber and Municipal Hall. Inside, was a large common room where several upholstered couches and chairs were arranged in a half-moon around a wood burning fireplace on the far wall. The most prominent piece of furniture in the room was a six-foot diameter table made out of a huge tree trunk. The thick slab was coated with polyurethane to preserve the beauty of the multiple rings making up the heavy piece. Its beauty was breathtaking.

Five men were seated around it and they all looked up, sending the new arrivals imperious glances and doing their best to look intimidating. The oldest one at the table looked Ari and Eoghan up and down as they arrived, instantly transferring his gaze to the chief. Ari noticed how none of them rose to introduce themselves or greet them politely. So, this was how it was going to be. Huh.

"Are these the men you made us cancel our meeting to see, Two Trees?"

"Yes, Mr. Blackwood," Joe said. "These are the I.S.R. marshals I told you about over the phone."

"Thank you for accommodating us," Eoghan said stepping forward. "Deputy Marshal Eoghan Sapphire and—"

"Names are unnecessary," he said, ignoring the hand Eoghan was holding out as he rudely cut him off. "The chief gave me the highlights. So, the I.S.R. is insisting on our help."

"We're here to plead our case, sir, yes," Eoghan said.

Ari watched as Alo and Joe dragged folding chairs over so they could sit down. They planted them off to the side, not bothering to try to pull them up to the table, clearly accustomed to the way the council of five older men treated their guests. Even though the fireplace was going full blast, keeping the room warm, the temperature of their reception from the men made it clear that the last thing they wanted to do was invite them to sit.

"You mean you're here to plead the case for a vampire who claims to be a king who was overthrown by another vampire," he clipped.

"He is a king," Ari said. "We verified that and if you'll let us tell you why we're here to ask you for help for his clan—"

"I'm sure the I.S.R. is eager to help all vampires. It is what you do, is it not?" a different man asked. "It's your mandate."

"We offer help to all clans and all reservations who ask," Eoghan said. Ari noticed that his tone was tinged with icy cold, something he'd only heard once or twice. He was pretty sure both times had happened when he'd been addressing the space faeries. "If your clan was under attack, I think you'd hope we would be there for you as well, sir."

"These I.S.R. marshals were very helpful to us," Joe said.

"With what?" one of the other elders asked, looking at Two Trees.

"With this," Joe said, reaching into his pocket and pulling a plastic evidence bag out of it before holding up Riversong's diary.

Ari's eyes widened. He hadn't known the chief brought it along and he sure as hell hadn't expected him to play the Colt Wilkins card with the council or in front of strangers. He bit his lower lip to keep from smiling as Blackwood took the diary from Joe's hand and stared down at it. He turned it over in his hands several times before handing it back.

"What is it?"

"It's Riversong Wilkins personal diary. It details how her brother, Colt Wilkins—a member of this council—has been sexually abusing her since she was eleven years old. It also details how Colt had to be the one who colluded with a data input clerk in my office to establish her mate's criminal record."

Ari exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Eoghan. The diary hadn't actually said anything about the clerk but Joe was on a roll, so he just kept his mouth shut as the chief continued.

"We sent Jack Vandross to prison on a three-year sentence for grand larceny after he supposedly broke into a safe in the treasurer's office in this very municipal building when he was here doing routine janitorial work. You all know Jack, right?"

All the men at the table nodded but only Blackwood spoke up. "We all knew him but that makes no difference. The man broke into a safe and stole money and jewels to run away with his children. The I.S.R. was called in to retrieve the fugitive."

"We all know this," Two Trees said. "Deputy Marshal Eoghan Sapphire is the one who brought him, Riversong, and their three children in." He pointed at Eoghan. "That's Marshal Eoghan Sapphire, the man who was introducing himself when you rudely interrupted him."

"Uh, oh," Eoghan muttered so low Ari was sure only he could overhear even in a room full of shifters.

"I—I—" Blackwood began.

"In any case, since you know Jack Vandross, the janitor, let me ask you this," Joe went on. "Did he strike you as being such a clever criminal that he somehow figured out how to break into a locked safe for which he didn't have the combination?"

"Well, no, but I—"

"No, in fact, Jack is kind of a simple man." Joe held up the diary. "Riversong writes that her boyfriend, Jack Vandross, was forced to drop out of high school and forgo his dreams of becoming a nurse and working at the medical center here on the rez. Why, you ask? Because he learned that his girlfriend, Riversong—who he'd never had sex with—was pregnant and that it was her brother, Colt Wilkins who'd fathered her child. He'd been raping her since she was a kid!" Two Trees was practically shouting by now.

"So, Jack goes to prison, Riversong gets convicted by this very same table of tribal council members on aiding and abetting a fugitive and gets sent to jail on a six-month sentence to be served out here on tribal lands at Colt Wilkins' insistence. If I recall correctly, he argued that she was an innocent because she was just a ‘stupid little girl' who was led astray by a master criminal. Pfft," Joe scoffed. "Master criminal my ass."

He pointed his finger at Blackwood. "And by the way, that same man—Jack Vandross—kept Riversong's secret all these years so that no one would find out that it was Colt who'd fathered her oldest child. Oh, and if you're wondering, I arrested him this morning. He's going to prison for a very long time and I'm gonna get Jack released with the help of this evidence and her testimony. Now, are you going to listen to these marshals as to why it's a danger to our clan's very existence not to help a deposed vampire king get his throne back?"

Ari exchanged a glance with Eoghan as every man at the table began speaking over each other at once. In a few seconds Blackwood had shut his rude mouth and was sitting back in his chair, running both hands through his dark locks.

"Well, all righty then," Eoghan said with a massive grin as he stared at Joe and Alo.

Ari noticed for the first time since their shift how both had glowing, violet eyes which were dancing with mirth.