81. Anna

81

Anna

I did not question why Kenzi had a miniskirt and a halter top, but I did roll my eyes when she handed it to me. It was the next night, and we were running out of time to free Jax and leave this side of the mountain.

Tonight was the last night we had to confront the motel manager.

Cindy had woken up to just cry and shiver. Finn and Saul were trying to comfort her and help her heal, which was fine. Amelia and Kenzi were both eager to help me with tonight's errand.

"When was the last time you brushed your hair?" Kenzi complained as she yanked her brush through it. "Sometimes I cannot believe he chose you over me."

"When you go from being a prisoner, to almost dying, to having your mate locked up in jail, you can tell me where haircare falls in your list of priorities," I retorted as I winced. It felt like the damn woman was pulling my hair out of my head.

After tying it back with a loose ponytail, I let her put a little bit of powder on my face and then she sent me on my way. I had to remember to quit pulling the skirt down. I was supposed to look desperate, not awkward.

It was just a minute before the office closed. I opened the door and crept in. "Hello?" I called out hesitantly. "Is anyone here? I know you're about to close, but I'm desperate."

The magic words. Michael Jones popped his head out from the door and stared at me like I was a mirage. "Do you work here?" I asked hesitantly. "My name is Anna. I'm staying in one of your rooms. I know it's late, but I just need a few minutes of your time."

"Of course! I'm always happy to help. Give me just a minute." He disappeared back into the office and returned a minute later. No doubt trying to close up his private stash of peeping videos. "Just let me lock up. As you've said, it is close to closing time. We don't want anyone else coming."

After he locked the door, he turned his full attention to me. "Anna, you said? You're with the Bishop party, correct?"

"Yes. Jax Bishop. He's my husband. We're just in town to look around and see if we can find some new things to add to our yearly shipping selection. We live much further up the mountain, and we try to buy things in bulk for the town before the winter. You don't care about any of that, do you? Anyway, the worst thing has happened. My husband, Mr. Bishop, he's been arrested for something he absolutely didn't do. I don't think the police are trying to look for anyone else."

Michael nodded at me sympathetically. "That is awful. Would you like something to drink?

I've got some water and soda in the back."

My hand flew to my throat. "That would be amazing, thank you. I don't know that I've had any water all day. I'm so upset. The town lawyer isn't here, so someone is coming from out of town, and he's just been sitting in jail. I'm so desperate at this point."

"Just a minute. Do you want to come back here with me? I've got a few seats back here."

"No, thank you. I don't want to intrude any more than I already am. Just the water would be great."

With a smile, he popped around the back and returned a little bit later with an opened bottle of water.

Like I was going to drink that.

I tipped it back, letting it slide in my mouth before spitting it back out in the bottle and coughing. "Oh, sorry. I think that went down the wrong way."

I continued to cough. "Napkin?" I rasped. "Or paper towel?"

"Absolutely. Give me one second." Eyes wide, he hurried back to the office, and I dumped half the water out into the potted plant. By the time he'd returned, I'd pretended to get it under control.

He all but grinned when he saw my half-empty water bottle. "I'm sorry to hear about your husband. How can I help you?"

"Do you have any security cameras on the property?"

"Yes ma'am. For the parking lot and the front of the motel," he said as he puffed up his chest. "We pride ourselves in safety here."

I just bet he does.

"Have the police asked for any?"

Michael shook his head. "I'm so sorry. I don't think they have."

"Of course they haven't. They are so certain that he is guilty. The police won't tell me anything, but eventually, they're going to have to tell me when those poor girls died. My husband was with me all night, and those cameras are going to prove it. You'd be willing to hand them over, right?"

"Yes. Absolutely! That's what they're there for! In fact, we can review them right now if you want. Come on back. Are you feeling okay?"

"Am I?" I blinked at him. "I…I do feel a little woozy."

"You're weaving back and forth. You might lose consciousness soon. You should sit down."

"Why…why would I lose consciousness?" I stumbled to the left and looked down at the water. "What did you do?"

"I drugged you, of course." His voice was calm and patient. "You're a beautiful woman, you know. Generally, with beautiful women, I play with them. I might play with you too, although I've been told explicitly not to. What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

I fell, and he caught me easily. I just moaned and clutched the water as he dragged me to the back office. "My…husband…." I muttered.

"Your husband is going to prison. My brother is going to see to it. I almost wished he wasn't going to take the fall for it. Killing those women was such a rush. My brother and I both agreed that we'd be into doing it again. We could terrorize this town, but alas, we can't take credit for those women. She looked a lot like you, you know. For a second, I thought you were returning from the dead."

He was just so helpful and chatty as he dragged me to the office. He dropped me and turned around. "What the fuck?" he shouted.

Quickly, I was on my feet and slammed the office door shut. "Hello pretty girls." Amelia and Kenzi's wolves rumbled in greeting as they circled Michael. He turned his head to me, but I was in his way.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked nervously.

I pointed to the button adorning the top of my skirt. Frankly, the camera looked ridiculously out of place, but Finn and Saul both agreed that Michael wasn't even likely to realize it was a camera. He'd be too busy staring at my cleavage.

"What's going on, Michael, is that I have you on camera. Frankly, I was just going to get evidence of you drugging me. Just so there is no confusion, this is one of those nifty date rape drug detectors." I pulled the coaster out of my pocket and poured a little bit of water on it.

It turned blue.

"Blue is not a good color, Michael. Anyway, this really isn't all that necessary, considering you confessed way more on camera. Killing those women. Setting up my husband. Trying to kidnap me. You're a little lonely, aren't you Michael? Just love to chat."

I found the little bag that Kenzi had brought with her. I placed the open water bottle in a travel cup and placed the travel cup in a large Ziploc bag.

"I…wolves…"

Amelia nudged against him, and he screamed. I turned my head. "Wolves? Don't be ridiculous. These are my dogs. I realize we didn't pay a pet deposit. I'll rectify that. I wouldn't go anywhere, Michael. They don't like rapists." Holding up the button camera, I recorded myself opening the cabinet and turned on the film feed. "Tsk, tsk, Michael. How long have you been raping girls? How long has your brother been covering for you?"

"Um…"

"You don't have to answer that. I'm pretty sure you'll just claim it was all under duress. That's alright. Today, I got the detective's email, and I'm just going to email all this footage to him." I really wasn't that great with technology, and a few times, Kenzi grunted at me, annoyed.

Patience was not her virtue.

"All set. Now we just need to get you all ready for the detective." I pulled some rope and chains out of my pack and looked at him. "I've seen some of those videos. You're into this, right?"

As much as we all wanted to torture Michael, Jax wanted to play by the rules, so by the time I had him tied up with a note pinned to his shirt, there wasn't a single scratch or bite mark on him.

I did a quick search for cameras but found nothing. That didn't surprise me since Michael was doing some pretty unsavory shit in there.

I collected Kenzi and Amelia's clothes, and they shifted outside of Michael's sight. I handed all the evidence to Amelia who grinned. "This whole thing sucks, but that was kind of fun."

"All right. Make sure to get that to the detective. Not to that asshole brother. Saul will watch the office to make sure that our lovely little trussed-up chicken doesn't escape.

Kenzi headed for the room, but I heard the smallest whisper.

My name.

It was magic. I froze in my steps and turned. A glow emanated from the back corner of the parking lot. "Kenzi."

"What?" She turned around. "What's wrong?"

"You don't hear that?" I sniffed the air. "Or smell that?"

"No." Her eyes narrowed. "But I do see that? What is it?"

"Emerson's witch. She's calling my name." Magically. Even though it was a voice, her magic continued to brush up against me, penetrating before I could dissipate it.

Scary.

"What are you doing? We're not going over there! Goddammit, Anna!" With a hiss, she joined me. "Have you lost your mind?"

"She's here alone. I want to know what she has to say."

We approached her, and she doused the light glowing above her head. Instantly, I felt the magic weaken around me. Whatever that light was, she used it to reach me. I had questions.

"What are you doing here?"

"I've come to bring you a warning." Glancing past me, her eyes grew a milky white as she stared at the office. "Although I see you're well on your way to releasing your mate. You are not a force to be taken lightly, are you?"

"What's the warning?"

"Emerson and four of his guards are on their way to blow up the police station. It may kill your mate, it may not, but it will certainly wound him."

"Get the others," I hissed to Kenzi. "Now."

Goddammit, I knew that Emerson wasn't just going to leave well enough alone. "Why would you tell us this?"

She gave me a strange smile. "Emerson's goals and I are no longer aligned. He's become too obsessed with himself, and his actions of late prove that he can no longer be trusted."

"No shit. I could have told you that. What exactly are your goals?"

Instead of answering, she began to levitate. "I look forward to meeting you again, Anna.

You and Janelle."

With that, she winked out of existence.

I turned and ran.