“This isn’t a theory,” Baker spoke up. “Attempts have been made on the lives of us and my children.”
“And we got a fake message from Stacy that led us into a trap,” I added. Stacy frowned and looked to Luke, who closed his eyes and shook his head. A further explanation would come later.
Stevens whipped his head from one of us to the others. “And where is your proof, hmm? Or do you yell these same slanderous accusations once again without a smidge of evidence?” he shouted.
“Is there a problem, sir?” a voice spoke up. We glanced down the hall and saw a young man about my age walking toward us. He had a small, restrained smile and behind his bespectacled glasses were a pair of sharp, alert eyes. In his left hand was a black briefcase with an intricate lock on the front. The stranger bowed his head at the two lords and cast a quick glance at Alistair. I swear his eyes flickered with interest toward the manservant. Then he turned his full attention to Stevens. “I heard shouting and thought I’d better come see what was the matter.”
“What’s the matter is these fools bringing accusations against a fellow lord merely to spite me and inconvenience him,” Stevens replied.
“That’s not true!” Baker argued. Luke grasped the man’s arm and arrested him from jumping in Stevens’ face.
“I’m sorry we’ve upset you, Lord Stevens,” Luke apologized. “We only came here to see Miss Stacy. If you’ll excuse us.” He bowed his head, turned his back on everyone except Stacy, who he grasped gently by the arm, and led them both away in the direction we’d come.
Alistair followed close behind, and Baker and I looked to each other in surprise. I shrugged and hurried after them with Baker on my heels. Luke led us down the hall to the front doors, and I caught one last glimpse over my shoulder at Stevens and the stranger. Stevens was pointing at us and angrily muttering something to the man, but the stranger had a serene countenance and merely patted Stevens on the arm. I was surprised how fast Stevens calmed. One moment he was tense and the next his shoulders drooped and he nodded. The stranger then led Stevens away from us and back to the room Stevens had come out of.
The man paused in the doorway and smiled at us. I didn’t like it. That smile had too many sharp teeth in it that spelled trouble for us.
12
Luke didn’t stop until we were outside and by the stone wall far out of hearing shot from the house. “Are there cameras around here?” he asked Stacy.
She nodded to the long row of lilac bushes that skirted the wall. “Not in there,” she told him. Stacy guided us into a cramped little hideaway hole. It was a tight squeeze, but we managed not to poke each other with our shoulders too often. “I made this when I was little, and thought it might come in handy some day,” Stacy explained with a smile.
Luke wasn’t amused. “We have big problems,” he told her.
“I guessed that from what you were trying to say to my father, but you may as well give up on him. Cranston has him in his pocket,” she replied.
“Cranston?” Baker spoke up.
She nodded. “The man with the glasses you just met. He’s Brian Cranston, a gift from Simpling to my father who arrived a few weeks ago.”
“A gift? Did somebody forget to tell me werewolves have slaves?” I quipped.
Stacy sighed and leaned back against a large lilac branch. “Currently my father fits that description better than Cranston. Since my father was no longer High Lord he lost the secretaries who went with the position. They helped him run not only Sanctuary, but also Manutia. Simpling offered Cranston as an assistant to help my father manage the large operation of being lord over such a heavily populated region,” she replied.
Luke raised an eyebrow. “How convenient that Simpling would have someone on hand to help your father.”
Stacy snarled. “Help my father? Cranston’s taken over his house, lord duties, and even his personality,” she bitterly argued. “My father hasn’t been the same since Cranston came. He’s absentminded and lethargic. When he does show any emotion it’s usually explosive. You saw an example of that when you came in. He’s always been loud, but not that angry.” I wanted to argue, but I could see how badly her father’s change affected her. There were dark bags under Stacy’s eyes and she looked pale.
“Has this Cranston guy done anything suspicious with your father’s duties?” Luke asked her.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Father won’t let me into his office anymore, and Cranston is always around to stop me from asking him what’s going on. He says my father hasn’t been feeling well lately. I think he’s right, but he’s the one causing the illness.”
“When we were inside I smelled an odd scent. It smelled like Lance,” Luke told her.
Stacy’s lips pursed together. “So you smelled it, too? I’ve asked others about it, but their noses aren’t as sensitive as mine. The city air,” she told us.
“How did yours get sensitive?” I wondered.
She nodded at Luke. “Several years of training and staying at his house will make a mountain man out of anyone, even a woman.”
“Have you seen any signs of him?” Luke persisted.
She shook her head. “Not a sign, but I know the scent is strongest in my father’s office. I went in there the other day and was nearly suffocated by the stuff. It must be Cranston’s doing.”
“But you can’t prove any of this,” Luke guessed.
Stacy slipped on the mischievous smile that I knew, loved, and feared. “Not yet, but he’ll slip up one day and leave that briefcase of his lying around. Then I’ll see what’s been going on and what he’s up to,” she replied.
“We might already know what he’s up to, and what he’s been doing,” Luke told her.
I whipped my head over to him and blinked. “We do?” I wondered.
“The fake note?” Baker guessed, and Luke nodded.
“Exactly. Who would be in a better position to send it than the private secretary to her father?” Luke pointed out.
“So we’re dealing with a secretary who knows how to forge secret messages?” I chimed in.
“We’ve had more implausible foes, like Alston,” Luke reminded me.
I cringed. “Don’t remind me about him.” The crazy accountant werewolf of Lance’s had tried to do me in personally during our adventures at Sanctuary.
“Was the forgery that good?” Stacy asked us.
“Good enough to fool me into going to see Baker, and that’s where we fell into the trap,” Luke told her. “Four men were waiting there for us and were going to pin a murder on us.”
Stacy raised an eyebrow. “Murder? Who were they going to murder?” she wondered.
“By the time we got there they had already provided themselves with the victim,” Baker spoke up. “The guy wore a Protector’s outfit, and the message Laughton got said something about me killing a Protector because I was a traitor.”
Stacy scoffed and waved away such a suggestion. “The only one you’re a traitor to is Lance’s ambitions, and I don’t believe you had any loyalties to them in the first place.”
“No,” was Baker’s blunt reply.
“Um, you guys?” I spoke up. “As entertaining as this is, are we really going to be talking all night in these lilac bushes?” It was late, and I was tired and hungry.
Stacy smiled at me. “I’m glad to hear this mess hasn’t dampened your priorities,” she teased.
At that moment my stomach decided to grumble. The sound echoed off the bush branches, and I sheepishly grinned. “It’s just made them more demanding,” I told her.
“Then I second an adjournment of this meeting,” Stacy agreed. She held up her hand when Luke opened his mouth to object. “One night of rest isn’t going to allow our enemies to win,” she told him.
“And fighting on empty stomachs is a bad idea,” I chimed in.
“Have you got a place to stay?” Stacy asked us.
“Not yet. Any suggestions?” Luke returned.
“That depends on how much money you have. Rent and room prices have gone up a lot in the last year or so, mostly thanks to those who profited from Chemisis’ rising stock.”
“Chemisis?” I repeated.
“That’s the company that makes the cleaner we used at Sanctuary,” Stacy reminded me. Luke stood at my side and I felt him stiffen. Stacy noticed our faces tensed, and she frowned. “What now?”
“They might be our enemy, too,” I told her.
“Who? Chemisis?” she wondered.
“Yep. One of the guys who tried to kill us at Baker’s farm had some pills that made his scent disappear just like the chemical we used to clean up Alistair’s blood,” I explained.
“And that’s what you’re going on to go up against one of the largest companies in the regions?” she asked us.
“Mullen isn’t an ally to us,” Luke added. “He proved that much in his votes with Lance at Sanctuary.”
Stacy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Becky’s right, with this much trouble we do need to sleep on this.” She pulled out a paper and pen, and hastily scribbled a few things on the front. “Why don’t you take a room at the Doghouse and meet me at this address tomorrow morning at seven? It’s a good restaurant and they have great omelets.” She handed the paper to Luke.