Again, Marla nodded. “I never would have pictured you as the sports car type.”
“Oh, I thought it would be fun to try.”
“So, what did you think?”
“It was a nice car. There was nothing special about it though. I guess I prefer my own.”
Marla seemed to be studying her, as if weighing each of her answers, looking for hidden meanings. Obviously, she found none, for she suddenly smiled. “Well, it’s been nice talking to you Elise; I’ve got lots to do. Tell the others I won’t be here for dinner.” Turning quickly, Marla left, her heels clicking a staccato on the wood floors as she made for the stairs.
Elise could hear the door to Marla’s room open and close. Moments later, it opened again, and Marla quickly descended the stairs and left, slamming the front door behind her.
As she watched Marla drive away, Elise wondered if the woman had bought her act or not. Marla was definitely up to something. Her questions had been too casual. She was obviously wondering if Elise had noticed anything while in the red car, but what was she hiding and why? The answer was there, just waiting for someone to figure it out.
Grabbing a piece of paper, Elise began to write down anything she could think of that she’d heard or seen about Ryne or Marla.
Ryne was Kane’s half-brother. Purportedly they’d had an amicable relationship until Zack, the previous Alpha, had died in a car crash.
About this time, Ryne’s behaviour had begun to change. He’d always been impulsive, but sociable and suddenly he’d become more of a loner and obviously had something on his mind.
Unexpectedly, Ryne had issued a challenge for the leadership of the pack, willing to kill his brother.
When Ryne lost the challenge he left asking Marla to go with him, but she refused.
Since then, there’d been traps found on the land, an oil spill in the lake, and Thomas had been shot. Each time, Ryne’s scent had been found.
He was a skilled photographer and returned briefly, asking Marla to sell all of his pictures so he would have some money to make a new start.
Most recently, Ryne had broken into Marla’s apartment, threatening and hitting her.
Lastly, Ryne had possibly been scented in the red sports car.
Tapping her pen thoughtfully against her lips, Elise studied the list. All she could make out of these facts was that Ryne had had a sudden personality change, and had wanted control of the pack. When he didn’t get it, he’d decided to exact revenge on them. Had he ever really left the area? Or was he somewhere nearby the whole time? No one had found him yet, so wherever he was, it was a good hiding spot.
Now how did Marla fit into all of this? She’d sounded terrified on the phone when Ryne had broken in and she’d definitely been hit, so why would she hook up with Ryne again? Once more, Elise made a list of what she knew.
Marla had had a relationship with Kane; Elise cringed slightly as she wrote this. The relationship began out of Kane’s sense of responsibility towards her, due to the death of Marla’s father, but later progressed.
After a while, Marla shifted her interest to Ryne and they had talked about officially becoming mates, but when Ryne lost the challenge and left, Marla refused to accompany him, saying she was too attached to her home.
Marla claimed to be heartbroken over the loss of Ryne. Elise put a question mark after this, because although the other woman had said she was upset, she hadn’t seemed overly sincere.
Once Ryne was gone, Marla set her sights back on Kane. Elise’s pen hovered over the page, wondering if she should include this or not. Marla had seemed to be fawning all over Kane and trying to catch his attention, but was Elise just misinterpreting close friendship for something else? After a moment’s consideration, she left the point as it was. After all, Helen and Carrie had seemed to feel the same way.
Marla had complained about how she was treated by everyone and Kane had scolded Elise, insisting they try to be friends.
Shortly after that, Ryne had broken into Marla’s apartment and Marla had moved to the Alpha house for safety.
Since being attacked, Marla had been acting nicer and was even encouraging Elise and Kane to be together.
Previous to the attack Marla had been selling Ryne’s pictures to raise money for him, including one of Kane that she knew she wasn’t supposed to display. Marla was now trying to retrieve that picture by researching the collector who bought it. Elise added a question mark again; she wasn’t really sure why researching the man was needed. Wouldn’t you simply contact the fellow saying a mistake had been made and return his money in exchange for the picture?
While in Kane’s office, Marla accidentally took a report off Kane’s desk, which she later returned. But was it an accident? And what purpose would the report serve for her?