“Theral thought she would be safe here,” Meg said, then added silently, Like me.
“She is safe,” Simon growled. “Is Montgomery still at the efficiency apartment?”
“No,” Merri Lee said. “He had to go to the station. Lizzy is taking the bookstore field trip with the Wolf pups. Eve Denby said Lizzy could spend the day with Robert and Sarah, but Lieutenant Montgomery doesn’t want her to leave the Courtyard without him.”
“Sensible,” Henry rumbled.
“We need to know more, but Henry and I have to leave for the meeting with Steve Ferryman,” Simon said. He studied Meg. “Is that all right?”
“I’m fine.” She retreated into the sorting room, moving to the other side of the table. That far away from the flowers, the prickling was nothing more than a mild annoyance.
Simon followed her.
“I’m fine,” she said again. “You go to your meeting.” She waited to see if there might be some kind of prophetic response to the words.
Nothing.
“Okay,” he said after studying her. “Henry will take the flowers over to the consulate so they won’t bother you. Vlad is calling the police.”
“Human law doesn’t apply in the Courtyard.”
“No, but the threat isn’t in the Courtyard. Besides, Officer MacDonald is family to Theral, so the police will know anyway and want answers.”
She nodded. Then she gave him a wobbly smile. “I didn’t cut.”
“That’s good.” He hesitated, shifting from one foot to the other.
“You shouldn’t keep Henry waiting.”
But he still hesitated. Then he sighed and walked out of the office.
“You sure you’re okay?” Merri Lee asked quietly after Nathan curled up on his bed and the rest of the terra indigene had returned to their own work. “I’ll stay if you need me.”
“I’m okay.”
Meg thought for a moment. Simon was a Wolf, and human rules didn’t always apply because even when he looked human, he didn’t think like a human. And yet . . .
“He seemed . . . disappointed . . . when he left. Simon, I mean.”
Merri Lee leaned on the sorting table. “When Michael and I are together and one of us has to leave, we kiss good-bye. Maybe Simon would have liked the Wolf equivalent.”
Meg frowned at her friend. “I’m not going to lick his face.”
Merri Lee laughed. “Okay, but if he’s in human form, I think a kiss on the cheek would give the same message.”
“I am here.” Connection. Companionship. Touch.
“Touch of a hand works too when you’ve got an audience.”
Something to think about. Meg smiled. “Are you going to leave Vlad at the checkout by himself?”
“He yelled at me, so I’d let him fend for himself, but I think Ruth could use a hand right about now.”
After Merri Lee left, Meg opened the delivery door and pulled the handcart into the sorting room. She needed to get the mail sorted before the ponies arrived to have their mail baskets filled.
But after she dumped the mail on the table, she just stood there, making no effort to work.