Chapter 23

Chapter 23
I nodded and gripped Erik’s hand for an anchor. “Well, the reasons I think we can safely assume Jenga did it are pretty simple. It was a lot of money, and he was making fairly large house payments.”

“I suppose it does take quite a lot of money to run all that cable from town out to his house in the mountains,” Duggan said.

Clay piped up, “Yeah, and he also had all them, you know, generators to keep repaired.”

“Right, but also, he knew he could get away with it,” I said. “He had a ready scapegoat that made it all very easy. Obviously, no one even checked out the story. It was just given – Atlas’s mate drove him crazy, stole a bunch of money and then cut town.”

“But,” Duggan said, “if this is to be believed, it was all taken a week after she left. I suppose it could have been done by proxy or by phone withdrawal, assuming she had the account password, or a friend at the bank.”

“It’s simple,” I said. “Everyone was so upset they never bothered to check the dates. The ledger doesn’t mention anything about weird withdrawals or the money going into new accounts, which if you look here,” I pointed to several marks in the margins, “shows when withdrawals went into new accounts, there had to be special verification given.”

I took a long breath, and stood up, disentangling my hand from Erik’s and taking the ledger around to Duggan, who put on his trifocals and followed my finger.

“I see,” he said. “But still, couldn’t Atlas’s mate have been in control of the whole thing? Perhaps she was pulling the strings from wherever she went?”

“Too complicated, again,” I said. “If there’s an obvious and plain solution, that’s going to be it. At least it’s enough to have Jenga hauled in and questioned, isn’t it? We can’t possibly prove him guilty without letting him speak for himself, but this is enough evidence for probable cause, right?”

Erik whistled. “I do believe I picked a good one,” he said with a grin that got my knees shaking. How he managed that in the middle of my nerves falling out of my brain was something I didn’t have time to think about right that second.

“Any other questions?” He asked, grabbing my hand and pulling.

Apparently, he wanted to end this meeting and get back to the marking.

I blushed just a little and giggled at my own naughty thought, though I’m not entirely sure why. After all, he had just ravished me on the desk in my office while the security guy was outside the door.

“I... hate to be the one to, you know, say this,” Clay piped up, “but she hasn’t really addressed the rest of it. Sure, you know, there’s some good reasons for Jenga to have done what she says he did, you know, and it does make a certain amount of sense, but there’s still the issue of, you know, her driving you insane, Erik.”

I knew it was coming, but it still hurt to have it put out there.

“It comes down to trust, I guess,” I said. “If it’s true that purebloods drive shifters, then... I don’t know what to say.” That was, terribly, true.

“So you admit it might be possible that your theory is hogwash?” Duggan asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

“This is getting a little out of hand,” Jamie said, from out of nowhere. “If she were anyone else – any person at all from Jamesburg, even Leon, you wouldn’t have given what she said a second thought. She’s got evidence, Duggan. If anyone else showed you that ledger, you’d have the Cheetah brigade arrest Jenga so fast you’d think they were, well, cheetahs.”

“What are you saying, Jamie? That I’m xenophobic? That I’m being unfair? I don’t understand this at all. I—”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Duggan sat there for a second, his mouth open and his lips moving but no sound was coming out. “I... I didn’t mean it like that at all, but it’s just a bit much all at once.”

“She’s right,” Erik said. “I had you three come because I thought you two would be the most reasonable. Chet and Danny and all the rest of them,

I expect this but...”

“Erik,” Duggan said. “It’s not that we’re completely distrustful of her, it’s just this has been dropped on our laps all of a sudden, and it’s hard to digest.”

“We don’t need to do this,” I said. “It’s understandable that they don’t trust me. What reason would they have?”

“I’m sorry, Isabel,” Duggan began. “I just—”

“Are you willing to take a chance?” I cut him off. “Just go get him. Just send the police out to pick him up. That’s all I’m asking. If it turns out he didn’t do it, I’ll do whatever I can to make sure Erik won’t go bananas, and then I’ll leave. I don’t want to cause any problems, I just love him and I love this town, and I want to help.”

Jamie clicked across the floor, flanking Duggan. “Give her a chance. You hold the vote, Duggan,” she said. “We’ve got the alpha and the three senior council members here. If there’s a unanimous decision, the other six couldn’t override the choice.”

“But if we do that,” Duggan said, clicking his tongue against his teeth, “and we end up wrong? There will be chaos, Jamie. The rest of the council will be in an uproar if we go over their heads.” “Do you trust me?” Erik asked.

“Erik, I—” Duggan started to respond before he was cut short.

“Answer me. I’m the alpha of this town. You two,” he gestured to Clay and Duggan, “were part of the group that chose me. So do you trust me? Personal things aside, because God knows I’ve got plenty of them. Do you two believe I have this town’s best interest in mind?”

Duggan looked over at Clay. Slowly, he started nodding.

“We... we do, Erik. Yes.”

“Good,” Erik said with a grin. “Then you trust her. She’s my mate, my sworn partner. She’s an extension of me, and me of her.”

Hearing him say that made all my insides tingle. No one had ever said anything remotely like that about me before. Hell, I don’t think anyone had ever had faith in me before just then.

“So,” Erik continued, that gorgeous, triumphant smile crawling across his face and those bright yellow eyes sparkling in the mid-morning sun that came through the windows. “I’m calling a vote. The alpha moves to arrest Jenga on charges of grand theft, conspiracy, and the high-crime of using a lifeless alpha to steal money.”

“Second,” Jamie said immediately.

“Motion has been pronounced and seconded. Two more high council votes will pass it. Clay Tomkins, how do you vote?”

Duggan and Clay exchanged another glance, and then Clay looked in my direction before wiping his moist lips with the back of his hand. “Aye,” he said, and started to nod.

“Good. Duggan?”

Without a second’s hesitation, Duggan looked straight at me. “Aye, I trust the girl.”

Erik smiled and grabbed my hand again. “You three, get the squad mobilized. Jenga won’t put up a fight, but he’ll probably be cranky.”

“What are you doing?” Duggan asked. “Shouldn’t the alpha be present?”

Erik shook his head, and pressed his fingers into his temples, staring right at me. “You’re right. I really don’t want to be... no,” Erik said, stiffening up. “No more complaining. I run this town, right?”

Something that looked like pride, or maybe satisfaction, flashed across Duggan’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided to be satisfied with a smile that said it all. Erik was growing up.

I was trembling as he pulled me to my feet. “Come on,” he said. “We’ve got a witchdoctor to question and a zombie to confiscate.”

“Stalwart purpose!” Duggan was almost beaming as he slapped Erik’s shoulder. “I thought you’d gone soft!”

Erik looked over at me with a half-smile that spoke volumes. All I could do was smile back.

I love you, he’d say, if we were alone.

I’d say it too.