Secrets (3 page)

Check in hand and a thank you given, Michelle drove away from him as he stood beside his blue Prius. A last look in her rearview mirror caught him coaxing a brown tabby, a city stray, from behind his car and cautiously offering a bit of kibble.

• • •

“Here, little kitty. I know you're hungry. Here's some good stuff.” Casey knelt and dropped a bit of cat food on the ground in front of him. The short-haired tabby shot him a saucer-eyed look and retreated.

“It's okay. You can have the food. No strings attached. How about I call you Brownie? It fits.” He stood motionless, knowing the timid cat needed and wanted the food. Lucky for Brownie, he had a way with cats. Suddenly, the cat lunged and grabbed the food in her mouth, then withdrew a few feet to chomp it up. “You've made my day, Brownie. Thanks for being so brave.”

When he stood the cat ran out of sight. That was to be expected. A stray in the city lived a hard life. Often city strays were kicked around in their endless search for food. He didn't blame them for being wary. It was the safe thing to do.

It was the smart thing to do. He smiled to himself, conscious of the stirring inside him of another part of him. His were-lynx self. Humans believed themselves to be the most self-aware, intelligent species on the planet, but it just wasn't so. Animals were intuitive and resourceful. Heck, were-lynxes had successfully kept their existence secret from humans for centuries. And they peacefully coexisted in colonies among humans. His colony, of which he had recently been made leader of, consisted of seven other young lynxes. There were more colonies, but they didn't interact. Each colony was unique and reflected the personalities and special abilities of its members.

On his way back to Carter, Inc., his best friend Jackson Carter's investigations business, Casey let out thoughts of Michelle.
If only I could have a way with her like I did with Brownie. Get her to trust me.

The way Michelle had looked up into his face with those deep sapphire-blue eyes made his gut clench. Michelle was a strong woman who went after what she wanted and tackled whatever had to be done. But her gleaming golden hair gave her an ethereal sense and there also was a delicate vulnerability to her that he respected. Her heart was tender and loving, and she was full of life. But she carried a dark fear that kept her distant.

Their friendship blossomed easily when they'd first met and he now struggled with a growing desire for closeness with her. Despite his need for privacy and to keep humans at a distance, she'd gotten to him in a way he'd really taken to. She fascinated him. And he'd begun to invite her to get closer.

Apparently keeping her distance was too important to her. Whatever drove her away, it had to be a powerful darkness, because it never left her. The days they'd spent hiking she'd let down her guard. When the darkness in her lifted the real Michelle came out—exuberant and confident. Then the shield would slip back into place.

The irony of her distance made him cringe. He had his secrets, clearly. And not just the really big one of his animal self. Like many young new lynxes, he'd used his inherent skills for his own benefits. He hadn't cared about consequences. He'd stolen from the rich some very nice things, but he'd gotten caught. He'd done his probation and wised up. Thanks to his father's guidance and Jackson's friendship, his brief stint as a cat burglar was behind him, never to surface again. He'd earned his law degree and worked as a specialist in medical matters. Then Jackson had convinced him to get his investigator's license and work for him. He worked among humans and socialized with humans and the members of his colony. And no human, not even Jackson, knew of his secret identity. Despite his respect for the need for secrecy, it was becoming more and more of a burden. As he'd watched Jackson struggle with his father's deceit and destructive ways, Casey's values adjusted. Needling razors cut at his life-long beliefs, demanding he make a choice. Be himself or a shadow of himself. He wanted to be himself, nothing holding back, among trustworthy humans.

With his baggage to deal with, he'd wondered at Michelle's. The evenings they'd spent together at her apartment she'd been tense. He'd never pushed for intimacy. The memory of kissing her luscious lips sent him tripping, but they'd never gone further than that one kiss.

But he still cared and though she didn't know, he did what he could to keep her safe. Whenever possible, he was never far from her, just out of sight. Whatever the darkness was, he wanted to be near if it threatened her again.

He parked and took swift steps to his office, and jumped into his work for the day. As a lawyer with a specialty in medical cases, Casey's workload was constant. This morning his inbox contained more than two hundred emails, but one in particular headed “medical device” from a client he'd helped secure a patent for grabbed his attention. He read through the email, his gut knotting, then printed the email and accompanying attachment.

“Is Jackson available?” he asked the secretary outside Jackson's office. The young woman was a pretty blond, but after the last secretary had conspired with her boyfriend to ruin Jackson's business, a thorough background check for the current secretary had been completed. Jackson had learned that education and a pretty face wasn't enough in a secretary.

“Yes, Casey.” She twinkled an engaging smile at him. “I'll let him know you're here.”

“No, I'll just go on in. Thanks, Julie.”

A knock on Jackson's office door and Casey poked his head in. “Got a few minutes, boss?”

“Sure, come take a seat.” Jackson sat back in his chair behind his desk and waited for him. “I'm actually just going over the guest list for the reception for Lacey and me.”

Casey rolled his eyes. “I couldn't talk you two out of a tiny wedding at the courthouse, so I'm happy you're planning something big to celebrate with all your friends and family. You sure are taking your sweet time to have the reception. Can't wait for the party to begin. But meantime, there is work to take care of.”

“Wow, that was quite the segue, guy. What's up?”

“This is up.” Casey laid the email and the document that accompanied it in front of Jackson. “It seems the data device we helped Pretid, the developer, trademark is creating some issues.”

“I see that.” Jackson scoured the complaint report Pretid had shared with Casey. “The company's devices for clinical trials are selling well, but doctors are reporting patients with health problems relating to use of the data collected.”

“Right. A patient in a clinical trial for an insulin pump went into insulin shock.”

“Stuff happens in clinical trials, unexpected stuff. That's the reason for the trial.” Jackson shook his head. “But this was a phase two for the pump. There shouldn't be this kind of incident.”

“I can get a list from Pretid of all sales. See if I can narrow down a clinical research organization and location that matches the reporting issues.”

Jackson ran his hand through his hair and squinted. “Can Pretid give you access to their subject database? Maybe there is a pattern there that would point to a sales batch or something.”

Casey let out a long breath. The implications of a trial gone amuck were ominous. The Federal Drug Administration took great care to ensure safety in clinical trials and valid results before permitting release of a drug. However, there was a lot of money in creating new drugs, and people who wanted to corrupt the system could, as both he and Jackson knew too well. An angry man had run a fake trial last summer just to get back at Jackson's father for firing him. No one had died in the process, but a drug with bad side effects had been on its way to being released for prescription use.

“The device is solid. If trial subjects are having health issues, someone has tampered with it. I'll get right on this.” Playfully, he saluted Jackson.

Jackson glared him. “This is serious, Casey.”

He shrugged. “I know. It's just been a serious morning.” He wouldn't tell Jackson that he was managing so many serious things right now he needed to lighten up.

Leaving Jackson's office, Casey knew a good run tonight was in order.

Michelle stepped through the garage entry door into her kitchen and breathed in deeply. She slowly took in the kitchen, admiring the light pine cupboards and drawers and light blue and white linoleum on the floor. She ran her hand over the butcher block countertop, then caressed the stainless steel appliances. A toasty warmth spread through her body, as she enjoyed the solid presence of her new home.

Two thumps and four unique meows announced her cats as they raced into the kitchen. “Hi, babies.” Her mother had brought over the cats earlier.

She paused. Standing in the archway between the kitchen and her living room, she felt like dropping to the floor and relaxing into the thick, soft, brown carpeting, then lighting a fire in the stone fireplace and lounging there. The décor embraced her in pleasant hues of dark blue and cocoa. Everything was perfect.

She dipped her head, a heavy rock dropping hard into her stomach. Perfect except for the problems with the deed.

The weight of Madeline in the carrier Michelle carried in her left hand reminded her to take care of the cat. She headed down the carpeted hallway and into the spare room, a place Madeline could have peace and quiet from the other cats in the house. Michelle tiptoed to the doorway and closed the door behind her. Madeline stirred just a bit in her carrier, still groggy from the anesthesia she'd had today for her spaying. Tomorrow morning would be back to normal hissing and growling.

Michelle checked the kitchen clock her mother had given her. It was shaped like a large cat with a clock in its stomach and the tail ticked off the seconds, moving back and forth.

Dinner time
. She hadn't given much thought to dinner. Now at six o'clock, she realized she'd forgotten to pick up some food before coming home from the vet. She stared into a cupboard, then another, both empty. The third cupboard made her smile. Her mom apparently had suspected food would be a welcome treat and stocked some snacks for her when she brought over the cats. At least she'd have crackers and popcorn to eat tonight, and tomorrow morning she would have coffee.

A knock at the kitchen door made her grab her throat. She didn't have time to recoup, because the knock was immediately followed by two people.

“Hi, Michelle.” Sterling stepped through the doorway, smiling brightly.

Lacey followed. “You can't be mad that we're dropping in without calling first. We brought dinner.” She held up a pizza box, smiling as though she'd brought Michelle a prized roasted turkey, complete with stuffing.

Her nerves all shot to hell, Michelle took a deep breath and tried to stop trembling. She chuckled. “I'm sorry. You startled me. You know me, easily startled. But you brought pizza. Thank you!” She turned to the cupboards and pulled out plates and glasses. Before she could turn to the table, the sisters both put their arms around her.

“We understand.” Lacey rested her head on Michelle's shoulder.

Sterling slanted her head and drew Michelle closer. “We should have called first. Are you sure you're going to be okay here by yourself tonight?” Sterling bent to nuzzle Jojo, a yellow tabby who had just done a drive-by on her leg.

She dropped her gaze and shuddered. “I don't want to think about
that
again. Not on my first night in my new home. I'm not going to let him take that away from me.” She shook off the dark feeling that rose in her chest so easily. She pointed at the yellow tabby. “See! I'm not alone. I'll be fine. Jojo is here, as you can see, and so are Izabelle, Munchy, and Tiger. They've already made themselves comfortable in the new home.”

The pizza in the middle of her kitchen table, she joined Sterling and Lacey and downed a slice quickly. “Starvation has been abated, thanks to my two amazing bosses!”

Sterling and Lacey nodded, their mouths full.

Sterling wiped her mouth. “Yes, we are amazing,” she said, then ducked when Lacey swung a hand at her head.

“You nut. We're all amazing.” Lacey nodded toward Michelle.

While Lacey and Sterling listed the many things that made them all amazing, Michelle listened, comfortable with the banter. The love and fun and understanding between them filled the room with a soothing sense of harmony, as though everything that had gone wrong with her day didn't stand a chance of infiltrating this space right now.

“Okay, we've waited long enough. Tell us, what happened with Madeline? Is she well and sterile now? Where is she?” Sterling took another bite of pizza and eyed her.

“Geez, Sterling. Nothing like being direct.” Lacey rolled her eyes.

“I'm happy to tell you hissing Madeline is sleeping well in the back room, recuperating from her ordeal and her surgery. Tests were negative. One for the good guys, this time.”

“High five!” Lacey raised her palm and Michelle and Sterling slapped it. “Tomorrow you'll release her here?”

“That's the plan. First thing tomorrow. I'm not taking her back to the apartment property. It's too dangerous, with the highway nearby. There's lots of outdoor space here for her to roam. She'll be as safe as she can be as an outside cat.”

They ate in silence for a few moments. Michelle suspected the sisters had questions about the letter she'd received that morning.

Then, as though reading her thoughts, Lacey squared her with a look. “So, no news is good news?”

Michelle dropped her gaze to the table. “Not really. I talked to the loan officer this afternoon about the letter. He seemed really surprised. He left me to talk to his supervisor, and when he came back he gave a closed-off vibe. Claimed sometimes things like this happen. We left it with his promise to dig into it and get back to me as soon as he can.” She looked up and met the sisters' eyes. “I don't know anything more than I did this morning, but I'm all moved in and I'm expecting to stay.”