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Authors: Lee Driver

Tags: #mystery, #urban fantasy

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BOOK: Sara Morningsky
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Sorry, Einstein. She’s gone.” Dagger
looked up at the ceiling over Einstein’s cage and went to work
taping a piece of cardboard around the vent to divert the draft. He
then called a friend at the Department of Motor Vehicles to trace
the plate number on the limousine only to learn that it belonged to
Mayor Benton Sawyer. The waters were getting murkier. Standing at
the window, Dagger gazed out at the dismal skies, plump clouds
ready to dump their moisture.


Hey, Dagger. How’s your bird?” The
rhythmic tone and deep laugh belonged to Simon. Hefting his mailbag
onto a chair, Simon walked near the birdcage, noticing several
feathers lying on the floor. “Looks like he’s giving himself a
haircut.”


Einstein is in love and upset that his
lady left.” Dagger held out a cheese curl, which Einstein ignored.
“Cheese curls used to be the only things that made him feel
better.” Einstein continued to preen himself, tossing several more
feathers. “If you keep that up,” Dagger warned, “you’ll be bald and
that young lady won’t ever look at you again.” Einstein fluffed all
thirty-six inches of his body and tail, shaking out a couple more
brilliant scarlet red, blue, and yellow feathers.

Dagger took the bundle of mail from Simon and
laid it on the desk. “You know just about everyone in town, don’t
you, Simon?”


Everyone on my run, sure. Who ya’
looking for?”


A young woman. Native American, I
think. Long brown hair, turquoise eyes.”

Simon rubbed a beefy hand across his chin.
“Gotta name?”


Sara Morningsky. She disappeared
before I had a chance to get her address.”


She’s not on my run, but there is
reservation land down near Cedar Junction. About two or three
hundred acres.” He gave his bulky shoulder a shrug. “Some large
automotive company was building a shmanzy showroom and service
facility out there years ago before the county realized the land
wasn’t anyone’s to use.”

Dagger entertained the thought of exploring
the reservation land after Simon left, but his computer search
through the town assessor’s records completed its report on Mayor
Benton Sawyer.

He leaned back in his chair, plopping his
feet on the desk. “Well, Mayor. Exactly how do you fit in with
Sergeant Ed Rollins?”


AWK, CROWN JEWELS.” Einstein’s
vocabulary came mostly from mimicking and word association; and
what he said finally struck a familiar chord with Dagger. It had
something to do with a conversation he had had with Mick Fazio
months ago, but his memory was still hazy. His eyes instead locked
on the computer screen where it mentioned S and R Warehouse—Sawyer
and Rollins. Mayor Sawyer and Chief Rollins owned S and R
Warehouse. Exactly what was stored there Dagger had no idea. But he
was going to find out.


I tried to explain it to him,
Grandmother. But there were so many questions I couldn’t answer.”
Sara sat next to a white-haired woman whose face was weathered with
lines of age and wisdom. Her veiny hands were clasped around
Sara’s.


You must listen to your heart, my
child. What does your heart tell you to do?” Ada Kills Bull patted
her grandchild’s arm. “You want to help him?”

Sara nodded. “Although maybe I shouldn’t. I
tried helping Detective Fazio and look where it got him.”


It wasn’t your fault he was killed.
But you can help find his killers.”

Sara thought for a moment. “You are right.
I’ll just go to the warehouse myself.”

Dagger lowered his night vision binoculars. S
and R Warehouse had been quiet since he arrived an hour ago. From
his post behind a boulder on a cliff near the site, he had a good
view of the main entrance. He gathered his black leather coat
around him to ward off the damp chill the rains had brought.

Headlights appeared down the road. A semi
lumbered up to the freight door and a youth with a long ponytail
jumped from the truck and unlocked the door. The driver got out and
entered the warehouse through the side door. Lights turned on.
Another figure stepped out of the rear of the semi. He was thin
with ferret features and a receding hairline. It was Ed Rollins.
Soon several youths started unloading items, which looked like
paintings, sculptures, and velvet bags the size of pouches.

Dagger saw a movement along the side of the
building. He scanned the area with his binoculars and zoomed in on
a figure. It looked like a dog. Its coat was multicolored, its eyes
and mouth surrounded by white fur; but it wasn’t a dog. It was a
wolf. Wolves in Indiana? Dagger thought.


Hey!” Rollins yelled. “That’s the same
mutt that took my badge.” The wolf growled and took a lunge toward
Rollins. When Rollins pulled a gun from his belt, the wolf rushed
into the woods.

Through the binoculars, Dagger watched in
horror as Rollins pulled off two quick shots. The wolf howled in
pain.


Let’s get moving,” another man
ordered.

Crouching down, Dagger moved away from the
boulder. When he was a safe distance away from sight of the
warehouse, he pulled out a flashlight and searched through the
dense forest for the injured wolf. From the amount of blood on the
trail, it appeared that Rollins had made a direct hit. The blood
trail was easy to follow. Dagger found the wolf whimpering, lying
on its side, its front legs trying to drag itself to safety.


Good God!” Dagger shined the
flashlight on the wolf’s missing right leg, shot clean off. He bent
down and examined the wound. The wolf trembled under his touch.
Heaving a sigh, Dagger stood up and pointed his gun at the wolf’s
head. “Sorry about this, but you’ll be better off, believe
me.”

The wolf looked up at him with the strangest
colored eyes. They were blue-green. His hand shook as he started to
pull the trigger. Then an unusual thing happened. The wolf changed
shape. The multicolored fur coat became hair, the legs long and
muscular, the body human. It was Sara. She looked up at him with
those dazzling eyes.


For the love of…” Dagger breathed,
returning his gun to his holster and shaking his leather coat off.
“I have to get you to a hospital.”


No!” Her hands gripped his arms as he
wrapped her in his coat. He stripped out of his shirt and tied it
tightly around her injured leg that had been shot off just below
the knee. “You have to take me to my grandmother. She’s the only
one who can help. Please, Dagger.”


You need a doctor, Sara.” There was an
underlying fear and desperation in her voice. Her eyes pleaded and
he was a sucker for those eyes.

The door to the downstairs bedroom was
slightly ajar. Curious, Dagger peered through the opening at Sara’s
sweat-soaked body which was covered in a sheet. Sara’s grandmother
had not seemed the least bit excited about her granddaughter’s
condition. She had just instructed Dagger to lay her on the bed and
thanked him for bringing her home. For some reason, he couldn’t
tear himself away without getting some answers.

As the grandmother pulled back the sheet,
exposing the injured leg, Dagger was shocked to see that half of it
had already grown back. The bleeding had stopped, almost as if it
had been cauterized. A cold chill crept up his back. Dagger’s gaze
moved up the sheet, watching Sara’s chest rise and fall with each
ragged breath. His gaze settled on her face where her opened eyes,
filled with tears, were staring right at him. Startled, he pulled
away and pressed his back against the wall. Five years as a PI and
he had never seen anything that so shocked and bewildered him. His
mind was numb, unable to digest what he had seen.

He moved away from the bedroom and surveyed
the house, which looked like the showroom and automotive repair
facility Simon had talked about. There were stone walls, tiled
floors, numerous windows, and skylights. Other than area rugs and
what looked like garage sale furniture, there didn’t seem to be
anything extravagant in the living room. There was one wall of
shelving loaded with books, a television, and a VCR. Stairs lead up
to a second floor that probably once housed offices that overlooked
the downstairs, and there was a catwalk that dissected the width of
the living room.

He located the kitchen and with shaky legs
dropped down onto a chair. From the looks of all the fresh
vegetables gathered on the counter, it would be his guess that they
had a large garden out back.

Sara’s grandmother appeared out of nowhere
and poured two glasses of cognac. She reminded him of Yoda with her
stooped appearance and heavy-lidded eyes. His hand shook as he
brought the glass to his lips and gulped the hot liquid. She
refilled it quickly.


How is Sara?” Dagger asked in a raspy
voice.


She will be fine,” Ada replied. “I
can’t thank you enough for being there tonight and bringing her
back to me.” Her eyes had a milky veil and her head shook slightly
as if she had a mild case of Parkinson’s disease. It was difficult
to tell her age.


What…how did…?” But Dagger couldn’t
seem to get the words out. He dragged a hand through his long, damp
hair.


Sara is a shapeshifter,” Ada
explained. “Some say it is just Native American folklore. It was
believed elders could shift into animal forms in order to spy on
their enemies. Others believed there were those with more bestial
natures who would kill the farmers’ cattle. I first witnessed
Sara’s abilities when she was six years old, when her parents died.
That was twelve years ago on a reservation in Montana. She withdrew
from her human form to deal with the grief. She didn’t know how to
change back. I took her to a powerful medicine man who had been
outcast from the tribe because he was a shapeshifter. They were
afraid of him. He took us in and showed Sara how to control her
shifting. To some, it is a curse. But to us, it is a magical gift.
Sara shifts into two distinct forms.”

Dagger paused, his glass near his lips. He
was already feeling the effects of the liquor. “There’s another
shape besides a wolf?”


Yes,” Ada said with a hint of pride.
“Besides the gray wolf, Sara also shifts to a gray hawk, a
beautiful creature with a wing span of forty inches.”

No wonder she couldn’t tell me how she got
the badge, Dagger thought. “And,” he glanced toward the doorway,
“her leg. How does she…?”


A shape-hifter has regenerative
powers. Bleeding stops quickly and the body begins to regrow parts
and close wounds.”

Dagger shook his head, feeling something
rattling between his ears, losing equilibrium. He wondered if this
was how people felt right before passing out.


I know this is all very hard to
understand.”


Ma’am,” Dagger said as he stood. “You
don’t know the half of it.”


Yes, I do,” was her parting
remark.


Grandmother?” Sara opened her eyes as
Ada patted Sara’s face with a cool washcloth.


You must rest, Sara.”


He saw, Grandmother. Dagger
saw.”


I know, dear. He’s gone
now.”

Trying to lift herself up from the bed she
said, “But the wolf will kill him. There can be no witnesses. The
wolf will kill.”


Shhhh. Be still, my child. I am safe
from the wolf because you and I are connected by blood. According
to legend, he is protected because he saved the wolf.” Ada fingered
the necklace hanging from her neck. It was a black leather cord
with a sterling silver wolf head pendant. Its eyes were made of two
bright turquoise gems.

A package was waiting for Dagger the next day
when he arrived at his office.


AWWWKK. YOU’RE LATE; YOU’RE LATE,”
Einstein scolded as he flew over and clamped his claws onto the
back of a chair.


I know, Einstein.” Dagger tore open
the envelope and spilled audiotapes on the desk. They were from
Mick Fazio with a note instructing Dagger to listen to them if for
some reason something happened to him.

Crown jewel. Mick had made that comment in
Dagger’s office six months ago. That was how Einstein associated
Rollins’ name with crown jewel.

Dagger listened to the tapes and then made
two phone calls, one to Ed Rollins, and the other to a friend with
the FBI.

Sara stood on her upstairs balcony inhaling
the clean, crisp air. Her thoughts turned to Dagger and how it felt
when he held her. She was afraid for him. What if her grandmother
was wrong? Legend is just that. Legend. They really had no way of
knowing what would happen the next time the wolf saw Dagger. There
weren’t any rulebooks and no one to confide in. Just like in the
past, they might have to run again, get the wolf as far away as
possible so it wouldn’t be tempted to protect Sara’s identity. She
would never be able to forgive herself if someone else died because
of her.

She stepped out onto the balcony. Night was
fast approaching, bringing with it a damp mist. There was
unfinished business. That was the problem with having the instincts
of the hawk and wolf. Sara could hear things other people couldn’t
hear, go places and see things not humanly possible. She owed it to
Mick Fazio to bring his killers to justice. Smiling, she silently
called upon the spirit of the hawk, bowed her head, and felt the
spirit enter her. Her dress fell away, shed like some unwanted
skin, a cumbersome annoyance. And the hawk took flight.

A semi pulled up, the freight door lifted,
spilling the light from inside. When Rollins stepped out of the
warehouse, Dagger emerged from his hiding place. Dagger’s earlier
telephone conversation with Rollins had hinted that Rollins might
be in need of someone to replace Mick.

BOOK: Sara Morningsky
10.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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