Society Rules (35 page)

He made a few phone calls, finished the report he was filing and hurried to his car. Shawn pulled into Will’s driveway less than forty-five minutes after hanging up the phone. Punctuality was another one of his strong points.

He looked around as he sprinted lightly up the stairs leading to the front door, with his typical long-gaited and decidedly self-assured saunter. Something that always kept him moving just ahead of Will’s casually deliberate stalk.

“Nice little suburban plot,” he thought, a little sarcastically. He had been here only twice before, and both times at night, for a little after work hanging out.

He and Will shared an interest in motorcycles, and all things military. They had discussed endlessly the various battles of nearly every war in history, and then moved on to an argument about the motorcycles of British heritage, verses American made.

“Yeah,” Shawn mused, “I guess I should try to help the old guy out.” Anyone over the age of thirty was old, as far as he was concerned. It occurred to him every now and then that he was headed that way in only a few short years, but Shawn was positive that he would be different.

In spite of his fearlessness in performing his job, Shawn was terrified of death, or rather, what came after. He wasn’t sure what the afterlife held, but the horror of lying underground and rotting like the corpse of a family pet buried in the backyard was revolting to him.

His bravado came from the typical mixture of youth and the feeling of immortality that keeps its company. Surely if he remained youthful, in good shape and tragically hip, he just might elude the grim reaper altogether.

At least he had his delusions to keep him warm.

No, he would never become some old, settled down, suburban plot-dweller.

Will jerked open the door before Shawn could knock.

“Hey man, thanks for coming!”

“No problem, Taylor. What’s going on?” Shawn smoothly hid his irritation that the man had taken him by surprise. His partner was probably the only person in the world ever able to catch him off guard, and it bothered him greatly.

Will hesitated for just a moment, and then sighed. “I, uh, am not sure exactly where to start.” Shawn created a frown of concern for his partner’s benefit.

Will,
suffering
uncertainty
and
self-doubt?
This
should
be
good
, he thought, with a slight touch of satisfaction mingling with anticipation.

“Well, hell, why don’t we start with the very beginning, and see where we get?”

Will drew a deep breath. “Indie is gone. She ran off with another guy . . .” Shawn shook his head. This was not as interesting as he’d hoped, and damn it anyway, Will
didn’t
know better than to come to him with this kind of bullshit, did he?

“Wow, man, I’m . . . uh, sorry to hear that, but . . . what do you want
me
to do?”

“You’ve met my wife, haven’t you Baker?” Will asked. “You remember?”

Shawn sighed and thought back, pushing through his urge to roll his eyes. He’d rushed over here for this kind of crap? Jesus Christ, what a let-down!

Yes, he recollected, she had been here when he was over, but he had no clear memory of her. However, now that he thought about it, Shawn vaguely remembered dark hair and a generic idea of attractiveness.

“Yeah, I guess . . . I mean yes, I did meet her.”

“What did you think of her?’ Will pressed.

What in the hell was Taylor getting at, Shawn wondered, although now that he’d been asked, he could not remember thinking
anything
specific about her, which was pretty bizarre actually. Noticing females was one of the other areas in which Shawn Baker excelled. But the query was an odd one.

“Is there some reason you’re asking me weird questions, man?” Shawn demanded, somewhat suspiciously. “No, no. Just forget it . . . come into the office. I need to show you some surveillance video of what happened here yesterday.” Will led the way down the hall to the small room. As he followed, Shawn pursed his lips thoughtfully as he spotted the slight unsteadiness of Will’s gait.

A dog watched him walk by on his way to the office, the fur on its back raised. He snarled when Shawn reached down to pat him.

“Nice dog,” he said dryly as he snatched his hand back, tossing a glare at the animal. Max showed all of his teeth in response.

Will was distracted, and did not answer.

Shawn took in the fist-sized hole smashed into the office door, and the small collection of beer bottles stashed neatly in the trash bin next to the desk. His interest was returning as he instinctively felt something bigger was lurking in Will’s bag of angst.

The mental memo pad was out, in full operation, and Shawn took excellent notes. He swiveled his eyes around to the coat rack where a shoulder holster, minus the weapon that it was supposed to house, was hanging.

Very little escaped Shawn’s shrewd notice.

“Have a seat,” Will gestured to a small stool next to his office chair. He sat as Will opened a file on the computer. While waiting for the show to begin, he looked curiously at Will.

“So there’s more to this than just your run-of-the-mill, cheatin’ wife story, isn’t there?”

“You could say that,” Will answered glumly.

The video was loaded and Will clicked “play”. Shawn watched as the video showed some guy talking urgently to Will’s wife, obviously making a play for her and then made its way to the grand finale’; the kiss right in Will’s own bedroom.

Shawn blinked. “You’ve got no audio on this?”

“No,” Will lied. “It wasn’t working.” Shawn looked at the keyboard, then back to the screen and narrowed his eyes briefly.

Okaaay.

“So,” he turned in his seat to look at Will. “Who is this jerk?”

Will did not answer right away. He had a slightly frantic look in his eyes, but was calmly clicking and enlarging a still shot of the wife thief. “I don’t know him, but I have managed to track down a name; Jackson Allen, and I have a P.O. Box in Montpelier for a Jackson R. Allen, attorney at law.” Shawn looked back at the monitor, incredulous.

“Attorney! Are you kidding me? That guy looks like a senior in high school!” He laughed, then qualified, “Well, maybe one who failed a few grades, anyway.”

Will leaned forward. “Yes!” he hissed through clenched teeth. “What else do you notice about him?”

Shawn crouched down to get a closer look at the computer screen. The guy was likely a lady-killer, that’s for sure. Probably had to beat them off with a bat. He squinted at the image in front of him. There was something definitely very appealing about the man Will had captured on camera.

I guess Will’s wife didn’t put up much resistance, he thought caustically. Then, there was something else . . . something didn’t quite seem right about this guy’s features. They were too . . . perfect.

Shawn glanced up at Will.

“Something
is
a little off with this guy, Taylor.”

Will nodded slowly. “The old man, Baker. Remember, he called himself a Society Member? We’ve questioned him several times. The one that just expired?”

Shawn’s heart stopped. “The one we just had the meeting about . . . the one that the entire CIA and every Federal agent in the country have been instructed to be on the lookout for another . . .
being
, just like him?”

“That’s right,” Will answered pointedly.

Shawn’s eyes widened, then narrowed with concentration as he studied the image more closely.

“But, why?” he asked. “Why here . . . why your wife? I thought they had some kind of built-in lover or companion . . . whatever!”

Will shook his head. “I can’t answer that Baker. All I know is that he was very persuasive, and she left with him willingly.” Shawn jerked his head around.

“Where are your kids, Will?”

“It’s ok,” Will assured him. “They’re with my mother. There are no potential eavesdroppers around.”

He spun around suddenly to look at Shawn, rage seeping out of his carefully arranged facade. “I want to get this bastard, Baker, and you’re going to help me do it, understand? But I don’t want Indie harmed in any way. This was not her fault. He . . .
conned
her, in some way!”

Shawn’s eyes glittered with excitement.

“Do you know what a career high this would be if I brought this guy in? He’s a young one too; in good shape. They could probably keep him alive for years, as long as he could withstand the slicing and dicing of the mad scientists down in Research. We could learn
everything
about his kind!” Will blanched, and then forced a smile. “That’s exactly what I was counting on; your youthful enthusiasm!”

Shawn stood and glanced around the office. He noticed the framed school portraits of the twins hanging on the wall.

“Must be tough for the kids,” he said thoughtfully, as he examined the pictures. “I mean,” he continued, “they must be pretty upset by all of this, huh?”

Will narrowed his eyes at him warily. He did not entirely trust this man, but for the moment, he needed someone, and Baker had seemed like his best choice. Then he shrugged.

“They are, but they’re pretty strong. I think we will all pull through this, okay. That is, as soon as we get this freak out of the picture and into captivity where he belongs!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Absolutely.” Shawn turned and faced Will.

“It seems we have some plans to make.” He smiled in a way that caused an uneasy chill to curl around the base of Will’s spine.

No, he really didn’t feel good about putting his trust in this man. Mutely, Will nodded in agreement.

“Time to launch our own private, Operation Overlord!” Shawn spoke with obvious glee. This was going to be one sweetheart of a deal, if he could pull it off and he had no reason to doubt himself.

His brain was already ticking off a list of things that he needed to do to make this work. He had a plan forming in his head.

All he needed now was to figure out how to put it into play.

He hoped to keep Will on board for as long as he could. It would make life easier. Shawn left with assurances that he was on top of things, and headed back toward town. He drove slowly, thinking.

It hit him in a flash.

Shawn knew just the person who would be perfect as his co-conspirator. He fished out his cell phone and dialed, glancing quickly at the clock.

He would so hate to interrupt Lockhart in the middle of her nightly fang-sharpening ritual or something. The woman had all the charm of a pit viper, and was twice as irritable. Exactly the reason she was perfect for this kind of stuff. Moreover, adding in the fact that he knew she had a thing for him, well, he had a home run.

“You are not going to believe what I am about to pull off,” he spoke coolly into the phone. “Yeah, meet me at the Wayside in twenty minutes . . . I have a proposition to discuss with you!” He hung up, and threw the phone down into the console.

In full business mode, Shawn shook off the momentary feeling of guilt when he thought of Will.

After all, they
were
partners.

But,
hey,
he reasoned,
Will
began
this
thing
with
a
lie.
How
could
he
think
I
wouldn’t
notice
the
film
footage
had
been
edited?

Oh, he knew how all right.

“Yeah, drink another one, Buddy!” Shawn laughed.

Not that he blamed him. If anyone had an excuse to get his drink on, it was Will.

However, that’s how mistakes are made. He could guess what was on that audio that Will didn’t want him to hear.

“No sound, my ass!” He would bet his mother’s right kidney that there was plenty of audio, but for some reason Will was holding back, and he had a pretty good idea why. Then he sighed.

“Taylor, old buddy, I hope you understand. It’s just business!” He accelerated sharply, and disappeared into the darkness.

*     *     *

Cassandra Lockhart hung up her awkwardly large, princess-style phone, carefully containing her excitement.

Shawn Baker was the only man alive for whom she would jump through hoops.

Big burning hoops of fire.