“Are you sure I can’t help here?”
Ethan had come up to us, leaving Angel to be charming to Leduc. It was amazing how most men preferred to talk to an attractive woman, especially one who was willing to flirt a little while she did it. Angel could be almost as hard-nosed as I was, but she went the soft, flirty way much better than I did when it suited her purpose. It suited her purposes now. I knew she could flirt, but I hadn’t realized she could use it as a negotiation ploy. I could never use it that way. I either flirted with intent to date or I didn’t flirt. I just didn’t flirt well enough for anything in between. Duke was an older man; they always liked a young, pretty woman paying attention to them. Hell, I guess most people who are into women do, but I’ve found that men above a certain age are more susceptible to it without expecting anything to come of it.
“You guys make a good team,” I said.
“She’s the only one of us that has college degrees in social work and psychology,” Ethan said. “She’s smarter about this than I’ll ever be.”
He lowered his voice and said, “Go question your witness. Try to find us more legal ammunition to give to the lawyer once she gets here. Angel and I will get us in to see Bobby.”
With him bent over me, I was suddenly aware of the smell of his shampoo, the warmth of him so close to me. I wasn’t in love with Ethan, but he was one of my moitiés bêtes, my animal to call, which meant touching him felt comforting. Touching any of my animals to call, or even a shapeshifter of the same species, would lower my anxiety level. It just felt good to touch the shapeshifters who were tied to us. I didn’t want to kiss Ethan the way I had the others, but leaning against him so that we could touch without holding hands or getting all romantic would have been nice.
“I thought you were done with the PDA, Blake,” Leduc said.
“We’re trying to talk quietly so as not to interrupt you, Duke. That’s all, no hand-holding.”
Leduc narrowed his eyes at us. “I don’t usually touch the people I’m talking to in the office. Maybe Flynn and Miss Angel here are more professional than I first thought, but I’m still thinking maybe you lied about it not being a booty call, Blake.”
“You don’t have to have a good opinion of me, Sheriff. If you let Ethan and the rest of our people help us with Bobby, then you can hate me all you want.”
“I didn’t say I hated you, Blake.”
“Thanks, Le . . . Duke.”
He nodded at me. “You’re welcome, but I need you to tell me exactly how they can help you with this case.”
Ethan started to say something, but Leduc held his hand up. “Not from you, from Blake.” Leduc looked at me expectantly.
“If I step back into the cage with Bobby, I want more wereanimal backup.”
“Therianthrope backup,” Angel corrected automatically.
“Yeah, that, but I’m not going to risk my life again without better backup.”
“I was here, and I am an Ailuranthrope, like Marchand,” Olaf said.
“Yeah, you’re both cat-based.”
“I expected Micah or even Nathaniel to come and help you with the leopard in the cage. It’s always easier to control the same internal beast, yet you bring another lion, wolves, hyenas, and a tiger. What can they do that I could not?”
“I’m a leopard like your prisoner,” Pierette said. She managed to make her voice sound uncertain, as if it took bravery for her to speak up. She was good at pretending—like Edward good. Again I realized that maybe I didn’t know her at all. It was interesting that Olaf hadn’t been able to tell what animal she was by smell . . . or had he met everyone else before? I couldn’t remember if he’d met Milligan and Custer or not.
“Come out where I can see you, little cat,” Olaf said, his voice already full of what passed for teasing for him. It always came out as threatening to me.
“Are you saying you’re not glad to see me, Otto?” Nicky said from his bit of wall near but not too near Olaf. He even smiled when he spoke. They’d run in the same mercenary—sorry, private contractor—circles at one point in their careers. They’d both had a certain reputation among their fellow contractors and had come to admire each other’s work, though they’d never actually worked together. And just like that, Nicky took Olaf’s attention off Pierette and put it squarely on himself.
Olaf unfolded from the chair and suddenly seemed even taller than normal, as if he slumped just a little bit most of the time. I don’t think that was it, but he’d done something to make it very clear that he literally towered over everyone in the room. Nicky pushed away from the wall, still smiling. Milligan and Custer stood straighter; they’d already spaced themselves to have room to fight before they’d chosen their bits of wall. Ethan stayed by me like a good bodyguard; he looked fragile beside Olaf, but then he looked fragile beside Nicky, too. I guess everyone did, even the SEALS.
“Everybody, ease down,” Leduc said, which proved that he was better at his job and more observant than this case was showing. Again, I got the idea I wasn’t catching him at his best, whether it was years too late or just emotional issues.
“We’re easy,” Nicky said, grinning happily, as if saying, Let’s have fun, or let’s get violent, or let’s do both. He’d had that grin from the first moment I met him.
Newman said, “Anita is going to go question the friends that went with Jocelyn to the club the night of the murder.”
“I will go with her,” Olaf said.
“And I’ll tag along,” Nicky said.
“You have some kind of badge?” Leduc asked.