Accidentally Catty (36 page)

“Nina!” Wanda slapped at her hands, shoving the BlackBerry into the pocket of her skirt with a scolding frown. “What have I told you about Twitter, Neanderzilla? We’re professionals. If someone is harassing you, block them, and stop involving Ingrid. The poor child’s a neurotic mess because of you. How can we possibly expect to be taken seriously if you allow them to rile you? Ignore them, Mouthy McMouth! You are officially retired from the OOPS Twitter account, and that means Facebook, too!”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m going back to bed. After all that screeching from the two of you last night and my hours all fucked up, I need sleep.” She stomped off toward the staircase and disappeared in a flash.

Katie was grateful when her cell phone rang. She made a dash to her purse to dig it out, cocking her head when she saw it was Ingrid.

“Ingrid?”

“Heeeey, Doc! How’s it going?”

“Okay. How’s everything with you?”

“Little problem.”

“Has Teeny beaten someone up? Lost her teeth?” Again. There was nothing like digging for Teeny’s teeth in the Dumpster in the back of the Curl Up and Dye where she regularly found what she liked to call her “treasures.”

Ingrid’s laugh was shaky, which struck Katie as odd. “No. Teeny’s fine. We broke down on the side of the road on the way back from the movies. My stupid car, you know. I should have never listened to Earl Hornsby when he said she was as good as new.”

Ah. That explained the shaky in her tone. Ingrid and even a small crisis didn’t go hand in hand. “I’ll come get you. Where are you?”

“Over in Wainsburg—way out in the middle of noooowhere. Do you remember where the old train tracks are?You know, by the abandoned warehouse?”

Katie nodded to herself with a fond smile. When she’d learned to drive, that location had once been her favorite place to find strays. For some reason, it was a dropping off point to anyone who no longer wanted their animals. “I do. I’m on my way. Hang tight. I’m about thirty-five minutes out, okay?”

“Yep, Boss. Okay. See ya when I see ya. Which would be sooner if you put the pedal to the metal. You know,
hurried
?”

Katie grabbed her purse and frowned again. “I’ll get there as quickly as I can.”

“That’d be awesome. So much awesome. So hurry now. Quick like a bunny!”

The beeping tone in her ear signaled the call had been severed.

“What’s up?” Wanda asked.

She put a hand on Wanda’s arm, giving it a squeeze. “Ingrid’s car broke down. I’ve got it. You rest, Wanda, and let Shaw do the same. You’ve had just as difficult a time as we have. Tonight we’ll try to figure out if we can get Shaw in to see his grandfather. But for now, rest.”

Wanda chuckled. “It’s these hours that are killing me. I’m a night owl since my turn. Anyway, I’m going to take you up on that. Keep your phone close, and if you need us, just ring. Or tweet,” she joked. “Because, you know Nina’s so ninja-skilled in gathering followers we’ll have no one but each other to tweet soon, but it’s a quick way to get us if need be.”

Katie laughed on her way out the door. “See you in a bit!”

She hopped down the steps and jumped in Teeny’s truck, turning the ignition and taking off.

 

 

AS
Katie came to the abandoned railroad tracks, she sucked in a breath. Oh, Teeny . . . how had that woman managed to summon the military to come save her? She’d probably called the president himself and complained Ingrid’s car had broken down, and all of the government was assholes and elbows at DEFCON 5 to save her.

She threw the truck in park and bit the inside of her lip at the sight before her. She mentally counted four military trucks in the clearing, surrounded by thick pine trees, but no one in sight. Ingrid’s car wasn’t anywhere to be found, either . . . “Hello? Ingrid? Aunt Teeny?” she called, only to hear her own voice echo as she climbed deeper into the clearing.

And then there was nothing but hands on her, something hard and cold slapped around her wrists, and darkness.

Oh, Katie-did. Why have your spidey-senses failed you so
? she wondered even as someone grabbed her, throwing a burlap sack over her head and dragging her backward.

So much for all that cougar-rific sensory perception.

“Shaw, my man! S’up? Where is everybody?”

Shaw ran a hand over his tired eyes and knucked it up with Darnell. “Wanda left me a note to say Katie went to get Ingrid, and she might be a while because she was in the next town over at some abandoned railroad tracks. Her car broke down. Wanda and the night dweller are napping, and I just woke up.”

“Well, strap yerself in, cougar dude. I got good news!” he said cheerfully, his wide grin making Shaw smile, too.

Shaw cocked his head. “We could use some of that, Darnell.”

Darnell nodded, kneeling to scoop up Petey, who’d run with abandon toward him when he caught sight of the brawny demon. He propped Petey on his shoulder and scratched the dog’s head. “Doc Green’s awake, and he’s askin’ for you.”

His head whipped around from the coffeepot in surprise. “Did he talk to you?”

“He told the doctors. I heard him while I was hoverin’. Remember the hover? Anyways, he’s eatin’ Jell-O and makin’ demands someone find you as we stand around coffee klatchin’ like women.”

He was of two minds about this information. Now, finally, he might be able to find out what was happening with him. But did he want to know? Did he want to leave the peace he’d found with Katie and the others to possibly find something more horrific than he’d already discovered?

Shaw realized he didn’t have a choice. If he hoped to find out what was going on with his shift, there was a fat lady waiting to sing. She might be waiting to sing at his funeral . . .

Darnell slapped him on the back. “S’okay, man. I know you all hesitant to see him ’cuz some bad shit went down the other night and you afraid o’ what he’s gonna tell ya. But the doc says he got a cure for your problem. I heard him tell some lady who flew in them doors of the hospital like she was hittin’ a Wayne Newton–Englebert Humperdinck concert. Name’s Esmeralda. I think she’s sweet on the old dude.”

Shaw was dumbstruck. What did Esmeralda have to do with this? “A cure? Do you think I can get in to see him?”

“Thass what I heard. He told that cute little old lady he had to find you so he could give you the
cure.
I think it’s aiiight to go see him, too. He is your grandpappy. Ain’t nobody gonna say nuthin’.’Sides, the police know it wasn’t you and the ladies who took to him like some punching bag now. Means Wanda and the crabby vampire are in the clear, too.”

His heart sped up. Maybe, if luck was on his side, he could clear all of this up and set about convincing a still waffling Katie to let him into her life.

Permanently. Even if there was kicking and screaming involved.

Shaw smiled, reaching for his jacket. “Good news, bloke. Let’s go.”

KATIE
heard Ingrid’s stuttering sobs and attempted to soothe her from beneath the rough cloth. “Ingrid! Hush. It’s okay.”

“Oh, no, Doc Woods. Nothing about this is okay! This is not okay!”

Katie couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened, only that they were bouncing willy-nilly in the back of a truck with hard metal floors. She didn’t even have any idea if they were alone or someone was with them. Panic warred with rationale. “Where’s Teeny?”

“Still with Kaih back at the movies!” Ingrid yelped. “They grabbed me in the bathroom and made me call you. They made me call you and lie,” she sobbed. “While they had
guns
to my head. Huge guns. I felt them. I’m so sorry, Doc Woods!”

Guns? “Guns, Ingrid? Who took you?”

Katie could almost see Ingrid’s chest heave in fear. “It happened so fast. One minute I was drying my hands in that fancy dryer they have. You know the one’s where you stick your hands in and they suck the water off you like they might suck your skin off with it? And then everything was dark, and a cell phone was shoved in my face with the order to call you and tell you my car broke down.”

Her stomach turned, revolting against her breakfast. “Did you see anything or anyone?”

“I only remember a flash of a man, a big, scary-looking man with scars all over his face, in green clothing. Military, I think, and then it’s all blank.”

Katie followed Ingrid’s voice, using her hands, handcuffed behind her, and her knees to scoot closer to Ingrid. She bumped up against her, noting the scent of her favorite perfume. “Just sit next to me and take deep breaths, Ingrid. Please don’t freak out. We need to stay calm and think.”

There was no more time for talk when the truck came to a grinding, lurching halt. Her heart began to throb in her chest with such force, she thought it would fall to the ground.

The harsh metal slide of doors grated in her ears. Ingrid whimpered. “Shh, Ingrid. Just stay quiet.”

Hands yanked her upright and gave her a hard shove between her shoulder blades, leading her to the edge of the truck’s bed. One push, and she was falling to the dirt with a painful cry, hunching inward to protect the baby who’d only this morning moved.

“Doc Woods? Don’t hurt her, do you hear me, you animals! You leave her alone!” Ingrid hollered, clearly summoning up all her bravado.

Someone hauled her upward. “I’m fine, Ingrid! Just stay calm,” she ordered, even if calm was something she was sure she’d never experience again in two lifetimes.

Gravel crunched beneath her feet as rough fingers latched onto her arm and led her away. A sudden, persistent sluggishness invaded her body while she attempted to keep up the pace her captor set, stumbling and tripping.

In fact, if someone wasn’t propelling her to a destination, she could easily close her eyes and sleep—on the spot and upright. “Who are you?” she managed, fighting the bone-weary tired. But no answer came, just another rough shove as she was propelled harshly again.

Then no movement, only a blanket of silence.

And then light, bright and glaring, drove a painful hammer into her head.

As Katie’s eyes adjusted, her eyes widened in fear and surprise at her surroundings. The room was white and bare but for a metal table with restraints and a single chair on wheels.

Somehow, she didn’t think the whole
Alias
décor was going to bode well for her.

A voice from behind greeted her. “Dr. Woods. You have no idea how I’ve anticipated meeting you.”

Her ears pricked. It was a woman. British like Shaw.

Katie blinked, forcing her eyes to focus. “Where is Ingrid?”

“Oh, she’s fine, I assure you. No harm will come to her as long as you do what I say.”

Fuzzy, Katie attempted to shake the cobwebs from her head. “She’s just a kid. Please, whatever this is about, don’t hurt her.”

“We don’t know each other yet, Katie, but we have all the time in the world to get to know one another. A lifetime, in fact. I’d shake your hand, but”—she made a motion at Katie’s painfully cuffed hands—“you’re all tied up.”

As Katie’s eyes finally adjusted, she scanned the length of the woman. Short and round, with hair closely cropped to her head and pudgy cheeks, she had on a pink sweat suit with an embroidered teddy bear on the tip of each end of her collar. She looked more like one of Teeny’s quilting-circle friends than some vicious kidnapper. “Who are you?”

Her smile round, almost cherubic, was totally in stark contradiction to her malevolent intent. “I’m Nissa Lithgow.”

Oh.

Shaw’s mother? Wait. Wasn’t she dead? Now she was convinced Daniel Green’s messages to Nina were just jumbled together.

Maybe this was some sort of bizarre cougar initiation into the family. Like a cat hazing.

But the stark contents of the room and the menacing gleam in the woman’s eye said probably not.

What a way to meet the family.

 

 

‟OH,
Shaw,” Daniel Green rumbled. “Son, thank goodness you’re all right!”

Shaw entered the room with caution, conflicting emotions assaulting him in fits and spurts. He wanted to accept the man’s embrace, yet he held back. “Sir, how are you feeling?” was the question he asked to stall.

The cute Esmeralda, sitting beside Daniel’s bed with a lovestruck look on her face, chided him. “You silly, he doesn’t even know you. Not in his human form anyway. Let him have a moment to adjust, Danny,” she crooned, petting his arm.

Daniel blustered, dropping his arms, his wild hair bobbing in thick patches of gray and silver. “Certainly. Come. Sit. It’s urgent we speak.”

Darnell nudged him into the room, and Shaw obliged by pulling up a chair beside the old man’s bed. “So you’re my grandfather?”

“Indeed. This has all been a grave misunderstanding. Your friends, I’m told, were held responsible for this—my coma. Untrue!” he muttered excitably. “In my delirium, of which I mostly don’t remember, I must have mentioned them because they were the last people I saw before someone took a bat to me. I went to Dr. Woods’s clinic because she’d interfered before in what she deemed inappropriate care for the animals. Also untrue!” he shouted, his wrinkled fist raised. “All of the animals were given the finest of lodging and care. I saw to it myself. But I knew Dr. Woods must have had something to do with where you’d gone to. She’d brought trouble before with her meddling, so you understand why she was the likely suspect. When I realized you’d escaped, I knew where to look first. I had to . . . to make her understand the grave situation she would encounter in you.”