SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1) (6 page)

Amy and I spent the next three days holed up in James’ apartment. She eventually came to, after many hours of me splashing water in her face and clapping my hands by her ears. And trust me when I say, it was no easy feat. It took about five hours before she was normal again and let’s just say, if she ever meets Jonah and the Pack, she’ll have a few choice words for them. Amy was pissed. She said they barged in to the bar shortly after they dragged me to the truck and she barely had any time to tell anyone or call the cops. Somehow they compelled her to go back to our apartment and there they came to an ‘understanding.’ Yeah, understanding my ass. But so far we hadn’t heard or seen them since Saturday night and I couldn’t be happier.

We only left to take our finals and when I had to go down to the station, then headed straight back to James’ apartment. He was right when he said Diana Stone never came to visit. We hadn’t seen her either. But it was now Wednesday morning and I couldn’t wait to finish up at the precinct and head to James’ so we could hit the road back home to Cold Springs and truly disappear for a while. I hadn’t heard from Blu and I wasn’t worried we’d been made—I just hoped she was okay. I felt like a total jerk for not contacting her and checking in, but I didn’t want to risk it.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when someone slammed their hands on top of the desk I was sitting in.

“When were you going to tell me about James?” Amy said, startling me. I thought she was at school.

“Jesus, Amy, wear a bell next time.”

“Don’t change the subject. Why are we still carpooling with him? It’s not like we have a car and he wants to ride shot gun,” she said and I forgot I hadn’t told her I was playing girlfriend during winter break. Crap. With all this wolf business I forgot about regular problems.

I looked around the squad room and luckily no one was paying attention to us. We were working on a major case at the moment so everyone was neck deep in work.

“Well the thing is…” I whispered and she arched an eyebrow. I teetered under her intense glare. With a hip jutted out, she tapped her small right foot, waiting for my answer.

“Today would be nice, Kenz.”

I sighed. “Fine. He hasn’t told his family about our break up.”

“Mackenzie!” She shrieked and that got us a couple looks.

“Shhh!” I pulled her down as we hovered over the desk. “Are you trying to get me fired?”

“Sorry,” Amy rolled her eyes. “But this is a big deal and total bullshit. You don’t owe that loser any favors.”

“I know, I know,” I mumbled just as Detective Michaels walked up to us.

“This isn’t the place to socialize, Grey!” he barked as he pushed my rolling chair to the side and logged on to his computer that I had been using. “We have another reported kidnapping, but this time in Spanish Harlem. Do you want to tag along or are you done for the day?”

It was only 11 AM. James wouldn’t be done with his last final until late in the afternoon. My eyes switched between Amy and Detective Michaels, and my decision was easy. I’d tackle the beast later. “I’m tagging along.”

“Get your things and let’s go,” he clipped out and I scrambled to grab my stuff and follow him out.

“Mackenzie!” Amy yelled and I waved her off.

“We’ll talk later at the apartment!” And with that I was out the door and hustling to catch up.

Detective Garrett Michaels had been a cop with the NYPD for twelve years and for the last three, he’d been assigned to the Major Case Squad. At the beginning of the semester, his partner had transferred out and he drew the small stick when it came to babysitting the intern. At first he really disliked me—like a lot. But I’d like to think I’ve grown on him. Hopefully, at least, I needed a passing grade.

I rode in the passenger seat of his unmarked car as we weaved through mid-day traffic.

“So what’s the skinny on this kidnapping?” I asked. This was the fourth case in less than a month and we were starting to think they were connected. We just hadn’t found a pattern yet.

“Thirty two year old, Caucasian male, he was last seen two nights ago and presumably taken from right outside his home.”

I nodded and pulled out a notebook from my messenger bag. I skipped over a few pages until I landed on the page that listed the rest of the victims. Two women and one man—now two men. They were all different ages, races and came from various economic backgrounds. No pattern.

“I don’t get it,” I whispered mainly to myself.

Michaels grunted. “Who you tellin’? Don’t beat yourself up, Kid. It’s just a stall. We’ll get a lead sooner or later.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You know how much I hate it when you call me
Kid
.”

He chuckled. “I know. I do it on purpose, Kid.”

I groaned.

“Relax. You have one more semester with me and then I don’t have to see your ugly face again,” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“My face? What about yours? Your mug is so ugly not even Scooby Doo could solve that mystery.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny, Grey,” he deadpanned. “Give yourself a point.”

“Yes!” I excitedly reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the little black book that Michaels kept his booty-call numbers in, but also held our “shit-talking” tally. He was currently in the lead with thirty seven and I was now only five points away from catching up.

“Don’t add an extra point! At the end of every shift I count to make sure you aren’t cheating.”

“Get a grip, Michaels, you’re still in the lead.”

“Hurry up and put it away, we’re here,” he said as he pulled up to a spot in front of a water hydrant where he wasn’t supposed to park.

We stood in front of a dilapidated building that appeared to house at least twenty apartments. As we got out of the car, I discreetly took a good whiff of air and couldn’t smell anything distinctive. I perked up my hearing but there were too many people inside the building to pin point anything threatening. Opening the front door to the lobby, the stench of cigarettes and mold smacked me in the face. I tried to hide my discomfort as we went toward the elevators. A dirty white sheet of paper was taped on the elevator doors with the words, “Out of Order” and we ended up climbing seven flights of stairs to the designated apartment.

Garrett’s breathing became labored by the fifth floor, and I laughed. “Keep up, Old Man.”

“Yeah, yeah, just keep going,” he said from behind me.

Once we made it to apartment 7B, I knocked on the door and waited for a response.

The locks on the door began to unclick and a woman with wild chestnut hair peeped through the crack of the door.

“Can I help you?” she mumbled.

“Hello, I’m Detective Michaels and this is Miss. Grey, we’re with the NYPD and we’re here in regards to the kidnapping of…John Hancock?” Michaels read the name from his notebook in confusion.

I had to hold in my laughter. John Hancock? That could not be someone’s real name—we were getting played. I listened to the woman’s heartbeat as she spoke and waited.

“Y-yes, c-come in,” she said and pushed the door wider. Her eyes were the size of tennis balls as she saw me for the first time. “Y-you can’t come in!” She pointed a dirty finger in my direction.

“Excuse me?” I shot back feeling insulted.

“Do you two know each other?” Michaels asked.

I shook my head.

With speed that matched my own, she was now only a hair breath away from me and I could smell the six cups of coffee she had today.

“The children of the moon are not welcomed in my home,” she muttered.

I held my breath until Michaels grabbed the lady and pulled her away from me. I kept my face neutral but couldn’t stop my racing heart.
Who the hell was this old kook?

“Grey, why don’t you canvas the area and see if you find anything?” he handed me a couple of evidence bags and nodded toward the stairs.

Without saying a word, I headed back down toward the lobby.

“Wait for me by the car!”

“Yeah,” I yelled back. “Have fun with that crazy bitch,” I mumbled and tried to curve the urge of punching the wall. I couldn’t let my anger get the best of me.

I exited the building, putting on my winter gloves and tightening my scarf. Even though I wasn’t cold, I still had to keep up appearances. New York winters were not to be taken lightly.

After walking around the block—twice—Michaels still hadn’t come down and I was getting antsy. What if that crazy lady did something to him? No. I’d wait fifteen minutes before I’d barge in. I leaned against the unmarked cop car and crossed my arms over my chest just as something caught my attention. Directly in front of me was the apartment building’s unkempt garden area with bare bushes and dead flowers. Scattered around were soda cans and other garbage but a pinkish piece of paper stood out to me. It was cut out in a weird shape and nothing was written on it.

I pushed off the car and walked toward the item in question. Squatting in front of it, I pulled out a pen from my coat pocket and lifted the paper—except it wasn’t. I knew I shouldn’t have done what I did but I just had to know. I took off my gloves and touched it.

It wasn’t paper—it was skin.

Shit.

Michaels emerged from the building looking exhausted and annoyed, which meant I couldn’t joke with him right now.

“Let’s go, Grey. This was a waste of time,” he said as he went around to the driver side of the car.

“We can’t,” I said as I stood on the sidewalk. “Garrett—”

“Mackenzie, I don’t have the patience for this right now, get in the car!”

“Shut up and let me finish a goddamn sentence!” I barked and could feel my face turn beet red in anger. It was no easy feat to keep a werewolf temper down. “I found something and you need to call it in.” I lifted the plastic bag that held the evidence I’d found.

“What is it?”

“It might be John Hancock—it’s skin.”

His eyes widened a fraction and he reached for the radio in his pocket to call for backup.

It took over two hours for the troops to canvas the area and re-interview the crazy bitch upstairs who I learned was named Jane Hancock. John was her son. She’d given a wacky story to Michaels about how her son was taken by a shape shifter. I was starting to understand why he’d gotten so frustrated—the lady had a couple screws missing—which sounds absurd coming from a shifter but her whole story was nuts. She said her son was part Fae, in other terms, he’s a fairy.

“What’s going to happen to Ms. Hancock?” I asked Detective Michaels as we waited for CSI to finish cleaning up.

“They’re taking her in for a psych evaluation. They didn’t find any drugs in her apartment so she might have a mental disability. We’re still not sure if she even has a son, it could be all in her head,” he said and looked to me. “Good catch today, Grey. I guess there might still be hope for you in the force.”

I snorted.

“But the next time you tell me to shut up, I’m dropping you from your internship.” With that he walked away and left me to flick him off. The jerk.

“I saw that, Grey. Now go home and enjoy your holidays.”

It was late in the afternoon when I made it back to James apartment where I found Amy sprawled out on his couch waiting for me. Her flaming red hair was picked up in a messy bun and all her tattoos were covered up by her winter clothes.

“It’s about time your ass came home. You can’t avoid me forever, Kenz.”

“I’m not trying to avoid you, we had a break in the case today and
I
found it!” I was so giddy I was about to jump out of my skin—no pun intended.

I took off my coat and pushed Amy’s legs aside so I could sit beside her.

“Kenz, I’m happy for you, really,” she started and I steeled myself for what was coming, “but when were you going to tell me James was coming home with us? You don’t owe him shit. Don’t do the bastard any favors.”

“I know, but—”

James burst into the living room where we had been sleeping for the past couple days and he was out of breath and sweating—which would be fine if it wasn’t cold outsides.

“What the hell—”

“Kenz!” he yelled when Jonah, Jackson and Sebastian barged into the apartment behind him, filling it with their oppressive frames. I wanted to giggle but had to swallow it. James looked like the nerd he was in high school standing next to these guys. But right now was not the time to be thinking about that.

“I swear, the bad guys always get you just as you’re about to make your getaway,” I said as I threw my hands up in the air. This was total bullshit. I was not even two hours away from leaving this damn city.

“Who the heck are these guys, Kenz?” James squealed and Jackson grabbed him from the collar of his coat.

“We wouldn’t have found you if this loser didn’t reek of your scent. Is he your boyfriend?” Jackson asked. I didn’t answer right away because I was watching the reaction of the other two werewolves in the room. Jonah’s features turned so dark, it betrayed the smirk on his face. Sebastian’s upper lip curled into a growl but that was nothing new. He seemed to always be brooding—he looked the same and that sort of ticked me off too. Why should he care, he had V.