Scratch the Surface. Amy Lee Burgess
have been guilt.” He stirred in cream and sugar. The silver band of his wrist watch gleamed in the firelight.
The sun outside had gone behind a cloud and the dim lighting of the chandelier cast an almost melancholy glow over the table.
The snowman crumbled into three pieces between my agitated fingers. “I didn’t do it,” I denied through numb lips.
“I know that,” he agreed with a patient smile. “But you did bite him and that was the reason he took that pill in the first place.”
I swallowed against a sudden obstruction in my throat. The scent of vanilla and sugar clogged my sinuses and I wanted to be anywhere else but where I was at this moment.
“We’ve been working on my wolf,” I confessed in a low, distressed tone. My words came in a rushed, defensive tumble even though I knew he wasn’t judging me. “We shift every chance we get and my wolf knows words for things now that she never knew before. She doesn’t run and play, she listens and learns. She would never bite him now. Never bite anybody.”
Allerton put a fatherly hand over mine. The rest of the cookie disintegrated into crumbs.
“Constance, I know you’ve been working hard. Liam has nothing but praise for your efforts. If anything, he thinks you’re trying too hard. And I know most of your motivation stems from that bite. But aside from working together on your wolf, how are you finding each other? In this form? Easy to live with? Annoying? I’m curious, indulge me.”
The fact that Murphy had been reporting to Allerton about my wolf’s progress should not have been a surprise to me, but it was. A deep, visceral jolt of betrayal surged beneath my skin, but it cleared. Of course he would talk to Allerton. Why wouldn’t he?
It was humiliating as hell that Allerton would be in contact with Murphy to talk about my wolf. He didn’t talk to me about Murphy’s wolf. It made bitter sense. Murphy didn’t need to do the work I needed to do. His wolf was adult and responsible. Mine was still childlike.
“We had fun on our road trip,” I said in a small voice. “We saw so many places. My favorites were New Orleans, Atlanta, and Knoxville.”
“How long are you planning to stay in Boston? I wonder that you don’t want to go to Dublin and meet the rest of your pack.” Allerton pushed the cookie plate toward me and I caved and took one of the mittens. Eating it gave me an opportunity to not answer him for a moment and I’d take all the time I could get.
The cookie melted in my mouth. The tastes of vanilla and sugar combined with the chocolate of the candy into sheer brilliance. Kathy Manning was a baking genius.
I remembered there had always been baked goods on the conference room table two and a half years ago when I’d been questioned. I hadn’t eaten any of them, but when I thought of the conference room I associated it with the smell of sugar and flour and chocolate—a weird dichotomy.
“Well, we just got to Boston two days ago. I want to show the city to him. We’re packing up the stuff I want and getting rid of the rest of it. We’re going to rent the condo out to tourists, in weekly blocks. We’ve got to talk to a rental agency to manage it for us. It’ll be a good source of income for the pack.”
“Your pack is being handsomely compensated for the time I take you away from them,” Allerton remarked. “Plus there’s some for you both personally. I’ve paid you for two months, have you not noticed your bank balance lately?”
I shrugged and debated a second cookie. Goddamn, they were good.
“I don’t bother with checking the balance. I use my debit card sometimes, but mostly Murphy pays for everything. He’s rich.”
Allerton’s smile was fond.
“I know, Constance. Quite a switch for you. You’ve always counted your pennies. I’m glad you feel comfortable enough not to check your balance nowadays, but just so you know, Advisors are well paid.” He casually mentioned a whopping sum that I took to mean at least six months’ salary, but no, that was just for one month.
“The Council’s rich,” I remarked, astonished. I wouldn’t exactly be a millionaire off my salary, but I would be comfortable. I was earning more than Elena had earned for her games.
Allerton laughed. “I’m personally well off. I pay my Advisors slightly more than the going Council rate. Mine deserve it.”
I wasn’t afraid of hard work, but I was a little remorseful for accepting two months’ salary for doing not a damned thing but gallivant through American cities.
“I’m ready to work whenever you want me to,” I told him, guilt pricking at my conscience.
“What you’re doing here right now is working,” he said
“Does it have to do with Grandfather Tobias?” I whispered. My mouth was dry and I took a sip of the coffee.
“I want to know what he tells you,” answered Allerton evenly.
I nodded.
“I want you to interact civilly with your former pack as well,” he added.
I bit my lip. “I wasn’t planning on making a scene, Councilor.”
“That’s very good.” He got to his feet and I followed suit. My gaze happened on the book he’d casually moved to the side to allow room for his coffee. It was the latest John Grisham. I gaped a little because I’d expected someone like him to read something a little more highbrow or intellectual.
He saw me looking and a smile quirked his lips. “It’s quite riveting. I intend to spend the rest of the afternoon consuming it. I hope to be finished by dinner. Would you like to choose a book to read while you’re here?” He gestured to the bookcases, which were crammed with both paperbacks and hardbacks. “You’re welcome to browse after you’re settled in your room. Are your bags in the hall? We can bring them up on our way.”
I flushed. “Murphy has them in the trunk of the car.”
Allerton steered me to the door, his hand hovering at the small of my back.
“No matter. There are toiletries supplied in all the bathrooms. I’ll see what Kathy can do for pajamas for this evening.”
“I guess I’m not really dressed for dinner,” I said.
“You’ll be fine,” he assured me as we walked down the hallway toward the front door. A wide staircase painted gleaming white with red-and-black carpeted stairs was just to the right of the hallway, making up part of the wall.
We ascended it and came out on a large landing that branched off into a hallway. The door to the master suite was at the end of the hall. It was obviously in use by Allerton. He’d used it two and a half years ago as well. There was a bathroom en suite. The other two bathrooms were located between the bedrooms on either side of the hall and were accessible through the rooms on either side of them as well as by the hallway.
All the doors, including Allerton’s, were open, except for the second door on the left-hand side of the hallway and the bathroom door between that room and the other bedroom. I knew immediately that’s where they held Grandfather Tobias. Both doors were locked against him, but allowed him access to the bathroom.
The windows in the house were electronically monitored by an alarm system, so if he were so foolish as to try to leap out the bedroom window, they’d know downstairs in a heartbeat.
Grandfather Tobias was old and frail. No match for Kathy Manning, let alone in combination with Allerton. If the fall didn’t kill or injure him, they would not let him get far.
Allerton showed me to the door of the first room to the right.
It was a small room dominated by a fireplace with gas logs. The mantelpiece and surrounding woodwork were painted a creamy white. An old-fashioned armchair was placed just to the side of the fireplace.
A mahogany four-poster bed was covered with a white