Surprised but excited, I closed my eyes and relaxed into the kiss. Jack was a very good kisser, lightly probing my lips with his tongue until I parted them for him. His short beard and mustache brushed my mouth and chin, sending delicious shivers down my stomach, and lower. After a few careful kisses, Jack pulled away, but as he did he gently caught my lower lip with his teeth and gave a little tug before breaking contact, which made me moan.

I opened my eyes. Jack was looking at me cautiously, his hands placed respectfully on my knees. “That was the best kiss,” I breathed.

Jack smiled, his eyes sparkling. “Good. Glad I haven’t lost my touch.”

This made me giggle. “God, no.” I stuffed the amulet back into my jeans pocket. Having it out in plain sight was making me antsy. “You make it sound like it’s been a while. Are you forgetting poor Officer Hubbs so soon?”

Jack’s smile widened and became a bit lopsided. “Oh, jealous, are you?” he said in a teasing tone that let me know he was joking.

“Maybe a little,” I said. “Or a lot.” My face burned.

“To be perfectly honest, I was jealous seeing you wrapped around Hubbs kissing his neck, even knowing you were eating him.” He shifted closer to the couch to lean his face closer, pressing his chest into the insides of my thighs and moving his hands to rest on the couch on either side of my hips. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yes.” I barely got the word out before Jack pressed his lips to mine. I wasn’t sure who’d moved towards whom, but the kiss made me groan with need.

When we pulled apart a bit later, I was gasping and Jack’s shoulders were heaving. Jack’s eyes were half-lidded and he was grinning.

“Should we move to the bedroom?” Jack asked, running his hands up my side. He paused for a moment as he hit the edges of my improvised binder, but then his hands moved again back down to rest on my hips.

I had been all set to yell, “Yes!” and damn the consequences, but that pause made me suddenly self-conscious about my chest and lack of top surgery. “I’m…” I swallowed and my voice lowered to a whisper. “Can we just keep kissing and cuddling here on the couch for now? It’s been a while, and I’m not sure…”

Jack gave me an adorable half smile that made me reconsider my no, and said, “Sure. It’s been a while for me too. Can I?” His hands slid under to cup my ass, and he lifted me a few millimeters.

“Oh, yeah.”

I let Jack pick me up and hug me to his chest. He stood from his crouch and twisted around to sit on the couch, settling me down on his lap facing him. His erection pressed into my crotch and he squeezed my butt, making me gasp in pleasure. My underwear was already damp inside my jeans. God damn, why had I turned Jack’s invitation for sex down? I craned up and kissed Jack hard.

Both of us came up for air gasping, lips swollen. Jack slid down and twisted to lay down on his back on the couch so that I rested on my chest. I don’t know how long we lay there fully clothed and alternating kissing and staring into each other’s eyes.

By the end, I was on my side, squeezed between the back of the couch and Jack, my head resting on my bent arm. Jack was in a similar pose, facing me. Jack’s butt must have been hanging off the narrow couch, but he didn’t say a word of complaint.

Jack looked at me sleepily, a contented smile on his face. He reached over with his free hand to run a finger down my cheek, then draped his hand over my shoulder. “I moved out here a year and a half ago and basically threw myself into work. I didn’t want to date anyone. Guys all reminded me of Andre, and he thought I was dead. I stalked him on social media, and it broke my heart when he posted pictures of himself and his new boyfriend. You’re the first guy I’ve looked at twice since then. Thank you for breaking me out of my funk.”

“My story isn’t nearly so dramatic.” I smiled and put my hand on Jack’s chest. “I couldn’t even think of dating anyone before. I just never felt comfortable, but I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I turned down a lot of guys in high school. Everyone thought I was a lesbian—hell, even me, for a while. I went on a few dates with the only out lesbian at our school, even slept with her a few times before I figured out I wasn’t attracted to her that way. Once I finally came out and started transitioning, it was so chaotic with dropping out of school, moving, and hormones, that I haven’t dated anyone. This has been very nice.”

Jack bit his lip and gave me a lopsided smile. “No wonder you’re nervous. You’ve never been with a guy before.”

“Hey, Brooke had a strap on!” I blurted in indignation before I realized what I’d just confessed to. My face burned as Jack laughed.

“You ever try it on her?” Jack asked.

I wanted to sink through the bottom of the couch. “Once,” I mumbled. “That was the only time I really enjoyed myself. And what made me start to realize I was trans.”

Jack gave me a sincere grin and winked. “I’m a switch.”

I stared at him, and then burst out laughing. “It’s a date.”

“How about we adjourn to the bedroom,” Jack said, pressing a finger to my lips. “No sex, I promise.” Jack sat up and slid around to sit on the middle of the couch, then turned and extended a hand to me.

I let Jack help me up and sat on the couch next to him. “I’m not tired yet. What time is it?”

Jack glanced around and then pointed to a clock on the wall in the entry way. “4:00 am. You’re right, we still have time. So, what do you want to do instead?”

I sighed. “We need to come up with a plan, and, I hate to say it, but I need to see that presentation you mentioned. I don’t know enough about being a vampire.”

“You’re wondering why those vampires ran away from you after you ate their buddy?”

I laughed. “I mean, I had just almost killed their friend. They were afraid of me.”

“True. It’s also a bit taboo for vampires to bite or feed on other vampires.”

“Why?” I asked, remembering how strong I’d felt after. Much different than I’d felt after feeding on Jack or the officers. I ignored the reheated, bottled blood. That barely counted as food.

Jack shrugged. “Not sure. Despite the fact that we work together, the vampires and shapeshifters don’t really mix much. Stacy and Ted, the other vampire on staff, take care of the vampire issues, and Zoe and I deal with the shapeshifters.”

“I distinctly remember you quoting vampire law at me when we first met,” I teased.

Jack waved a hand and stood. “I know the basics. But you may have a point. I think there is a computer here for guests. I can VPN in to the office and pull it up.”

“Okay. Then what’s the plan to deal with Lady Ann? I can’t keep running forever.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Because I’m starting to think the vampire thing is just a fluke. Like, maybe a vampire found me unconscious outside after the attack, and—”

Jack stopped in the hallway leading farther back in the house and turned. “What, turned you? There’s not just the fact that it’s highly illegal to do that without the person’s permission, what’s their motivation?”

“Well…”

“Think about it while I look for the computer.” Jack disappeared down the hallway.

I groaned and flopped back on the couch. Jack had a point. Why? The only thing I could think was that maybe there was a vampire fighting back against Lady Ann and her mobsters. But why me? I was grateful to the unknown vampire, whoever they were, no matter their reasons, but I couldn’t help but be a little suspicious of the timing.

My thoughts drifted back to the amulet that she wanted so badly. I took it out of my pocket and stared at it, turning it over in my hands. Why all the fuss over this? It was gold, and old. Priceless, true, but then so were a lot of things in the museum.

The provenience papers for the amulet had been pretty bare. It’d been donated by a rich philanthropist who liked to collect old Egyptian artifacts. The artifacts themselves had mostly been looted during the Victorian era, and thus didn’t come with much information about where they’d come from. Archaeologists from that time hadn’t been the best about recordkeeping. And that was the best case scenario.

If they’d been bought from the black market, it’d be next to impossible to figure out where it had really come from—not that I had the resources now to research it. I hadn’t looked into it more before when I had the chance, because I figured it didn’t matter.

No, that was me lying to myself. I hadn’t wanted to research the artifacts I was stealing, because I wouldn’t have been able to steal them if I knew how much history I was taking from the public.

“Thinking hard or hardly thinking?” Jack joked as he came back inside the living room carrying a tablet in one hand.

I offered him a wane smile. “You’re right, I can’t think of a reason for the vampire to have turned me. So instead I started thinking about this.” I held up the amulet.

Jack sat down next to me and flipped open the tablet, folding the cover open to the back. Holding it one hand, he pointed to the amulet in my palm with his other hand. “That’s easy. Negotiate with her, give her that in exchange for calling off the hits.”

“No!” I yelled, recoiling away from Jack. Fangs pricked my lips, and I didn’t know when they’d come down. Anger hit me, sharp and hard, and I struggled to control my expression, to keep from snarling at Jack. Inside I screamed and raged.

Jack jumped and stared at me with wide eyes. “What the hell?”

My back pressed against the arm of the couch, yet I didn’t remember moving that far back. Even when I concentrated, my fangs wouldn’t go back up. “I don’t know,” I mumbled around the fangs. The burst of initial anger was cooling, but a voice in my head was screaming at me.

“It’s fine, Ev. Calm down,” Jack said in a quiet voice and slowly laid the tablet on the couch on his other side. He turned to face me, moving slowly with no sudden movement.

“I’m trying.” I shook, and my vision turned black at the edges. Oddly, Jack’s visible skin seemed to be covered in red lines that beat in time with an unheard beat.

“Are you thirsty?” Jack asked softly, extending his hands towards me. He froze when I flinched.

I ran my tongue around my mouth. I didn’t feel very thirsty. My mouth wasn’t dry, and I didn’t feel like I had when I was mad with thirst after I’d been shot. In fact, I felt less thirsty than I had when I’d been able to control myself around Emily in the car, even if that had been a near thing. “No,” I finally said, shaking my head. “I don’t know why they won’t go away.”

“It’s okay, Everett.” Jack reached out again with one hand, still moving very slowly, to touch my leg. “Do you feel possessive about the amulet?”

I nodded. “Why?”

“I think you’ll feel better if you put it in your pocket,” Jack said quietly.

I frowned, but did as Jack instructed. Even though it was only a thin layer of jean fabric blocking it from Jack’s sight, I immediately relaxed and my fangs retracted. “Huh, it worked.”

Jack smiled at me and scooted over the rest of the way to hug me. “You were right, you need a crash course. Even I’ve learned this year that vampires can get overly possessive over their possessions.”

“Oh.” I sighed and let Jack pull me back down onto the couch.

Jack pulled me up close to him and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I cuddled up against Jack’s side while he propped the tablet on his lap.

“Now, I couldn’t get into work, but I asked Dave to email me recent copies of the Powerpoints.” He clicked on an email with his thumb.

“Wait,” I said and sat up. “How do I give Lady Ann this thing to get her to lay off me if I’m going to flip out?”

Jack laughed. “I don’t know. We’ll figure out how to cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?”

“Alright.” I cuddled back up to Jack.

Jack clicked the email from Dave and read it out loud in disbelief. “‘There isn’t one for new vampires; their Maker tells them everything they need to know before the change is even made.’ Well crap. At least he gave me the latest one for the shapeshifters. Want the full experience, or just the highlights?”

I looked at the clock and made a face. “Just the highlights, I guess.

Don’t want to be caught out. You made it sound ugly.”

“I’ll keep an eye out too, but sure, you don’t need the details since you aren’t a shapeshifter.” Jack grinned and opened the Powerpoint. It didn’t open right away; the PP logo rotated there as the presentation loaded.

“I guess my first question is about the memory I saw of yours. You didn’t get bit, but you changed.” I craned my head around to look at Jack.

“Yeah, that’s always everyone’s first question. That was my first question too.” He bobbed his head toward the screen, which had finally finished loading, and showed a shrugging cartoon werewolf with question marks over his head. A little thought bubble came out of his head that said, “But I didn’t get bit by a wolf. What gives?”

I snorted. “Woooow.” I drew out the word in disbelief. Jack hadn’t been kidding about how cheesy this was.

Jack tapped the screen to advance it. “Certain people are born with the capacity to shapeshift, but most never change,” Jack explained, flipping quickly through a few slides that talked about genetics. “It usually manifests for the first time after a traumatic experience.”

“So, I know yours…” I trailed off, not wanting to upset Jack further if I could help it. “That fox, Emily, what happened to her?”

“Single car accident on I-84.” Jack shrugged. “Most stories aren’t quite as dramatic as mine. Anyway, the ability tends to run in families. There are a few shifter families scattered around the world that have a 95% success rate in teaching children to shapeshift for the first time without the trigger, but most shapeshifters are having a bad day that gets worse. PCA was originally founded to help those individuals.”

The next slide had graphic of a brightly shining cartoon sun with sunglasses on, hanging over a naked cartoon human hiding behind a garbage can. The text was, “You can’t change or stay changed in sunlight.” “This slide’s pretty self-explanatory,” Jack said with a shrug.

“Night only?” I asked. “Like furry vampires.”

Jack lightly bopped my arm with a loose fist. “Very funny.”

“Can you change in shade, or a dark basement?”

Jack lifted his hand and made a see-sawing motion. “Depends on the person, but generally no. It’s a little more magic than science, like with the vampires, and our best scientists still haven’t unlocked exactly why it varies from person to person, or what about the sun prevents the change.”

“Or why it kills vampires?”

“Exactly. Either it’s magic, or our technology just isn’t at a point to be able to explain it.”

A phone rang from somewhere farther in the house, interrupting Jack’s speech.

“This place has a landline?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, so we can be sure we can reach the house no matter who is here. Excuse me, I bet that’s Stacy calling to check up on us, since I lost my cell to my abductors.” Jack set the tablet on the couch and got up.

I nodded while Jack went into the little kitchen that was directly off the living room. Jack picked up a cordless handset from the inside wall that wasn’t visible from my angle.

“Hello?” Jack said, leaning one hip against the counter facing me with the phone pressed to his ear. “Hey, Stacy, what’s up?”

There was a pause as he listened to Stacy talk. He rolled his eyes at me and mouthed “sorry”. I gave him a little smile.

“Yeah, he’s still here with me. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go, remember?” Jack furrowed his brow and frowned deeply, glancing at me. “Dangerous? He’s not—”

Stacy must have cut him off, because he abruptly stopped talking. “You’re not making any sense, Stacy,” he said after a moment.

Curious, I got up and drifted closer. Jack noticed and waved me over. “Look, he’s right here. I’ll put you on speaker, and you tell him what you just told me.”

Jack pressed the speaker phone button and set the handset on the kitchen counter.

“Jack, don’t— Look, he should already know this.” Stacy’s voice was a little distorted coming from the phone’s cheap speakers, but even still I could tell she was rattled. I’d only met her twice, but she’d seemed very put together and not someone easily upset.

I frowned and glanced at Jack, then said, “I’m just going to tell her.” Jack began to protest, but I held up a hand. “It’s fine. Maybe as a vampire she’ll have some insight that you don’t.”

“Tell me what?” Stacy said in a clipped tone.

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “I was changed two days ago. I don’t know who turned me into a vampire. All I remember is that I was on my way home from work, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a dumpster covered in blood. And I was a vampire.” I paused to let Stacy say something, but the line stayed silent. I waited another beat, then shrugged and forged ahead. “Actually, I wasn’t sure I was a vampire until I ran into Jack on my way into our apartment building. Even then it took some convincing before I really believed him.”

“You… You’re only two days changed? How are you in the room with Jack without attacking him?” Stacy asked, stammering in disbelief.

I glanced at Jack and shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean?” I asked. Jack bit his lip.

Stacy was silent for a moment. “It doesn’t matter right now. The reason I called is because of what you asked me earlier, about how to tell if a vampire is dead. I just got a call to report that a vampire was murdered earlier tonight by a visiting vampire, and I put two and two together.”

“Hey, that was self-defense! They attacked me,” I snapped back. Despite my protestations, my stomach twisted at the confirmation that I had actually killed him.

“The witness reports say you killed him by draining him dry.”

“Yeah, I was panicked so I bit him, and then…” I licked my lips as I remembered. “He was delicious. Everything happened so fast. Next thing I knew he stopped moving.”

Stacy gasped and said in a near-whisper, “I thought they had to have been mistaken.”

“Stacy, I don’t understand what the big deal is,” Jack said and glanced at me with raised eyebrows. I shrugged again, feeling as clueless as he looked. “Everett doesn’t either, so fill us in. Why are you so upset?”

“He should be dead!” Stacy raised her voice. It wasn’t quite a yell, but it was close. “Vampire blood is fatal to other vampires in anything more than small quantities.”

“What?” Both Jack and I said at almost the same time.

“I thought you felt weird,” Stacy said in a low voice, almost talking to herself. “And in the car, being so close to you was making me feel very unsettled.”

“I thought you were acting odd,” Jack agreed. “I’ve never seen you lose your temper so fast before.”

A rhythmic tapping sound came through the speaker, and I pictured Stacy drumming her fingers on a table. “We need to find out who changed you without permission. Besides being a huge violation of the rules of consent, we can’t have a rogue vampire in the city.”

“Where would we even start looking though? Everett doesn’t remember the attack, and we know nothing about this unknown vampire.” Jack groaned and massaged his temples. “Plus, we still have to deal with those human assassins after him.”

“How will finding the vampire who changed me help?” I asked. “I mean, I’m already a vampire, it’s not like that can be undone.”

“It’s your bloodline,” Stacy said. “There are different types of vampires. Just like shapeshifters turn into different animals, vampires tend to get different abilities depending on their maker or their maker’s maker. Without knowing your bloodline, we won’t know what effects your vampirism will have on you. The fact that you…” She hummed. “That’s got to be a rare one. I’ll have to do some research. In the meantime, Jack, I’m very disappointed that you kept this from me. You know how dangerous new vampires can be.”

“People were trying to kill him, Stacy, and I suspected vampires might have been involved. Although now we’re fairly sure the two events are unrelated,” Jack said, squeezing his eyes shut. “And he was able to control himself. He didn’t seem like a danger.”

Stacy sighed audibly. “Well, I can see why you might have thought that. Okay. I’ll allow him to stay at the safe house with you until we figure out what’s going on. I’ll look into what his bloodline might be. That should give us a clue about the possible identity of this rogue vampire. In the meantime, Everett you are not to leave the house, understand?”

“But—”

“I’ll have Zoe drop off some blood stores for you today,” Stacy continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Jack, you should lie low for now as well. I’ll call you again after sunset.”

“Got it, boss,” Jack said. The line clicked off as Stacy hung up.

“That was weird,” I said. My hands shook. Stacy had a very powerful presence, even over the phone. “I feel like I just got reamed out by my mother.”

Jack let out a laugh as he hung the handset back on the wall-mounted base. “Yeah, she can be over-bearing at times, but it’s because she cares.” The phone rang again, and Jack frowned as he picked it up. “Hello?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Jack pulled the phone from his ear and gave it to me.

“Hello?” I answered hesitantly.

“It’s Stacy again,” she said without preamble. Jack leaned closer, cocking his head to listen in. “One more thing I remembered, and I’m not sure it’s important, but the witnesses stated that they felt drawn to you, and that they felt like you had something that they badly wanted. But none of them could articulate what it was or why they wanted it so badly once they were out of your presence.”

“Yeah, they said something like that to me too,” I said. “Is that how they found me? Cause I’d been wondering…”

“I think so,” Stacy hesitated. “I felt it too, now that I think about it. But those three that attacked you, they were all younger vampires, less than a decade old. Perhaps that’s why they felt it more strongly than me. The reason that I asked to speak to you privately is that I’m wondering if you might know what it was.”

“Maybe.” There was only one thing it could be, but I felt reluctant to tell Stacy about it. I shifted the phone to my other ear so I could trace the shape of the amulet through my jeans. A thought occurred to me: maybe that was what the rogue vampire wanted too. It could explain why a vampire might have been around me, but why change me yet not take the amulet? It had been hidden, yes, but a thorough search would have uncovered it, especially if they could feel it on me. The mugger hadn’t found it because they hadn’t known to look.

The line was silent for a moment, then Stacy sighed. “Everett, I realize you might have no reason to trust me, but being cagey is not going to help us find your maker. A rogue vampire is dangerous to all of us, not just you. Do you know what humans will do if they find out we exist? Because I do. It’s happened in the past, and many, many supernaturals died before we were able to contain it. In this day and age, with smartphones, cameras, and the internet, if the truth gets out, they’ll be no way to stop it.”

I groaned. “I don’t know for sure, but there’s only one thing I’ve consistently had with me the whole time. It’s…”

I hesitated again, glancing at Jack who raised an eyebrow at me, clearly understanding what I was talking about. Jack moved over next to me and squeezed my shoulder, mouthing “tell her”. I closed my eyes and gathered my courage.

“It’s a museum piece I stole from the storeroom the night I was mugged and then changed into a vampire,” I blurted out in a rush. Silence at the other end, so I kept talking. “But it’s just an old gold amulet, nothing really remarkable about it that I could see.”

“I see,” Stacy said after a beat. “I appreciate you telling me that, Everett. I share your puzzlement. I will look into it further. Now, I need to go if I’m going to get home before sunrise, and I suggest you turn in as well.”

Again the phone call ended with an abrupt click, and I switched off the phone, turning to Jack. “I couldn’t tell, was she mad, or just disappointed?”

Jack gave an amused shake of his head. “Definitely disappointed, but I feel like more of her disapproval was directed at me.” He took the phone from me and hung it back up. “But she had a point there at the end. Sunrise is coming, and we need to get you downstairs. I’ll make some calls today while you sleep, see if I can make contact with this mob boss and arrange to get that amulet to her.”

“No!” I said, remembering the dry patch on my jeans after I was shot. “I don’t… I’m starting to think we shouldn’t give it to her.”

Jack gave me a curious look and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us.”

“I agree,” Jack said with a nod.

“I need to show you something.”

“Okay, but make it quick.” Jack cast a meaningful glance at the clock on the microwave oven.

How could I demonstrate? I cast about the kitchen. There. I grabbed a decorative towel that hung from the handle of the oven and spread it on the counter, then grabbed a knife from the knife block. Jack frowned, but didn’t say anything as I held my left arm out over the towel and pressed the knife to the back of my forearm. Blood welled up from the shallow cut to drip down my arm. The cut healed over before more than a few drops had stained the towel, but I figured that would be enough for this demonstration.

“See my blood there?” I asked, adding to the spot by using the towel to wipe my blood from the knife and my arm before laying it back down flat on the counter.

“Yeah, you bleed when you’re cut. Big deal,” Jack said with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Now, watch.” I got the amulet out of my pocket and laid it on top of the bloody spot. The blood rolled towards the amulet and vanished. It was like watching a time-lapse video of a spill in reverse. I picked the amulet back up, and the towel looked as pristine as it had when I’d first laid it down. I turned to Jack expectantly. “Well?”

Jack was staring at the clean towel in shock. “That was unexpected,” he finally said.

“What do you think we should do about it?” I asked as the silence lengthened. “I don’t feel right giving this to a mob boss, even if I could get over my possessiveness.”

Jack groaned and scrubbed his face. “God, this is a mess. Honestly? I don’t know. Give me some time to think it over. I’m exhausted. I didn’t get much sleep yesterday, what with being held captive all day, and I’m sure you’re feeling the coming sun.”

I sighed, but acknowledged that I’d dropped this all on Jack rather suddenly.

“Alright.” I put the amulet away.

I wished I’d had time to ask Stacy more questions. For instance, my T shot was coming due, but did I still need it as a vampire? When I’d been human, missing a dose once and a while wasn’t a huge issue, so I decided it wasn’t urgent enough to risk Stacy’s ire by asking Jack to call her back.

“This way. I’ll get you set up, then I need to crash myself.” Jack crossed the kitchen and opened a door to reveal a dark staircase leading down to the basement.

“I’m actually not that tired. Can I take the tablet with me, for entertainment?” I pointed back to the living room where the tablet lay abandoned on the couch.

“Sure.” Jack shrugged, hiding a yawn. “Just be smart, don’t contact anyone from your old life. You know that mobster will be monitoring everyone you might know on the off chance of finding you.”

“No problem.” I shuddered. “The memory of being shot through the heart is still very fresh.”

Jack showed me around the basement. The whole bottom floor had been light-proofed for vampire guests, and included two small bedrooms, a little mini living room with television and DVD player, and a small bathroom with the most cramped shower stall I had ever seen.

After Jack went back upstairs, wishing me good night as he left—which I found just a touch ironic—I settled down with the tablet on the bed. I half wished Jack had stayed to cuddle, but I didn’t blame him for wanting his own bed that didn’t come with the threat of possibly waking up with a vampire sucking on his neck.

Jack’s reaction to my demonstration with the amulet told me that I needed to find out more about where it had come from. I knew it was ancient Egyptian, likely from early in the dynasties from what I could make out of the hieroglyphs. However, without access to the museum’s paid academic research databases, I wasn’t finding much more than I already knew. It was unusual that the amulet depicted a human face, since most jewelry from the dynasties featured animals or animal-headed deities, but search engines and the free databases weren’t very reliable.

The rich industrialist who’d donated the piece had been a social recluse, so the information available about him in the Portland histories that I could find online was sparse and far between. Another dead end. I might have more luck with a local historical museum.

If only I could just use the systems at the museum. Or ask my boss. I sat up on the bed. That was an idea. But then I slumped back down. Jack had been right. Lady Ann knew where I worked—she’d gotten me the job, after all—which meant she had pull with someone at the museum. Anyone I knew there would be monitored. Even email was a risk. She’d found me fast enough from just a phone call, and an email would have an IP address of origin attached to it that could be traced back to the house.

Sighing, I put the tablet aside and got ready for bed, chewing over the problem.

---

Continue on to Chapter 16

---