Chapter 56

Zara

Heading back to the car, we were briefly stopped by a new woman stationed at the front desk, who asked us how we enjoyed something called a “free continental breakfast.” She kindly informed us that our lodgings included breakfast, so we paused to wander into a small dining room. Food was laid out buffet style.

“So we just... grab something and eat?” Kieran guessed.

“I think so,” I said. “I think it’s pretty normal in hotels to offer a breakfast for guests.”

“And the food is just left out? Where anyone could tamper with it?” Lucian whispered.

“I don’t think that’s really a concern for a lot of humans,” I said. “Anyway, it should be safe enough, no one knows who you are here.”

“Huh.” Lucian mused on that and picked up a plate. “There may be some advantages to the human side.”

I supposed being able to relax your guard after years of paranoia would be an advantage. We ate quickly then loaded ourselves into the car. I read off the directions my phone provided to Elliot Harris’ office. This time, Kieran drove.

We reached the second human city after another hour of driving. I gave Elliot a call, to make sure he was ready to see us. He was, and sounded excited to hear that I’d found the letter.

“Do you believe this human investigator will be able to find your mother?” Lucian asked.

I shrugged even though he wasn’t looking at me. “I hope he can. I don’t really have any other ideas at this point.”

“Well, he’s got an office an a website and everything,” Kieran said cheerfully. “Humans have to pay for those things, right? So if he wasn’t good at finding things, his clients wouldn’t pay him, and he could not afford the office.”

“Good point,” Lucian said.

“He had good reviews online,” I said. “And you’re right, he wouldn’t be able to operate his own business for long if he wasn’t good at it.”

We found Elliot’s office in a neat row of nearly identical brick buildings, each one pressed up against the next with little to no space between them.

“Where do I park?” Kieran wondered.

Lucian looked around, and pointed to a large gray structure. “There are cars there. It looks like several parking lots stacked on top of each other.”

So Kieran drove over and we learned that the structure was a “parking garage” and that you paid a small fee to rent a parking spot.

“Humans have buildings just to store their vehicles?” Lucian scoffed.

“We have garages,” I pointed out. “This is just a garage that serves a lot of cars. It makes sense, really. You pay for one parking space, and walk where you need to go in the area.”

“But why charge money?” Kieran asked. “Just to use a parking space. The hotel and the restaurant didn’t charge.”

I didn’t have an answer to that, so I just shrugged. Humans were different. I honestly felt lost, despite all my reading and research over the years. It was one thing to read about human cities in books. It was an entirely different thing to walk down the street of one.

Elliot’s office shared a building with several lawyers, and something called a “travel planner.” I knocked on the door labelled with his name, and it opened after only a moment.

Elliot Harris was a tall, slender human man with short, jet black hair and glittering green eyes. Those eyes flickered from me, to the twins, and back.

“Are you Miss Sawyer?” he asked.

“Um, yes,” I said, although we didn’t really use last names that way. “Please, call me Zara.”

“Thank you, Zara, call me Elliot. Please, do come in. May I ask who these fine young men with you are?”

I froze, just for a moment. How did I explain the concept of an Alpha to a human? Would it be suspicious or weird if I didn’t explain at all? Should I just make something up?

“They’re friends, they gave me a ride into town,” I explained. It was half true.

“Ah, all right. Hello, I’m Elliot Harris, private investigator.” He held out a hand towards Lucian, who blinked at him, silently confused.

Kieran took the human’s hand in a firm grip. He must have seen a handshake somewhere before and recognized what Elliot wanted.

“Hello, Elliot, I’m Kieran and this is my brother, Lucian. We’re hoping you can help Zara here find her mother. We’ve searched ourselves, but we just ran out of ideas where to look.”

“Of course I can,” Elliot said, smiling at me. “Finding lost relatives is my specialty. I’d even call it my calling,” he laughed, and I chuckled like I understood the joke. “Please, take a seat.” He returned to his chair behind the desk, and motioned to a pair of chairs facing the desk.

I sat across from him. Lucian and Kieran flanked me, like bodyguards. Elliot glanced up at them, shrugged, and rested his hands together on the desktop.

“So, you found the letter you mentioned before?” Elliot asked.

I nodded, and pulled out the manila folder. “I also found my birth certificate. I’m not sure whether that would be helpful or not?”

“It should be,” Elliot said. “It gives me a starting point.”

He looked at the letter, reading it quickly, and then studied my birth certificate.

“Your father isn’t listed,” he noted, “and it has you listed under your mother’s surname. But you say you lived with your father until his death?”

I nodded. “I’m not sure why he wouldn’t be on the certificate.” Mostly because I didn’t know a single thing about birth certificates.

“Well, that’s unusual, but hardly unheard of,” Elliot said. “Let me just scan these. I imagine you’ll want to hold on to the original copies.”

“Yes, I would,” I said. Those little slips of paper were literally the only thing I had from my mother.

“All right, then,” Elliot said. “Now, before we go any further, I think we do need to lay out our contract. Your expectations, what I can provide, monetary compensation, all of that.”

“Oh, yes, I guess that makes sense,” I said. I knew he wouldn’t work for free. I just had no idea how I would pay him. How much did a private investigator’s services cost?

“Now. I will spend my working days, which are pretty much all of them I have no social life, working to find your mother. Your case is a difficult one; I won’t lie. The odds of finding her with a name, a letter, and a birth certificate are low. That said, I am the best in the business and I deliver results. I will find something for you. I can’t promise a tearful reunion and a happy ending, but I can promise you will know more than you did before you walked into my office.”

“Okay,” I said. “I understand.”

“Now, as for my fee, I don’t charge upfront, and I don’t take a retainer for missing persons cases, that’s for surveillance. So I’ll charge a flat fee. Understand that it’s the same fee no matter what I find.”

“That’s fine,” Lucian spoke up, surprising me. “We’ll cover your fee, plus expenses. I want you to make Zara’s case your top priority.” He paused. “If we paid a retainer, would you not take any other cases?”

“Well, that is certainly a generous offer,” Elliot said, visibly startled. “As it happens I don’t have any prospective clients, so I’m free to accept. Is that all right with you, Zara?”

Why wouldn’t it be? Sure, I’d owe Lucian and Kieran, but I already owed them so much, what difference did some money make? I assumed they could pay. One investigator’s retainer wouldn’t strain the finances of four conquered packs.

I nodded. “Yes, I would really appreciate it.”

“Then you, Miss Zara Sawyer, have hired yourself a detective.”