Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

Trina stared at her.

"I-I thought you were Undent?”

“l am,” Natalia said.

“She's as close to being a Viperian as any Undent can be,” Tia said. “The only thing she can't do is envenomate.”

"I've never seen one..."

“Survive?” Tia said.

Trina nodded.

“Uri did a good job," Tia said.

"Who...who does Alfie think is going to make him happy?” Cora said.

She sniffed and coughed to clear her throat.

"We can't say. Like any legal system we can't convict until there's a trial,” Tia said. “We're still gathering evidence.”

Cora suddenly looked very tired.

“I-I thought he was finally coming around. I was trying so hard to please him,” Cora said.

She sniffed and daintily blew her nose.

"Cora, we need your help,” Tia said.

She sounded as if she was choosing her words carefully.

“I tried so hard. This is devastating...” she said.

More tears welled up in her eyes.

“I'm always here for you,” Trina said, leaning forward.

"You are such a good woman,” Cora said.

“Cora, we really need your help. We need to follow somethings through to see who the guilty parties really are. It's possible that Alfie is just a tool. Just like they wanted to use you. We have to make sure before we start assigning guilt.”

Cora looked up from her tissue.

“Don’t turn your back on him yet,” Tia said. “We could be wrong in our suspicions.”

Natalia recognized the tactic that Tia was using, working on Cora’s emotions.

“What do I do?”

“You must act like you normally do. Go back to work. Go home. Continue to pretend you're going on the trip. Don't tell Alfie anything.”

"We can stay busy in your room. You don't even have to face him,” Trina said. “It's pretty much how it's been the last week anyway. I'll bring your dinner up.”

“He's so busy with his work and things,” Cora said.

Natalia wanted to tell her to stop making excuses for him, but she held her tongue.

“Tomorrow, let him take the luggage to the ship like he wants. But you are not to go to the jail. You stay home. Trina, you make sure she stays home. If you can get more people to stay with you two, the better.”

Trina nodded.

The limo pulled into the parking lot for the boat landing. Natalia could see that there were now cars and trucks on the ice. There were a lot more fishing shanties. A sign was now up showing the ice thickness at eight point five inches. There was also a snow fence positioned around the curling sheets to protect them

“You are a very strong woman, Cora,” Tia said. “You work wonders with so many people. You need to take that strength and hold strong.”

Trina nodded in affirmation.

They sat in silence for a long time before Cora spoke.

“I need to act as if everything will happen. Tomorrow I work half the day, then go home to make sure everything is ready. Alfie and Trina will load the car, and he will take the luggage to the ship.” "Whose car is he using?” Tia said.

“He said he would borrow one of the Council men’s cars. He didn’t say which one. He'll take that to the ship... to the loading terminal... whatever it's called. Then I'll take our car to the jail. It would sit there until we returned. That's as safe as our garage. P-plus, I think he believes Trina drives it and if it's at the jail, then she won't have access to it. He hates it when anyone else drives our car.”

“I've always had a friend drive me on errands,” Trina said. “I've only driven your car once, and you were with me.”

“Can you do this?” Tia said.

Cora took a deep breath and nodded.

"With Trina’s help, I can pull this off.”

“Thank you, that makes one less person I have to protect,” Natalia said.

Cora looked at her strangely.

"You?"

“Women protect women,” Natalia said. “We want to end this with no one hurt and the troublemakers in jail. This is affecting more than just you.”

“There were rumors that Uri stole the money and because of that there have been a lot of people against him. The police have been harassing him. The sanguine tea shortage was actually aimed at him and Nattie,” Tia said.

“And has he been cleared?”

“Yes,” Tia said. “He's tracked. Were you aware that the tracking system went down? Uri made sure others tracked him just for protection.”

Cora nodded.

“I had forgotten that he is one of the tracked persons.”

“I am, too,” Natalia said. “Does Alfie track you?”

At first, Cora looked affronted at such an idea, then her eyes opened wide as if a thought had hit her.

“He did give me a new bracelet a few weeks back. Always wanted to see me wear it. Oh my word. I just packed it in my bag this morning as a precaution. It's not wise to show too much jewelry on a ship.”

She pulled out her phone.

“I have access to the tracking system,” she said. “I never really looked at it. It's not really what I need to do for my job, but my department gave it to me anyway.”

She fumbled through the app on her phone. Finally, she pulled up a screen. She froze, staring. “What?” Tia and Natalia said at the same time.

“II see a blip at the house. It's identified as me.”

She looked up in astonishment, then her eyes narrowed.

"Why that dirty little shyster,” she said. “Trina, we have work to do. Take me back to the courthouse. I'll finish my day early. We have some repacking to do. If he's going to load up my luggage, I certainly don’t want to send anything that I want to lose. Fill the suitcases with garbage. That little rat.”

Tia smiled over Cora's head at Natalia.

“Courthouse, Bonnie,” Tia said.

The limo moved.

“I'll get started the moment I get home,” Trina said while she looked at Natalia. “Can you spare Mag or Zena?"

“Of course. I'll text them.”

Natalia texted Mag. She received an immediate reply.

"Mag said she would come over with Kate. Kate has the car, you see. We only need one maid, and Zena does most of the cooking anyway.”

Trina smiled.

“We'll make it into a bit of a party,” Trina said to Cora

Cora pulled a mirror out of her purse. She dabbed her eyes and reapplied lipstick.

"A walk in the cold will cause any swelling to vanish,” Tia said in a soft voice.

Cora nodded.

They dropped her off at the courthouse. Cora seemed very focused.

“Thank you, Trina,” Tia said. “I'm counting on you to keep things together.”

"With Mag around, we'll do fine. Alfie's a bit of a sourpuss anyway and will stay in his office.” They dropped off Trina and the limo headed to the bank. Tia leaned back.

"Oh, my word,” Tia said, looking relieved. “That could have been disastrous.”

“I know I couldn“t have done this without you,” Natalia said.

“You did wonderful. You might be a good candidate for the Council. The first Undent.”

“I believe the only openings will be for men. You need to take Sherri's place permanently. With Grazie handling the children, you have the time.”

Tia looked thoughtful. Natalia couldn't tell if they were good thoughts or not.

The limo pulled up to the bank.

“Thanks, Bonnie,’ Natalia said.

Tia walked with her to the entrance.

“That's why everyone likes you,” Tia said. “You're polite and you thank everyone.”

“Maids and limo drivers are still human,” she said.

Tia laughed.

“That's why I like you, too. Have a good day, Nattie.”

Natalia walked up the stairs. She was relieved that the ladies in her department were doing their jobs without supervision. In her office, she took off her coat and put on her work shoes, then toured around the office, stopping to talk to everyone and see how they were doing, and not just about work.

She felt as if she had just finished and finally got to her office, when Uri arrived.

“Lunch,” he said.

"I feel like I just got to work.”

"You still have to eat.”

She changed shoes, and he helped her put her coat on. They took the elevator down. The limo was waiting.

“Bonnie, we're running you ragged today,’ Natalia said.

“My job," she said.

“We owe her a raise,” she said.

Uri smiled.

“If 1 paid her I would. Remember, she works for the Council. She is not our employee.”

“I'll put in a recommendation through Tia.”

“So how did this morning go?”

“We talked with Trina and Cora. Cora is on board. Poor woman. She was so upset.”

“She deserves better,” Uri said. “Some old bachelor will nab her up.”

Natalia told him of the ring and the bracelet, and that Alfie was tracking Cora.

"Good thing she wasn't wearing it this morning.”

"Yes, it would look a little suspicious why she drove to the lake.”

"Why did you go to the lake?”

“Just a place to go and look while we chatted.”

“How do the sheet looks?”

“A fence was around the area and no one was there. Cars are on the ice now.”

“This cold weather snap is making ice.”

The limo stopped by Coopers. Lunch was quiet. Alfie and Cora didn't show up.

“Since you were late, we'll make this quick,” he said. “I told Ursula and she said not to worry about it. You're a good employee.”

In a short time, he was walking her back to her office.

“Q 5 tonight, since tomorrow is the critical day. I'll come down to get you at the end of the day.” She nodded and did another tour of the office. Everything was running smoothly.

“I'm getting behind on homework,” she said to herself when she sat back at her desk.

She pulled out her tablet and decided to spend the afternoon studying.

At five, Uri came down to get her. She waited until they were in the limo to talk.

"Mag and Katie are going to spend some time over at Cora's. So we will be short staffed.”

He nodded.

“Not that we really need three, but they work better in groups. I definitely needed three when I was maintaining the two houses.”

“Would you let one of them go?”

“Not that I would want to. I know Kate isn’t doing too much. But that might change with the baby. Having staff that can rotate around allowing days off is nice. Always having someone around is a luxury, but we can afford it.”

The ride home was quiet. Natalia looked forward to a peaceful evening.

"We'll do some knife work when we get home,” he said, dashing her vision

“We can't have just one night of doing nothing?”

“I want you prepared,” he said.

Natalia had no rebuttal because she knew what he meant. She knew she was going to be part of whatever was going to happen on Wednesday.

“You won't be part of the action, just ears and eyes,” he said, “but I still want you prepared. I would rather over plan than under.”

She nodded.

Only Zena was at the house. Dinner was fast. Afterward, Natalia dismissed Zena for the night.

“I'm quite capable of getting tea and cookies,” she said to Zena.

Natalia changed into the jeans and long shirt that contained the knives. She practiced until nine. “That's it. Bed,” she said.

Her arm was tired.

They did a quick snack of tea and cookies before retiring for the evening.

She fell asleep quickly. Uri woke her at three.

Without a word, they headed to the quiet room.

His phone lit up.

“Uri and Nattie, here.”

Everyone else acknowledged their presence.

“Nattie, tell us about Cora.”

Natalia gave a summary of what happened.

“She's onboard with us.”

"So we know where Alfie will be,” Mirren said. “We know where Kasseen is. What's Peter's involvement?”

There was silence.

"Was anybody focused on Peter?”

“We dropped the ball on that one,” Moralis said.

“He's the only unknown,” Uri said.

“We will take that into consideration,” Mirren said. “Here is our plan for tomorrow. I mean today. I want Moralis and Uri at the port after work. Uri, untracked.”

"Yes, sir. I'll be spending the night at home.”

“I didn't question this before, but what do you mean tracked or untracked? Uri, you're always tracked.”

"Yes, Tia. I am tracked.”

“I have gifted Uri some flexibility due to what is happening,” Mirren said. “No more said.”

"Yes, sir,” Tia said.

“Grazie will be on Sherri watch.”

"Yes, sir”

“Tia will go with me to the jail. Corean will be there. Sophie, I want you both at the Women's meeting and at the port. You're the best for being undetected. This is especially important since we're dealing with other Viperians.”

“I can't be in two places at once,” Sophie said. “I'll be at the port.”

“I'll put up a camera at the Women's center, so we can check in,” Mina said.

“Second best. That will have to do. I'm more interested in the men than the women.”

“Since Kareen is onboard, we can ask her to be our eyes and ears at the meeting,” Tia said.

“I forgot about her. Do that instead,” Mirren said.

“Got it.”

“Where's Nattie going to be?” Uri said.

“Shit, we have three pregnant ladies and we're putting them where they don’t belong,” Mirren said. “I figured port to be eyes and ears,” Uri said

“I might want her to start with us at the jail,” Mirren said. “She's been in on this. She might know the right questions to ask once Anna is bitten.”

“I'm going to agree with that one,” Natalia said.

“That puts Grazie at Sherri's. Myself, Nattie, Tia and Corean at the jail. Corean will do the bite. Moralis, Uri, Sophie and Mina will be at the port. The port people need to be there and in position by six when Alfie arrives. Or earlier. We'll be calling the shots as things happen.”

“When will you arrive?” Uri said.

“That all depends on Anna. We'll leave Corean behind. I'm assuming we're heading to the port.” "An observation...” Uri said. “Three Councilmen and three ships. I think I know where we'll find Peter. Just not which ship.”

“You might be right. Something to take into consideration. At least we can narrow it down to two. Alfie is aiming for the steamer.”

“I did confirm that the steamer was leaving at nine-thirty,” Tia said. “As far as someone could say at the shipyard, that's the only ship leaving today.”

"Any questions? Concerns? Did we forget anything?”

There was more than five seconds of silence.

“Keep your phones charged and on silent,” Mirren said. “Text to the group any observations. Get some sleep everybody.”

The call ended.

Uri sat there and didn’t move.

“Peter bothers me,” he said.

“Because we didn't investigate further with him?”

"Why would he deliver a sliver letter to Sherri that said Love, Kasseen? That she then gives to you to deliver?”

Natalia shrugged.

“Not just anyone can make sliver letters,” he said.

“It took you a long time to do that simple one.”

He nodded.

“They are definitely not a spur of the moment form of communication. They must be thought out.” “The one with the double envelope must have been a tough one.”

“Extra tough.”

“Who of the men could do that sort of thing?”

"Alfie would have access to the supplies, just like we did at the jail. Not all Viperians end up in a Viperian jail so that sort of stuff gets confiscated in Undent jails. But he shakes a little. He doesn't have the steady hand needed.”

"Kasseen seemed pretty able. He moved pretty fast at the ship that night.”

"He could have made up that letter before he was killed. But why have Peter give it to Sherri?” "Because he went missing?”

"Why is Peter involved at all?”

"Good questions that we will hopefully find the answers to later today. We need some sleep.” "Make sure you carry all your knives tomorrow. Even the one strapped to your arm.”

She nodded.

He rose and led her to bed

Natalia now found herself worried because Uri was worried.