Making the Rent the Hard Way - 25

 

"Looks like I'm interrupting something," a low, female voice said, her words tinged with laughter.

"Yep," Luca replied, not in the least fazed as he turned to look at her. "You must be Orchid."

"That would be me." She was petite, maybe five-two at best, with unbelievably bright orchid-colored hair and eyes to match.

"What the hell kind of wolf are you?" I asked in disbelief.

She grinned. "I'm not a wolf, but I am a canid. A fox, to be exact. The coloring? Dye and contacts."

"Jeez. Okay. Did Rocky tell you what we need?"

"Other than my skills? Nope. So, lay it on me."

We did. When we finished, she nodded, saying to Luca, "Give me an image. And don't go anywhere. I want to find you when I'm done."

"Hang on," I replied. "We're not spending the rest of the night in this alley."

She glanced at Luca. "You got a safe place to stay? And do you trust me enough to show me?"

"Rocky trusts you, so yeah, sure," he replied. They stared at each other for a long second, then she vanished. We left the alley right after her, ending up back at Luca's hideout.

I started toward one of the chairs, only to find Luca in front of me. I had no illusions why, so I wasn't the least surprised when he said, "Let's finish what we started behind the bar."

That was fine with me. I was still wound up from our visit to Farnham's house. Like the previous night, the sex was good. We seemed to mesh well on that level. The only fly in the ointment was the fact I kept expecting Orchid to drop in at any minute, wanting to know if she was interrupting something. Thankfully, she didn't. In fact, she didn't show until around four in the morning.

Luca and I were asleep when there was a knock on the bedroom door. We both shot up, ready to take on whomever, until Luca said, "It's her. It's safe."

We dressed quickly then went into the living room to find her seated in one of the chairs, smirking at us.

"Don't say it. Because you didn't. Interrupt us, that is," I said.

She laughed. "I know." Then she sobered. "I found a lot of information. Photographed it all, so he won't know I got into the safe. Do you have a computer here?"

Luca got his laptop so she could download what she'd gotten. Then we read through it. We found out which of the mayoral candidates was Farnham's stooge, a man by the name of Dexter Tipton, who was on the city planning commission. A good start, as far as I was concerned. There was also a list of humans who were working with Farnham. Some of them were, shall we say, less than savory types. Small-time gangsters, to be exact.

"What do you want to bet he's convinced them they'll get a share of the pie when he takes over the city," Luca said.

"They'd be stupid to believe him," Orchid said, rolling her eyes. "But then, most punks are just that, so I'm betting you're right, Luca."

There were two damning reports on the incumbent mayor that I had the feeling Farnham planned on releasing when it got closer to Election Day.

"I wonder how much truth there is in them?" Luca said pensively.

"Probably fifty-fifty. I suspect it wouldn't be that hard to come up with things that look like the truth. If Farnham waits until the last minute, the mayor won't have time to refute them."