Page 37 of Whiskers on Kittens

I sighed, wondering how I could help him patch the holes in his soul, all made because of greed. “I will secure justice for each and every one of them, and you will help me do it.”

“But how?”

“Through cleaning house. I have been given the word of an archangel that we will find everything we need to make those behind those deaths fall. And we will be there to make certain they never rise from their knees.”

That much I could do.

TWELVE

“Well, that was blunt.”

The truth changed people, and after I paid the bill for dinner, I drove back to the hotel so Easton could have the time to absorb what I had told him. Some broke. Some became motivated.

I worried about how the dominos would fall—and how I would help him.

He had to take his life back, and I needed to stay back and let him choose his own fate. Once he decided what he would do, I would support him any way I could.

He would either fall or fly. No matter how badly I wanted to spare him the pain of it, I would only weaken him if I intervened. Sometimes, silence was the only right answer.

We made it back to our hotel room before he asked, “The archangel confirmed all of them were murders?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Is there really anything we can do?”

I went to the table, picked up the piles of our paper, and neatly stacked them, alternating the stacks so we could easily resume our work, and set them on the dresser. Once seated, I patted the table across from me to encourage him to sit. “I can promise you this much: I will use every bit of skill and experience bringing major corporations to their knees to make certain the CPD is cleared out of those who are behind those deaths. I can’t promise it will work out for you in terms of maintaining your old position. You may be promoted, moved elsewhere, or roped into the liaison position.” Before he could add anything, I held up a finger to make certain he stayed quiet for a few more moments. “The liaison position would put you in a place where you can make certain this sort of thing doesn’t happen to anyone else. Your job would involve evaluating the CPD for such things and involving the CDC or FBI as needed. I can’t promise you a happy ending. There’s no happy ending because we can’t bring back the dead. But I can promise that if we follow through with this, the deaths end with you. You will be able to get the other targets the help they need before they’re murdered, too. I also can’t promise there won’t be any more deaths before we’re done bringing the giant down, but they will fall.”

“Why are you so confident?”

“An archangel told me we could, so we will. We clean house. We will clean every last one of those buildings of everything. We’ll ride in on broomsticks and shovels, and we’ll literally throw everything into the pits of hell to be sorted by every demon and devil I can coerce into doing my dirty work. And I’ll frame the Devil for it if I’m accused. Do I look like someone capable of opening gateways to the Devil’s many hells? No. But all we need is the evidence, and we will make them fall. All of them. And if I can get links to the CPD to these traffickers, we have a chance to make Chicago truly safe.”

Easton clenched his teeth together. “Wasn’t the CPD already purged?”

“Only of a sex trafficking ring. They did not hunt those who hunt children.”

The wolf exploded into curses, got up, and paced the room.

I understood his fury. The same emotions boiled within me. “Easton, sit down. I know this is hard. I know it’s infuriating. I know your virus loves children as much as mine does. But we do not secure justice for the living or dead raging around and breaking things in the hotel.”

While he snarled and continued to curse, he sat down on the chair.

I leaned back, snagged a sheet of paper from the stack, took a photo of it with my phone, and offered it to him. “Shred that to pieces. I can print out a new copy. And if you want to try to piece it back together after you shred it, I’ll find tape from somewhere.”

He did as told, and his systematic approach to his ripping amused me. Every rip, he folded it so the tear would be nice and neat. For the most part, he aimed for creating perfect little squares.

I sensed I dealt with a perfectionist, one used to a set schedule.

That would challenge my sanity over time, especially as I feared the behavior had been born from trauma rather than natural inclination.

“Better?”

He nodded.

“Our next stop is New Jersey. I will handle the stake out as a cat. I can blend in well with the trees, and the street view of the area showed it looks like a nice place with a lot of trees. Once I confirm the buildings are empty of traffickers, I will come fetch you, and we’ll clean them out one by one. We’ll make use of our rags, we’ll grab anyone left in the buildings, and let the Devil sort the mess out. Our job is simple: we steal every last thing we can get our dirty paws on. Pets, people—they all come. The pets we’ll find good homes for, especially if they’ve been abused. We’ll do the same for the people, once the Devil gets through their Stockholm syndrome symptoms. And the ones who can’t be reformed? Well, that’s the Devil’s problem, too. We’re after evidence on where to find the kittens, and we’ll do as much good in evil ways as we can along the way. I know this doesn’t help much, but we should find something in that mess to help secure justice for those cops.” I hesitated before adding, “And for those left behind.”

Easton tore the paper several more times before going to work stacking the pieces by size. “What does this cleaning house thing mean for us?”

“It means we get our hands a little dirty for the greater good. In reality, we’ll have to jump some loops. Well, we would normally. In this case, I’m going to recruit the Devil and his brothers to get us out of any legal trouble. My job is fine as long as I limit myself to silly misdemeanors that earn me community service time. Generally, you should avoid those, but I’m sure you’ll pick them up from time to time trying to stop me from getting another one added to my record.”