"I think all the people involved in that are dead now." Sean sighed. "I don't know what he's going to accomplish."

  "Yes, but he doesn't know they're all dead, and there is really no way I can tell him. Not without involving you further, and then there's the whole issue as to why this all happened. That's not exactly something he'd believe."

  "It's only been three months, Sean," Roxy said and put a hand on his leg. "It'll probably be another three until they finally drop the case."

  "Exactly," Anthony agreed. "They know I was Sampson's attorney, and I've told them about our history, coming from Angola. Odds are they'll figure it was somehow related to that, seeing as the bodies of the men in the van were all foreigners."

  "So they've connected the van to Sampson?"

  "They were able to match ballistics on one of the bullets in his body with a gun recovered at the crash."

  "When did that happen?"

  "Over a month ago. I used my legal relationship with Sampson to get them to release that much information to me. Which reminds me, you need to tell your mother you have a lawyer, and she needs to hire one as well, in case they bring her in for questioning. Once they discover she's back in town, of course."

  "Oh, shit," Sean swore, "I hadn't even thought about that. You're representing her; just add it to my bill. I'll let her know when I get home."

  "We're going to have to come up with a story for her," Roxy said. "Because they are definitely going to want to talk with her, seeing as she was probably the last person to see Sampson alive."

  Sean nodded, considering.

  "It would probably be best if she volunteered to talk to the police," Anthony said. "Otherwise they're liable to think she was involved and try to hang everything on her."

  "It's bad enough I got all this other stuff going on," Sean grumbled, shaking his head, "but now I have this to deal with again, too. Okay, I'll figure something out. Anything else?"

  "Oh, I think that's probably more than enough!" Anthony chuckled.

  "I think you're right about that," Sean said. "Now, about that cleaning business we're looking to start…"

  They spent the next hour going over the paperwork. Anthony had his secretary type up and print out several legal documents for Sean to sign at the end of it and promised to file all the legal forms necessary.

  "I'll also contact your friend Steve's lawyer and get moving on the casino partnership and paperwork."

  "Thanks, Anthony," Sean said, standing up and reaching across the desk to shake hands.

  "That's what I'm here for," Anthony said with a smile, "besides, you're not only paying me a small fortune, you're making all of my lycan clients very happy."

  "I am?"

  Anthony nodded. "Not having to worry about the magic users in town has been a huge weight off of a lot of folks' shoulders."

  "Huh, thanks."

  "Why, Sean! Nice to see you again!" Detective Schumer said as they left the building Anthony Barton's office was in.

  "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long," Sean said, looking at the Detective leaning against the fender of their van.

  "Nonsense," the detective said. "I heard a rumor your mother is back in town?"

  Sean nodded and smiled. "Yes, she came back home a short while ago. Thank god, she's well. Anthony, my lawyer, said you'd probably want to talk to her, so I asked him to call you and set it up. It honestly never occurred to me."

  "Your mother is a material witness, Sean. Of course we'd want to talk to her."

  "Then talk to Anthony, he's representing her now, too, he can set it up."

  "I have a better idea," Detective Schumer said with a smile, "how about I just follow you home, and I can talk to her right now."

  Roxy turned to Cali. "Go inside and ask Anthony if he'd like to accompany us back home."

  "Okay!" Cali said and ran back inside.

  "Oh, I hardly think that's necessary!" Detective Schumer said.

  Roxy snorted. "You forget, I'm a sheriff's kid. I know better than to talk to a detective without a lawyer present."

  A couple of minutes later, Anthony came out with Cali, and he didn't look at all happy.

  "Detective, I must protest, this is highly unusual! I was already setting up a time to interview Mrs. Valens when Cali here came and got me."

  "Eh," Sean sighed, "let's just get it over with. Do you need a ride, Anthony? Or do you want to follow us?"

  "I'll ride with you, if you can give me a ride back; my car's in the shop today."

  Sean nodded. "Okay, let's go."

  "You better call her and tell her we're coming," Roxy said as she started the van and pulled out of the parking spot.

  "That and I need to warn Oak not to let the PD see anything we don't want them to see," Sean agreed.

  "What are you worried about them seeing?" Anthony asked.

  "I've got about three hundred lycans living up there at the moment while we wait for the building downtown to be repaired. Also, we have a few howitzers and some mortars, but those are normally kept under cover."

  Pulling out his phone, Sean called his Mom.

  "Sean, what's wrong?" Louise said when she answered the phone.

  "Nothing's wrong, Mom, but the detective investigating Sampson's murder wants to talk to you, and well, I agreed to let him come up to the house and interview you, rather than have Barton set it up down at the station."

  "Barton?"

  "He's your lawyer. Anthony Barton. He was Sampson's lawyer, he's my lawyer now, and while he's a mundane, he knows about everything."

  "I see," Louise said and thought a moment. "What does this detective know?"

  "About us? Nothing."

  "What does he know about Sampson?"

  "I told him about Sampson being from Angola, and that I thought he was a commando there or something. Beyond that, not much. Well, I also told him he worked for Dad, was like a father to me, and we'd known him forever."

  Louise nodded to herself and thought for a few moments. "Okay, I think I know what to tell him."

  "And that is?" Sean asked.

  "Sean, it's not nice to peek at the presents, you know that," Louise told him.

  "Mom, this isn't Christmas!" Sean said with an exasperated sigh.

  "No, but I still want you to look surprised. I'll warn Oak and the others you're coming and bringing the police with you."

  "Thanks, Mom," Sean said and hung up.

  "Your mother any good at telling stories?" Anthony asked.

  "She spent the last twelve years dealing cards at a casino."

  "Oh! I guess there's nothing to worry about then!" Anthony laughed.

  When they got home, the first thing Sean noticed was there was no one at the front gate, which was open. The next thing he noticed was half the cars were missing from the parking area.

  After they stopped and got out of the cars, Sean walked over to the detective's car with Anthony, while the girls headed for the front door.

  "What's with all the buildings?" Detective Schumer asked as he got out of his car, looking around.

  "Temporary housing for the people who were living in my building when it burned down," Sean said.

  "Looks awfully permanent for 'temporary'," Detective Schumer commented.

  Sean shrugged. "Costs the same either way, so I figured I might as well do it right."

  "That's a lot of money for a kid who just dropped out of college, Sean."

  "Detective," Anthony said, butting in, "I thought we were here so you could ask Mrs. Valens some questions? Sean here has done nothing illegal. He agreed to this out of an overabundance of good faith. Please stop looking for problems where there aren't any."

  Detective Schumer nodded, but Sean could see a skeptical look in his eye.

  Going inside the house, Sean's mother was sitting in the living room. She stood up and Sean gave her a hug, then introduced her to Detective Schumer.

  "Mr. Barton," Louise said and nodded to Anthony, "it was nice of you to come."

  "Anytime, Mrs. Valens. Now, before the detective starts asking questions, I want to make sure you know this is all voluntary, and as your council, I will of course be advising you. You're not required to answer any of the detective's questions, but I would advise you to be honest with those you do."

  "Of course." Louise nodded, sat back down on the couch, and patted the spot next to her. "Please, sit with me, Anthony."

  Sean showed Detective Schumer to an overstuffed chair on the other side of the room. Apparently somebody had been decorating, and he hadn't even noticed. He wondered how much that was going to cost him. He really needed to go over the books with Deidre again.

  Detective Schumer pulled out a pocket-sized tape recorder and, turning it on, he set it on the table between him and Sean's mom. He took a moment to give the date and time, his current location, and the names of the people in the room. Once that was done, he smiled and turned to Louise.

  "Mrs. Valens," Detective Schumer started, "you're one of the last people we know who saw Mr. Sampson alive. I'd like to know about that. I'd also like to know where you went, and where you've been, for the last several months."

  Louise nodded. "Detective, have you had any opportunity to look into Gregory's background? That is, prior to his coming here to the United States?"

  Detective Schumer nodded. "After talking with your son and Mr. Barton here, I talked to Immigration and Naturalization. Apparently Mr. Sampson was a refugee from the fighting going on over in Angola?"

  Louise nodded. "Yes. He had been in one of the areas where they had been fighting for some time. As I understand it, parts of Angola were quite a mess in the eighties and nineties. Anyway, Gregory was thought to be part of one of those factions, and he may well have been. I never asked, to be honest. He fled here to the United States after the area he lived in fell to one of the other factions, and they murdered his wife and children."

  "Okay, and what does that have to do with any of this?"

  "Apparently, after the death of his family, Gregory did some…things. He wasn't very clear on exactly what he'd done, but when he came to me at work, he told me the people who had murdered his family had tracked him down, and they were here, in Reno. They thought I was his wife or girlfriend, and Sean was his son."

  Louise shrugged. "I know more than a few people had been under that misconception over the years since my husband Ben's death. So he picked me up, drove me to the airport, then went to find Sean."

  "And where did you go?"

  "I went to Ireland, which is where my parents live, and where I grew up prior to meeting my husband and immigrating here myself."

  Sean tried not to look too shocked, but he had to admit he was impressed with how well his mother lied to the detective while sitting there looking properly concerned.

  "Why didn't you wait for your son to arrive at the airport?"

  "Because Gregory had called me and told me Sean wasn't at his apartment, he was in class. He said he'd meet him when he got out, seeing as he had no idea which building Sean was in, or what class he was attending, and I should get on my flight, he'd book Sean on a later one."

  "And you were okay with that?"

  "Gregory had already told me he'd killed two of them in his house, and my house had already been searched. I couldn't stay at the airport much longer; they don't care much for people loitering there these days. It would be safer for all of us if I left; I was confident Gregory would be able to protect my son.

  "Seeing as my Sean is here, I think my confidence in Gregory was well-placed; however, I'm still upset that he lost his life while doing so. Gregory was a wonderful man, Detective. He'd been one of my husband's closest and best friends for many years, and he remained a true friend even after my husband's death."

  "Were you and Mr. Sampson romantically involved, Mrs. Valens?"

  Sean noticed the rueful look on his mother's face.

  "No, Detective, we were not. Our backgrounds were too different, though lately, there are times I wonder if perhaps I should have tried anyway. He gave his life to save my son, and sadly, there is nothing I can do now to reward him for it."

  Sean gave a small nod of his head and sat back in his own seat. He listened as the detective asked a bunch more questions about things leading up to the day his mother had left, what Sampson had told her about the two dead men, and a slew of other things.

  Anthony stopped her a couple of times to clarify some of the questions, and to whisper some advice about answering them in her ear. Anthony only shut the detective down twice before he was done.

  "Okay, Mrs. Valens," Detective Schumer said, standing up. "I want to thank you for cooperating. This does shed some light on things. We'd thought this was about drugs, but we'd wondered why none had turned up at any of the crime scenes.

  "I guess I'm done here. Again, thank you all for cooperating." Detective Schumer picked up his tape recorder, then walked over to the door and went outside.

  Anthony stood up and motioned to Sean to follow him as he followed the detective out of the house.

  "Detective!" Anthony called, stopping Schumer at his car.

  "Yes, Mr. Barton?"

  "As Gregory Sampson's attorney, and since he's no longer with us, I think it's safe to divulge a few things that might help with this investigation."

  "And just what might those things be?"

  "As you already know, I came here with Gregory. I was eighteen years old, and I had my two younger sisters with me. Gregory helped us escape and helped us get settled here. That was why he became my client after I finished law school. You see, I owed him for saving our lives."

  "I see," Detective Schumer nodded, "though I don't see what bearing that has on this case."

  "It wasn't about drugs, detective; it was about diamonds. My family, Gregory's family, we were involved with one of the larger diamond mines. When we came here, Gregory had a fair amount of them on him, which he used to cover the costs of our travel and settling here."

  "How many diamonds are we talking about?" Detective Schumer asked.

  "Back then, it was about ten million dollars worth, but just getting out of the country, he gave away almost all of them in bribes. By the time we got here, I don't think he had many left. The people at customs didn't even look at them twice, it was so little."

  "So you think they were here looking for the diamonds?"

  "Ten million in uncut stones back then would be worth much more today," Anthony said. "It makes a lot more sense to me that they were after the diamonds. If it was just revenge, they wouldn't have bothered to search the homes, would they?"

  Detective Schumer thought about that a moment.

  "And why have to waited until now to tell me this?"

  "I had to discuss it with the ethics commission," Anthony told him. "My client may be dead, but he was still my client. They only recently told me that, because those things happened prior to my becoming a lawyer, and my client was now dead, they didn't see any conflicts with my providing this information to the police."

  Detective Schumer sighed and shook his head. "Lawyers. Would it be too much to ask for you to write that up and send it to me? It would look a lot better in the case files with your letterhead on it."

  "Of course, Detective. I'll get right on it."

  Shaking his head again, Detective Schumer got in his car and drove off.

  "How much of that was true?" Sean asked, watching the detective's car drive down the road.

  "Well, actually, I had the diamonds, not Sampson. How do you think I afforded law school? But the truth is, I really did have to give away millions of dollars in bribes to get us out of there. My family owned the diamond mine. Barton isn't even the name I was born with. I changed it when we got here. But as Sampson told me back then, 'it's only money, and you can't spend it dead'."

  Sean nodded. "Hopefully this will make Schumer happy and he'll leave us alone."

  "Hopefully," Anthony agreed.

  Stewart's Day of Reckoning

  Stewart smiled as he finally got the last spell to settle into the ring.

  "Finally!" he cheered and leaned back in his seat.

  "Congratulations, Master," April whispered in his ear as her hands massaged his tense shoulders.

  Stewart sighed happily. "I've told you, you don't have to call me that," Stewart whispered back to her. They were the only people in the council workshop. His grandfather was the only real enchanter in the area and had his own place. As enchanting was hard and took a special talent, Stewart had the entire place to himself whenever he was here.

  "I thought perhaps you might like to celebrate?" April giggled in his ear. Honestly, she really liked Stewart. He treated her a lot better than she'd been trained to expect. He'd also put several magic rings on her fingers, rings she'd watched him make right here!

  He wouldn't let anyone else touch her, he wouldn't let his father anywhere near her, and though she knew how to cook, he refused to let her cook for his father, instead ordering dinner delivered every night.

  And on top of all of that, he was a decent lover. So she intended to spoil him every chance she got.

  Stewart smiled as April came around and sat in his lap. She was wearing a short skirt, a short top that barely covered her breasts, and nothing else. She apparently liked sex with him even more than Rachel had, and Rachel had liked it a lot. His stamina had definitely been improving, because she'd leave him sweating and gasping for breath three or four times a day.

  Sliding his hands up under her shirt, he cupped her taut, perfect breasts. Rachel had been a looker, there was no doubt about that, but April was hot, smokin' hot. He wondered how much his father had paid for her, as it was obvious she'd been raised to be nothing more than a rich man's sex toy.

  Oh, he was so going to miss her when they came and took her away! Unlike the others, he'd already accepted the inevitable. But he'd enjoy what he had for today.

  "Stewart! You in here?"

  Stewart swore, pulled his hands out from under April's shirt, and re-buckled his belt, which she'd already undone.