The Renegade Hunter

"Jo, wait."

Jo glanced over her shoulder to see Sam chasing after her, but the hallway was empty other than the two men stationed outside the door. She was surprised Nicholas wasn't trying to stop her, but glad as well. It had been hard as hell to walk away from him once. Jo wasn't sure she could do it again.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, reaching her side and matching her stride as Jo started down the stairs.

"I need to talk to anyone and everyone who knew Annie."

"Who's Annie?" Sam asked.

"Nicholas's first wife. I think this all has to do with her."

"What does?" Sam asked. "That woman he killed fifty years ago?"

"He didn't kill her," Jo snapped, pausing halfway down the stairs to turn on her furiously.

"Okay." Sam held up her hands soothingly. "Don't bite my head off. Just tell me what's happening and I'll do what I can to help you."

"I would never bite you," Jo assured her quietly, but found herself staring at Sam's throat and noting the way the vein was visible when she turned her head a certain way. Frowning, Jo said, "I think I can hear your blood rushing in your veins."

Sam's eyes widened and then grew wary, and she suggested, "Maybe you should have some blood while you explain things to me. Mortimer said you'd need a lot of it for a while."

Jo tore her gaze away from Sam's throat, forcing herself to look her in the eyes as she admitted, "I don't know how to-I mean I'm not sure I could drink-"

"It's okay." Sam patted her arm and then urged her to continue down the stairs. "We'll take this slowly."

"I don't have time to go slowly," Jo said unhappily. "If I don't find out what happened all those years ago they'll stake and bake Nicholas... But I'm sure he didn't kill that woman, Sam."

"Okay. We'll sort it out then," Sam assured her as they stepped off the stairs. "Blood first though."

Jo remained silent as Sam led her to the kitchen, but her eyes widened when Sam opened the refrigerator door to reveal it was filled half with food and half with bags of blood. "That wasn't here the night of the party."

"No. Mortimer moved it out to the garage the night you guys stayed over. We didn't want you and Alex opening the fridge in search of orange juice and freaking when you found this instead," Sam admitted wryly as she took out a bag. "We moved it back the next day."

"Hmm," Jo murmured as Sam closed the door and turned to her. When she offered her the bag, Jo hesitated and then said, "A glass maybe?"

"I don't know," Sam said with a grimace. "The men all just pop it to their fangs."

Jo immediately ran her tongue around her mouth, but grimaced. "No fangs yet. Maybe it takes a couple of days for them to show up. Nicholas said I was still turning."

"They aren't out all the time," Sam said with a faint smile.

Jo nodded. Nicholas didn't always have fangs. In fact, she'd seen his only once, when he'd shown them to her to convince her he was a vampire. Sighing, she asked, "Well, how do they bring them on then?"

"The smell of blood will do it if you're hungry enough," Bricker announced, bringing their attention to the fact that he had followed them and was now standing in the doorway. Straightening when they glanced to him, he lifted his finger to his mouth as he crossed the room. Jo thought he was biting a nail or something, but when he reached her, he withdrew his finger and she saw a flash of his fangs. She then glanced down to the finger he was holding out, her eyes widening as she saw the bead of blood on the tip.

Bricker had bitten his finger, Jo realized as he moved the digit closer. The faint scent of blood reached her nostrils, and she couldn't help but inhale it more deeply. Much to her surprise, there was an immediate shifting in her mouth. Reaching up, Jo felt her teeth with both fingers and tongue, her eyes going wide as she felt the pointy fangs now protruding from her upper jaw.

"There we go," Bricker said with satisfaction as he took the bag of blood from Sam. "Open up."

When Jo opened her mouth, he popped the bag to her teeth, grabbing the back of her head as he did to keep her from instinctively jerking away. Once she'd relaxed and reached to hold the bag, he released her and stepped away, saying, "There, now just relax and let your teeth do all the work."

Jo relaxed, surprised at how quickly the bag emptied, but the moment she pulled away the empty bag, Bricker was handing her another.

"Your body is still turning," he explained as she reluctantly took the bag. "You'll need a lot of blood for the next little while. Otherwise you won't recognize the symptoms of hunger and might end up biting the nearest mortal."

"That would be me," Sam muttered.

"Yes." Bricker grinned at her, but then turned back to Jo and said, "I'd recommend four bags now, and another three before dawn."

Jo sighed, but popped the bag to her still-extended teeth. She actually felt a little better after the first bag. She'd been feeling dried out and a little slow in the thinking area since waking, but the one bag had eased some of that. Jo needed all her faculties if she wanted to save Nicholas.

The phone rang as Jo waited for this second bag to empty.

Sam started to move to answer it, but paused when the ringing stopped before she could reach it.

"Mortimer must have grabbed it," she said with a shrug, turning back.

"Here you go."

Jo glanced around as Bricker held out a third bag and then glanced down with surprise to see that the second bag was empty. She tore it away and traded the empty bag for the fresh one and slapped that to her teeth as well. It seemed to go just as quickly as the first two, and Jo had just traded it for the fourth bag when they heard the front door open. Bricker moved to the kitchen door to look up the hall, and she saw the surprise cross his face.

"Thomas," he said, and disappeared from view as he started up the hall, but they heard him say, "What are you doing here?"

They also heard someone answer, "Bastien said Nicholas is back on the radar and I wanted to know how he is and how close you are to catching him. Bastien wouldn't answer any questions though and said I'd have to come out and ask Mortimer myself."

Thomas. Nicholas's brother, Jo realized and unthinkingly ripped the half-empty bag from her teeth, and then cursed when blood squirted everywhere. She tossed the bag in the sink, but didn't bother about the mess she'd made and hurried up the hall toward the two men in the entry.

Apparently Sam wasn't too concerned about the mess either, because she was hard on her heels.

"I thought you were in England with your life mate," Bricker was saying, a worried frown on his face.

"We travel back and forth a lot on the company jet. It's only seven hours," Thomas answered, glancing curiously to Jo and Sam as they stopped behind Bricker. Raising his eyebrows in question, he said, "Hello?"

"You're Nicholas's brother, Thomas?" Jo asked grimly, which made his eyebrows rise even further. They drew down in anger though when she added, "The brother who didn't doubt for a minute that he was guilty of murder and who won't even acknowledge he ever existed?"

Turning to Bricker, Thomas asked, "Who the hell is she?"

"Nobody," Bricker said at once, taking his arm and trying to urge him toward the door. "You really shouldn't be here, Thomas. Let us deal with-"

"I'm not going anywhere until I find out what the hell's going on with Nicholas," Thomas said grimly, shaking off his hand.

"Oh, like you care," Jo said with disgust. "You and everyone else who were supposed to love him turned your backs on Nicholas fifty years ago."

Thomas stared at her with amazement and then turned to Bricker again. "Who is she? And why the hell is she barking at me like an annoying Chihuahua?"

"More like a German shepherd I'd say, and her bite is worse than her bark," Nicholas said wearily. They all turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs, peering down at Jo affectionately. And then he frowned and said, "Speaking of which, where is Charlie?"

Jo's eyes widened incredulously as she realized she'd not thought to wonder that herself. She turned to Sam.

"He's at Anders's place," Sam whispered.

Jo's eyes widened even further at this news, but before she could ask why, Thomas had pushed past her to reach the bottom of the stairs, his voice shocked as he said, "Nicholas? They caught you?"

Jo scowled at the suggestion. "Of course they didn't. He's too smart for that. Nicholas turned himself in... to save me," she added bitterly, and when Thomas glanced to her in surprise, asked, "Does that sound like the actions of a man who'd kill a completely innocent pregnant woman he didn't even know?"

Thomas scowled at her. "No, but then I never thought he did it."

"Then why have you refused to acknowledge his existence all these years?" she snapped.

"I haven't," Thomas said at once, and then frowned. "Who are you?"

"My life mate, Jo Willan," Nicholas announced, moving down the stairs with Mortimer and Anders on his heels.

Thomas turned to Jo with amazement. "You're my brother's life mate."

Jo scowled at him and then glanced to Nicholas as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He slid his arm around her and kissed her on the nose. Smiling sadly, he turned to his brother and explained. "I was told you won't talk about me anymore. I thought it meant you too believed I was guilty."

"I won't talk about you because it upsets the women," Thomas said dryly. "It made Aunt Marguerite and Lissianna sad, and you know how close Jeanne Louise was to Annie. She burst into tears every time your name or Annie's was mentioned after what happened. It was just easier to not mention you in front of them, and then it was easier not to have to explain the whole mess to others. But I never believed you had killed that woman... at least not without good reason. I don't care how messed up you were after Annie's death, you just wouldn't do it. But you weren't around to ask and-"

"Wait a minute," Jo said, interrupting him. "Jeanne Louise was close to Annie?"

"Yes." Thomas glanced to her curiously. "She was always over there visiting with her."

"Always over there pestering us, you mean," Nicholas said with wry affection. "And usually at the worst possible times. I was always throwing her out."

Thomas smiled faintly. "Jeanne Louise was over there all the time when you were off hunting rogues too. She and Annie would shop together and stuff. She even slept over when you were gone for days so Annie wouldn't be alone. They were like Siamese twins when you weren't around."

"They were?" Nicholas asked with surprise.

"She might know what Annie wanted to tell you then," Jo said, turning to Nicholas with excitement. "We have to talk to her."

Nicholas hesitated, but then frowned and shook his head. "She would have told me if she knew anything."

"Not if she didn't know it was important," Jo pointed out, and then turned to Thomas. "Where can I find Jeanne Louise?"

"She's at Aunt Marguerite's with my wife, Inez," Thomas said slowly. "The ladies wanted a girly day with Inez, so I dropped her there and went to see Bastien, who," he added dryly, glancing back to Nicholas, "brought up the fact that Nicholas had made a reappearance. Then he wouldn't answer any of my questions except to say that if I wanted to know anything I should come to talk to Mortimer at the house."

"He was trying to keep his promise without keeping his promise," Mortimer said dryly, stepping off the stairs and moving to Sam's side.

"What promise is that?" Nicholas asked.

"I had to clue him in to what was going on when I called about his sending out the IV and drugs for Jo's turn, but I made him promise not to mention your presence here."

"Why?" Thomas asked with surprise.

"Because I made a promise to Nicholas that if he brought Jo in, he could see her through the turn and have one night with her before I called Lucian. I didn't want word getting out before that promise was fulfilled."

"Thank you, Mortimer," Jo murmured, grateful that he'd kept his word. Otherwise, she could have woken to the news that Nicholas had already been judged and executed and wouldn't now have the hope of saving him. Patting the man's arm, she smiled and then turned to Thomas. "You need to take me to your sister."

"He needs to take both of us to see Jeanne Louise," Nicholas corrected her grimly, and then pointed out, "You have no idea what was happening at that time. I can find out more from her."

"You're right," she agreed and glanced to Thomas. "You need to take us both to Jeanne Louise."

"Just a minute," Mortimer muttered, moving between them and placing a hand on Nicholas as if suspecting he might make a run for it at any moment. "Nicholas isn't going anywhere."

"You said he could have a night with me," Jo said accusingly.

"Well, yes, but here" he said at once. "Not gallivanting around the city."

Jo arched an eyebrow and glanced to Nicholas. "Was there any mention of where that night would be?"

"No. Just one night with you," Nicholas said with a grin.

Nodding, Jo turned to Mortimer. "Are you a man of your word or not? You promised him one night with me. I want to go to Aunt Marguerite's. Hence he has to go."

"Jeez," Bricker muttered. "She sounds like Sam when she pulls on her lawyer face."

Mortimer scowled, his voice hard when he said, "I agreed he could have one night with you. I also said that if he came here, we wouldn't let him leave. The agreement that the night in question would be here was implicit. Whether you choose to spend that night with him here or not isn't my problem, but I am not letting him leave. I'm already going to have to talk fast when Lucian finds out I let him see you through the turn and spend that night with you here, so don't push your luck."

"Why do you want to talk to Jeanne Louise?" Sam asked quietly, joining the small circle now. "What are you hoping she can tell you?"

Jo sighed and then explained. "It all goes back to Annie's death. The night before the accident she called Nicholas in Detroit-he was a rogue hunter then like Mortimer," she paused to add in case Sam didn't already know that. "Anyway, she told him she had something to tell him when he got back. But that night she died in this car accident that decapitated her, one of the few ways an immortal can die. And the beheading on the windshield was a freak accident," she said grimly. "A one-in-a-million type thing they told Nicholas when he got home." She arched her brow meaningfully, satisfied when Sam started to get her narrow-eyed look.

"Anyway, so then a couple weeks later Nicholas sees this gift Annie had bought for her friend at work, this mortal gal named Carol. So he takes the gift and heads over to see Carol, thinking he'll ask her if she knows what it was Annie had been all excited about. He remembers driving there, and then crossing the parking lot and seeing this pregnant woman who looked like his dead life mate. The next thing he remembers is Decker calling his name, him opening his eyes and finding the pregnant woman dead in his arms, her blood all over him.

"He never connected the two things, but I think it's pretty odd that she died before she could tell him something she was pretty excited about, and then he suddenly finds himself accused of murder and on the run before he can ask this Carol what it might have been about."

Jo paused, and silence reigned for a moment, and then she shifted impatiently. "Don't you get it? Nicholas has absolutely no memory of killing the woman. He remembers nothing between seeing her in that parking lot and finding her dead in his lap. Is that possible if he killed her? With your nanos, those memories should be there, shouldn't they? I think he was drugged and he and the woman taken back to his place, the woman killed and placed in his lap for Decker to find.

"I think it was all to keep him from finding out what his Annie had to tell him," she announced triumphantly.

"Why not just kill him then?" Bricker asked uncertainly. "Why kill the mortal?"

Jo frowned at the question. She hadn't considered that herself. She did now, but it was Thomas who said, "Because we don't die easy or often. Annie and Nicholas both dying so close together would have made us all suspicious. But his being executed for killing a mortal in the throes of grief would have been something we all wanted to forget and not think about."

Jo glanced to the man with surprise. "Nice one, thank you."

He smiled faintly, but nodded.

"I suspected Decker was behind it all," Jo announced now. "It was pretty convenient how he showed up when he did, but Nicholas is sure he wouldn't have done something like that."

"Mortimer?" Sam asked, glancing to him. "It's possible Jo could be right. Nothing Nicholas has done speaks of a murderer to me. He has repeatedly risked himself to save others, and even turned himself in to save Jo. What if she's right and Nicholas didn't kill the woman?"

When he remained silent, a frown on his face, Thomas said quietly, "The memories should be there, Mortimer. It's odd they aren't."

"Maybe they are and he's lying," Mortimer pointed out reluctantly. "We won't know until Lucian reads him."

"You don't have to wait for Lucian," Bricker pointed out quietly. "If he's anything like you and Decker, his mind should be an open book now that he's met his life mate. Read his thoughts."

When Mortimer glanced to Nicholas, he nodded. "Go ahead. I won't fight it. I want you to read them."

Jo watched Mortimer, noting the sudden concentration on his face, and then glanced around to see that Bricker, Anders, and Thomas all had the same expressions on their faces as well and suspected all four were reading him.

"It jumps from seeing the woman in the parking lot to her dead in his lap," Thomas murmured suddenly.

"He's angry when he sees the woman though," Mortimer pointed out with a frown.

"But the memory skips from seeing her to opening his eyes and her being dead in his lap, like a record with a scratch. Jo could be right," Bricker pointed out and then muttered, "Jeez, Nicholas try to keep your thoughts on that night. I don't need flashes of a naked Jo in my head."

"Sorry," Nicholas muttered, and he actually blushed. "You're the one who mentioned Jo. My mind just reacted."

Jo rolled her eyes. It figured. Mention her name and does an image of her being clever or amusing come to his mind? No. He immediately thinks of her naked. Men.

"All right," Mortimer said with a sigh, his face relaxing. "I'll agree this needs more investigation. But I don't know about letting you leave here."

Jo was just winding up to snap at him when he added, "We'll call and have Jeanne Louise come here so we can question her."

"I'll call," Thomas offered as Jo relaxed.

"You'll have to find some way to get her here without mentioning Nicholas," Mortimer warned. "Or we'll have Lucian breathing down our necks."

Thomas nodded and glanced around. "A phone?"

"My office," Mortimer said at once, and moved to lead the way, saying, "You call Jeanne Louise and then I'll call the front gate to watch for her. Bricker, keep an eye on Nicholas."

Jo watched them go and then glanced to Nicholas, frowning when she noticed how pale he was. "Are you feeling all right?" she asked with concern.

"I'm fine. I just need to feed."

"Come on," Bricker said at once. "There's plenty of blood in the refrigerator. I could use some myself and Jo has another bag to go I think."

"And a mess to clean up," Jo said dryly and moved ahead as Anders and Bricker positioned themselves on either side of Nicholas. She grimaced as she entered the kitchen and saw that a good amount of blood had gotten out of the bag before she'd dumped it in the sink, and then sighed and headed for the roll of paper towels hanging under the counter.

"So, why is my dog at your place, Anders?" Jo asked as she tore off several sheets of paper towel and began to clean up the mess she'd made in the kitchen.

"He followed me home," Anders said dryly, moving to the refrigerator to retrieve several bags of blood.

"Yeah, right," she muttered, swiping at the blood on the floor.

"Actually he did," Sam said quietly as she and Nicholas collected paper towels and bent to help her clean up her mess. "He stuck pretty close to Anders after they got back from the hotel, and then followed him out to his vehicle and hopped in when he went to go home. We figured since Charlie liked him, and Anders didn't mind, he could keep Charlie at his place until you returned to us."

Jo frowned at this news. Charlie had always been her baby, preferring her company over anyone else's. She wasn't sure she liked the idea that he'd attached himself to Anders in her absence. Still, she hadn't been around and the man had apparently looked after her beloved pet for her, so Jo muttered a reluctant "Thanks for looking after him."

"My pleasure," Anders said as he watched them clean up the last bits of blood. "Although I must say I find it hard to believe he was raised by you. Charlie does as he's told and is much quieter than you. I quite enjoyed his company."

Jo glanced sharply at Anders as Nicholas helped her to her feet, caught the spark of humor in his eyes, and gave a reluctant chuckle. "Yeah, well, they say to trust the instincts of dogs and children, so I guess you can't be as bad as you pretend."

Anders's response was to hand her a bag of blood with one hand and pop a bag to his own mouth with the other.

"You guys have a nice setup here," Nicholas commented as he took the used paper towels from Jo and Sam and tossed them in the garbage. "It's a lot more organized than it was when I was a hunter."

"You still are a hunter from what I can tell," Bricker said dryly. "A renegade hunter, maybe, but a hunter just the same."

Nicholas chuckled. "Yeah, that's me, the renegade."

Bricker smiled and said, "But you're right. It is a lot more organized now. We have to be. We've lost a couple hunters lately and are shorthanded. It makes things a little difficult."

"Lost them how?" Nicholas asked curiously.

"Well, Decker resigned. He doesn't want to leave Dani alone until we catch Leonius. Not that he'd have been any good anyway. You guys are pretty useless for the first little while after you meet your life mates."

"Where are Dani and Decker?" Jo asked curiously. "I thought they were staying here with you guys?"

"The whole Ernie thing spooked him. He took Dani and Stephanie for a trip until things calm down," Sam explained quietly.

Jo frowned at this news and was about to tell them it was safe enough here, that Ernie had been the only one to figure out where the house was and that Leonius was apparently lying low for a while somewhere in South America, but before she could, Bricker continued, "So he's out of the picture for now, and then we lost two more when Lucian made Victor and DJ stay in Port Henry."

Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "Port Henry?"

"It's a little town south of here," he explained. "The entire town knows they have vampires there."

"What?" Nicholas asked with amazement.

Bricker nodded. "They don't know about the nanos or anything, they just think they're traditional vampires. Still, that's more than they should know."

"That's going to be a problem," Nicholas said grimly.

"Yeah." Bricker sighed. "Lucian says the same thing. Apparently a lot of the people think it's all just a joke, but just as many don't. Lucian thinks that's going to explode eventually and he made Victor and DJ stay there to deal with it when it happens."

"Hmm," Nicholas murmured, accepting the bag of blood Bricker held out.

"Well, maybe Nicholas and I could take their place and help after we get this all sorted out," Jo suggested.

Nicholas had been about to pop the blood bag to his mouth, but paused abruptly and turned a horrified look her way. "What?"

"Well," she said reasonably, "you were already one, and I'd be a great hunter now that I'm an immortal too."

Anders snorted, and Bricker muttered, "Yeah, right. It would be like I Love Lucy meets Dracula."

"What's I Love Lucy?" Jo asked with confusion. She thought she might have heard of some old show called that, but had no idea what it was about.

"Never mind," Nicholas muttered, and then glanced to the doorway as Mortimer led Thomas in.

"Jeanne Louise is coming," Thomas announced as Mortimer moved to the refrigerator to retrieve himself a bag of blood. He held it up and offered it to Thomas, and when Nicholas's brother took it, fetched himself another.

"Good," Jo said with a smile of relief. "Then this could all be over soon."

"Jo," Sam said with concern.

"What?"

Sam hesitated, and then gestured for her to follow and headed out of the room.

Jo raised her eyebrows, but trailed Sam out of the kitchen and up the hall to the living room.

When her sister settled on the couch, Jo dropped to sit beside her and asked, "What is it?"

Sam bit her lip, but then sighed and said quietly, "I know you're hoping that Jeanne Louise knows something that will help here. But even if she does know what Annie wanted to tell Nicholas that night, it might not be enough to exonerate him."

"It has to," Jo said quietly. "Nicholas didn't kill that woman. I know it."

"I know you believe that, and I tend to agree with you. He certainly doesn't act like someone who could kill a woman, but..." She paused and shook her head. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up and then crash if things don't work out."

"Hope is the only thing I have right now, Sam. I don't know what I'll do if we can't prove Nicholas didn't kill that woman." Jo swallowed, and then said, "I love him, Sam. More than anything or anyone in the world. And I'm not going to see him die. I can't."

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Jo asked quietly.

"For everything. This is all my fault. I didn't want to turn and leave you and Alex behind in ten years, so I had that party hoping you and Alex might be life mates for immortals."

"I am," Jo pointed out quietly. "And we'll find Alex someone too."

"But what if Nicholas is executed?" Sam asked worriedly.

Jo was silent, but then shook her head and stood up. "I can't think about that. I won't think about it. Nicholas is innocent and I'm going to find a way to prove it... either that, or I'll find a way to get him out of here and live on the run with him. I'm not losing him now. I can't."

"Jo," Sam began worriedly, but she shook her head.

"Save it, Sam," Jo said quietly. "You aren't going to talk me into being reasonable. I'm not like you."

"What does that mean?" she asked with a frown.

Jo glanced away, but then turned back and said, "I just mean you're overly cautious. You think more with your head than your heart. Which is good in some ways, but it means you take the safer route all the time. No matter how you feel. You weigh and measure all the pros and cons and then base your decisions on what sounds least risky rather than what your heart tells you." She sighed and then added, "It's why you stayed with your ex so long after you should have left and why you haven't let Mortimer turn you yet."

"I haven't let Mortimer turn me yet because it would mean leaving you and Alex in ten years," Sam said at once.

"Bullshit," Jo responded.

"What?" Sam asked with surprise.

"I said, bullshit," Jo repeated grimly, "You haven't let him turn you because you're afraid that he'll turn out just like your ex and suddenly stop loving you and start finding flaws. That's what happened with that jerk Tom, so the data tells you that could happen with Mortimer. You're just using Alex and me as your excuse."

"No, I-"

"You could have turned and then tried to find life mates for Alex and me," Jo pointed out. "You would have had ten years to find them, but you didn't go that route... because turning would make it irrevocable." She paused and then said, "I'm turned now. What excuse will you use if you find Alex a life mate too?" ��

Sam bowed her head and admitted in a low voice. "I don't know how he can love me, Jo. He sees me through rose-colored glasses right now, but how long will that last? One day he's going to wake up and notice that I have no boobs, and I have knobby knees, and-"

"Sam, he already knows that," Jo said quietly, and then glanced toward the door as a phone rang in another room. It rang twice and then stopped, and she glanced back to her sister with a sigh. "Sam, Mortimer loves you as you are. And from what I understand, that doesn't change between life mates."

Sam glanced up, her expression torn as she pointed out, "But Tom said he loved me too."

Jo sat down next to her again and took her hands in her own. She waited for her sister to meet her gaze and then said quietly, "Sam, the problem isn't that he'll fall out of love with you, but that you've never learned to love yourself." She let that sink in and then forced a smile and said lightly, "Besides, the nanos put us at our peak, right? So maybe they'll put some meat on your bones." She squeezed Sam's hand and teased, "You might even get boobs and finally be able to shed training bras."

"Nice," Sam muttered dryly.

Jo chuckled and then glanced to the door at the sound of approaching footsteps. Her eyebrows rose in question when she saw Bricker appear in the doorway.

He glanced at them curiously and then said, "Mortimer sent me to tell you that Jeanne Louise is on the way up the drive."