Page 18 of The Eagle and the Shrew

“I don’t need your help. I’m just hungry.” The words sounded hollow, like a lie. It was probably best to leave him be, to let him sort out whatever he was going through.

“I’ll help the other agents in the kitchen.” She wanted nothing more than to be there for him, to be a shoulder to lean on if needed. Anson made it clear he wanted to be left alone, that he wanted nothing to do with her. Nari would give him that space and bury the feelings that were growing for him.

“Is everything okay?” Cass asked when Nari returned to the kitchen.

“Yup, he’s healing up great,” Nari replied with a plastered-on smile. “I think he’s just going to rest for a bit, so I figured I’d come in and help with breakfast.”

Maybe Nari was overthinking the situation. Maybe Anson was just having a bad day. They were both injured in that crash yesterday. Though with this being Nari’s first time as the lead agent, she felt responsible for every small change in the air. She had to get a grip. She was taking things far too personally.

They made a feast, which was good, because the two fury shifters in the room could really pack away the food. Anson himself ate five times the food Nari did. At least eating seemed to soften him up. He no longer looked pissed at Nari, though the trouble clouding his handsome face remained even after he washed the remnants of bacon grease off his fingers. He mumbled a “thanks” when Cass took his plate to clean as Nari finally presented the envelope of evidence, handing over the receipt first.

Anson’s brow rose when he read over the receipt. “This was found in my house?”

“Yes,” Nari confirmed.

“It was near the couch in the living room,” Agent Stone explained, his voice an even tone. He sounded almost bored, his face calm as if they were discussing the weather and not trying to track down a psycho scientist. In her brief experience working with the FUC agent, Nari noticed that not much rattled Agent Stone.

“Nice taste in furniture, by the way,” Agent Sparks added with a small smile, lightening the serious tone of the room. Nari assumed that if anyone had equal fashion sense to Anson, it was Agent Sparks.

“Thanks,” Anson mumbled before pointing to the receipt. He looked the opposite of relaxed. He appeared tightly wound, like a spring about to fly across the room as the built-up pressure released. “But I didn’t buy any of this.”

“We know you didn’t,” Nari clarified. “The date on the receipt is after you were in FUC custody, so it definitely wasn’t dropped by you. Most likely, it was left by whoever planted the EMP. We just wanted to show it to you and see what your thoughts were on it.” She rested her hand on his arm to comfort him. She didn’t want it to feel like they were accusing him of anything. They weren’t. They hoped he had answers. If they pieced the information together, maybe it would lead them to Dr. Grimm, Ariel, and any other shifters the man had captive.

A worried expression crept over Anson’s face when he glanced at Nari’s fingers on his arm. Realizing that her touch was unwanted, she removed her hand, feeling a mild tinge of embarrassment flood her cheeks with heat. Nari didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable.

“Is there more?” Anson asked, pointing to the envelope.

Nari nodded and tipped the envelope.

A small, clear zip-top bag filled with mousy-looking fur and another zip-top bag containing a few grains of black dirt spilled out onto the table.

He looked at the zipped bags. He picked each up and opened them, sniffing one and then the other, a blank expression on his face the whole time. Nari felt he was hiding his true reaction, though. It felt to her like he was able to connect the dots, but didn’t like the picture it was making, so he tried to push it from his mind.

Nari jumped as he suddenly crumpled the receipt and banged his fist on the table.

“Anson, what is it?” She was scared. Not in am afraid-he-might-hurt-her scared. This was a deep grief. An incredible pain from whatever was troubling him. It had to be something awful.

“Ariel.”

“What about her?” Cass asked, leaning forward in her chair. There wasn’t anything intimidating about the gesture. She was merely interested in what Anson had to say.

“If anyone knew about the house, it was her.” Anson’s eyes became glossy.

“Grimm could have had you followed,” Nari offered. “Any one of his henchmen could have been tailing you and reporting on where you went when you weren’t with Grimm.”

“It’s her fur,” he spat out sourly, holding up the tiny zip-top plastic bag with the few strands of brownish fur inside. “And the dirt smells like it came from her shoes.”

Nair’s mouth hung open. After noticing the look on her face, Anson noted, “Shrews have an excellent sense of smell.”

“Maybe he released her,” Nari said weakly. She didn’t want to get his hopes up, but she also didn’t want him to sink into despair.

“Or maybe he’s turned her and she’s working for him,” Anson concluded.

“Why would she work for him?” It didn’t make sense to Nari. If she were held captive like Anson said, why would Ariel start helping Grimm?

“The same reason I did,” Anson said with a shrug.

“But—” Nari started, but was interrupted.

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