Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(15)
“The Bedlam Medical Center, third floor, room 311. That’s where Farrows’s office is. Be there at three. I’ll text the info to you to make sure you have it.” She reached out and ruffled Bubba’s head. “Hey, little dude. You want me to rub your belly?”
But Bubba merely looked at her, then quietly got up and gingerly jumped to the floor. As he headed over to his bed by the rocking chair, I found myself really beginning to worry. Bubba and I might argue, but he was my heart and soul, and I couldn’t imagine life without the little guy.
DELIA ARRIVED SHORTLY after five. Aegis was still asleep and would be till after seven, thanks to the damned daylight saving time that we’d just switched over to. Sandy had gone home, and I was trying to figure out how to deal with my overly full B&B and my empty bank balance. But mostly, I was just concerned about Bubba, who had eaten a little, then gone back to sleep.
Delia Walters wasn’t just the sheriff of Bedlam, but she was a werewolf as well. She wasn’t a great beauty, but she was smart as a whip and as tough as one, too. Her hair was strawberry blond, and until recently she had worn it in a long braid. But today, she was sporting a new ‘do—a short shag that skimmed her collar. The new cut brought her into the twenty-first century. Short, sturdy, and entirely focused on business, Delia was a whirlwind. Nothing got past her observant eye, although her logic sometimes interfered with her intuition. She had a tendency to go by the book, even if it didn’t fully jibe with the facts. But she was good at her job, and I liked her.
She took copious notes as I told her what had transpired at the credit union. After I finished, she tucked her pad and pen back in her pocket.
“They haven’t called the station yet. I’ll bet they’re trying to lawyer up before you sue them. I’ll drop by tomorrow morning and light a fire under Ms. Emily Chambers.” She paused, then asked, “Have you lost your credit cards recently? Checkbook come up missing? Do you use their online banking system?”
“No, no, and yes. I suppose someone could have gotten my information some other way. I do a lot of online shopping and have my Spell-Bay account hooked up to my bank account.”
“Not the best idea. Change your passwords immediately and have someone check out your computer. The hackers are so good now that it’s almost impossible for most AV software to catch all the .exe programs. All it takes is one click of the mouse on a suspicious email and boom, you’ve opened yourself up to strangers the world ‘round. I hear there’s a new wave of scammers and hackers focusing on PretCom instead of humans.”
“Why?” That didn’t make sense to me. We were fewer in number than humans and usually more dangerous.
“Think about it. We live a lot longer and generally accumulate a lot more wealth. How many humans do you know with over fifty thousand dollars in their bank account?”
“But I got that money from selling my condo. That’s all I came away from the divorce with. Craig saw to that.” I wanted to protest, but then stopped. “Though when you think about it, I guess you’re right. Not all PretCom are rich, not by a long shot. But a number of us have a tidy amount in savings, especially vampires and witches. The Weres and Shifters don’t seem to accumulate as much.”
“That’s because we don’t use magic very much. It’s easier to make money when you have glamour at your disposal, or magic to invoke abundance.” She laughed. “I’m not picking on you or Aegis. Frankly, like all werewolves, I’m scared of magic, but because I’m the sheriff, I need to keep my fear under control. So I do. But if I wasn’t? Don’t get me wrong—I like you, Maddy, but I wouldn’t want to be your neighbor.”
I nodded. Werewolves, especially, had an anathema to magic. And to vampires. And to humans. And to modernization. Delia wasn’t a typical member of the pack, that was for sure. Most of the werewolves I knew worked in physically demanding jobs—construction, shipping, park rangers, and forest service personnel, that sort of thing. Their innate fear of fire kept most of them from becoming firefighters, but they made excellent soldiers, lifeguards, and personal trainers.
“So how are things otherwise?” Delia gave me a long look. “I heard a rumor you have a bunch of guests.”
I blushed. “Yeah. I have…some very unusual guests. Apparently, Ralph Greyhoof is trying to become a linchpin in the low-budget porn industry.” I told her about Snow. “Apparently, I’m now housing porn stars. Porn stars who aren’t even real people—who are fresh out of the pages of a fairytale. Honestly, if this happened to anybody else, I’d laugh my head off.”
“Be careful. Greyhoof’s been on a tear lately and he’s not happy at you. I’d love to bust him for illicit activity. Unfortunately, filming a porn flick isn’t against the law. Neither is using automatons or holeos in the production of it. But I’ll figure out some way to shut him down.”
“I wish you would. I wish they’d just move.”
“Those brothers are going to be the death of me, I swear. I’ve got files so thick on all of them that I had to commandeer an entire drawer in the cabinet for them.” She laughed and stood up. “Okay, Maddy. I’ll call you after I have my chat with Emily tomorrow. Hopefully, we can get them to fast track your case. I’m also calling the FBI.”