Alpha Omega 03 - Fair Game

entered the building, though there was a small group of officers huddled up in the foyer. A young man in a security uniform manned the desk; he looked upset.
    On impulse, Anna walked over to him. “Excuse me. Were you on duty when the young woman went missing?” She waited for him to ask her for her credentials, but either he was too shocky or he’d just gotten used to answering any and all questions put to him.
    “Lizzie,” he said, his eyes drifting over her face, down to Brother Wolf and back up, as if not looking at the giant wolf in front of his desk might make the scary thing go away. “Her name is Lizzie. She came in about eight and I never saw her leave. Neither did the security tapes.” He swallowed. Glanced down at Brother Wolf again.
    “Who used the elevator after she came in?”
    “Tim Hodge on the fifth floor. Sally Roe and her partner, Jenny, on the eighth. That is the biggest dog I’ve ever seen.” He sounded a little apprehensive.
    “And Lizzie is on the twelfth.”
    “That’s right.”
    “How many people use the stairs?”
    “Businesses on the first three floors,” he answered, frowning at Brother Wolf. She could hear his heartbeat pick up as something instinctual kicked in to tell him that there was a big predator on the end of her leash. Though he continued talking, he took a step back. “A couple of the people on the fourth and fifth floor take the stairway down sometimes, but mostly everyone who lives here takes the elevator.”
    Brother Wolf took a step forward.
    “And where is the stairway?” Anna asked, then hissed, “Stop that,” to her mate. If it had been Charles, she would have been certain he was only teasing—the wolf was a different matter.
    Brother Wolf turned his head toward her, his eyes half-veiled, and let his ears slack a little in a wolf smile. All of which didn’t mean that he hadn’t been interested in hunting the young man down—just that he
also
had enjoyed teasing her.
    “Over there.” The security guard pointed just beyond the police officers. “I’ll have to buzz you in. For that, I’ll need some ID.”
    “Do you have to buzz people out?”
    He shook his head. “Against the fire code, I think.”
    The stairs would have been a better way to exit. The door was out of the way and didn’t chime, as the elevator’s doors did, to announce when someone was leaving. She’d take Brother Wolf up that way—if she could talk her way around the ID thing. She hadn’t brought any with her, and wouldn’t have used it if she had. She wouldn’t lie with a false ID, and she had no intention of giving them any more personal information than she could help, not unless Bran told her differently.
    “Do you have a card from Agent Fisher or Agent Goldstein of the FBI?” Anna asked.
    He looked at the small collection of cards on the desk in front of him. “Agent Fisher. Yes.”
    “Why don’tyou buzz us in and call her. She called me in and I left in a hurry and forgot my purse and ID. She’s expecting me.”
    He frowned at her.
    “Really,” Anna said dryly. “Woman with werewolf. It’s hard to mistake us for anyone else.”
    The security guard’s eyes widened and he took another good look at Brother Wolf—who slowly wagged his tail and kept his mouth closed. Apparently he’d decided not to torment the young man.
    “I thought they’d be bigger,” the security guard said, unexpectedly. “And…you know. Grayer.”
    “Less civilized, more slathering?” asked Anna with a smile. “Half-human, half-wolf, all monster?”
    “Uhm.” He gave a quick smile and kept a wary eye on Brother Wolf. “Can I plead the fifth on that? You’ll still have to wait until I call for confirmation. If I don’t know you, you don’t get in without ID or an invitation.”
    “Did the police already ask you about the people who came in today?” Anna asked.
    The guard nodded. “Everybody. Police, FBI, and possibly a dozen other agencies and people as far as I could tell. Starting with Lizzie’s father.”
    “I don’t need to repeat their work, then,” Anna said.
    He gave her a polite smile, picked up the phone, and called the number from a card resting on top of the desk. “This is Chris at the security desk downstairs. I have a woman and a werewolf down here.”
    “Send them up,” said Leslie Fisher’s voice. She sounded a good deal less calm than she had when she’d called Anna. She hung up without ceremony.
    Chris the Security Guard nodded at Anna.