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plate. "I haven't eaten anyhow. What do you want?"
    "Wow," she said softly. "You're forward, aren't you? Just cut right to the chase?"
    I shrugged. "In my line of work, you lose patience with the cat and mouse."
    "Well then, we should start off the right way. I'm Rosalin Walker."
    I wiped my hands on the napkin in my lap, taking the hand she'd offered. "Kassandra," I said.
    "Kassandra Lyall." I smiled. "You already knew that. How?"
    Rosalin Walker blinked a few times. "I'd heard you were to the point. I didn't think you'd be this to the point." She shook her head and then said, "I spoke with Avani Ritika the other day over the phone. I told her I'm looking for an investigator. She said she was booked solid." Rosalin folded her arms across the table. "I feel like I can trust you more, knowing what you are."
    I gave a nod, urging her to go on as I finished the croissant.
    "My brother is missing," she said matter-of-factly. "He's been missing for a few days now. I haven't heard anything from him, and his girlfriend hasn't seen him since last Sunday."
    "When was the last time she heard from him?"
    "Sunday evening, before he went to work. He works the night shift as a janitor at an elementary school."
    "Which school?" I asked.
    She smiled wide enough to show a row of perfect white teeth, "Jefferson," she said thoughtfully.
    "I'm pretty sure. I'll have to double check with Paula for one hundred percent certainty."
    "Paula is his girlfriend?"
    "Yes. He never made it back to the house that morning. Paula called me an hour or so after he was supposed to get home, before she went to bed. She asked me to try and get a hold of him because she couldn't reach him at his cell phone or work. I tried calling and kept getting voicemail. The last time I called was yesterday, and it was the same thing."
    When she spoke her face showed worry, but not the concern of a woman who thought she'd never see her brother again.
    "Before I agree to take this case. . . I need to know why you're being so secretive and having me meet you in private. Are you in trouble?" I asked.
    The set of her shoulders stiffened and she leaned back. I thought for a moment that she wasn't going to tell me. "You know what I am," she said, "and I know what you are. You don't smell like pack. If you did, I wouldn't be talking to you about this."
    "You belong to a pack?"
    "Yes. I don't want the others in the pack to know I'm talking to a private investigator. It's too close to going outside of pack law." Her brown eyes hardened, carefully guarding whatever there was to see in them.
    I understood that werewolf packs resembled traditional wolf packs. There was an alpha, a beta, and an omega. Due to lack of experience and the fact that most packs are very secretive, I didn't know a lot about them. And no, the secretive part didn't make me feel any safer about the idea of joining one. The whole idea of a pack seemed very power structured to me. I didn't want to have to answer to an alpha werewolf. It's one of the reasons I chose to go it alone.
    "How does it go outside of pack law?" I asked.
    "The alpha didn't approve it. She knows nothing about it. Can you keep it that way?" she asked.
    I wondered for a few moments if it was a good idea. If the alpha found out, how much crap would I be in? I knew one thing without a doubt-the alpha's word was law, and Rosalin was breaking it. Either she believed in her capabilities as a werewolf enough that she could protect herself against the alpha, she had someone protecting her, or she was really putting her trust in me. Damn it. I had a feeling it was the latter.
    I sighed. Without a contract, I was hesitant to take the case. The contract protects the client and the investigator. In the end, I wasn't the only one taking a huge risk.
    "It's off the record," I said.
    A look of relief flooded her features.
    "Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."
    "I don't do charity work," I said, "and just because it's off the record doesn't