The bartender went to the bar and dialed the number from memory. The lawyer she knew was a shapeshifter . She was good as a lawyer in working within the supernatural world. The phone rang once.

"Raven here," the response was short and curt.

"This is the bartender at Molly's place. We need your help. Can you come here and talk with Molly?"

"Yes, I will be there in twenty minutes."

Raven entered the pub and walked through the crowd to the bar. Her finely tailored business suit was out of place for being in the pub. The expensive clothes contrasted with the construction workers' garb. However, she did not feel out of place. She would rather wear jeans and a plaid shirt. The bartender pointed to the hallway beside the bar.

Raven followed the bartender to the office. Molly sat behind a cluttered desk. She stood as they entered. Raven shook Molly's hand, and they sat on the couch, which was against the wall.

"Thanks for coming. I need your help," Molly said softly.

"I am here to help any way I can."

"One of my employees got arrested. I need you to be with him at his arraignment and post bail. Could you represent him if he goes to trial?"

"I will do what is needed for you. It should be easy to get him out of jail. Where is he?"

"He is detained within the Vampire Justice System. I have never heard of the place. Have you?"

" Yes, I have. Getting him out of there might be very difficult. It is a different facility that houses supernatural beings. They treated them fairly, but if they are tried under VJS rules things will be difficult."

"Why is that?"

"Not long ago, there was a case of vampires and humans working together raping and killing young women. The result of that case was the design and establishment of the Vampire Justice System. They have a combined squad of humans and vampires. Now all preternatural beings fall under their purview."

"My employee is fey . That is why they took him there. He could expose some of my activities. Those activities may lead to an investigation of my businesses here. I want him out, so I can watch him."

"I will do what I can. At least, I have met and dealt with this new police squad."

"Thank you. I will leave it in your hands. I will post the bond if he needs one. He has no place else to go but here."

Molly stood and gave Raven one of her cards. "My numbers are on there. My personal number is on the back. Contact me anytime . I just want Carlo out and here with me."

As Raven left the pub, Molly relaxed knowing that she had the right lawyer. The bartender was a good asset. She knew many people in the right places. Molly went out to the bar. She thanked the bartender for her good call. Molly looked forward to Carlo's return.

Raven walked slowly through the bar checking out the men relaxing after a hard day's work. They were all hard bodies, but none of them appealed to her. Her alpha was more to her liking, but her mind played on another shapeshifter with more appeal. Raven thought about the Vampire Justice System and the arrest of Carlo. She needed to know if he was safe and what the charges were before she got him released. She thought about it as she walked to her car. As she opened the door to her car, a motorcycle zoomed past, and an idea landed in her mind. She knew the perfect candidate for her VJS informant.

She plucked her cell phone from her pocket and dialed a number from memory. The shapeshifter had more appeal to her than all the hard-bodied guys she just saw. Gwen was a new young member of her pack and a run mate, who also became part of the latest series of strange murder cases.

The phone rang but went to voicemail. Raven spoke, "Gwen, give me a call. I feel the need for a run, and I want to go out to the farm. Would you come along, so I have a partner to run alongside me?"

A sly smile crossed Raven's face as she put her phone away. Gwen would be a good conquest and the ideal person to spy on the VJS investigation of Carlo and Molly. Raven got closer to the young woman by having her as a running mate. Gwen was ideal because she found the first body left by the succubus and witnessed the swarm of fey . She was active in the investigation and worked closely with the preternatural police squad. As a member of the pack, Gwen was loyal to the pack and Raven her beta.

Raven drove back to her office with thoughts of Gwen in her mind and Molly's case. She suspected there was more to Carlo's arrest than she heard. Getting that information from VJS would not come easy. Gwen was her best hope for seeking the truth and getting Carlo freed. She sat at her desk and thought about Molly and her assets in the area and why she worried about an unimportant fey. What did he do or what information did he have on Molly? Raven relaxed in her chair while her mind wandered over the case, she needed to know more about Molly.

As Raven thought, she summoned her paralegal. Her paralegal entered the office in a sullen mood but ready to do Ravens bidding. Jody stood in front of the desk, pad and pen in hand with her posture of insolence. Raven looked at her in disgust but had to keep her around. She was the daughter of the pack's alpha and what he wanted was law.

Raven handed Jody, Molly's card. "I need you to find out as much as you can about this woman, her history, her property holdings, her financials and her friends and associates. I need it fast. Bring me what you have in an hour." Jody nodded and quickly oozed out of the office.

Within an hour, Jody returned and insolently threw the results of her search. The only things Jody found were property holdings, financials, and a short list of friends or associates. There was no history or listing about Molly before her appearance in the city. Jody stood waiting for Raven to wave her away or give more commands of things to pursue. As she stood in front of the desk, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other impatiently. Raven looked up slowly disgusted by the girl's impertinence and waved her out of the office.

Raven picked up the haphazardly assembled package of information. The financials were complete and had some red flags with respect to the pub and an estate outside the city. Both properties Molly purchased with large payments in cash. That was unusual, and there were no outstanding loans to pay and large debt. Raven read the list of properties, the pub, a warehouse and the estate outside the city. The pub and the warehouse made sense, but the estate was odd. The pub had living areas over it, and no tenants listed except Molly.

As Raven looked at the property listings, the address of the pub and warehouse made sense. She assumed that the warehouse contained material for the operation of the pub. She passed all of it off as business-related properties. When she looked at the estate, nothing stood out as unusual until she read the address. The address seemed familiar to her, why was that?

She read the address again and thought about it. It stuck in her mind and bounced around until she remembered. The ranch that her wolf pack owned was on the same highway, but just up the road. It was the estate next door to the ranch. She knew that the pack ran past that estate every time they were out for a run. A thought passed Raven's mind about the next time she ran.

As Raven thought about her next run and Molly's estate, her cell phone rang and she lunged for it before it fell off her desk. She answered, "Raven here, how may I help you?"

Hesitantly a voice on the other end replied, "Raven, this is Gwen. You called?"

"Gwen, yes I did call. I was out today and felt like a run. I wondered if you would join me on a run later today. I want to go out to the ranch and run through the woods out there. I would enjoy having you along. You are new to the pack, and I want to get to know you." Raven spun her tempting trap.

At the other end of the phone came a period of silence. Gwen answered, "Su ... sure, I will join you. I will meet you out at the ranch after sundown."

Raven sat disappointed but piped up, "Why don't you let me take you to dinner? I will pick you up, we can do dinner and then drive to the ranch together."

"OK, I have classes until 6 o'clock and then I go home. Why not meet me at my apartment and we can go from there?" Gwen replied enthusiastically.

A devious smile crossed Raven's face as she heard Gwen's answer. "I will be by your apartment around 7 o'clock to get you and we can do dinner followed by a long run out at the ranch. See you then."

Raven's smile got bigger as she thought about Gwen and the trap she had to set. She needed Gwen's help in scouting Molly's estate to gather information. She sensed that Molly had not told her the whole story of Carlo's capture. Molly never said where the preternatural squad captured him, but Raven suspected it was at the estate. Gwen would know the answer to that question and easily give that information later. Raven was deep in thought when her phone rang again.

"Raven here, what can I do for you?" She automatically answered.

The bartender from Molly's spoke, "Have you found Carlo yet? Molly is very anxious to get him back. She has asked me several times if I heard from you. What can I tell her?"

Raven started to answer but paused. "Er ... No, it is not that easy to get someone out of lock-up in the VJS. I have pulled together the needed papers but have to submit them to the magistrate's office and wait for an appointment to present my arguments for release. All this takes time, and I do not want to rush it, which would raise an alarm that might keep Carlo locked up permanently. Tell Molly that things are moving, and they should free him in about three days. Meanwhile, he has not said anything to the detectives who arrested him. I will get him from the lock-up and deliver him to the pub shortly afterward."

"That sounds good. I will convey the message to Molly and hope she calms down. I have never seen her this worried. There is something on her mind, which she kept locked in her mind. Thank you for your help." The bartender hung up, and Raven smiled again.

That phone call convinced Raven that there was more to Carlo than just an employee. Carlo knew or did something Molly wanted to be kept quiet. Raven would have to get Gwen to find out the case against Carlo before they released him to Molly's custody. Raven sat quietly with her back to her office door, so she did not see Jody enter her office.

Jody coughed to get Raven's attention. "Boss, here is information I gathered about Molly and her arrival in the city. You might find it interesting."