Page 81 of Dragon’s Rebel

Chapter 36

Once they were outside of the office, Rebel noticed Thorne was looking grim.

“What?” she asked.

Thorne had been leafing through the paperwork. “I recognize this law firm—Farnham & Peabody. By reputation, anyway. They’re sorcerers.”

“Sorcerer lawyers?” Rebel said. “That can’t be good.”

Thorne shrugged. “No worse than any lawyers, as far as I know. But they work with a lot of covens. Witches and vampires. Which means that your mother’s trust fund probably came from her home coven.”

Rebel was back on ‘vampires.’ “That nice man is sending me to a vampire lawyer?”

Thorne grinned. “He probably doesn’t know about that part. And anyway,” he slung his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple, “I’ll be with you.”

“Careful,” she said. “I hear dragon blood is very valuable. Better wear a turtleneck.”

They left Blaze and Zane getting ice cream while they talked to the sheriff. Rebel figured that four people crowding into his office would seem suspicious.

He seemed suspicious anyway. He ushered them into his office and offered them coffee, which they declined. He looked to be in his late thirties, with short brown hair that had a hint of gray at the temples, and piercing blue eyes.

“I remember that case,” he said, his gaze fixed on Rebel. “I was a rookie deputy. It wasn’t me that picked up the kids—it was Roger Bart. He’s not with us anymore. But I remember those two girls, big one and a little one, sitting in here looking so lost.”

Rebel didn’t remember him, but she remembered this office. It looked almost the same as it had that night, when she and Tempest sat here, wrapped in blankets, drinking watery hot chocolate.

“Hard to believe that was you.” He almost sounded like he didn’t believe her. “We were going to turn the girls over to the state welfare agency, but then that government guy came in and just swept you all away.”

He gave a short laugh, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Honestly, we thought you were in some kind of witness protection.”

“Government guy?” Rebel said. She didn’t remember that.

Sheriff Shore narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. Suit, black car, the whole works. What was his name? Jackson?”

He was gazing at her like she was a suspect and he was waiting for her to incriminate herself. Rebel opened her mouth to say she didn’t remember, and another memory slammed into her so hard her temples throbbed.

“Johnson,” she said slowly. Images filtered into her mind. “Black hair, black suit, black shirt. Red tie. Smelled like mints.”

Thorne raised his eyebrows. The sheriff leaned back in his chair. “Well. You surely do have a good memory, Miss… Smith.”

What Miss Smith had was a raging headache. She felt like someone was pounding her head with a jackhammer.

She suddenly got the feeling she wasn’t supposed to ever have remembered Mr. Johnson.

Thorne leaned forward in his chair. “Here’s the thing, Sheriff,” he said. “My fiancé was in foster care for years. Her parents may or may not have been in Witness Protection—she has no knowledge of that. Now that we’re about to be married, and maybe have a family of our own, she has a renewed interest in trying to track down her biological relatives. Any information could help. Is it possible to get a copy of your case file?”

The sheriff gazed at Rebel thoughtfully, turning a pen over and over in his hands.

“Well, now, that would be against regulations, without proof you are who you say you are. Can’t be handing people’s case files out to just anyone.”

Rebel’s heart sank. “I don’t know how I could prove it,” she said. “It’s not like I was carrying a driver’s license. I was twelve years old.”

He frowned. “I coulda sworn you were eleven.”

“I lied about my age,” she said.

He gave a huff of laughter, but again, it didn’t reach his eyes. “You must’ve been quite a kid. Tell you what, though. We took fingerprints of you and your sister, to see if they matched any missing children. All you have to do is press your finger on our scanner, and presto! If the prints match, then you’re our little Rebel. You can have the file.”

Rebel exchanged glances with Thorne, really wishing they could talk mind to mind when he was human. She didn’t like the idea of giving up her fingerprint, but there wasn’t much risk attached. She wasn’t in any of the databases—Thorne had checked that when they first started their search.