Thankfully, Emily was out. Her assistant Philipa answered the phone instead saving both me and my boss an awkward conversation at the very least.

“Hello Johnny,” she offered in her polite and educated tones. “How are you this morning?”

“I could be better. Philipa,” I told her, then got to business. “However, we’ve had a suspicious death here this morning. I’m handling everything here, but I thought I’d give Emily a heads up.”

“Suspicious,” she replied growing a lot more interested. “A murder?”

“Police aren’t ruling that out,” I told her. “It’s local news right now, but I can’t tell right now if it’s going to end up like the Grappo circus or not. I’ll send you what I have right now if you like.”

“Thank you Johnny,” she offered after a moment. “I trust you will keep on top of it.”

“Oh yes,” I told her. “I’ll be heading up to Vaclav’s later tonight and… since my friend, Detective Fingers is the lead investigator, we’ll probably get a chance to hear what they come up with before the media does.”

“That’s good,” she replied. “What do we know about the tenant? Had he been trouble?”

“Not that I remember,” I told her. “New though. And we may have to raid the contingency fund. Could mean a full teardown of the apartment.”

I heard and intake of breath.

“I’ll let Emily know,” she told me. “I trust then the tenant wasn’t one of the undead, or hasn’t re-animated?”

“No and not from what the police told me,” I replied. “I think the window for that will close in an hour or two. Cross your fingers.”

“Sounds like you have things well in hand,” she told me. “Emily is at the spa this week, she won’t be getting back until Monday. I’ll have her contact you then if she needs to. If anything important comes up let me know.”

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“I will,” I told her. then offered what sounded to me like a half-hearted, “have a good weekend.”

“And you as well, Johnny.”

I took a breath and let it out. It wasn’t looking so good so far. I turned back to my computer, started putting together a package for Emily. Before I knew it, there was a knock on the door, then Teresa entered.

“What’s up.”

“I’m heading out for lunch,” she told me. “Want me to get you anything?”

“Weren't you going to be heading out early today?”

“It's only 12:30” she told me. “As long as I get home by four I should be fine. If you needed me...”

She noticed that I was instead staring at her. Yes her eyebrows had gotten thicker, and her skin tone had darkened a lot.

“It’s happening already, isn’t it?” she wanted to know, lifting her hand to her face. “Damn it, I hate it when it starts early. I’ll get stared at all the way home on the streetcar.”

“Call a taxi,” I told her. “No need having both of us traumatized today. Use the credit card.”

She smiled. Teeth were coming in to. She did have the nicest incisors, sharpest too, I thought. To me, they were more impressive than frightening.

“Oh, thanks Johnny,” she told me. “I’ve got the thumb drive for the police done and the papers Detective Fingers wanted.”

I smiled back. She was nothing if not a motivated worker. Always making me glad I hired her. At this rate, she’d have my job before I knew it.

Be careful what you wish for.

“All right, why don't you get that down to the police and call the taxi once you’re ready to go.” I told her, getting up and grabbing for my coat. “I think I’ll take the rest of the afternoon off myself.”

I opened the door to my office ushered her out, and then pulled my wool coat on. Temperatures outside were hovering a little over zero and threatened snow. Not too great for the warm blooded.

“And ask Arturo what he thinks about how far the reno should go,” I added, “I'm sure he'll be pleased, and you might learn a few more Spanish words that’ll make your friends who know the language blush.”

That made her smirk a little, as I knew it would.

I close the door behind me, stepped over to the window in the outer office, brushed aside the drapes and a look outside. It looked like a pretty bleak day out there, grey clouds overhead, gray streets below. Me and my grey coat would fit right in.

And where was I headed off to? MacGuffin's of course, and enough draft to keep me happy the rest of the afternoon. I didn't have to drive up to Vaclav's until six or seven. There was no point in heading up earlier anyway. he wouldn’t be up until sunset, so a few hours at the bar would provide me three or four drinks with enough time for them clear my system before having to get behind the wheel. And with rush-hour traffic and all, it wasn't going to be a fast drive up there anyway.

I waited until Teresa was ready, then I joined her at the elevator. I smiled to myself. Has to be a really bad day when you feel the most comfortable with a turning werewolf at your side.