Strange Relations

Chapter 22

Laurel picked up a box, shook it and set it back on the table. Wyatt immediately pulled all the objects on the table closer and sent her a glare.

"Don't touch! We know what happens when you touch things, I for one do not want to face death today."

"Pffft, come on aren't you at all interested in what's in these things?" She tapped a finger on one of the boxes on the table.

"Yes, but not enough to open them and die. I'm going through everything and cataloging it so we know what everything is and how dangerous it is."

"We can find that out by opening everything," she told him cheerfully.

"No thanks, I prefer my way." He slapped her hand when she reached for the box again. "No! Bad Laurel!"

She sent him a scowl. "I'm not a dog."

"Yeah, well, you don't listen so it seemed easiest to break it down to the simplest form."

Aramintha looked up from her book. "Explain to me how you came to be ..." She waved a hand at Laurel. "This."

"This as in what? Some angelic bastard?"

"No, a thieving little waste of space."

"Hey, that's rude!"

Mintha shrugged. "It's the truth."

Laurel dropped into a chair and put her feet up on the table. "I told you, I was left on the steps of a church. The oh so nice pastor dumped me with child services and here we are."

"Did you get adopted?" Wyatt asked without looking up from his cataloging.

"Yeah, didn't stay, but yeah."

Wyatt looked up. "Why didn't you stay, were they jerks?"

"No, they were very nice and I liked them." She shrugged. "I just didn't feel as if I belonged, so I left."

"And you what, decided a life of thievery was better than a loving home?" Mintha asked.

"Oh yes, totally." She shook her head. "Of course not, but not many people who are on the up and up will hire a teenager with no parents. I discovered I had a talent for acquiring things that weren't strictly mine."

"You mean stealing things." Mintha arched a brow at her.

"Call it whatever you want, I survived."

"Do you have anything that might tell us who you father might be?" Mintha asked, setting her book aside.

"I have a picture. It was with me when I was left on the steps."

Mintha held out a hand. "Let's see it."

"It's in my room."

"Good, go fetch," Mintha told her.

"Again, I am not a dog," Laurel grumbled.

"Then please haul your carcass up and go get it."

"Whatever." Laurel stood and left the room. She returned several minutes later and held out a picture to Aramintha. "I think it's my mom and dad, but I honestly don't know. I was told it was in the basket with me when I was found."

"You spout all this nonsense about how you believed your dad didn't love you cause he dumped you on the steps of the church but he gave you the picture." She glanced down at it. "Son of a bitch." She jumped up and hurried from the room.

"Should we follow her?" Wyatt asked.

"She'll come back, eventually. She isn't going to run off and not tell me who he is if she recognized him." Laurel shrugged and sat back down.