“Your stuff’s still wet. Here.” He held out a sweatshirt and another pair of sweatpants.
“Thanks.” She held the blanket against her a moment longer, then dropped it and pulled on the clothes. They were Brody’s, far too big for her slim frame. She hitched the pants up, pulling the drawstring as tightly as she could. The sleeves of the sweatshirt covered her hands and she roughly pushed them up her forearms.
“Where’s my gun?”
“On the kitchen table. Are you planning on shooting me now for wanting to be with you, Serena? Or arresting me at gunpoint?” He ran an exasperated hand through his hair, scowling at her.
“Neither. But I am a police officer and I want my gun.”
Brody pointed and she padded barefoot through the open door. Her gun was lying on a towel on the table. She picked it up, checked the rounds, and tucked it in the waistband of the sweatpants, hoping to hell it didn’t fall out. Her boots were on the floor and she tugged them over her bare feet. They were soaking wet and her feet were instantly cold. Her socks were missing and at that moment, she had no desire to even ask where they were.
Brody was putting another log into the fire, crouched in front of the roaring blaze. He stood as she came back into the room.
“You have some explaining to do, Brody.” She pulled out the desk chair and sat, eyes locked on him.
“Do shifters have other abilities, besides just changing into some other form? Like maybe controlling people’s thoughts?”
Brody sank into the couch, hunched forward, hands clasped between his knees. He blew out a breath. “Okay. You’re right. Some of us do have the ability to…well, not use mind control exactly, but, yeah, we can manipulate people. Some are better at it than others.”
Serena raised an eyebrow. “Women?”
“What?” He frowned at her. “Yes, Serena. Men and women. But it’s not something I’ve ever done. What you’ve felt when you were with me? It was real…it is real.”
“So my being here with you…” She waved her hand toward the rug in front of the couch. “…is because I wanted to be with you? And not because you finally came across a female detective, someone you thought you could manipulate into believing your story?”
Brody’s brows drew together and then he shrugged. “I’m really sorry you think I’d use you like that, Serena. But you have to believe that I wouldn’t do that to you. Remember, I didn’t even know you were a detective that first night. That was me – us –and it was real. And it’s been real for me every time since.”
She shook her head. “But…”
“But? But seriously, Serena. You slept with Sullivan because he wanted you to.” It wasn’t a question this time, it was a statement. A statement she had a hard time wrapping her mind around.
“Look. I can’t make you believe me. I’d like to think you would, you know, because of what we have, or had…but given the circumstances, well…” Brody shrugged again, a hopeless gesture that tugged at her heart even as her mind told her not to believe him just because he looked forlorn.
Serena sighed, frustration and confusion almost overwhelming her. “Wes told me we were consenting adults, that I was responsible for my own actions.” She thought back over his words, his actions, how it all made her feel in the moment.
“But there was something…not right about the whole thing, like I was being…manipulated the whole time.” Even if she had enjoyed it. The heat on her face had nothing to do with the fire as scattered images of her with Wes flashed through her mind. With a start, she realized they were her memories, not ones forced into her head.
Brody scowled. “There are less than admirable shifters who’d seduce a woman into bed…or force her into it. Bad behavior isn’t just limited to humans, Serena. Shifters can be just as evil.”
That was the perfect phrase to describe Wes Callahan, evil…forceful, a manipulative man – a shifter – who used women. And who had apparently used Serena as well. She felt like a fool. But if she’d known he was a shifter, would it have made any difference? Would it have changed how she felt, how it was being with him?
Brody sighed, some of the tension leaving his body. “Wes used you. You’re entitled to your opinion of shifters, but that’s not me. You had me from the first night that we met.”
“I want to believe you. I just don’t know…”
Brody sat back against the couch, blowing out a sigh. “I know. I understand, Serena. I wish there was something that I could say to you, but I don’t know what that would be.”
He turned to her, eyes full of pain, voice low.
“But believe me when I say that I didn’t make this happen…whatever happened between us happened because it’s what we both really wanted.”
“Everything is such a mess…my mind’s a mess and I’m exhausted. I think I really need to just get home, Brody.”
She stood, her hand automatically going to her pocket, only there was no pocket in Brody’s sweatpants. “Damn it. I lost my phone.”
Brody rose as well. “It wasn’t in your jeans. I’ll get your stuff.” He went to the kitchen, returning with a bundle of damp clothes. “They’re still not dry.”
Serena took them and reached into the waistband of the sweats for her gun. She tucked it into her shirt, clutching the pile against her chest.
“Don’t leave though. Please. If you do, there’s nothing I can do to help you.” She met his eyes.
“And I do want to help you, Brody.” As she said the words, she realized she meant it and that maybe it was the only thing that was true to her in that moment.
Brody took a step toward her. “I want you to believe me. There wasn’t any manipulation on my part. But I won’t lie to you, Serena. I wanted it all to happen.” He reached out, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Serena looked up and saw the pain in his eyes. “I know. It’s just that it was…it’s confusing. Everything’s confusing. Wes…you…the case.”
For the first time in longer than she could remember, Serena began to cry, silent tears running down her cheeks. Brody folded her into his arms, her damp clothes held in a bundle between them. He stroked her hair and she tucked her head against his shoulder.
Her tears took her by surprise and made her angry. After a moment she pushed away, sniffling. “I gotta go.” She tried to step back from Brody, brushing her cheeks with the back of her hand, but he kept her in the circle of his arms.
“It’s going to be okay, Serena.”
“I don’t know about that, Brody. I don’t know anything right now, including what is real and what isn’t.” Her words tangled in her throat and she stopped, drawing in a ragged breath.
“There’s something else. There were wolf tracks at the scene circling Goudy’s body. They headed south, here, to Shadow Falls. Between Goudy’s body and here, they changed back…to human tracks.” Serena met his eyes, hoping she wouldn’t see what she feared, hoping to hell he’d tell her the truth.
“Were they your tracks?”
Brody held her gaze then shook his head. “No, Serena. They weren’t. It’s Callahan, leading you here, trying to frame me.”
The tears threatened to return with a vengeance and she pushed away from him, stumbling backward. Brody reached for her but she brushed him off.
“I have to go.” Her voice was rough and she turned, almost running down the hall, Brody following. She banged through the front door, got halfway down the driveway before she remembered she’d walked from home.
“Wait. Let me drive you…” He took a step toward her, his bare feet crunching in the snow.
“No.” She waved him off. “I’m fine. It’s not far. I’ll call you…”
Serena half-stumbled, half-ran home, coming through the back door shivering and out of breath. She’d left her jacket behind; it hadn’t even occurred to her to ask for it. Her hands shook from the cold and she dropped her clothes on the kitchen table, her gun sliding out of the mound and landing with a thud.
She climbed
the stairs to her room and stripped off Brody’s borrowed clothes, heading to the bathroom for another hot shower. She stood under the pounding water for what seemed like an eternity, unable to get warm. It wasn’t until the hot water ran out that she reluctantly turned off the taps, resting her head against the tile wall. What the hell was happening? Everything was coming undone at light speed. Not just the case but her entire life.
Minutes later she was sitting on her bed. Among the rumpled afghan she found her phone, grateful for once at being absentminded enough to forget it. She flipped it open and scrolled through her messages.
There were several from Mike and one from Renee. It was probably the DNA results; at least she hoped it was. She listened to the message from Renee first.
“Serena. I have the DNA results. Call me as soon as you can.”
The message was several hours old. Serena glanced at the clock. She’d completely lost track of time. It was early evening. She hit the speed dial number for Renee, praying she was working late.
“Vitori.”
“Renee, it’s Serena. What…” Before she could finish, Renee’s excited voice cut her off.
“Daniels! Where the hell have you been? Mike’s been frantic trying to find you. Are you alright?”
“I…had a…it’s complicated. What’ve you got?”
She was greeted by tense silence on the other end of the line.
“I have some preliminary DNA results, although I think there’s been some kind of cross-contamination between specimens.” Renee’s voice lost its animated tone and she was all business.
“What do you mean?”
“You asked that the canine hair be run against two of the human samples. I did that…and we got a match. So I think the sample was…”
Serena’s face went numb and she noticed in a detached way that her hands were shaking. “It matched? Matched what?”
“One of the human hair samples.”
“Which one?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“It matched the black hair, the one we think is a male.”
“And the other? The brown sample?”
“No match at all.”
Everything around Serena went quiet, everything in her mind ground to a stop, all the thoughts and images and words…all of it was gone. It was so still she could hear her heart thudding in her chest. The wolf hair matched Wes, not Brody.
“Serena? You still there?”
Serena shook herself. “Yeah. Still here. Anything else?” What else could there be?
“We ran the DNA results through a couple of databases and we got a hit. From an unsolved case, an open murder in Kansas.”
Serena swore softly to herself. “Which DNA?”
“Both samples. Both got a hit. It’s on…wait, I’ve got it here.” There was a brief pause. “From Wichita, a man. Edward Sullivan. They want the son for it and apparently we have his DNA here on Goudy’s clothes.”
Serena closed her eyes. Of course Brody’s hair would have been on his father’s body. He was dumped in his own home; finding Brody’s hair would have been expected.
“You said both DNA turned up? The hair that matched the wolf…did that turn up in the Kansas murder?”
“The human version did, yeah, from what I can tell. From a former cop on the Wichita force. Name’s Wes Callahan. It seems we’re the only forensic department that does DNA on canine hair, so there’s nothing in their files about it matching anything over there.”
“Is Callahan a suspect in the case?” Serena thought it was probably a good bet that if Wes was, he would not have mentioned it. None of the requests from the other police departments had come back yet, including Wichita. If he was a suspect…
“No. Just the son.”
“Okay. Thanks. And Renee? I’m sorry. This case has been…”
Serena heard a deep sigh on the other end of the line. “I understand. But we’re worried…Mike especially. I think he thinks this is another Mary-Claire Burns. He thinks you’re slipping off the deep end again.” There was a heartbeat of silence.
“Serena? It’s not like that again, is it?”
Chapter Nine
Serena dressed in clean clothes, slipped on an old pair of sneakers, and went back downstairs. She tossed her damp clothes in the dryer and thought about dinner. An inspection of her refrigerator revealed a moldy piece of cheese and a carton of milk. She opened it and took an experimental sniff, grimacing as she poured the sour milk down the drain. There was an apple in the bowl on the table and she rubbed it against her sleeve before taking a bite. Her grandfather had always done that for her every time he gave her an apple. She smiled, looking out the kitchen window into the backyard. The birdfeeder was empty. The damned squirrels got more of the seed than the birds did. She made a mental note to get more seed the next time she was at the store.
She was weary and bone-tired, but as appealing as it was to lose herself in memories and grocery lists, it wasn’t helping her solve this case.
Her cell phone was on the table and she sat down, scrolling through the rest of the messages while she finished the apple. The first two were from Mike, asking her to call. The next few were also from him but his voice was strained, asking if she was okay. Finally there were just three hang ups, all within thirty seconds of each other, from his number. She sighed, hit redial and waited. Mike answered before the second ring.
“Serena? Where are you? You okay?” His Kentucky accent was thick and she winced, hearing the worry in his voice.
“I’m okay. I…there was…I had an accident.” She hurried on. “But I’m fine. Really.”
“What happened? Car accident?” The worry deepened.
“No…I fell through the ice.” She closed her eyes, waiting for the tirade she expected to hear.
“You did what? What lake? What the hell, Serena…what the fuck were you thinking?”
“It was on Waubesa. Brody Sullivan pulled me out.”
“Our suspect? Again, Serena, what the hell were you thinking?”
“I was…” She wasn’t really sure anymore what had driven her out on the lake. “Listen, can we just talk about the case. Did Renee give you the DNA results?”
There was a deep sigh on the other end of the line. Mike’s voice was still filled with tension, but the pitch had dropped. “Yeah. What’s the deal with the wolf hair? You had her run DNA on it.”
“And it got a hit, Mike. A hit on Callahan.”
“So she said. But she thinks the samples are contaminated. If anything, it should have been Sullivan, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but they’re not contaminated. Today, with Brody, after the lake, we talked. He’s not the only shifter. He told me Callahan is a shifter, too. And that Callahan killed his father, back in Wichita.”
“Wait, I’m confused. Slow down. Callahan killed his own father?”
“No, Mike. Callahan killed Brody Sullivan’s father. He killed him in shifter form in the woods, dumped his body back at the Sullivan home, left him there for Brody to find.”
“Serena, that’s classic; finding the body to explain DNA on the scene. How many times have we heard that before?”
“Mike, there’s more. It was a power play, Callahan wanted to be alpha male, the leader of the pack. He tried to take control. He killed Edward Sullivan in cold blood. And then he killed the other pack members. He killed anyone who went against him.”
There was a long silence. “Serena, I know that I just gotta trust your judgment, but this sounds like you’re reaching. None of this makes sense. Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe you need to go to the hospital, get checked out for hypothermia.”
“What I need is to solve this case, Mike.” Her voice echoed in the empty kitchen. “I know what I know and if you can’t see it, then I’ll do this without you.” She flipped the phone shut and slammed it down on the table. It rang almost instantly and she snatched it up, flipping it open, without glancing at the number.
“I said I’m fine…I said…�
�
“Serena? It’s Wes.”
“Oh. Wes.” She rubbed a hand across her forehead, her stomach lurching. A low throbbing had started behind her left eye at the sound of his voice. She tried to steady her hand, her fingers trembling.
“Anything new on the case?”
Every nerve in her body came alive. She held her breath and closed her eyes. She knew she shouldn’t tell Wes about the DNA results. That was the last thing this case needed. She pushed away from the kitchen table and began pacing the room.
But as she held the phone, something unraveled in her mind, her thoughts sliding past each other, with nothing connecting or making sense. Maybe she had this all wrong. Maybe Wes was the one who could help her make sense of all of this and put it all into perspective. He was a cop, for heaven’s sake, he knew how things worked. He knew Brody…what he was capable of…knew more than Mike ever could…
Serena slammed her fist into the kitchen door. The solid oak door barely moved in its frame, but her hand was instantly on fire, the pain filling her mind. She dropped to the floor, cradling her hand beneath her other arm, a wheezing gasp escaping her lips as she rocked back and forth.
“Serena? You okay? What was that noise?”
“Nothing.” The pain was intense but it cleared her head. Wes was doing whatever the hell it was he did to her mind, sinking his thoughts into her mind, confusing her, clouding her judgment.
“Nothing new on the case.” She stood and staggered to the sink. She managed to turn on the cold water and stuck her throbbing hand beneath the stream. Her hand was already swelling and she wondered how many bones she’d broken. A detached part of her brain noticed her ring finger stuck up at a strange angle. Then a wave of nausea passed over her and she closed her eyes, leaning heavily against the old porcelain sink.
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure if you needed…”
“I don’t need anything right now, Wes.” She tried to make a fist, but the pain was too intense and she stuck her hand back beneath the water.
“Serena? You sound strange. Maybe we should get together. I’d like to see you again, even if it’s not about the case. You know how we are.”
All American Wolf Page 13
