“Cult?” Mason asked from behind me.
I shook my head. “No, someone different. Someone that Cult would probably go after. I stepped away from the box. “Do the women know the victim?”
He nodded. “Says that she used to be part of their group. She left when her ex-husband gained custody of the kids.”
“Did they say why he gained custody?” I turned to see the group of women through the open door of the house. The five of them had moved to sit on the couch, each one sipped their wine and dabbed at the tears in their eyes.
“I didn’t ask.” Mason motioned to them. “Do you want to talk to them?”
I nodded. “Yeah, probably best to do it now. If I need more information, I can talk to them alone, but right now they are grieving and probably need each other to lean on.”
“Or they’re all in it together.” Mason muttered, “Stepford wives shit.”
I chuckled. “Maybe, we’ll have to gather our evidence and see.” I made my way over to the couch and sat on the ottoman and faced the ladies. “Rough way to start the morning. Someone take the kids for you guys?”
“All of our kids are school age.” The tallest one spoke up. She had the same features as the deceased, the only difference being her hair wasn’t curled. “I’m Tracey.”
I nodded. “I’m glad the kids weren’t here to see this. Detective Mason mentioned that you knew the deceased.”
“She was part of our group. She left probably about six months ago because she no longer had the kids. Her husband won custody due to something strange going on at home. She never spoke to us about it. One day the kids were there and the next they were moving to another state.” Tracey shrugged. “She cut off contact, and we figured she was trying to put her life back together. There were rumors that she had gotten into some hardcore drugs, but you know how rumors go.”
I glanced over at the box and shook my head. “With a rune like that, she wasn’t putting her life back together; my guess is she ended up dealing with some dark things. “Was she a witch?”
They shook their heads together. “No, she was a shifter.”
Well, that was interesting news. I wondered what the blood test would come back as on the other victim. “Are all of you shifters as well?”
There was a collective agreement across the board, and I tried to hide my smile. They were a moms’ group of shifters. A community that went well beyond just being a mom. “That’s helpful. Do you know if she was friends with any witches or warlocks?”
They exchanged looks, and I was wondering if they were debating on lying to me. That was one of the problems of interviewing in a group, but since they weren’t suspects, there was no reason to separate them.
“There was this one guy, someone she used to hang out with. He was a warlock; she used to brag about how she helped him with spells.” Tracey shrugged. “We didn’t think anything of it at the time because we felt she was just trying to make her life seem glamorous.”
I wasn’t sure if that was something normal women did or not. I never needed to make my life seem glamorous or adventurous because it was dangerous and filled with dead bodies. “Did he have a name?”
“Nope. She never gave us one. I think I have a phone number for her ex-husband though.” Another one of the women sat her wine down and dug in her purse. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through a few times. “Ah ha, here we go. Carl Tortania.” She showed me the phone, and I copied the number down into the notes section of my own.
“Thank you, that’ll be a great starting point. I’m sorry for your loss. I know it’s never easy to lose someone from your community.” I bowed my head in respect and went back to the body.
Forensics had zipped up the body bag now, and I knew in a few moments they’d be loading her up and taking her to the morgue, where Jason would see what he could find out about the body. My interest lay in the rune at the bottom of the box. I took a picture of it. I’d need to run it through a database to find its origin, or run it by someone else who was a bit better with languages than me. The only time I’d seen a spell suck up blood was during a tracking spell.
“What are you thinking, Abby?” Mason interrupted my thoughts.
“I’m wondering what on earth this spell is and what it means. The woman was a shifter, so it could be related to that. Was her cause of death the same as the last body?”
“From our initial observation, yes.” Mason flipped through his little notebook. “So runes and shifters, can we call this a PIB case?”
I let out a dramatic groan. “I guess. Drive me back to the office, and I’ll see what I can pull up on this ex-husband and why they divorced and he got the kids.”
“Sounds good. Stephanie is waiting for us outside the police line. There’s still media out there waiting for a statement. Do you want to make it?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No, why don’t you make it, and I’ll sneak out the back door and meet you at the car?”
“You’re a chicken, Collins.” He laughed.
“I don’t like the media, Mason. All it brings is trouble to my investigation. And if I make a statement, there could be mass hysteria that there’s a paranormal creature on a killing spree.”
Mason motioned to the back door. “Fine, go.”
I snickered and snuck out the back door and waited to hear him start talking to the press. I heard his booming voice from behind the house and snuck around to the car. I climbed in and ducked my head until he finished.
Chapter Two
Mason dropped me off at the building, and I headed up to my office. To my pleasant surprise, someone was sitting in the hall with a bag of fast food. His caramel colored hair was cut just above his ears, and his hazel eyes shone under the lights in the hall. He looked up at me and smiled.
“I was starting to give up hope that you were going to come back for lunch.” He stood and grabbed the bags. “Here I am sitting outside your office like a sad puppy.”
I snorted. He was a werewolf, alpha of the local pack. We’d dated a bit before, broke up due to responsibilities, but as of right now we were trying out friendship again. “I’ve had two bodies in one day.” And there was something in me that said that I would be having more.
“Oh, do I need to go then?”
I shook my head. “No, company would be nice. I’ve just got to pop a few names into the system and try to figure out why someone was divorced.”
“That sounds more like private investigation than PIB.” He motioned to the door. “After you.”
I swiped my badge and let us both in. Simon glanced at the desk and then to me. “Are they planning on giving you a new partner?”
“Don’t think so. I just don’t think anyone has realized that the desk is still here.” I shrugged and held my hand out for the bag. “So what made you decide to bring me lunch?”
“I thought it’d be nice to do something normal for once. When we’re at your place your…cat…is always there, or Levi is always popping in to check on you, or that creep Mario—”
I narrowed my eyes. “Hold up, Mario’s been at the house?”
Mario was a visiting vampire. I never did learn exactly what he was to Levi, but the fucker had yet to leave the territory. I hadn’t known he’d been hanging around my house though. He must be avoiding where the magical barriers were to keep from notifying me.
“Osiris mentioned it; I figured he’d said something to you.” Osiris was the name of my cat, also the code name for Merick. He was a member of the Cult of Ra who refused to let me go unprotected for his own reasons. What those reasons were, I didn’t know. He was masquerading as a cat to keep most people from knowing he was there. The only two people besides me that knew were Simon and my uncle, Oliver.
“No, he hadn’t. I’ll talk to him tonight when I get home. I’m sorry that there are a bunch of people interrupting our time together.” I dug in the bag and found a burger and fries. “It’s not like I planned my life to be chaotic.” But it was one of the reasons that w
e didn’t date anymore.
He grabbed his own burger from the bag. “Yeah, I know. Are you still refusing to tell me what happened while you were in Romania?”
I’d only given him and Merick the Cliffs Notes version, leaving out that Levi was the king. I told them enough to get them off my back: that I’d kind of lost my control and killed about a hundred blood-starved vampires and done a spell that helped the king crack the case open a bit more. Of course, they both knew that wasn’t the complete story.
“I gave you my story, and I’m sticking to it.” I took a bite of the burger. “Everything else I’m sworn to secrecy. It’s all part of playing with the vampire king.”
He sighed. “I just worry about you Abby, Levi doesn’t normally let you get that close to politics.”
“Yeah, Levi didn’t have a choice in the matter.” Mostly because he didn’t trust my Uncle enough to do the spell, that and the vampire they were after tried to kill me. You know, the normal things that force hands.” You can’t really turn down the vampire king.”
Simon bobbed his head from side to side as if debating. “I guess, but you’re a witch; he doesn’t hold any control over you.”
Except he did, but again I wasn’t allowed to share that with Simon. “It’s no big deal. I came back in one piece, and my magic is perfectly under control.” It was time for a change of subject. If he wanted to talk about uncomfortable things, I could play that game too. “How’s the pack doing? There still a rift?”
“Yeah, we’re slowly working on closing it. I don’t think anyone likes it when we’re divided. Especially when things like a few months ago happen.”
Three months ago, right before I went to help Levi, I solved a case of someone skinning werewolves. I had learned a lot more about wolves than I wanted to know, and Simon damn near lost his second-in-command. With the pack divided it made the situation a bit harder to solve since both sides were against the other.
An awkward silence fell over the room, and I turned to my computer. “What do you know about shifters?”
“That they think they are better than lycans because they aren’t tied to the moon, and it’s not a virus that gives them their ability.” His words were a little harsh.
Well okay then. “I have a dead shifter, possibly two. I’ve seen Agent Grace in action, so I know they can move a bit quicker than humans and have a little bit more strength.”
“Yep, all the perks with none of the curse.” He shrugged. “Do you think people are targeting shifters?”
I finished the last couple bites of my burger. “I don’t know yet, too soon to make an assumption or even a theory.”
I logged into my computer before shoving some fries in my mouth. “The bar doing okay?” I mumbled around the food.
“Yeah, Travis assures me that the businesses are doing well. I’ve been up at the pack land most of the time helping the pups over the last couple months. Only taking a break for the few nights I’ve come to see you.”
And now I was on a big case, so those couple nights here and there were probably going to turn into nothing for a bit. “They keep you busy. I’m glad you stopped by for lunch.”
He let out a sigh and threw his crumpled wrapper in the bag. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
I didn’t like the tone in his voice. I met his gaze, turning away from the computer screen in front of me. “Yes?”
“Levi called me last night. Told me that I needed to back off because he realizes this isn’t going to work. He says he found a suitor for you.”
I blinked at him a few times. “Levi’s trying to play matchmaker again, is he?”
“You didn’t know then? I was going to ask you how you felt about it. All the time he spent trying to get us together, and suddenly he’s asking me to back off.”
It probably had to do with the whole Levi being king and me being aware that I was technically a princess. The little rebel part of me wanted to start dating Simon again just to spite Levi, the other part of me knew that I wasn’t going to allow someone to court me. Simon had tried that once, and I declined every invitation of going out until we became friends and let things happen naturally.
“If it’s one thing we both know, it’s that Levi really doesn’t control my love life. So don’t let him scare you away. I rather like having you around as a friend and as good company. If life slows down a tiny bit, I wouldn’t even mind giving the dating thing a try again.”
His eyes lit up a bit. “What about tonight?”
“I can’t, Levi requested me at the mansion tonight, but now I know why. So I appreciate the heads up. Why not dinner on Friday?”
He nodded. “I’ll pick you up about seven?”
“Sounds great.” I smiled, and I knew that my face had brightened a bit too. Maybe I craved normality more than I realized. A date with Simon without werewolf politics or PIB issues would be great.
He grabbed my trash and stuffed it into the bag and then tossed it into the can by my desk. “Okay then. Good luck with Levi tonight.”
I stood and gave him a hug. His warm body felt great against me as he squeezed me.
He let go of me and walked out. I leaned against my desk and questioned my rationality. Was I doing this because I wanted to piss Levi off, or because I thought we could both try a little harder to make it work?
I shook my head and turned back to my computer. It didn’t matter. Right now I needed to look at the information I could gather for our current murders.
I typed in the name I’d gotten from the moms’ group and waited for something to show up in the searches. Shifters weren’t required to register with packs, so I had no idea if something would show up in PIB. Some of them gave the information voluntarily, and they would be in the database. Unfortunately, my luck wasn’t that good. Nothing showed up in the database.
However, the internet search engine did pull something up. Carl Tortania had made headlines in New York for some brave act, claiming him as a local hero of Syracuse. I opened the article and scanned it. He’d rescued a child from an apartment building fire. It wasn’t his kid, but someone had left the pre-teen home alone.
Had I not gotten the phone number from the women, I wouldn’t have any contact information. The internet and the database were unusually empty, meaning I had no idea what I was walking into.
I dialed the number and waited. The phone rang a couple times before a click was heard and finally a voice.
“Hello?”
“This is Agent Collins with the Southern Colorado PIB, may I please speak to Mr. Carl Tortania?”
“This is him. What’s this in regards to, Agent Collins? I swear if my ex-wife is trying to get me in trouble with something, I promise you that I’m in compliance with all possible laws.”
Wow, what had that woman tried to do for him to think that I was after him. “I’m actually calling to inform you that Lark was murdered.”
“Oh, shit.”
That wasn’t really the response I was expecting. “Oh shit?”
He muttered something I couldn’t understand. “It was that bastard warlock; I swear it was.”
“Does this warlock have a name? She never mentioned one to her moms’ group.”
“He does. Oliver Macintosh.”
I about passed out at the name. He had to be kidding me. I mentally calculated the math in my head. Oliver was younger than my mother, which meant that he could in theory not be too old. “Were they dating?”
“Not that I’m aware, she was just interested in something about his abilities.” That was a relief, but now my uncle was a suspect. The room still spun a bit at the news. My uncle was a lot of things, but a murderer wasn’t one that I pegged him for.
“You sounded so sure that it was him; how did you know that the death was paranormal?”
“You’re PIB, she’s not a known shifter, at least she wasn’t. I figured it had to have some other aspect to it. Look, I have to go, if you have any other questions, call after dinner time.”
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The phone went dead in my hand. I sat back in my chair and took a deep breath. I knew the next step, but I really didn’t want to call my uncle and ask him about a murder.
Two hours later, I still hadn’t called my uncle to talk to him. I know I needed too, but I’d done everything else but. I’d gone through more internet searches on the victim, I’d rearranged my desk, I even debated on going for a walk, but really I was just avoiding it. Oliver had a special kind of talent when it came to manipulating situations. He knew what would give him the best outcome, how to benefit from each choice someone else made. He was good at it, and he had his reasons for everything. I’m sure there was a reason he was making friends with a shifter that was probably ten years younger than him.
I reached for my phone, and his name flashed on the screen before I could even unlock it.
“I was just getting ready to call you,” I said by way of a greeting. “An interesting development in my most recent case has fingers pointed at you.”
He was silent for a moment. “I didn’t kill the woman, Abigail. In fact, I just filed a restraining order against her last week.”
That wasn’t like my uncle. Doing something like that meant he was scared of something. Scared of the woman. Or, he was covering his tracks. Oliver wasn’t a crime of passion kind of man; he was more of a premeditated type of person. “Why did you have to file one?”
“Because I needed a paper trail.”
“Oh, yes that makes you sound so innocent in all of this. Also, I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop bugging my phone.” I stood up and started pacing my office. “You don’t do anything without a purpose. If not to prove your innocence what was the purpose of the paper trail?”
Shuffling pages echoed over the receiver, almost as if they were brushing right up against the phone. He didn’t answer me.
“Oliver?” I prompted.
“Because I was tracking something and she was too. That’s how she found me. She thought I was the culprit, and she became obsessed with proving that I was.”
Of Life and Death Page 2
