by C. D. Hersh
Rhys shoved his hat on, ready to head out. “What’s the news?”
“Delaney’s daughter was pregnant.”
Delaney peered out the peephole at the figure on the other side of the door. Her shifter senses told her the man was not in a natural state. “Who is it?” she called through the wood.
“It’s me, Alexi.”
Delaney opened the door as far as the security chain would allow and scanned the person standing nose-to-nose with her. Alexi’s alter ego, Garrett. No black in the aura, and he sounded like Alexi. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought after what happened with Captain Williams last night, and Lila, you might need some company. I can stand here all day, shifted, but it would be easier if I could come inside and talk.”
She unhooked the security chain and ushered Alexi’s alter ego inside. “Don’t change,” she said. “We don’t know who might be spying.” Motioning Alexi to the couch, she began scolding her as she sat beside her. “You are so in trouble, young lady. When Eli finds out he’ll go berserk. No, let me amend that. Rhys will go berserk.”
“Who’s going to tell them? Not me.” She wrapped Delaney’s hand in hers. “How are you today?”
“Not good. I keep thinking about Lila and the monster who murdered her. When I find him I’m going to kill the SOB.”
Alexi threw her arms around Delaney and hugged her. “You can’t. It’s the anger and sorrow speaking. I know.”
“You’ve never lost a child, Alexi. You have no idea how this feels.”
“I have lost my parents, a brother, and Baron, who was a second father to me. I can’t believe this is much different. Loss of a family member is loss, no matter what the relationship. Besides, I know how revenge feels and how it devours you.”
“Doesn’t matter. This is still my hunt.” She shrugged out of Alexi’s embrace.
“Sylvia thought so, too. Desire for revenge cost her Baron’s ring and nearly got her killed.”
“Too bad she survived.”
“Not the point. She was so concentrated on killing Shaw she lost her focus. I don’t want that to happen to you. You need to let someone else do this. Harry. Or Rhys. They aren’t as emotionally invested as you are. They’ll be able to think clearly.”
“They don’t have all the pieces I do.”
“So share them.”
Not going to happen, Rhys is probably more invested than anyone realizes. “I can’t. Harry doesn’t need to be drawn any deeper into our world. I shouldn’t have let myself tell him about us in the first place. It was a mistake. A bad mistake.”
“Personally or professionally?”
“There is no more personally.” Rising, she moved to the window and looked out.
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
Delaney whirled around and glared at Alexi. “Are you scanning me?”
“Don’t have to. It’s clear every time you mention him. You have it bad for Captain Williams.”
“Well, I don’t want it. I don’t want him, either.”
“Liar.”
Alexi’s pointed stare bore into her heart. She could deny her feelings all she wanted but it wouldn’t remove the ache in her heart. An ache Alexi could apparently see.
“The two of you have been hot for each other the second you laid eyes on one another. You can’t shove such strong passion aside.”
“Well, I’m going to have to. Did you not see his reaction last night? He was terrified and disgusted.”
Alexi snorted. “So was Rhys. But he came around, even when he thought I might not make it. He accepted my cause and agreed to become a shifter. The Promised One, no less.”
“He had a cause. Big deal. Simply makes him a man who wants to go around waving a flag. Harry’s getting ready to retire from the force. He doesn’t want to be a crime fighter anymore. I’m pretty sure that includes fighting shape shifters in a battle for world control. It’s over for us, Alexi, and I have to accept the fact.”
“He’s retiring?”
“Maybe not tomorrow, but soon. You didn’t know?”
“No.” Alexi seemed genuinely shocked. “Then you have to tell Rhys what you know. There’s no better detective than Rhys, besides me. But I can’t help without blowing my dead cover.”
Tell Rhys she suspected him? No way. He’d probably skip town and return to his rogue roots, wherever they were. Then he’d be lost to her forever. Alexi was a bundle of determination. She’d keep hounding her until Delaney agreed. A stall tactic might buy her some time.
“I’ll think about what you’ve said,” she replied. “Especially the revenge part.”
“I’ll accept your evasive promise, for the moment.”
Delaney’s cell phone buzzed, chattering on the coffee table. She leaned forward and answered it.
“It’s Harry,” the voice on the other end said. “You need to come to the morgue. We have some news.”
Chapter 35
Harry met Delaney at the morgue door and steered her out into the hallway. “Sit,” he commanded, pointing to a bench against the wall. Rhys appeared behind Harry and took a position across from her, leaning on the doorjamb like a lazy guard.
She dropped onto the bench’s fake leather seat, certain if Harry commanded her to, the news must be bad. A second later, Katrina appeared and sat beside her. He crouched in front of her, putting himself at eye level.
“Must be bad if it takes all of you to tell me,” she said, glancing around at the three of them.
“Shocking, maybe. But not as bad as last night must have been for you,” he said. “In fact, it might provide a clue to solve the murder.”
“Clues would be good,” she said.
“Did Lila have a boyfriend? Someone she was intimate with?” Katrina asked.
“She did say something about being in love with someone.” Delaney watched Rhys closely for any hint of disquiet. He remained calmly slouched against the wall, intently listening. Not giving a thing away, are you? He certainly was clever.
“But I don’t know who he was,” she added. Still no reaction from Rhys. “Why?” she asked Katrina.
Gently grasping her hand, Katrina replied, “Lila was pregnant.”
Delaney gasped then jerked her gaze to Rhys. In spite of the news, he seemed totally disengaged. How could he take this so calmly? “How far along?” she asked, still watching Rhys.
“About twelve weeks,” Katrina said. “The baby was partly through the birth canal.”
“She was giving birth when she was killed?”
“Probably not,” Katrina said. “The same gases which caused the coffin to explode may have started the baby down the birth canal in a post mortem fetal expulsion. More commonly known as a coffin birth.”
The name sounded as horrible as it made her feel. Delaney shuddered. “She was giving birth after she died?”
“Yes. The cold temps in Alaska probably slowed the process. Which is why they didn’t discover the baby when they first found Lila.”
“Can we get a DNA sample?” Delaney asked.
“Already on it. It would help if you knew anything about the man Lila was sleeping with,” Harry said.
Delaney glanced at the gray, pebbled floor. “Sorry, I can’t help, but I’ll see if I can find any clues about him.”
“I can send a team to sweep the apartment, if you want,” Harry suggested.
“Don’t bother. When I first suspected foul play, I had my own people sweep the apartment. Someone wiped it clean.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“Because I had no proof. Only a bunch of suspicions.”
“You go on home, Delaney. I’ll send Rhys over to take a statement from you,” Harry said.
“Don�
��t bother. I’ll send my own over to your office.”
“Delaney,” he said in a warning voice. “Stay out of this.”
She rose, tugging Katrina to her feet. “Don’t worry, Harry. I don’t plan to come into the office again. I’m officially out of your hair.” She started down the hallway with Katrina in tow.
“I don’t believe you,” he called after her.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Delaney said to Katrina, “I want the baby’s DNA as soon as you get it. Plus those other DNA samples.”
“About those,” Katrina said. “Something interesting has happened. I got a job for another client about the same time as yours, a friend of Alexi Jordan.”
“Alexi?” Was Alexi in on Rhys’ deception? She hoped not since she’d become fond of her. “How did this person know her?”
“Said he was a friend of hers.”
“When did she tell him about you?”
“Said it had been a while ago, before Alexi passed. Anyway, he gave me a couple of DNA samples to test. Normally, I wouldn’t divulge this kind of information, but in view of Lila’s murder I thought it was important you know his samples matched your sample.”
They matched Rhys’ DNA sample? Why would someone else have Rhys’ DNA tested? Didn’t make any sense. “Who was he?”
“Called himself Mr. Landow, but I’m betting that’s not his real name.”
Unless Mr. Landow is Rhys. Rhys could easily pose as another person. But that didn’t make sense either.
“The man, in the picture you gave me of Lila, is a dead ringer for Detective Temple. If he’s part of this, don’t you think you should tell someone?”
Delaney focused on a spot on the wall over Katrina’s shoulder, her brain scrambling to remember what she’d said when she gave Katrina the DNA samples. Keeping her lies straight was starting to wear on her.
“What makes you think Detective Temple is involved?” she asked, avoiding Katrina’s question.
“When I discovered the DNA Landow had given me was the same as what was on the beer bottle, I ran it through the system. Detective Temple popped up.”
“What about the fingerprints on the beer bottle and the photo?”
“The topmost prints I found on the photo were yours and Captain Williams, and I found two more sets. One matches the prints on the beer bottle. I couldn’t find a match for the other. They might belong to whoever who processed the photo, or they could be Lila’s since you found the picture in her apartment.”
“Could you get her fingerprints from the body in the morgue?”
“No. Too much decomposition.” Katrina gently touched Delaney’s arm in a comforting manner.
“Any prints from Detective Temple?”
“His prints were only on the vials Landow gave me, but the unidentified prints were on the photo, the beer bottle, and the vials.”
“The DNA on the beer bottle matches Rhys but the fingerprints don’t.” Delaney struggled to fit the information with what she knew.
“He was on the vials from Landow. Could the DNA from the beer bottle be Landow’s?” A confused expression crossed Katrina’s face. “Why he’d have a vial with Detective Temple’s prints and DNA is puzzling.”
Explaining Rhys’ fingerprints on a vial with his DNA was easy. Rhys gave Katrina the DNA vials while he was shifted into this Landow fellow. Made sense. Why was he testing his own DNA?
The more puzzling part was she had clearly seen Rhys in Lila’s apartment drinking from the beer bottle. His DNA was there. Why weren’t his prints? Unless?
A horrible thought crossed her mind. Could Rhys change his fingerprints without changing any other part of himself? Was that even possible? She was dealing with a shifter. An extremely powerful shifter. He could do many more things than the average shifter could: pull out the egos, pull out the life force, even merge mimic shifts.
Delaney backed toward the wall and leaned against it to hide her trembling legs. That had to be the answer. The implications of this kind of shift hit her full force. He could commit all kinds of crimes with this advanced skill. Would it be considered mimic shifting? Would he keep those prints if he did something evil while shifted with them? If so, she had him, if she could prove it. Well, at least as close as she was going to get. His super abilities were going to trap him.
Scrambling for a reason to keep Katrina from ratting on him, because she wanted to exact her own revenge, Delaney said, “I don’t believe Rhys is involved in this, even though the man in the picture is a dead ringer for him. He’s one of Harry’s top detectives. A stand-up guy.” She hoped Katrina wouldn’t see her lie. Katrina didn’t seem convinced. “Besides, I know he was involved with Alexi before she died, not Lila,” she added.
“Then how do you explain the photo of him and Lila?”
“A doppelganger?” Her fingers fluttered involuntarily in front of her. “We all have a double somewhere. I’ve seen mine. Haven’t you?” She tucked her nervous digits under her arms. “But you can be sure I’ll be asking him about it.”
“What do you want me to do with Mr. Landow’s test results?”
“Give them to him, see what you can find out about him, and let me know.”
“You’ll tell Captain Williams?” When she didn’t answer, Katrina clucked in admonishment and shook her head. “Be careful, Delaney.” Giving her a quick hug, she said, “I need to get in there before they discover something without me. I’ll be in touch. Let the authorities handle this, okay?”
Sweeping her gaze to the floor, Delaney muttered, “Get me the DNA.”
As Katrina strode away, shaking her head, Delaney pushed away from the wall and forced herself to walk calmly down the hallway.
Eli had to know about Rhys. Now! There was a viper, maybe two, in their camp.
Delaney punched Alexi’s doorbell repeatedly in rhythm to her pounding heart. The twenty-minute drive to the house had done little to calm her. In fact, her insides quivered like ripples on a pond whose surface had been disturbed by a giant boulder. You didn’t challenge the Keeper of Stone and expect to win. But that was what she had to do-win. Without Eli’s backing, taking down a powerful shifter such as Rhys was not possible.
The door swung open and Eli appeared. “Delaney, tae what do we owe this visit? Are ye in need o’ comforting, lass?” He opened his big arms, motioning her into his embrace.
Skirting his offer, she scooted past him. “Where’s Alexi?”
“Oot on the patio getting a bit o’ the autumn sun. Her cabin fever is kicking in, sae I told her tae take a wee break.”
“As herself or shifted?”
“Herself. ’Tis a fully enclosed garden sae I dinna think we need tae worry.” He closed the door and looked at her askance. “If ye dinna come for comfort from an auld man, pray tell me, why are ye here, lass?”
“I need to talk to you, alone.”
“I’ve a kettle on. Come along, and I’ll make ye some tea.” He threw the deadbolt and then lumbered toward the kitchen. “I dinna know if there’s any biscuits, though.”
“I’m not hungry.” Delaney let Eli putter with the teakettle and cups, waiting until she had his full attention. When he set the steaming cup in front of her, she wrapped her cold, clammy hands around it, taking strength from the cup’s heat.
Eli dropped onto a chair opposite her. Taking a long sip of his brew, he eyed her over the rim of the cup then set the tea down. “Ye’ve a hot look aboot ye, lass.”
“Hot?”
“Aye, like a kettle aboot tae boil. Not the look o’ a mither mourning her dead child.”
A stab of pain knifed her at the “D” word. She’d rather focus on the revenge than the death. Revenge fueled her. Death ripped her into tiny pieces.
“But I’m guessing she’s mixed up in whatever has b
rought ye here.” He leaned forward in his seat, waiting.
In a mouth gone dry, she ran her tongue over her teeth in a feeble attempt to tamp down the cotton filling it. Didn’t work. She took a sip of her tea, letting the liquid soak away the aridness.
