by LeAnn Mason
“So, what did you learn?”
Devlin seemed to be the unofficial head of the team. He was a pretty well rounded Primal and concise in his speech and thought, which I never would have believed upon our first meeting. Then, Dev had wanted nothing to do with having Sages on his enforcement team. Having met his brother earlier today, I had to assume it was a family thing. One more Enhanced to add to the list of blind bigotry, a list that seemed to grow longer as opposed to shorter every day. Something else for us to work on.
“He was definitely killed.” Devlin grabbed a picture of the victim’s upper body, showing the angle of the head and neck, then another of the broken arm, sliding them down the table toward the commander. “There wasn't much usable information at the scene. The several rains erased a lot of evidence. Maybe the evidence team will pick up on something we missed. I think Dane got a scent but not much more than that. Looks like cause of death was a broken neck, but we'll need to see if the coroner comes back with anything else.
“No obvious signs of struggle other than the arm. Personal effects were still on his person, and there is no indication that anyone or anything else was present.”
Commander James nodded his understanding as he eyed the pictures Devlin had indicated. “All right, what else did we learn?”
Dane piped up with his findings, “He was killed before the rain stopped this afternoon so before thirteen-hundred hours.”
Commander James held up a hand in his “wait a moment” gesture and pulled his attention to each Sage recruit in turn, making eye contact briefly before turning his dark gaze to the next. “Can one of you tell me why we know that he was dead before the storm passed?”
Jade perked up, raising her hand like we were still in school. Fitting, Jade always was a spectacular student. At the commander's nod, Jade recited her beliefs. “There were puddles amassed in the areas surrounding the body.” She fished through the mass of pictures until she lit upon the close up of the victim’s head and right arm. “Here. The space between the shoulder and arm has a puddle that rises almost as high as the body. With a drain in such close proximity, any flowing water would have passed the area quickly upon the rains stopping.”
She dug again, this time coming up with one focused on the victim as a whole. “Also, his clothes, shoes, hair… all soaked through, front and back.” I wanted to slow clap my appreciation of her report but held back – just. I was now a professional; I couldn't be finding humor in death. Could I?
I knew about the clothes, but the body-created-puddle was something I hadn't thought about. I wondered if it was something Jade noticed or if it had been Dane who’d pointed it out. The sly look and blush Jade slid Dane answered my query. Their thoughts were pretty conclusive as well. They'd both noticed the displacement, but Jade had voiced her thoughts before Dane had to bring it to her notice. He'd been proud of her. I studied the two of them, their quick looks, the flushed skin and rampant flirty thoughts.
It was nice to see them exploring their chemistry… finally. And with all the physical cues they were throwing around like confetti, the rest of the team figured it out as well. Subtlety definitely wasn't their forte.
The Commander cleared his throat, his idea of a hint, and continued on. “What else? Dane, did you pick up anything?”
With a sheepish look, Dane answered the commander’s question. “There were a lot of heavy smells to contend with,” he began. “But one seemed to be closer to and on the body. A female. It wasn’t localized though I’ll know it if I come across it again. I’ll check the shops near the site.”
“Someone's going to need to search the dumpsters.”
My proclamation brought seven sets of eyes to focus on me alone. Still got it, I scoffed at myself. Apparently I was still able to capture the attention of everyone else in the room with one spoken thought. Not that I wanted to. Was it getting hot in here?
“Search the dumpsters?” Devlin and Steve asked simultaneously. One with disdain and one with disgust. Guess which was which.
I tried not to squirm under the scrutiny of so many, some of which I highly respected, as I explained why we needed to dumpster-dive. It was hard.
“Yeah, there could be evidence in them.”
“Evidence. In the dumpster,” Steve deadpanned. He thought I was nuts, his mind fitting me for a straitjacket.
Well, I knew he was an ass, so whatever.
“It would have been easy for someone to ditch a weapon or other personal or identifying items in one before leaving the alley.” I shrugged. “Maybe counting on the fact that no one would check it out…” My voice trailed off at the end when their looks didn't abate. “Does that mean we don't usually do such things?” I asked, getting nervous. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I had no idea what I was talking about. I mean I was a newbie. A recruit. A Sage.
No, actually, I wasn't. I was a hybrid, and I was awesome. I had taken to self-affirmation when I forgot to own both sides of myself which seemed to be fairly often, but I justified it as being so new. I mean I had always been hybrid but never acted it. There was a curve.
A loud slapping sound snapped everyone from their respective introspection. Commander James followed up his table slap with, “She’s quick.” The commander stroked his chin absently before cutting off the movement and addressing the room again. “In some cases, we would, yes. In this instance though—” He paused as he inspected a couple of the scene pictures. “In this instance, there is no obvious sign that a weapon was used. No bruising visible as of right now.” He tossed the picture in his hand back to the pile then looked to Devlin before continuing. “He had identification and personal items on him you said, correct?” At Dev’s nod, Commander James explained further.
“With the circumstances we know, I don’t think the dumpsters will produce anything that we can definitively tie to the murder. So unless we come into new evidence which points us to that possibility, we’ll keep the alley cordoned for as long as we can. I’m not sure when the trash run is for downtown, but if the dumpsters are as full as they appear here, we will probably lose that avenue quickly. Where is the scene?”
After filling the Commander in on the surrounding area and information about who discovered the body, we hashed out who would do what. Trent was to see what we could pull from video feeds. Devlin and I would question the diner owner and witness. Dane was going to check the area for a matching scent while Jade and Steve had the afternoon to look into leads Trent dug up, if any. Holden was off playing undercover.
CHAPTER 21
THE SHORT RIDE BACK to Main wasn’t nearly long enough to allow my fill of the resonant melodies pervading my eardrums for the duration. I missed the days when I could just plug and go. Not have to actually try to listen to people, both what they voiced and what they didn’t.
I tucked away my glorious distraction as we exited the vehicle and prepared to enter the diner, whose rear exit dumped out into the alley where our victim was discovered by one of the employees doing a trash run.
The body of the establishment was nearly vacant, fairly unusual for this time of day, nearing sixteen-hundred hours or in civilian speak, 4 p.m. The early diners or “snackers” would usually be filing in. Primals were always hungry, so this barrenness definitely stood out.
“Where is everyone?” I muttered as we trucked to the long counter running the length of the restaurant. It had a number of yellow circular stools, their cushions meticulously maintained. Not a crack in sight. A lonely worker wiped down the counter, more for something to do than out of necessity.
Devlin ignored the question, eyes fixed on the waitress.
The news of a body is distracting to people. Holden’s warm voice brushed my mind in silent answer to my query, but the body that passed me continuing toward the bowels of the establishment was not the one I knew so well.
It appeared that his part in this started now.
I pulled my attention from Holden’s perfectly sculpted – literally – rear as he sauntered back toward the only other oc
cupant to the room, the waitress who firmly held Devlin’s attention.
“Cara.” The waitress looked up. She was gorgeous. Tall, curvy, with long dark hair and nearly gold eyes. Her cheekbones were sharp enough to cut, her lips plump and bowed. Stunning. I tried to pick my jaw up off the floor. This girl – woman – whatever, was the embodiment of Amazon Warrior. She was beautiful but with sharp edges and was much more put together than she’d been the first time I’d seen her.
Her eyes and thoughts gave her away as the same timid creature I’d come across previously, definitely not what I would have guessed at first look. There was wariness there, past hurts. This is the girl Dev’s seeing? He’s seeing an abused daughter of a murder victim? A person of interest in our case?
Cara brought her cleaning towel to the counter with a wet slap, pushing her charcoal locks away from her face in a harried movement borne of agitation. As I moved closer, I noticed those unusual honey eyes were puffy and red-rimmed. Of course, not even crying could make this woman unattractive.
“Devlin,” she breathed shakily before darting her eyes past him to meet mine. When we made eye contact, she quickly looked down. It was almost… submissive. Seeing her reaction to me, I decided to hang back a bit. She was obviously comfortable with Dev, at least to some degree, and I didn’t want to push her. There was no reason to, at least not yet.
While the pretty but broken Amazon shared a quiet greeting with Devlin, I looked around the diner. It was still empty. Where was Holden right now? Was he having any luck in his observations? All I had learned so far was that I was really jealous of the package Cara came in. I’d kill for her allure. Okay, bad choice of word, but seriously, she had a milkshake to bring everyone to the yard. Her eyes reminded me of the large cats I’d seen pictures of even if they lacked the intensity I associated with the beasts.
Although it looked to the average person that I was off looking at nothing and not aware, my telepathy was tuned to Cara so I could assess her mental state. I mean that was my job, so I ignored the side eye Devlin slid my direction. He knew we were coming here, that she worked here, was most likely going to be here when we were. There was no getting grumpy with me on this one. He’d kept us in the dark. I raised my eyebrows at him, a silent inquiry as to whether he was going to begin our questioning, although I didn’t believe she was our witness. I thought it was a male who’d called in the body, but the fact that she was here was a big coincidence, huge.
I smiled politely and moved slowly toward the counter when Dev finally waved me over for introductions. Stopping at the bar top, I leaned a hip sideways to rest on one of the canary upholstered barstools only to have it scoot away from the added weight. Eyes widening in horror, I tried to correct my downward trajectory, putting a hand out to grab the stool and uncross my feet in hopes of distributing my weight in time.
A small, tinkling laugh reached my ringing ears as I settled the stool, telling it to “stay,” pushing my hands out in the gesture for the word. Somewhat recovered, I chanced a look at the witnesses to my embarrassment, pink rising to my cheeks and making my body temp rise.
I was still awesome at first impressions.
Once Devlin had recovered from his mirth, he got around to the re-introductions. My little gaff had put Cara at ease, at least somewhat. She carried less tension in her shoulders and eyes, the quirk of her mouth. All little things I was starting to notice since my recruitment into enforcement. Our Primal mentors pushed body language study; it was a good tool for distance observation, but this close, I had a better one.
“Hi, Cara. Were you working when the attack happened?”
“Nat!” Devlin scolded harshly.
I blinked innocently at him. “What?”
He held his breath and cut his eyes to his lady-friend before bringing them back to rest on me and narrowed. I found it very entertaining that Devlin was uncomfortable at this moment. I wanted to revel in the feeling, but that wasn’t the point of our visit here. We needed to stay on task, do our jobs. Maybe he’d remember that now. Shooting another inquiring look between the two of them, I awaited Cara’s answer. Whether it came from mouth or mind, I wouldn’t discriminate.
“Um,” she tucked a loose strand of ebony behind her ear and looked askance at Devlin before continuing – without making eye contact. She nodded hesitantly but vigorously. “I was serving the lunch rush.” Her mental voice was small, mousy, when it faltered on a thought.
“But,” I inquired in an attempt to spur that stuttering thought to the forefront.
“I was taking a breather in the back hall after a rough table.” She sighed deeply and began rubbing at invisible dirt on the counter’s newly cleaned surface. “One of the men from that table had been… very forward.” Cara cringed as she remembered.
The murdered man was heckling Cara as she worked, going so far as to wrap a hand around her bum as she took the table’s order. That had really messed with her, bringing all kinds of anxiety to the surface and inciting her mental health break at the rear of the building. The same dark and camera-free corridor down which Holden had disappeared a short time ago.
How long ago was that? Where was he? Back on task, Nat! I’d find out the particulars of his whereabouts later after he completed his assignment. I knew Holden took his job with the enforcers very seriously. He felt he owed his uncle everything.
Devlin was rubbing Cara’s back now, being very unprofessional toward a witness and what was shaping into a possible suspect. I cleared my throat and asked her to continue. You know… like Dev should have. Ugh. Not sure I like lovey-dovey Dev. It’s… weird. Go figure he’d be seeing a witness. But I guessed in a town like Minefield, you’d be bound to run into people to which you have some form of personal connection. Maybe I should let up on him a bit. I mean I was dating a team member. Okay, maybe I was the pot calling the kettle black and all that. And weren’t Jade and Dane exploring their connection?
“So he followed you to the back...” I paused and attempted to soften my approach a bit. I knew she was skittish, best not to spook her too much. Although spooking her would almost certainly cause her to think about what actually happened, and I’d have my confirmation one way or the other.
Cara cringed and nodded, holding her arms hugged across her body. She didn’t ask how I knew. She was stuck in her head, replaying her confrontation, too absorbed to realize she hadn’t said anything specific.
“He came at me, pushed me up against the rear door.” More fidgeting and eye flitting, a bit of hand shaking. Dev continued his boyfriendly ministrations, but his mind was fuming. Distractingly actually. I glared at him in a silent command to tone it down.
“M-My only escape was to push the door open.” She had, and they’d spilled out into the back alley and into the torrential rain. “We fell into the alley, and I was able to get away… for a moment.”
He’d grabbed her trailing wrist moments later.
Devlin was now vibrating with anger, his mind spitting profanities about the “filthy asshole” who couldn’t accept rejection from a pretty woman. He was doing his own mental maiming of the decedent. I wanted to roll my eyes, but honestly this guy was obviously a creeper. Not sure death was entirely warranted though. I would have settled for shipping the creep off to Enhanced prison to live a life of solitude. That sounded both less and more extreme to me.
“Then the thunder sounded.”
“The thunder?” Devlin asked.
Cara looked at him, her eyes wide. Terrified. The thunder seemed to have spooked her even more than the assault. That seemed odd. She licked her lip nervously and leaned into him more, almost snuggling like a puppy looking for warmth.
“It was so loud. I-it seemed right on top of me.” She swallowed thickly, like there was a sizeable lump in the way, before she started again. “I felt it.”
She wasn’t thinking of anything but the thunder, so I prodded. Gently. “And that allowed you to get away?”
She was blank. Everything was vivid up until t
hat moment. But then the thunder sounded and then… nothing. A big gaping chasm of nada.
Well now, that was weird. Something about the thunder, some association she’d made had caused some lapse; that’s all I could figure. With what she’d shown me, I couldn’t confirm or acquit her of anything. I was flying blind. No wonder it was so difficult to solve crimes when you couldn’t read minds. I found it highly inconvenient and a bit disconcerting. That in itself was quite distressing.
It was only two months ago that I would have given almost anything to not hear the thoughts of others. Two months of being an enforcer in Minefield. Two months of seeing the truth of things in a helpful light, and now I was withering without the gift. Amazing how much could change in two short months.
“I-I don’t know. The next thing I remember is being back in the diner… serving.”
“You don’t remember anything between the thunder and serving? Were you still wet? What time was it?” Devlin was almost as perplexed as me. Now that he knew his girl hadn’t been assaulted, well, at least not in the way he’d feared, he was actually weeding out useful information. Mind you, he was still being affectionate.
Cara shook her head, bringing her hand to cup her forehead. “Um, the lunch crowd was dying down. Just after one I think.” She pictured the clock that hung over the griddles in the kitchen. 1:17.
“Cara do you remember when you, ah—” Crap. How to be delicate in asking her about when she was attacked.
“Cara, do you remember what time you came back to the hall?”
Nice save Dev. I guess maybe I’d forgive his lack of professional demeanor in this situation if it meant he could be more tactful than me.
“I, uh, remember looking at the clock. It’s a regular thing when you work around hungry Enhanced.” She cut her eyes apologetically at Devlin then me. “But I don’t remember what it said just then, I’m sorry.”
“What time does the lunch crowd usually come in?” Devlin asked. He was thinking we could get a window of time based on when the lunch rush was in full force and when she came back to lucidity at just after thirteen-hundred hours.
