It was unlocked. Whoever had killed him had likely just strode straight in.
“Fuck.” I slapped my hand over my nose and mouth at the putrid stench. The body was sprawled on the kitchen floor. Mike had been dead for at least four or five days judging by the bloat.
I couldn’t have stopped this. They’d gotten to him too fast.
“They slit his throat,” Vas said.
“Yeah.”
I stared at the body and swallowed. “He was sitting at the table drinking. From the looks of that bottle, he wasn’t exactly sober, but either way, he had his back turned to the killer.”
I forced myself to take a step closer. “They were left-handed. Came up behind him probably.” I pulled my t-shirt up and shoved it over my nose as I crouched next to the body.
“How do you know that?”
I frowned. “You must’ve seen a lot of dead people during your life.”
He grinned at me. “Demons don’t slit throats.”
In my mind, a reel started. Samael exploded a guy’s head in front of me, and then turned a coven of witches to ash.
“I guess that makes sense. See how the deeper part of the cut is below the ear on the right side, and it ends lower on the left side?” I got back to my feet and held my hand against my throat. Starting just below my right ear, I mimed cutting into my throat. “They pulled his head back, sliced his throat, and walked off. Probably didn’t even get much blood on them.” I sighed. “I need to call the human authorities but I don’t have time to be questioned.”
The murder came under the fae’s jurisdiction anyway, since it was connected to the investigation. But the police wouldn’t see it that way, and if the Mage Council got involved, it would be a giant pissing contest.
“I’ll take care of it,” Vas said. “We have secure lines at the tower.”
“Thanks.”
I gulped in the fresh air as we walked toward the car.
“Cassie doesn’t live far from here,” Vas said. “I’m guessing we’re visiting her next.”
“You guessed right.”
Cassie worked in a bank in Duke Park. Her shift ended at five, so for now, we were going to poke around her house— and her life— and see what we could find. Conveniently, she lived just a few streets away from her work.
Her cottage was mint green with white trim, and I rubbed my hands together as we climbed the stairs leading to her front door.
“Breaking and entering, my favorite thing.”
Vas laughed. “You know, it’s making more and more sense that you’re half-demon.”
I ignored that. Slipping my tools from my utility belt, I crouched and went to work on Cassie’s lock. It took a while.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Nosy neighbors. Awesome. “This is a demon-sanctioned investigation,” I said. I was half-demon, and I sanctioned it.
The neighbor, a bearded guy with a potbelly, scowled at me.
“Leave, or I’m calling the police.”
I frowned. Did he notseeVas? I glanced at the demon, but he’d gone around the back of the house, likely looking for an easier entry point. Nice of him to let me know.
“Look, dude, this isn’t your fight.”
He snarled at me and stepped closer, brandishing a… rake? “We look out for each other around here. We don’t needyourkind.” His eyes dropped to the mark on my arm and I gave him a steady look.
