“I’m Amy Wilson,” she said. “I’m slammed today, so this will need to be brief.”
I nodded as we got to our feet. “We won’t take up too much of your time.”
“Samael said you were mostly interested in the body that had been beheaded,” she said as she led us down the corridor. Earrings swung from her pointed ears as she walked.
The scent of antiseptic and death wafted up my nostrils and I shuddered. Wilson shot a sympathetic smile over her shoulder. “You get used to the smell.”
From the way Kyla wrinkled her nose, she wouldn’t be getting used to the smell any time soon. I was suddenly grateful for my dull half-human senses.
Wilson pushed open the next door and we stepped inside. I suppressed the sudden urge to run, to leave and never come back. I didn’t want to see Brooke like this, burned and in pieces.
Wilson paused in front of the steel drawer. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Did you know the victim?”
“Yeah. Not well, but I knew her.”
Wilson studied my face and her blue eyes turned darker with pity. She moved away from the drawer and to the desk in the corner of the room, opening her laptop.
“I have the report here. Why don’t I go through everything you need to know, and you can ask any questions you have?”
“That’s very kind of you,” I said. I wasn’t going to argue. I already had enough nightmares.
She merely nodded and turned back to her laptop. “No defensive wounds. Nothing to indicate that she was aware of what was about to happen.”
“It looks like everyone else in that house was spelled. Either held in place, or incapacitated with some kind of sleeping spell.”
Wilson nodded. “Her head was removed with one thrust. That means the killers used a sharp, heavy blade. They were likely experienced.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything and Kyla stepped forward next to me.
“Anything else?”
“It would have been quick. She didn’t suffer.”
I swallowed. “She was in her home, she thought she was safe. They all thought they were safe.”
Wilson nodded. “I hope you find whoever did this. We’re still working on the other victims. So far, it appears that most of them died from smoke inhalation. I’ll be in touch if I find anything unexpected.”
“Appreciate it.”
We moseyed out of the morgue, ignoring the guard who watched as we walked past him. The humid air hit me like a punch to the face but I inhaled as it cleared the scent of death from my nostrils.
“That was nice of her to condense it like that,” Kyla said when we got back into the car.
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
“You’ve figured something out.”
“Yeah. I can’t be sure, but my instincts tell me Brooke wasn’t the target.”
I’d met her only a few weeks ago, and I’d liked her. At the time, I’d noticed how similar she looked to Evie, with her curvy, toned physique and long, blonde hair.
