I pulled the truck up into the yard, so I wasn’t blocking anyone in, then rushed out to find Emma. Passing a couple of detectives, I didn’t know all that well, I went inside and found Emma sitting on the couch, talking to another detective. He nodded at me and stepped outside, knowing that unusual cases were sort of my thing. Along with talking to anyone in this town and getting information, I was often able to find out things from our people that the human officers hadn’t even thought to ask about.
Sitting beside her, I took her hand, though my instinct was to put my arm around her. “What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said, but she didn’t sound okay. There was a tremble to her voice that I didn’t like, one that spoke of fear. The last thing I wanted was for Emma to be fearful in Mystic Hollow.
That instinct to draw her into my arms and hold her tighter washed over me again until I was almost drowning in it, but instead, I just held her hand gently. I had held the hand of many victims. Many people who had come into the station had been scared over the years. I’d meant the gesture to be reassuring. But her hand just felt so small and so perfect in mine that for a second, I was distracted by it. And I never got distracted on the job
“It was awful. I got home and found a body. An honest to God body!” She shuddered.
Uh oh. A body? Murder wasn’t exactly something that happened often in a small town. Yeah, there was a lot of bloodshed between the supernaturals, but that was usually taken care of quietly. Bodies weren’t just tossed on people’s front porches.
This didn’t make any sense.
“Any idea who it is? Were there any strange signs?”
Emma’s gaze met mine, and she shook her head, but I could tell there was something she wanted to say to me. I sent up a silent prayer that she hadn’t gotten herself into more trouble. There was a lot I could help her with. Hell, I’d do anything for her. But this was something else. She was a magnet for strange and troublesome events and that was saying something for Mystic Hollow.
The sheriff walked in and gave me a look I was all too familiar with. It meant something had happened to change the case.
I lifted a brow. “What is it?”
“We identified the body. It’s Roger. Beth’s ex.”
Oh, crap. I was really hoping the dead person had no connection to Emma. Having a body at her house would look bad. But without that, the investigation into her would end quickly and cleanly. Nothing about having one of her friend’s exes murdered at her house would keep this thing simple.
“Beth’s ex?” Emma’s voice sounded small and scared.
I gave her hand a squeeze, wishing I could do more, but knowing it wasn’t a good idea with the sheriff watching. The last thing I wanted was to be pushed out of this case and not be able to help Emma, because the police thought I was too close to the possible suspect.
The sheriff turned his gaze toward Emma, who looked stunned into shock. “And it’s my understanding that you were yelling at him just a few days ago?”
Oh, man. Having it be her friend’s ex was bad. Having it be an ex with whom Emma had been seen fighting? My stomach twisted. If she’d had a fight with the man, she’d be at the top of the suspect list.
At last, she turned to me with big, wide eyes.
She looked terrified. What had she gotten herself into?
4
Emma
Sucking in a deep breath,I blew on the coffee again, eager for it to cool a little so I could gulp it down. It was the afternoon, but it felt like midnight… like I’d fought a jungle cat and the darn cat had won. Yesterday, I’d spent the rest of the night being questioned by the police until finally Daniel had chased them off to give me some peace and quiet so I could sleep.
Yeah, right. Like that had happened.
I’d barely slept a wink. Every creak or bump I heard was the killer coming back to get me or the ghost about to terrorize me and drag my soul to hell with it, because as callous as it may seem, I had no doubt that was where Roger was going to end up. It should’ve helped when I realized Daniel was positioned outside of my house in his truck, but it only added to my sense of unease. I went back and forth wondering whether or not to invite him to sleep inside or if that was inappropriate. I mean what if the killer did come back and attacked Daniel because he was there? I didn’t think I could handle that, but then I didn’t think I could have him sleeping on the couch either. Even though I went back and forth for hours, I ended up never inviting him in. There was some part of me that would have been too tempted to make a move on him if the big man had been in my house, which on top of everything else, would have been a disaster…
And then, this morning when I’d finally dragged ass out of bed, we’d been out of coffee.
Ugh! What a way to start the day. But, at least, not having coffee gave me an excuse to pick some up and head to Private Psych, Beth’s private detective business. I was almost in a decent mood until I sat down with my coffee, because the darn cat wouldn’t stop glaring at me like I was the one that murdered Roger. I knew that wasn’t what she was thinking, but Marble just had this way of making me feel like I was in her space. Which, I guess, I was.
“Enjoying the sunlight?” I asked the cat, who was lying in a patch of sunlight near the front door.
Marble’s glare seemed to deepen. “Iwas, until you got here.”
I snapped. “Oh, has it been so hard to sleep and eat all day?”
The cat began to lick its paw, stopping just long enough to say, “With whiny humans disturbing my relaxation. Yes, it has been hard.” She let out a small huff before going back to cleaning her paw.
