“Of course, I want to know.” Her breath quickened. “Who killed them?”
Barnby shrugged, his eyes gleaming. “I think you already know. Seth Volk killed them both.”
Fury and dread shoved the nausea from Mia’s stomach. “Seth has been cleared for Mandy’s murder. He’d already left town.”
“He was cleared as a human. Seth Volk is all wolf, even in human form. You should know that.” Barnby snorted. “Wolves travel fast, remember? Human timelines don’t work for him.”
Mia swallowed. Barnby was lying. He had to be. She turned and strode through the door to find Pete on the other side. “He wants to call a lawyer.”
Pete nodded and gestured for a deputy to take care of it. Then Pete gestured Mia toward his office. “The ATM video arrived a minute ago. Let’s go see if we can find Ruby on it.”
“I’ll meet you in your office.” Mia lurched over to sink into the chair at her temporary desk near the corner. Pain pills rattled when she threw the aspirin bottle back into her desk drawer after swallowing two dry. If her head ached any more, the damn thing might explode. Pressing both hands on the desk, she shoved to her feet.
The walls morphed around her like those in a carnival fun house. Rubbing her eyes, she concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other until she arrived at the guest chair in Pete’s office.
Both of his eyebrows rose. “You okay?”
“Yes.” She glanced toward the monitor on the far wall. “Let’s watch this, and then I may take the rest of the day off.”
“Good idea.” Pete reached for the remote perched on his desk, and the screen filled with the back parking lot of the tavern. “We have from six o’clock to midnight here.” He pushed a button, and the recording began to fast forward.
About half an hour into the recording, Ruby arrived in the back lot, jumping out of an older Miata. Alone. She looked young and carefree with her dark hair swinging around her shoulders. Many other people arrived and entered through the back door…many people Mia had seen turn into wolves the previous night. Other people, ones she didn’t recognize, also used the back entrance.
Her skin tingled with fever. She cleared her throat but the lump in the center remained. “I wish we had CCTV of the front entrance.”
Pete nodded, his gaze on the screen as he fast-forwarded to around midnight.
The back door opened, and Ruby came into view. Laughing, she stepped into the parking area followed by Erik Volk. He had a hand against the small of her back, and his gait was graceful.
Mia sat straight up in her seat. “Hello, Erik.”
Erik laughed along with Ruby and swung her around for a passionate kiss. He palmed her butt and rubbed her against him. Finally, he pulled away and dropped a light peck on her nose. Then he said something, his gaze serious, his eyes soft.
Pete leaned forward. “Looks like our boy was in love.”
Mia nodded. Wow. That was the real thing.
Ruby smiled and said something to Erik that instantly slid a huge grin across his face. With another kiss to her nose, he turned and went back into the bar.
“Interesting,” Pete muttered. “He loved her.”
Yeah. He had, and the man hadn’t seemed to be mourning lately. Was he just that good at hiding his emotions? “What could’ve gone wrong between the scene we just saw and her death about three hours later?” Mia asked. Not that she hadn’t seen domestic violence cases during her career.
Pete shrugged and then squinted. “What’s that?” He pointed to the far right corner of the screen.
In shadow, something moved. Slowly, a man took shape as he maneuvered into the light. The bright moon highlighted Seth’s face, every hard and predatory angle.
Adrenaline ripped through Mia’s veins as her fight or flight instincts took control. “Looks like the brothers were competing.”
On the screen, Ruby jumped back, her hand to her chest. Then she relaxed when she apparently recognized Seth.
Seth said something, and Ruby frowned. She sighed and glanced toward the closed door, resignation on her pretty face. Then, with a slight nod, she turned toward her car.
Grasping her elbow, Seth escorted her to the passenger side of her beat-up Miata. Ruby took one last look at the closed door, sorrow and an odd hope filtering across her face. Then she straightened her shoulders and slipped into the car.
Seth shut the door and stalked around to slide into the driver’s seat. Within seconds, the car rolled out of camera view.
Betrayal blurred Mia’s vision. She stood as nausea rippled through her gut. “Bring him in,” she said before hustling to the door. Hopefully, she’d make it to the bathroom before puking.
