Rocko Blunt died with a silver spike through his mouth. Volk Mining Company was clearly engraved on the end of the spike.
Mia searched the dead man with Kurt at her side. “This is terrifying.”
Kurt nodded. “Agreed. How strong do you think somebody would have to be to do this?”
Mia shook her head. “Pretty strong. It’s doable, but this guy was good-sized, and he would’ve put up a pretty decent fight.”
“Not good enough,” Kurt said somberly.
Mia looked around the small area of trees located in front of the gate shielding The Flock’s property. Jeremiah stood on the other side of the gate with several of his followers behind him. Today, he wore faded jeans and a white T-shirt instead of the dress shirt and tie combination she’d seen on him lately. She turned and walked toward him as Lionel continued photographing the scene for the FBI.
“Who found the body?” Mia asked.
“I did,” Jeremiah said, stubbing out a cigarette with a big boot. The stress lines at the sides of his eyes had turned into deep gouges, and a vein bulged in his right temple. “Blunt was on guard duty last night. I was leaving this morning to go to work when I saw him. It’s pretty obvious who killed him, don’t you think?”
“I think it’s way too obvious.” Mia looked back at the body. “I can’t imagine anybody from the Volk family using their own silver, especially theirstampedsilver, to do the killing.”
“You don’t think so?” Jeremiah asked, fury blazing in his eyes. “I think this is exactly what they would want. Blunt spoke out against the mine and the Volk family, and then he was brutally murdered. To be more exact, he was stabbed through the mouth. I don’t think you can get any more obvious.”
“How so?” Kurt asked, walking up behind Mia.
Jeremiah rolled his eyes. “If you speak out against the Volks, they shut you up real quick—with great pain.” He looked down at his crushed cigarette. “Blunt also worked part-time out at Canine Coffee and Gas. I bet he saw something out there. Something to do with the Volk mines.”
“That’s suspicious,” Kurt agreed. “There’s a direct line between that article releasing this morning and him being murdered.”
Sometimes, the obvious was just too easy. “Yes, but by the looks of it, death occurred last night,” Mia said. “Rigor mortis has set in, and the blood has long since dried on the ground. So, if he were killed before the newspaper article went live, then only somebody involved in the article would’ve known,” she mused.
“Oh, please,” Jeremiah spat. “You’re telling me that nobody called Seth Volk for a comment? Give me a break.”
That’s a good point. Mia hadn’t talked to Seth about it, but it wouldn’t surprise her if Willie had contacted him, and he hadn’t responded. “I can tell you that Seth didn’t know anything about the story until this morning.”
“You’re not a very reliable witness in that aspect,” Jeremiah said, some of the heat leaving his voice. “Surely, you understand that.”
“I do.” Mia nodded. She turned back to where Claire was studying the body and wondered if the wolf shifter could catch any scents or detect evidence the humans couldn’t. “Excuse me.”
She left Kurt to finish interviewing Jeremiah. Jeremiah obviously hadn’t seen anything and just wanted to continue accusing Seth. She walked over the wet ground and stepped around a pile of bloody pine needles before reaching Claire.
“Whoa,” Claire said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Unfortunately, Mia had. Not exactly like this, but close enough. Blunt’s eyes were wide in death, and he looked obscene with the silver protruding from his mouth. The only thing securing him to the ancient pine tree was the spike. Blood covered the front of what looked like it had once been a gray T-shirt, and more was splattered all the way down his jeans to his boots. His arms were limp, and several bruises had formed on his face and hands. His knuckles were also bloody as if he’d gotten into a fight.
Kurt came up behind Mia. “I want the Seattle ME on this.”
“I agree,” Mia said softly. Blunt was human, so there was no reason not to let the human authorities investigate.
“I need to bring in Seth and his brother Erik,” Kurt said.
Hopefully, they’d hired new representation. “I understand. I know you won’t listen to me, but neither Seth nor Erik did this.”
“Because they’d tell you?” Kurt asked, the tone deep and sarcastic.
“Yes,” Mia said.
Claire vigorously nodded, her brown hair flying. Her stance was wide, and she had a weapon at her leg and a deputy badge on her belt. “I’ve known Seth my whole life. Same with Erik. If they were going to kill somebody, it wouldn’t be like this.”
Kurt’s eyebrows rose. “I noticed you didn’t say they’d never kill anybody.”
Claire slowly turned to face the FBI agent. “We could all kill at one point or another, Special Agent Colbey.”
