“I love that idea.”
Declan’s head turned toward the deck.“Hold that thought.You have visitors.”
I slumped in my seat.“I just had visitors.I’m all visitored out.”
Osso and Hernández appeared, pausing at the open door.Osso knocked on the sill and waited until I waved them in.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Hernández said.“We wanted to let you know where we are with these two cases.”
“Okay.Can I get you—” I started to get up, but Declan held me in place.
“There are cookies on the table,” he said.“If they’re hungry, they can have one of those.You’ve done enough today.”
Osso sniffed the air and took two.Hernández grabbed one before Declan leaned forward and took one as well.
“Thank you for this,” she said, holding up the cookie.“First, we’re working on getting a warrant for the Swan home.We’re going to very specific people and trying to be quiet about it, as we’re not sure who the Swan woman might be influencing.The evidence is shaky, even with the video of her at your place and the Bishop place.I have a friend in IT who’s working on cleaning up that image of the car that picks her up.If we can show it’s Catherine Swan’s car, we’ll have a much better shot at getting a warrant.”
She took a bite.“We are working on that one,” she assured me.
“On the topic of the camp murders,” Osso said, taking over, “we have a few more victims identified.Kaknu is keeping us informed on what’s happening with the FBI.As for the mayor, he was around to chew out the captain about the case a couple of days ago, then lead that press conference.He’s currently out of town, though.His secretary says he’s in LA for some charity event.It’s been on his calendar for months, so we don’t think he’s aware we’re looking at him.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket.I pulled it out and saw Uncle John’s name.“One sec.”I swiped the phone screen.“Hey, Uncle John.”
“Hello again,” he said.“I wanted you to know that when I got home, I thought about what you’d told me and checked the video recordings from the last couple of nights.I didn’t even have to go that far.”
I sat up straight and Osso took out his notebook.I didn’t have the phone on speaker, but shifters could hear regardless.
“I actually have a couple of detectives with me now.Two of the ones you saw this morning.Is it okay if I put you on speakerphone?”
“Yes, of course,” he replied.
I wanted Hernández to hear as well, so I tapped the screen.“Okay.What did you see?”
“It was last night, a little after one in the morning.There were two of them, both in dark clothes, hoods pulled up.One was taller than the other, but they were both slim.The smaller of the two stayed on the other side of the street, standing beneath a tree.She—I assume she—held something tight in one hand while the fingers of her other hand twirled in a spell.The man waited a moment on the sidewalk.His hands moved as he cast as well.When they finished, they shared a look.He smiled, then tried to run up my front walk.The ward threw him back.He ended up on his butt in the gutter.I don’t have audio on the camera, but he looked like he was swearing rather than casting.His hood fell back, so I got a pretty good image of his face.”
Osso and Hernández stood.
“Uncle John, is it okay if the detectives come to you now?They need the video of his face to try to get a warrant.”
“Of course,” he said.“I’m home.”
“Thank you for checking and letting us know,” I told him.We said goodbye and I gave the detectives my uncle’s address.
“Before we go,” Hernández said.“We want to thank you for your help with the camp case.We know it was hard on you and some of the officers didn’t make it any easier.”
I glanced at Declan, then back at them.“You’re welcome.Hopefully, you guys can keep him from hurting anyone else.”
“That’s the plan,” Osso said.“Okay, we’ll get out of your way.Have a good evening.”
They went out the back door and I was left wondering what was going on.I turned to Declan.“What the heck was that?Since when is Osso so polite?”
Declan kissed my head.“Shifters are very protective of mothers.”Grinning, he said, “I think in Osso’s mind, you’re in a different category now.I bet it was driving him nuts when he could tell by your scent that you were pregnant but you wouldn’t confirm it.You can expect it to get worse as you get bigger.”
I tapped his chest.“You too?”
“Most definitely me too.I should probably apologize now for how badly I’ll want to protect you and do everything for you.It would be a lie if I apologized, though, because I won’t be sorry.”
I slumped against him again.“I’ll be annoyed when I have more energy.”
