“It was that, or chew off my own hand, so…” She shrugged, and the wheel bobbed with the movement. “I think Spencer’s telling the truth.” She pointed at him with her unencumbered right hand. “That’s the face of a man whose nap was rudely interrupted, not the face of a man who killed someone, then stupidly went back to his own apartment to hide.”
“She’s right.” Spencer cleared his throat, and I turned to him as Robyn stepped inside and pushed the front door closed. Then pulled a chair in front of it to hold it closed. “Some asshole at work scheduled me for the eleven-to-seven tonight, and I knew I’d never make it without some sleep, so I blew off the last half of my afternoon shift.”
“And you’ve been here the whole time?” I studied his expression, looking for even a hint of a lie.
“Yeah. And I’d still be asleep if it weren’t for…” Spencer frowned, glancing from Robyn to me. “What is this, anyway? You think I killed your brother?”
“No, he thinks you infected Justus and killed another stray.” Robyn propped the steering wheel on an end table. “Do you happen to have a hacksaw?”
“No, sorry. But you’re welcome to sit.” Spencer cautiously crossed the room in front of me and sat on the end of the couch opposite Robyn. Leaving me the arm chair. But I remained standing.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” I demanded, while Spencer dug through the drawer in his end table.
“Because I was sleeping. I put my phone on silent.” He dug something small from the drawer and looked up at me. “I’m allowed to do that, because I’m not an enforcer, ergo I’m never on call for the Pride.” He handed what turned out to be a paperclip to Robyn, whose eyes lit up.
“Thanks! It’s been a while since I had to do this the hard way.” She slid the paperclip into the lock mechanism and began gently twisting it.
I made a mental note to ask, once this was all over, how and why she knew how to break out of handcuffs.
“Okay, wait a minute.” I finally sank into the armchair and suddenly felt so tired I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get up again. “If you didn’t infect my brother or kill Leland Blum, who did?”
“Who’s Leland Blum?” Spencer asked.
Robyn twisted the clip again, and the cuff popped open with a metallic click. “Yes!” She raised both fists in triumph, and though steering wheel remained on her lap, the open cuff still swung against her arm. “Damn it. I should have opened the other one.” She bent over her arm again, this time working on the half of the cuff attached to her wrist.
“Robyn,” I said. “Spence is the only one who knew about Justus.”
“Yes. But he knows because we told him,” she said with exaggerated patience as she twisted the clip. “We were wrong, Titus. Someone out there knows Justus is a shifter because he—or she—is the one who infected him. Although statistically, it’shighlyunlikely to be a woman.”
“No kidding,” Spencer said. “Aren’t female shifters, like, only one in ten?”
“It’s something like that for natural-born werecats, but women are dramatically less common among strays.” The pin clicked again, yet her cuff didn’t pop open. “But I don’t have any numbers on gender imbalance among bruins, and from what I’ve heard, there is no imbalance among thunderbirds.”
“Hey. Focus.” Every second that passed reminded me that we were no closer to finding or helping Justus. “I’m still waiting for Nancy Drew to use her legendary powers of deduction to tell me who infected my brother.”
Robyn looked up at me again, and her scowl was like a bolt of thunder. “I’m smart, but I’m not psychic. On the bright side, we’ve eliminated one suspect.” She gave Spencer an apologetic smile. “But we may not know who the bad guy is until we actually pull off his mask.”
“Isn’t that more a Scooby Doo thing than a Nancy Drew thing?” Spence asked.
“Yes. But Titus is too upset right now to keep his dated pop culture references straight.” Robyn gave the paperclip another vicious twist, and the last cuff popped open. “Thank goodness.” She turned to me with fire flashing behind her eyes. “If you ever handcuff me to anything other than a headboard again, I will shave yourentire bodywhile you sleep. Including your eyebrows. And if you don’t think I can pull that off, I will put you in touch with a couple of Pi Kappa brothers who can show you photographic evidence to the contrary!”
Spencer turned to me with arched brows. “Headboard?”
“Spence, may I use your restroom?” she asked, before I could decide whether or not to admit that Robyn and I were together. Assuming I hadn’t ruined the best thing to ever happen to me.
“Of course.” He pointed into his bedroom. “Through there, on the right. There’re only two choices. The other one’s a closet.” When the door closed behind her, Spencer chuckled. “She’s really pissed, man.”
Yes. Yes, she was. “And yet I have more pressing concerns. Yesterday we found Corey Morris’s fellow partygoers in the cabin where he left them. Ivy was dead from scratch fever, and Leland Blum was a newly infected stray, stuck in feline form. We kept Blum with us overnight, then dropped him at his dorm before we came to see you this afternoon. Afterward, we went to pick him up and found him dead in his own dorm room.”
“Holy shit, Titus.” Spencer leaned back on his couch, clearly stunned. “You thoughtIhad something to do with all that?”
“Obviously I was wrong, and I apologize. But we’re pretty sure that Blum’s killer is going after my brother next, and I can’t stop that if I can’t find either of them.”
“I might be able to help you there.” Spencer stood and headed into his small kitchen, where he pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. “The stray who came in last night was in pretty good shape. His wound was so fresh it was still bleeding, and he didn’t have much of a fever yet. On our way to your house, he told me about the party where he’d been attacked.”
“The party at the museum. You told us that.” Robyn came out of the bathroom smelling like hand soap.
“But that’s only part of it. It’s Blind Tiger week at Millsaps.”
