Kaci was one of the Pride’s four female shifters, and she was married to Titus’s little brother, Justus. And while Jace wasn’t on great terms with his actual relatives, since he’d been exiled from his birth Pride, he’d been an enforcer in Kaci’s home territory for years. In fact, there were rumors of a wildly torrid affair he supposedly had with Faythe Sanders, the world’s only female Alpha, before she got married. Though no one ever mentioned that in front of Abby, Jace’s girlfriend and Faythe’s cousin.
“So, basically, you have a house full of shifter dignitaries, while I have a murderer on the loose, and you don’t want the former to know about the latter?”
“Faythe, Marc—” Her husband and co-Alpha. “—and Jace know. Out of necessity. But we’re not planning to make any further announcements until we can say we got the bastard.”
“Well, thanks for coming. Ireallyneed an objective eye to back me up on this one.” I owed it to the rest of the Pride not to let my own potential bias blind me to evidence during this particularly sensitive part of the investigation.
Titus nodded. “Why don’t you lay the killer’s profile out for me, one more time.”
“Okay.” But why? Was he saying this was unnecessary? Trying to help me draw that conclusion for myself? If so, why had he driven all this way, when he could have said that over the phone? “Our killer is likely male,” I began. “Not because a woman couldn’t or wouldn’t have done this, but because there are no female shifters here, other than me.”
I paused, shifting in my seat to look at him. “Iknow I’m not guilty, but how can you be sure I’m not the one carrying on in Silas’s footsteps? I mean, like Davey says, I know better than anyone that itispossible for a woman to survive.”
“I’m sure because I know you.” The glance he aimed at me was as reassuring as his words. “You would never put another woman through what you went through. You would never risk a life. You would never take that choice—the choice tostay human—from her.”
He was right. And the fact that he knew me well enough to believe that was the one bright spot in this whole thing.
“This is your case, Charley, and I’m not taking it from you. Right now, you’re theonlyshifter in the northern zone I’m sure I can trust.”
I took a deep breath, then continued with the profile. “We’re looking for a man who’s been around for more than three years.” Since before we executed Silas. “Who knows the locals. Someone people would trust with information about their families. Their sisters and daughters.”
Titus nodded.
“Someone who understands werecat infection methods, including the genetic component. People talk, so in theory, anyone could have heard about dormant genes. But there’s a certain circle of people whodefinitelyknow about that. People who have reason to understand and discuss that fact, as a part of their job.”
Another nod.
“We’re also looking for someone who had the opportunity to travel.” Because though those women all had connections to our territory, they were not all infected in our territory. “And, lastly, we’re looking for someone who knew Silas. Or at least knew enough about what he did to have picked up the theory and run with it.” Because we were either looking for Silas’s previously unknown partner or for a copycat.
“So, to recap, we’re looking for a man who’s been around a while and is trusted by the locals. Who knew about Silas’s crimes. And who has opportunities to travel, possibly for work.” Titus met my gaze while we were stopped at a red light. Less than a block from the Pine Cove apartments.
“So, you think I’m doing the right thing?” I asked.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have come to help. But before we start,youneed to be sure of that too. We have to rule them out, in order to be able to work with them. To trust them. We really have no choice.”
Andthatwas why he’d made me lay the facts out, for the millionth time. To justify, aloud, what we were about to do. “I’m sure.” But I still felt like an asshole.
Titus pulled into the parking lot, past the building where Bishop and Austin were probably still in bed, after our late night. He parked in front of the unit where my sister lived. Her car was gone, of course, as were both Tucker’s and Vance’s, because they’d already left for the bar. “Apartments 3B and 3C, right?”
I nodded. “Vance is in 3C, upstairs. Next to Davey.”
“You have keys?”
“No. Stuart does, but he’s a gossip,” I said as Titus opened his door and got out of the car. I followed him across the gravel lot. “This still feels really shitty,” I whispered at his back.
“It’ll feel even worse if one of them is guilty, and we never looked into them. If another woman dies in our territory because we weren’t thorough enough to investigate your enforcers, even though they fit the profile to a motherfucking T.” Titus rapped three times, firmly, on Stuart’s door.
“He could be out,” I said. “Fixing a water heater or—”
Stuart opened the door. “Hey, Charley. And Titus!” His face lit up. Stuart was a big fan of our Alpha, who gave him free rent, plus a salary.
“Hi Stuart. I’m going to need to borrow your key ring, please.” Titus’s voice was commanding, but polite.
“The whole ring?”
“Yes.”
“Sure thing. One second.” Stuart disappeared into his dimly lit apartment, where I could hear a gameshow playing on the television. The scent wafting toward us in his absence was mostly day-old pizza and beer. And sweat.
