I took a deep breath to slow my pulse. To hide my anger and frustration from him. The hardest part about interrogating a fellow shifter was controlling my temper. Not just the external expression of it. The internal tells, too.
I folded down the tray slot and slid his breakfast into his cell on a paper plate, with a plastic fork.
“Thanks. That smells great, and I’m starving.”
“I bet.”I hear weed does that.
“I…um…” He stared down at the plate, as if he weren’t sure where else to look. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m sorry for the trouble. So…” He finally looked up, meeting my gaze with his brows furrowed in a sheepish expression that made him look about twelve years old. “So, how much trouble am I in, exactly?”
“That’s what we’re here to assess.”
“But for the record…” Vance pushed the basement door shut as he came in behind me. “Lying only digs that hole deeper. Any chance you have of catching a break dependsentirelyupon you answering every question we ask honestly, and as thoroughly as possible.”
“Jesus.” Billy blinked, his focus shifting from Vance to me. “I mean, I know it’s illegal in Tennessee, but I didn’t think the Pride really cared about human laws.”
“I—” I frowned as Vance set two folding chairs on the floor behind me. “Billy…” I sank into one of the chairs. “Do you know why you’re here?”
“Because of the pot, right? It was just one joint. I didn’t think you guys would really care about that, and it helps me relax. It also mutes the pain of shifting. And if you haven’t gone for a run while you’re high, you’ve never really lived…” He grinned, evidently trying to lighten the mood, and when that went over like a lead balloon, his brows dipped even further. “But this all seems like overkill for one blunt.”
“I don’t care about your pot, Billy. Unless smoking gets you arrested and brings you—and potentially us—to the attention of the human police. So make sure it doesn’t get to that point.”
“Yeah. Of course. I only smoke at home, and I never—” He sank onto the edge of the cot, his breakfast untouched. “So, wait, why am I here, then? Why were you guys out at the trailer?”
“We have some questions for you.” I leaned forward in my chair, but Vance only stood behind his, kind of hovering over it.
“Okay.” Billy nodded, a lock of dark hair falling across his forehead. His right hand clenched the edge of his paper plate, crumpling it. His pulse was steady, but a little faster than normal. Which meant he was nervous, but not truly scared yet.
He seemed totrulyhave no idea what this was about.
Vance opened the voice recorder on his phone and turned it on. “Just so you know, we’re recording this, and a copy of the recording will be sent to Titus Alexander, Alpha of the Mississippi Valley Pride.”
“Yeah. Okay. So, this is serious, huh?” Billy set his plate on the cot next to him, still untouched.
“As serious as it gets,” I said. “Are you high right now?”
“No. I wish—” Billy shook his head. “I mean, no. Stone cold. It never lasts long.”
“Okay. That’s good. Tell us how you know Denny Morelock.”
His gaze narrowed, and I could practically feel his shields go up. “He’s my brother. I mean, not by blood.” Billy shrugged. “But we basically grew up together.”
“As neighbors?” I asked. “Friends? What was the connection?”
“I told you. We were family. His dad and my mom were married. Common law, she called it.”
Tennessee has never been a common law marriage state, so unless Denny’s dad and Billy’s mom were married according to the common law in some other state, he was wrong, whether he knew it or not. But the legality of their “marriage” wasn’t the point.
“So, they lived together? Your mom and Silas?” Was Billy’s mother the live-in girlfriend Eamon had mentioned?
“Yeah.”
“Was your mom’s name Connie, by any chance?”
“Yeah. Constance Bullen. I never met my dad, and she didn’t seem to think I needed to, so…” Billy shrugged. “After what happened to you, Eamon said it would be best not to tell you about my connection to Silas. He said you were traumatized and had every right to heal in peace, and you wouldn’t be able to do that if you knew he was my stepdad. But that since I hadn’t done anything wrong, I didn’t deserve to be run out of the community for the sake of your healing either, and that this way, we could both stay. You and I,” he clarified, just in case.
“So, you’re saying you had nothing to do with Silas kidnapping and infecting me? You knew nothing about it?”
“That’s right. I hadn’t lived with him for more than a year, by then. Not since my mom died. But Eamon was worried you wouldn’t believe that. That you’d fire me and run me off.”
