“Get over to the address I’m sending you. It was just called in, but I have a bad feeling.”
“I’ll head right over.”
“Figure something out. We’ve had too many deaths, Paige. We’ve let this go on for too long. We look like we don’t know how to do our fucking job,” Michaels barks.
“That does sound concerning.”
“Paige, just…” I can hear his anger even though he doesn’t say a single other word. I try not to smile while I patiently wait for his tantrum to be over. I really am such a gentleman.
TWENTY-SIX
Gabriel
When I walk up to Tate’s house with Jesse by my side, I find my eyes straying toward him. There’s so much riding on him keeping quiet that it makes me feel this weird sense of anxiety toward him. All it would take would be a simple slipup and he could give Liam’s involvement away. Jesse has confidently told us that he’ll keep our participation hidden, but how is he going to take this display?
I know I need to trust him. And I know I need to trust Liam. Even if Jesse blurted out everything right at this moment, I know there’d be absolutely nothing tying the body to Liam because he’s no amateur.
Jesse glances over at Liam who is staring at the body while looking absolutely natural, like he wasn’t the very person who killed the man and placed his body on the front porch.
“What do we have?” I ask.
“A rather dead man,” Liam replies.
“You’re such a smart-ass all the time,” Donna says.
“Thank you, Donna, your friendship means so much to me.”
“And sarcastic.”
“I’ve never wasted my breath on sarcasm. What are you doing here, Jesse?”
“I was getting coffee with Gabriel when the call came in. Kind of a… we were riding together kind of thing,” he says. “But since I’m here now, is there anything I can do?”
Liam leans in to get a better look at the body. “Looks like he’s been moved. The blood has settled in his back. He likely lay on his back after death. You can even see the way his hair has been frozen flat in the back while the blood congealed. Jesse, since you’re here, what do you think?”
Jesse seems to snap right into work mode as he hurries over. “Definitely moved. The blood pattern on his skin as well as the blood settling under his skin show that he was lying for a period of time before being moved up here. There’s no fresh blood beneath him.”
“Do you think he got wet somehow? Look at the way his clothes are frozen,” Liam comments.
“It’s certainly possible.”
“Of course, since it snowed yesterday, I’m not sure we’ll get any footprints,” Liam says as I realize that he did a phenomenal job dragging the areas they’d walked. The snow currently pelting us in the face is also helping to hide any footprints, but it’s not helping my attitude.
“This weather is miserable,” I mutter.
“Sure is,” Jesse says, probably still sensitive to the cold after last night.
A car pulls up and Michaels gets out, telling me he’s quite concerned by this entire thing if he’s showing up already. His jaw is clenched tightly while he storms his way up to the porch where the body sits.
And that’s when I hear multiple phones beep.
“What the fuck is this?” Chris asks, looking down at his phone.
“Someone send you a nude for the first time in your life?” Liam asks.
“I’m glad you’re mean to others and not just me,” Matthew says as he walks up.
“I got a… Oh my god…” Donna breathes, holding up her phone too. I hesitate before reaching for my work phone, realizing that Ihadfelt it vibrate while I was caught up in watching what was happening. I open it up and look at a picture of a much younger Jesse pinning a man to the wall with a knife driven into the man’s side.
