“I swear to kill whoever did this to you,” she vowed with a shaky voice. Leaning back, she reclined into Lucien with her body now shaking in anger. “Whoever did this will pay. I’m done leaving it to the cops. My dad could be next or one of you. I will not allow that.”
Lucien’s hands were rubbing Melinda’s arms in a comforting manner, but as she looked at him, Melinda could tell that it was a reflex. It was as if he didn’t want to, but a stronger part of him needed to.
She wasn’t sure how long this back and forth he was doing with himself could go on. Shadowhaven was different from her world, but was she truly that unbecoming that he didn’t feel the least bit attracted to the person chosen as his mate? Enough to at least comfort in this situation?
“I will help you,” Lucien said, breaking her from her reverie. Isadora and Ambrose echoed his words.
Melinda pulled out her phone to call the police, at least giving them the benefit of the doubt to do right by her cousin. The others stayed with her as Melinda waited and Ambrose took the stake from her to hide it back at the house so the police couldn’t find it. With four vampires, they could find the killer faster than the humans could.
Lucien wasn’t able to move Melinda from her spot beside Jeremy regardless of the numerous attempts he made. He decided to stop squatting behind her and sit beside her instead. He felt her head rested against his arm absentmindedly as she continued to silently cry.
The police arrived faster than with Agatha, but Melinda noticed there was a different coroner this time. He seemed level headed as he bowed his head in prayer upon seeing Jeremy’s body. The last had been a tad disrespectful towards Agatha’s passing and that was putting it lightly.
“Melinda Hardgrave, this is the second time you’ve discovered a body. I might have to call you to the station for questioning,” Dorian spoke with a more official tone. When Melinda’s eyes narrowed at his accusation, his hands quickly raised as he sensed the growing hostility. “Look, it’s protocol. I understand Jeremy was your cousin, but Agatha had been your boss as well. Two people close to you means either you are in trouble or you are a suspect. I have to treat it as the latter until other evidence proves otherwise. I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t even know Jeremy had gotten back into town! How the fuck was I able to kill him if I thought he was still at college,” Melinda shouted at him, gaining the attention of her friends and other police. Lucien followed her lead as she jumped to her feet. When she took a step in Dorian’s direction, Lucien grabbed her waist to hold her back from making a dire mistake. “Why would I kill my own family?”
“Look, crimes of passion happen more often than you think. Family doesn’t always mean innocent. Look, just come down to the station and answer some questions. You won’t be locked up and I’ll even let you come without a police escort so no gossip will spread. But you are already a prime suspect when we have no others.”
“I didn’t kill Agatha and I sure as hell didn’t kill Jeremy. Jeremy was the closest person to me in this hell town. You really believe I could do that?” Melinda continued to shout. Her bloody hand flew out to gesture to the gaping hole in Jeremy’s chest as the other policemen conducted their investigation.
“It’s protocol. I’m—.”
“Screw your fucking protocol, Dorian. Call your daughter and tell her what you’re accusing me of. Call Lana and see what she has to say about your fucking protocol.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose while taking a couple deep breaths before continuing to reason with her. “Melinda, this is getting increasingly harder to speak reason with you if you are using such language and your friend is having to hold you back.”
“He’s not my friend, he’s my—.” Melinda stopped herself as she realized saying the word ‘mate’ might not help her case. “It doesn’t matter at the moment what he is. You are accusing me of killing my boss and my cousin. I think I have every right in the world to be this angry. I was at home last night and Henry at the post office can attest that I was at home when he arrived.”
“What does the time of death look like?” Dorian asked the others without taking his eyes from Melinda.
“I’d say about an hour.”
An hour. They missed his killer by an hour. Melinda began sinking to the ground again. “An hour? We found him just thirty minutes ago. Oh god,” she choked out a sob. Her bloodied hand covered her mouth in horror as she realized that the killer might have watched them.
“That means the killer could still be in the area. Call for backup and start searching now. Georgio, get him in a body bag and to the morgue. There may be better evidence on this one. You all need to get out of here before trouble finds you."
Lucien tried to pull Melinda to her feet, but she couldn’t concentrate enough to stay upright. The person that killed Jeremy could have seen them arrive. They could have seen everything. That very thought had Melinda’s blood boiling.
Melinda was ready to paint the town red until she found the person that killed her cousin.
“You better find this person, Dorian. I might not have killed anyone yet, but if I find them before you, I swear from heaven to hell that I will. That monster is dead the second I find them. I swear on that," Melinda vowed to Dorian as Lucien was finally able to get her to stand.
The cop shuddered at her gaze, but said nothing as they left them to conduct their search. Isadora remaining silent throughout as she was more worried about her friend than anything. She saw the look in Melinda’s eyes and knew that she meant every single word she spoke.
She would kill this monster.
Regardless of who it was.
Chapter Twelve
Melinda
Lucien remained at my side throughout the day, from cleaning myself up at their home to my trip to the grocery store. I needed to distract myself, but I found it was proving difficult when eyes started to remain on me. Not just Lucien’s. Originally, I thought the others were looking at Lucien since he was new and more attractive than anything this town had to offer. ButI realized after a while that that was not the case. They were staring directly at me.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” I finally asked Lucien while I turned a can of green beans over in my hands. I pretended to read the label to avoid looking up.
“They are all talking about how you might be the murderer," he whispered to me. I looked out of the corner of my eye at the small group gathered, their eyes instantly shifting away when they caught my gaze. Lucien stepped between us, shielding me from their view.
