Page 60 of Hell’s Half Acre

She always looked forward to reading Kyle’s “other” reports. They should be published for the sheer entertainment value. No author in existence had anything close to Kyle’s imagination.

This one would probably make him eligible to appear on Ancient Aliens. But the one thing they could never do was allow anyone else to know about his “other” reports that he created for their eyes only.

Any attorney would use those to discredit Kyle’s findings and while Kyle could be exceptionally creative with his thoughts and conspiracies, he was never wrong on his exams, and he never allowed his conjectures to influence facts.

His filed reports were above reproach, and she really appreciated his thoroughness.

Luke walked around the body. “So what do you think, Dr. Craley? Natural causes?”

Sorcha snorted as Kyle laughed.

“Well,” Kyle stretched the word out. “Given that decapitation kills most things naturally, sure.” He leaned closer to Sorcha. “And if it doesn’t kill them, run like hell.”

She returned his conspiratorial smile. He had no idea.

Kyle went to where Luke was studying the victim’s hands. “I can’t wait to get the DNA from him. We should have no problem identifying the killer. Between the blood and the skin cells under his fingernails, this will be an easy conviction when we find the culprit.”

Luke sucked his breath in sharply. “Don’t jinx us, Kyle. Judge Kruz might preside. God help us all in that case.”

Sorcha curled her lips at Luke’s words. She’d heard all the rumors and then some. Judge Kruz was one of the worst judges on the bench.

The judge had a reputation for whining and complaining about being appealed and then she made some of the dumbest misinterpretations of the law imaginable. Her orders that Sorcha had read often contradicted themselves and showed just how scattered her thinking was and why the woman shouldn’t be near any bench that was outside of Savannah’s squares.

The biggest criminal in Kruz’s court on any given day was usually Kruz, herself.

“Any idea what weapon was used?” Sorcha asked.

“Not really. I mean, it was obviously sharp. The head on both this vic and the last one was cleanly cut with precision and no hesitation marks. Like a guillotine. A weapon that would be rather obvious. No idea what they could use that would be mobile and do this so cleanly. Especially when facing such large attackers.”

Rory arrived and called Kyle over to him.

Sorcha moved closer to Luke. “What are you thinking?”

“Two werewolves. Not a coincidence. No one’s this lucky.”

“Meaning?”

“Hostile takeover. Someone who doesn’t want to overtly challenge them for their packs.” He gestured at the body. “But this isn’t normal. Their societies are very structured and they don’t like change. There is a diehard process to be named Alpha. It doesn’t make sense that anyone would bypass the process.”

That was what she’d gleaned when she spoke to Lawson’s pack while Luke had been gone. They’d thought everything about his attack was bizarre and nonsensical.

And for some reason that made her think of a weird question. “Are there many werewolves in Hell?”

“Not as many as you’d think.”

That surprised her. “Really?”

“Most of them aren’t Christian so they end up other places after they die.”

There was something she’d never considered. “Like where?”

He shrugged. “Helheim. Kalosis. Annwn. Naraka. Diyu. Tartarus. Kuzimu. List goes on. Depends on their belief system. Same with demons. They’re not all ours.”

That was interesting, and it was one of the reasons she loved working with Luke. He knew way too much about such things.

Pulling on a pair of latex gloves from his pocket, Luke went to kneel next to the body so that he could examine it.

Sorcha watched emotions play across his features until they settled into a terrifying grimace. “You find something?”