Page 67 of Hell’s Half Acre

“Mara, please. Theresa said you had questions for me.”

Sorcha took a deep breath before she spoke. “We wanted to know what happened last time you saw your husband.”

“I already told the police.”

“Yes, ma’am, and I’m sorry to make you go through it again.” Sorcha hated the quivering note in her voice.

Mara caught it, too. “You’ve been through this.” Not a question. A statement.

“I have, and I know how hard it is when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and forget the world exists.”

Sniffing, Mara nodded. “Larry was acting normal. Just like always. Said he wanted to meet up with some friends from that stupid club he was in.”

“Club?”

“Some business thing that met once a month. Everyone in it was so peculiar. I never really liked any of them.”

“Peculiar? How so?” Sorcha asked.

“Just… I don’t know how to describe it. They’re all a bunch of oddballs.”

Werewolves.

Sorcha nodded at Luke’s conclusion. That was exactly what she was thinking. Sort of. No, not even. While she’d known the first one was a werewolf because of Luke, she wouldn’t have thought that about Osbourne.

Do you think she knows what he was?

Luke shrugged before he stepped closer to her. “Was it always the same day of the month that they met?”

“No. It was whenever there was a full moon. Weird, right? I made a joke once that they were a bunch of werewolves and Larry had a fit. Told me I needed to see a shrink over my paranoia.” She drew a ragged breath. “Who would have done this to him?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Luke said. “Do you know the name or phone number for any of his Full Moon buddies?”

Sorcha wanted to elbow him for that. She didn’t know why Larry had hidden the truth from his wife. Or maybe Mara was playing a game with them.

It was possible she knew. After all, she had a parlor full of werewolves below.

“Are any of those members downstairs?”

She shook her head. “Those are old friends of Larry’s. They stopped by to keep an eye on me, they said, in case the killer wants me, too. But I’m not in the mood for company.” Mara dabbed at her eyes. “Carlos Reyes was the one he hung around most. I could probably go through Larry’s phone and find a few more.”

Luke nodded as he scrolled through his own phone. “Reyes, you said? Would this happen to be your husband’s friend?” He held the phone for Mara to look at it.

“Yeah. That’s him. Are you a friend of his, too?”

“Something like that. Thank you for your time.”

Sorcha started to protest. She still had some questions to ask. But the expression on that gorgeous face said that he knew something she didn’t.

So she pulled her business card out of her purse and handed it to Mara. “If you think of anything else, please let us know. Thank you.”

Mara nodded and put the card in the pocket of her housecoat.

Without another word, Sorcha followed Luke through the house and back to the car. “What’s going on?”

He showed her the picture of a good-looking man at a party. The same photo he’d shown Mara. “Look past Carlos’s shoulder.”

It was an older woman who held herself like a trained police officer. Someone Sorcha knew instantly. “It’s the captain.” Captain Reyes.