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A few minutes later, one of the medics, Sharah, an elf, came over to talk to us. "The man was an FBH, all right. It looks as though every drop of liquid in his body, every internal organ, has been—"
Chase interrupted her, holding up his hand. "I know you need more time to do the autopsy and come to any real conclusions," he said in a pointed tone. Sharah blinked, then took her clue and nodded. "Take the body back to HQ and do what you need to. Have the report on my desk by morning at the latest."
"Yes, sir." Sharah motioned to her men. "You heard the detective. Get a move on, boys, we don't have all night."
Under the watchful eyes of Tyler, Venus, and Zachary, the EMTs body-bagged the man and carted him out to the waiting medic unit. My sisters, Morio, Chase, and I headed for the door as soon as they were through. Chase wrapped his arm around my waist as we approached the three Pumas.
"We'll let you know what we find out," I said.
"Fine." Zachary gave Chase a pointed look. "Thank you for coming out here on such short notice, Detective. Especially when we're so far outside your jurisdiction."
It was barely there in Zach's voice, but I could hear it: a challenge. I didn't know whether Chase would pick up on it, but apparently testosterone speaks its own language, superseding species and race.
Chase stared him down. "I'm sure your local sheriff wouldn't mind me stepping in. Would you like me to stop by his office, tell him about the case? While I'm at it, I can tell him the reason I'm here is because y'all are Supes and needed an FBH to run interference. As it is, I'm going to have to come up with a good reason why we removed an FBH murder case from your land."
Zach cleared his throat. "No, that won't be necessary," he said, frowning. After an icy pause, he motioned us toward the door. Tyler fell in beside him as they escorted us to our cars.
"I'll call you later tomorrow," I told Zach, keeping my voice as neutral as possible.
Zachary nodded, silent as the night. But I could feel his gaze fastened on my back as I climbed in and shut the door. Tyler, on the other hand, glowered the entire time. I had the distinct impression he appreciated neither our help nor our presence.
Camille waited until Chase was headed down the road, then she put the car into gear, and we eased out of the compound. On the way home, before anybody had a chance to say anything, I scribbled a note for them to read.
"Don't make anything other than innocuous conversation," it said. "I have a feeling the car may be bugged. I'll go through it tomorrow." And so that was how we came to discuss the impending holiday dinner the entire way home.
When we pulled into the driveway, we saw that Chase had arrived before we did. He was already inside. We spilled out of the car.
"Great gods, that was nerve-racking," Camille said as she wearily climbed the porch steps, carrying the shield that we'd found. She dropped it next to the door. "Let's leave this damn thing outside. I don't like the feel of it and don't want it in the. house," she added. "So, you really think my car's bugged?"
I nodded. "Ten to one, somebody was listening. Tomorrow, before you go anywhere, remind me, and we'll scan the car with the crystal that Trenyth left us."
"Good idea," she said. "Queen Asteria is one sharp cookie. We'd be as adrift as a glacier without her help."
Morio opened the door and stood back, allowing us to enter first. Menolly popped in the kitchen while the rest of us dropped into whatever seat we could find and stared at one another. Chase was shaking his head.
"That body… what happened to that man?" he asked.
"External digestion," Morio spoke up. We all stared at him.
"External digestion?" I said. "Yuck."
"How do you know that?" asked Chase.
Morio tugged at his collar. "Hey, I can't help it if I majored in biology when I got my degree online. My guess is that they'll find some residue of a digestive enzyme in his body. If the Hunters Moon Clan got him, they probably envenomated him with a paralyzing neurotoxin, which also broke down his internal tissue. Then they sucked it out through… well… wherever they could find—or make—a hole on his body."
"Gee, thanks for the visual. Not." Chase turned green. "Why did you have to tell me that? Now I'm going to have nightmares. It was so much easier before you all came through the portals. I hope you know that!"
I laughed, my first real laugh of the night. "Chase, the werespiders were here long before we came over from OW. As were the Puma Pride members and Morio and his kind. Get used to the idea that you had plenty of Supes here all along. You just didn't know about them."
"I still wish I didn't," he muttered but returned my smile. "Strike that. Then I wouldn't know about you, either."
Menolly came bounding back in the room. She'd changed into a clean pair of jeans and a pale blue sweater set. She wore stiletto heels, and her braids clicked gently as she pulled on her leather jacket.
She glanced at the clock. "I've got to get down to the Wayfarer. This took far longer than I'd planned. Remember, tomorrow night is my V.A. meeting. I expect at least one of you," she looked pointedly at Camille and me, "to go with me. You promised Wade you'd do what you could to drum up more family support."
"You're just trying to get a grant to help fund the organization, and you can't unless you have actual living members," Camille said. "Yeah, yeah, at least one of us will be there, and happily so."
Menolly snorted. "You know me too well," she said. "Iris left a note in the kitchen. She fed Maggie, and your dinner's in the fridge. She made a beef stew. I checked. There's enough for Chase and Morio," she added.
