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As soon as he closed the door, Chase turned to me. “I hate this part of the job. I know you do, too. But we have to word this carefully. We know this was no accident. So we have outright murder and arson.”
“What do we tell them?” It was better to defer to Chase on this one—he was the one who had to deal with the fallout, especially if it took us a while to find the murderers.
He stared at a piece of paper on his desk, tapping his fingers on the wood. After a moment, he looked up. “Let’s go. Just follow my lead.” With a decisive nod, he motioned for us to follow him.
We headed out into the waiting room, where a group of anxious Weres sat around the room. I caught sight of Marion Vespa—owner of the Supe-Urban Café—and quickly looked away before she could catch my eye. I dreaded being witness to when we told her that her sister was dead.
Exo Reed’s wife, Claudia, was there. She’d left the kids home. And others…most likely family of the dead and injured. Surveying the anxious faces made me want to weep. So much needless death and destruction went on in my world. The dead were usually okay—off doing other things—but here was the real aftermath of tragedy.
As we approached, Claudia glanced anxiously at us, scanning our faces. She must have read our energy, or perhaps it was simply body language, but whatever the case, her expression crumpled and she began to weep. Marion glanced at her, then hung her head, silent tears streaming down her face.
Chase glanced at them. “Will the families of Trixie Jones, Thomas Creia, Exo Reed, and Salvatore Tienes please come with us.” He turned to Sharah. “Will you talk to the others?”
She nodded, silently leading three people aside. They must have been family of the injured. I glanced at her as we led the others into a quiet conference room. Nerissa gently steered Claudia, who looked like she might collapse.
As I closed the door, Chase motioned for people to sit down. “I’m afraid I have bad news.” He let out a long sigh, pausing.
“They’re dead, aren’t they? My Exo is dead.” Claudia struggled to speak, her voice barely audible.
He nodded. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this…and in this manner. There was an explosion at the Supe Community Council tonight and seven people were caught in the blast—seven that we know of so far. Two are in intensive care fighting for their lives. The others…I’m sorry but they didn’t make it.”
I watched as he skirted the delicate line between caring too much and sounding too callous. He didn’t dare let himself get caught up in their pain, but neither could he remain totally detached.
Marion sucked in a deep breath and raised her head, letting out a long cry—a howl almost. The others, one by one joined in. Coyote, canine, wolf…they were all part of the tableau and they were all shifters under their superficial differences.
Chase waited till they finished, respecting the tradition, and then he gently passed around pictures of the elf. “I’m sorry to ask this, but first, do any of you have any idea of who this man was? He was caught in the blast, too, but we haven’t been able to put an ID to him yet.”
One by one they studied the picture, tears streaming, and shook their heads. Marion held it last, staring long and hard.
“I think he might have come into the café the other day, but I’m not sure. It was a slow day and I seem to remember…yes, Trixie was there, she was talking to him. But I don’t know his name.” She handed it back. “Who did this?”
“We don’t know yet.” Chase let out a long breath. “I’m sorry, but the sooner we ask you some questions, the sooner we’ll be able to catch whoever it is that did this.” He glanced around at the silent, tear-stained faces.
After a moment, Claudia Reed spoke up. “Ask your questions, Detective. We’ll do all we can to help.” She looked at the others, and they nodded their assent. Apparently, Exo’s wife was tougher than I had first thought.
“Thank you. I know this is a rotten time to ask, but it might help.” Chase shuffled a few papers and flipped open his notebook, pen poised over the paper.
“Have any of your loved ones mentioned anything out of the ordinary—any enemies? Anybody who might have been making threats? Anybody unhappy with them?”
He settled back in his chair while Nerissa unobtrusively passed out tissues, patted shoulders, and brought a blanket for Marion, who was shivering. I wanted to go over, put my arms around her shoulders, whisper that it was all okay, that it was a mistake and her sister was still alive and well.
Claudia shrugged. “Exo has…had…he’s made a number of enemies, definitely. Anybody turned away from the hotel could be out to get him. And there are a few members in the werewolf packs who don’t like the fact that he’s made such a public name for himself.”
I glanced at Chase, who gave me an imperceptible nod. “Do you know if any sorcerers have been hanging around the hotel?” If Van and Jaycee were part of this, chances were they had brought more of their kind over from the Sub-Realms.
The werewolf flinched, her eyes gleaming in the dim room. “Sorcerers? Crap—I didn’t know sorcery was involved.” Most werewolves didn’t care for outright magic.
Marion cleared her throat. “Delilah, can I speak to you in private?”
I led her out of the room, to an empty one next door. “Yes?”
“Could this have anything to do with the Koyanni? You cleared out a lot of them, but some got away. You know I’d have told you if I knew where they were, but it’s well known among the coyote shifters that you are connected with the Supe Community Council. And a strike at the organization you help run would be a strike at you.”
I cleared my throat. “You might be right. We’ve talked about this already. Which means I’m going to have to talk openly about the Koyanni. I know your people have kept them a secret all these years, but let’s face it, that barn door was left standing wide open and the horses are long gone.”
She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. “I suppose it is.”
“When they attacked Luke’s sister, they forfeited their secrecy. Eventually, everything is going to come out in the open. We can’t keep a lid on old legends when they prove to be true and still deadly. And if the Koyanni are involved in this, we’ve got a huge problem on our hands. Would you like me to tell the others, or do you want to? You know their history better.”
