Page 16 of Grave Danger

Cody snapped his fingers as an expression of glee erupted on his face. “Sandra Webb, yes! I knew I recognized her voice. No wonder she was so cold when I told her my name.”

“Um, Cody?” Demetrius said.

“Yeah?” Cody looked at him, still smiling.

“You’re walking a dangerous line here.” Demetrius tipped his head toward Eileen and Amelia, who had taken a seat on the couch. Both women sat on the edge of the cushion, leaning forward with elbows on their knees.

“Oh.” Cody blushed and cleared his throat. “Um, I called in about hitting a deer.”

“That’s funny,” Eileen said, her eye closing even more. “Margie heard Sandra tell Vicki you said you hit a man.”

“Oh, weeping willows!” Amelia shot to her feet. “Is that true?”

“It’s all right,” Demetrius said, holding up both hands as if in surrender. Which, when he thought about it, might be easier than tap dancing around the situation with the mayor’s body. “Nobody was hurt.”

“Nobody was hurt?” Amelia waved a hand toward Cody. “He hit someone with his truck!”

“But he got up and walked away,” Cody said. “I was really freaked out by it and called it in. Once Deputy Zellmer got there, the guy had walked off on his own two feet.”

Demetrius had to force himself not to look at Cody. He was actually impressed with how Cody had told the truth about the situation while leaving out specifics.

“Well, who was it?” Amelia’s voice was calmer as she took her seat again, and Demetrius let out a slow, cautious breath.

“It was the mayor,” Eileen said, lifting her chin with certainty. “Wasn’t it?”

“Eileen, my third favorite senior citizen after my grandmother and Amelia,” Cody said, “I hate to tell you this, but the mayor died about not too long ago.”

She gave him a playful sneer, but underneath it, Demetrius could see a small flicker of happiness that she had made Cody’s top three. Cody could still charm women and men alike, and, while they were married and had promised to be true, Demetrius had to admit to himself he was happy for it. Cody without his charm would be a much different man than the one Demetrius had married.

“I know that, smart ass,” Eileen said. “So tell me why April Mitchell told Margie that Lucia Durant and Ryan Zellmer took the two of you out to see the mayor’s grave after Horace Chapman called in a report of destruction of private property?”

“Dammit, Margie’s her own news channel,” Demetrius said.

Cody sighed. “Fine, you caught us.”

Eileen sat back and crossed her arms. She wore a big smile that more than gave away how pleased she was with herself.

“What are you saying?” Amelia asked, looking between the three of them.

“I don’t know,” Demetrius said, fixing Cody with a look. “What are you saying, Cody?”

Eileen sat forward again and waved a hand toward Cody. “He’s saying that the mayor is a zombie.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Cody stood up and held out his hands. “I never mentioned the zee word.”

“Yeah, what the heck are you even saying?” Demetrius said, trying to laugh but hearing the false notes in it himself. “There are no such things as zombies.”

“Or the Devil of Pinesville, or lake monsters, or werewolves.” Eileen made a face. “I know what you two get involved in. I was there for the Devil of Pinesville, remember? Hell, I told Oliver to call you two up to hunt it down.”

“Yeah, we never really thanked Ollie for that, did we?” Cody said, sitting down again.

“Demetrius,” Amelia said in a quiet voice, and when he saw the fear and uncertainty in her expression, his heart ached for her. “Is it true?”

Demetrius hung his head a moment. Amelia had been through so much during Nicolae’s quiet invasion of Parson’s Hollow. She’d been one of the first people he’d bitten, and she’d spent a year turning into a wolf once a month and not understanding anything that happened to her. It had made her anxious and irritable, nearly costing her everything she and Otis had built together.

Looking up, he gave a single nod. “It’s true.”

“Demmy…”