Page 50 of Grave Danger

“I need Cody to come with us,” Lucia said. “Demetrius, you can follow in your truck.” She looked him up and down. “You might want to go home and clean up first.”

“You’re arresting me?” Cody said, the volume and pitch of his voice going up. “Is that what’s happening?”

“Not yet.” Lucia had widened her stance again, as if preparing for Cody to rush her. “Just need to talk with you down at the station. Both of you.”

“Why can’t we drive together?” Demetrius asked. He was having trouble following everything. His brain was jumping from thought to thought without staying on one item long enough for it to make a lot of sense. Everything was happening so fast, he was starting to feel a little dizzy.

“Because one of you hit the man in the back of the head with a rock.”

Cody started toward Lucia, but Demetrius held him back. “Cody, it’s not worth it. Come on, look at me. Hey, Cody.”

He turned his furious gaze on him, and Demetrius felt the full weight of his anger. Cody’s jaw was clenched tight, and his face had turned an alarming shade of red. Deputy Zellmer had tied one end of the yellow tape to the dumpster and was walking with the roll past them toward the body, the tape making a screeching noise that sawed at Demetrius’s nerves.

“I will be right behind you,” Demetrius said.

“She’s going to arrest me.”

“No, she won’t. And if they mention anything about an arrest, I will get a lawyer, and we’ll get you out. These are extenuating circumstances, and it will all come out as they look at the body. It’s going to be okay.”

Cody blew out a breath, and his shoulders dropped maybe a quarter inch. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Cody nodded, looked away, then back again. “I’m worried about Jugs.”

“Me, too. I’ll call him on my way to the station.”

“Yeah, all right. I hope Zenona got to see him.”

Zenona Baldwin was another of Cody’s ex-girlfriends and a doctor at the hospital. She’d been a big part of their efforts to stop Nicolae and his army of werewolves.

“I hope so, too. Go with them quietly and just tell them what happened. Don’t leave anything out.”

“I know the routine. Been through it enough times.”

“We’ll get through this.”

“I know. It’s just… Why is it always us?”

Demetrius nodded and tried for a smile, but it felt off and probably didn’t make Cody feel any better. “We must put off a monster attracting pheromone or something.”

Lucia approached them. When she spoke, her voice was lower, and her tone more gentle. “Come on, Cody. Let’s get you down to the station, and we can get this handled quick. Demetrius, go clean up and come in as soon as you can.”

Demetrius grabbed Cody’s hand and gave it a strong squeeze before letting go. He watched Lucia and Cody walk through the office out the front door. Turning, he saw Deputy Zellmer standing by the body, eyes hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses as he stared at him. He held the roll of tape in both hands, fingers tight around it, and Demetrius wondered if Zellmer were imagining it was his neck.

“Please make sure you lock up the office when you’re done.”

Zellmer gave a single nod, and Demetrius turned away to walk through the office. He made sure the computers were shut down and they hadn’t left anything valuable lying out. Grabbing his phone and keys, he pushed out the front door and jogged toward his truck.

What the fuck was going on in their town this time?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“It’s way too big, it’ll never fit.”

Cody and Jugs exchanged a smirk across the front seat and said together, “That’s what she said.”

Demmy and Agatha groaned in tandem. They sat in the backseat of the Widow Monroe’s Cadillac, a veritable plain of leather seating between them.