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“I’d say it’s nice to see you both again, but considering the circumstances, it doesn’t seem appropriate. What have we got?”
“A body. A skinned body.”
“Fuck.” She thrust her hand through her hair. “Any idea if it's a wolf?”
“Human.” I hesitated. “We think it might be Alice Dale’s mom. Alice came into the café today convinced something had happened to her, and asked me to find her. She said the rangers had suggested it.”
“We did. Or rather, I did. We put out an alert, but there wasn’t much more we could do given there was no sign of trouble at her house.” She studied the buildings for a moment. “Where is the body?”
“In the blue dumpster at the rear of the cold store. The heat of the last few days has made it... unpleasant.”
“I can imagine.” She grimaced and got out her phone. “I’ll take your statements now while we’re waiting for Ciara and Tala to turn up. That way
, you can leave.”
She started with me and then moved on to Belle. Once both recordings had been done, she put her phone away and glanced around at the sound of approaching sirens. “Have you made any further contact with Alice?”
“No, but I said I’d call her if I found anything, and I feel obliged to at least tell her something.”
“Don’t tell her you found a body—not until we’ve confirmed ID.”
I nodded, even as relief stirred. It might mean lying, but it also meant I didn’t have to be the one to give her the bad news.
Another SUV pulled up beside Jaz’s. Tala Sinclair—Aiden’s second-in-command and a straight-talking, no-nonsense wolf—climbed out. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m really not happy to see you both right now.”
A smile tugged my lips. “Trust me when I say we’d rather not be here right now.”
Something close to amusement briefly touched her otherwise stern expression. “How nasty is it?”
“Breathing mask nasty.”
“Ah.” She glanced at Jaz. “Have you taken their statements?”
“Yes, but I haven’t checked the crime scene yet.”
Tala grunted. “I’ll do that while you wait for Ciara. She should be only five or so minutes away now.” Her gaze returned to us. “You two can go, if you’d like.”
“Thanks.” I hesitated. “If the body does belong to Alice Dale’s mom, could you not tell her we were the ones who found it?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, but why not?”
“Because I promised her I’d call if I found her—”
“And none of us have any idea if you have,” she cut in sharply.
“I know, but she’ll be looking for someone to blame for her mother’s death, and her anger will fall on me if she learns I’ve withheld information, even if under orders. I’d rather avoid that situation.”
“That I can understand.”
She moved around to the back of her truck and started getting her kit out. We climbed into our wagon and got the hell out of there. It wasn’t until we got back to the café that I finally called Alice.
“Hello? Is that you, Lizzie?” she immediately said, with far too much hope in her voice.
I closed my eyes and silently cursed whatever gods were listening for doing this to her.
“Did you find my mom?” she added.
“I’m afraid the vibrations coming from the necklace completely faded before we could.” I said it as evenly as I was able. “But we got a general location and the rangers are up there now looking for her.”
