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Reena’s jaw hardened. “I don’t want you dead.”
“Because you care so much about her,” Tanner deadpanned.
Reena ignored him. “I don’t like you much, Devon, that’s true. But there are lots of people I don’t like. That doesn’t mean I want them all dead. All I ever wanted was for you to stay out of our lives—that’s it.”
“And this would have ensured I was no longer in your life, if only the kidnap attempts had worked,” Devon pointed out.
“I didn’t vandalize your apartment, and I didn’t play a part in any scheme. You’ll all see that for yourselves when my father finally gets a name out of Asa. He won’t give up until he does.”
Just then, Eric sidled up to Reena, bringing with him the scent of cloying cologne. “I just wanted to check if everything is okay over here,” he said.
Reena took a centering breath. “Everything’s fine, Eric. We were just discussing the investigation.”
Eric didn’t look convinced, but he nodded at them in greeting. “It’s good to see you all again. I heard you two claimed each other,” he said to Tanner and Devon. “Congrats.”
Reena didn’t pass on that same congratulations. She just looked at the floor. Maybe Devon should have been hurt by that but, honestly, she was beyond caring.
“Can I get you a drink? You’re welcome to join us.” Eric gestured at the pool table with his thumb.
“No, thank you,” said Jolene. “We’re leaving now. You know, Reena, I wouldn’t have thought this was your scene. It makes me wonder what else we don’t know about you.”
Something flashed in Reena’s eyes. Unease, perhaps?
“Come on, kitten.” Tanner took her hand and led her outside. “You all right?” He didn’t like the strained smile or barely-there-nod she gave him. It had to be downright dispiriting to hear your own sibling tell you they didn’t want you in their life when you hadn’t done a damn thing wrong.
Devon glanced over her shoulder at the bar. “If anyone asked me if Reena drank beer, played pool, and hung out at places like this, I’d have laughed in their face.”
“Same here,” said Jolene. “She always came across as very high-and-mighty. Yet, she looked right at home in there.”
“So, do you believe her?” asked Devon.
“That she wasn’t the one who went crazy on your apartment?” Tanner pursed his lips. “My gut says she was telling the truth, but it’s clear that she’s very good at deception. I doubt her own parents would guess that this is how she sometimes spends her free time. They’d probably be appalled.” Tanner went to speak again, but then Knox’s mind touched his, buzzing with frustration.
We have Patrick Stephens’ location, said the Prime.
Tanner’s mouth snapped shut. Where is he?
A cemetery in Ohio. He was killed—and mutilated—a week before Mattias.
Which makes Stephens the first victim, Tanner realized, silently cursing to himself.
The killer has to be Royal Foreman—there’s no one else left. He hasn’t returned Muriel’s body to her home. I can’t think of where else he’d put her.
Tanner rubbed at his jaw. Is Larkin still struggling to locate him?
Yes, but she’ll find him. She always comes through.
A thought occurred to him. What if it isn’t Foreman? What if the reason Muriel’s body is nowhere to be found is that she’s the one who’s been doing the killing? Foreman could be her last intended victim.
Knox paused. She seemed to be genuinely grieving her brother’s death. Then again, she also seemed to be genuinely sure that Dale, Harry, and the others couldn’t have been involved in anything. I’ll have Levi look at what was happening in Muriel’s life over the past year to see if there’s anything that could have acted as a trigger.
Tanner gave a satisfied nod, even though his Prime couldn’t see it. As a child, she was too low on the power spectrum to be able to subdue people or cause heart attacks, and I’ve never known her capable of altering her scent, but she may have grown in power as she aged and developed other abilities. I’d like to think she’s not the killer, but my instincts won’t let me dismiss the idea. And his instincts had never let him down before.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The following evening, Tanner strode into Knox’s home office with Levi at his side. Tanner had received the telepathic summons from his Prime just as he and Devon were finishing dinner. He’d brought her with him to the mansion and left her in the living room with Harper and Asher, where the two females were now discussing the arrangements for the “Welcome to the Lair” party that Harper was insisting on throwing. It would also double as a “Congrats on Your Mating” celebration.
With the help of the other sentinels, he and Devon had moved her things into Tanner’s apartment after they got back from the sports bar. It was as they were unpacking her stuff that Finn had called, grumbling to her that he’d heard about the mating through the rumor mill rather than from Devon. He’d also passed on his congrats, though. Her brother, Spencer, had left her a congratulatory voicemail, but she’d heard nothing from Kaye—nor had Devon expected to.
