AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Colton nodded. “I am all for investigating her background.”
Steele’s voice was calm and cordial when he spoke to Riley. “I apologize for my outburst. The sooner we can justify your transition, the sooner I can put the clan at ease.”
Riley dropped her hands, feeling the tissues in her hand heal. “I understand their concern, but I don’t know how to reassure them. I’m not sure what I am.”
Steele moved to the chair in the living room. He flicked his hand and the cougar lying in the tree jumped to a lower branch before disappearing. “It’s best for everyone if we find out. Are you sure your mother didn’t have any Haitian connections?”
Riley and Colton took a seat opposite of Steele. She folded her hands in her lap before she spoke. “She had a friend who was Haitian growing up, but she died before I was born. Mom told me her name, but I can’t remember off the top of my head.”
“I’m more interested in her bloodline than her friends, but it’s worth checking out. Can you tell me about your mother’s death?” Steele asked.
Though she had tried many times, Riley couldn’t forget that day. The moment she walked into the small yellow kitchen and saw her dad leaning over a glass of vodka. She’d known something is wrong. Her father never drank in the afternoon, and he was supposed to be at work.
Her fears had been confirmed when he looked up at her with red swollen eyes. It was the first and only time she saw her father cry. He’d witnessed things he would never talk about overseas in the military, yet his tear-streaked face couldn’t lie. His soul was crushed.
He’d indicated for her to sit down in the oak chair opposite of his. He swirled his drink in his hand, and the sound of the ice cubes clinking together had sent shivers running through her body.
“I just got home from school. My dad was waiting for me. He explained that my mother’s body was found in a dumpster near the homeless shelter.”
Steele nodded. “I’m more interested in why she was killed. Did the investigation turn up any leads?”
Riley glanced out the window, watching a starling flit from branch to branch. “Those first few months were hard on my father and me. I was acting out, and he was drinking to dull the pain. My mother was a caring, vivacious woman who left a hole in our hearts when she left. While my dad would never have discussed the gruesome nature of her death with me, I knew it must’ve been bad. He would get phone calls, updates from the lead detective. Sometimes he would slam the phone down and curse. Once he smashed his drink in the sink.”
Colton’s face narrowed. “Did he ever hurt you?”
Riley’s eyebrows arched. “No. He was devastated, but he got himself together. If anything, he was overprotective of me. About six months after her death, he started volunteering at the church, and I was transferred to their private school. I missed my friends from the public school, but made new ones. Still, I don’t think either one of us truly recovered from mom’s death. There was always a missing piece of my soul. Maybe finding out who killed her would’ve helped both of us.”
Colton laced his fingers with hers. “No child should lose their parent at such a young age, but murder makes that loss so much worse. Senseless.”
“Yes, it does. I think dad continued to look for her killer. He was careful not to bring me into it, but I found receipts for a gun and some specialized bullets he had made. He hadn’t carried a weapon since he left the military and his duties at the church discouraged gun use.”
“Did your father keep a file, or locker, with his findings?” Steele asked.
Riley put her finger to her lip. “He still has a desk at the church. The drawers have locks on them.”
“That’s a good place to start. What about at home?”
“A couple of years after mom died, one of the church properties came available. The parish owns the property for the school, the church, and three small houses. We moved into one of them. I was looking for my own place when dad was diagnosed. When dad was moved to the care facility, I told the church I would start looking for a new place, but never got around to it. They have been really good to me.”
Colton squeezed her knee. “It sounds like you had a loving community to help you through the trauma.”
“We did. After I started my schooling at the church, I began to rebuild my life. I still felt like an outsider sometimes, but I had friends and dad started a support group for people recovering after trauma. Mostly people who had lost loved ones in a violent manner. Helping other people was good for him. It helped him find his way back,” she said.
Both men stood abruptly when shouts echoed in the wind.
Colton’s eyes narrowed. “Someone is under attack.” Steele dissolved and was gone in a second.
Riley was about to speak when Colton’s shadow enveloped her and her molecules dissolved at his command. They raced through the shadow pathway, lurching to a stop underneath a thick evergreen. She grabbed her stomach, waiting for the rolling sensation to pass. “Next time give me a warning,” she hissed.
She noticed the difference in the forest immediately. When they had passed earlier, she’d heard the night crickets and hooting owls echo in the night. Now, the breeze itself seemed to hold its breath in the eerie silence.
Colton put his hand on her back. “I’m sorry, but I smell blood.” He took her hand and led her toward the copper smell in the air.
Growls echoed through the trees, spurning Colton to sprint towards the sound. She ran after him, displaying an agility she’d never possessed in her human life. She flowed over the ground as if she was a wood nymph born to the forest.
Colton stopped abruptly, grabbing her before she run over the man laying amongst the twigs and rotting vegetation. She put her hand over her mouth, to still her gag reflex.
The man lay on his stomach with blood covering his back. His head lay on its side a foot from his body with milky unseeing eyes. His jaw locked in its last scream.
