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“Let’s hear what my uncle has to say. Afterward, we need to talk.”
That phrase never meant anything good was about to happen. “Talk in a good way or talk in a bad way?” Ariel wanted to be prepared.
“We’re hoping it’s in a good way.”
That helped her relax. Preston held open the door, and the chilly air hit her in the face. When she shivered, he wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. Yup. This was where she needed to be.
Now that the shock of them being werewolves had worn off, Ariel was certain she’d reacted badly. Hopefully, she could make it up to them shortly.
When they entered the sheriff’s office, the receptionist motioned they head on back to his office.
Benson’s Uncle Adam stood when they came in. She studied his face, but couldn’t decide much. The man was good at shuttering his expressions.
“Have a seat.”
Preston held out her chair that was placed between two others, and she didn’t miss the significance.
“Let me bring you up to speed, now that Ariel is aware of our kind,” his uncle said. “After we captured Hammer, we delivered him to the shifter facility down south.” He turned to Ariel. “It’s only fair to have shifters tried in a court of their peers. The laws are more or less the same, but they do take into consideration the wolf’s unique abilities.”
She hadn’t been aware they had unique abilities, but Benson and Preston could fill her in later. “Good to know.”
“Don’t tell me he confessed to killing Samantha?” Benson asked.
“No, but the tale is rather strange.” Benson’s uncle lifted a pad of paper. “I had to take notes, because it was complicated. “Seems Dave Franklin wasn’t a nice man, as Malia informed you.”
“He abused Camille Hartwick,” Preston said.
“Yes. We’ve taken Camille’s statement, and everything Hammer told us matches. I do realize that they could have planned this together, but for now, let me tell you what Hammer said.”
Ariel lifted a hand, and the sheriff nodded. “No offense, but why would Hammer tell you anything?”
The sheriff smiled. “We had him dead to rights on the kidnapping charge, and told him we had evidence that he stalked you and ran you off the road. In return for leniency, he told us who killed Samantha.”
“Who?”
“I’m getting to that, but it wasn’t your brother.”
It was as if every muscle in her body released the tension it had been holding for the last few months.
“Seems Camille had wanted to leave Dave a long time ago, but he said if she left him he’d kill her.”
“Scary,” Ariel blurted.
“Indeed, but it’s not the first I’ve heard of such threats,” Adam Granger said. “Long story short, Camille couldn’t take it any longer. She had met Hammer a month before when he came into the hospital to be treated for an upper respiratory infection. Malia confirmed this. Apparently, they hit it off, and she mentioned she was dating an abusive man.”
“I imagine once she told him the man’s name that Hammer said he knew Dave quite well,” Benson said.
“Yes. She wanted to leave Dave, but she was having a hard time actually doing it. On the evening she told him she didn’t want to see him again, Hammer was waiting outside to drive her home. When he heard Camille scream, he raced in and saw Dave strangling Camille.”
Ariel sucked in an audible breath. “Hammer killed Dave?”
“Yes. He believes it was kind of in self-defense. Had he not intervened, Camille would be dead.”
“Did he rip out Franklin’s throat?” Benson asked then faced Ariel. “Other than shooting a wolf in the heart, the only way to kill him would be to rip out his throat.”
“That’s not completely accurate,” the sheriff said. “Traumatic injuries can kill our kind—like if we’re in a serious car wreck or if we’re blown up by a bomb, but Benson is referring to a regular fight. You need to either shoot a wolf in the heart or rip out his throat in order to kill him. Since Hammer didn’t want anyone to know a werewolf was involved in Dave’s death, he slit Franklin’s throat with a knife. Apparently, the damage was so severe that Dave died. The irony is that the blade was similar to the one that killed Samantha. Whether that was planned or not, I don’t know. With Dave dead, Hammer left with a rather weak and shaken Camille. She had already planned to take off a few days and visit her sister, so Malia didn’t see her for a few days.”
“How do we know Camille was even attacked?” Preston asked.
