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“The killer took it.”
I wish I had a fraction of her certainty. “What if Nolan is lying?”
“Why would he do that?”
“To clear his family’s name. To get me to do his work for him since he has two weeks to crack a case he hasn’t solved in years. To make himself look good by using my family’s murder to build up his reputation in the marshal’s office.”
“According to Stone’s sort-of alpha, Nolan’s already the shit in the marshal’s office—some kind of golden boy. Kiva said they talked today, and other than some recent mess where Nolan shot a human to save a tortured kid, your wolf has been their top detective for years. They made him the lead on the shifter serial killer case a month ago because he’s the best shot at solving it, not because of your family’s tragedy. Apparently, that was a strike against him seeing as how his brother took the blame.”
“So why come here?” So he’s competent, well-liked, and a big deal among shifters? I still don’t trust him not to have an ulterior motive.
“The reason could be exactly what he said about investigating the two local murders. Not many places around here can house a marshal with the electricity and tech outages that go on in normal towns. We have the best resources, and the Syndicate bent the rules to allow him here. The quicker he stops the murders, the faster they can reopen Syn City.”
“You mean Nolan’s visit isn’t about me.”
“I didn’t say that. Just maybe that it’s not all about you.” She shoots me a sly smile that has my nerves pinging. Does she know about the kiss?
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on, Sadie. He looks at you like he’s going to set the world on fire if he can’t touch you.”
“Nolan? He spent years either ignoring or antagonizing me. The man can’t stand me.”
“How long did you know each other before?” Before your death. She doesn’t have to say it.
“Over a decade. Almost half my first life.”
She leans closer to the lavender, letting the stalks brush against her as they blow in the breeze. “Did he always treat you the same?”
“No. He acted like the big brother I never had until my fifteenth birthday. Lugging heavy bags of soil to my garden, pushing me around in the wheelbarrow, bringing me seedlings he thought I might like. Then everything changed.”
“On your birthday?” She emphasizes the last word.
“Yeah. I have no idea what I did to make him mad that day, but it was like blowing out the candles on my cake snapped something in him. He couldn’t stand me. Why?”
“Fifteen, huh? Sounds about the earliest age that a shifter female can sense the mating call.”
I state the obvious. “I’m not a shifter.”
“No, but he is. He could’ve gone from having to act like a big brother to prospective lover in a day.”
“Are you saying Nolan was mean to me because he likes me?” I don’t hide my disbelief. Dottie’s so stuck on her mountain lion man that she sees crushes and flirtation everywhere.
“You don’t have to fly far to get from love to hate.” She flutters from one side of the rock path to the other as if proving her point. “How old would he have been when you turned fifteen?”
I do the math in my head. “Twenty-three, I think.”
“He wouldn’t have been able to say anything then, especially not if your families were close or if his had political ties.”
“His brother was engaged to my sister, and his dad was the alpha of Nashville..”
“So his complications ticked both those boxes. Too bad he didn’t try to kiss you.”
Memory of last night’s kiss has my heart pounding, my face flushing, and my brain completely incapable of focusing on anything but the feel of his lips on mine. “Wh-what?” I sputter. “When?”
“Back then, silly.” She skips from stone to stone, using her wings to steady herself. Thank the gods she doesn’t glance my way. “Or now. It wouldn’t depend really if you were fated to be mates. Kiva and I have proven with our men that the connections span over lifetimes.”
“Why? How would a stupid kiss prove anything?”
