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“That’s what I was talking about. The scene is gory, Elphyra. It looks like the killer went berserk, and the victim’s remains are spread out over the area.” He grimaced, shifting his gaze away as though he didn’t want me to see the emotion that I could plainly hear in his voice.
“I see.” I sat there for a moment, trying to build up my courage. I wasn’t squeamish with a lot of things—and I had no problem with helping someone who had a cut or had hurt themselves. But a mutilated body was a long way from a skinned knee. Finally, I opened my door and stepped out of the car.
“Take me to the sheriff, please,” I said.
Arnie silently led me down the road about twenty yards to where the sheriff was standing, mask on, watching silently as the coroner’s team worked.
I glanced overhead. The sky was partially cloudy, and I could smell rain on the horizon. It would be here before evening. The afternoon seemed muted, and the forest had gone silent. The insects were still going about their day—bees gathering pollen, the sound of a few grasshoppers rustling in the bushes, but the birds were still, and there were no sounds of animals foraging through the woodland. I took a deep breath and reached out, trying to sense if there were any elementals or nature spirits but no one was willing to speak up, at least on the natural level.
Daisy glanced at me as we approached. She crooked her finger, motioning for me to follow. “Thank you for coming. It’s pretty gruesome. With each murder, the killer seems to be devolving. He’s losing more control with each victim. I’m actually glad Faron reached out to you. We could use your help, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be all right with this, given”
“Given what happened to me?” I wasn’t surprised she knew about Rian.
“Right.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I said.
“I appreciate it.” She paused, then added, “I assume that you know I checked out your background after what happened at Darla’s house. I hope you aren’t offended.”
I shook my head. I would have too, given what we had found in the basement. “I get it,” I said. Still, I felt exposed. My pain was a matter of public record.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you. Are you positive you can handle being here?” She sounded so earnest that I found any niggling doubts vanish.
“I’ll manage. If something triggers me and I need to leave, I’ll let you know.”
I followed her down the road, Arnie at my side, trying to avert my eyes from the forensics team. But on the way, I caught sight as one of the men held up a partial hand. From where I stood, it looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. I looked away, counting to five before moving on.
“Faron says you’re investigating Elroy, a member of his Pack,” I said.
Daisy nodded. “The coroner insists that this resembles an alt-animal attack.”
When a shifter turned into their animal form, they still had incredible strength—more so than the actual animal—and they still had their intelligence and awareness. In other words, they didn’t lose themselves in the shift, though their perceptions were altered. So a shifter in animal form was called an alt-animal because they were capable of far more damage.
“But why assume it’s a wolf shifter?”
“Unless they find DNA, and wearelooking for it, we can’t know for sure. But I do know that Elroy—since you know his name I’ll use it—had beefs with both of the victims. He’d gotten in a fight with Lucius, and Olivia was suing him over some car accident. We have to investigate him.”
I stopped, her words fading away. There, over near a tree, was the luminescent form of a man. He was leaning against the tree, watching the proceedings with a melancholy stare.
“I think I see the spirit of the victim. It was a man, right?”
“Right—his name was Jimithy Snare. He was—”
I gasped. “I know who Jimithy was.”
He was famous among the witch clans. Demon hunters were specialized forms of witches, and Jimithy was one of the most famous. He’d taken down more monsters in a few short years than most people ever saw in a lifetime. The sheriff sounded tense, and she had a right to be. The demon hunters were integral to helping keep life on track for humans, shifters, and witches alike, and anybody capable of killing one had to be powerful.
“I thought you might,” she said.
“I guarantee you, noordinarywolf shifter could take Jimithy down. I’d look elsewhere than Faron’s pack. I doubt if even Faron could take on Jimithy—”
But Daisy shook her head. “Ican’tlook elsewhere. Not yet. And I’m pretty sure that if I look, I’ll find that Elroy had some beef with Jimithy as well. I can’t write him off just because you think he wouldn’t win against Jimithy in a cage match. Who’s to say he didn’t knock Jimithy out first? Or that he didn’t use some kind of drug to get him out here? We can’t assume anything until we have toxicology results.”
“I understand,” I argued, “but all I ask is that you be open to other possible suspects. Don’t turn a blind eye toward other answers. There’s absolutely no reason to limit yourself right now since you don’t have any clear answers.” In my desire to make certain that Daisy didn’t make the dangerous move of overlooking other possibilities, I crossed the field to the ghost, motioning for the others to stay behind.
Hello, can you hear me?As I approached the spirit, I could see that it was, indeed, Jimithy. I’d met him once at a River’s End Witch Clan meeting. My mother had taken me, my aunt, and my cousin. It had been years ago, when I was in my early teens, but even then, Jimithy had made a name for himself.
Yes. You look familiar. You’re a witch, aren’t you? What element are you bound to?The ghost was wearing a black leather jacket, a pair of jeans, and a polo shirt.
