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I hoped I looked and sounded clueless enough. On the inside, I was burning and having trouble keeping my fire subdued.
“His house burned down last night. Someone was driving by this morning and saw the fire from a distance. Dr. Lockwood lived quite isolated and, as you know, he didn’t have any neighbors. By the time the fire was put out, it was too late. We wondered if you knew anything about it.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. This is terrible. I was here all night.” I turned to Goliath. “When did I get here? At around... ten?”
My brother nodded. “I didn’t check the time, but it sounds about right. We’d just put the kids to bed.”
Talking about the kids... I noticed Xavier and Nira weren’t home from kindergarten. Then Kara walked out of the kitchen with a pitcher of lemonade and four glasses, placed them on the coffee table, and rushed out of the living room.
“Sorry, I have to go get the kids. Detectives, if you don’t have any more questions for me...”
“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Stonewarden. You’ve been of great help.”
She nodded and disappeared into hers and Goliath’s bedroom. I trusted she was going to tell the kids exactly what to say before bringing them home. Not that I expected Cross and Pierce to question them. They were too young.
“Okay, there are just a few more details we’d like to clear up with you,” Cross said.
There were footsteps upstairs, then I heard Maya descend the stairs. I tensed up for a moment. Cross and Pierce craned their necks to see who was coming, and I could tell they were on edge. When Maya appeared in the doorway, hair mussed and clothes slightly crumpled, they relaxed and gave her a smile.
“Sorry we woke you up, Miss...”
“Maya. Maya Lucas. What’s going on?”
She came to sit by my side, and I wrapped my arm around her waist. Cross and Pierce exchanged a glance.
“Can you tell us who you are?”
“I’m...”
“She’s my mate,” I said quickly. “With my busy schedule, we try to spend as much time together as we can. Which is not easy.”
“I see.” Cross gave her another look, then looked at his phone.
I saw his nostrils flare. He was scenting her, trying to determine if she was, indeed, my mate. She was drenched in my smell. She’d showered before coming downstairs, but she had me in her and all over her, and Cross knew we weren’t lying. Because of their unique abilities, wolfmen made skilled detectives. A lot of shapeshifters chose careers in law and order, and there were plenty who worked for Monster Security Agency, too.
For the next five minutes, the detectives asked us a few more questions, but they were small and mostly irrelevant. Seemingly satisfied, they got up, and Maya and I walked them to the door. Outside, they thanked us again and made to leave. It didn’t escape me that there were two cars parked in front of my brother’s house – one was theirs, the other one was a black sedan.
“Oh, one more thing,” Pierce turned and pointed at us. “There’s someone else who’d like to talk to you, if that’s okay.” He then looked at the black sedan.
My curiosity was piqued. Next to me, Maya seemed nervous.
“Sure,” I said. “Whatever we can do to help.”
The car door opened, and a man stepped out. He was dressed in a tailored suit. He looked young, maybe in his forties, and he had dark blond hair and piercing green eyes. He was handsome, and when he smiled, he showed off a perfect set of bright teeth.
He was human, and not a detective at all. Everything about him screamed “private, wealthy, entitled.”
Chapter Twenty
Maya
The police didn’t even know about me. How was that possible? It was true I’d only been missing for a week, but had my parents not reported me missing? Had they not tried to call me? What about my job? Surely, someone must have realized something had happened. I refused to think no one had noticed I’d been gone.
We walked the two detectives to the door, and all I could think about was that I wanted them to leave so I could contact my parents and my workplace. I needed to sort this out. But then the sophisticated guy in a tailored suit got out of the second car, and my attention was drawn to him.
“Hello,” he said, extending a hand to Mason. “I am Dr. Malcom Harlow. I was friends with Dr. Lockwood. Do you mind if we have a word inside?”
I looked at Mason, trying to read his face. Since his face, like all of him, was made of stone, he was nearly impossible to read. But we were together now. I belonged to him, and he belonged to me, so I felt like I could tell when he was feeling uncomfortable. Like now. He also gave me the impression that he was feeling apprehensive.
