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“Yeah, I’d say so.” Devon gathered his stuff and placed it in a black backpack.
Pressure grasped her hand and Julie looked at Taylor. “I don’t want to be separated yet. I want to go with y’all.”
“You’re not well enough yet. We’ll meet you there. I promise.”
Channing winked at her and grabbed Taylor’s shoulder. Suddenly they vanished into thin air. Julie’s jaw dropped. “That was amazing. Someday I’m going to be able to do that.” She closed her eyes and tried to wish herself away. As she peeked one open, Londyn and Aston were looking at her, amused. “What?” Julie shrugged. “It was worth a try.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on.”
The brown paper bag Ayden had handed her was lying next to the couch. They’d stuffed it with a couple days’ worth of clothes, but ultimately she was going to have to figure out how to get the rest of her things. Julie picked it up and looked back at her mates. They were both dressed as CCPD. Even Devin had a police uniform on. Julie took a deep breath and swung open the door.
Beyond the courtyard was a circus of reporters. The crowd behind them pushed all the way back through the parking lot to the road.
“Son of a bitch.” Julie wasn’t sure how in the hell they were going to get Aston’s car out of the lot.
“Slow down, Juliet.” Londyn emphasized her new name. “You’re speed walking. We can hardly keep up, not to mention that it looks highly suspicious. Every camera in Corpus Christi is pointed at you.”
Changing her speed was torture. The nervousness she felt was causing her whole body to jump into hyper-speed. Ultimately, Julie was able to slow down enough to fall back between her two mates. “Wait.” She tried not to miss a step as they approached the crowd. “If Corinne has been watching, won’t she recognize you two? She’ll know you’re both not cops.”
“We’ll worry about that later. Just keep walking. Ayden has a patrol car sitting right up here for us to use.” Aston scooted closer to her as a reporter stretched over the tape with their microphone.
“Officer Simms!” A blonde woman smiled as she tried to wave him over. Julie felt her fangs pierce her lower lip.
“Ignore her and keep walking.” Aston placed his palm against Julie’s lower back and led her widely around the mob. People were screaming and yelling out her name. At first she thought they were actually yelling at her, but then she noticed that it was just something they were repeating. She tried to concentrate, but they crowd was so out of sync it was hard to make anything out.
“Hurry, get in. Things are about to get really bad here.” Aston opened the passenger side and the back door. She and Londyn jumped in just as they were swarmed with reporters.
“Sources say lawyer Julie Reynolds was murdered by a secretary at the law firm where she was employed. Can you confirm that?”
“No comment.” Aston shut her door and tried to make his way through the crowd.
“Can you confirm the body count? Sources say there might have been more than one body.”
Aston nudged his way through the reporters and opened his door. “There was only one body. A female. I believe the Chief is getting everything together to hold a news conference. You’ll learn everything you need to know then.”
The answer only caused them to spit out tons of more questions. There were so many voices that together they sounded like a loud buzzing. Aston quickly got in and started the cruiser. Since they were already on the main road it made it easier to pull out with the flow of traffic.
“Jeez.” Julie took a deep breath. “What a mess. Who were all those people?”
“Every crime scene usually has a crowd, but that back there was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“What do you think’s going on?”
Londyn leaned forward. “Didn’t you hear what they were chanting? I’m pretty sure it was, ‘justice for Julie.’” He tucked her long bangs behind her ear. “Ayden sure did bring out the big guns by having someone tip off the media. Once Corinne’s picture shows up on the news, there’s no way she’s going to be able to hide. We’ll find her, Jules. And then Ayden will take care of everything.”
Yes, they would find her. Julie had every intention of making a plan once they got back to the apartment, and Channing left. Taylor had been on her wavelength with wanting to go out and search for Corinne. There was no way she could sit within another set of walls for who knew how much longer. Julie was raised to face her problems. Rosa had taught her that. Hiding had done no good. She’d died that way. It was time she did what she felt was right and hunted down Corinne.
Chapter 12
Taylor and Channing were waiting in the living room of Aston and Londyn’s apartment when Julie and her mates walked in. The looks on their faces were serious. Julie tried to act like she was okay, but all she wanted was for her and her men to be alone so she could start planning how they were going to track down her murderer.
“You forget I can read your thoughts, ma soeur.”
Julie narrowed her eyes. “Your sister?” She let the words sink in. “If I was your sister then you wouldn’t be lying to me right now, Channing. What do you know about Corinne that you’re not telling anyone?”
A sigh came from his lips. “You and I are too closely connected. It would appear you can read your master more than you should.” Channing casually leaned against the wall. “It’s complicated, and unfortunately it’s best that you don’t know. Just rest assured that I will take care of her.”
The background blurred as Julie rushed toward him. Unfortunately, as fast as she was, Channing was one step ahead. Pressure gripped her shoulder and he spun her around to face her mates. Her hands were suddenly pinned behind her back by one of his, and the other grabbed a fistful of her hair so she couldn’t move. Growls and snarls erupted throughout the room as her mates detected the pain that Channing had inflicted.
“You also forget who you are facing. I am not only your friend, I gave you life. Never overlook that fact.”
