Lauren Dane: Unconditional

“Just stopping by. I looked out the window and saw you get out. You got cop written all over you. I didn’t need the hassle. Bobby’s a felon too.”

A double parole violation with the weapons possession.

“You ever see this woman?” She held out a picture of Allie. He shook his head.

“I’d remember her. I like blondes.”

She curled her lip, barely restraining the urge to shake him.

“Know anyone with a blue SUV? Jeep Cherokee.”

That he did know. She saw recognition in his features even as he tried to school it. Christ, no wonder he got arrested so many times. He was a dumbass.

“Everyone and their brother has an SUV. Hell you drove up in one.”

“Sure I did. But we both know you know exactly which SUV I mean.”

“I really don’t. I know at least ten people with SUVs. Can’t say I notice the colors much.”

“I think I need to talk to Bobby about this whole thing.” She stepped away, her hand still at his back, and he leapt at her, knocking her down, snarling as he tried to bite her.

Her head cracked against the asphalt so hard she saw stars, and the edges of her vision grayed slightly.

Josh hauled him off and slammed him against the car hard enough she heard the air burst from his lips. “I should gut you for that,” he growled low, the words laced with menace enough to bring a little fear even to Michelle.

She got up, embarrassed she’d let him get the jump on her like that. “See, stuff like that just means you’re not being helpful and it makes me wonder just what you’re so afraid of you’d rather do time than reveal.”

“Damon, watch this piece of shit.”

The Were glowered and nodded, his gaze never leaving Charlie. “Boss, you smell that?” He said this quietly.

Josh lifted his head, closed his eyes and breathed in. Moments later his nose wrinkled.

“How long?”

“You ran after this piece of shit, and we hung around, out of sight to be sure no one entered or left. When you brought him back and we got a little closer, the wind changed a bit and I got the first whiff.”

“Mind sharing?” Michelle gave Josh a look.

“Something smells dead.”

She glanced down at Charlie. “Really now? You make something dead, Charlie?”

He shook really hard, and she sighed. They weren’t going to get anything from him right then.

Standing straighter, she tipped her chin toward the store.

Josh tried to get ahead of her, and she grabbed the waistband of his jeans, the backs of her fingers brushing against the bare, hot skin of his lower back. It sent little shocks through her, awakening all sorts of things she had to push away.

“Me first,” she hissed.

“What? No .”

“It’s not a request. I’m the cop. You’re a civilian. Get back or I won’t let you come with me at all.”

“You can’t stop me.” The green in his eyes deepened at the challenge, the air between them nearly crackling.

“I will shoot you. Don’t think I won’t. This is my friend and my case.”

He sighed. “Fine. Not because I think you’d shoot me.”

Whatever. The hair on her arms stood up and she paused again. “Think I know where the something dead is. Stay behind me. I’m going in low.”

She pulled her piece out, thumbing off the safety.

Still careful, moving quicker, she pushed the door open, keeping low, and saw the blood even before the smell hit her. And what a smell. Fear and death, evacuated bowels. She kept an eye on the body even as she swept through the small interior and found it empty. She tried to cling to her training, but she’d never in her life seen anything like it.

Bobby had been torn apart. Literally. Pieces of him had been flung about. She took in what she could as she huffed shallow breaths through her mouth and fought the nausea roiling through her system.

Josh touched her gently. “We’ll wait outside. Pam, that’s the cop who’ll come, is one of ours. She’ll get a good scent in here, but there’s no need for us to breathe this in any longer.”

She should gather some evidence, but her kit was in the car anyway. The Portland cops would come, and for the time being she’d secured the scene so she allowed Josh to lead her out.

What if they were going to do that to Allie? What if they had done that to Allie? Rage swept through her hot and fast as she headed toward Charlie, who paled at the sight of her. She saw no blood on him, just dirt and some pine needles from when they’d tackled him. His jeans were faded and his T-shirt was pale blue so he couldn’t have hid it. And if he’d been part of what had been done inside, there was no way he’d have come out this clean.

“What the fuck? You want to tell me what the hell did that to him?” She pulled out her phone and called her dispatcher to report the body and have that relayed to Portland PD.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She stared at him for so long he began to move from one foot to the other. “You got yourself a little hobby, Charlie? Hm? Playing all serial killer? It puts the lotion in the basket?” She quoted Silence of the Lambs .

“I didn’t do that! You can’t hang it on me, no how. I didn’t do that.”

“Who did, then, Charlie?”

He clamped his lips together and shook his head. But then he whispered, “Listen, lady, you don’t want anything to do with them.” And said nothing else.

Pam, the wolf cop, cop wolf, whatever, showed up with two others, also wolves. Michelle hadn’t needed to be told because using her othersight she found it rather easy to detect such things by that point.

If she hadn’t been searching for her missing best friend and dealing with a dead body that had been torn to bits, she might have had the time to be excited and amazed by all the things she was learning. As it was, she barely held herself together. She’d questioned Charlie again thoroughly and had given a sketch of what had been said to Pam, who’d be her liaison in the police department so that was one less thing to worry about. Sadly there wasn’t much to tell. He’d made that creepy comment about not wanting to have anything to do with them but had remained silent about anything else. He stuck to his story about running because he was in violation of his parole.

“Let’s head down to the rest stops, just so I can see if the scents here are the ones there.”

“None of this will be admissible,” she mumbled as she headed back to Josh’s car.

“Probably not. But we take care of our own problems. It won’t need to be admissible. Charlie there is human, as was Bobby. But Allie isn’t. I don’t care about the mages, as far as I’m concerned they’re not human either.” Josh paused. “I need to talk to Damon and GiGi. They have the scent from the SUV here. I want them fanning out north and in the area. There’s already an alert on the car so we’ve got that covered. I want to see if the scent is the same down south, but we can split up some labor now.”

How far she’d come in less than two days.

Two days ago she’d never have allowed all this non-police interference in a case. Two days ago she’d never have been silent when someone hinted at vigilante justice. Two days ago she believed in the system and maybe she still did, but her hands were tied by the way things were and she couldn’t let Allie get killed by real-life monsters because of the system.

What she would do when this was all said and done she honestly didn’t know. For the first time in a really long time, she just didn’t know. She was alone and drifting, and she had to let that be okay until she found Allie. Then she could go soul searching.

“Is she going to be all right?” Damon tipped his chin toward the car. “Gotta be a lot to take in for her.” He did grin for a moment though. “I will say she’s a little bad ass. The way she handled Charlie was a sight to behold.”