My phone beeped in my ear, signaling I had another incoming call. “Call me as soon as you have anything,” I said. “I’ve gotta go.”
As usual, they hung up without a goodbye. I switched to the other line.
“Nate.”
“Where are you?” Ollie asked, sounding stressed.
“My rental. Why? What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got another body, Nate. I’ll text you the address. Get your ass here.Now.”
My stomach sank. Another dead? Even though I’d done all I could, part of me was overcome with guilt that I hadn’t caught the guy yet. Could this innocent person be dead because I was too slow tracking this guy?
“I’ll be right there,” I said.
“Move along,”the uniformed officer said, putting a hand on my chest as I tried to step over the police tape.
“Leave him!” Ollie called. “He’s with me.”
Glancing over, I saw Ollie jogging over from a small apartment building.
“Yeah.” I grinned at the cop. “I’m with him.”
The officer gave me a hard glare but moved aside. Ollie stepped forward, his eyes hooded and nervous, taking my arm and leading me back toward the building.
“I got here as soon as I could,” I said.
“It’s fine,” Ollie said. “Come on.”
“How bad? You look freaked.”
Ollie gave a slight shake of his head. “I am. You’ll see why in a second.”
The apartment was in one of the poor to lower-middle-class areas of town that backed up to a small, wooded park. A bad sign. It gave our feral perfect access. A knot of police, forensics, and coroners were grouped around a secondary line of police tape.
Ollie nudged some guys aside, leading me through to the body. The lump under the tarp looked small. Obviously a woman.
“Lift it,” Ollie said to one of the forensic techs.
“Who’s he?” the guy asked, giving me the stink eye.
“Outside expert. Here at my request. Lift the fucking tarp, Dan.”
“Your call, Vickers,” the guy said, and pulled up a corner of the tarp.
For an instant, it was like the world had turned sideways. My vision went sharp and crisp as adrenaline burst through me. My inner wolf howled and cried in shocked horror, the sound of it echoing through my mind.
I’d seen this woman yesterday. Had been about to sleep on her couch. Dark, curly hair fell across the woman’s face. The silver necklace she always wore at her neck hung down, almost touching the pavement. Her face was a mask of blood.
“Cameron?” I whispered, feeling like someone had kicked me in the stomach.
Ollie leaned in close and hissed in my ear. “I thought it was her, too, but look closer. As soon as I saw the body, I double-checked with the guys watching her. Cameron’s safe.”
Relief spread through me, and as the initial shock wore off, the analytical side of my brain took over from the emotional side. The woman on the ground did look remarkably similar to her. Almost uncannily so, but as I inspected her more closely, I realized her cheekbones were a bit sharper than Cameron’s, the swell of her breasts smaller. She had longer hair, and the wide, staring eyes were more hazel than Cameron’s dark brown. The necklace Cameron wore was a silver Virgin Mary; this was a simple silver crucifix. Sniffing the air, I was able to work past the mineral smell of blood as well as the dozens of cops and EMS workers to catch this poor woman’s smell. It wasn’t familiar. As I studied her, I noticed this woman was at least five years older than Cameron.
I let out a sigh and steadied myself. The anxiety my inner wolf felt faded as well as I straightened.
Turning to whisper in Ollie’s ear, I said, “This is fucking crazy.”
