As Valeri took the steps, she noticed that the front door stood slightly ajar ... only five or six inches, but the sight sent fear prickling down the back of her neck. Thomas was generally very careful about security out here. No matter that the entire property was fenced and gated, with lots of security measures, there were no cameras in this section.
Valeri started to call out to him, but something—some guttural instinct—held her mute. She eased across the porch. Her right handcame to rest on the rough-hewn door, and she paused. A sound ... heavy breathing and a lapping sound whispered across her senses. Oh God. Were they ... having sex or ... ?
Holding her breath, she pushed the door inward. The first thing she saw was a coyote standing next to the sofa. Its predatory gaze locked with hers. There was something ... red maybe ... on the fur around its mouth.
It moved. A sudden lunge of scraggly fur. Valeri fell back two steps, and the animal rushed past her, instantly disappearing into the woods.
“Oh my God.” She pressed a hand to her chest, fought to slow her racing heart. She shook herself. “Okay, that was bizarre.” She steadied herself and grabbed back her courage, then she stepped forward once more, pushed fully beyond the door.
The place smelled of ... coppery metal and something ... something that made her stomach twist. She moved deeper into the large room, around the end of the sofa where the coyote had been standing, and that was when she saw the body.
A scream slipped past her lips. Her heart shot into her throat.
Naked, lying face down on the floor next to the sofa.Male,she thought. A wail bloomed in her chest. But the hair was wrong, and there was no tattoo.Not Thomas.Relief allowed her to breathe once more. The man’s right arm was mangled. She realized this was what she’d heard. The coyote had been licking and gnawing on the man’s arm. What the hell had happened here?
“Thomas!”
The name burst from her trembling lips, the sound weak and shaky. Valeri’s gaze stumbled onto bloody footprints. Careful not to step in the blood, Valeri followed those prints into the kitchen area, where more blood was pooled and splattered around a woman—brown hair, young, maybe mid- to late twenties. She lay naked on the clay-tile floor, her sightless gaze fixed on the ceiling.Not Alicia.Regret momentarily flowed through Valeri.
Dead ... these people weredead.
“Thomas?” Oh God! Valeri started to run. She checked the small office and powder room, then rushed upstairs. Every room was empty.
Where the hell was Thomas?
She hurried back downstairs and across the great room to the French doors leading onto the rear deck. Her lungs gasped for air untainted by the smell of death. That was when she saw him. In the hot tub. Floating face down in a pool of bloody water. It was him ... She recognized the phoenix tattoo across his shoulder blades.
Valeri’s knees nearly buckled. She steadied herself and stumbled to him. Her heart thudded so hard, she couldn’t catch her breath ... She wanted to scream but couldn’t. She tugged at his body to lift him from the water, but he was so heavy, and it was too late. Thomas was dead.
Fury blasted through her, chasing away the other feelings. What the hell had happened here? And where the hell was that parasitic bitch, Alicia?
Then she spotted her. Her naked body draped along the stairs leading down to the grassy area between the cabin and the dense woods. She was dead too.
Valeri looked away, her gaze settling once more on the hot tub and her beloved boss. A howl of agony swelled in her throat.
Tears spilled from her eyes. How on earth had this happened?
She dropped to her knees. Thomas was dead. The misery pushed its way from her throat with a fierceness that stole every ounce of strength from her body.
Dear God, what was she supposed to do now? For long minutes she sobbed like a child. Her heart threatened to burst ... her stomach heaved. Her dream ... all she had worked for ... it was gone.
When she could manage, she swiped at her cheeks, attempted to calm herself without much success.Focus.She had to call someone. She needed help. The police. She should call the police. Of course. Yes. She nodded frantically, the movement somehow prompting her to search her pockets for her cell. The police ... She needed the police because ...
They were all dead. She looked around.Murdered.
2
Wilton Cabin
Giles Hollow Road, 10:30 a.m.
“Sheriff, please. I need to leave.”
Sheriff Gray Benton, Bent to his friends, turned toward the office doorway where Valeri Erwin stood. She stared at him, her face pale, dark eyes pleading for the requested reprieve. As soon as he’d arrived, he’d sequestered her to the small office—the one downstairs room in the cabin that appeared untouched—and had a quick look around before making the necessary calls. Then he’d asked her a few preliminary questions, but there was a hell of a lot more he needed to know. Whatever had happened here, this was one hell of a clusterfuck.
Erwin shook her head, more tears streaming down her cheeks. Her body rocked with sobs. “I ... I ... please, just let me get out of here. I can’t bear it any longer.”
“The medical examiner is on the way, and there’s not a whole lot we can do until she does her thing. I have more questions.” He understood how difficult this was, but it was necessary. “Unfortunately those questions are best asked after I have the preliminary information only the ME can provide.”
