Page 11 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

T he two officers of the law left not long after that. They both gave me business cards with their contact information on them and they left me with messages of being safe and keeping my nose out of their investigations.

Investigations being plural because now there were two of them. Not only did they have a murder to solve but now there was a missing person to find as well.

They had work to get back to so thankfully they didn’t stick around and linger. Because I had things to do as well, and mine weren’t things I could do in front of them.

Maybe I was doing the completely wrong thing by not telling them about the gps tracker. And maybe I had been wrong in not telling Detective Rowans about the cameras I had everywhere and the recorded footage I was keeping to myself.

It was too late to go back now though. Not that I would if I could. Not until I found the twins and got some answers for myself.

Detective Rowans could not be dead like Thomas was. If he were dead I felt like I would know it.

Delusion at its finest.

I got dressed in black leather pants that clung to my skin like they’d been made for the sole purpose of hugging my body. I paired them with a black t-shirt and my trusty combat boots. I armed myself with my usual weapons and I tossed a black zip up hoodie over top to hide all of my weapons from sight.

I tossed my red hair up into a high ponytail and left my incredibly pale face makeup free.

Once I got behind the wheel of my Jeep I finally opened up the app on my phone for the GPS tracker for Thomas’s car. If nothing came up I’d just go to the mall and look for clues.

That last part sounded like a terrible plan.

Thankfully, the GPS showed me where the car was.

So, I drove there.

The rundown garage was about five blocks away from the mall. It was still five blocks too close, if you asked me. Despite the fact it was rundown, none of the windows were broken and there was no graffiti on the building or the fence surrounding it.

There were vehicles parked out front and it actually appeared to be open for business.

I wasn’t sure to be comforted by the fact it seemed to be a legitimate business or nervous because nothing this close to the underground could possibly be a hundred percent legal or run by normal people.

That would be too good to be true and just not my luck.

I pulled in through the open gate and parked my Jeep right out front beside a beat up dark blue rusty pickup truck. I seriously hoped they were better at fixing up other people’s cars than they were at taking care of their own, otherwise that didn’t really bode well for their business staying open for the long haul. Not if they liked paying their bills.

I strolled up to the door with an open sign hanging haphazardly in it and pulled it open, walking inside.

There was no one sitting at the front desk or in the chairs across from it in the makeshift waiting area.

The walls were painted a dingy white that had been tinted by yellow over time and it was dirty. There were old car posters decorating it that had been stapled to the walls and were peeling at the edges. There was a hotrod calendar on the wall from 1992 and the month was on October. The woman sprawled on the hood of a canary yellow Corvette was blonde with huge fake tits and wearing only a black string bikini.

I was jealous of her tan. Due to my red hair and fair skin a tan wasn’t something I’d ever be able to accomplish.

Oh well, it certainly wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to me.

I thought about ringing the little bell on the desk but decided against it at the last second, my hand hovering in the air above it.

I decided to go snooping instead. I was already deep in the shit, what was a little more?

The first door I opened up was a storage closet. The second one was a disgustingly dirty bathroom. I swore, there was definitely urine on the floor in there. It certainly smelled like it.

The next door opened up into a gigantic garage bay. There was a black murdered out SUV in there along with Thomas’s car.

Bingo.

Otherwise, the garage was empty and I wondered if everyone was on lunch break. My stomach growled at the thought, reminding me I hadn’t eaten anything today. The coffee had worked wonders but food would be the final straw to cure this hangover.

The window on the front passenger side had been smashed out and there were shards of glass covering the passenger seat and the floor. The interior was black and I couldn’t tell if blood had been spilled in there.

There were no dents or scratches on the car's exterior, so I knew there had not been an accident.

So, where the fuck was my Detective and how had the car ended up here?

I heard male voices come through an open door at the back of the garage and headed that way. Hopefully I’d find a mechanic or two back there who’d be able to give me some answers.

Behind the building was a courtyard with a couple picnic tables and a basketball hoop. No one was playing ball. Instead, there were four men sitting down at one of the picnic tables.

Four burly, bearded men. Well, shifters really.

One of them I’d actually seen before. He was Rally’s little buddy from the underground.

I jumped straight to conclusions.

The shifters were responsible for Detective Rowans disappearance. Rally’s shifters specifically.

I was surprised by this but I honestly shouldn’t have been. No way were they just going to let me driving off with him just slide when they thought I was Rally’s mate.

But this was taking it too far.

As I strolled up to their picnic table I wasn’t nervous. I should have been but I wasn’t. Just because they wouldn’t hurt me because of Rally that didn’t mean they couldn’t kidnap me or something like that.

They noticed me as soon as I stepped out in the courtyard and all conversation around the table stopped.

I sat down at the picnic table with them and looked from one man to the next. “That’s my car in your garage with the window smashed out. The man who was driving it belongs to me and I’d like him back. Preferably returned to me in one piece. I suggest you do whatever it is that you need to do in order to make that happen. I’ll wait.”

One of the men across the table and down from me scoffed. “Do you know who the fuck we are, little girl? You can’t just walk in here and demand shit from us.”

Rally’s buddy stood up quickly. “I’ll call my Prince and let him know that his mate is here. I imagine he’ll be along shortly.” He practically ran towards the back door.

There was a stillness around the table now as the men watched me carefully, different from how they had looked at me just seconds ago. I imagined that had been the man's point behind his statement. He wanted these men to know just who I was to them so they could behave accordingly.

At least, who he thought me to be, because Rally had claimed it to be so.

Rally was wrong though. They’d figure it out in time.

I picked up the man's now abandoned sub and took a bite out of it. It was just alright, heavy on the meat, not enough cheese, plenty of sauce, and no lettuce. I kept eating it until the whole thing was gone.

They all watched me eat in silence and not a one of them went back to eating.

Way to give a girl a complex.

I picked up the water next to me and drank half of it in one go.

The man who’d spoken to me earlier cleared his throat, now appearing nervous. His bravado from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Neither was his sneer.

What an improvement. I was glad to know that they could learn.

“You’re not entirely human. I can feel it. So, what are you then?”

“Hunter!” one of the other men hissed from across the table.

That sub had really hit the spot and I was feeling way better now that I no longer had an empty stomach.

“My last name is Maredo,” I told Hunter, giving him the only answer he was going to get from me.

“So, either part vampire or part demon then. Which one is it?”

It was the one that was none of his business, that was what.

I always hated being my father’s daughter.

It was times like these when I hated being my mother’s as well.