Page 12

Chapter 11

Drop it like it’s hot

CHARLIE

I leave the courthouse feeling good, reminded of why I moved from firefighting to investigating. Well, one of the reasons anyway. While putting out fires helps with the immediate danger, putting bad people behind bars helps in the long-term.

The sentencing isn’t for a few more months, but I’ll probably try to come back for it. The building owner was damn lucky none of her tenants were killed when she set the building on fire to collect the insurance. Her all-inclusive trip to the Bahamas will now be time spent in prison.

There’s a skip to my step as I head up the concrete stairs of the parking garage a few blocks away from the courthouse.

The scrape of a heel on the pavement has me looking around, but I’m alone. The floor where I parked my truck is about half full of vehicles, but that’s not surprising given the ludicrous price of parking in NYC. Thankfully, the city pays for mine.

The hair on the back of my neck stands as I approach my truck and I stop, turning to survey the garage. I’m not a jumpy person but I have a healthy respect for my intuition. It’s saved my ass in more than one firefighting situation.

“Hello?” I call out. “Lennox?”

Okay, that was stupid. Why would my shifter partner follow me into a parking garage and not reveal himself?

Because he’s a weird guy, my intuition tells me.

“He’s not weird,” I whisper defensively. “He’s super old.”

But he does seem to have a thing for me.

I pull my keys out of my purse and use the fob to unlock the truck, then tuck the pointy end of a key between my fingers. If there’s someone with ill intentions toward me in this garage, they’re gonna lose an eyeball.

Trying to keep my back to the wall, I edge toward the truck feeling both freaked out and ridiculous. I slide my fingers into the doorhandle, still sweeping the shadows of the garage with sharp eyes. Nothing moves, so I yank open the door preparing to leap inside and lock it quickly, but before I can climb in, something tumbles out, landing at my feet.

An involuntary scream erupts from my throat and I throw myself away from the truck. My foot catches and I hit the ground hard.

“Ouch!” I gasp, my hand scraping on the pavement. Cradling it, I seek out the bundle on the cement.

A person.

There’s a person on the ground next to my truck.

What the fuck!?

I scramble backwards, crab-walking until there’s a good several feet between us. I wait, my heart thumping, blood rushing in my ears, watching for the person to move.

I quickly realize they can’t move because they’re dead.

Lying on their side, face toward me, I can see the grey pallor of their skin and the cloudy eyes staring sightlessly. Though I’m overwhelmed by fear, my training kicks in and I slide back toward the body.

Helplessly, I stare down into their eyes as I press my fingers against the pulse point in their throat. Nothing. Definitely dead. Probably don’t need to check again. Almost of its own volition, my hand reaches for the wrist, checking for a pulse. Nope, still dead.

I drop the wrist and propel myself to my feet. “Help!” I shout, the echo bouncing around the garage. “I need some help over here!”

When there’s no response, I force myself to take a deep breath and think. I almost always have a brain in my head, and I frequently use it for thinking. Now should be no different. Just because dead people freak the fuck out of me doesn’t mean my good sense needs to leave the building.

I sidle around the body, my gaze still sweeping the garage in case whoever killed the person is still around. My hand is slippery with sweat and I have to wipe it down my jeans before I can grip my radio. “Dispatch. This is Investigator Lopez. I need an ambulance and… po...” No, not police, just Lennox, and if I ask for police, this case could be scooped up by another detective. I have to assume the dead person in my truck didn’t get there by accident, which means I’m being targeted. “Just an ambulance, please.”

“This is Judy from dispatch. Are you injured?” I can hear the concern in Judy’s voice and while I appreciate her worry for me, fewer questions would be better.

“Not me,” I say shortly. I give her the address and floor of the parking garage. Putting the radio down, I drag my phone from my pocket. Lennox picks up immediately and hearing his deep voice sends a surge of calm through me. “Lennox, we have a problem.”

LENNOX

I’m carrying my lunch, crossing the street with a few dozen other New Yorkers and a handful of tourists when I’m stopped cold. It feels like an invisible force gripping me, holding me in place. Someone runs into my back, stumbles and swears at me before moving on. I barely register them.

What’s happening? Panic is rising inside me, but I’m not a panicky person. Not unless Charlie… fuck. I reach out to her through our connection, which thankfully grew stronger after our kiss.

I can’t see clearly through her eyes, but I can feel the hammering of her heart, the rapid, shallow breaths she’s taking, the rush of blood through her veins. My mate is under attack.

A car horn blares at me. I’m alone in the street now, trying to shake off this frozen state so I can get to my mate’s side in the shortest time possible. Something has happened to her.

Another car horn, but I’m beyond caring. I drop my lunch and start sprinting, trusting my wolf to take us to her side.

Faster, faster, run faster.

My wolf wants me to shift, but it’s the middle of the day and the sidewalk is crowded. Besides, she’s not far. Only half a dozen blocks if she’s still at the courthouse.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I know it’s her without checking. I feel the panic in her brain as she reaches out for me subconsciously through our mate connection and consciously through the phone.

Without slowing, I answer. “Charlie.”

“We have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s dead,” she moans.

A cold chill runs up my spine. “Who’s dead?” I demand.

“I don’t know… I… she looks like… maybe… that woman we were looking for.”

My mind is blank, then I remember. “Catherine Grant.”

“It might be her.” She pauses and fear creeps into her tone as she says, “I think someone was in the garage with me. I’m scared, Lennox. I’m alone in here.”

So she’s in a parking garage near the courthouse. I weave past a group of startled tourists, all of them looking up at something a tour guide is pointing at. “I’m almost there,” I tell her.

“Stay on the phone with me,” she begs. “I called for an ambulance, but Judy said it’s fifteen minutes out.”

“I will.” She’s silent on her end as I run, but I’m reassured by her long, slow breaths. She’s calming down.

“Look around, Charlie,” I say. “Tell me what you see.”

I’m trying to distract her, get her to talk to me. Once the police and paramedics arrive the garage will turn into a zoo and evidence might be lost.

“There’s a dead body,” she says with no hint of humour. She’s rattled.

“Look past the body, sweetheart. Tell me what you see.”

“Am I your sweetheart, Lennox?” Her voice is fainter than I like, propelling me faster than I thought possible. I can see the garage now, know it’s the right one. I can feel her inside it.

“Yes, you are,” I say, hitting the garage door so hard it bounces back, but I’m halfway up the first flight of stairs when it slams closed.

“I see pillars, about twenty or thirty cars. An attendant station, but there’s no one in it.”

“What about the lights?” I demand, taking the stairs three and four at a time before tripping and falling face first into a concrete wall. My wolf growls at our collective clumsiness and forces me to my feet. “What floor are you on?” I can tell she’s on a higher level, but I don’t want to run right past it.

“Five.” Her voice wavers and she whispers, “Lennox, the lights over my truck are out. I think they were on when I parked here. Oh god, this is every scary movie I’ve ever seen come to life!”

I burst through the door of the fifth floor, stumbling in the semi-lighting as I try to orient myself.

“Over here,” Charlie’s distressed voice calls. A shot of relief goes through me as I spot her. She’s pressed up against the concrete wall next to the hood of her truck.

As I sprint toward her, she launches herself away from the wall and into my arms, gripping me like she’ll die if she doesn’t hang on as tight as possible. My wolf calms as I hold her to me, but he’s sniffing the air, trying to ferret out a presence. Too many scents to separate. A few shifters, too many humans to count.

“Oh god, I thought someone was going to kill me,” Charlie whispers against my chest.

“I won’t let that happen.”

“I know,” she says with a sniffle.

After only a minute, too soon for me and my wolf, she pushes away. “We have to…” Her eyes dart to the shadowed form beneath the open door of her truck. “We have to look at the body before the medics arrive. We have to know if it’s her.”

I don’t care about the body. I want to drag Charlie back into the cradle of my arms, then take her away from this mad city, back to Wolf-Haven where I can ensure she has a long, healthy life with no dead body jump scares.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. A jump scare, like in the movies,” she murmurs, so distracted she’s not aware she’s picking up on my thoughts. She heaves a long-suffering sigh and kneels next to the body. Pulling out her phone, she snaps a few pictures.

I follow suit, kneeling beside her and examining the body. “Marks on the neck. Strangulation maybe.”

Charlie shivers, her hand creeping up her throat.

I check the clothing while Charlie continues to document the scene with her phone’s camera. Using my pen I go through the victim’s pockets. “Nothing.”

With a hand on Charlie’s arm, I urge her to stand and pull her a few feet away. “I think we have what we need.” Sirens approach the parking garage, so I speak quickly. “I won’t have jurisdiction over this so don’t give them any information about our case, okay?”

She nods, her eyes big as she watches the ambulance approach.

I squeeze her. “I’ve got you, Charlie.”

I sense the relief in her at having me by her side during this ordeal and I silently vow that she will never again have to deal with anything traumatic without me. Even if we can’t fulfill our mating destiny, I will forever protect this woman.