Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Franklin
“This is a shit show. Pure and simple.” Detective Harrison threw a file down on my desk. A couple of sheets of paper poked out but didn’t go sliding across the surface. “I was happy just sitting on the sidelines and offering up advice on your shredded soul cases. I had absolutely zero desire to see one firsthand.” Pulling up a nearby chair, Harrison practically fell onto its hard surface. She was small enough that the chair appeared to swallow her.
I plucked the folder, tugging it closer. “Information on Linus Remington, I assume?”
Harrison nodded, her face pinched and lips drawn into a thin line. “What little there is. I’ve got more information, but not much. First off, he’s a panther shifter originally from Florida. Parents are deceased. No siblings. Moved to Mississippi seven months ago and has moved around doing odd jobs and construction. Panthers aren’t known to form packs like some of the other shifters. They’re loners by nature.”
I’m not sure why I was disappointed. Harrison hadn’t told me anything I didn’t expect, except maybe what type of shifter Remington was. I’d figured some type of mammalian predator, but hadn’t been able to figure out anything more than that.
“Have you been able to contact anyone regarding the shape we found him in?”
Harrison held up a hand and rocked it back and forth. “Sort of. I spoke with the captain and she contacted the Magical Usage Council for me. They gave her a name of a panther shifter I could contact. I just got off the phone with her.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Anything helpful?”
“Not really. She confirmed what we all thought—dying and remaining in a partially shifted form shouldn’t be possible.” Harrison swallowed visibly. “I hate to say this, but it looks like Boone’s theory might hold more water than I’d like.”
I nodded, thinking the same thing. It was a hell of a situation to contemplate. The horror of it made my stomach churn. It took me a couple of deep breaths before I was able to say, “I’m not exactly sure how that helps us.”
“Neither am I. Like I said, this is a shit show. I’d like to exit the theater if possible.”
“Not a chance, Harrison. You’re stuck with me until the show’s over.”
Harrison choked on a laugh. “I suppose I’ve had worse offers.” Leaning forward, she reached across my desk and flipped open the anemic file she’d tossed down earlier. “I scrounged up a residence and Remington’s last place of employment, but that’s about all I’ve got. I figured we could head over and check out the apartment and maybe speak with some of his co-workers, see if they noticed anything out of the ordinary recently.” Harrison shrugged. “It’s a long shot, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“It’s more than I’ve had on the other two victims.” I checked my watch. I’d texted Boone earlier and we’d agreed on noon as a good time for me to pick him up and drive him to retrieve his car. I figured we might try and grab some lunch in there too. Any excuse to spend more time with the object of my obsessive thoughts was worth grabbing.
Now that I had a little help—reluctant as it was—on this case, I figured I might as well take advantage.
“How about we divide and conquer?” I suggested.
“I can go for that.”
Harrison and I were both used to working alone, so separating would be well within our individual wheelhouses.
“Do you have a preference?” I asked, hoping she’d go for Remington’s place of work.
“Not really?” She shrugged. “You?”
I tapped my pen on my desk, shifting a little. Harrison didn’t miss my uncomfortable tell and peered suspiciously at me.
“If you don’t mind,” I started, then coughed as I cleared my throat, “I’d like to take the apartment. I’m supposed to pick Boone up in about a half hour. I was going to swing him over to pick up his car and maybe get some lunch while we’re at it. From your notes, it looks like Remington’s apartment’s only a fifteen, maybe twenty-minute drive away from his dump site. I doubt Captain Cicely will mind if I drag Boone along with me to check it out.”
Harrison leaned into her chair, tapping her fingers along the armrest. “And the construction office is less than ten minutes away, so why the apartment?”
I felt my cheeks heat with anger and shame. “He’s a necromancer,” I needlessly stated. “His species doesn’t have a reputation for putting the living at ease. Boone’s caught enough flack recently. I don’t want to put him through more speciesist bullshit if I don’t have to. It’ll be better if you do the interviews.”
Harrison’s eyes softened with understanding before hardening with her own irritation. “Prejudice in any form is a fucking bitch.”
I didn’t disagree. “It’s the world we live in.” It was a shitty excuse, but it was all I had.
“That it is, O’Hare. That it is.”
“ Y ou take me to the nicest places.” Boone stared up at me, mischief lighting his beautifully enticing green eyes. With a sweeping gesture of his arm, Boone said, “After you, Detective.”
I huffed a short-lived laugh before starting for the stairs. Linus Remington’s last known residence was in a part of town that was only a couple of steps up from the neighborhood his body had been dumped in. The chipped concrete stairs led to a second floor with a balcony that ran the length of the complex. The balcony was made out of the same worn concrete and exposed to the elements. The place looked like a slightly glorified no-tell-motel.
“I’m not judging, mind you,” Boone said from close behind. “The guy had a job and was working for a wage doing something needed. I can respect that. What I can’t respect is the shoddy upkeep on this apartment building. Just because it’s low rent doesn’t mean the tenants should be afraid the floor will fall out from underneath them.” Boone pulled his hand back from the rusted railing and added, “Or get tetanus just from touching the railing. Gaia, this place is a death trap.”
I couldn’t argue and didn’t try. Instead, I walked halfway down the balcony until I came to unit twenty-six. I tried the door but it was locked. That was okay. The super had already given me the key.
“Flash a detective’s badge and they’ll give you a key to anything,” Boone teased. “I’d say that’s hot, but I’d be more impressed if it was a key to somewhere that had room service.”
My blood pounded, sounding unusually loud in my temples. That wasn’t the first flirting tease Boone had thrown my way since picking him up at his house earlier. The ideas he was planting in my head were making my pants distinctly uncomfortable.
Voice raspy, I said, “I’ll try and keep that in mind next time.”
Boone moved in closer, sandwiching me between his body and the door. He was smaller than me. Size, in this case, didn’t matter. I felt the heat of his body all down my back.
“This okay?” he whispered, his warm breath ghosting across the nape of my neck. “I can back up if you want. I don’t want to crowd you if you’re not ready.”
I felt Boone retreat and reached a hand back, blindly grasping his hip. “I don’t mind and fully expect to be crowded whenever you want. Just be careful not to crowd me into something inside the apartment. I don’t want to contaminate the scene.” That was assuming there was a scene to possibly contaminate. My gloved hands were a precaution just in case. Boone and I’d already discussed in the car that I didn’t want him to touch anything without asking, and I’d also given him a pair of disposable gloves to wear. I was pretty sure they were currently doing time in one of his many pockets. I idly wondered what charm they were cozied up against.
“Well, I suppose I can do that.” Boone backed away and I allowed the movement by relaxing my grip. “Although it will make this less fun.”
As a general rule, checking out a potential crime scene wasn’t usually fun .
“You ready?” I asked before turning the key.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Just in case you’re wondering, there’s not a dead body on the other side. In fact, the whole area is pretty quiet. The nearest cemetery is about three miles south of here. It’s still accepting new clients, but it’s far enough away that it’s just a slight background hum.”
“That’s…” I hesitated.
“Creepy?” Boone answered defensively when I’d been quiet too long.
“Handy,” I finally answered. “I was just thinking that kind of knowledge would be useful.”
“Why? The victim’s already dead. Not much to do about it at that point.” Boone sounded genuinely curious.
“Being mentally prepared is nice.” I finally turned enough that I could see Boone’s startled, then understanding expression.
“I think I get it. I don’t mind mice and rats, but they scare the shit out of me when I don’t expect to see them. If I know they’re there, I find them cute.”
I didn’t think I’d ever find a dead body cute, but the comparison was good enough. “Okay, no body on the other side. You ready to go in and see what is?”
“As I said earlier, after you.” Boone’s lip twitched into a grin. If we’d been nearly anywhere else, I would have closed the distance and captured those lips. Boone had the type of lips that were made for kissing. I figured they hadn’t been test-driven enough and planned on changing that in the near future.
Dragging my gaze away from Boone’s very kissable lips, I turned the doorknob and opened the entryway. The door swung open with an audible groan.
“Sounds just as reluctant as my screen door,” Boone lamented.
I huffed something unintelligible and walked into the dim room. The drapes were pulled, shutting out the burning Mississippi summer sun. The apartment complex might appear to be falling apart, but the window-mounted air-conditioning unit still ran strong.
Flipping the light switch, I said, “Electricity is still on.” I didn’t think Remington had been dead long enough that he’d have overdue bills, but the power being on indicated he’d been good about paying his bills while alive.
I moved deeper into the studio apartment. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the apartment was neat, but it wasn’t filthy either. It was also decently picked up. There weren’t any horrible odors, but that might be because Remington was a panther shifter and was probably sensitive to smells. I wasn’t sure how strong their noses were, but no doubt his sense of smell would have been about a thousand times better than mine.
“He took care of the place,” Boone said while walking toward the bed. Melancholy took over his earlier teasing tone. “He didn’t have much, but what he did have, Linus looked after.”
I glanced Boone’s direction and was relieved to see he’d taken my instruction to heart and wasn’t touching anything.
“I don’t know if it’s sad or not,” Boone said, the dreariness still coloring his voice indicating otherwise. “I mean, some individuals like living the loner kind of life. They enjoy moving around and having few attachments. If that’s what Linus liked, then who am I to judge?”
I didn’t think Boone was judging. What I did think was that wasn’t the kind of life he found appealing. “Not my cup of tea either,” I said, and Boone turned my direction, a spark of…something, in his eyes.
“No?”
With a head shake, I answered, “I come from a decent-sized family. Nothing huge, but family gatherings when I was a kid were plentiful. I’m not saying I want that kind of chaos every day, but I like having roots and a solid support base.” My support base might be physically far away, but I carried them with me where it counted and knew that when the shit hit the fan, I always had a safe place to land.
Boone’s gaze turned soft. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t have much, but I’ve got Momma and Pops. Pops is across the country, but you and I both know he’d be here in a heartbeat if I needed him.”
Oh, I was very well aware. “I don’t think they’re all you’ve got. You seem to have Mrs. Hart and her ankle biter wrapped around your finger.”
Boone tilted his head back and laughed. The motion exposed the slender length of his neck. He had a very shapely neck.
“ Ankle biter? I don’t know if Mrs. Hart would tsk you or agree. It probably depends on the situation. I’m not sure what it says about me that I’ve managed to win over Miss Pattycakes.”
“I think is says a lot. Miss Patty seems like a very discerning dog.”
Boone laughed again and I realized I wouldn’t mind hearing more of that joyous sound.
“If you hadn’t noticed, you’ve also got me. No matter where this thing between us goes, I’ve got your back, Erasmus.” Standing inside a murder victim’s apartment probably wasn’t the best venue to bare your heart. Then again, this was Erasmus Boone we were talking about. Between his species and my chosen profession, the dead were our home court.
Cheeks flushing, Boone dropped his head and nodded. “Thanks, Franklin.” Blowing out a breath, Boone raised his head and said, “After the hubbub around my house last night, I might need all the support I can get. Needless to say, besides Mrs. Hart and her ankle biter , the rest of my neighbors aren’t pleased. I wouldn’t be surprised if I get called to a neighborhood meeting soon.”
“What does that mean?” Righteous anger boiled low in my gut. “What happened wasn’t your fault, and the Fair Housing Act means you can live wherever the hell you want.” What was wrong with people? God, if I had the answer to that, I’d probably be the wealthiest man alive. I’d also probably be the most frustrated too. Knowing the root of a problem didn’t automatically lead to its solution.
Boone’s casual shrug didn’t fool me. He was worried. “I’m not sure what they can do beyond try and make my life miserable. I suppose there’s more than one way to get someone out of their house.”
My anger jumped a few notches into the land of fury. “You let me know if they start pulling any stupid shit. I will get involved and they will be very sorry.” I had no idea what I planned on doing, only that I had friends—legal and not so legal—with their sticky fingers on a lot of computer keys. The right person could do a lot of damage in a darkened room behind an otherwise unassuming desk.
Boone’s slack jaw tightened before relaxing. “Thanks, Franklin. I’ll put that reminder on my welcome mat.”
“You do that,” I encouraged before turning and getting back to business. Maybe bringing Boone along wasn’t such a good idea. He was far too charming a distraction.
“I’ll check out the bathroom,” Boone offered before slipping from my sight. I could hear him humming with interrupted musings. I couldn’t hear well enough to figure out what he was saying. I’d learned that Boone often spoke to himself. Then again…
“Aurelia isn’t here, is she?” I asked, suddenly concerned she was lurking about and I simply couldn’t see her.
“Nope. No djinn currently in the building,” Boone answered in a lilting voice.
My tension eased. I wasn’t sure how to feel about Aurelia. On the one hand, I was almost positive she’d saved our lives yesterday. On the other, she could just as easily decide that was a mistake and rectifying it was the only solution. We’d be dead before we realized she’d changed her mind.
Shaking off that unsettling and unproductive thought, I got down to business. There was nothing I could do about Aurelia, and I needed to focus on what I could influence. Namely, figuring out the asshole who was on a multispecies killing spree.
“Not much in here,” Boone hollered. “About what I’d expect from a mammalian shifter. Linus’s personal products are all natural and have little scent. There’s nothing in the bathroom trash either.” Boone exited the bathroom, blue latex gloves covering his hands.
I nodded while opening his dresser drawer. Like everything else we’d seen, Remington’s clothing drawers were respectable and the laundry clean. Nothing was hidden below the clothing.
“Not much in the fridge except meat,” Boone said and his muffled voice made me think he currently had his head stuck in said refrigerator. “There’s some leafy green stuff, but not much else. Makes sense. All but one of the packages is still in date. Looks like Linus went grocery shopping recently.”
It also backed up the fact that he hadn’t been missing for too long before he’d been murdered. Time of death was recent, but I hadn’t been certain how long prior to his death Linus had been taken.
I heard the refrigerator door close, quickly followed by the freezer. “Not much in the icebox. Looks like Linus preferred his meals fresh.”
I packaged that information away while I continued searching the studio apartment. There was a small television and a few books strewn about. None of our victims had been found with their cell phones. As a matter of fact, we hadn’t been able to locate a single electronic device and so far, Remington was no different.
Shuffling perked my ears, and I turned around in time to see Boone’s pert ass poking into the air as he bent over and shoved his hand between the two mattresses.
“What?” he asked. “It’s the classic hiding place.”
“Not disputing that, but it might be better to lift the mattress up.”
“Oh.” Boone’s cheeks colored. “That would take a bit more work.”
“It would,” I easily agreed before crossing the short distance and grabbing one end of the mattress. Between the two of us, we made short work of lifting it and setting it on its side.
“Jackpot!” Boone’s hand shot out and snagged the laptop. He pulled it away and I dropped the mattress.
Boone looked like a puppy who’d just done something spectacularly important and praiseworthy. Who was I to deny good behavior? Grabbing the laptop, I tossed it onto the bed and pulled Boone to me. Our lips collided before he could so much as gasp.
Shit , how could he taste even better than I remembered from last night? Did it really matter? No. No it did not.
A groan slipped through Boone’s lips, reverberating on mine and traveling straight to my cock. Finally pulling away, I sucked in a lungful of air before shivering and uttering a wholly inadequate, “Fuck.”
“Not here,” Boone answered while his teeth nibbled on my earlobe.
“No, definitely not here.” I wasn’t even certain we’d do that anytime soon. While I wanted inside Boone’s body, I didn’t feel rushed. The lustful inferno coursing through my body surrounded a cool core of ice. That core tempered my need. What Boone and I were forming was different. It had that intangible quality I’d been searching for without being aware. It was like we were hooked together, holding close together as we drifted through the rocky oceanic waters. It was a constant connection that promised more, that eased the desperate need to consummate our feelings before things fell apart—before the opportunity was missed. It was the knowledge that Boone would be there tomorrow. That he’d be there the following week, and the week after that.
I don’t know how I knew it, but that didn’t change the fact that I did. This was more than a fling. It was more than a hot night between the sheets. What Boone and I were forming held the delicate thread of forever. I intended to keep adding strands to that thread, braiding it into an unbreakable rope.
“We should get this to Becks,” I said, voice husky.
“Sure thing,” Boone answered while rubbing his thigh against my firm cock. “We should get right on that.”
A half-assed “fucking hell” slipped through my lips before I slammed them against Boone’s. Surely five minutes wouldn’t make or break the case.