Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Shocked over Luke’s threats to their suspect in handcuffs, Sorcha took a second to digest his orders.
Luke had never left her alone like this. It was kind of weird. She had no real idea what was going on. Like walking in on a movie halfway through.
“Let me go and I’ll make it worth your while.”
Sorcha wrinkled her nose. “I could do that, but it would just piss my partner off to have to chase you down again. Whatever you’re offering wouldn’t be worth his wrath.”
The woman let out a feral growl as Sorcha took her outside to Luke’s car.
Helly met her there. “Luke told me to keep an eye on Marcia and make sure she behaves.” She gave an adorable smirk to the woman in custody. “I’m assuming you’re Marcia.”
“No. Name’s Margaret Kincaid,” Marcia said with a sneer.
“So, Marcia it is.” Helly opened the car door for her.
Marcia let out another feral growl that would have scared her in the past. But being Luke’s partner and working at IA had toughened her up. She now knew a lot of the scary things that roamed the night on a first-name basis.
That being said, it was a lot harder to get Marcia out of the car than it should have been.
She sat in the backseat, completely uncooperative.
Sorcha let out a frustrated sigh. “What do we do?” she asked Helly.
“Need some help?”
She looked over her shoulder to see Trinket standing on the stairs.
He’d done away with all the Goth garb and had started looking like an average college student with jeans and artistic button-down shirts.
His tousled curly hair was all that remained of the Trinket she’d first met.
“All I can get. What suggestions do you have?”
“Where you want her?”
“Inside the interrogation room.”
Marcia vanished immediately.
Sorcha gaped. “What did you do?”
“Put her where you wanted. Want me to muzzle her, too?”
Unsure why he’d helped her when he’d been so reticent in the past to even be near her, Sorcha shook her head. “All good. Thank you.”
He vanished.
Sorcha met Helly’s gaze. “What’s up with Trinket?”
She shrugged. “I’m not real sure. He’s been different lately and it scares me.”
“How so?”
“We don’t really change. Hellbeings, I mean. We can change small things, but he seems really different. That is usually a very bad sign. Means he’s plotting something and trying to stay off Luke’s radar. Never, ever a good sign.”
“He seems very sweet to me.”
Helly shook her head slowly, side to side. “Hellcats are never sweet. They’re notoriously devious and self-serving to the end. Don’t let him deceive you.”
Before she could say anything, Envee materialized beside Helly. “There really a werewolf here? Trinket said he just tossed one into the big house.”
Sorcha was trying not to react to how Envee described everything.
“A nasty one, too. She growled at Sorcha.”
Envee’s eyes widened. “Can I go threaten her?”
Sorcha was stunned by the question. “Why?”
Envee acted as if that was the most absurd question ever. “You don’t know a lot of werewolves, do you?”
Actually, she didn’t know the answer to that. Until the last few months, she’d never known they even existed. “I don’t think so.”
She passed a droll stare to Helly. “She don’t know any or she’d have a better answer.” Then she looked back at Sorcha. “They’re awful. They need a good tormenting. Trust me.”
Sure. Why not?
“Well…on that note, let me go check on our guest.” Sorcha could only imagine the questions Bernadette and the others would have about the werewolf that just popped into their offices.
Then again, it was Infernal Affairs. To them, just another day of the week.
Laughing at the thought, she headed to the “big house” and up to the main floor where Marcia was calling out for legal counsel.
Bernadette was in the room with Marcia. “This one of yours?” she asked Sorcha as she joined her.
“Luke’s mostly.”
“Perfect.”
Marcia snarled at them. “I am entitled to a phone call!”
Bernadette crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, honey, you’re not entitled to shit. But personally, I’d like to be entitled to some silence. Care to make that happen?”
“You can’t arrest me without my Miranda rights!”
Bernadette arched her brow at Sorcha. “Did you arrest her?”
“She’s detained. Not arrested.”
Bernadette slid her hand in front of her. “There you go. Detained means you don’t get a call. Miranda or any of the good stuff. Sucks to be you.”
“Then I’m free to go?”
Bernadette let out an aggravated breath. “No. Detained means we hold you while we investigate this and ask you questions. You are not free to go. If you leave, you can and will be criminally charged. So I suggest you sit there, quietly.”
Heading for the door, Bernadette paused beside Sorcha. “Next time, pick a quieter criminal to detain.”
“I will,” Sorcha said seriously, then burst out laughing.
Alone with Marcia, Sorcha wasn’t sure what to say. “So, you’re really a werewolf?”
Okay, that sounded dumb even to her. But she wasn’t sure what else to say.
“That your brilliant interrogation? I’m being detained”—her voice dripped with sarcasm— “because what? You’re bored?”
That kicked the uncertainty out of her and brought out her official police training. “You’re being detained over two murders and one attempted murder. You might want to take a different tone before I hand you over to homicide where I promise they won’t be so kind or understanding.”
That took a lot of the bluster out of her. “I didn’t do it.”
“You and every criminal I’ve put away.” Sorcha then remembered one of the more grisly cases in New Orleans.
“I take that back…there was one time where the perp served his girlfriend up as dinner to the man she was cheating on him with. He was very proud of his vengeance and bragged about it to anyone who would listen.”
Color faded from Marcia’s cheeks. “You’re kidding?”
“No. I still have the crime scene photos if you want proof.”
“Uh, I’m good.”
To be honest, Sorcha wasn’t. It was one of those cases that continued to haunt her.
“Why did you cut off the heads of Lawson and Larry?” she asked Marcia.
“I didn’t cut off anyone’s head.”
That might be technically true. “Why did you help your friend cut off their heads?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
It was going to be one of those interrogations. Sorcha sighed as Siobhan’s list of bullshit went through her head.
No, no… Listen to me. These five things will get you out of any situation.
One. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Two. I didn’t do it.
Three. I wasn’t there.
Four. Jesus is Lord.
Five. Prove it.
And you can use them in tandem. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t there. Or I didn’t do it. Jesus is Lord.
Trust me, sis. No matter what it is, just keep repeating those five things and you’ll always get away with it.
Siobhan had been hysterical with her strange belief system. And the scariest part was that it actually worked.
At least for Siobhan. Over and over, Sorcha had been both amused and horrified about how effective it was.
And now she was face to face with a sus who was going to make this a long interrogation.
Thanks, Luke. I hope you’re having more success.
Luke used his powers to follow after Allison. It amused him that she thought she could run. As a werewolf, she did have an advantage. At least against most others.
But as he’d tried to tell her, no one escaped a hellhound. Why she thought she’d be special…
He shook his head as she entered the apartment where he was waiting.
She turned her light on and screamed.
“Wow. Good thing my ego is strong or that would have hurt my feelings.”
She tried to tear open the door.
“Not going to work.”
Shrieking, she turned into a wolf and lunged for him.
Luke shifted into his true hellhound body…not the adorable German shepherd Sorcha cuddled with.
His true massive canine body was covered with hellfire. She bit at his throat. Luke dipped his head and used his strength to roll her over and hold her down with his front legs. She did her best to roll out or bite, but it was useless.
Hellhounds didn’t lose fights. They were psychopomps to the most vicious creatures ever born.
She finally switched back to her human body and did her best to shove at him.
Returning to his own human form, Luke stood and used his powers to hold her against the floor.
“You good?”
“Fuck you!” she snarled.
“Not today. I have other plans.” He moved to stand over her. “Look, I’m not going to arrest you. I’m willing to let you go. I just want to know one thing from you.”
She finally stopped fighting him. “What?”
“No trick. I will let you up. I just want you to answer a couple of questions. You do that, and I’ll leave you to your life.”
To prove it, he withdrew his hold and let her get up.
Brushing herself off, she glared her hatred at him. “What do you want to know?”
“Why did you kill Lawson?”
She shrugged. “He refused to step down.”
That only confused him. “What?”
She rubbed at her neck where he’d bitten her, but not broken the skin. “We were tired of being held down and ordered about.”
“We?”
Venom and fire darkened her gaze. “Have you any idea how hard it is to be a female werewolf? No. Of course you don’t. You’re a hellhound and you probably treat your women the same way they do. In fact, I know you do!”
Those accusations amused him, especially given the fact that they all bowed down before his mother.
“Even in Hollywood, we’re ignored. They make movies where all werewolves are men. Not a woman in sight. Like that would ever happen! God forbid they not have us to hump. Still, we don’t matter because they’re trying to erase us.”
They? Who were they? He had no idea.
And he didn’t think that was true about Hollywood. More likely, the writers were too lazy or just didn’t think about it. Had there ever been a werewolf movie without females? He couldn’t think of one.
They always seemed to be there. But who was he to interfere with a good rant?