Chapter ten
Last night was the best Mike had slept in a decade. A lot of that was probably because Lark and Kal were under the same roof as he was. He and Lark might not be back to where they’d been before she’d left, but it was a start. And spending time with his son was beyond amazing.
He was smiling and still thinking about sitting down as a family to share the pancakes he, Lark, and Kal had made for breakfast that morning when Connor’s voice intruded on his daydream.
“This place always creeps me out,” Connor muttered as they walked into one of the labs at the Dallas Institute of Forensic Sciences along with Xander and Trey.
Mike looked around the room, taking in the freezer units along one wall. Counters and shelves of various scientific equipment were situated along the other, while stainless steel autopsy tables took up most of the space in between.
“I hear you,” Xander agreed. “It’s like the start of every bad horror movie I’ve ever seen. You know, the part where they hear a thump coming from the freezer and open it to find a zombie.”
Mike snorted even though he couldn’t disagree.
The room was definitely unsettling. And while the bodies on the tables were covered by sheets, there was no escaping the smell.
The odor of decay was nearly overwhelming to his werewolf nose, even though the bodies had obviously been kept in the freezer units along the wall prior to their arrival.
“Thanks for putting that image in my mind.” Connor grimaced as he glanced from one sheet-shrouded body to the next. “I’ll never understand how Samantha can be comfortable around dead bodies.”
Besides being senior medical examiner for Dallas County, Dr. Samantha Mills was also engaged to Trey.
It was an understatement to say having an ME around who knew about the existence of the supernatural world was helpful.
It made things easy whenever those kinds of situations popped up—which they did a lot.
Samantha had come damn close to outing the Pack to the entire world when she and Trey had first started seeing each other though.
After realizing there was something weird going on with the Dallas SWAT Team, she’d agreed to go on a date with him purely so she could accidentally get some of his blood and send the sample to a lab for DNA testing.
To say that had caused some issues would be an even bigger understatement.
Luckily, everything had worked out, and Trey had found The One for him.
Samantha walked into the room then, blonde hair up in her signature messy bun.
She flashed a smile at Trey before greeting the rest of them.
Mike was surprised to see Wayne with her.
Then again, maybe he wasn’t that surprised.
Wayne was sharp, so he knew there was almost certainly a connection between Roman and the dead man they’d found in the warehouse yesterday.
Besides, Wayne had known Stewart from back in the day.
Finding out who’d killed him would be personal.
“I know you guys came to talk about Stewart,” Samantha said. “Unfortunately, his isn’t the only body we’ll be looking at today.”
Before Mike or any of the other guys could ask what Samantha was talking about, she reached for the sheet covering the nearest table, pulling it down carefully to expose Stewart’s bruised and beaten body.
Then she moved over and pulled the sheets down on three other corpses.
It was impossible to miss the similarities between the bruises on their bodies and Stewart’s.
“These three other bodies were discovered over the past two months in different parts of northern Texas,” Wayne said. “The different jurisdictions meant no one considered they were connected. At least, not until yesterday, when we figured out Roman was back in the country.”
“Who are they?” Xander asked. “And what’s their connection to Roman?”
“I think I’ll let Mike answer that question,” Wayne said, glancing at him. “I’m pretty sure he’ll remember their faces, if not their names.”
Unfortunately, Mike did know them.
“This is Randall Salinas,” Mike said as he stared down at the man’s face on the closest table. Middle-aged, Salinas’s dark, curly hair was liberally sprinkled with gray. “He used to be one of the DEA’s best deep cover operatives. We crossed paths frequently when we both worked for Roman.”
Mike turned his attention to the next table. “The guy with the beard is James Fritz. “He was DEA, too, and served as my handler when I was undercover in Roman’s organization. The last I heard, he’d retired and moved out of town.”
Wayne nodded. “Fritz’s body was found about eight weeks ago in his home in Amarillo. Salinas was found a few days after that in a cabin on the shores of Lake Fork, where he’d gone fishing.”
“What about the woman?” Xander asked, motioning to the body on the third table. “I’m almost certain I’ve seen her somewhere, but I’m not sure where.”
Mike frowned down at the woman. “That’s Camila Ortega. She was a prosecutor with the organized crime division of the district attorney’s office. She got her start on the Roman case, wrangling all the evidence we collected.”
“Ortega was found in her Highland Park home a couple days after Salinas,” Wayne added. “No one had any idea they’d all worked the Roman case until yesterday.”
“If Roman hadn’t already confronted Mike about the flash drive, I’d think he came back to Dallas for no other reason than to get his revenge against the people who helped destroy his organization ten years ago,” Xander said.
“I’m as confused as you are,” Wayne admitted.
“This mysterious missing flash drive doesn’t make sense to me.
When we were undercover, it was my job to link up with Mike whenever Roman gave him a package of flash drives, so I could make a copy before he had to deliver them.
It was dangerous as hell, and we almost got caught a dozen times, but it gave me a chance to get a look at the stuff before turning them in for analysis.
Like Mike has probably already told you, there was never anything that interesting beyond the criminal crap.
Certainly nothing to justify Roman coming back to Dallas and doing all this. ”
“Well, clearly, one of those drives contained something different,” Trey said. “Something you either didn’t see, or didn’t recognize. The question is, why does Roman think you still have it, Mike? Any chance you ended up with one of them without realizing it?”
Mike shook his head. “No way. If this flash drive exists, it had to be buried in the evidence archives somewhere.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Wayne sighed.
“If it’s in the archives, we’re screwed.
It’s like a needle in a haystack in there.
I’ve split my analysis team into two groups, one doing background checks on Roman’s known associates—focusing on Rogelio Roy first, as you asked—while the other half digs through boxes of evidence.
It’s going to take days to come up with anything. ”
“Which is why I’m hoping forensics has found something that’ll help.” Mike looked at Samantha. “Please tell me you’ve got something.”
“Possibly,” Samantha said. “While Stewart’s body was the most recent one found, he was actually the second one killed, around the same time as Fritz. The body must have been kept somewhere cold, since it’s so well-preserved.”
“It was unseasonably cold a few weeks ago,” Trey pointed out. “Would that be enough to do it?”
“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. “But only if the body was stored in a windowless room below ground level with thick walls that would keep the space cold all the time, regardless of what the temperature was outside.”
“That’s definitely not the way I’d describe the warehouse where we found the body,” Connor said. “Which means Stewart was kept somewhere else for weeks and then dumped there.”
“What was the cause of death?” Mike asked as he looked at the bodies laid out before them. “I’m no expert, but the bruises make it look like all of them were beaten to death.”
“They were,” Samantha admitted. “All the damage you see was done by someone’s fists, and whoever it was, the killer was extremely strong.”
“Some things never change,” Wayne said with a disgusted snort. “Roman always surrounded himself with people who didn’t mind using violence to get what they wanted.”
Xander muttered a curse. “And he was going after everyone on his list he thought might have the flash drive until he finally came to Mike.”
Which made Mike wonder why Roman didn’t grab him like he’d gone after the previous victims instead of kidnapping Kal. Had Roman already known he was a werewolf and been reluctant to go up against him and his pack?
“Do you have anything else for us from the autopsies?” Mike asked.
He really hoped so. The sooner they got Roman off the streets the safer everyone would be.
“Possibly,” Samantha said. “Since Fritz, Salinas, and Ortega were all killed in the same places they were found, but Stewart wasn’t, we focused on checking his body for trace and fiber, and we think we might have gotten lucky.”
“How so?” Trey asked his fiancée.
“There were some foreign substances found on Stewart’s boots and clothing. It didn’t match anything at the warehouse where you found him, so we’re thinking it might be able to tell us where he was murdered and help find Roman.”
“When do you expect the trace results to come back?” Mike asked.
It sounded like a long shot, but he hoped Samantha was right and it’d lead somewhere.
“I should have something for you in twenty-four hours, forty-eight at the most,” Samantha promised. “This case has department priority, so we have everyone working this one.”
Wayne left shortly after that, saying he’d push his analysts harder, both the ones checking the evidence archive and those tracking down Roman’s known associates.
“Watch yourself out there,” Mike told him. “Roman almost certainly knows you were undercover back then, too.”
Wayne nodded. “Will do.”
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of the lieutenant, but whoever delivered those blows to Stewart and the other victims was unusually strong,” Samantha said softly, glancing at the lab’s open door, clearly wanting to make sure no one overheard.
“Like as strong as a werewolf. Every strike ended up breaking bones.”
Trey quickly filled in his mate on what they already knew about Roman and his goons, including the fact that they had no idea what kind of supernaturals they were, just that were dangerous. Before they left, Samantha made them promise they’d all be careful, then gave Trey a kiss.
“Striking out here sucks, but on the upside, getting back to the mansion early will give you a chance to spend some time with Lark and Kal,” Xander said to Mike as they walked out of the Institute and headed for the SWAT SUV.
“True,” Mike admitted with a grin, already looking forward to that. “I kinda wish I could take them out to lunch and do some sightseeing. That way it wouldn’t be completely on me to keep Kal entertained, you know?”
“I don’t think you need to keep him entertained,” Xander said with a laugh. “I mean, I don’t have any kids, so I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Kal is thrilled to spend time with you, no matter what you’re doing.”
“It’d be great if it were that simple,” Mike said softly, realizing he’d never felt so unsure about anything in his life.
He wasn’t too proud to admit this father thing was terrifying.
“But Kal hasn’t seen me since he was a baby.
What if I don’t know what to talk to him about?
Or worse, what if he gets to know me and figures out he doesn’t like me? ”
Xander snorted. “Dude, you’re his dad. He already likes you. And from what I saw last night at dinner, and this morning at breakfast, you already know what to talk about. All you need to do is show him you care and that you’re there for him.”
Maybe Xander was right. Maybe he was overthinking things. He just didn’t want to screw this up.
“When did you get so smart?” he asked, glancing at his pack mate.
“It’s Khaki’s influence,” Xander said with a laugh. “She makes me smarter.”
Mike chuckled. He couldn’t disagree with that. It had been like that when he and Lark were together all those years ago. She’d made everything better, including him.
“Why don’t you grill some burgers in that kick-ass outdoor kitchen when we get back?” Xander said as they all climbed into the SUV. “It’s pretty warm today, so you, Lark, and Kal can have lunch near the pool. I’ll make sure you guys have some privacy.”
Mike started to say that wasn’t necessary, that he and the others didn’t need to put themselves out like this for him. But then he realized it wasn’t only for him. His pack mates were doing it for Lark and Kal, too. And they were worth the effort.
They were worth everything.