Chapter 3 #2
There were even a few notes that one of the detectives objected to it being ruled a murder and suspected some type of drug interaction given the state of the body. He wanted that on the record for the coroner and the autopsy that wasn’t even done yet.
Red flag number one.
“Tell me what I want to hear,” I muttered as I flipped through more.
“Undeclared area,” Lewis confirmed.
I let out a slow breath and read the rest, agreeing that this was probably our killer. The one I’d been hunting for almost two decades.
The slimy fucker who always slipped our net and drove me fucking insane.
Mostly because I was pretty sure it was one of us. I was—my gut told me it was a demon. The others didn’t agree, but something told me it was.
And I’d done a lot—survived a lot by trusting my gut.
First of all, an undeclared area was smart. They were complicated, and that always worked to a predator’s advantage.
The world was mostly split into areas that accepted supes or didn’t. But then there were areas that either turned a blind eye, like pretending we didn’t exist, or just didn’t want to handle it one way or another. Like they didn’t want to be on the hook for it.
Specifically in the US, it was more complicated than that. It was typically an area that had voted to repeal the “human only” legislation or mandate but hadn’t really figured out how to incorporate us yet. Their leaders couldn’t come to an agreement or couldn’t get the new rules passed.
So it was in limbo. Some for years and years.
Basically, it was like Mexico with cannabis. It wasn’t illegal anymore, but it wasn’t legal either.
Which made it interesting that this killer in particular always picked those areas.
But it was only ever three victims. Once a year. Normally right after the New Year, and that was a ridiculously hard profile to keep up with.
And they hadn’t stuck to the US, but generally North America. So we thought.
Plus, we normally focused on the assholes who hurt women and killed strippers, sex workers, and the like. This killer was on the other side.
They went after those who visited such establishments. So the victim profile was ridiculous. Cops not even agreeing it was murder, and three dead before gone for a year. A new location. Murders or reports not reaching our ears until three in an undeclared area and we’d missed our chance.
“We’re sure this is the first?” I checked.
“Yes. Completely sure,” he confirmed. “It was even in the news report that it’s the first death they’ve had in months in the area that wasn’t just like old man someone and something died from a bad ticker. Cops were rambling about it on the quick report in the bigger city. Seattle news.”
I nodded and flipped to what was next. Richland, Washington was pretty smack dab in between Seattle, Portland, and Spokane, so it would be a toss-up who would cover it.
Then again, I didn’t know if Spokane was even big enough to have its own new stations? I would think so, but with budget cuts to media in recent years… Not the point.
“I’m running out of covers,” I muttered as I looked up a few other things.
“I already have Tracey putting together ten deeper ones you can use first but can stand up for people in the spotlight. That way our managers for potential new clubs or people who need to feel safe in that area always have the best protection.”
“Good. Oh, you’re being promoted in some way. I don’t know how, but you are,” I told him, swallowing my amusement at his shock. “It’s not negotiable.”
“Jasmine, I like my job and—” he worried.
Which was why it wasn’t funny.
“I know, love,” I said gently. “It’s out who I am now and I’m not even junior vice president anymore.
We’re reorganizing and I need my right hand.
” I gave him the best look I could. “I need you, Lewis. I don’t run without you.
You know that. We’ll figure it out or if you want to be an aide to me as councilwoman—however we do it. You need a better title too.”
He reached out and rubbed my hand. “I’m in this for real and always got your back, Superwoman. I just need you to always keep me inside and as the sidekick that doesn’t go out into danger.”
I snorted. “I can’t ever risk my best guy.” I leaned in and kissed his hair. “I just want you to boss around more people because it’s fun to watch.”
“I do it so well after all,” he purred, smiling when I walked off laughing.
I went home to get everything for the cover that Lewis and the team would need and froze as I found it. I glanced around and realized this wasn’t my home anymore.
No, this was just my condo in Berlin.
When the fuck had that happened?
“Another issue for another day, Jasmine,” I mumbled as I locked it all up again and headed for the portal.
I did what I needed to and then accepted what Lewis had ready for me so I could fake being a cop and get in on the scene. I rolled my eyes when I pulled up and my meticulous nature wasn’t even needed. They didn’t even have a patrolman watching the scene. One little piece of police tape was up.
And the fucking door was unlocked.
Seriously?
Wow, they were making this too easy for killers. Just because a town or area had a low crime rate in the past didn’t actually mean it was safe.
Sometimes it meant people were inept and not enough got reported or solved.
At least it made things easier for me and I was trying to help. I stepped inside and kept my glamour up from the visible badge to every needed detail, ignoring the amount of energy it took.
I learned a lot in less than five minutes in the house.
Lots relevant to the case, and mostly what we had already said.
No forced entry. If it involved someone and was a murder, it was someone he knew or someone who managed to get inside.
There wasn’t any sort of evidence of another person or disturbances.
Nothing out of order.
But then there was the list of things I learned that could help me figure out why him given the vantage point I was coming into this from.
First, Steven Scalf was a fucking slob.
Oh sure, he picked up his house, but anyone with a real eye knew what to look for. Robovacs were great, but they were for daily cleanings, not the full solution. The baseboards were filthy and there were piles of dust and more behind every door—places where the robovac didn’t get.
So the man also didn’t pay attention to details. That was clear from the overdue bills I found in the kitchen. He made more than enough money for his life, so he either couldn’t handle anything that wasn’t auto-pay or mismanaged things.
I snorted. I couldn’t judge that. Lewis handled all of that for me.
But the pile of takeout containers on top of the full garbage—that, I judged.
That was just gross. No matter how deep we were in a case at home base with all the testosterone and tons of takeout, we still took out the fucking garbage and didn’t act like savages.
We cleaned up the kitchen and were adults.
Basically, Steven Scalf was a shitty adult.
But was he a shitty person? Was that why he was someone’s target?
I wasn’t saying that meant he deserved to be murdered. No, far from it, and just because we were shitty to one person—murder wasn’t ever justified for that.
I simply had to think like a killer to do my job.
I snorted when I went over to his gaming setup and saw that the police hadn’t even taken it. And the house was unlocked? Fools. Had they really never dealt with a possible murder?
No, the city was big enough that this was ridiculous.
But lucky for me.
There were a few other things I boxed up and decided to take with me that might be nothing but could be helpful. Everything felt off to me. Subtle… But off. It felt like other scenes I’d been to with this murderer.
Or maybe I was reaching and just hoping I could put a stop to this killer. Finally. Get one off the board.
Because unfortunately, this wasn’t the only one I’d been chasing for years or who had eluded me. Life was too complicated and messy that everything wasn’t always easily wrapped up. Certainly not at the end of the season like tv shows and things nicely wrapped up to make sense.
Real life rarely made sense.
I gasped as I felt my body come alive.
At a fucking crime scene.
It was as if I’d stepped out of a hot tub and into freezing cold temperatures. That titillating, overwhelming feeling that’s actually exciting because your nipples instantly get hard and your body just feels more.
Mason.
Mason was playing with his new control over me—his new magical toy basically.
And I loved every fucking second of it.
Okay fine, not at a damn crime scene, but knowing he’d never been so close to another woman or had a chance to explore any bond with her just flat did it for me.
Yes, it was a bit controlling and dominating of him, but for someone who had been abused again and again as I had, some healthy obsession was healing.
Fine, obsession probably never was, but I fucking loved it.
I checked my phone and saw I had two missed texts and a call from him over the past few hours. The last one was over an hour ago, making it clear he knew about the murder and needed to see me before I went undercover.
“Well, he’s making that clear,” I chuckled as I quickly texted back that I would be to him soon and I was sorry for not responding.
But that I was at a crime scene so to please cut it out.
Also, that I was using a lot of glamour, so I had to swing by the angels to feed, but then I would be right home.
“What are you doing here?” a woman demanded from the doorway.
“Oh fuck,” I gasped and almost dropped my phone.
“Yeah, you’re not doing anything wrong,” she drawled.
I shot her the look she deserved before tapping my visible badge. “I’m where I should be, but you aren’t and yeah, I’m always juggling a lot.” I wiggled my phone like she hadn’t seen me distracted. “Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know that,” she told me firmly. “I asked what you’re doing here.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. “Okay, and I just showed you my badge, and the owner of this house is dead. I’m here investigating that.
So yes, you do need to tell me who you are because you’re trespassing.
” I wanted to roll my eyes when she frowned as if trying to work that out in her head.
I showed her the box I had. “I’m getting extra evidence that was missed. ”
Her eyes flashed hope. “So you believe it was murder? The one detective was too dismissive. He barely listened to me and said Steven just took some bad drugs, but that boy didn’t do drugs. Ever. Drank too much, sure, but—most men do.”
“I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation,” I told her politely but waved off what she was going to say next and met her gaze. “But things aren’t adding up to me. So anything you have to say that could help, I would like to hear. Truly.”
Rage filled her eyes. “I got lots to say starting with that whore he was all smitten with. Normally, I ain’t got anything against women who get naked for pay. They want to take off their clothes for money and men are dumb enough to do it, good for them. But this one was greedy. And that’s a whore.”
Maybe, but I nodded along like I believed her because that was good information and hopefully could give me a place to start.
Wiggle into for a way to investigate if nothing else.
“Tell me everything and I promise I will check out as much as I can and do right by Steven,” I told her, nodding when she seemed suspicious again.
I decided to go another way to placate her.
“Maybe it was bad drugs and someone slipped it to him, but that’s something we need to know if you’re sure he’d never done drugs. ”
And she was off to the races again, adamant that he’d never touched drugs and wouldn’t. She might have been rough around the edges and harsh on women, but she was fierce in her love for the victim.
We could all use someone like that in our corner.