3. Three
THREE
L andon told me not to touch the bodies—and I followed his orders—but that didn’t stop me from looking. The fact that I used magic to brighten the area around the bodies as the setting sun stretched the shadows wasn’t lost on my husband.
“Bay, do you really think this is a good idea?” Landon looked pained as he glanced between me and the path Chief Terry had taken back to the main road.
“I need to see,” I replied as I got closer to the first body. Normally, I wasn’t squeamish when it came to this sort of thing but I couldn’t stop myself from looking up at him several times as I tried to get a look at the ground beneath his feet.
“What are you looking for?” Landon asked.
“I’m trying to run it through my head,” I replied as he hunkered down with me. “We drove through there on our way to Mrs. Little’s house,” I explained. “The road was empty, which means whatever happened went down very close to the time we were there.”
Landon’s eyebrows moved toward one another. “Are you worried that you were the targets?”
“I hadn’t even considered that until you brought it up. I was feeling guilty that we just missed the action. I thought we could’ve saved them if we hadn’t spent so much time arguing about Bigfoot.”
Landon’s lips quirked. The situation was anything but funny, but he seemed amused. “Bigfoot, huh? I take it Clove was worked up.”
I shrugged. “She was just being Clove.” I scuffed my foot over a tree root and shook my head. “I think something is going on with Thistle, though.”
“Like what.” Landon was engaging in the conversation even though he had bigger things on his mind because he didn’t want me getting too worked up. I appreciated the effort.
“She’s hiding something.” I cocked my head and looked around, trying to imagine what happened.
“Do you think she’s pregnant?”
“That was my first assumption. She said she’s not.”
“Do you believe her?”
I shrugged and moved in front of one of the other men. “I don’t see why she would lie about a pregnancy. She saw what happened when Clove did it. She was unmarried, so she laid the groundwork if Thistle finds herself in the same predicament. I don’t think that’s it.”
“Okay, well…” Landon trailed off, frowning when I leaned to the side and called upon my magic to flash against the body. It looked like a small lightning storm. The atmosphere sparked with magic when I finished. “What the hell was that?” he demanded.
“She’s trying to see if she can find a magic echo,” Evan announced as he strolled back into the clearing. “This happened recently. If she can snag the memory, she might be able to see what happened to these men.”
“Because you believe what happened here is paranormal in nature,” Landon surmised, his gaze on me.
“Don’t you believe that?” I challenged. I didn’t see how he could think otherwise. “If it wasn’t paranormal, how did this happen?”
Landon’s hands landed on his hips as he looked around. I knew from past experience that he was really trying to work it out. “Just off the top of my head, I have to think that if this isn’t paranormal then a group of people are responsible.”
“Because even if it had been an ambush, once one of the men died, the natural instinct for the others would’ve been to panic and run,” I said.
He nodded. “It’s human nature. There would be signs of a struggle.”
“It’s possible they were strung up before they were killed,” I suggested.
“Not likely,” Landon replied. “It’s harder to pull up dead weight, but a human being isn’t going to sit there and let themselves be strung up to a tree like that. It’s just not plausible.”
“It’s not,” Evan agreed. “I’ve been looking for tracks. I’m not the world’s best tracker by any stretch of the imagination—not even close—but I can read certain things … like footprints in the dirt. There’s only one set out here.”
Landon jerked up his chin. “You found tracks?”
Evan nodded.
“Where?” I asked.
The vampire motioned for us to follow him. “This way.”
He led us through a narrow opening, then stopped at the base of a huge maple tree. “Look here.” He pointed at the ground.
Landon aimed his flashlight at the spot Evan indicated and frowned. “I thought you said you found tracks.”
“What do you think that is?” Evan pointed to the soft earth, where one track was clearly visible.
“Doesn’t look like a boot track.”
“That’s because it’s a bare foot … and it slid.” Evan demonstrated by leaning back and stretching his left foot out. “Someone was in a hurry and the ground is wet from the winter thaw. I believe this track was made on the escape. Whoever it was heard you coming through the woods.”
“You didn’t see anything?” I challenged.
Evan shook his head. “I thought—maybe just for a second—that I smelled something weird. It was fleeting.”
“What might you have smelled?” Landon asked.
Evan extended his hands. “It was a weird earthy scent, almost like mud.”
“Is there a body of water around here?” Landon asked. The question was pointed at me.
“There is,” I replied. “There’s a lake that way, about half a mile away. There’s a river there somewhere.” I gestured to the west. “There are little tributaries that branch off from the river.”
Landon nodded. “Could that be what you smelled?”
“Neither the river nor the lake is close enough for me to smell mud,” Evan replied. “I’m good, but not that good unless we’re dealing with blood.”
“You scented the blood right away,” I realized. “You knew they were dead before you even left to look for them.”
“I suspected they were dead,” Evan clarified. “I couldn’t differentiate between the blood. I thought that one of them died, but when I saw the scene, I knew.”
I nodded, my gaze going back in the direction of the bodies. “So all we have is a weird footprint that looks mostly human but maybe not and three men who were likely lured from their vehicle into the woods, killed, and strung up in a matter of minutes.”
Landon placed a small flag in the ground. When the crime scene team came through, they would photograph and measure the footprint.
“What are you thinking?” Evan asked him after a few seconds.
“I’m working through it,” Landon said. “The investigator in me thinks this should be the work of several men. The husband of a witch thinks we’re dealing with some crazy paranormal that is going to terrorize the town before my wife has to take it down.”
“I could just as easily take it down as your wife,” Evan drawled. “Don’t fixate on that part if it’s going to upset you.”
Landon chuckled hollowly. “I don’t know what to think about it,” he admitted. “It’s weird.”
“Let’s go back to the bodies,” I prodded. “I think there’s something there yet.”
Landon nodded and moved with me back in that direction. “Do you know what you’re looking for?”
“No, but I’ll find it. I guarantee that.”
STEVE NEWTON arrived with Spencer Brisco.
I had met Spencer—a shifter—only weeks before when my family was considered suspects in the death of a former warden who had been stalking us.
Spencer outed himself while trying to make me understand that not every member of the FBI team that had been sent was our enemy.
I mostly trusted him. The same went for Steve. But I wasn’t letting my guard down.
“Hello.” Steve smiled at Landon and me, then turned his attention to the bodies in the trees. “This is … interesting.”
“We found a weird print over there,” Landon reported. “It seems to suggest someone was out here barefoot. Bay is interested in getting the bodies down because she wants a better look at the trees, but I told her we had to wait for the medical examiner.”
“We definitely do,” Steve agreed. “I have a special medical examiner coming. He’s the one I tapped for my new team right from the start. He’s willing to think outside the box a bit more than the other medical examiners I’ve met.”
“Meaning he’s willing to consider paranormal influences,” I guessed.
Steve nodded as he smiled at me. “Does this mean you’re part of the team?”
There was no way I was going to give him the commitment he wanted. “I’m willing to chase angles on this one,” I replied. “I am not willing to have you—or anyone else for that matter—bossing me around. I need to be able to work at my own pace.”
“That’s allowed.” Steve stared me down. “Bay, we’re not here to make you uncomfortable or try to force you into doing something that you’re not ready to do. We’re willing to work at your pace and allow you whatever autonomy you feel you need.”
“I would be careful with how much autonomy you offer her,” Chief Terry countered as he followed Steve into the clearing. “She’s not likely to abuse it—not much anyway—but if she brings Tillie or Thistle in, they’re another story.”
“Do you think you’ll be bringing your family in?” Steve looked more intrigued at the prospect than frightened, which only proved he didn’t know us well enough to have the sense to be frightened.
“I don’t know.” I wished I had answers for Steve.
“Here’s the thing.” I breathed in deeply to center myself.
“I have a lot of magical friends who often help me with things. They don’t want to be outed simply because I’m considering working with you.
I need leeway to work with them without you breathing down my neck. ”
“That can be arranged,” Steve replied amiably.
“Just like that?” I challenged.
“I told you that nothing like this has ever been done. At least as far as I know.”
“There are paranormal investigation teams all over the place,” I replied without thinking. “This isn’t the first. It might be the first in this part of Michigan, but there are others.”
Steve crossed his arms over his chest. “How do you know that?”
Immediately my mind went to Charlie Rhodes. She’d been part of a privately funded paranormal investigation team. They collaborated with law enforcement at times. I wasn’t comfortable volunteering any of that information to Steve.
“I know things,” was my only response.