26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Cooper
Z el isn’t answering any of my calls. She’s looking guiltier in my eyes with every minute that passes. By now, I should expect her disappearing acts whenever bodies start dropping. She can dodge my calls all she wants, but each time she pulls this vanishing act, it only raises more red flags. She’s up to something; I’m sure of it, and one way or another, I intend to uncover exactly what she’s trying so hard to conceal. I’ll get the answers I want, no matter what it takes.
The crime scene is buzzing with FBI agents and cops. The agents are walking around the perimeter and speaking with the people who live in the neighborhood. No one has anything that can give us another clue. Either they’re afraid to talk or they honestly don’t know anything.
I go back and kneel next to the victim, making sure not to disrupt anything before the forensic investigators get here. She’s lying on the living room floor with faded symbols surrounding her body. This is for another ritual. But to who and for what are still questions we want to know the answers to. She’s a faerie. Her skin is tanned. I look down at her wrist. It’s barely visible, but I catch a glimpse of a spike. She’s from Summer Court. I’ll have to talk to my father and inform him to pass the information down to King Xoco. There is no blood on this one, but she’s the same sickly purple tint as the other bodies. Her mouth is wide open as if she was screaming.
“Hi, Agent Cooper.” I look up to see two forensic investigators with cameras in hand, ready to take photos.
“I’m done for now,” I tell them as I stand from my kneeling position. I walk away, being careful not to disrupt anything.
I look around the house gripping my phone tighter. Where the fuck is Zelyah? I call her again, and she still doesn’t answer. She was too invested in this case, and now she won’t take any of my calls. I call Easton instead, but I can’t get ahold of him either. I know that fucker is ignoring my calls. He usually always answers on the first ring. He’s trying to stay in my department permanently, so he does everything in his power to make sure he goes above and beyond.
He finally picks up after the third call, and the first thing he says is, “I lost Zelyah.”
My blood boils. Everyone distances themselves, moving away from me as they sense that I’m pissed. I loosen my grip on the phone, or else I’ll break it.
“What do you mean you lost her ?” I say through gritted teeth. I’m about to pull my hair out with all this stress.
I didn’t get to catch the killer before they attacked, no matter how hard I tried to prepare, and now it looks like I have no witnesses to the attack.
“Well, I took her to dinner, and then we went to the club. I got us drinks. She grabbed hers and then told me she had to go to the bathroom, but she never came back.”
“Did you check the bathroom?”
At this point, I knew I’d use my status to close the whole club down and check every single person before they left. I’d interview the people who were there and wouldn’t let them leave until I found something of use.
“I had a female bartender go check for me.” I want to punch that man in the face.
“Check it yourself. She wouldn’t leave unless there was a reason.” I hope to hell that it was because she thought Easton was boring.
“I’ll go check now.” He sounds defeated, but I don’t really care.
“There’s been another murder,” I spit out.
“Shit.” He doesn’t sound surprised, but we all knew it was coming if we couldn’t catch the killer.
“Find her, and don’t come here unless she’s with you,” I tell Easton, seething as I hang up the phone.
The whole mood turns even darker when Rhett and Killian show up.
“What does the Arcana need with our investigation?” Agent Brown blocks their path. He stands in the middle of the sidewalk with his arms crossed.
I hear one of them shouting, and before it goes any further, I step in. “They’re with me, let them pass.” Rhett and Killian both stare down Agent Brown.
Everyone takes a step back. No one wants to cross these men, and with good reason. They can make your worst nightmares come to life. Of course, it didn’t work on me, and I know he’s dying to find out why.
I called them because, as much as I don’t want to admit it, they may be able to help. I don’t want any more supernatural women to die because I want to keep my pride intact and not ask for outside help. They’re living in my home rent-free. The least they could do is lend a hand. With all the skills they’ve been taught, I think I may have a better chance with them on my side.
I hate to ask, but I know I have to. Still, I don’t want to make it seem like I’m interested in her. “Have you talked to Zel?”
“I thought she was with you already?” Rhett looks out the door like she’ll magically appear, and to be truthful, I catch myself doing that too, and I hate it. She shouldn’t matter to me as much as she does.
“I can smell that ritual magic from the corner of the street,” Rhett says.
“Any idea what this person is trying to obtain?” Finally, information we can use.
“No.”
“Your killer is human.” Killian doesn’t hesitate as the words leave his lips.
I whip my head toward him so fast, frowning with confusion. I thought it might have been another supernatural.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because the pattern doesn’t match any known supernatural MO,” Killian explains, his gaze intense as he surveys the scene. “These methods are too . . . chaotic, unrefined. It’s like the killer is mimicking what they think a supernatural would do, but they’re getting it all wrong. Only a human trying too hard to seem otherworldly would make these kinds of mistakes.”
My phone pings, I look down at my hand, seeing a message from Radnor. I go to open it when a movement catches my eye.
Easton is at the door, and I immediately walk to him and ask, “Where’s Zelyah?”
“Oh, so this is the fellow Zel went on a date with.” Rhett scoffs, and the way he stands taller and crosses his arms, it’s clear he wants to take Easton down.
“I lost her,” he says, and a look of guilt washes over him. I want to wring his neck. He shouldn’t be with someone like Zel. He can’t handle her. She’s too wild. There is no one who can handle her. No one but me, comes an unwanted thought.
There’s a killer on the loose, and Zelyah is nowhere to be found. Zelyah detached herself from the agent, and now she’s not answering her phone. She has a habit of disappearing right before the bodies drop. If she isn’t the murderer, she’s out there with a serial killer on the loose, and with her fitting the killer’s victim preference, Zelyah might be in danger. She has no powers but her annoying mouth, which only gets her into more trouble.
“We can assume Zel got rid of the FBI agent because he was boring her,” Killian pipes up with a grin on his face. Easton growls, and I have to step between them.
“I hate them as much as you do.” I turn toward Easton. “But they’re helping me with this case, and they already have more information than I’ve had since this started.”
My phone rings, and I’m hopeful it’s Zel, but when I look at my phone, Radnor is written across the screen. As soon as I pick up, he says, “Did you get the picture?”
“I haven’t had a chance to look at it,” I respond as all eyes turn to me.
“I finally got into Trisha’s head.” He sounds exhausted. “It wasn’t easy, but I kept going at it. She’s out cold now and will be for the next week. Anyway, I had someone draw up the description, and I sent it to you.”
I immediately pull my phone back, and with shaky hands, I open my messages. Everything’s coming together now. No other women will be sacrificed or have to suffer such a horrible death. I can’t wait to bring him in so no one will ever get hurt.
“What is it?” Rhett asks, bringing me back to reality.
I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. “It’s a picture of the killer.”
My body sags with relief as I say those words out loud. We finally have a face, and we know we’re looking for a human. I can run it through our recognition software to see if a name pops up.
“Let us take a look.” Killian reaches for the phone.
“Radnor, good job. I’ll keep you in the loop.” I hope he takes a rest, but knowing him, he’ll probably go off and party. He’s not looking to settle down any time soon.
“Later, Coop,” he says as he hangs up.
I hand the demons my phone. They take a look at the picture and shake their heads. “We haven’t seen him before, but we’ll keep an eye out when we do our own hunting,” Rhett says as he takes in every detail of the man from the drawing Radnor sent me.
“Truthfully, I thought he’d be older. He only looks to be in his early twenties. What a shame.” That’s true. Humans have a short life span, and if we decide not to kill him, he’ll end up in prison for the rest of his life.
Killian hands me my cell, and I take a look at it again. We’ve got the best artist around, and with Radnor’s description, I know this picture matches the human well.
“Everyone gather around.” The supernaturals make their way over to form a circle around us. “We now know the killer is human and what he looks like.”
Everyone cheers. When the crowd calms down, I say, “I’ll be emailing this picture to all of you, so if you don’t get an email, let me know.”
“Let me see,” Easton asks as I finish my speech. I hand him my phone, and he takes it.
His eyes widen as he gasps loudly, and everyone stops what they are doing.
“Do you recognize this man?” He’s staring at my picture extremely hard. My body jumps with excitement at the possibility.
It takes him a while to drag his gaze up to meet mine. “This is the guy who was talking to Zel at the bar.”
Oh, shit.