“Yes. It’s in a safe deposit box at the bank in Mystic.”
“Retrieve the item,” Jerry told him. “Bring it to me the moment you get it. Were you seen?”
“Not really. The waitress didn’t see my face, and I made sure the cameras were disengaged on that floor.”
Jerry ground is back teeth together, not liking this. The waitress was another loose end. Not only that, she was proof—proof of nothing important yet.
Damn but Cadillac had been careless, and he hated sloppy.
“This could work to my advantage.” He’d kill the sorry excuse for an executioner later. Show him how to do things right. “What about the evidence?”
“Everything was put in place, including the note inviting Isa to the club and the tie,” Cadillac said.
“Make sure you don’t make any mistakes from here on out. Jenner is smart. He’ll smell a set up.”
****
Kamari’s conversation with the chief of detectives was brief. He was an attractive man with cool eyes and the scent of a wolf. She had to wonder why the man had come out, but suspected this Jerry might be connected to him in some way.
Men like Jerry didn’t leave things to chance as she well knew from her work and from her sister’s case. The FBI hadn’t been able to help, hadn’t been willing to even get someone from the State police to go in and take a look at things to make sure the small-town cop wasn’t fucking up.
That’s why she’d walked. Kamari had no desire to be part of an organization that could condone murder.
“You’re sure you didn’t recognize this person?” Jenner asked evenly.
“Please, stop asking me that,” she said.
She’d pressed the sheriff in Hartsland the same in a quest for answers about her sister’s death. Things hadn’t added up, but with no clues of who or even why, Kamari had left town determined to grieve and then go back to Hartsland in a few years to dig for the truth. There was, after all, no statute of limitations on murder.
“You can go,” Jenner said tiredly.
His pretty eyes were wary, but she knew the look all too well. She’d seen it in the mirror the morning after her first case.
“We’ll contact you if we need to talk to you again,” he said. “Don’t leave town.”
She gave him a nod and pushed away from the wall in the conference room where she and several other personnel had been herded by the police. Kamari took a look around before heading for the door.
Mica stood with Samarra and Cinnamon while Miranda had left moments ago. The bouncer from the door, Ella and Candy were still there. Each one looking a little scared, but giving nothing beyond that away.
It didn’t matter. One of them had been in on this, and she’d find out which.
Kamari turned and exited the room, heart set on catching a killer.
“Kamari, I’ll give you a ride home,” Mica said from behind her.
Kamari turned and smiled tiredly. “Thank you. I would appreciate that.” Now was the time to start cultivating what could be the most important relationship in her life aside from the one she’d had with her sister.
Chapter Five
Mica led the way to her SUV which was parked in the employee parking lot amid several other vehicles. The area was well-lit with a guard on duty. Mica waved to her before unlocking the passenger side door and tugging it open for her.
As soon as Kamari climbed in and reached for her seatbelt, the scent of leather and sandalwood closed around her. It was a tantalizing seduction that rolled over her as Mica slammed the door shut and rounded vehicle to get in on her own side.
Kamari glanced at Mica and their gaze held knocking the breath out of Kamari. The animal wanted to pounce on Mica and mark her. Instead, Kamari leaned her head back against the headrest, breaking the stare, and Mica started the SUV.
As Mica started the engine and backed out, the heavy silence grew, but Kamari didn’t speak. She was tired, but she was also assessing Mica who gripped the steering wheel tightly, her long fingers tipped with neat, short nails.
After pulling out of the lot, Mica flipped on the radio, causing the soft strains of a country song to fill the cab. Mica’s body line was lean, yet a little tense and the wolf in Kamari sensed the power of a predator.
“Where are you from?” Mica asked conversationally.
“I bet you know,” Kamari replied. “I’m sure it’s on my application.”
“Don’t be catty, it’s so rude,” Mica said quietly and Kamari realized just how sexy her voice really was.
“You rarely even look at me, so why are you being so congenial now?”
There was a subtle chemistry between them that Mica ignored, so she obviously had reasons for being nice, and they had nothing to do with romancing her.
“I’m always working when we see each other in the club,” Mica replied.
“And you don’t date dancers, bartenders, or waitstaff, let alone give them the time of day.”
“If I got distracted by every pretty girl, I couldn’t do my job, Kamari, and one of those women you like to entice might grab you while I wasn’t looking.”
“Oh, please,” Kamari muttered. “If you were interested in me, you could have taken a few minutes after shift to ask me out sometime, so what do you really want?”
“You never stick around long enough for me to ask you out for drinks, much less your number,” Mica replied evenly.
“You turn up here, then take a right.”
“I know where you live,” Mica told her, humor in her tone. “I did read your application as you pointed out.”
“Then, why make small talk?”
“You never said where you were from originally, just where you’d worked in the last few years,” Mica said as she took the first turn.
“I didn’t,” Kamari agreed coolly. “I guess you’ll have to keep trying.”
Mica didn’t speak as she took the second turn and then cruised down the tree-lined street until she reached a cute Craftsman. There, Mica pulled into the driveway and cut the engine.
“Thank you for the ride,” Kamari said as Mica released her seatbelt. “Don’t bother. I can see myself in.”
Mica climbed out and was behind her in a matter of a few strides.
“The club will be closed for a few days,” Mica told her as she followed Kamari up the stairs to her front door.
“Okay.” Kamari pulled her key from the purse slung across her chest.
“If you need to talk about what happened, you can call me,” Mica told her quietly.
“I don’t have your number, but thanks.” Kamari unlocked the door and threw Mica a look.
“I’ll give it to you once we’re inside. You never know. You might wake up in the middle of the night, and just need someone.”
Kamari pushed opened the door and looked up, finding an intense gaze on her.
Mica held her stare, wanting to sink into her, to wallow in her scent. Mica looked like comfort that could make a woman forget the ache and assuage the need inside of her for a little while.
“And you’d talk me down?” Kamari asked breathlessly.
“Yeah.” Her voice was a low intimate stroke over Kamari’s nerves that made her wet.
A passing car splashed Mica with light and her eyes reflected red, drawing a gasp from Kamari. A shadow coyote was the last animal she needed to tangle with. They were dangerous on their own, but difficult to stop when in a pack.
“Right.” Kamari tore her gaze away and stepped inside. The door opened into the main living area of the house which was a medium size room that she hated. But it wasn’t her home.
Still, on the plus side, the furniture had all come with the house, but she’d added a few slipcovers to the barely used loveseat and two chairs.
“Offer me a drink while I put my number into your phone, Kamari,” Mica suggested.
Kamari looked at her and then reached into her purse to remove the phone she’d bought after leaving Hartsland.
It was
a go-phone, no contract, and though it had cost more than she wanted to pay, the phone gave her the convenience and amenities of a smartphone. On the other hand, the SD card she’d put in it held nothing.
“Would you like a beer?” Kamari asked. “Or I have gin and wine.”
“A beer will do.”
Kamari handed over her phone and went to retrieve the beer. When she stepped back into the room, Mica was studying the one picture on the otherwise white walls. It was of the beautiful rolling green lawns on which Kamari and her sister stood with the beautiful horse they’d loved to ride.
That was the only picture of her home, the only memory, she’d chanced revealing to the public.
“The girl has your eyes,” Mica said. “Who is the other one?”
“My sister.”
“Where is she?”
“Why?” Kamari asked as anger cut a path through her. Arleigh had been the smart one, and she’d been the one gifted with the genes that made her exactly what Arleigh didn’t want to be—different.
Mica took a pull of her beer. “I’m from Oklahoma,” Mica said. “My parents had a ranch there.”
“Really? What brought you here?”
“The family was attacked and killed by roaming killers,” Mica said in a hard tone. “My aunt and uncle took me in here. My father’s family.”
“Your mother’s family were from Oklahoma?
“Yep. They were Indians,” Mica told her. “How about yours?”
“My father was Chinese. My mother was black and South American Indian. They met when my mother was traveling in Hong Kong. She was a fashion designer.” Kamari grinned as she recalled how talented her mother had been. “My parents were killed, too, slaughtered in front of me.” She’d fought beside her father who’d sent her inside when it became clear they were too badly outnumbered to survive.
Her mother had been fighting inside and told her to hide. Kamari took down one hyena before doing just that. Wounded and in pain, she’d hidden beneath the bed in her bedroom. The stench of blood, hyenas, and death had nearly choked her.
“I’m sorry,” Mica said. “The murderers?”
She shook her head and the images of her mother being torn apart by three hyenas replayed in her mind.
Kamari had expected to die from her injuries, but she’d merely lain under that bed on the cool wood floor for almost twelve hours and her body had healed itself as per the mysterious abilities of the shadow walker.
“They were never caught.” Her sister had lived in fear for years that one of the hyenas would see her and remember her.
Kamari had suffered nightmares for years and dealt with being not only an outsider, but a freak in a new school and new environment.
“Did you have any other family?”
“Just my sister,” Kamari replied.
“She was old enough to care for you?”
Kamari smiled. “Arleigh was barely out of college and had gotten the job of her dreams at a software company. Still, she came for me when I called.”
“Where is she now?”
There was interest in Mica’s tone and Kamari sneaked a peek at her profile finding a hard jaw, and gray eyes that were too astute.
“Dead,” Kamari said softly and rage clenched her fingers into a tight fist as she fought back the tears.
“Did the police do anything?”
“The sheriff told me they had no leads, and no real hope of finding her murderer.” Kamari sighed. “They told me she was killed while jogging in the park. It was a small town, but I didn’t feel safe anymore.” She hadn’t been able to stay for fear she’d rip the sheriff to shreds because she’d felt he’d been holding something back.
“Then, you did the right thing,” Mica said. “What town?”
She flattened her lips. The person who’d killed her sister could be one of Jerry’s killer club members or even Jerry himself. So, she had to take a chance that Mica and her friends would be looking into this. Through them, she might be able to finally get justice for her sister.
“Hartsland,” she said.
“There’s no statute of limitations on murder, and a witness might yet come forward.” Suspicion flashed in Mica’s gaze, but it quickly vanished.
“Maybe. Do you ever think of getting vengeance for your family’s deaths?”
Mica shook her head. “Not anymore. Have lunch with me tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Kamari said. She probably wanted to grill her a little more about tonight at the club, but that was okay. If Isa’s murder didn’t lead to her Jerry, then maybe Mica would help her catch him if she helped her with this.
Mica took another pull from her beer. “Walk me out.”
Kamari nodded and followed Mica to the door checking her out from the line of her graceful neck to her tight, small ass and long legs.
She was perfect visually, and she was obviously a shifter if Mica’s scent was anything to go by. Maybe Mica wouldn’t be afraid of her.
At the door, Mica faced her. Those winter gray eyes held a hint of softness and Mica reached out to caress her cheek before curling fingers around Kamari’s chin and lifting it. She bent to her and brushed her lips lightly.
The contact was sweet and sent electricity zinging through her. Kamari rested her hand on Mica’s waist and leaned into her.
The kiss was so sweet and soft it made Kamari ache for more, but she drew back, breath shallow. The urge to draw blood, to wound, reared up in her as the animal growled low in her chest.
The mist wolf wasn’t safe with a lover it didn’t trust or have some kind of emotional connection to. The animal always killed its lover whether in heat or not as if seeing the lover as a threat.
“Goodnight, Kamari,” Mica murmured.
“Goodnight.”
Mica turned away, opening the door and stepping out into the night, leaving Kamari with a heart beating hard and her head swimming.
Her wolf wanted to howl at the moon, and she knew Mica might be special. But Kamari couldn’t lose sight of reality. This was the first real lead she’d had concerning her sister’s murder, and catching her killer was more important than a fine woman.
Chapter Six
Kamari closed the door and leaned against it with a sigh. With half an ear, she listened for Mica’s SUV and headed to her bedroom when she heard the engine.
Kamari put her purse on the chair, glad the place had come furnished. She’d only had to buy some sheets and other essentials to get settled in.
She removed the items from Isa’s purse and unfolded the note to read it.
Isa,
I miss you. Meet me at the club tonight. We really need to talk. I don’t want things to end like this.
M
Kamari frowned and re-read the note before tossing it aside and retrieving the tie from her purse where she’d put it before the interrogation.
Kamari didn’t know what to make of it, but she didn’t think Mallory had been in that room tonight despite the hint of her scent. Isa wasn’t really her type, even if she was fling material.
Kamari went through the pictures before taking out the phone she’d bought to use here. Then, she input a call to a friend and ex in the FBI.
“Randy.”
“Hey, Randy,” she said as she sat down on the edge of the chair. The hacker was one of the communications and computer tech specialist she’d met after joining the bureau.
The silence was tense and then, “Kamari.”
“How’ve you been?” Kamari asked.
“The bigger question is why did you quit without even telling me?”
She sighed. “I had to. Anyway, I did leave you a message.”
“A phone call would have been nice.” The words were filled with concern rather than anger.
Kamari closed her eyes not wanting to relive the moment she realized their relationship wasn’t going anywhere. It was in the middle of sex when her claws emerged and her animal surged to the fore with every intention of killing Randy.
; Working with Randy had been easy despite the fact Randy hadn’t waited long to start seeing someone else.
“My sister’s murderer is still walking around free. I can’t allow that. So, I need your help.”
“What do you need?” Randy asked.
“I have some pictures, and I need whatever you can give me on them. I also need a list of men named Jerry who live in Snow Fur.”
“Jerry is a common name, honey,” Randy said. “But I’ll see what I can find. Shoot me the pictures, and I’ll get back to you. Be careful. McGill did warn the team to keep an eye out for any private investigation you might be running. He also told me to flag any application you might submit to get a PI’s license.”
Kamari sighed. “He can’t stop me from doing this. Even if you refuse to help me and tell him about my request, nothing will change.”
“I know,” Randy told her. “So, I’m not going to tell him. Are you sure your sister wasn’t into anything? I mean, maybe what got her killed—”
“My sister was killed along with another woman. That was raped.” At least that’s what the very thin file and video footage left in her car had indicated. And Isa had confirmed it to a degree. “I’m getting answers, Randy.”
“I’ll let you know when I have something,” Randy said. “Take care, girl.”
“You, too.”
****
A rap on the window of Mica’s SUV turned her head left and Sydney’s face filled her vision. With a sigh, Mica released the lock and Sydney climbed in.
“Why are you watching the bartender-waitress?” she demanded.
“I’m just keeping an eye on her to make sure no one comes around looking to find out what she saw,” Mica answered.
“Why?”
“She saw someone, Syd,” Mica admitted. “She couldn’t ID them. Kamari did say she couldn’t be sure of the sex, but she thought it might be a man.”
“A man?” Sydney asked skeptically.
“Yes. Why was she up there? Where was Ella? She handles those rooms.”
Getting Nawty With the Coyote Page 3