He gave an awkward chuckle. “Drew Blackall. Nice to meet you.”
“Drew’s fresh out of the Academy,” Jill informed me. “He told me he wanted to be just like the CSI people on TV,” she added, face completely neutral.
He turned a bright shade of crimson, and I grinned. “And how long did it take for her to disabuse you of that notion?”
“About ten minutes,” he admitted.
I was almost surprised it had taken that long. Jill had several ready-made rants about the inaccurate ways her profession was portrayed on TV and how such portrayals were detrimental to law enforcement and forensic labs.
Jill gave a pleased sigh. “Ah, I do love shaping young minds.”
I snorted. “All right, I’m going to go talk to the witness. I’m freezing my tits off out here.”
“He’s a celebrity,” Drew blurted out, then flushed as we both looked at him. “The witness. I mean, um, not like a movie star, but he’s on TV and people around here know him.…” he trailed off, face coloring.
“Okay, I’ll bite,” I said. “Who is he?”
Drew gave an eager smile. “Roman Hatch!” he said. “He’s on ESPN and he used to play for—”
“I know who he is,” I interrupted, unable to completely hide the slight wince. “Roman Hatch. Former linebacker at LSU. They called him ‘Hatchet Man.’ Played for Green Bay and went to the Pro Bowl twice. Two years ago he had a career-ending knee injury, and now he’s a color commentator for ESPN.”
Jill cocked an eyebrow at me. “And here I thought you didn’t know anything about sports.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know anything about sports. But I know Roman.” I paused, shrugged. “I went to LSU. And I, uh, dated him for a couple of months during my senior year.”
The look of astonishment on her face was almost enough to make me not mind the cold. “I think this shocks me more than…um…your house,” she said. I was pretty sure she’d been about to say something about my summoning demons and had caught herself just in time. Luckily Drew didn’t seem to be aware that Jill had censored herself. He stared at me in awe as if I’d just announced I was the new quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.
Jill shook her head and let out a low whistle. “Wow. You just don’t strike me as the type who would ever date a football player.”
“Yes. Because I’m not,” I said emphatically. “Hence the reason we aren’t still together.”
Her eyes flashed with wicked humor, and I knew she was dying to say something obnoxious about the type of men I currently had in my life. Good thing—for my sake—that the tech was here, and she was forced to restrain herself.
Any further commentary was cut short by the arrival of Coroner’s Office personnel as they maneuvered their stretcher over bumps and debris in the trail.
The Coroner’s Investigator gave me a dour nod before stooping to peer at the body. Clearly he was just as thrilled to be out in the cold as I was. He pulled on latex gloves then gave a nod to his assistant. Together they rolled Mr. Landrieu onto his back while Drew dutifully snapped pictures, and I stood back and shivered. The Investigator crouched again and ran gloved hands over the victim’s skull and carefully examined the rest of the body.
“No obvious sign of injury or foul play,” he finally stated. “Looks like the blood is from a nosebleed. Doc’ll have to figure out if that had anything to do with the cause of death.” He stood. “You need a looksee?”
“Yes, thank you,” I replied. A shimmer of unease swept over me as I stepped toward the body and I shot a quick glance around, suddenly weirded out for absolutely no reason I could name. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No animals or movement. Anything with any sort of common sense was surely holed up in its nest. I shifted into othersight, but it didn’t reveal anything sinister.
Still strangely unnerved, I crouched by the body. I felt as if something was pricking at my arcane senses, far too faint for me to be able to pinpoint. Too faint to even be sure that’s what was bothering me. Maybe I’m simply delirious from the cold.
Familiarity tickled madly as I took a hard look at the man’s face, but his features were distorted from the way he’d been lying. Impressions from leaves and dirt marred his cheek, along with the dull red tinge of lividity from the settling of the blood in his body. An ant casually traipsed across the milky white surface of his eye. Another was busy at the dried blood by his nose. The flies would be on him as soon as it warmed up. A few more days out here and the eyes, nose and mouth would be teeming with maggots, busily helping the decomposition process along.
“Kara…?” Jill murmured. I abruptly realized that the Coroner’s Office people were waiting for me to finish my observations so that they could get him into the body bag. Mumbling an apology, I stood and backed away a couple of steps while they rolled the body smoothly into the bag and zipped it closed.
Jill turned to Drew. “Why don’t you go on back to the van and start in on the paperwork.” He nodded and obediently trotted after the CO people as they trundled the loaded stretcher carefully back down the trail. As soon as they were out of earshot she gave me a penetrating look. “You saw something wonky, didn’t you?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I thought I felt something strange, but I didn’t see anything.” I gave her a sharp look. “Why? Did you feel something?”
“No. It’s just that your eyes go funny when you’re looking for your woowoo stuff.”
I frowned at her. “Funny? What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Hard to describe. It’s not like they glow or anything, but…they get super intense. I can almost feel it.”
That was the first time I’d ever heard of anyone being able to tell when I was using othersight. Could Jill have some sort of sensitivity to the arcane? Or maybe it was simply that she knew what I was doing and thus read more into it.
“Where’s your shadow?” she asked, and I knew she was referring to Eilahn. She knew about the demon and her role. That had been easy enough to share.
“Around somewhere,” I muttered, still frowning. I didn’t worry about Eilahn. I knew that if something happened she’d be at my side in less than a heartbeat. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right with this scene. I kept thinking I saw flickers of movement at the edges of my vision, easily explained by the movement of the wind through the grass and the trees. Except…
Except it feels off.
I fought back a shiver as I scanned the area again with othersight. Jill stood silently and patiently while I opened myself as much as possible to any arcane sensations.
Nothing. It was simply woods. Sunlight fought to break through the clouds, scattering mottled shadows onto the carpet of leaves and pine needles. A branch scraped against a neighboring tree and droplets of moisture pattered down onto the picnic tables and the limp ashes in the barbecue pit.
I sighed and gave her a wry smile. “Guess I’m nuts after all.”
She chuckled. “In other words, business as usual for you.”
I fell into step with her as we made our way back up the trail. “Life would be easier if I was nuts, I think,” I said.
“Oh, just do what everyone else does—heavy drugs!”
I began to laugh, then stopped dead. Barry Landrieu. Now I remembered where I knew him from.
Jill turned back to me with a frown. “You okay?”
I gave a slow nod. “Yeah. Sorry. I, um, just realized why the victim’s name seemed familiar.”
She gave me a questioning look, but I hesitated. Had I ever told Jill about some of the more unpleasant parts of my past? Screw it, I decided. If she can tolerate the whole demon summoning thing, she’s not going to run screaming because of this.
“After my dad was killed and my aunt became my guardian, I did a lot of acting out,” I told her. “Experimenting with drugs and that sort of thing. Mostly it was just smoking pot and sneaking alcohol, but sometimes it was painkillers or ADHD meds.”
Her brow furrowed but
she simply gave me a go on nod.
“I used to hang with a girl named Tammy,” I said. “Tammy North—and she had an older brother. Half-brother actually. He had a different last name, which is why I couldn’t place it at first.” I lifted my chin in the direction the stretcher had gone. “Barry Landrieu. Tammy and I would smoke pot that he gave us. But one day when I went over there Barry gave me something new to try. Heroin. I overdosed and damn near died.”
“Jesus,” she breathed.
I scuffed a shoe in the dirt. “Yeah, it pretty much sucked ass.” Then I took a deep breath. “On the other hand, it was one hell of a wakeup call for me and my aunt.”
“Is that when she tried to see if you could be a summoner?”
“Not immediately, but about a year later Aunt Tessa ‘introduced’ me to demon summoning. She also called the narcs on Barry and they busted him pretty soon after. I thought he was still in jail, to be honest.”
“What happened to his sister?” Jill asked.
“Dunno. My aunt pulled strings and had me switch schools. I don’t think I ever saw Tammy again.” A sliver of guilt wormed through me. After recovering from the overdose I’d thrown myself into learning summoning, and I’d barely spared Tammy a second thought.
I blew out my breath. “Anyway. At least now I know why the name’s familiar.”
Jill reached and rubbed my arm. “You should go let the Hatchet Man console you in your time of loss,” she said, then danced away, laughing, as I took a swing at her.
“You are such a bitch,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help but grin. However, my mood slipped a bit as we continued on to the parking lot. I knew the victim and the witness. What were the odds of that?
Pretty high, actually, considering how small Beaulac is, I decided. I should probably be surprised that it didn’t happen more often. Sometimes a coincidence was just a coincidence.
Still, it was one of those things that would make me take a closer look at everyone involved.
Tracy was on his phone, and he simply gave us a slight wave as we passed him. Jill headed to her van while I hurried on to the shack. My haste had absolutely nothing to do with a desire to see Roman again—and everything to do with my desire to warm the hell up.
I stepped into the shack and quickly pulled the door closed behind me, breathing a silent prayer of thanks to whatever powers would listen to me that there was a space heater in here and that it was working at maximum efficiency. Beyond that there wasn’t much appealing about the interior. A small metal desk against the far wall. Two office chairs that looked like they’d been in use during the seventies. Roman sat in one of the chairs, his attention on the phone in his hand. He had on jeans and expensive-looking cowboy boots, with a black sweater and a leather bomber jacket up top. He lifted his eyes to me as I entered, recognition flaring instantly.
“Kara?” he exclaimed, a broad smile spreading across his face as he stood. He was still as good-looking as ever—broad-shouldered and tall with hazel eyes set in a square-jawed face. His sandy-blond hair nearly brushed the rafters, and it was clear he hadn’t slacked off on his workouts since leaving the Packers. His whole build pretty much screamed “former linebacker.” I suddenly felt absurdly tiny. “Holy shit, what are you doing here?” His gaze swept over me, taking in my belt with the gun and badge.
I gave him a dutifully friendly smile. We hadn’t parted with any sort of animosity. It was more of a Holy crap we are SO not meant to be together sort of thing, but still, the potential for awkwardness was definitely strong, especially since I’d been the one to end it. “Hi, Roman. How’ve you been?”
To my surprise he threw his arms around me in a hug before stepping back to give me a once-over, still grinning. “I’ve been awesome. You look great! And wow…a cop?”
“Homicide detective,” I replied, a little proudly.
“That’s fantastic!” he exclaimed. Then he seemed to remember where he was and what I was doing here, and he winced. “Sorry, I mean, it is, but it sucks that I have to find out like this.” He shook his head. “Anyway. It really is good to see you, Kara.”
“You too, Roman,” I replied automatically, but I was surprised to realize that I actually kind of meant it. “Thanks for waiting around. I just need to ask you a few questions, if that’s all right?”
“No problem,” he said, dropping back into the chair. “Anything I can do to help.”
Taking a seat in the other chair, I asked him for his driver’s license and quickly jotted down his information. Michigan license. His cell phone had an out of state area code. “You in town visiting your folks?” I asked. We were both from this area, though he’d gone to a private all-boys high school on the other side of the parish while I’d suffered at Beaulac High.
“My maw-maw’s doing a bit poorly,” he said. “Nothing serious, but my dad needed some help moving her into assisted living. I also have a couple of investments I’m working on down here, and figured I’d check in on them.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “I mean about your maw-maw, not about the investments,” I quickly added. I’d only met his grandmother a couple of times, but she’d seemed nice enough. My grandparents had all passed away either before I was born or when I was too young to remember them. “Can you tell me what you were doing out here?” I asked.
He leaned back, exhaled. “I used to come out here all the time when I was in high school. It was just some trails back then—it wasn’t an official park or anything with the picnic tables and parking lot.” A flicker of a grimace crossed his face, and it wasn’t hard to figure out that he’d liked it better when no one else knew about it. “Anyway, whenever I’m home I try to get out here. I like coming out to watch the sun come up over the marsh. It’s really pretty. Clears my head, y’know?”
I gave a smile of understanding. “Guess this time wasn’t so head-clearing, huh?”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I didn’t even see the body at first since it was still pretty dark. Passed right by him on the way out to the deck. Then on the way back…At first I thought it was just a bunch of trash or clothes that someone had dumped out here. I was all pissed off, and then I saw the guy’s hand. I started to try and turn him over, but he was already stiff.” Roman shot me a troubled look. “I probably messed up evidence, didn’t I?”
“It was a natural reaction,” I assured him. “I doubt you disturbed anything critical.”
He blew out his breath, nodded. “I called nine one one and waited for the cops.” He shrugged. “They told me to wait here. That’s pretty much it.”
“Did you see anyone else around?”
“Nope. It was dead quiet out here this morning.” He winced. “Sorry. No pun intended, I swear.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve heard far worse from cops,” I told him. “The ID on the victim is for a Barry Landrieu. Do you know him?” I watched him carefully.
He thought for a second then shook his head. “Doesn’t ring a bell. Sorry.”
As far as I could tell he was being truthful, but I still intended to run a check on both of them to see if there were any links. That was standard procedure. Sure, we used to date, but that didn’t mean I was going to shirk on my job. Closing my notebook, I stood and so did he. “I appreciate your help. If I have any more questions I’ll be in touch.” I pulled out one of my cards and handed it to him. “And if you think of anything else, please let me know.”
He glanced down at it before pulling out his wallet and tucking the card carefully within. “What happened to him? Was he murdered?”
“We won’t really know anything until the autopsy,” I said, “but right now I’m inclined to think it was natural causes.”
“It was good seeing you again, Kara, despite the circumstances. You look great.” He gave me a warm smile, reminding me why I’d gone out with him as long as I had. He was a smart guy with plenty of charm, and it had been tough to resist when he’d turned his attention to me. It had simply taken me a couple of months
to get past the charm and realize that not only did we have nothing in common, but I was also never going to feel comfortable sharing the more private details of my life with him. Like the fact that I had never mastered shaving my legs in the shower and had to take a bath to accomplish the task. Or that I was absolutely addicted to my Water-Pik and actually liked getting my teeth cleaned at the dentist’s office. Oh, yeah, and that whole demon summoning thing.
“Good seeing you too,” I said. “I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.” I really hoped he didn’t have anything to do with the death of Barry Landrieu. Hopefully this case will be the nice, easy natural death it currently appears to be.
He glanced down at my left hand. “Not married yet?”
My lips twitched. “Nope.”
“Seeing anyone?” he asked, eyes on me.
Wow. How to answer that one? “Umm, sort of. Yeah.” Did regular sex with a demonic lord count?
“I’m going to be in town for a couple of weeks,” he said. “Maybe we could have lunch or coffee.”
“I’d like that,” I replied before I could think about whether or not I really would like it. “I, um, hate to chase you off, but I need to tie up the loose ends here and get started on the paperwork.”
“No problem,” he said. He pulled the door open and politely stood back to let me exit first. The cold was a knifing shock after the balmy comfort of the shack, and it took everything I had to force myself out into it and not suck my breath in dramatically or anything like that.
“I’ll be in touch,” Roman said, then surprised me by leaning down and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before hurrying off to his car.
I watched as he started the BMW and drove off, then yelped at a hard smack on my arm. I turned to glare at Jill.
“Oh my god,” she said, grinning wickedly. “You are a total hunk magnet!”
I thwapped her arm back. “Don’t you start! I am not. Besides, you have a hunk of your own.” Jill was dating Zack. Special Agent Zack Garner—who I’d recently discovered was a lot more than just a special agent.
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