“W-what was the plan?” I breathed. “D-date Miranda, lull her into a false sense of security before biting her and g-giving her to your alpha?”
“I didn’t have a plan,” confessed Matt, looking crestfallen. “Getting to know you…seeing your sarcasm and your feisty personality is what inspired me. For the very first time since before I was turned, I only had one singular action in mind and one alone.”
“Give the alpha whatever he wanted,” I guessed with a sad sniffle. I could no longer look at him. My hands rubbed my temples; the headache I had was aching horribly.
“No,” Matt disagreed, rubbing his forehead wearily. “Protect you.” He said this so very quietly I had to do a double take to see if I had heard him right. Matt watched my tear-stained face and gave a sad nod. “I can’t repeat myself given they’re probably trying to listen in on what we’re saying, but you heard correctly.”
Nothing else was said. Matt slipped out the front door, leaving me alone and confused.
Sasha sent me a text saying I needed to show up to work an hour earlier than necessary. Miranda had come home earlier than usual and tried asking how my day was, but I dodged her advances. I quickly left the house when she started inquiring why there had been a small fire going in the outside fire pit. I didn’t have to worry about her finding the remains of my clothes; everything had turned to ash by now. Matt and the boy band had made sure no bloody clothing or blankets had been left behind. They had taken away the bloody mattress in Chaz’s truck. A large tarp covered it.
I left over an hour earlier for The Club than I normally would have. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting during the half-hour drive through downtown Dells. I should have asked Sasha why I was needed to come in to work early before the reason showed itself when I finally arrived at The Club.
There were police cars everywhere. Police officers were questioning my coworkers. Some were crying while others just looked upset. Cooks and bussers were being interviewed, while the overly bubbly male host spoke to a reporter about how much he was going to miss everyone.
I was expecting this was for Richie’s death. Maybe this was where he had been killed, where the rest of his body was discovered. But as I took notice of all the solemn expressions, something seemed very wrong.
“Everly!” greeted Sasha, motioning for me to join her and another coworker whose name I couldn’t remember.
I slowly walked over, trying to keep my expression neutral even though I knew perfectly well why the police were here. “I don’t even know what to say,” murmured Sasha, clearly trying to keep her voice low as two officers conducted an interview a few feet away.
“Did you hear what happened?”
I slowly shook my head. It felt impossible that it was just that morning I had woken up with a decapitated head in my bed. “Richie, Katelyn, Kelly, Amber, and Nina were murdered last night,” Sasha whispered, as if saying the words were worse than the crime itself.
My eyes went wide as my breath got lost in my throat. Richie I knew of; the rest were a complete surprise to me.
“How?” My words were hoarse whisper.
Sasha shrugged while it was Courtney who answered. “Either an animal attack or some maniac with a hacksaw. When Brandon came to open up at noon, he discovered a bunch of body parts and trails of blood.”
Brandon was one of the kitchen staff who arrived early to prepare the prime rib and salted meats for the day. I stared at the stone walkway beneath my feet, unable to find anything to say. As Sasha and Courtney soon began talking about what it meant now that Richie and his supervising staff were all dead, I slowly swiveled my head to watch as the crime scene unit were taking pictures of something at the front door of the supper club.
I had to wait until the burly man with the camera moved out of view, but what I saw made me want to vomit. A single hand was holding onto the doorknob, not attached to anything. It looked like someone had been trying to get inside The Club before being attacked by the werewolf. The pale white hand was still latched onto the doorknob, underneath it a large pool of blood.
CHAPTER 21
It had not been just Richie brutally murdered. It instead had been a bloody massacre of supervisors and managers from The Club. All around the supper club, there were spots of blood, torn-off limbs, and shredded clothing. From what it sounded like as time went by, the working theory was that the nearby animal sanctuary had accidentally lost two very large brown bears the night before when, somehow, they had gotten loose from their cages. I had not a doubt in my mind that a werewolf was behind the attacks. No animal from the zoo was capable of this kind of massacre.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t something I could share.
When it was finally my turn to interview, I couldn’t possibly say that this bear theory was bogus. Sorry, Officer, it isn’t those missing bears. It was the alpha werewolf who has an unreciprocated crush on me. I can’t be too sure, but I feel strongly he’s not going to stop killing until he has me finally join his pack.
I couldn’t say anything on who the real culprit was. I would be thrown into a padded cell of a loony bin. If I dared to even admit that a decapitated head and Richie’s blood was found in bed with me this morning, I’d be the prime suspect.
Luckily, there was no faking emotion on my part. I was certain my face was pale and fearful, my eyes brimming with unshed tears as my bottom lip quivered mercilessly. I looked no different than the other grieving staff members of The Club.
By the time one of the police officers finally got around to me, a large crowd of people had formed behind the recently placed yellow police tape. Customers had started to arrive at the club completely unaware of the developments of this morning and the night before.
My questioning was very brief.
Had I seen anything suspicious the day before?
Did I know anyone who would want to hurt Richie and the others?
Where was I the night before?
The young officer finished with thanking me for my cooperation before giving me a card for his police department. He simply told me to call if I could think of any useful information. It seemed as though the police were really leaning toward the killer bear theory. Or, if there was a homicidal psycho slashing people, it was only a male committing the crime. All the female employees of The Club did not receive the same amount of questioning that the male employees did. The police were finding it very suspicious that there were no security cameras anywhere on the property before one of my fellow bartenders simply explained it was because “Uncle Richie” didn’t believe in cameras.
While two officers questioned this, I believed it wholeheartedly. It made sense. Richie couldn’t get away with his inappropriate behavior with his female employees or his emotional abuse toward them if he had cameras watching his every move.
After an hour of standing dumbly with my coworkers and going through questioning, we were encouraged to go home because as of now The Club was closed, most likely indefinitely.
Just like that, I was again jobless. Arriving home an hour later, I ignored Simon as he exuberantly told me something about yet another dead animal in the backyard. After everything I had witnessed that day, another dead carcass of a woodland creature seemed to be the very least of our worries.
I was about to trudge upstairs and fall into my bed before I unfortunately remembered what had happened just that morning. I doubted I would ever find comfort sleeping in my room again, not to mention I no longer had a bed. As I awkwardly stood by the stairs wondering what my next move should be, Miranda decided for me.