And just like that, I thought, any chance of figuring out exactly what had happened to Loren disappeared. A very tidy result for Cash, which made me even more suspicious.
“We’ll search the woods,” Cash said. “Look for signs of wild animal activity, for the bear, if that’s what this was. We don’t want to feel useless here,” he added. “We need to feel like we’re contributing.”
The sheriff adjusted his hat. “Unfortunately, I don’t have people to offer up for that, either. Not since they made us a satellite office. I can call in, ask for help from Duluth, but I’d rather not if you can handle it. We don’t want word of attacks to spread, not with fall-color season approaching. Would be more helpful to locate the animal, get it down, get it tested.”
Cash nodded. “We’ll contact Flanagan’s regarding the body, the service. And we’ll take pictures of anything we find on the search, keep you updated.”
“That’s agreeable,” Paulson said. “I’ll check in with you later.”
“What the hell was that?” Alexei whispered when Cash led the sheriff back toward the trail. “Doesn’t Cash want to know what’s happening?”
“Or the sheriff?” I wondered. “No autopsy, no search, for a body that’s been brutalized?”
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Connor said as he watched, gaze tracking the men’s retreat. “But I don’t like it.”
* * *
* * *
It took only a few minutes for Cash to return, boots cracking dry leaves and hard grass across the trail, with Everett in his wake.
“The sheriff is content to let you investigate a homicide?” Connor asked, not bothering to hide his incredulity—or his suspicions.
“Did you not hear the part about the bear attack?” Everett’s tone was aggressive.
Connor didn’t spare him a glance. “I’m hearing a lot of things. Why did the sheriff walk away?”
“We have an arrangement,” Cash said. “As long as we mind our own, he doesn’t interfere. Helps that the county’s short-staffed. Makes it easier for him to pass the ball.”
Connor cocked his head to the side. “You aren’t trying to stonewall the investigation, are you?”
“You’d better remember where you are,” Everett said. “This isn’t Chicago.”
“Everett,” Cash said, but Everett shook his head.
“No, Cash. They think they can come up here and tell us what to do? They arrive, and trouble starts. I say that’s not a coincidence. I say we send them back home.”
“A good thing, then,” Connor said, “that you don’t run this particular show.” Then he turned his gaze back to Cash, as if Everett wasn’t worth even a moment’s time. “You got issues with the Apex’s leadership, you take them up with him. You have issues with me, I’m here, and I’m ready. But maybe, instead of arguing like children, we could concentrate on the member of your Pack who’s been murdered?”
Magic had risen with each word, each punctuated sentence. And by the time he was done, the other members of the clan were watching, listening.
Waiting.
“We don’t want humans in our business,” Cash said. “If we have problems, we prefer to solve them on our own. We take care of our own,” he said, each word a punch of power and magic. “And we make a nice donation to the sheriff’s campaign to ensure it stays that way.”
Apparently done with the explanation, Cash looked over his people. “Something attacked Loren. Maybe his luck ran out, and there was a wild animal. But I’ve yet to meet a shifter taken by a bear, so we are going to figure out what happened here.”
There were rumbles of agreement in the sizable crowd that had gathered.
“Everett, you coordinate getting Loren to Flanagan’s.”
The barrel-chested man nodded.
“John, you check Loren’s cabin,” Cash said to a dark-skinned man with dark hair and a thick beard. “See if there’s anything amiss there. Everyone else, either get back to the resort, keep an eye on the kids, or stay here to help us search. We’ll split into teams,” he said. “Look for scat, footprints. Anything that tells us what attacked Loren and where it went.”
“Elisa and I will take the woods to the east,” Connor said when shifters began to volunteer for assignments.
“No fucking way!” Everett, arms folded across his chest, shook his head.
“Excuse me?” Connor’s voice was low and threatening.
“Everett,” Cash said, a low warning, but the man shook his head.
“She’s a stranger, and a vampire, and this isn’t our property. For all we know, she was involved.”
I started forward, but made myself stay in place because of the hand Connor put out to stop me. He kept his gaze—cold and flat—on Everett’s. “You want to be very careful before you accuse friends of the Pack, of my family, of murder.”
“I didn’t say she actually killed him. Point is, we don’t know, do we? This is enough of a clusterfuck without involving strangers.”
“She’s no stranger to me or mine,” Connor said. “And her being a vampire isn’t a weakness—it’s a strength.”
Cash and Everett gave me head-to-toe appraisals. Cash’s gaze was at least considering; Everett just leered.
“How is she a help?” Cash asked.
“For starters,” Connor said dryly, “she’s a predator with night vision, and she’s been trained by Chicago’s Ombudsman. She’s exactly who you want looking for evidence. Refusing to let her assist doesn’t make you safer; it makes you look guilty. Elisa,” he said, shifting his gaze to me, “would you like to enlighten them with what you’ve noticed already?”
“For starters,” I repeated, looking at Cash, “he wasn’t killed here.” And I told them what was missing from the place where Loren’s body had been, for lack of a better word, dumped.
Cash watched me carefully. “You have had some training.”
I ignored the statement and asked a question. “Did everyone in the clan know about the initiation?”
“Yes. Everyone knew,” Cash said. “Why?”
“Because if they all knew it was happening here tonight,” Connor said, “leaving the body here wasn’t an accident.”
Cash worked his jaw, as if chewing over words. “Fine. Take the vampire if you want. She’s your responsibility. We’ve wasted enough time,” he said, irritated magic nipping at the air with needle-sharp teeth. “We find out who or what killed Loren, and then we deal with it. Get moving.”