Page 34 of Sin

Our comms crackled. “Status?” London’s staticked voice asked.

“Let’s just say she doesn't need her hot yoga membership anymore,” I mumbled around my hand, still plugging my nose.

“What?” London asked.

Jinx muttered something under his breath before saying, “She’s dead.”

London didn’t immediately respond. “Understood. We’ll be right there.”

Jinx pinched his nose before gesturing with his free hand for me to go ahead. “After you.”

I flipped him off before descending the steps into the garage. The walls were stacked with dozens of extra-large storage bins, each labeled for what it held inside, like Christmas decor or school yearbooks. Honestly, it was probably the tidiest garage I’d ever seen, if you didn’t count the dead body in the middle of the room.

As we got closer to Jessica’s body, I noticed a few more things about the scene. Her hands and arms were splattered with blood, the drips trailing down toward her elbows. The weapon used to kill her sat beside her splayed hand, and as I crouched down, I recognized it as a scalpel. Because of fucking course.

Maggots wiggled and crawled across her body, and Jinx, after noticing the ones living in her gaping mouth, began to dry-heave.

The interior garage door opened as the rest of the team found us, each of them immediately covering their noses from the horrendous stench in the room.

“Fucking hell,” Blade said, storming over to us. “The body’s been cooking in here. Was the cousin’s body like this too?”

London eyed Jessica’s body with disgust and contemplation. “No. Natalie’s death appeared to be strangulation. The tie of her bathrobe was knotted around her neck. Nothing like this.” His nose wrinkled. “Lewis, take some pictures of the crime scene. No one touch anything before then, understood?”

A round of agreements went around the room.

The garage door groaned as it began to lift, and we whipped around to see Mare shrugging, her hand still on the garage door opener on the wall. “What? You said not to touch anything. Not that we couldn’t at least get some fresh air in here.”

London shook his head before retrieving his phone and dialing a number as he exited the garage toward the drive.

“Go with him,” Blade said to Jinx, jerking her head to mean London. “No one goes alone. Not even the boss man. And besides, you look like you’re about to puke.”

Jinx didn’t even try to argue, taking the out she presented to him. Once he was gone, she crouched down beside me to study Jessica’s corpse.

With the light now able to shine through the open garage, I noticed something clutched in Jessica's bloody fist.

Cringing, I pinched the stained, folded piece of paper and wiggled it from her stiff fingers. “I think I might have found something,” I said, trying to ignore how Jessica’s blood had stained the white paper and cracked it open.

Looks like you missed me. Better luck next time.

“What the fuck?” Lewis asked, taking the paper from me, not nearly as concerned about touching Jessica’s blood. “He left us a fucking note?”

“Someone needs to tell London,” I said. Blade nodded, leaving us to presumably do what I’d said.

“Why is it always me who has to take the pictures of the dead bodies?” Lewis asked, sounding a lot less chipper than usual as he came over to stand above the crime scene. Mare hovered around the edges of the room while he snapped dozens of pictures of Jessica’s body, taking care to record every wound and blood splatter. Once he was satisfied he’d captured enough photos, Mare came over with a folded up tarp from one of the shelves and spread it out over the body. I noticed she was careful not to touch the body, and I briefly wondered if it was because she found the scene gross or if her ability worked even on the dead. The thought made me shudder.

Noticing my expression, Mare glared at me. “What? You got something to say?”

I shook my head, and she sent me one more scowl before storming out after Jinx and London.

I didn’t know what nerve I’d touched there, but I’d very obviously done something wrong.

With a groan, I stood, both eager and not to get out of here. While I didn’t want to stick around Jessica’s dead body, I knew that once we were finished here, the cuffs were going back on.

And it was such a relief to have my abilities back, to feel the thrum of power beneath the surface of my skin, that I would have stayed in that damn garage all day if it meant the cuffs stayed off.

But as if he sensed my thoughts, Lewis set the note down on the tarp. He held up the phone, wagging it in front of himself. “Okay, Sin. Time to turn the cuffs on.”

Sulking, I asked, “Are you sure you got what you needed here?”

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