Page 65 of Shephard

He said nothing for at least a full minute. The sound he made was one of disgust. “Fine. Have it your way. How sad.”

Sad? He had to be kidding me. He was suddenly nostalgic at this point? Whatever had occurred in his past was entirely different than mine.

He stormed from the kitchen, cursing under his breath. I wanted to ignore him, but I moved to the kitchen door, leaning against the threshold. As soon as he threw open the door, he burst into laughter. “Look, brother. A delivery. A punching bag. Now maybe you can finally take out your aggressions before you kill someone you actually do care about.”

As he walked off the porch toward his truck, all I thought about were two things.

One, that I would hunt down and eliminate the asshole who sent the text.

And second, that the security cameras and equipment needed some work if the delivery driver hadn’t set off the alarm.

Yeah, wasn’t that disturbing as fuck?

CHAPTER 17

Denise

“They took the bodies,” I repeated to Maggie, the statement she’d issued when I’d answered the phone disturbing. She’d contacted me twice, but this was the first time Greg had his door closed and I could chat with her. I’d been warned in no uncertain terms to stay far away from the case again. Maybe Greg was able to read my mind. I honestly believed my boss had been threatened in some manner by the Feds, likely with his job.

What the agents didn’t know was that for an ex-detective like me, their denial of information only pushed me much harder into trying to put all the gory little pieces together. I’d used at least two hundred Post-it notes, sticking them to my whiteboard. It would appear I was obsessed.

Maybe because the case where I’d almost become victim number six lingered in the forefront of my mind. They weren’t the same. It was simply the trauma of knowing a monster was in the area. It never left you, the icy fingers of the beast constantly clawing your skin.

However, I was a smart girl. I had to keep my inquiries on the down-low.

While Shephard and I had compared notes, including about the paralysis drug, I’d been able to see he’d been holding back. I could swear the man knew much more than he was telling me.

“Yes. Two days ago. I’ve been meaning to call you, but had a couple guests I didn’t expect,” Maggie said, meaning two more dead bodies.

“Anyone associated with the… situation?”

“No, and the bastards warned me to keep my mouth shut. They even made me sit in front of my computer and put my files on a jump drive for them.”

“What the fuck?”

“That’s what I said. Of course I’m no fool. I have copies.”

A grin crossed my face. “You are so wicked, which is why I love you. It is possible that you might make a copy for say a really good friend.”

“Maybe,” she said tartly. “I will, but don’t you dare tell anyone where you got it.”

“Mum is the word.” I was eager to spend some time with the photographs and information myself. “Did you have anyone come to identify the bodies?”

Maggie laughed. “Not a soul. I’m not going to lie that having the three bodies in my chiller hasn’t creeped me the fuck out. I kept thinking they were going to return to life. Plus, I have six compartments. I need the space.”

It wasn’t unheard of for the Feds to transfer bodies closer to their offices, but taking every file seemed extreme. They were dead serious about keeping this quiet and classified.

“Let me ask you a question. Did you notice any drugs in their systems?”

“I did run toxicology tests on all three, but they came back clean. What are you looking for?”

I swirled my finger on my desk, craning my neck to ensure I didn’t have anyone listening in. “A paralysis drug.”

“Wow. High tech shit,” Maggie huffed. “I haven’t worked with the substance, but the class I recently attended mentioned the use of the drugs was up in methods of torture. What I can tell you is that depending on the type, they fade into the system leaving no trace after a period of time.”

“Fantastic. Is it a special test?” I knew I was pushing her.

“Yes.”

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