Page 53 of Bitter Discord

“Did they mention how fresh the body might have been? Do we have any idea how long between the shooting and the tip call?”

“When they got there, the body was still warm, Jacky. By best estimate, based on the temperature last night, the victim was dead for less than thirty minutes. The likelihood the person who called the tip line witnessed the murder is very high.”

“Or committed it,” I mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Or the person who called in the tip likely committed the murder,” I repeated louder.

“It’s plausible. From the caller’s behavior, he might have panicked after the murder. He could have been an accomplice who tried to do something right, or maybe he was in a position he didn’t want to be in as a witness.” Bethany paused for a moment. “Is there anything else? If you know anything we should or could look into that might help, we’re willing to do that.”

I didn’t know if telling her about Arlo was the right decision.

“We’ve talked to the other supernaturals we know of in the city. I’m just putting together a timeline so we can test their alibis,” I explained. I was nearly certain it was no one in the mansion, but Zuri was right. We had to cover all the options because we had no scents to go on, and I wasn’t willing to believe it was a teenage boy. “If things get dangerous, I’ll send word. Of course, we’re going to keep this from human eyes and lives.”

“Good luck. If we get word of another body, we’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll send our official file as it stands with everything from the call to the reports. We don’t have all the reports in yet, but as I see them, I’ll forward them. Talk to you soon.”

She hung up as I said goodbye.

I looked at the notes I scribbled while we talked. I still had time before Heath and Landon arrived, so I organized what I had written while waiting on Bethany’s email. When it arrived, I printed off the documents, and while those were going, dozens of pages already, I found the audio file with the recorded call.

Hitting play on my phone, I felt someone had dunked me in arctic waters. It took three words to know Arlo had made the call. Desperate and scared, his words were shaky as he tried to explain where he was and about the body of the werecat. My heart broke for him and for the pack as it sunk in how truly bad this was. The recording was too short, ending too fast while I was still processing that we were truly in the worst-case scenario.

Grabbing the papers from the printer, I dropped them on the desk as I decided on several important things.

I didn’t, and would never, believe Arlo committed this murder. He was innocent until proven guilty. I had to make sure every werecat and werewolf understood that before they had the chance to do anything stupid.

If he turned out guilty, I’d handle it with Heath. I knew it would break me, but it would be handled.

But if he’s not guilty, what happened? How did he end up in the same park with a werecat who died in the time frame we have?

Too many theories. Someone had to have kidnapped him. Or maybe someone he met online convinced him to go out without telling him their true intentions. Maybe he went out on his own and panicked when he came across a werecat and was now scared of what would happen. That meant he fired the shots that killed Mason, but it was more reasonable than thinking he was a cold-blooded murderer.

Knowing Zuri was waiting for me, I tried to organize the BSA’s notes and finish the timeline. As I walked out of the office, I saw her at the end of the hall in front of the main office, the one Tywin had used.

“Do you have everything?” she asked simply, looking at her phone.

“Yeah,” I mumbled. Her head came up, revealing a deep frown. Knowing she would ask me what was wrong, I waved her to follow me into the office, closing the door.

“You have bad news,” Zuri said as I put the timeline down on the desk for her.

“I have a recording of the call made to the BSA. It’s our missing werewolf,” I explained. “He was scared. Talked too fast… It could go either way, but I refuse to think he disappeared from my territory intending to kill someone.”

“I can think of a few questions to see if anyone considered attacking the werewolves and grabbing the young man.” Zuri eyed me. “Jacky, if you consider everyone in this building, who we are, and what the situation is, what is your wildest theory? If the young man isn’t guilty, then this is a complex situation, so give me your most complex theory.”

Staring at the papers on the desk, I looked at the timeline. She was testing me, or maybe she wanted to use this to give me a theory in return. While I was making the call to Bethany and putting together our timeline, she was probably keeping the werecats in the house, which gave her a lot of time to think.

“I have over a dozen werecats here, some peaceful, looking for information, some with no ill will to werewolves. I have others who want there to be problems for us. It’s a ruse. Someone is using him, framing him for the murder by making it obvious he was in the wrong place at the right time. Taking a young werewolf and using him to commit murder against another werecat makes a lot of my guests ready to kill because they don’t want to think another werecat would do it. It’s chaotic and underhanded, secretly murdering your own kind to break a ruling power or something.”

“And it was someone closely related to the previous treason against us,” Zuri confirmed.

“If you ask any of them downstairs if they killed Mason, they could tell us no and not be lying. They could have forced Arlo to fire the gun,” I said, letting out a long breath.

“Yes,” Zuri confirmed. “Is that his name? Arlo?” She reached out to touch my shoulder as I nodded.

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