Page 14 of In Darkness Transformed
“No, they were just up there on a day hike when they stumbled across the body.”
Eli was still studying the report. It had to be hard to see someone he cared about described in those terms. Maybe he’d seen worse in combat, but that didn’t make it any easier.
He frowned and glanced up at her. “The coroner thinks Martin had a heart attack, and the damage to his body happened afterward.”
Now they were treading on dangerous ground. “That’s what his notes say.”
Something in her comment must have sounded off to Eli. “You don’t agree?”
Great, now what could she say? That she suspected it had been her crazy cousin or some other alien out of his head with the light disease who had killed Martin? She settled for a portion of the truth. “It’s probably the cop in me, but I prefer answers to be more cut and dried.”
Eli started to close the folder but then stopped to study the report again. “I find it odd that he describes a few of the cuts almost as if they were made with a blade rather than animal claws.”
She hoped she managed to school her expression before he looked up to see what she thought about the possibility. “I’m sure if that was the case, the coroner would have said so more clearly in his report. Besides, I’m sure he knows the difference between the marks left by knife blades as opposed to bear claws. For sure, if there’d been any hint of that, the county sheriff’s department would’ve investigated it as an assault or even murder. Instead, they closed the file, calling it death by natural causes.”
He grunted in what might’ve been reluctant agreement and handed the file back to her. “Thanks for sharing the findings with me. No matter how it happened, Martin deserved better than to die alone like that. I hope he went fast and didn’t suffer.”
“Me, too.”
She checked the time. “Well, I’m back on the clock. Thanks for lunch, especially the pie.”
“It was my pleasure. I haven’t met many people here in town yet, and it was nice having someone to talk to other than myself.”
As they made their way back to where they’d parked, she wished she knew what he was thinking. Her gut feeling was that he wasn’t done wondering about Martin’s death. If he chose to pursue it on his own, there was nothing she could do to stop him. On the other hand, there wasn’t much left to investigate. The scene itself wouldn’t tell him anything after everyone had trampled through it, Martin’s body had been cremated, and there were no eyewitnesses to the actual death.
He reached past her to open the car door. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had done something like that for her. She also had to admit she’d enjoyed having someone new to talk to over a meal, someone who was both handsome and interesting. Maybe that’s why she blurted out, “Call me the next time you come to town, and we’ll do this again. It’ll be my treat, pie and all.”
“I’ll do that. Thank your dad for getting the report.”
“I will.”
She was about to drive away when he stopped her. “I almost forgot. Did you and your dad find any trace of the guy who attacked you when the two of you were up on the mountain to pick up your ATV?”
Had he been tracking them? Damn, she should’ve known he would’ve done something like that. At least she didn’t have to lie about what they found. “We didn’t see anyone while we were up there. We did find the service revolver I’d lost. Other than that, things were quiet.”
“That’s good.”
“How about you? Have you run across any sign that he’s been back?”
He looked at her with a warrior’s eyes. “Not yet.”
Before she could warn him to leave any further hunting to her and her father, Eli walked away. A chill washed over her as if the sun had suddenly vanished behind the clouds. If Eli and her cousin crossed paths again, she knew right through to her bones the encounter would quickly turn both violent and deadly. Tiel would attack with everything he had, his illness driving him to kill anyone he saw.
In contrast, her heart insisted Eli was a born protector with a capacity for great gentleness. She’d learned that firsthand the other night when he’d worked so hard to calm her fears and then treated her injured ankle even if he’d been a bit grumpy about it. But watching him fight her cousin proved he was the kind of man who would defend his home and the people in it with his last breath. However, even if he’d vanquished his foe once, that was no guarantee he’d be the victor in a second encounter. The thought of Eli bleeding out on the mountain like Martin had done made her physically ill.
Before she could warn him to leave the hunting to the authorities, meaning her and her father, Eli was already in his truck. Not sure what to do, she drove back to the police station. Maybe it was time to talk to her father again.
6
Eli was almost to the grocery store when he abruptly changed his mind and pulled over to the curb. Fresh supplies could wait. Right now, he had too many questions with no satisfactory answers. While he was reasonably sure Safara hadn’t actually lied to him about what happened to his grandfather, he was just as sure she hadn’t told him the entire truth. The police report had been pretty cut and dried, and he couldn’t fault the cops for reaching the conclusions they’d drawn.
But then they hadn’t been the ones up on the mountain crossing swords with a maniac. While Eli couldn’t prove that the two incidents were connected, his instincts said they were. Or maybe he just had blades on his brain because he spent so much time working out with his grandfather’s collection. Regardless, he wouldn’t rest easy until he found some answers. If he couldn’t get the complete truth from the local authorities, he needed to get online and look for other cases similar to Martin’s. If there was nothing to be found, then he’d accept that his grandfather died of natural causes and move on. He just wished he believed there was nothing to find.
Either way, this wasn’t something he could research on his cheap cell phone, and the dial-up Internet service at the cabin would take forever if it was even working. There had to be a better option. Then he noticed a sign with an arrow pointing down the next side street. Huh, who knew a town the size of Ridgewick could afford to have a library of its own?
The place wasn’t very big—no surprise there—but it did have a bank of computer desks running along the length of one wall. Even better, most were currently unoccupied. He was about to sit down at the closest one when he noticed the petite, gray-haired woman at the front desk was trying to get his attention. So much for flying under the radar. He veered off his intended course in her direction.
“Did you want something, ma’am?”
