Page 22 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“I thought for sure you’d be ecstatic that I allowed you to pick me up… wait, are you just so thrilled, it’s broken you?” he asks. “That’s… should I be concerned?”
“How can something this perfect break? I am unbreakable.”
Cyrus gives me a look, eyebrow rising. “Yeah? Are you sure about that? Not the breaking part—the being perfect part.”
“The only person more perfect than me is you.” I even give him a wink to cement this.
He chokes out a laugh. “Why the hell did I even question if something was up with you? You’re clearly as confused as ever. Possibly more than ever.”
“I’m confused just the right amount,” I assure him. Honestly, I’m just happy I get to speak to him normally. I really shouldn’t fixate on all of that other shit. None of that is important. What’s important is that I have people who care about me and I’m living a life for myself. Not for anyone else.
When we reach the crime scene, I follow Cyrus out and over to another nice suburban home that’s surrounded by police cars. Once we’re geared up, we head inside to where I can instantly smell blood. But instead of leading me over to a scene similar to before, I’m taken over to a woman sitting on the couch, likely drained of blood. They seem very interested in her when it’s the source of the blood that I’m more interested in.
“Where’s the second body?” I ask.
“Haven’t found a second body,” Maeve says as she watches me. “I take it we missed something?”
“Is there a basement?” I ask since the smell is coming from down below.
“We haven’t come across a door leading to it, but there might be a cellar. Hey, let’s start looking for a cellar,” she calls to the others. “Search under rugs. It’s likely a hatch in the floor somewhere.”
“Did you pull any information on the house? It might tell you,” Cyrus says.
“We haven’t gotten there yet. Daughter walked in from her college classes and found her stepmother on the couch. The moment I saw her, I knew I needed to contact you.”
“In the kitchen!” a man shouts, so we head that way, and I notice the smell gets thicker. He’s pushed a large rug back and moved a decorative table to reveal it. The hatch only has a hole and no obvious way to open it without a hook, but I reach down and pull it open by snagging it with my finger and drawing it up, which would have been quite hard for a human.
The smell of blood hits me hard as Maeve shines a flashlight down into the hole, but she doesn’t need to. I can see the dead man from here.
There’s very little space to stand since it’s a simple old cellar for storing canned produce. There are still a few jars on the shelves, but they’re empty.
While it’s not a tall room, he’s still been pinned to the wall. I move to jump down but Cyrus stops me.
“Let’s get some good light in there so we can make sure we don’t step in the blood. There’s really not much room to stand.”
“Okay,” I say, but even from here, I can see the smudge of blood on the wall. With the puddle of blood undisturbed right where the killer would have had to stand to apply it, I can’t help but wonder if the killer had done itbeforestaking the man to the wall.
Cyrus asks Maeve, “How long was the daughter away from the house? These deaths look quite recent.”
They smell recent.
“While she doesn’t live here, she does come from her college to visit. She talked to her father this afternoon and told him she would be dropping by to spend the night.”
“The streak of blood on the wall is in the same spot as last time but it’s at a different angle,” I say.
Maeve shifts her flashlight up. “You’re right. Okay, let’s get a team in here.”
I turn around and nearly run into Zach, of all people. He flashes me a smile as I try my hardest not to glower at him. Should I draw forth my inner Casimir and scare him off?
“Good evening!” he says a bit too loudly. Is he nervous because Cyrus is nearby?
“Evening,” I force out.
He’s still all smiles as I hurry away, really wanting to get Cyrus away from whatever that was. I wander the house for a bit until my nose brings me to the bathroom where I eye the clothes hamper. “Cyrus?”
“Cyrus is in the kitchen, but can I help?” Zach asks, appearing right when I don’t need him.
I’d rather he didn’t.
