Page 23 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“Can we go through the clothes in the hamper?”
“Yeah, is there something specific that drew your attention to it?” he asks.
“I’m just curious,” I say. So he goes about getting them carefully laid out until I stop at the one thing that smells the most… a simple hair tie.
I guess that makes sense. If they disposed of the clothing the wife had worn, she might not have thought about the hair tie which she must have touched with bloody fingers. It probably fell into the hamper when she was changing or going to take a shower.
“What’s going on?” Cyrus asks when he walks in, and there’s a sharpness to his voice that I don’t miss.
“Ezio wanted to examine the clothes,” Zach explains as I feel the tension in the room. Like does Cyrus think I’m going toswipe up his new boyfriend? Or maybe he thinks I’m going to threaten him.
“Excuse us a second, Zach,” Cyrus says.
“Of course.”
He slips out and Cyrus turns to me. At first, I assume I’m going to get chewed out for glowering at his new man, but instead, he nods at the hair tie. “What’s up with it?”
“It just smells… bloody.”
“Okay… odd.”
“You don’t think they’re related in some way? Like both couples participated in… something.”
“I… don’t know why these two couples were targeted,” Cyrus admits. “You think the decaying smell and the blood you smell here could connect them?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “You know who you should get out here? Julian.”
Cyrus laughs before he realizes I’m not joking. “How the hell am I going to tote a wolf around?”
“Just tell them he’s part wolf but a trained scent dog. It’ll be fine.”
“Will it?” he asks, looking skeptical. “You know what, what do we have to lose?”
CHAPTER SEVEN
CYRUS
Since Casimir’s presence would raise some flags, he simply drove Julian to our location but parked a block away. After explaining to the higher-ups that I was borrowing a very skilled scent dog, I was reminded that we had ourownK9 unit and that I shouldn’t just bring some random dog in to contaminate the scene.
I left it in Maeve’s hands and after an hour, I was finally allowed to bring my very own werewolf onto the scene… unbeknownst to the majority of the crew.
I reach Casimir’s car right when he gets out and gives me a stern look. “You better pamper my wolf, do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” I say as he opens the back door where Julian sits as a wolf wearing an “I have a bone to pick with you” bandana and the blingiest collar I’ve ever seen. It sparkles and shimmers, and I honestly can’t believe Julian even let him put it on him.
“What the hell is he wearing?” I ask, tugging at the bandana that willnotuntie. “How tight did you have to tie this knot?”
“If he gets loose, I wanted to make sure you could find the right wolf.”
“Funny,” I growl. I try to yank it over his head but it gets a bit stuck, and Julian has to twist his head this way and that a bit before it falls free so I can toss it at Casimir. “Julian, like I said on the phone, Ezio is smelling decay at one house and blood at another. He’s speculating that they’re tied together. Your ability to smell things is significantly better than his, so let’s see what we can find, okay?”
He gives me a nod and jumps out.
“I’ll drive him home,” I assure Casimir.
“I’m headed to the casino for some payroll confusion, and then I’ll be free. I can pick him up whenever you’d like,” he says as he holds out a leash that is just as blingy.
“Why are there so many rhinestones?” I ask.
