Page 16 of Midnight Whispers
“All right. Give me a second. My servers are in between shifts.” She set the glass of full soda on a tray and then filled another empty one with ice. “What’s this about?”
“Gregory May. Do you know him?”
“Yeah. He works in the kitchen. Or used to.” That explained the grilled meat scent. Cass thought it had belonged to their murderer. She stared at the glass, watching it fill with her lips pursed as she scowled. “Oh, it’s been about a month since he’s been into the diner. He said he was leaving town and had to quit. Hadn’t heard from him since. Figured he’d just lit on out of here. If you’re asking about him, I’m guessing that isn’t the case.”
Cass shook his head. “He was murdered four days ago.”
Darlene seemed genuinely distraught. She had to stop filling the glass with soda. And she had tears in her eyes. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.
“Do you remember anything that didn’t seem normal? An argument he might have had or someone hanging around him. Anything at all might be helpful. No matter how small.”
She shook her head but then halted. She came closer, leaning over the counter toward him. “He had a new friend. Started coming around about four months ago. Smallish guy. Dark hair. I think his name was Quincy. Carried a backpack, so he might have been from the college. Greg had stars in his eyes for that kid. No doubt about it.”
Cass nodded and patted the counter. “Thanks, Darlene. That’s helpful.” It gave Cass a timeline. “If you think of anything else, let me know.”
Riley met Cass’s gaze as he returned to their booth. Riley smiled. He was a little shy about it, which was cute.
Cass winked.
When he sat, Iven handed him a menu, but Cass already knew what he wanted, so he put it down.
Darlene’s afternoon server came over and took their drink orders.
When the server left, Iven filled the silence. “I know you two met already, but I’ll make a formal introduction.”
Riley’s eyes widened. “That’s unnecessary. Cass was very nice and let me warm up in his car the other night. We talked for a bit.”
Why did it sound dirty when Riley said that?
Iven nodded. “You can count on Cass.”
Cass tried to smile, but he couldn’t accept the praise. Not when he wanted to do all sorts of naughty things to his best friend’s son. All other thoughts went out of his head, including the case he should be working on since that was part of the reason they were in the diner today.
Griff stood. “Gotta piss. Order me a burger and fries, will ya?”
Griff headed toward the back of the room at about the same time the server dropped off their drinks and took their orders.
Iven nudged Cass. “I’ll talk to the server and the cook since it’s making your wolf aggressive.”
Cass let Iven out and then scooted over until he sat across from Riley.
“My dad thinks you’re aggressive. What does that mean?”
“My eyes are like this for only two reasons. If I’m upset or if I’m around my mate.”
Riley bit his lip. He played with the straw on his soda momentarily and then showed Cass his hand. In the center of his palm appeared to be a tattoo that glowed. The tattoo consisted of tangled vines in the shape of a circle. “I have an overwhelming urge to touch you with this.”
Cass took his hand, putting his over it on the table. “Not here.”
Riley rolled his eyes. “I know.”
Cass smiled. He liked Riley’s sassy attitude.
Griffin started back to the table, so Cass took his hand away.
“Can we talk later?” Riley held his glass to cover up his palm.
“Yeah. I’ll come over later. Leave your window open.”
