Page 88 of Shadows of the Soul

Robert knelt in front of Colin before quirking a brow at me. “There’s a lot of weird shit that happens around you.”

I folded my arms and leveled him with the Roberts stare. “So I’ve been told.”

“What happened?”

“Colin felt unwell when he came to drop off the mail. He asked to use the toilet and then didn’t return. Maggie discovered his body.”

“Just like that?” Robert asked.

I narrowed my eyes. “Yes. Just like that.”

“Fine, I’ll call the coroner.”

I huffed. The coroner was a cantankerous bastard with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Empire State Building.

“You don’t like the coroner?” Hudson asked.

“I like him fine. Ray just doesn’t like me.”

“You showed him up in front of the entire department,” Robert pointed out.

I shrugged. “I don’t joke about death. If I say someone didn’t die of natural causes, then I expect to be listened to. The lazy old git wanted to get home to his wife and the roast lamb she had ready and waiting. My thoroughness put a dampener on his plans. So now he hates me.”

“You got between a man and his meat,” Hudson stated with a nod. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Save me now.

“How long?” I asked Robert.

Robert leveled me with his own stare as he straightened. “You got somewhere to be?”

“No, I have a full guest house of vampires and shifters that will smell the decay soon.”

“Too late,” Hudson muttered. “They are being polite about it.”

“Don’t try to help me,” I growled.

His hands rose in the air. “I’m not.”

Robert’s eyes darted between me and Hudson. “What did I miss? I thought you two were–”

“We were. Now we’re not.,” I stated. Hudson’s smirk dropped along with his hands. “Mr. Abbot was leaving.”

“The stables or the house?” Robert checked. The sheriff was an information gatherer, after all, and it was widely known that knowledge was power. What many failed to realize was that knowledge without wisdom was dangerous.

“Both,” I stated.

Hudson’s gaze bored into mine. “The house.”

I suppressed a growl and lifted my head. “I’ll be in my office. Let me know when the coroner gets here.”

I stomped away from the bathroom and practically jogged downstairs. The cat didn’t make a damn sound behind me, but I knew he was stalking my every move.

I threw open the door to my office and spun to face him. He clicked the door closed behind us.

“Really?” I started as I clenched my fists at my sides and paced in front of him. “You want to do this here? Why stay? Are you trying to torture me?”

His eyes softened, and he reached for me. I took a step out of his reach. I would forever be out of his reach. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Too late.”

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