Page 82 of The SnowFang Storm

Only one pack in this city could have done this.

“Is this him?” The detective’s rough tone yanked me out of my thoughts.

Silver was war. Silver was death.

“Mrs. Mortcombe.”

Hector said tersely, “My client is here as a courtesy. God, man, let the woman catch her breath.”

The woman didn’t need to catch her breath. At least not for the reasons Hector thought. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s him.”

“Are you sure? Take a closer look.”

Hector shoved right back. “She’s close enough. She said she wasn’t sure. She didn’t even know his name. She’s here as a courtesy.”

“Sure. And where were your clients Friday night?”

Hector instantly herded me away from the table. “That’s it. We’re done here. Detective, my clients were at a party on Long Island. There are at least fifty witnesses, plus street-level cameras and security footage from their building. But if you want to name them as people of interest, go right the fuck ahead, and enjoy the next twenty years on parking enforcement.”

In the marble foyer of our flat, Hector gave me a dour look. “Cut the shit. That was him, wasn’t it.”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“Bullshit, Boss Lady. Bullshit. That was the guy.”

“Who cares?”

Hector flapped his hands in his wool coat. “I don’t fucking care. Just another piece of garbage to join the trash heap. I just want to know why you didn’t confirm it.”

Sterling raised a brow. “Does it matter? Who cares who he is? As you said: garbage meet dump.”

“It matters because I don’t like this.” Hector pointed his fingers between the two of us. “I don’t like this at all. You guys are into some serious shit and I am just about done with it.”

Well, too damn bad for Hector, he didn’t want to know all the furry details. “I don’t want my name alongside his. What, were the police actually looking for him in connection with the van? Who cares? I don’t know who he was. That’s why they lured me down there to ID him, isn’t it. They think we killed him.”

Hector breathed out, flapping his lips in a phhhhttt noise. “Yeah. I figured it was a weird request but hey, a little favor here, a little favor there. But you guys have an alibi all the way to Sunday, so fuck them.”

Sterling pinned Hector with his wintery gaze. “You will make this go away.”

Hector snorted. “It’s already gone, but cut the shit with me, Mortcombe.”

“We aren’t into anything you don’t already know about. If Winter doesn’t want her name tied to that mongrel, fine. And before you bark at us, the next time you’ve got to file a police report or answer the door with a rifle, you ask Joe what he wants more: justice or for it just to go away.”

Hector blew out explosively. “Fuck you, Mortcombe.”

“Thought so,” Sterling said. “See you later, Hector.”

Hector flipped us the finger.

Heel, Poodle, Heel

“It’s a beautiful morning!” Maya declared cheerfully.

It was the usual leaky gray and smelled of rotten peanuts. With her were no less than three lurking GranitePaw warriors, all prime physical specimens.

So Maya needed three warriors to escort her jaunts through the park.

The warriors parted so I could join Maya, who bounced on her toes. “This is nice, don’t you think?”

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