Believe, Glynis Rankin [classic literature list .txt] 📗

but it didn’t look anything like this carnage.

Robe went back to examining the corpse. “I’m not sure I’ll know more once I get to look at the wounds under my equipment.”

“Great, now I’m supposed to be looking for some deranged person with a man eating dog?”

He’s about to ask another question when someone called his name.

“Hey Wash!  They found the girl.”

                                                                       **

  Dr. Rode didn’t glimpse up from the body as Wash made his way back out the kitchen. He felt guilty for not doing his job.  It’s crucial for the Medical Examiner to help successfully investigate any case. Trust and honesty are essential in the relationship between the investigator and examiner.

He’s never held back vital information during the commission of his job.   Today, however,  he purposely withheld  critical details. He lied about the facts, but he did so in order to save lives.  

 

Chapter Ten

       

Sergeant Powers watched Sara Doe across the yard and walk up the stairs. The pale glow of the overhead light on the porch made her pretty features look ethereal.  He saw the coat of fear in her dark eyes and heard the rapid beat of her heart. The girl smelled scared. But his nose also told him that she’s the source of the mixture of aromas filling the night skies.

Power witnessed death in all her many forms over the centuries. He remembers with a shiver the many times he’s killed for blood hunger.  An old wolf, he’s long ago lost his lust for killing.  Death and feasting on fear’s blood no longer called to his wolf. He’d quelled that alluring desire a century ago. However, what lingered in the night made him want to howl at the moon and run on a hunt. The wish to feast on fear’s blood grew within every fiber of his being. He quenched his desires with sure well. 

“Who are you?”  Powers asked the night suppressing the primal instinct within.   He waited until Sara Doe went into the house before making the call.

 

                                             ***

Zoe Burgot didn’t make it a habit to listen in on her husband’s conversation. It wasn’t as if she had her ear to the door eavesdropping.  Werewolves just had very good hearing.  

“Goddamn! Are you sure Powers?” Dante paused. “Shit! I want you to get to the morgue and make sure they get put down! We can’t have them popping up around here drawing attention to us." He paused again. “Get me everything they got on this case! I need to stay on top of this.”

 Zoe heard his heavy pacing on the wood floor of the living area. “Get us access to where their holding this rogue Powers, so we can put her down tonight!”

Zoe listened to the one sided conversation from their bedroom upstairs.  She saw the report of the double homicide on the news. That had to be it; she pondered, a rogue killed that young couple. That's bad for everyone.

 The Pack's a community of families and friends; everyone monitored the airwaves for any signs of questionable activity. If something went down the local Alpha was informed. In this area that's the leader of the Bloods, her husband Dante Burgot.

 The Alpha maintained order with a strong hand.  “Find Big Boi, I want him on this.”

Zoe gasped.

 Big Boi's a dangerous Beta, whose challenges Dante at every turn. He’s also the Blood’s best assassin. If Dante asked for Big Boi, he wanted this done quiet and fast.

 She wondered if this was a new-formed werewolf, they were rare in the city. It’s against Pack rules to make a wolf without the Alpha’s okay.  Whenever one popped up they’re generally made from a young untrained wolf or a rogue. Rogues got put down along with any victims; they sired to protect the Pack.

What Zoe overheard amounted to a kill order for this untrained, dangerous werewolf. 

  Zoe listened to the deafening silence creeping up the stairs and knew Dante had ended the call.  She opened the door and went downstairs to talk with her husband.

 

                                             **

She found Dante in his office on the far end of the house. He stood at the large bay windows a cloak of stillness. His Anglo-French surname betrayed his dark skin, coal eyes, and high cheek bones. Thick black curls touched his broad shoulders. Dante didn’t turn to face Zoe, but she saw in the dark glass that his wide sensual mouth was firm in concentration.

 He wasn’t what anyone would call beautiful, nor was he tall or thick. In human terms he would be plain, but Dante's anything but ordinary.  An Alpha in every way imaginable, Dante’s masculine presence made heads turn. It’s that wave of power that washed over her and made her surrender to his wolf over five centuries ago.

“Powers said it’s the child.” Dante’s thick voice thundered through the quietness.

 Zoe inhaled sharply. “A child?”

“Someone turned a child!” Dante turned to face Zoe.  His dark eyes met hers before glowing yellow with anger. “What evil does that?”

“I don’t know.” Her husband took these things personally.

“I’m doing what’s right for the community.”

She’s watched over the centuries, how the weight of his decisions has taken its toll on him physically.  Zoe's tried to relieve him of that stress in her own way by sharing his burden. “I know.”

 She walked to him, as his submissive, but has never coward to his power.  They’re a mated pair. Her authority in the community comes from her position as his mate; his strength comes from the fortitude of their love.  They made a perfect team. “Tell me everything.”

Chapter Eleven

  “Hello Sara my name Detective Wash.”

What broke across his face was a smirk of a smile. She met the Homicide Detective in the foray. He was a big red bear of a man with green eyes and short dirty blonde hair, who stared at Sara with suspicion while he and the young officer spoke in whispers.  

 Sara frowned, she didn’t like Wash. 

Adults smiled like that when they’re trying to be nice. That false pretense has never fooled anyone, especially a foster kid.

Wash had formed an opinion, his eyes and that smile told her one thing, he didn’t like kids. So be it, Sara didn’t smile back at the tall red man.

 “I know you were scared Sara,” Wash began. “What you experienced no one should have gone through. Is it alright if I ask you a few questions about what happened here tonight?”  

Sara nodded, giving him, her eyes.

Wash took her around the house. “I want you to look around and tell me if anything missing, anything at all.” Sara stood next to him looking at the mess they’d made in her foster parent’s room.

“I don’t see anything missing.”

They had gone from room to room checking, she knew there's nothing missing. 

They stood in the hallway now, the one adjacent to the kitchen in full view of the bodies forever frozen in death. Wash positioned her where she could watch the activities inside.

She knew Wash wanted her to see the blood, watch the violation their home, and probed the bodies of two people she had known as parents just to gage her reaction. 

If he wanted to unnerve her it was working, this was too surreal.

This wasn’t one of those crime scene shows Nell watched, but the real thing Sara thought. And it felt wrong to be watching what they were doing to Nell and Tom. These people were disrespecting them somehow and it made her sick.

Sara couldn’t tell if Wash noticed her uneasiness or he simply didn’t care, nothing showed in his cold eyes. It's possible this was his plan, to upset her enough that she'd trip up when answering his question.

Sara stiffened her back, he don’t know me. I’ve kept their secrets for years.

“Did you ever overhear your foster parents having an argument with someone, a friend or family member?”

“No.”

“Did your foster father ever get into an altercation with anyone over money or a bill?”

“You mean a fight? That wasn’t Tom style.”

“What was his style?”

The musky stench of blood prickled her nose and made her stomach recoil. Sara was about to respond when the first wave of thick vomit filled her throat.

She gagged.

“What’s wrong Sara?” Wash stiffened.

 Sara put her hand to her mouth to hold the vomit back, but before she could swallow, another wave came in a vile rush.  She spewed out the nasty substances like a volcano eruption.   

“Holy Shit!” Wash yapped stepping back in time or it would have spattered all over him.

 “Sorry.” Sara wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She wasn’t that sorry.

“Damn!” Someone yelled. “Wash we’re busy enough without having to seal an area off from the crime scene.”

Wash shrugged. “Sorry guys.”

He took Sara down the hall passed the downstairs bathroom to the front of the house.  “I need to wash my mouth out.”

“In a minute.” Wash opened a door to a room off the living area. He looked inside before pushing her forward. “In here.” 

“Can I get some water at least?”

“Okay, have a seat.”

He spoke to an officer at the door before closing it to the noise and chaos. He walked over to take a seat across from Sara to continue his questions.

“So tell me what happened this evening?”

“I told you.” Sara groaned.

“Tell me again.”

Sara sat in a chair within a room, Nell never allowed her to enter. She was tired and didn’t want to answer any more of Wash questions. What she wanted was to brush her teeth and take a long hot shower, but that didn’t look like it would happen anytime soon.

 

                                                  **

 

Wash had drilled her with a barrage of repetitive questions while they walked around the house looking at the destruction incurred by their search and despite her discomfort at staring at those bodies Sara never changed her story.

 “I found them on the floor, blood everywhere.” She made a face.

“Start at the beginning, when did you come home?”

She told Wash that she went to the mall with friends and came home to find her foster parents dead.

“It was around 8:30 or 9:00.”

“Which was it closer too, 8:30 or 9:00?”

Sara shrugged. “I guess nine.”

“Okay, go on.”

“I saw the door to the kitchen opened.”

“Is that the way you usually come into the house?”

“Yes.”

He waved for her to continue. “So I went inside.”

“What's the first thing you saw?”

“Blood, lots of blood, it was everywhere.”

“Did you hear anything footsteps, a dog barking, running water anything?”

She frowned. “No.”

“What about the smell? Besides the smell of blood