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Wynona watched as the officers came in and lifted Alavara’s stiff body into the bag. She winced at the sounds. Police work wasn’t always fun and this was an instance when she was glad she had a different profession.
“Van’s here,” an officer said, poking their head inside the office. “Bring her out.”
Several officers, including Daemon, held onto various parts of the body as they worked their way into the hallway. Squeaking wheels let Wynona know they’d loaded Alavara onto a stretcher and after a few moments, the sounds all died down.
Surprisingly, she was left alone in the room, which was more uncomfortable than she cared to admit. Why would someone want to kill the elf? Yes, it was a crime and annoying that she had been trying to steal Wynona’s business, but that wasn’t a good reason to kill her. The courts would have taken care of the situation and Wynona definitely wasn’t angry enough to hurt Alavara.
But would someone else have been?
Maybe this wasn’t the first time Alavara had tried to rip someone off. Maybe someone from her past had caught up to her?
Wynona shook her head. She really shouldn’t get caught up in all this. It wasn’t her case. She had a solid alibi and even Chief Ligurio admitted he didn’t really think she was involved, despite the circumstances.
But she couldn’t seem to help her eyes wandering around, trying to take in the scene. Without her permission, Wynona found her feet moving forward. Slowly, she walked around the outline on the floor. The blood puddle was dark and made Wynona slightly queasy. Daemon had to be right. If someone had used magic to kill Alavara before stabbing her, there wouldn’t have been so much blood.
A lump in the blood caught Wynona’s eye and she squatted down in her skirt, careful not to let anything touch the ground. Bending her head around, she struggled to tell what the object was. It could have simply been a clot, but Wynona wasn’t sure.
Straightening, she grabbed a pencil from the desk, then came back and got down again, using the tip to poke at the blob. Wynona’s black eyebrows shot up when she realized it was hard. There went the clot theory. Carefully, she pushed it over and gasped. It was a button! The threads were dangling as if it had been snapped from the tiny latch on the back.
Wynona flipped it back to the front and tried to use the pencil to clean off the front, but it was too saturated. It looked like there was some kind of design... Maybe the button was gold?
She shook her head and blew out a long breath. The police would have to clean it up to see what it was exactly.
Hearing a noise in the front room, Wynona jumped up. She needed to tell someone about this and have them bag it up. She hurried to the hall and paused, debating who to call.
Just as she opened her mouth, a breeze blew her hair into her face and she stopped to fix it. Looking around, Wynona waited, then shrugged. It had to have come from the open front door. “Rascal! Chief Ligurio!” She rushed into the main room, spotting several officers, none of which were the ones she wanted. “Umm...has anyone seen the chief? Or Deputy Chief Strongclaw?”
“Wynona?” Daemon’s head came in the front door. “Did you need something?”
Wynona nodded. “Yes. I found something I think the chief and Rascal should look at.”
Daemon frowned. “Really? We already went through the room.”
“I know, but it was covered in blood under the body,” Wynona explained.
Daemon nodded. “‘Kay. Give me a sec.”
Wynona tapped her foot as she waited impatiently. She couldn’t seem to help herself. Sometimes she was too curious for her own good. No matter how much she didn’t really want to get involved, Wynona’s mind just never stopped trying to figure it out.
“Wy?” Rascal asked as he stepped through the door. Chief Ligurio was right behind him. “Officer Skymaw said you found something?”
Wynona nodded. “In the office.” She led the way and stopped at the side of the door. “There. In the blood.”
Rascal went in and squatted down, looking around. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
Chief Ligurio frowned.
“What?” Wynona came inside the office and looked over Rascal’s shoulder. “It...it was right here.”
“What was right here?” Chief Ligurio snapped.
“It was a button,” Wynona said, her eyes darting back and forth. Rascal was right. The button was gone. “It was under the body and when everyone cleared out of the room, I spotted it.” She rubbed her forehead. “At first I just thought it was a clot or something, but when I poked at it with a pencil, I realized it was something more.”
“A pencil?”
Wynona held up the tool. The tip was still covered in blood.
Chief Ligurio frowned, then leaned down toward the blood and sniffed. “Strongclaw?”
Rascal did the same, paused, then shook his head. “I can smell nearly every person on the force,” he said. “There’s no way to tell who might have been in here.”
Chief Ligurio nodded and huffed. “How long were you out of the room?” he asked Wynona.
“Only a minute, maybe slightly more,” she said. “As soon as I figured out what it was, I came out to get someone to come bag it.” Her shoulders fell. “I didn’t want to pick it up because it was covered in blood and I was worried about fingerprints.”
Rascal stood and came over, wrapping her in his arms. “Don’t worry about it,” he whispered. “You did just fine.”
Wynona let herself relax against him. Rascal’s hold was always so warm and inviting. It didn’t matter that they’d been dating for several months now. Each time he touched her, she felt as if she could never get enough. She was falling hard and fast for this wolf shifter, but he seemed content to keep their relationship where it was.
Probably better this way...
Just like helping with the investigation, Wynona’s life was a little too unsettled for her relationship with Rascal to change. She needed to learn to be patient and content with things how they were. After she better understood herself, she’d be able to look at things becoming more serious between her and the wolf shifter, but not until then.
“Tell me about this button,” Chief Ligurio asked. “Did you see any defining features?”
Wynona made a face. “Not really. Like I said, it was covered. I rolled it over and that’s now I knew it was a button. The hook was on the back along with a few pieces of broken thread.”
“Color?” the vampire pressed.
Wynona shook her head. “The thread was saturated. But when I flipped it back to the front, there was some kind of design.” She shrugged. “And it might have been gold. It was really hard to tell.”
Chief Ligurio growled low and Rascal’s hold tightened. “Not very helpful, Ms. Le Doux.”
Wynona pinched her lips together before she could say something rude back. She knew Chief Ligurio was often grumpy and he’d never spared her that. But couldn’t he just once treat her like she did something good? It wasn’t like his team had found the button.
“What do you want to do, Chief?” Rascal asked.
“There’s nothing we can do,” the chief said sourly. “No one else saw it, and since Ms. Le Doux has a motive, there’s no way I can use what she’s saying as anything useful.”
“You really think I did this?” Wynona blurted out before she could stop herself. She had thought they were past this. She stepped away from Rascal and put her hands on her hips. “How many times do I have to prove to you that I’m not your enemy, Chief Ligurio?”
He gave her a wry look. “I’m not accusing you of anything,” he offered. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t take note of the fact that you seem to have a knack for being involved in a lot of investigations.”
She couldn’t argue with that. For someone who had only been in the real world for close to a year, she had certainly found herself surrounded by dead bodies. It would be easy to assume it wasn’t a coincidence.
“However, I also believe that if you were truly associating with those in the underbelly of Hex Haven, your family would do something about it before the law could take hold of you.”
Wynona scowled, but quickly schooled her features. Again...he had a point. Just as Wynona was afraid her magic would have her parents whisking her back to the castle, any hint of scandal, anything that might suggest she was sullying the Le Doux name, and Wynona would find herself being stolen in the middle of the night, the public none the wiser as to her whereabouts.
“Thanks,” she said grudgingly. “But I promise, there was a button.”
“I believe you,” Rascal said, his eyes searching the room. “If it’s not here, then the only solution is that someone took it.”
Chief Ligurio sighed. “Go check and see if someone else bagged it,” he said, then his eyebrows furrowed. “If no one did, shut down the scene. It could be that the culprit is still here and is trying to cover their tracks.”
Rascal nodded and ushered Wynona out of the room. “Why don’t you sit in the dining room while I take care of this.”
“So I’ll be out of the way?” she grumbled.
“I’m sorry,” Rascal said. “But you know how Chief gets.”
Wynona blew out a long breath. “Yeah. I know.” She glanced at her watch. “Any chance I’ll be out of here soon? My shop opens in an hour.”
“I’ll get it taken care of as soon as I can,” Rascal assured her. He settled her on a couch, then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Relax for a few. I’ll be done soon.”
Wynona grabbed his hand before he could leave. “Who else is here?” she whispered. “Chief Ligurio said the murderer might still be around.”
Rascal’s gold eyes flashed. “The janitor and the baker are here. I have officers taking their statements.”
“Please tell me the baker isn’t a set of twin imps.”
Rascal chuckled. “Nope. She’s a witch.”
“Ah.” Wynona nodded and leaned back. “Glad to hear it.”
“I’m not sure anyone can copy Gnuz and Kyoz.”
“Too true,” Wynona agreed. “Okay. Go do what you need to do. I’ll wait.”
“Thanks.” Without another word, Rascal was gone.
Wynona watched him for a moment as he worked the room, asking about the evidence that was missing. She shook her head and pulled out her phone to read a book. She wasn’t going to get involved. She’d already done more than she should have.
Let it go, she scolded herself.
She’d proven her innocence, she’d offered a slight clue that the police had missed...that was all she could do this time. Chief Ligurio’s crew would just have to make due without her. This time she was putting down her foot... She absolutely would not get involved. Nope. Not even a little bit.