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The only people who had a reason to be here overnight were me, Luke, and the Smythewhites. I knew Luke wasn’t responsible since he’d interrupted my tussle with the kidnapper, which left Mr. and Mrs. Smythewhite as the only possible culprits.
Of the two, Mrs. Smythewhite was tall enough but was as slender as my sister. If she’d tossed Clarence over her shoulder, she would have fallen down the stairs...assuming she even made it that far.
Mr. Smythewhite, on the other hand, had the muscles of a forty-something who spent several hours per week lifting weights at the gym. He could easily have tossed Clarence over one shoulder then trotted down the stairs.
“But why?” I started, only to be interrupted by the sound of sirens. Soft at first, they grew louder and shriller by the second.
Mrs. Smythewhite had called the police. Of course she had. And, given the wealth of the potential victim’s family, the force had expedited their response.
I turned my back on Luke and the dilemma he presented. Typed a terse reply to my twin. “You can’t come now.”
Grace, unfortunately, was a double-thumb typer. Her response appeared before I could turn my phone off.
“WTF?! Bastion is awake. Let me repeat that. Your DYING cousin is available to hunt for his wolfsfell. Get off your ass and unlock the gate for us. WE’RE ON OUR WAY.”
I felt Luke’s warmth against my back one second before I looked up to find him once again reading over my shoulder. I braced myself, expecting him to understand that “wolfsfell” plus “cousin” added up to “woelfin.”
Instead, he latched onto a different part of Grace’s message. “Dying?”
I nodded.
“He needs to be here?”
The doorbell rang, as assertively as if it had been punched by my sister. But I’d timed the drive here from Walmart. I still had at least five minutes before this crime scene turned into a farce of familial proportions.
“Honor?”
Luke’s prompt was as sweet as sun-warmed honey. Despite my better sense, I nodded a second time and allowed him to pry the phone out of my fingers.
“I’ll deal with it,” he promised. “Don’t let Clarence out of your sight.”
***
DEALING WITH IT DIDN’T seem to mean averting a visit from my family. Or so I concluded when my flagging muscles grew more energetic with every footstep I took trailing the Smythewhites to the entryway.
On the one hand, it was nice to feel the fog of exhaustion lifting as my pelt was driven toward me. On the other hand, wolf skins didn’t fly through the air solo. Which meant Luke hadn’t managed to talk my family into staying away.
The police, of course, were the more pressing issue. “Is there some place we can go to talk with Clarence?” the older officer asked, fighting back a yawn.
His silent partner was more perceptive. Icy blue eyes narrowed as they passed over me, and I twitched in reaction.
Was it possible Slim had already visited the station and filed his complaint? Was I wrong in assuming we’d gotten tossed out of our motel due to an overdrawn credit card?
But no handcuffs were produced. Blue eyes skimmed past to assess the hall, the parents, the teenager wrapped like a burrito in his blanket. It didn’t hurt that Mr. Smythewhite sounded like anything but a concerned dad when he interrupted our trip from foyer into the more private portion of the downstairs.
“This isn’t really a police matter.” Clarence’s father might as well have erected a flashing sign above his head saying, “I’m the murderer!” No wonder Officer Blue Eyes sidestepped until he stood between father and son.
For my part, I itched to drag the head of the household away and debrief him with wolf fangs. But there was no evidence for Mr. Smythewhite’s guilt beyond surly temperament. So I held my peace while Officer Blue Eyes raised both brows.
“An attempted kidnapping only a day after a death on the same premises? I’d say it’s a good thing you called us.”
Clarence shivered despite the blanket cocoon that had heated his cheeks to redness. “But Serena just fell over the balcony, right? We’d been drinking a little....”
This was news to his mother, and apparently news she didn’t want broadcast. “Honey!”
“Perhaps we could speak with Clarence alone?” This was the yawning officer. He didn’t look so sleepy now. In fact, his hand rested ever so subtly on his handgun.
By this point, we were standing in front of an open door leading into a darkened lounge area. The family den, I’d concluded when I ransacked it earlier. Now, I hesitated, trying to think up an excuse for coming inside that wouldn’t make the police ask the wrong sort of questions.
Then I forgot all about Clarence. Immaterial fingers clenched down on my left arm so hard I could feel bruises forming.
No, they weren’t clenching down on my arm. They were grabbing my pelt. The clock had ticked down to nothing. Bastion was just outside.
Each twitch of my cousin’s thumb jerked me into action. I felt his presence in my gut as he skirted the front door and headed to the back.
Under his own volition? I could only hope so.
I had a duty to protect Clarence, but the urge to assist my family was overwhelming. I spared one last glance at Mr. Smythewhite. If he was a killer, he was a smart one. He wasn’t going to burst into the den while two police officers stood by armed with suspicion and guns.
So I found words with an effort. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom.” Then I fled in the direction of my pack.
***
I REACHED THE KITCHEN before they did. Found Luke, dressed now and as perfectly groomed as if he’d had an hour to pull himself together rather than a few stolen seconds. He leaned against the door jamb, my cell phone in his hand and his back to the inside of the house.
Still, he spoke the instant I entered. “Clarence?”
I tensed. “He’s with the police. I....”
I expected argument, but my explanation must have passed muster. Or, no, that wasn’t right. Luke was no longer lounging, but rather leaning slightly forward. Like a wolf about to pounce on a rabbit....
Instinct told me to warn my family to scamper back in the opposite direction. But it was too late. They broached the edge of the light and shadows turned them into one being.
Six legs. Three heads. One heart.
Then the monster materialized into Grace and Justice supporting Bastion between them. My pelt was draped across Bastion’s shoulders, but even with its help Bastion stumbled like someone so drunk he could barely stand up under his own volition.
Luke’s nostrils flared. “This is Bastion? He should be in a hospital.”
Justice seemed inclined to shoulder past and lean his twin against a porch post so he could pound out his rage and fear upon Luke’s person. Then he closed his eyes. Reopened them. Once again, he was the cold, hard cousin who refused to meet my gaze even as he ostensibly directed his question at me.
“Who’s the asshole?”
“Luke Acosta, Honor’s partner.” Luke held out his hand, seemingly oblivious to the way “partner” sounded like more than just a work pairing when we stood so close together.
I hadn’t realized our hips were almost touching. It was just because the doorway was so narrow. Still, I couldn’t quite make myself move away.
To everyone’s surprise, Bastion roused himself in response to the tension whirling around him. Heavy-lidded eyes slit open as he looked us over. Then a faint glow of mischief sparked a dimple in one cheek.
“So this is what’s kept Honor so busy?” Bastion leaned in to accept the handshake intended for his twin. “Hubba hubba. I approve. Do you by any chance have a twin?”
Luke’s answer—if he intended to give one—was circumvented by my cousin’s abrupt loss of balance. Bastion had stepped away from his supporters to greet Luke, and now he teetered for one split second before crumpling. He would have ended up face-down on the floor if Luke hadn’t caught him under both arms.
“Whoa, there, buddy.” Luke shifted his grip until one arm circled Bastion’s waist while the other dragged Bastion’s arm across his shoulders. The gesture was an effort to keep my sick cousin upright, but Bastion didn’t take it that way.
“Why yes, you can touch my butt,” Bastion murmured. He twitched his eyebrows up and down, pulling off debonair far better than Clarence had managed.
Then he sagged, faded into unconsciousness again.