Desert Bound (Cambio Springs) (23 page)

Ted felt her hackles rise. “Cool it.”

“Not until you understand me.”

“Alex, do not pull the alpha wolf, macho bull—”

“It has nothing to do with being an alpha, and everything to do with you being mine.”

The hackles were done rising. They were up, and Ted felt like baring claws. But before she could open her mouth, he put a hand over it and leaned close, his eyes intent on hers.

“You’re mine. And I’m yours. Understand this, baby, for the rest of our lives, we’re going to have your family and my pack tugging at us. Your patients. My employees. We have responsibilities we can’t escape. But you are my
mate
.”

Seeing as he wasn’t grunting or pounding his chest, Ted pulled his hand away, but she didn’t speak. She cocked an expectant eyebrow at him as he continued.

“For the rest of our lives, there will be something or someone who needs our attention. Always. But this?” He pulled her closer and squeezed his hands at her hips. “This is priority. You have a busy day, I come to you and give you what you need. I have a busy day, you do the same. But you and me comes before everything else. Get that?”

“Alex, I—”

“I can hear the ‘but’ in your voice, Ted, but this is not something that’s negotiable with me. We don’t get that from each other, we drift. We drift, we lose our connection. That is not acceptable.”

She took a deep breath and said, “There are—”

“Now you’re just being ornery. You know I’m right.” The growl got deeper. “If you’re too stubborn—”

This time, it was Ted who clamped her hand over Alex’s mouth. He didn’t give an inch, snapping out and grabbing her ring finger between his teeth.

She wanted to scream, because that shouldn’t have been hot, but it definitely was.

Before he could argue with her, Ted said, “
Mortal danger
.”

He frowned and let go of her finger. “What?”

“Mortal danger, Alex. I’m the only doctor in town. If someone’s having a heart attack, you’re going to have to keep your pants on.”

He narrowed his eyes, then gave her a shrug. “I’ll give you mortal danger.”

“Oh, that’s so generous.”

“But ‘mortal danger’ does not include one of your thousand and one cousins having a migraine.”

“Fine.”

“Or cramps.”

“Fine.”

“Or heartburn.”

“Fine!” She shoved at his shoulders, wanting to get up. Still slightly pissed, even though the words he said—the conviction in them—hit her, and not in any shallow way. This man was in deep. As deep as she was. It was beautiful, and a little frightening.

“And if they interrupt us having sex, there better be massive blood loss.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m done with this conversation.”

“Or there
will be
massive blood loss, if you catch my meaning.”

“Wait, hold on…” Ted scrunched her face together and closed her eyes. “It’s difficult. I think… because I speak rudimentary English…” She opened them and glared into his now-amused eyes. “I get it.”

He smiled. “You’re so damn cute when you’re pissed. Want to make out on the couch before we go to Jena’s?”

Since that was the question he led with as he walked through the door, she shouted,“Argh!” 

Then she climbed off his lap and stomped to the door.

So Alex made out with her in the car.

“Let’s lay things out,” Caleb said.

Alex asked, “You sure you want to do this with everyone here?” 

Ted glanced around the room. It wasn’t just her, Caleb, and Alex. Jena was there, along with Sean, Allie, Willow, and Ollie, who was looming in a corner, obviously trying to ignore how close Sean and Allie were sitting.

Caleb looked around at the assembled crowd. “Is anything we say here going to leave this room?”

“No.”

“Uh-uh.”

“Hell, no.”

Various grunts.

“Okay, then.” Caleb turned back to the board where he’s pinned a bunch of pictures. Ted could spot a few crime scene photos, along with pictures of Marcus Quinn, Chris Avery, Frank Di Stefano, and a few people she didn’t know. “Here are the players we have so far.”

“You left someone out,” Allie said quietly.

Caleb turned. “Allie—”

“I don’t think he’d kill anyone,” the small woman said quietly, “but he should be up there is he’s a suspect. Or connected, Caleb. Don’t try to spare my feelings on this.”

Damn. Ted always forgot how tough Allie was. Even as a kid, she’d suck it up if she was hurt or sad. When things hurt the most, she just got really, really quiet. Her last baby, when Joe couldn’t bother showing up at the hospital and Jena was holding her hand, had been delivered in almost complete silence. And there she was again, Allie’s jaw was tight when Caleb pulled out a picture of Joe and stuck it on a blank corner of the board. Ted knew that’s where it had been before Caleb pulled it down.

Damn.

Ted heard her pull a deep breath, then she said, “Let’s go.”

Caleb turned to her. “Ted, why don’t you start at the crime scene, then we’ll work backward.”

“Fair enough.” She rose and walked to the board. “First off, the crime scene wasn’t where Marcus died. He was killed somewhere else, then his body was dumped there. There wasn’t enough blood at the scene. So somewhere out there is the real crime scene, but it’s possible we’ll never find it.”

“So the coyotes?” Sean asked.

“Opportunistic. Just regular coyotes. His body was there, so they… did what they do. Luckily, the pathologist in San Bernardino was able to get a clear cause of death. Shot in the back by a nine millimeter. Prior to death, he’d been given a dose of rohypnol. Roofies.”

“He was drugged?” Jena asked.

“He would have been able to function, but he would have been much more vulnerable.”

Ollie asked, “Does that mean we’re looking for someone smaller than he was? Needed to even things out?”

Caleb said, “It’s possible.”

“Or is it someone who knew he wouldn’t be able to shift if he took drugs?” Sean said.

Allie turned to him. “You can’t shift if you take drugs?”

Sean grinned. “It’s fucking adorable that you didn’t know that. But yeah, it’s almost impossible.”

“Huh.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, how do
you
know, Sean Quinn?”

“Don’t worry, honey, I’m past my wild youth.”

“I hope so.”

“You’re such a mom.”

Ollie rumbled from the back, “Can we get back to Marcus getting killed?”

“Yes,” Ted said. “The only other thing I’ll add is that my initial estimate was right. The official report is that he died near one in the morning, but I’m still going to say it could have happened between midnight and two, because reptile shifters have quirks in their  body temperatures.”

“Bigger window of opportunity,” Willow said. “And you said he wasn’t killed at the job site, so we have no idea where it actually happened. Was there anything at the scene…?”

Ted sat down and Caleb stood. “The thing of it is, it’s a construction site. There’s all sorts of miscellaneous stuff that might be related, but probably isn’t. There was nothing on or near the body that would tie it to a location. I’ve asked for soil samples that were on his body to be tested, but that could take weeks.”

Ted said, “More like months. Those things are slow.”

“So,” Alex finally spoke up, “the best chance of finding his murderer is not going to be forensics. We need to find out why someone would have wanted Marcus dead.”

Sean shook his head. “He was a good guy. A genuinely good guy.”

“He wasn’t lily-white, Sean.” Caleb crossed his arms.

“Did he have any outstanding warrants?”

“No.”

“Then he’s a choirboy in my family.”

Ted tried to cover her smile, but she heard Alex chuckle.

Then he cleared his throat and said, “Marcus had ties with the Di Stefano family in Las Vegas. They’re criminals, but it looks like their deal with Marcus was a straight—well, mostly straight—loan. He was paid in full, even had an ongoing legitimate business relationship with Cameron Di Stefano. As far as Ted and I could tell, any threat to Marcus was not coming from his background with Di Stefano. However, Frank did mention some concerns about the brother-in-law.”

“Chris Avery.” Caleb tapped on the picture. “Ollie?”

“He’s quiet.” Ollie shrugged a bit. “Doesn’t come in much. When he does, he’s with his sister or the kids.”

“Wait.” Ted held up a hand. “We almost came to blows about Alex and I looking into this case, and you’d already asked Ollie for help?”

“Ollie sees everything. So do the rest of the Campbells. Plus, they keep their mouth shut unless you pry it out of them. Alex and I almost came to blows because you’re my wife’s best friend—a woman I care about—and he took you to a criminal’s house for brunch.”

Put like that, it didn’t seem quite so irritating. It was almost sweet. Still…

Alex said, “Past is past. Ollie, what have you got on Avery? I know it’s not just that.”

“He doesn’t like his sister moving here. At all.
Really
doesn’t like the kids moving here. He’s… weird around them.”

Every body in the room tensed. 

“Weird how?” Sean asked.

“Not like you’re thinking. He’s protective. Doesn’t like them making friends here. Hear him talking about Las Vegas a lot. Almost like he’s trying to get the kids on his side against their mom about moving back.”

Willow asked, “Where’s Josie on that?”

“Josie and the oldest girl are settled here or close to it. Boys are little. They’re happy anywhere mom is happy.”

Allie said, “I think Kasey’s already had a sleepover with my oldest niece.”

“And I heard Bear mention her the other day,” Jena added. “Says she’s really nice. He’s a grade behind her, but he noticed.”

Ollie continued, “The girl knows the score, and she and her mom have obviously had the fur and feathers talk since she’s getting to that age. I’m not sure the younger boys even know about the shifting, to be honest.”

“Does Avery?” Alex asked.

Ollie paused. “I can’t say for sure.”

Alex said, “Let’s try to create a timeline. Who was the last person we know of to see Marcus Quinn?”

“You, as far as I can tell. And the other guys at work,” Caleb said. “He left the site that day and no one claims to have seen him until his body turned up.”

“He was staying at his mom’s?”

“Yeah, but his mom and his sister went to Indio that day to shop. Came home late, Marcus wasn’t there. They’re who they are, so it’s not like they were concerned. His truck’s in the drive. Wherever he went, he didn’t drive himself.”

“Anyone see him getting picked up?” Jena asked.

“Not that I’ve been able to find.”

“I’ll talk to dad. See if anyone was flying that day and didn’t think to mention it.”

“So,” Alex said, “Sometime between six o’clock and midnight, Marcus Quinn left his mom’s house with… someone. And that someone likely drugged him, shot him in the back somewhere, then left him at the job site where he worked. Didn’t try to hide the body—”

“And there’s plenty of places to do that out here,” Sean said. “There’s a million places to hide a body that no one would ever find.”

Alex continued, “But he didn’t. So whoever killed him wanted him found.”

“A message?” Ollie asked.

“For who, though?” Ted tapped a finger on her chin. There was something she wasn’t connecting that was bugging her. “He wasn’t one of Di Stefano’s guys, even though there was a past relationship. This wouldn’t hurt Frank, just piss him off. This must have had something to do with Marcus.”

“He had life insurance,” Willow said. “I talked to Josie, she mentioned it. Nothing big, but enough to pay off their house in Vegas. Give Josie a little money to start up again here.”

Allie gasped. “No one thinks Josie—”

“No, honey.” Sean grabbed her hand. “Josie adored Marcus. I think what Willow’s implying is that if Marcus just disappeared, life insurance would take awhile. Might be motive to dump his body if someone didn’t want his family to wonder.”

“Like a brother-in-law?” Ted asked, looking at Alex. 

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Willow said. “He kills his brother-in-law and hides the body, it could be years before his sister can collect on that insurance. Or maybe he feels guilty and doesn’t want her to wonder.”

Ted saw Alex’s mouth get tight.

“I don’t like Avery,” he said.

“Neither do the cops in Vegas.” Caleb walked back to the board and pointed at Chris Avery’s picture. “Avery does not know this—so this really, really can’t leave the room—but they’re investigating him for suspected payouts to code inspectors. It’s been going on over a year, and according to my contact in Vegas, Marcus knew nothing about them.”

“So why would he have been targeted?” Willow asked.

“He didn’t know about the payouts when they were happening, but it’s possible he knew about the investigation. Or suspected something was going on. The police hadn’t contacted him, but he’s not an idiot. And it’s his brother-in-law. One of the detectives said it looked Marcus might have been trying to take care of things before it became a problem with the police. Bring the projects up to—”

“He knew.” Alex had shot up and was pacing, tugging a hand in his hair. “Shit! He knew about the payouts, Caleb.”

“How do you know?” Caleb asked.

“We were delayed. Pissed me off, but Marcus said there were some environmental problems at another job he’d been working on. Something he had to go back and fix. Couldn’t wait. Safety issue. Promised he’d be back on my job as soon as possible, but he was dead set on fixing this other thing, even though I was really, really mad about it.”

Allie whispered, “He found out they weren’t up to code.”

“If it was a safety issue, he’d be the one to go fix it. Make sure things were okay, even if that meant pissing off a big customer like me.”

Caleb asked, “When was this?”

“Couple months ago. Why didn’t I think of it?”

Ted put her hand out and tugged on his arm until he was sitting again. “Because it could have been anything. It might not even be related.”

“It’s related.”