Read Online Deadly Sin (Cassandra Farbanks) by Sonnet O'Dell - Free Book Online Page A

and spread out the contents before continuing.
    “It looks like he ate so much that his stomach burst. There was massive tissue trauma to the whole belly area. It didn’t kill him though. Doc Cameron tells me it takes up to two weeks to die from losing your intestines.”
    “Doc Cameron is always full of fun little facts to show and tell. So his stomach explodes? How did that cause him to drown?”
    “The intense sudden pain caused him to go into shock. He vomited, but because he was still shoveling food into his mouth, it couldn’t come out and then he passed out.”
    “Gross. You’re telling me he drowned in his own vomit?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. His lungs were full of it. We can’t understand why. He just didn’t stop eating. Your stomach is supposed to send a signal to your brain to tell you it’s full, it’s like someone turned off the relay and he just kept eating and eating…”
    “So, unless I can definitively prove magical involvement, it’s like he did it to himself. I need to prove he was compelled to eat himself to death.”
    Hamilton looked at me expectantly and I motioned with my hands to put it to one side. I needed a minute to, for lack of a better word, digest the information.
    “Before I tell you what I’ve found. I need to make the subject personal.” Again, Hamilton looked like he’d been waiting for this. I reached into my pocket and pushed its contents across the desk to him.
    “My stalker is back. This was in my mailbox this morning.” Hamilton’s attention sharpened and he tipped the contents out into his waiting palm. I watched him push the key aside with the tip of his finger so he could read the note that accompanied it.
    “You got any idea what it’s for?” he asked, holding the key between two fingers and looking at the patterned head.
    “Not the foggiest, unless he plans to send me the thing the key fits, later. More importantly does this signify a new wave of gifts?” Hamilton put the key and note back in the envelope and into his pocket to deal with later.
    “It’s certainly in the same style as the previous notes, but why now? He’s been gone a good while after his first attempt failed.” I nodded. There hadn’t been a single gift or creepy message. I’d also worked a better ward so now dark shadowy familiars with a Cheshire cat grin couldn’t get into my apartment. Hamilton obviously thought back to the events that surrounded those messages, my accident with the wall, because he focused on my left arm.
    “How’s the arm now?”
    “Good, it goes a little stiff now and then but the doctor tells me that’s to be expected after major trauma.” In fact, there was no stiffness to my arm or sore spots, and there hadn’t been since two days after the injury had occurred. One of my wonderful, new powers was a natural ability to heal about as fast as a shifter could. I had the use of my arm on the third day after the wall was pushed on me, but I wore it in the sling, in public for the full six weeks. DJ called me a coward. I wanted to control who knew about me and when. I wasn’t ready to see who would and who wouldn’t accept me; who was my friend; and who was just pretending. I already lost Anton and my friendship with Incarra was dangling by a thread. So my connection to my daytime world was crumbling. Hamilton watched me curiously stretch the arm and show him the mobility.
    “That’s good,” he said slightly smiling as I stretched both my arms and locked my fingers in the air above my head. I realized this made my chest stick out and quickly relaxed.
    “So, are you going to tell me what you found?”
    “Sure.” I crossed my legs and cupped my hands over the knee. “The symbol on Callaghan’s forehead was a Chinese character.”
    “A Chinese character?” I furrowed my brow and swore Hamilton’s interest peeked.
    “Yes,” I said examining and smoothing the furrow away with great effort. “For pig to be exact.”
    “Pig?