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Authors: Crystal Jordan
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body. “Sorry, I’m so not doing the walk of shame in front of my colleagues. There were a lot of people who saw me in that dress yesterday, who might put two and two together on why I might still be wearing it this morning.”
“Good thing we showered the sex off of us, or the fangs would smell it.” He seesawed his hand through the air, his face sober, as if they were talking about something of vital importance to the case.
“Uh-huh. I guess that’d be the stink of shame?”
Now it was his turn to cough-laugh, his shoulders shaking with silent mirth.
She shrugged. “I’ve never been with another cop. Agent. Whatever.”
“No?” Surprise reflected on his face, as well as a flash of masculine pride. “I was your first, huh?”
Rolling her eyes, she resisted the urge to smack him. Barely. “I don’t mix business with pleasure. Sex is a completely separate thing from my job. Otherwise things get messy, and you compromise your ability to work and your credibility to your colleagues.”
Especially if you were a woman. She didn’t say that last part out loud, but even in Magickal branches of law enforcement, this was a boys’ club. She had to be better than the men to be considered equal.
She only hoped she was better than this killer. She had a lot more experience than she’d had back then, and technology had come a long way in the intervening years. Considering her life was on the line here, she’d take any advantage she could get.
They stepped out of the way while Tess had the body tagged, bagged, and loaded on a gurney for transport to her lab. The crime scene analysts would be doing their things for hours more. Now they had to wait for the forensics and magic detections to give them some clues. Until then, they had to track down Mary Winston’s next of kin and break the news.
Always Selina’s least favorite part of the job.
The puzzle, the mystery, the challenge, she loved. The part where she had to tell people that a huge hole had just been ripped into their hearts was right down there with wrestling a suspect into submission while hip-deep in fresh sewage. In fact, she might just pick the sewage rumble.
Then again, this wasn’t officially her case, so she had no idea what she was supposed to do now. Something else she didn’t care for. She cleared her throat and watched the CSUs work. “So.”
“So.” Jack tilted his head forward to look her in the eyes. “Kingston said you needed to be here. Cavalli arranged for us to have you for as long as we need you. So. Tell me what you know about all of this.”
For as long as they needed her, huh? Great, nothing like getting loaned out indefinitely. Then again, time wasn’t exactly on her side anymore, was it? She sighed. “It would be an understatement to say that this is highly reminiscent of a series of murders we dealt with about thirty years ago in New Orleans.”
He jotted that down in the little notebook he’d had that morning. When she’d been naked and humming with satisfaction. Just the beginning of a long string of rude awakenings this day had served up so far.
He glanced up, his dark brows furrowed in thought. “How many murders?”
“Four.” Her jaw worked in order to get that out. Four people died, and now another. Five people dead, and she still knew no more than she had three decades ago.
“And you had no leads?”
“Nothing solid.” Drawing in another breath just had his scent filling her nose. Not a good thing if she wanted to keep her mind on business. “The killings stopped as abruptly as they started, and with nothing new to go on, I was told to drop it by the upper brass.”
“No DNA was left at the scene?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “DNA evidence didn’t come into police investigations until the latter half of the 1980s. This was before that time.”
He blinked for a moment, and she realized that during his career, he had always had DNA evidence. This was before his time, too.
Damn, she felt
“Good thing we showered the sex off of us, or the fangs would smell it.” He seesawed his hand through the air, his face sober, as if they were talking about something of vital importance to the case.
“Uh-huh. I guess that’d be the stink of shame?”
Now it was his turn to cough-laugh, his shoulders shaking with silent mirth.
She shrugged. “I’ve never been with another cop. Agent. Whatever.”
“No?” Surprise reflected on his face, as well as a flash of masculine pride. “I was your first, huh?”
Rolling her eyes, she resisted the urge to smack him. Barely. “I don’t mix business with pleasure. Sex is a completely separate thing from my job. Otherwise things get messy, and you compromise your ability to work and your credibility to your colleagues.”
Especially if you were a woman. She didn’t say that last part out loud, but even in Magickal branches of law enforcement, this was a boys’ club. She had to be better than the men to be considered equal.
She only hoped she was better than this killer. She had a lot more experience than she’d had back then, and technology had come a long way in the intervening years. Considering her life was on the line here, she’d take any advantage she could get.
They stepped out of the way while Tess had the body tagged, bagged, and loaded on a gurney for transport to her lab. The crime scene analysts would be doing their things for hours more. Now they had to wait for the forensics and magic detections to give them some clues. Until then, they had to track down Mary Winston’s next of kin and break the news.
Always Selina’s least favorite part of the job.
The puzzle, the mystery, the challenge, she loved. The part where she had to tell people that a huge hole had just been ripped into their hearts was right down there with wrestling a suspect into submission while hip-deep in fresh sewage. In fact, she might just pick the sewage rumble.
Then again, this wasn’t officially her case, so she had no idea what she was supposed to do now. Something else she didn’t care for. She cleared her throat and watched the CSUs work. “So.”
“So.” Jack tilted his head forward to look her in the eyes. “Kingston said you needed to be here. Cavalli arranged for us to have you for as long as we need you. So. Tell me what you know about all of this.”
For as long as they needed her, huh? Great, nothing like getting loaned out indefinitely. Then again, time wasn’t exactly on her side anymore, was it? She sighed. “It would be an understatement to say that this is highly reminiscent of a series of murders we dealt with about thirty years ago in New Orleans.”
He jotted that down in the little notebook he’d had that morning. When she’d been naked and humming with satisfaction. Just the beginning of a long string of rude awakenings this day had served up so far.
He glanced up, his dark brows furrowed in thought. “How many murders?”
“Four.” Her jaw worked in order to get that out. Four people died, and now another. Five people dead, and she still knew no more than she had three decades ago.
“And you had no leads?”
“Nothing solid.” Drawing in another breath just had his scent filling her nose. Not a good thing if she wanted to keep her mind on business. “The killings stopped as abruptly as they started, and with nothing new to go on, I was told to drop it by the upper brass.”
“No DNA was left at the scene?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “DNA evidence didn’t come into police investigations until the latter half of the 1980s. This was before that time.”
He blinked for a moment, and she realized that during his career, he had always had DNA evidence. This was before his time, too.
Damn, she felt
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