Page 40 of Midnight Auto Parts

While it was fresh on my mind, I fired off a text to her. “Has Badb located any of the other vehicles?”

“No.” He waited a beat, and then she took flight. “She’s going to search farther out.”

We had already gone a long way from the pit, and where Carter knew where to find us.

“I’ll text Carter and…” I mimed throttling Badb. “I keep forgetting her phone is busted.”

“She called you earlier to set up the meeting at Mallow,” he reminded me.

“She borrowed that phone, but I can try.” I hit redial. “Um, hello. I’m looking for Carter.”

“One moment,” Officer Kim said, and I made a mental note it was her number.

A gruff voice growled across the line a heartbeat later. “Yeah.”

“Badb found Pink Panic. I’m going to drop a pin so you can see it for yourself.”

“You don’t sound upset, so I assume no remains were with the truck.”

“Thank God, no. There was nothing else here.”

“Wait for me.” Carter exhaled. “I’ll be there in ten.”

Off in the distance, Badb cried out, and Kierce’s eyes flashed silver as they spoke.

“She found a car.” Muscles fluttered along the underside of his jaw. “It’s occupied.”

The combination of the mundane phrase and his grim expression gave me chills.

“I have to go.” I had a gut feeling it was better for us to see the scene before the 514 got there and restricted our access. “We’re heading deeper.”

“Frankie—”

After ending the call, I pocketed my phone. “Let’s get a look around before the others arrive.”

With another loaner caught up in yet another of the 514’s cases, I had to beat them on scene and perform my own search before the officers began second-guessing Carter’s decision to give us lanyards.

“All right.” Kierce guided us in, using Badb’s directions. “Do you feel that?”

“No?” As soon as I stepped even with him, an oily sensation swamped my senses. “Make that a yes.”

A thicket awaited us, one Badb was careful to sail over, not letting a feather brush so much as a leaf.

Unfortunately, Kierce and I didn’t have that option. We had to wade through, much to my belly’s dislike.

“This is like where Ankou planted his tree but ten times worse.” I rubbed my tender stomach, but it didn’t help. “Do you think it’s been here?”

“I’m not sure, but death magic was present not long ago.” His eyes tightened at their corners. “A large amount of it to be this potent.”

Once we breached the tangled vines and bushes, we found a late-model SUV with its driver door open.

The smell hit me within six feet of the vehicle, and I braced myself to discover the source.

A mutilated body, more bone than flesh, slumped across the front seats with an arm thrown out as if to grab the passenger door handle. Tattered remnants of clothing led me to believe the victim had been female. “She was…eaten.”

An animal had done this, of that there was no doubt. But had it killed her or scavenged her remains? The truck had been empty, so what happened here? Had the Ezells escaped before whatever did this got them? Had this woman not survived the transition from road to forest and the smell lured in predators? Only forensics could tell us that.

As if I knew anything about forensic science I didn’t learn from watching crime documentaries.

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