Page 24 of Protected By Her Mate

“The fem… woman, Catherine Grant, is missing. We haven’t seen her since Boulder-Wolf turned up dead. Her phone is gone too and none of her family have seen her. I’ve had people searching for her all over this city.”

A knock on the door has us looking up. Ginny uses her weight to push the glass door open, popping her face around the side. “The mayor urgently wishes to speak with you, Mr. Sharptooth. He heard about the explosion.”

Duncan stands, prompting us to stand as well. To his secretary, he says, “Ginny, please give Detective Wolven-North and Investigator Lopez a copy of everything we’ve gathered on ASHRA.” He strides to his desk, snatching up a couple of cards, handing one to each of us. “This is my personal number. Call if you have any questions.” He shakes our hands, lingering over Charlie’s. “Call if you need anything at all, my dear,” he says to her. “You saved my building. I’m in your debt.”

My wolf can only take so much. I bare my teeth at Duncan over Charlie’s head and pull her away from him, hoping it looks less like I’m interfering with her job and more like I’m simply guiding her to the door.

We wait in the reception area while Ginny makes copies of the ASHRA file. While we wait, Charlie sips tea on another massive bear-sized sofa, chatting with Ginny about traffic and the weather.

I wander away from them, pulling up the contacts on my phone. Edie picks up after two rings. “If it isn’t my favourite detective. What can I do for you, darling?”

“I’m looking for someone, want to see if she’s come through your morgue.”

“There are eleven coroners in the city of New York, you know,” she says with a put-upon sigh.

“And you have access to a database.” Ignoring her irritable tone, I continue, “My possible victim’s name is Catherine Grant.”

Her silence stretches and for a moment I wonder if she knows something, but then she says in a distracted tone, “Hang on, I’m checking.” I hear the faint sound of her fingers hitting a keyboard. “What makes you think she’s come through here?”

“She disappeared around the same time as our other victim, Boulder-Wolf.”

“And you think the cases are connected?”

I pause, thinking about what to say. It’s not that I don’t trust Edie, but she’s not working the case with me and what we’ve uncovered at Paddington Inc. is privileged information. “Just looking into a possible lead,” I tell her. “They’re probably unrelated. You know how these things go. Gotta shake out every possibility.”

She doesn’t respond and another minute passes before she speaks again. “Nope, nothing on a Catherine Grant. Good news, right?”

Right. “Can you check for a Jane Doe?”

Another few seconds pass, then, “It’s been four weeks since we’ve had a Jane Doe. Do you want her file?”

Catherine hasn’t been missing that long.

“No,” I say shortly. “Thanks, Edie.”

EDIE

Lennox hangs up without saying goodbye.

Well, fuck.

Things are going exactly according to plan… but also not.

Though I suppose it was only a matter of time before Lennox found out there was a human woman involved. He’s not a stupid man.

I glance sideways across the room at the metal door nestled among rows of metal doors. It hides a secret, but what to do with that secret? Catherine was a mistake. Wasn’t meant to get caught in the crossfire. Humans are too fragile, too easily broken.

I don’t feel bad about it. She was fucking a male wolf shifter. These human bitches need to learn to stay away from our property. That’s not why she died though. Wrong time, wrong place.

I down the rest of my whiskey and set the glass on top of a mess of reports scattered on my desk. Striding across the room I tug on a pair of gloves, then open the metal door. Pulling out the drawer, my gaze falls to the grey face staring sightlessly up at me.

“You weren’t supposed to be there,” I say.

She doesn’t respond.

“What to do with you?”

Again, she freezes me out.

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