Page 14 of Immortal By Morning
“There you are. I was just coming in to talk to you.”
Crispin paused on the steps at those words from his partner, and then followed Lilith down to the walkway. The Lab immediately tried to head to the left, toward the excavation site, but he reined her in and instead made her go to the right and the undisturbed grass waiting there.
“What were you coming to talk to me about?” Crispin asked as he walked Lilith toward that side of the house, as far away from the muddy hole as possible.
“They have finished with the preliminary report and pictures and have started on uncovering the skeletons,” Roberts informed him. “While doing so, they’ve uncovered part of what might be a fourth skeleton if the hands are not from it and the first skull.”
“So, there are either two skeletons that have been cut into pieces and strewn around, or four skeletons,” Crispinus said solemnly. He considered that briefly and then said. “It will be four skeletons.”
“Yes,” Roberts agreed. “The bones are all five feet down. It’s hard to imagine anyone digging several holes that deep just to bury hands here, skulls there, etc. We either have a mass murder here, or the victims of a serial killer.”
Crispin nodded and glanced toward the excavationsite as someone climbed out carrying a medium-sized plastic drum he knew would contain the dirt and particulates from around the skeletons they were working on. “Do they think four will be the end number?”
“They do not yet know,” Roberts admitted, glancing back as well.
“Do they have any idea how long the bodies have been down there?”
Roberts shook his head. “Not yet. Bill says he will not know until he gets them back to the lab.”
“According to the sales contract, the house was built in the late nineties,” Crispin told him.
“Then the bodies went in after that,” Roberts decided. “They usually dig out wider than the foundation when building a house, and all the bones Lilith dug up were close to the wall.”
Crispin grunted agreement.
“Where is Abril?” Roberts asked suddenly.
“Inside.” Seeing the question in his partner’s gaze, he explained, “Her coat was in the washer and needed to go in the dryer before she could wear it. She was going to bring out Lilith herself anyway, even without a coat, but I insisted on doing it rather than see her out here in the cold, coatless.”
“Ah.” Roberts hesitated, and then asked. “What are you going to do?”
“About what?” he asked warily.
“About her being your life mate.”
Crispin gave a half laugh. “What do you think I am going to do? I am going to woo her.”
“How?”
“How?” Crispin echoed with confusion, and then simply stared at his partner, because honestly, he hadno answer to the question. He hadn’t dated in centuries, millennia even. He had no idea how modern women liked to be wooed.
“I am not sure,” he confessed finally, and then added, “Suggestions would be appreciated.”
Alarm crossed his partner’s face and then Alexander shook his head. “You are on your own here, my friend. I have not wooed a woman in more than two centuries and have no idea how to go about it myself in this modern era. I have no advice to give.”
“Great,” Crispin muttered, thinking that he was screwed then.
Abril stared at the empty doorway Detective Delacort had disappeared through and forced herself to take deep breaths. Her body was in complete chaos at the moment; tingling, wet, and wanting. And it was all Delacort’s fault. The man was one hell of a kisser. In fact, she couldn’t recall a single experience in her past where a simple kiss had affected her as much as the two or three minutes in Detective Delacort’s arms had.
She frowned to herself at the thought. Detective Delacort? Dear God, she didn’t even know the man’s first name. Closing her eyes briefly as she squirmed inwardly with shame, Abril counted to ten to try to calm herself, and then counted to ten again before giving it up and picking up her coat. She had apparently dropped it while he was kissing her.
She tossed it into the dryer. A fabric softener sheet followed. She closed the door and turned the machineon, then surveyed the muddy clothes in the corner that Lilith had abused.
Part of her just wanted to throw the items out, but good sense made her open the washer door and cross the room to collect the pile of soiled clothes. Nose wrinkling with disgust at the acrid scent coming off the items, she straightened her arms to hold them as far away as she could, and picked up speed to get them in the washer and away from herself as quickly as possible.
Abril slammed the door closed and was just putting the laundry detergent into the dispenser drawer when the house phone began ringing. She quickly closed the drawer and turned on the washer before hurrying out of the laundry room and rushing up the hall to the living room to answer the phone there with a breathless, “Hello?”
“Oh, thank heavens! I was starting to worry. I tried your cell first, called twice and didn’t get an answer, so tried the house phone. If you hadn’t answered I was going to call the police for a wellness check.”
