Page 76 of How to Trust a Hellhound
“I swear to god, if he stole the police car with the sheriff in it, we’re grounding him for like a year,” I muttered.
Thea barked a laugh next to me, and the crows cawed in the trees as the car came into sight.
Jude was not in the driver’s seat—the sheriff was. However, the frown on the sheriff’s face and Jude’s gleeful expression made me think that there was still going to be something to yell at Jude for.
I crossed my arms and put on my sternest expression, and Wilder stood next to me, his arm resting on my shoulder.
Whatever Jude had done, we’d deal with it together. Anything at all seemed manageable with Wilder by my side. Even death, apparently.
I stifled another hysterical giggle and made my face stern as the car doors on the police car opened, Jude and the sheriff stepping out.
Chapter 26
Wilder
“So then the lady slashed the guy across the face,” Sebbie said, licking a bit of ice cream off his spoon before continuing. “He fell to the ground, and then she stabbed herself in the chest. I don’t know what kind of weird mojo she had going on, because there was a sort of earthquake or something, and everything went dark. Then a second later the creepy lightbulb hanging from the ceiling came back on, and everyone was on the ground.”
Sebbie shrugged, unfazed as he finished his story and continued to eat his ice cream. Toby was frantically taking notes and making sounds of interest.
“Are you sure I can’t…” Toby started, but the sheriff, Dexter, Josh and I all said, “NO!” at the same time.
The sheriff sighed, staring at us all. Dexter, Toby, Aiden, and Fluffy had joined us at the Victorian house, and a crew of police officers and the coroner were all on the scene. We’d all been separated as soon as the sheriff heard about the dead bodies, although I wouldn’t let Josh out of my line of sight. The sheriff seemed understanding, and police officers had taken statements from each of us.
The rest of the guys had shown up with food and ice cream nottoo long after the coroner. Josh had insisted on the ice cream, although I wasn’t sure why. He seemed to find the entire thing slightly amusing, which I supposed was good.
Liam and Quinton had stayed behind to do some computer shit that would cover any tracks that needed covering, although I really didn’t think there were many. Sebbie’s story took care of all the details. Everything was exactly as he said it was.
The old man was old, and their biggest suspicion was that he had been dead for longer than we all said. The young guy had a slash across his face that was very deep, and he’d apparently bled out from the wound. The woman’s fingerprints were on the dagger, and it seemed apparent from the angle that she had indeed stabbed herself in the chest.
No one mentioned Thea helping her along with that.
If I wasn’t as old as I was, if I hadn’t seen as much of the world as I had, I might start to doubt my own memory. Sebbie’s story was just so believable, after all. So practical. He was such a shining soul, and he obviously believed it himself.
I could see him shooting glances at Corbin, though, his face blushing slightly each time. Josh was talking now, and Toby was still taking notes, so I walked over to Corbin, who was sitting against a tree.
Corbin was staring at the group, quiet and thoughtful. A crow cawed in the tree above him, but they stayed away with all the other humans nearby.
“He really doesn’t know, does he?” Corbin finally asked.
I hummed in agreement. I didn’t think he did.
“He’s such a shining soul, so bright. I’m not sure I would have known, except I saw it when he looked at the old man. I saw the shape of him,” Corbin said quietly.
“Were you frightened?” I asked.
Corbin looked at me sharply. “He isn’t frightening.”
“No, not usually,” I agreed easily.
“I didn’t think they were real,” Corbin added.
We both watched as a crow flew down, landing near Sebbie. Without pausing in the conversation, he grabbed a berry from on top of his ice cream and threw it to the bird, who caught it with a slight flap of wings.
“I had forgotten about them,” I admitted. “I’ve never seen one topside. Not ever, and certainly not in a human form. Even in the underworld, they were thought a myth—shadow and wraith, a tale that demons and hellhounds told each other as a scary story.”
Corbin looked at me, saying again, “He isn’t scary.”
“No,” I agreed, looking over at Sebbie. “But everyone in that room was immortal, Corbin. Yet three of them are now dead.”
