Page 12 of Aberrant Monsters
“Jamie McNamara. You know him?”
Nandi made a sound of disgust. “Human, wife-beating scum? Yeah, we know him. Did surveillance on him for his wife.”
“Got her the evidence she needed to kick him out of her life.” I parked my ass on the edge of my desk. “The guy’s a nasty piece of work.”
Some of the frost in Devyn’s demeanor thawed. “Yeah, he was.”
“Was?” Nandi sat forward with an appropriate look of curious concern on her face. “Has something happened to him?”
“You could say that. His remains were found in an alley on Moonset Walk, round the corner from Mystic Pleasures.”
Nandi’s gaze flicked to me, and my chest tightened at the question in that glance. “What do you meanremains?”
“It looks like he was…eaten…mostly. We used dental records to identify him. We’re not sure what a human would be doing in that part of the city.”
It was Archie who answered. “The guy was a fucking horndog. He probably wanted to try out some supernatural snatch.”
Devyn nodded. “We’re not ruling that out, although the owner of the Mystic Pleasures denies serving a human and claims client confidentiality.”
“Well, duh,” Archie says. “Of course he would, it’s a criminal offense for a supernatural whorehouse to cater to norms, but they all fucking do it.”
“Yes, well, we’re in the process of getting a warrant to seize their booking records, so we’ll know soon enough.”
My heart missed a beat, and my mouth went dry. “Oh? You think a supernatural who frequents Mystic Pleasures killed him?”
“We won’t know until we follow all the leads and piece it together.”
“Okay,” Nandi said. “So how can we help? How dowefall into your puzzle?”
Devyn smiled before her gaze zeroed in on me. “Our investigation led us to a friend of Jamie’s who said he was spouting off about making you pay. August, in particular. In fact, the bastard was planning an attack on you.”
I sucked in a breath. “What?” I hoped I sounded appropriately shocked. “That fucking wanker.”
She raked me over. “Obviously he didn’t succeed. Unless your injuries are hidden…”
Telarion stirred inside me.Offer to strip and show her, then laugh as if amused.
It was a testament to my control that I didn’t jump at the sound of his voice in my head. Instead, I smiled and shrugged. “Happy to strip if you want to check?”
She stilled, eyes flinching, and damn if she wasn’t considering my offer. “Nah, no need for that. I’m glad he didn’t find you. I had to check; I mean, I heard you were in the area.”
And bang, just like that, the real reason for her coming here was revealed.
I had two options. I could confess to being in the area and make up some shit, but then that would look suspicious, because why hadn’t I mentioned that as soon as she said Jamie had been killed in that area? No, the best option was to come clean.
Telarion’s presence grew more prominent in preparation for my confession and my cheeks heated.
“Iwasthere.” I ducked my head. “I…I’m a client at Mystic Pleasures.”
Nandi sucked in a sharp breath.
“Well, well, well,” Archie drawled. “August likes to get her freak on.”
I couldn’t look at either of them, preferring to keep my eyes on Devyn. “His name’s Lothos, and he’s an incubus.” I looked away. There was no need to go into details and tell her what our encounters really involved. She’d make her assumptions, but they’d be wrong. Didn’t matter, though; if she spoke to Lothos, he’d confirm our session and a quick text would make sure he placed me with him at the time of Jamie’s death. “I was with him till pretty late.”
“How late?” Devyn asked.
I shook my head, as if trying to recall.
