Mrs. Brooks.”
Taking his cue, I politely notified her that a spirit had been unleashed, Pemkowet’s dead were restless, and the entire town was very likely going to be haunted in the near future. She took the news better than I expected. In fact, we left her in the process of brainstorming ways to tie our forthcoming haunted status in with the annual Halloween promotion.
I’ll admit, I was looking forward to Cody asking Stacey about her alibi—after all, she was a Cavannaugh descendant, too—just for the malicious pleasure of having to hear her admit that she, too, spent the night alone, because I knew for a fact that she wasn’t dating anyone at the moment, but Cody headed for the door without questioning her.
“What’s up?” I asked him in the truck.
“I had an idea.” He turned on the ignition. “There are a lot of Cavannaughs to question, and they stick together. I wouldn’t put it past Amanda to warn them to get their stories straight just in case. Back in the summer, your favorite ghoul said he could tell when people are lying as long as they’re not sociopaths.”
“You want to recruit Stefan?” The notion gave me an unsettled feeling in the pit of my belly. Or maybe it was just the venison sausage.
“He owes me.” That was true. Stefan credited me with saving his life, but it was Cody who’d done the actual saving. I’d just created the opportunity. “What’s the matter?” There was an edge to his tone. “I thought you’d gotten pretty cozy with him.”
I wagged my finger at him. “Ah-ah! You’re not allowed to get jealous over an unsuitable mate.”
He shrugged. “I just think you’re playing with fire when it comes to ghouls in general, and Ludovic in particular.”
“As opposed to whatever we’re doing here?” I said.
Cody smiled wryly. “You have a point.”
Thirty-nine
It was an uncomfortable meeting.
In a lot of ways, I was far more at ease in the Wheelhouse than I had been only a few short months ago. It was still a biker bar, still a hangout for ghouls and the skanks they fed on, but I’d learned to think of the ghouls as Outcast, the Outcast had learned to regard me with a measure of respect, and even the skanks were looking healthier. According to Cooper, Stefan’s prohibition against chemically induced emotions had sent a few of them to rehab. Now their only addiction was the ghouls themselves.
Unfortunately, I still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that Stefan had a direct pipeline to my emotions, distance no object. The second I saw his polite, guarded expression, I realized that he’d gotten a major hit of raw, unbridled lust this morning. And I promptly blushed like a teenaged girl, my blood scalding beneath my skin as I dropped the mental shield I’d automatically raised upon entering the place. My mortification sent a ripple through the Outcast. All around the bar, pupils dilated in a sudden rush.
So much for equanimity.
Stefan hustled us into his office in the back. “I take it you haven’t contained the spirit that was unleashed.”
“Why?” I asked him. “Because the Tall Man’s corpse was stolen?” He gave a brief nod in response. “What do you know about obeah and death magic?”
“Nothing of use, I fear,” Stefan said with regret. “Only that I have heard rumors throughout my life of sorcerers in the West Indies capable of raising the dead.”
Great. That sounded a lot like zombies to me.
“We’re trying to locate the remains,” Cody said. “Sinclair Palmer says that if we do, we might find his grandfather’s, um, duppy. We could use your help questioning suspects. As long as they’re not sociopaths, you can tell if they’re lying, right?”
“Of course,” Stefan said. “Do you require my presence, Officer, or will one of my lieutenants suffice?”
“You trust your lieutenants?” Cody asked. It was a fair question— it was a betrayal by one of Stefan’s lieutenants that had led to the turf war that had nearly gotten all of us killed or worse—but that edge was back in his voice.
Stefan didn’t rise to the bait, but his pupils did a quick, irritated wax-and-wane. “I trust Cooper.”
“I trust Cooper, too,” I added quickly.
Stefan inclined his head. “I will place him at your disposal. Is there any other means by which I may assist?”
“Not at the moment, but stay tuned,” I said. “You’re sure the Palmer ladies are safely out of town?”
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate and I didn’t ask him to. I did tell him about my meeting with Hel and her warning. “Call upon me at need,” he said when I finished. “If there is widespread panic, we can assist in alleviating it.”
“Without ravening?” Cody asked bluntly.
Stefan turned his ice-blue gaze on him. “Did the Outcast not serve you well in the matter of the rutting satyr?”
My tail twitched at the memory of that night. “They were great,” I assured him. “I can totally tell that they’re more disciplined. So, um . . . can we borrow Cooper now?”
Stefan looked back at me, pupils dilating a bit and then steadying. Whether I liked it or not—and the jury was still out on that one—we had a bond, and the silence that stretched between us was filled with unsaid things. “Yes.”
For the remainder of the day, Cody and I drove around Pemkowet with Cooper on his vintage motorcycle as our wingman, interviewing Cavannaughs and the descendants of Cavannaughs.
Although it would have delighted me to no end if Stacey Brooks had turned out to be a grave robber, alas, it wasn’t so. Cooper confirmed that her mother wasn’t, either. And in fact, neither were any of the other seven members of the community who were direct descendants of Andrew Cavannaugh.
“Sorry to waste your time,” I said to Cooper, while Cody was on the phone reporting to the chief.
Cooper shrugged, hands deep in the pockets of his jeans. “It was a lead worth following. And I’ll tell you what, none of them may have been lying when they said they didn’t do it, but they were nervous.”
I remembered how jittery Amanda had been in her office, fidgeting with stuff on her desk. “About what?”
“Can’t say. I can’t read thoughts, just emotions. But at a guess, I’d suspect none of them were sure that one of the others hadn’t done it.”
“But none of them did,” I said.
“Right.”
“Do you think they know more than they’re saying?” I asked.
Pulling one hand from his pockets, Cooper cocked a thumb at himself. “Again, not a mind reader, me. But . . . no. More like fear and uncertainty.”
“Huh.” I wondered if we should cast a wider net, maybe interview husbands and wives instead of just blood relatives. I glanced over at Cody, who was listening and nodding into the phone. It was getting late and the fading sunlight glinted on his stubble; he needed to shave again. I shivered a little at the memory of his chin rasping against my shoulder.
Cooper followed my gaze. “There’s no future for the likes of you with a wolf, missy.”
I eyed him. “You could tell me what he’s feeling, couldn’t you?”
“I could, but I won’t,” he said with another eloquent shrug. “Myself, I’m Team Stefan all the way.”
“Ha ha,” I said. “That might actually be funny if your boss had indicated he was interested in me that way.”
Cooper’s pupils contracted. “You think he hasn’t?”
“I don’t know. Has he?” Now I was uncertain. Sure, there was the hunger I sensed in Stefan, but that had more to do with
