Embraced By Darkness

Chapter Four

I stopped and shifted back into human form. After tying together the ends of my torn shirt—for some reason, shirts and the more delicate fabrics like lace didn't seem to handle the shifting as well as jeans—I took out my phone, hit record, and made a brief report. Then I set it down and squatted beside the body.

Liam had died with a look of shock and agony on his face. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, and if it were possible for the smell of terror to linger on a body, then it did here.

Blood covered him from head to foot. It saturated his well-pressed pants and drenched his fine-looking cashmere sweater. It also painted the skin across the back of his hands, and colored his fingernails. And there were strands of pale hair caught between his fingers, though nowhere near enough to cover the head of his dead girlfriend.

There was absolutely no doubt he was responsible for the girl's murder. But why? And just how did the shadow the old neighbor had reported relate? Did we have a potential witness, or was he—she?—another sick part of this gruesome event?

I scanned him again, wondering briefly how he'd died. There was no obvious cause—no gunshot or knife wounds. It was as if he'd just been strolling through the trees when he'd fallen over backward and died.

Heart attack? It was a possibility. It had certainly taken a heartbreaking amount of strength to do what he'd done—and he didn't smell like a were or a shifter of any kind. But if he were human, then his actions were even more extraordinary.

I waited for several more minutes, just squatting there, staring at the body, but nothing registered. Maybe this guy's soul didn't want to come out and talk. Maybe it was too shell-shocked. Or ashamed.

I rose, grabbed my phone and ended the recording, then rang the Directorate again.

'Gee, this is my lucky day, isn't it,' the cow said dryly.

'I just found our murderer. You'd better send in a second cleanup team.'

'You didn't kill him, then?' she said, in her most sarcastic tone. Someone had been reading my file again, and had obviously discovered my reluctance to kill. I'm sure it amused her greatly—though she could hardly talk. Sal wasn't the only one who could break into secure files, and her own such reluctance was the reason she was a liaison rather than a guardian.

'He was already dead when I found him. There's no apparent reason for the death, so we'll need an autopsy.'

'I'll arrange it.'

'And tell Jack I'm heading back home to finish my holiday. I'll send him my report tomorrow.'

'He won't be pleased.'

'Tough.'

After all, what was he going to do? Fire me? He'd spent too long getting me into the guardian ranks already.

I hung up, sent the two recordings to Jack, then turned off the phone. The minute the cow told him what I was doing, he'd undoubtedly want to talk to me, and all I wanted to do right now was go back to Kellen's, have a long, hot bath, then curl up in bed beside him.

None of which I could do until the cleanup team got here. So I waited, keeping away the curious and the occasional dog. When the team—three shifters I'd never met before—arrived, I explained events and told them to report their findings back to Cole, so he could include it in his report.

Then I retrieved my coat, and got the hell out of there.

I went home long enough to grab my ID, just in case I was called out again, then continued on to Kellen's. He was indeed working when I arrived back at his building. He looked totally scrumptious in black pants and a pale cream shirt, both of which showed off his gleaming chocolate skin to perfection.

He looked up as I entered his office, and did something of a double take. 'You look a mess.'

'With compliments like that, is it any wonder I'm madly in love with you?' I replied dryly.

'No, seriously,' he said, lightly touching the semi-healed cut near my hairline, his fingers so warm against my skin. 'What's happened?'

'The cab got shunted off the road by a truck.' I shrugged. 'I'm okay, the driver's okay, so it doesn't really matter anymore.'

'You should have contacted me—'

'So you can do what?' I interrupted, and saw the annoyance flair in his eyes. Not wanting an argument, I quickly added, 'I would have rung you if it was anything serious. You want to go out for lunch?'

'Unfortunately, I'm crazy here at the moment.' He shoved a hand into his trouser pocket and withdrew the keys. 'Consider my home your home. I'll be up there as soon as I can.'

'Your home might soon be my home, so it goes without saying that I'll make myself comfortable there.'

'There's no might about that, woman,' he said, tone a growl but eyes glinting with amusement.

I grinned, then grabbed his shirt and dragged him to me, kissing him long and hard, right there in his office, in front of everyone. 'Don't be long.'

I released him and did a sexy walk on out of there. He didn't follow, nor did I expect him to. But I was betting he'd be upstairs sooner rather than later.

I stripped down once I'd reached his apartment, then poured myself a luxurious bath, sprinkling the water with the lemongrass scented salts I found in the bath cabinet. At least they'd help erase the lingering aroma of death and blood from my skin. I shoved several new age CDs onto the player, relaxing a little as the ambient beats and melodious singing filled the apartment, then climbed into the rich-smelling hot water.

And there I stayed until all the underlying aches from the accident had been washed away, and my skin began to resemble a prune.

Once dried and dressed, I wandered out to the kitchen and made myself a coffee. It was two in the afternoon, which meant my earlier assumption about Kellen's appearance had been totally wrong. Work was more problematic than I'd figured, obviously.

But given there wasn't a whole lot I could do about that—other than hope he got up here before nighttime—I made myself a sandwich then headed over to his computer. I typed up my report and sent it to Jack, then cruised the Net for a while, checking out my favorite music sites to see what was new. Finally, with nothing better to do, I decided to print out the file Blake had sent me, and read that again.

Only to discover that Adrienne had shared an apartment with another woman. Blake hadn't said anything about the woman, but it was briefly mentioned in one of the police reports. Yet no one seemed to have interrogated her, which was odd. I placed the file on the desk and went to the white pages to find a phone number. None listed. Either the number was private, or both women used their cell phones rather than having a landline, which was certainly a cheaper option these days. I went back online and signed into the Directorate's database. Nothing major had happened at Adrienne's address beyond a large number of break-ins. But then, while St. Kilda was considered a trendy suburb, it still hadn't shaken its darker past. Prostitutes and druggies still haunted the streets, and break-ins were often a side effect of at least one of those elements. Had to feed the habit somehow.

I drummed my fingers on the desk for several seconds, wondering if I had time enough to go out before Kellen came back up.

Which was unlike me. I'd never run my life to suit a man, and it was stupid to start doing so now. I cared for Kellen, there was no doubting that, but we weren't yet a committed couple. Even if we were, I had no intention of tailoring every moment of my life to someone else's time clock. That just wasn't my idea of married bliss.

And if it was his, then he was in for a huge shock. This was not likely to be the last time I was in his bad books.

So I wrote him a brief note, picked up my purse and his keys, and headed out. I caught a cab and headed to Adrienne's address.

Rather unsurprisingly, her apartment was on the Esplanade, one of St. Kilda's main streets and only a stone's