Carnal Sin

FOUR

Grant Nelson had been staring at the dead young woman for several minutes when Johnston said, “Nelson? You okay?”

Grant turned his back on Stephanie Frazier’s frozen remains, her body folded improbably into Kent Galion’s freezer. He didn’t work Missing Persons, but he’d heard from Julie at Velocity that Stephanie had been missing since she’d complained about Galion hitting on her Wednesday night.

Missing Persons hadn’t taken Stephanie’s disappearance seriously until her roommate, a flight attendant, came home a week after Julie had last spoken to Stephanie and said her car was in the garage, she hadn’t fed her cat for days, and none of her clothing was missing. While Missing Persons was retracing her last steps, two neighbors came forward and stated that Stephanie was last seen in the passenger seat of a black Mercedes.

Galion drove a 2009 Mercedes coupe.

Because of Grant’s involvement with Galion’s case, Missing Persons contacted him after the body was found in Galion’s Glendale home.

“It makes no sense,” Grant said as much to himself as to Johnston. “Why did Galion do this?”

Johnston wasn’t so sure. “We don’t know he-”

“Like hell we don’t! He attacked a waitress at Velocity last Friday. I wouldn’t have believed it except I saw it. So did Julie and the bouncer. Galion broke the girl’s arm.”

After what Grant had witnessed, it wasn’t difficult to believe that Galion had killed Stephanie Frazier and stuffed her in his extra freezer.

“Galion has a brother; maybe-”

Grant knew where Johnston was going with the questions, but that didn’t mean he was right. Grant trusted his gut, and his gut told him all the evidence would point to Galion-Kent Galion, not Marcus-as being the killer. But he also knew they had to cover all the bases. “Work with Glendale PD on the case, check into the brother, anyone else who had access to the house. It’s not our case, but I want to know what they find.”

“Roger that,” Johnston said. “And for what it’s worth? I think your instincts are right on the money. But it doesn’t hurt to rule out the brother.”

Grant strode over to the head of the CSU. “How do you handle a frozen body?”

Isabelle Juarez looked at him over the top of her reading glasses. “Since we can assume foul play-most people don’t accidentally die naked in a freezer,” she added sarcastically, “we’ll transport the freezer with the body intact to the coroner’s office and thaw her out there in a controlled environment in order to preserve potential evidence.”

“How long does that take?”

“We don’t want to warm her up too quickly because that’ll mess with time of death and bacterial evidence, so probably twenty-four hours. I’ll let you know.”

“Any sign of assault?”

“We haven’t processed the entire house,” she replied. “It’s been cleaned recently. But we’ll go over the house with a fine-toothed comb. I know you’ll need everything for a case like this.”

“Our chief suspect’s dead. This is Kent Galion’s house. The victim’s been missing since Wednesday night, and I have witnesses who place her in the same make and model car as Galion’s.”

Juarez nodded as she put the information together. “Right, I heard about that. Galion died in the alley behind Velocity. Attacked a waitress and was killed by a cop.”

Grant bristled-he hadn’t killed Galion, he’d used proper force for the circumstances-but he felt no need to explain any of it to the CSU.

“That makes this very interesting,” she continued, sticking her glasses in her pocket and pointing to one of her team to finish photographing the freezer.

Interesting.

Grant wouldn’t have used that word.

Rafe wanted to talk with Moira, but he didn’t know where she’d gone. He took a few minutes to pack for their trip, and when he returned to the kitchen Rico was there alone. Rafe glanced out the back window and saw Anthony and Skye standing close together on the cliffs, far beyond the deck.

He didn’t mince words. “What did Moira mean about her blood?”

“She shouldn’t have said anything,” Rico said.

Rafe glanced at Rico as he leaned against the kitchen counter. The man was the best damn trainer on the planet. He was also arrogant, cunning, and rigid. There were no gray areas with Rico, no weakness, no slacking. If you didn’t perform 100 percent every minute of every day, his criticism was wicked.

“Spit it out, Rico. I know what you’re thinking.”

Rico didn’t show agitation or surprise. “I doubt that.”

“You don’t trust me. You still think I was somehow party to the priests’ murders at the mission.”

Just saying it out loud caused the acid in Rafe’s stomach to bubble and burn. Guilt warred with the injustice of Rico’s silent accusations.

“I know you would have given your life to save any one of those men.” Rico’s words stunned Rafe into silence. “However, you’re correct that I don’t trust you.”

“What’s going on?” Rafe asked, though he wasn’t quite sure what he was asking. The pressure of the last two weeks-awakening from his drug-induced coma, saving the young Lily Ellis, stopping the coven, losing Father Philip, and then the rigorous physical therapy to regain his strength-weighed on him. Not to mention that while everyone else had had months to mourn the deaths of the twelve priests last November, in Rafe’s mind only two weeks had passed.

“You could have been a brilliant theologian or demonologist, but you left St. Michael’s for St. John’s. You could have been a great priest, but you left St. John’s for Olivet. You could have been a top warrior, but you left Olivet to return to the seminary. Yet you never took your vows, leaving St. John’s for Santa Louisa de los Padres.” Rico assessed him. “How can I trust you? You have no direction, no true allegiance. It’s as if you’re waiting for something, unable to commit. At your age, that’s unacceptable.”

Rafe’s blood boiled. “I am loyal to St. Michael’s.” Rico didn’t respond. “Dammit, Rico, how dare you doubt my devotion!”

“Moira has never lied to me until today. She’s protecting you.”

“Don’t be an idiot. Moira isn’t protecting me from you.”

Moira lied to Rico? What had she said? Rafe had never asked her to keep any secrets, though they had skirted around some of their concerns about what happened to him in the hospital while he was in the coma. Was that what she didn’t want to tell Rico?

“Then explain to me how you learned to stop the Conoscenza ritual. How you knew the language.”

“I don’t know. The words just came to me.” Rico’s disapproval and doubt mirrored Rafe’s own heart, but he pushed it aside. He wished he knew how he’d been able to save Lily Ellis, the arca, the teenager who would have been sacrificed to house the Seven Deadly Sins in her body for Fiona and her coven to use at will. He’d just … known. And he hadn’t stopped the ritual; he’d only saved Lily and prevented the coven from trapping the demons. They’d been released into the world, and people were still probably dying because of it.

He had some ideas about his knowledge, but those ideas terrified him. From his dreams-his nightmares-Rafe knew things he should not know. And sometimes he had the sense that he wasn’t quite himself anymore. But he couldn’t tell Rico any of this. Because deep down, while he never doubted Rico’s loyalty to the demon hunters he trained, he also knew that Rico was ruthless. Any members of the Order who showed signs of mental instability were sent back to Italy for “observation,” but they were really in a glorified prison. Even with all the screening and protection and training, some members snapped.

“Anthony is protecting you, I understand,” Rico said. “You and Anthony have always been close, and I