Danea (29 page)

“Who?” Noah’s voice barked through the tiny speaker.

“Galileo has some gulls watching them. He says one of them is dead,” Danea’s voice fell with a little shake.

“Stay in the SUV,” Noah ordered. “I’ll be right there.”

“I’m glad we don’t have a really big town,” Danea murmured.

“Who is Galileo?” Then the words she’s spoken broke into his thoughts. “Gulls? As in seagulls?
We’re taking directions from fucking birds?”

“Yes. Galileo is a seagull,” she leaned forward and pointed ahead of them in the sky. “The big one. He has a couple of his girls watching the motel.”

“I…” he stopped and considered his response. “I have no answer to that.”

“Says the wolf,” she murmured, her gaze never leaving the swooping and gliding gull following the ribbon of the coastal road.
“There…” she whispered at the off white, paint peeling walls of the motel that sat on the fringe between Aftport and the next town, Shell’s Cove.

Dev
eased the SUV into the lot, instantly taking note of the five vehicles laid out in the area, each in front of one of the rooms. Spread out just enough to give the patrons renting the rooms a little privacy. No cleaning carts around. No people at all, he noticed.

“Are they
gonna do that the whole time?” He tipped his head to the side and directed her gaze to the half dozen gulls on the roof.

“They’re watching and listening,” she said simply, her hand on the door handle when he gripped the wrist closest to him. “I have to talk to Galileo…I think the room they’re above is the one you want.”

“Stay here. I don’t think we need the gull or you in the way,” he nodded to the sheriff’s SUV. “And your sheriff does not look happy.”

“Yeah…I get that a lot…” Danea winced when Noah gestured for
Dev to step out of the SUV before he strode around and pulled her door wide. That’s when she noticed the thick, dark cuffs in his hands. “What…”

“They aren’t for you,
Dani,” Noah hooked them on his belt. “The room the gulls are over?” She nodded once. “Stay here, Danea…or the next set I come up with will have your name etched on them. Clear?” He waited until she nodded and dropped to his heels, holding her face in his hands. “Tell me what you know.”

“They smelled them,” she said softly. “Galileo…two of the larger gulls on the roof are his mates. They were there the morning I was attacked. He says they never saw them but they could smell them…they’re very good at that…he’s very upset that he let me get hurt so he’s had them searching since it happened last weekend. He said…they saw a fight in the parking lot very early this morning. One of them died. They know the smell of death, Noah,” she whispered, biting into her lip worriedly. “What are the cuffs for?”

“Seth believes they’re demons…this will stop any magic,” he answered simply. “Stay here, Danea, until we come out. Lock the doors.” He moved to stand, kissing her on the way to his feet. He waited until the door was closed before moving to the front of the SUV and talking to Dev.

She didn’t like sitting and doing nothing. Itchy palms ran heavily up and down her thighs. Waiting and watching as they approached the closed door. She reached for the handle and pu
shed until the door opened, her feet turned and slipped to the concrete of the lot.

Danea listened to Galileo, the clicks and squawks echoing off the late afternoon. She shivered. She’d gone out without her jacket and the sun was now hiding behind some incoming clouds. Arms crossed over her body, hands rubbing up and down. She knew she was barely breathing.

Noah raised his hand, the side of his fist pounding on the closed door to the motel room. He and Dev waited. She watched a slight crack appear and saw Noah shove his foot into the opening at the same time Dev gave the door a sharp push with a pair of palms against the wood.

Danea groaned. Then she couldn’t see a thing!

She started pacing. She growled at Galileo when he swept from the roof because she took a few steps toward the building. No one else was around. The office could easily see the parking lot, but the woman behind the desk simply sat reading. Danea waved her hand at the gull that swooped over her and her feet came to a stop when the motel door bounced open.

Noah had the man by the back of his shirt, the pair of iron cuffs circling his wrists. He raised one hand and let out a whistle, a uniformed man running from a car that Danea hadn’t seen come in from behind her.

“Take him to the office. Put him in a waiting room and do not remove the cuffs,” Noah ground out, jerking the man up to his toes. “Sure you don’t want to talk to me?”

“Fuck off, prick.”

“Done. Take him, Jared, and stay outside the room until I get there,” Noah shoved him forward and looked over at her.

Danea didn’t wait to be yelled at. Relief flooded into her and she was across the parking lot and into his arms without a word.

“It’s alright, Dani…” Noah had braced himself and taken her against him without moving, his arms closing instantly to hold her safe. “I have to ask you some questions,” he reluctantly set her on the ground, his gaze up and at the gulls still waiting patiently, but quietly all of a sudden, he realized. “There isn’t a body inside the room.”

Danea blinked and raised a hand at Galileo
, a series of shrill, short whistles filling the air around her.

The two men, muscled and well-trained, jumped visibly when the thump came from the flat webbed feet striking the roof of a car several feet away.

“It’s in the trunk,” she whispered, shaking and eyes wide. Her gaze swung around the parking lot until she found something and pointed. “The fight was there. The man in the trunk went to the ground and never got up.”

Noah pulled his phone free, his voice clipped and firm. “I want a crime unit to the Last Ditch Motel, north of Aftport. I want a body bag and medical person. I’m on scene.” He shoved the phone into the pocket of his jeans and gripped her shoulders. “Go to the SUV and wait there, Danea. Inside.”

Danea hesitated and swallowed hard. “Noah…”

“Now, Danea,” Noah turned to look at her.

Danea saw the briefest flash of fang at the side of his mouth and shook her head, her hand up and on his arm.

“I know you’re angry…and I know it isn’t at me,” she said softly and brought her other palm up to stroke over his face. “I’m okay. And you’re a very good person and sheriff…” she waited, watching the gold edge around his eyes fade
. He finally exhaled and took her hand in his, kissing the center for a long few seconds.

“Wait in the SUV, Danea. Thank you,” he stroked over the side of her face.

She nodded and went to sit on the edge of the seat, hands clasped and twisting as she watched them stride to the older model car. One of the deputies brought some kind of tool and they worked it around and inside the lock until the trunk popped open.

She knew she
was barely breathing. Galileo was never wrong when he gave her his perceptions and the things he and his flock observed. But a dead body. Maybe they’d been wrong. Maybe he was just unconscious…

But she saw the looks on their faces; saw their heads shaking before Noah lowered the trunk slightly and ran two hands over his neck.
She didn’t know what the next topic was, but she could guess it was about her because they both weren’t very subtle about looking in her direction. She sighed and shifted on the seat, sliding her feet inside and closing the door as they walked toward her.

She let the heat surround her for a minute before lowering the window.

“Dev is taking you back to the daycare,” Noah informed her, one hand on the open edge of the window. “Will the birds follow you?”

“They’ve already gone,” she tried to work up a smile but it just wasn’t going to happen. “There’s a dead person in there, isn’t there?”

“No doubt his partner,” Noah nodded. He tapped the window. “Go back to the daycare. I’ll see you at home later. Oh…thank the bird for me, okay?”

This time she was able to smile, just a little, and nod before closing the window.

****

Noah entered the sheriff’s office with
Dev close behind him. He’d made a phone call on the way in and expected his secret weapon anytime now. He continued toward the room where his deputy stood guard. He’d arranged for Dev to stand quietly, recording for his boss, Seth Anderson at the Institute. He hadn’t asked what it was an institute for or about, but he knew it had to do with putting the purists out of business and helping those they’d already harmed.

Noah tossed the man’s wallet to the table and pulled a chair out. He turned it around and straddled it, his arms across the back and face neutral. Mostly he figured it was the safest way to keep from ripping the man’s throat out for what he’d done to Danea.

He doubted she’d approve.

“So…Jimmy
Granton…you have an interesting sheet,” Noah began in a faintly amused tone.

The man cuffed to the thick loop attached to the table offered up a shrug.

“You got the wrong guy.”

“Is that what your partner said before you killed him?” Noah could feel the demon start to sweat. “Found the body in the trunk. Along with the spear gun you used on the daycare owner out on the beach. Want to tell me why her?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So even when I tell you we’ve already got your prints on the spear gun…
on the fucking arrow shaft…and on the car…and on your partner…” Noah let his voice trail off.

“I want a lawyer.”

Noah sighed and looked toward the glass. He saw the faintest of nods from Dev and returned one.

“I thought you’d be a little difficult so I asked a friend to join us,” Noah tipped his head and waited as the door opened.
There was an infinite satisfaction in seeing the oily kid pale considerably. “Afternoon, Mr. Moore. Thank you for coming.”

“My pleasure, Sheriff
. I’ve discovered an immense sense of satisfaction in helping law enforcement lately,” Sullivan Moore was an imposing figure. Dressed in a form fitting designer suit, carefully manicured fingers tugged on the sleeves of his shirt as he looked over the younger man cuffed to the table. “James Granton,” he said slowly.

Jimmy swallowed hard and looked at the sheriff. “You don’t need him here.”

“Oh? You feeling talkative all of a sudden?” Noah asked with a steady gaze.

“I think James is feeling very co-operative, aren’t you, James?” Sullivan walked around the table, casually taking in the lack of everything in the room. “Not a very hospitable place to be.”

“No, sir,” Jimmy said with a hasty swallow. He didn’t move a muscle when the large, older man moved behind him.

“Did you know I have a grand-daughter, James?”

“I…um…I heard rumors…” he stammered with a voice barely willing to speak. A nervous laugh broke free. “You know…there’s always rumors…”

“Then you’ve also heard that I’m not a very pleasant man when people…my own kind of people…decide to harm someone I care deeply about,” Sullivan continued around the table and pulled the last chair from beneath it. He sat down, long legs stretched out in front of him and his hands resting with deceptive ease on the arms of the chair. One hand moved to open the front of his suit jacket. Lean and muscled, and barely giving the appearance he was somewhere between thirty and forty, Sullivan stared at the younger man.

“I’d never hurt her,” Jimmy assured him quickly, his head shaking rapidly back and forth. “I swear…”

“And this other woman you’ve harmed? What about her? A spear gun bolt…” Sullivan
tsked softly.

“Yeah...but…she’s not…I mean, you’re not related to her…too…are you?”

“Why did you shoot her, James?”

Jimmy shifted in the chair, the iron cuffs clanking. His expression was decidedly uncomfortable.

“Ahh…honor among thieves…or demons…” Sullivan lifted one hand very slowly, his fingers and thumb forming an open C that faced James. He slowly began to close his fingers, watching as James reached up to claw at an invisible something closing off the air supply to his throat. “Answer the questions the sheriff asks, James. I promise you, I will be far, far worse to deal with than whoever you made a deal with. Do you understand me?”

Jimmy nodded, gulping in air as the pressure was gone just as quickly as it had begun.

“Who sent you after Danea?” Noah asked.

“No one,” he snapped back, hands up and waving when Sullivan raised his hand again. “No…it’s not like that…we didn’t know about her…we knew you were a shifter,” he raised one shoulder in a shrug. “We were just in town…hanging out…looking for some work…and rumors started that you had a mate…”

“Why does anyone care if I have a mate or not?” Noah corrected himself. “Who cares, Jimmy?”

Sullivan glanced over at Noah before raising one pale eyebrow at Jimmy.

“The sheriff asked you a question, James.”

“I don’t know,” came the sullen, grudging response. “I don’t. So choking me won’t help. There’s these…rumors…some people who want girls that are human mates. New mates…”

“And just how’d you hear about this?”