Tempting Whispers: The Kategan Alphas 6 (11 page)

They came into another room, a large
sitting room or maybe a study. The room made the living room she’d had at
Joseph’s look tiny in comparison, and very, very poor. There sat an assortment
of chairs, from leather that were fit for taller people than her, and several
sofas with coarse-looking fabric in deep brown and a dull yellow. Though it
certainly wasn’t yellow from fading with time, but it’d meant to be that color
and it actually fit in well with the masculine, if not stuffy, design of the
room.

A man stood from behind an expansive
desk and smiled. He had long blond hair, nearly to his wait, and he wore what
reminded her of a robe-style shirt that billowed around his wrists and stopped
mid-thigh with matching baggy pants. Brayden released her hand to clasp King Brunes’
and Vanessa fidgeted at the loss, finally crossing her arms. She felt weird in
this place, naked and way out of place in her jeans and red T-shirt.

“Justicar Brayden, good to have you
here.” He waved a long-fingered hand toward the furniture. “Please, take a
seat.” King Brunes folded his tall form into a chair and crossed his leg in a
feminine way. He wore a cat’s smile and rested his elbow on his bent knee, his
chin on his hand.

Brayden tugged her onto a seat next to
him and Brunes’ gaze flicked to her as if just realizing she stood there. “Who’s
this?”

“This is Vanessa K---”

She quickly spoke over him. “Vanessa
Harrington.” God, she
hated
saying his name, especially combined with
hers. Brayden didn’t look at her, but she felt from the way he stiffened that
maybe he, too, forgot she’d had to take Joseph’s name when they mated.

“Is she a Justicar, too?” he asked
Brayden.

Vanessa stiffened, her eyebrows rising
high. She wondered if she imagined it or if he really did just speak around her
when Brayden answered.

“No, she’s here in an unofficial
capacity.”

King Brunes’ seemed to smile bigger. “Then,
you’ll understand that I wish for this conversation to be...private.”

Brayden didn’t look happy, but nodded.
He turned to her. “Wait outside the room for me.”

Her stomach danced like snakes had taken
up residence, twisting and writhing her nerves into one big mess. She didn’t
want to leave his side and she really didn’t want to be in this house alone,
but she nodded and left. The butler waited in the hallway as if he’d known she’d
be kicked out. He closed the door after her, then left her there.

She stood in the quiet hallway, unable
to even hear the voices in the room, and couldn’t stand it another minute.
Charging forward, she opened the front door and didn’t take a deep breath until
she spotted their car parked in a small lot on the side of the house.
Valet
parking
, she thought and laughed.

For such a big house, there was a
definite emptiness. So much space, yet she didn’t see anyone else except the
valet and butler inside. How could one person live in such a large house by
himself? What rubbish. She crossed to the car, then stopped dead in her tracks.

Her heart started beating wildly in her
chest like it was trying to break out. Her body turned cold and when her eyes
started to burn from the wind blowing, she blinked then slammed her eyes back
open again. No, no, it couldn’t be. She stepped closer to the car, to the item
dangling from the passenger-side door handle. She stopped within fifteen feet,
confirmed that it was what she thought, then started backward, her gaze
scanning the outlying area.

Her heart wouldn’t slow down. Her back
hit the hard scratchy brickwork of the house and she didn’t stop scanning the
forest. Sweep after sweep, her panic didn’t die even as no faces appeared. She darted
looks all around and started scooting sideways to the front door. Then a branch
snapped. Her whole body froze as her gaze swung fast to the trees more than
fifty feet behind the car. Her hands quickly patted down her pants pocket, then
she stopped and almost sobbed. She didn’t bring her pocketknife. How could she
be so stupid? With a final look at the mating bond, the joining of her and
Joseph’s hair and clothing hanging like a tattered rag from the door handle,
she turned and fled inside.

* * *

Brayden listened to King Brunes’
retelling of the night his wife died. He stated the same thing down to an exact
T as he’d written in his report to the Justicars the day they’d found her body.
That didn’t surprise him; he’d expected that much.

What he watched for was the subtle
tells. Tells that most people couldn’t hide or master. The darting of the eyes
away during a lie, the look of the eyes while describing parts of that night—were
they dilating in pleasure? Many guilty people, when pressed, expressed a load
of bodily ticks. A twitching foot, twitching hands and fingers, sagging
shoulders with guilt. King Brunes expressed none of those tells.

He held his shoulders high, his chin up,
and kept on smiling. His crossed leg didn’t bounce or fidget under his
questioning. But what Brunes didn’t realize was that by not showing any of
those tells, he still expressed one in great abundance—confidence. Arrogance.
The first time he’d interviewed Brunes two years ago, the man had sat with both
feet on the floor, his hands steepled together, a look of lost remembrance and thoughtfulness
on his face. The man knew he had nothing new to go on and his over-confidence
shone like a blinking pink neon sign screaming ‘See me, I’m not hiding
anything!’

“When the Givens’ family fished your
dead wife out of the water that night, they claimed they saw bruising on the
side of her face like she’d been struck. Do you have any idea why that might
be?” He watched for a reaction. He hadn’t brought this up in the previous
interview.

Brunes didn’t lose his smile. “Perhaps
she hit her head when she fell over the railing. You know, Justicar Brayden,
this was a long, long time ago. Time I’ve spent moving on and putting the past
behind me.”

I’m sure you have
.
“I spoke with the lead Justicar from the investigation. You remember Daniel
Cuthwright, don’t you?”

Brunes smile fell into a perfect frown. “Ah,
Daniel. Damn shame what happened to him.”

Brayden didn’t move, but his heart
skipped a beat. “And what happened to him?”

Brunes shook his head side to side. “Hit
by a car while crossing the street. Damn, damn shame. He was a good man.”

“Interesting. It’s rare that a car can
kill a vampire.”

“Well, he wasn’t just hit once. After
the initial car claimed him, another behind him drove right over him. Didn’t
have time to stop. Crushed his skull like a watermelon. Terrible way to go.”

Brayden’s next question was interrupted
when the doors flew open and a panicked, wide-eyed, nearly in tears Vanessa
flew to him. “H-he was here. He was here, Brayden.”

Brunes stood. “What kind of trouble do
you bring here, Justicar?”

Brayden shot him a hard look to shut him
up. “What are you talking about? What happened?” he asked Vanessa.

She sucked in an unsteady breath, but
still didn’t have her ragged breathing under control. “The mating wrap. It was
here. On the car.”

Brayden blinked. “Mating wrap?”

Her wet eyes darted around and she
started speaking animatedly with her hands waving all around. “Yes,
the
mating
wrap. The binding between two mates. The symbol of our bonds. My hair and his.
Hello, does any of this mean anything to you? It’s here at the car!”

“Just a moment,” Brayden shot to Brunes,
then grabbed Vanessa and took her outside. He walked up to the car, unlocked it
and scanned inside. “What are you talking about?”

She didn’t answer. Jerking his head over
his shoulder, he found her frozen in place, a look of utter disbelief on her
face. “It was right there. On the door handle. It was right here!” she
screamed.”

“Vanessa—”

“Don’t!” she said in a hard voice then
leaned down to peer under the car. She searched all around it, then gazed off
into the grass. “It was wrapped around,” she said softly as if speaking to
herself. “Maybe it blew off. Maybe it...”

Brayden’s heart squeezed tight and he
pulled her into his arms to ease it. “Tell me what you saw.”

She told him again and he stared at the
passenger door handle. “Hold on.” Leaning down, he studied the door handle.
Pulling it out and searching.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Looking for any strands of hair that
might have gotten stuck.” After a second, he stood and looked at her. Not a
single piece of hair was there.

Stray tears fell down her face. Her hands
wound together then wrapped around her body. “You don’t believe me. You don’t
believe me.”

He scanned the thick expanse of forest
surrounding the house. “I believe you, Vanessa.”

He could hear the breath she sucked in. “You
do?”

So much hope hung in her words it
clenched like a fist tight around his chest. “Yeah, baby, of course I do. Why
wouldn’t I?” True enough. He did believe her.

A sob left her then she flung herself
into his arms. He braced barely a second before he caught her.

Someone cleared his throat and Brayden
looked over his shoulder. The butler stood there, his gaze on the ground. “King
Brunes has a busy schedule. If you wish to finish your interview it must be
now, sir.”

Brayden opened the passenger door then
pushed Vanessa into the seat. He buckled her in, then reached across her to
turn on the car’s A/C. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

Her eyes opened wide and scared. “Don’t
leave me. He’s out there right now.”

He leaned in close to her and cupped her
cheek. “He won’t do anything with me around, and I won’t let anything happen to
you. I’ll be just a minute. Lock the doors after me.” Then he pressed a quick
kiss across her lips and shut the door.

He found Brunes in his office. “Everything
all right?” Brunes asked in a voice that clearly said he didn’t care.

Brayden marched right up to him and got
in his face. For the first time, Brunes’ temper flashed in his eyes. “You had
something to do with her death, I know it. Maybe you even straight-up beat her
and threw her off the boat like a piece of trash. Either way, I’m gonna find
out. Then I’m taking you down.”

“Be careful whom you threaten, Justicar.”

“I’m also going to find out if you had
anything to do with Justicar Daniel’s death. Be sure, if I do, you’re going
down for that, too. You got me?”

Brunes’ cheek clenched, then he smiled. “The
case is closed, Justicar. Let it go. Everyone else has.”

“Not everyone,” he said.

A flicker of emotion, anger, flashed in Brunes’
eyes. “Sarina never did adjust to her mother’s death. She’s got a bit of a soft
side.”

“Maybe, because you killed her mother.”

Brunes’ smiled broader. “It’ll take more
than your puny questions to break through me, Justicar. I have nothing to hide.
Good luck with your investigation. I have a feeling you’ll be needing it.”

Brayden swung on his heel and headed toward
the door. At the last second, he turned around. “Do you know what my track record
is for catching murderers?”

Brunes lifted a bored eyebrow.

“One hundred per cent. Just think on
that, why don't you?”

He slammed the door behind him.

Chapter 10

“Sit down and drink this.” Brayden
shoved a cold can of Coke under her nose until she took it.

She popped the tab with a fizzy hiss and
sipped the sweet syrupy drink. Her eyes searched his office. “Why are we here?
Shouldn’t we be doing something about Joseph?”
God, he knows where I am
.

“We can’t do anything about Joseph
except keep you away from him. I’m going to call your father and see if he’ll
void the contract. If not...then we’ll move on from there.”

She set the cold can on the desk and dug
her palms into her eyes. “And why are we here?” she asked again. She didn’t
want to talk about Joseph now. Every time they did, the road led to a dead end
with no possible out except to go back from where she came. And she couldn’t do
that.

“King Brunes said Daniel was killed. I
have to look into it.”

Her eyes shot to his. “The Justicar we
just met with?”

He nodded, his expression grim. “Seems
he got his skull bashed in by car tires—twice. Stay here; I’ll be right back.”

He left and closed the office door after
him. She fidgeted in her seat, then finally turned the chair so she could keep
an eye on the door. She didn’t like having it at her back...anyone could come
in behind her.

She couldn’t help but notice his office.
It looked as immaculately clean as his home did. The desk was black and shiny,
his walls a shiny bright white that gleaned back the reflection of the
fluorescent light overhead. It all felt very hospital-like.