Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,14
get a cleaning team in here. You’ll need people specifically trained to handle blood and any other…tissue that might be around.” I turned to Leela. “We’ll take a look at his computer system and try to find next of kin, but I’m not authorizing anybody coming in here until that is taken care of.” I pointed to the carpet. “It looks like a blood bomb went off.”
“That’s not my fault, and I shouldn’t have to pay for the cleaning.” She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes.
“You may not have to,” Viktor said. “The city has a special fund you can apply to if you’ve been affected by a major crime, for things like this—cleaning and car rental and so forth.”
“Well…” Leela gave us a resentful look, then shrugged. “Who do I call to clean up this gorefest? I doubt Milly’s Maids will tackle it.”
“We’ll get you the number of a cleaning company specializing in hazardous waste situations like this.” I looked around, trying to avoid the stained carpet. It might be dry by now, but I had no desire to walk over Mendin’s grave, so to speak. It was likely he’d been killed right in that spot, given the amount of blood. After a moment, I spotted his desk and nudged Viktor with my elbow. “Over there.”
“Right. Come on, if you walk across the sofa, you can avoid the carpet.”
I pushed one of the recliners sitting opposite the sofa back against the wall, leaving a narrow trail around the mess. “Or we can just go this route.” We neared the desk. I glanced over my shoulder at the landlady. “Did he have any pets? Any friends that you know of?”
“Nope, and not that I knew about. Mendin kept to himself and I didn’t intrude. He paid his rent on time, never made any fuss to annoy the neighbors, and he was a good tenant. Steady fellow, even if he was a shifter. I rented him this house about five years ago, and he seemed to settle right in.”
Leela let out a gruff sigh and dropped into one of the chairs on the opposite side of the room. She pulled out a cigarette and, without asking if we minded, lit up. As she sat there, puffing away, I had a sudden picture of her life. She seemed older than her years, hardened by life and tired of coping with everything fate threw her way. She was worn out, and it showed on her face, in her movements, in her energy.
As we approached the desk, Leela said, “I’m not much on his kind, but for someone to do this… I just don’t understand the cruelty of life, you know? I don’t know what the killer did to him, but there’s so much blood… I already talked to the police, but there wasn’t much I could tell them. I live three blocks away, and I wasn’t the one who found him.”
That was the second time she’d made a questionable remark about Mendin’s lineage. I glanced over at her, wondering just how far her distaste extended.
“Who did find him?” Viktor asked.
“He carpooled to work. Tuesday morning, when he didn’t meet them on the street, one of his coworkers came in to find out why he wasn’t answering their texts. The door was unlocked and when the guy opened it, he found him.” She shook her head and went back to her cigarette.
I sat down at the desk. It was one of those simple computer desks, with a hutch over the top. There was a laptop on the desk, along with a few bills, an empty coffee mug that looked like it had been used, a bowl of M&Ms, a framed picture, and not much else. The desk didn’t look like it had been disturbed.
I opened the lid and pressed the power button. It came on so quickly that I realized it had been in sleep mode. And luck was on our side—it wasn’t password-protected.
I glanced at the various apps. Mendin liked to play games, that much was apparent. There were at least two dozen icons for games, most of which I recognized as either role-playing games or first-person shooter games. There were a few puzzle games as well. I opened the folder leading to his documents and scanned the files. A few were labeled as correspondence, but one bore the title “Clients.” I opened that one.
Viktor was watching from behind my back. “You think the killer might be one of his clients?”