"Honestly, I'm not."
He snorted softly. "Yeah, trusting that statement, too. But for now, I'll let it drop. Come on."
He spun and headed back up the steps. I let out a silent sigh of relief and followed, putting on the protective booties and gloves as he identified me to the hovering crime-scene recorder.
The inside of the two-story home was as modern as its outside. Crisp white walls, shiny wooden floors, bright abstract art, and leather and chrome furnishings. This time the murder had taken place in an upstairs bedroom rather than in a living space, but as with the first victim, this man was fully dressed and apparently hadn't noticed the web being spun up his body.
Rhoan stopped at the end of the bed. I halted beside him, Azriel still a warm presence at my back. The man on the bed was a thin, graying inpidual who looked to be in his midsixties, and he was as modern in the way he dressed as he furnished his house. But the expression frozen onto his face was one of pleasure, and his stomach bore the two fist-sized slashes that had been evident on Wolfgang. I flared my nostrils, trying to find some hint of the odd alien musk that I'd smelled at the first murder scene, but either it had dissipated, or it was lost under the scent of all the crime men and women coming and going in the room.
"Did you get here first?" I asked, glancing at Rhoan.
"Yes." He met my gaze. "Why?"
"Did you smell an unusual aroma? It's similar to the musk of a shifter, but odder, if that makes sense."
"It was faint, but yes."
"What about at the first victim's?"
"Also present." His expression remained noncommittal, but the anger in him suddenly ramped up again. "How did you know about the scent when it's not evident now?"
"Because, uh—" My voice faltered, and I cleared my throat, resisting the urge to step away from the anger that would undoubtedly follow if I finished that sentence. I knew he would never hurt me, but that didn't make him any less scary at times like this.
"It is a smell common to many of the darker spirits who inhabit this world," Azriel cut in smoothly. "Especially those who are also capable of shape-shifting."
Oh, good reason, I said to Azriel. Thanks.
It is also the truth, he replied. His mental tones were still frosty.