gently, putting his phone down on the rolling tray table beside the bed. “Now that your lawyer has left you in the hands of your cyne, and he has agreed that you should cooperate with us, I’m going to record this conversation while we all take notes.”
Except for a faint whimper, my cousin remained silent.
“Now, Mr. Talmadge, will you please walk us through the events of the evening as you recall them.”
He took a breath and slowly turned his head, his eyes lifting to me. “I need to know what my cyne is going to do to me first.”
“No,” I replied flatly. “Tell them everything now, and then we’ll talk.”
Trembling hard, reacting, I was certain, to the utter revulsion in my voice, he rolled his head on the pillow, returning his gaze to Avery. “I don’t—it was just a regular night, like all the other gathering nights.”
Which was why Remy was never at the parties, he was at his house putting omegas into mock heat for money on those nights.
“And the omegas,” Avery prompted him, “can you tell us who was there?”
“Not by name off the top of my head. Most of them were nineteen or twenty and had already attended their first gatherings, but weren’t successful at securing a bonding. The brand-new omegas, the debutants, young and fresh, they rarely come to me. I get a few here and there, those who want to assure themselves a quick bonding, but it’s typically the older ones who are starting to panic.”
“Thank you,” Avery replied. “Please continue.”
“I was in the living room, giving them the rundown of how things work, how I take each one into my bedroom, but the doorbell kept ringing, so I had to start the explanation over and over, and soon there were more omegas than I was expecting.” He went to rub his forehead, but the bandage stopped him, and his hand dropped back down beside him on the bed. “I didn’t know what was going on at first, but then I remembered that my cousin, him,” he whispered, “Graeme, he was supposed to attend the gathering. He’d missed others, but for whatever reason, everyone was pretty sure he was going to show up to this one.”
“Did you attend, Mr. Davenport?” Detective Ness took that moment to confirm.
“I did,” I replied.
He nodded and then looked to Remy. “So the possibility of Mr. Davenport attending this gathering in particular, that’s why more than the usual number of omegas were at your place?”
“Yes. They come to the house, I put them into heat, and they go from my place to the gathering. Some of them have cars waiting, some drive themselves—that part’s not important to me, but I do tell them if they’re not having someone circle the block, they need to park a street over to avoid suspicion.”
“So you’re telling us there were extra omegas at your place tonight.” Detective Massey was clarifying.
“Yes,” Remy answered. “Like I said, because of Graeme. He’s a cyne. He leads a holt. There’s not a lot of them to begin with, and even fewer who aren’t mated. When he attends a gathering, a party where omegas are presented, all of them show up. No one wants to miss out on––”
“Move on, Remy,” I demanded icily.
“Please, Mr. Davenport,” Detective Massey urged me, “let him speak.”
I was quiet as Remy shivered.
“I was—it was hard to hear all the omegas chirping about my cousin being there and how excited they were, but I know better, right? I know what my cousin wants, and it’s not some throw-away omega. He was only there because he had to be, but he’d never settle for a waifish little doll. It’s so stupid that they don’t just say what an alpha is to save everyone from wasting their time. Like with Graeme, he wants a beta or a gamma, someone strong. And I wanted to tell the girls they were especially out of luck, because he’s not bi like me; he’s gay, and he’s looking for a––”
“Never mind,” Detective Massey cut him off. “I thought this was gonna be important, but you can stop with all the bullshit and whatever the fuck you’re tryin’ to do here. We don’t care who your cousin wants to fuck, Mr. Talmadge. Unlike you, he’s not a suspect.”
“What?” Remy gasped. “No. You can’t think I did anything to––”
“We do,” Avery assured him sharply, but then quieted his tone, softened it purposely, “until you give us reason to believe differently.”