My Warrior (Bewitched and Bewildered #12) - Alanea Alder Page 0,29

napkin. Though she smiled, Brie could tell half her tears were from mirth, the other half grief. "After today's horror, I thought I'd never laugh again, yet here I am, mere hours later, enjoying myself as my children lay cold and dead."

"If everyone stopped laughing because of the loss of a loved one, this world would be no place for the living," her father said softly. "After I lost my Brianna, I felt angry every time I saw someone else smiling, until I realized that because of how I was reacting to others, my own baby girl had stopped smiling altogether. I knew that Brianna would never want us to live like that. In fact, I bet I have an ass beating waiting for me in the hereafter due to how I behaved after her passing."

Brie nodded. "Probably," she agreed as she went through the photos sent to her.

He turned to the queen. "If you give up your joy, then the ones that took your people from you gain another victory."

The queen gave a timorous smile. "We can't have that."

"Now, what'd you find?" Meryn asked.

Brie held up a finger and continued to scroll through the photos. There. That was the one she was looking for. She passed her phone over to Meryn and sat back.

Meryn quickly turned the phone in her hands and looked down at the picture. She scrolled forward a few pictures then back. Brie knew exactly was she was looking for.

The queen looked from her to Meryn then back. "Please tell me you found something."

"I think we found something."

Meryn sat back. "I was right."

"You were right."

"Right about what?" Aiden asked explosively.

"Catherine has only just filled me in on what's been happening in your world, so when Meryn said what she did, it sounded similar to something Catherine had told me." She glanced over at Amelia. "When Amelia was kidnapped, she was also taken to a processing type center. In the report, it said that had Keelan Ashwood not blocked the spell that targeted the unit warriors, they would have been stripped of their souls." She nodded at Meryn, who held up the phone.

"There's threaded holes in the support beams of the warehouse and scrapes on the floor."

Amelia covered her mouth with a trembling hand. "That crystal machine."

Meryn nodded. "Brie and I are only guessing at this point, but I think that the medical examiner will come back with the same time of death for all the fae."

"We go from knowing nothing to having a solid lead, just like that?" Justice asked.

Aiden beamed down at his mate. "My baby is a genius."

Ari rested his arm on the back of her chair and rubbed her back. "As is mine."

Meryn smiled, but her eyes went back to the pictures. "It's just…"

"Meryn, you should have been in law enforcement," Brie said, leaning back against Ari's warm hand.

Meryn scrunched up her nose. "No way." She then looked at Brie. "Do you know what I'm going to say?"

"I have an idea, because it's the one thing bothering me too about our theory."

"On three," Meryn challenged.

"One, two, three…"

"The pile," Brie said.

"The bodies," Meryn replied at the same time. "Well damn."

"What about the bodies?" Law asked.

Kendrick exhaled and leaned back. "Brilliant. Simply, brilliant."

Meryn held out a thumbs up to the man. "Good for you."

He gave her a flat expression. "So glad I can keep up."

Ari squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up into his questioning face. She took a deep breath. "If the killers used a machine to kill them all at once, the bodies should have been more spread out; they would have been found where they had fallen, but they weren't. The killers took a lot of extra time and effort to dehumanize the dead. They were piled in such a way to make a statement, which is more terrifying than the act itself."

"You think that is scarier than killing people?" Amelia asked incredulously.

Both she and Meryn nodded. Brie looked at Amelia. "People die every day. They don't happen often, but mass murders do happen, lately in the form of mass shootings. In those instances, think about what happens to the people. They are shot, and the killer moves on. The killer is usually acting out of rage or a perceived injustice. They shoot, then they keep going. It's tragic, but the dead in a way keep their dignity. These killers didn't stop their terror after their victims had died. Their torment followed these people into death. They were stacked up like things,