Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,8

didn’t mention you knew the victim,” I said casually. “That might have been helpful.”

“She’s pack,” he replied simply.

Meaning Ford had known her too, and he had kept just as silent while I stupidly followed procedure and waited to see if the cleaners identified her based on her fingerprints. He had handled me like a pro, and I had bought into his aww shucks routine without blinking because he was so darn likeable.

Credit where credit was due. Or, in this case, blame. I was the one who made the verbal report to Bishop as fast as I could rattle off the pertinent details, and I did it without input from the pack reps. All in order to avoid Midas’s notice, which I had attracted anyway.

The shadow I cast across the wall slow clapped for me until I wanted to punch the bricks where his face ought to be. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“Nothing will make this easier for her mother, but it will help if I’m the one who delivers the news.” He might have tried to hide his short, quick breaths, but the flare of his nostrils drew my eye. “Wounded predators don’t respond well to other predators in their dens.”

“I understand.”

Surprise flitted through his impossibly blue eyes, which I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been gazing into them again. Likely that’s why he let it show. Most folks had more sense than to make eye contact with him.

“No false modesty?” He canted his head, looked his fill. “No argument against your predatory nature?”

“This job requires a predatory nature.”

“True.”

Heels clicked on pavement, and a woman’s tremulous voice called down the alley, “Midas?”

“On my way, Bonnie.” He lingered with me a moment longer. “If any staff member has threatened you, propositioned you, or otherwise made you feel uncomfortable in your own home, you can tell me.”

As tempting as it was to throw him off my scent by blaming my anxiety around him on another gwyllgi, I couldn’t toss someone else under the bus. “It’s not like that.”

“Midas?” the woman tried again, her voice going impossibly softer. “The Randalls are waiting.”

“I have to go.” He blasted out a sigh. “The victim was Shonda Randall, by the way.”

“Thanks for that.” I could tell this was costing him, so I paid a little back. “For giving me a chance.”

“You’re welcome.” He glanced over his shoulder. “The offer stands.”

“Which offer is that?”

“You can come to me if you have any problems at the Faraday.”

“I can manage.”

A slight dent appeared in his right cheek a more charitable woman might call a dimple. “I’m sure you can.”

He turned and started toward the slip of a woman doing her best not to cower when he got close.

“Come on, Bon.” He didn’t reach out, didn’t touch her, and they both seemed relieved to avoid the contact.

Maybe I was misremembering the chapters I read on gwyllgi as part of my training, but I could have sworn this pack, thanks to their distant warg ancestry, were big on touch as a means of reaffirming pack bonds.

Since it was none of my business who rated skin privileges and who didn’t, I tabled my curiosity and hit the stairs.

I lived two stories up, which suited me fine. High enough to easily defend but low enough to jump if I had no other choice. Why yes, those were the selling points the potentate mentioned before showing me to my shoebox—I mean, apartment.

The intricate exterior lock on the window was my doing. Since I only used the front door when accepting deliveries, I considered this my primary entrance and locked it behind me every time I left. There was no point, really, considering how tight security was at the Faraday. Yet another reason for its sky-high rent and exclusivity. I never could have afforded this address without the potentate, who lived several floors above me, footing the bill as a thinly veiled attempt at keeping tabs on me via job perk. Not that I was complaining. Free is free.

Sadly, the POA’s generosity hadn’t extended to a decorating budget, so I managed to furnish it for pennies since that’s all I had to rub together these days.

The layout was a perfect cube. As with most efficiency apartments, it came without interior walls. The front door, which opened onto the hall, stood opposite the single window I used to come and go. The other door, on my left, led to the extravagant, if compact, bathroom. The microkitchen managed to fit everything a girl