Secrets in the Moon (Crescent City Werewolves #1)

Chapter Nine

"It's much more boring to read your own police file than I would have thought," said Cora, perched once more on the cardboard boxes by Hayes' desk. "Although, I feel very sorry for whoever catalogued all the things they took from me for potential evidence. My dresses alone take up three pages."

Hayes made a noncommittal noise, intent on the folder before him to the point of forgetting his half-eaten breakfast. Then she saw that the pages were marked AUTOPSY.

The realization that it must have been about Tierney drew a soft gasp out of her. Hayes looked over, his gaze sharp yet sympathetic. "I wasn't sure you wanted to know anything from this one."

"I can't say I'll enjoy it, but it's important and I might be able to help."

He flipped a few pages back. "The official cause of death is blood loss from multiple gunshot wounds and wolf bites. Both lead and silver bullets were recovered and matched to the injuries. The medical examiner also notes that there were several fresh scars, indicating he had either recently been attacked or that his body was healing before being overwhelmed by too much damage."

"That poor man. When we had our fling, he didn't have any scars at all. I suppose he could have gotten them since then, but I don't see how. He lived at the house with the rest of the servants. Someone would have noticed if he'd gotten mangled."

"Was he ever given time off?"

"Sunday evenings. That's hardly enough time to recover from a round of bullets."

Hayes nodded and kept glancing through the report. "He liked collecting tattoos, obviously. The autopsy report counts nine, including one left unfinished."

Cora quickly added up all the tattoos she remembered on him. "Then he was getting a new one. The last time I had the chance to see them, there were only eight."

"Might be something to check out. It's obvious he liked intricate ones that took hours of work. That means the tattooist should know him a little."

Cora found herself rubbing at the back of her head. The sigil didn't burn any more than usual, but she still said, "Do you think this new tattoo could have been the source of the magic that changed him?"

Hayes' voice lost some of its remoteness, as if he'd sensed why her thoughts turned in that direction. "Probably not the tattoo itself since it's unfinished."

Cora managed to keep quiet for a few breaths before asking a question that had burned at her since she'd seen Tierney in the mortuary. "What happened to him? Who could have done this?"

At that, Hayes offered a small but not unsympathetic smile. "That's what we're trying to find out."

"I know, and it's fun until I think of how Tierney didn't deserve this by any means. Then it's simply frustrating. I suppose it was foolish to believe meeting with the Saxbys would give us more information. Instead, they were just as baffled, and we didn't learn anything useful at all."

He closed the file. "I wouldn't say that. They lied about a few things."

"Really? Like what?"

"You said it yourself. They were more concerned about your father than Dominic Tierney. If they were only interested in the magic as claimed, then their main demand should have been having the body examined by the pack enchanters."

Cora tried to think of the most logical explanation but quickly gave up and went with the first one that came to mind. "Perhaps the Frosthounds were telling the truth. Maybe my father did work with the Saxbys. It seems so unlike him, but then, he did like making money more than anything else. And his lawyer, Mr. Forrester, implied that Father was trying something new. Do you think that's it? That one of the other wolf packs paid the informant to find out the details and then somehow used Tierney to kill my father? And perhaps he was meant to go after the Saxbys as well."