It was all so interesting…
“I see,” Cherry said, and that irreverent sort of flair of hers was completely devoid from her voice. “I’m ready to move on to the next site.”
The next site.
She said it so simply, but it was anything but that. I needed to go back into that room.
Again.
Although I’d just been there the night before, trailed my fingers over the artifacts of memories past, the idea of going in there was daunting. Especially since I wouldn’t be alone in the privacy of my own head. I would have an audience of one, and a psychic at that. Did her abilities extend into telepathy? I didn’t think so, but again, I hadn’t asked.
“Of course,” I said, instead of saying any of the things that had just gone through my head. “This way.”
Her disposition remained subdued, and it took quite a lot ofpeace, serenity, controlnot to pester her with questions. I wanted to know if she’d seen anything, if any of those fates that talked to her, and occasionally seemed to take over herbody, had any input. We walked to my father’s study in silence, agitation trying to rise within me.
But I managed to contain myself, as had always been my duty, and opened the door. I stepped to the side, uncertain if I should go in first or let her, but my answer came when Cherry strode inside.
Here goes nothing.
Chapter 6
Cheribelle
High Risk, High Reward
I wasin the middle of a crime scene.
That was the only thing I could think of as I stepped in front of an expansive, rather intimidating desk made of polished wood and black marble. I really needed to look up this VanMarche family, because they seemed like high rollers.
I was in the middle of a crime scene.
Normally, I liked to use humor to crack through life when things got too serious, but this situation was a littletooserious. It was uncanny how intensely clean everything was, with not even a speck of dust, but Paul had mentioned that it was forensically cleaned.
Luckily, those guys couldn’t clean away emotions. I could already see so much swirling around me.
My world was always filled with the faint echoes of what had been felt or experienced in that space. Specters lingered long after everyone else had moved on. It was one of the reasons I often needed to sequester myself in my house and get lost in my hobbies.
However, the aura in the room around me wasn’t faint, wasn’t even close to an echo. No, as with many situationswhere the emotions were intense, they filled the entire room in alarming streaks of violent color.
“Oh boy,” I whispered as my eyes traveled across the torrid display. There were red splashes of pain, almost like blood spatter. The way they moved showed me the order in which everything had happened.
Paul had told me the important facts on the case in the car, such as it hadn’t just been his alpha and his brother, but also five of their security detail. I couldn’t wrap my head around how someone could break into this place, take out two powerful wolvesandall their bodyguards, while also being completely undetectable.
Was it a political rival? The place screamed money so loud that it wasn’t hard to believe. Was it personal?
I supposed I was going to find out.
“The attack didn’t happen at the door,” I murmured, following the trail of scarlet agony.
“Pardon?”
I pointed at the first of the red, the faintest, which had toxic bubbles of shocking, vile indigo rising up from it. It was much thicker there than anywhere else in the room. Of course, Paul couldn’t see what I was seeing, but that was fine. As far as he was concerned, I was just notating thewhereof everything that had happened and not the emotions I was seeing.
“There. That’s where the first attack was, and then it moved over to two guards by the door,” I said. The two other places were more vibrant red, with olive clouds of betrayal, but less of the indigo shock. “I assume that’s where they found the bodies?”
“Uh, no, not quite.”
Paul’s tone didn’t sit right with me, so I glanced up at him. The color had drained from his face, and horror radiated from him like little currents of electricity.