Running a hand through his spiked hair, he sighed and dropped back into his seat, indicating she should take the one on the other side of his desk.
“There’s been another murder connected with the case Shade and I were working on,” he said. “A woman. The wounds looked as if they came from an animal. This isn’t for publication, but the ME says it was some kind of canine. The wounds on two other recent murder victims were similar.”
Which made her think about the predators at the fight. That must have been why her brother had been there. Investigating homicides. He’d made the connection and had been following up on it.
“What about Shade’s casebook?” she asked. “And his cell phone.”
Ethan frowned. “The odd thing was that we didn’t find his cell phone on him.”
Thinking of the casebook, she said, “Dad already got to you, right?”
His expression was all the confirmation she needed, although he said, “I’m telling you the truth about the cell.”
“He always had it on him. The casebook, too,” she reminded him.
“I know. And Roger said he spoke to him around seven, but Shade said he was late for something and couldn’t talk.”
“What could have happened between seven and the time he was shot? Maybe it’s in his car?”
“We checked. Not there.”
“I didn’t find it in his apartment, either.” She hesitated only a second before asking, “Ethan, what about his casebook?”
He looked down and straightened an already straight pile of folders on his desk. “I, uh, have to copy it first before I can release it.”
Certain he was stalling, she said, “Shade wants me to see his casebook.”
“You can’t yet.” He hesitated a second and then said, “You make it sound like he told you that.”
“As a matter of fact, he did.”
“How long ago was this?”
“Today. A little while ago. He’s here, Ethan. Shade’s here.”
“Oh, Skye...”
“Don’t look at me like that!” There was nothing to pity. She hadn’t imagined it. “Not here exactly. At his place. Apparently, he can’t leave the apartment.”
Ethan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Have you been sleeping?”
“Some.” Though weird dreams like the one of the mysterious stranger kept her from getting enough rest. Still, she knew Shade had not been a dream.
“Some,” Ethan repeated. “You need a lot of sleep before you can deal with grief at a distance.” He was out of his seat again, circling the desk to stand in front of her, his expression filled with concern.
“This isn’t wishful thinking, I promise you.”
“I know you want to believe you saw Shade, but your emotions are so jumbled, they’re fooling you, Skye. I understand. After my brother Mike was killed, I kept looking in every corner of the house, thinking he would step in and talk to me any minute.”
She’d heard the story before. Ethan had been in her life ever since he and Shade had started at the academy together. She knew all about the reason Ethan had decided to become a cop, to find his brother’s murderer and to put him behind bars. It killed him that he hadn’t been able to do that. Yet. She had great respect for him. He was a man of integrity and grit, and she appreciated how personally he took every case. But Shade had told her never to talk about her connection with animals in front of him, because Ethan had no sense of fancy and would simply scoff at her. He wasn’t scoffing now, though. He simply looked disbelieving and worried.
Still, she had to try.
“I know my brother is dead. He knows he is. But he’s still here in spirit. Unfinished business. He thinks he needs to crack the case and find his own murderer. With my help, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Don’t humor me. Shade is in trouble. He’s stuck here, can’t move on until he finishes what he needs to do. He was your partner. Help me help him.”
“I want to help you, Skye. I can get you someone to talk this out with.”
“Stop! Really. I’m not crazy.”
“Just grief-stricken. I understand.”
His concern was touching. Too bad he couldn’t believe. “Just tell me why Shade was at that dogfight the night before he was shot. Please!”
“What dogfight? Shade didn’t mention a dogfight.”
That threw her. Why not?
Ethan sank against his desk. “Shade was working on a case without telling me anything about it? That isn’t like him.”
“His short-term memory is gone, but he told me how to get into his online calendar and we saw several similar notations on different days—10 p.m., DF. That must stand for dogfight.” Or what her brother had expected to be a dogfight.
“What the hell was he thinking? What did he get himself into?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”
“I can’t let you involve yourself. This could be a dangerous situation.”
“I’m not going to wait for the wheels of justice to catch up, not if I can do something to help.”
“And get yourself killed like Shade did? Stay out of it. Leave it to me.”
Skye couldn’t agree to that, so she didn’t say anything. She’d thought her brother had shared everything with Ethan, even things he hadn’t shared with her.
So why hadn’t he told Ethan about the dogfight lead?
Chapter Eight
Luc stopped at the security station at the entrance to the cloaked area of The Ark. No guard. Fuck. He swept his gaze over the casino, half the size of a football field. He searched beyond the banks of slot machines to the game tables—blackjack, roulette, craps—and to the sports book area and poker rooms along the back wall.
He spotted the missing guard in an aisle between banks of slots. There was no mistaking him. He had a thick head of silver hair worn long enough that it brushed the back of his collar. The man’s back was turned to the entry, and he leaned in to one of the patrons, a dark-haired woman whose hands were loaded with jewels. Luc reached for the surveillance headset clipped to his collar and tapped the push-to-talk button. “Andreas, report to your station now.”
The guard took a quick look over his shoulder and immediately straightened. He returned to the entry where Luc was fighting to hold his temper in check.
“Why did you leave your station?”
“I was only gone a minute, I swear.” Andreas’s thin lips turned downward. “I could see the door.”
“You didn’t see me come in.” Luc jutted his face into the guard’s. He couldn’t decide if Andreas had been planning to rob the woman of her jewels or if he had darker intentions. “Don’t leave your post. If you can’t do your job, you can always go back to working in the habitat.”
“Yes, sir.” Andreas shook himself. “Sorry, sir.” He rushed back to his station.
A scream suddenly raised the hair on the back of Luc’s neck. A cry prompted not by a lucky streak but by fear. Luc shouldered his way through the crowd and tapped his mike. “Security. Casino floor, now.”