But they weren’t human footprints. There were four of them and from their outline, I could deduce the prints were made by paws. Yep, they were definitely canine. And, what was even more bizarre, there were drops of blood staining the snow in between each one.
Great. Just great.
This prank was going from bad to worse.
“We’ve only had a chief of police for a few months—it would be a shame to lose you to frostbite,” the deep, masculine voice sounded from behind me and I nearly jumped out of my boots.
Instead, I yanked the Colt .45 from its holster around my waist in record time as I spun on my toes and pointed the gun directly in front of me. Right into the chest of whoever had made the bad decision to confront me.
“State your name and your business,” I ground out immediately, watching as the man grinned at me at the same time that he lifted his hands in a placating gesture to show he was unarmed.
And that was when my heart started hammering in record time. I’d seen this man before—and not in a running into a random person in town sort of way. No, this was the same man that had been in the vision I’d had when I’d touched John Doe in the morgue. It was the man with the black hair and steel gray eyes—the one who’d been angry with John Doe, presumably. The man who’d called him brother.
But, how was any of this possible? How was it possible that I’d never seen this man before, other than in the vision I’d received when I’d touched John Doe? And how could that be part and parcel of a hoax? Last I checked, pranks couldn’t delve into your subconscious mind, producing visions of things that made no sense…
The moonlight was bright enough that I could see this man was fully clothed and as far as I could tell, his organs were intact, so he wasn’t my missing corpse.
“The name’s Johnson, ma’am.” His easy smile was already grating on my nerves. In general, cops don’t like smiles. At least, not in the middle of the night, and not when they’re looking for missing corpses. I liked them even less.
“First or last name?” I demanded, still keeping the barrel of the pistol aimed right between his eyes. This guy wasn’t exactly small, which meant the gun was my only protection. The more I studied him, the more I decided he was probably an inch or two over six feet. And with the ample breadth of his shoulders, it wouldn’t be a fair fight. For him. I’d kicked my fair share of nuts in my time. Anyway, he probably outweighed me by a hundred pounds.
I shrugged. The bigger they are... the harder they fall.
“Last name,” he said, his tone of voice sounding strangely casual, considering he was now facing the barrel of my gun.
“What’s your first name, Johnson?” Looking beyond him, I scanned the perimeter, keeping an eye out for what might very well be a wild wolf. Or one hell of a big-ass dog.
Glancing back at my visitor, I decided I didn’t like his easy manner. Even though I had to admit with his black hair reflecting in the moonlight, the shadow covering his square jaw, his aquiline nose and his wide and large eyes, he was good-looking. Well, for a potential thief, rapist, murderer, or just general jerkoff, that is.
He chuckled a deep and melodious sound that did nothing but tick me off even more. “I can promise you my first name isn’t jerkoff.”
I blinked.
Hard.
Then I blinked again, even harder.
Hadn’t I called him Johnson? I mentally rewound the last few seconds of our conversation. Then I went over it again. I was certain, at least in the ninety-percent range, that I’d called him Johnson. Yes, I’d thought of calling him jerkoff, but that was all it had been—a thought.
Right?
Right. I was sure I hadn’t said the word out loud. So that meant…
Was it possible this guy had just read my mind?
What? No. It wasn’t possible!
“Just answer the question or I’ll arrest you for obstruction,” I said acidly as a shiver snaked down my spine. I had to get out of the elements soon or I would succumb to frostbite. I hadn’t exactly dressed for below-zero weather.
“My name is Alexander Johnson, but I go by Alex,” he replied matter-of-factly as he brought his attention from my face to his arms, which he still held up in front of him. “Can I put my hands down now?”
“No,” I answered immediately as I continued to glare at him. “What are you doing out here?” I glanced around him, to check if maybe he had a canine companion that he’d been walking, but as far as I could tell, Alexander Johnson was by himself.
“Keeping an eye on you.” He shrugged.
I glared at him, not liking the sound of that one bit. “What does that mean?”
He smiled broadly. “Don’t you speak English, Elodie Matthews?”
“How do you know my name?”
He shrugged. “You were the only news to grace the town gazette before you moved here. Everyone knows your name.”
“You’re really starting to tick me off,” I continued, feeling gritty anger boiling up inside me. Or maybe I was just hangry. Last I remembered, I’d only eaten breakfast. As if on cue, my stomach growled.
“Sounds like someone missed lunch,” he said with another grin that revealed his perfect teeth. “Let’s discuss this over dinner, shall we? We have lots to talk about.”
“No, we have nothing to talk about,” I shot the words at him as my stomach continued to rumble, which only embarrassed and enraged me further. “One more thing that comes out of your mouth that rubs me the wrong way and I’m taking you into custody just for pissing me off.”
“Is that a thing?”
“It is now.” And, holy hell, did he actually hear my stomach growling? Had it been that loud?
“Okay, okay,” he said as he shook his head.
“Answer my question—what are you doing out here?”
“I decided to take a stroll to get my mind off... some things.” He glanced down at the ground for a few seconds before he looked back up at me as his eyebrows furrowed. “And last I checked, that wasn’t illegal.”
No, it wasn’t illegal. Unfortunately. “What sort of things?” I wondered if he might have been trying to get his mind off the fact that he was involved in a huge prank that could land his ass in jail.
“Things that don’t concern you,” he answered coolly. “Personal things.”
“Any reason you have to be out here in the dark and the snow does concern me, especially when I’m looking for… someone,” I finished, awkwardly. Somehow I figured “bleeding and naked yet animated corpse” wouldn’t go over well.
He shrugged as if his reasons were no big deal, but I could tell he was perturbed. “Personal things as in, I happened to just run into my ex-girlfriend who broke up with me and kicked me out of our house a few months ago. So I thought I’d take a walk in the hopes of meeting a very attractive blond in a tight police uniform who might distract me from my morose thoughts by pulling a gun on me.” He paused as a smile spread across his plump lips. “And, whaddayaknow? My prayers were answered!” He glanced upward and winked at what I imagined was supposed to be God. “Thanks, dude!”
“Okay, that’s it,” I said angrily as I narrowed my eyes and my anger began to spiral out of control. And, yes, my stupid stomach continued to make its hunger known. “Put your hands behind your back!”