A Little Wicked (The Bewitching Hour Book #4)(25)

She stepped in the elevator and hit the button for the lobby. “That sounds bad. Should I be worried?”

“Well, the guy was killed with a bullet and not magic as far as I can tell. That’s a good thing. But I still want to go over a few things. Can you meet me out here?”

“Sure. Out where?”

“Your old house. The burnt-out one.”

She blinked a few times. “Someone was murdered at my old house and you didn’t lead with that? And why are you in Connecticut?”

“The murder didn’t happen here. Just get here and I’ll fill you in.”

Ugh. The last thing she wanted was to drive all the way out there, but if there was a murder, this was important. Sam had a sinking feeling she and Derek wouldn’t have a vacation from this mess for a long, long time. “Sure. I’m on my way now. I’ll text you when I get closer.”

“Great. Love you, Samantha.” He hung up.

She frowned and stared at her phone as she stepped off the elevator. It wasn’t the first time he’d said he loved her, but it was the first time he’d called her Samantha.





Derek did one final walk through the crime scene. There had already been a lot of pressure to open it up because it was a public road. The second that crime scene tape was down, all evidence would be tossed out by any defense attorney worth his salt, so Derek was making sure to look over every little detail that could be used.

He and Parker had already done a thorough search after the video and photographs had been taken.

Voss said the murder was suspected to be drug related, and Derek wasn’t sure where that info came from. All they knew for sure was that Albert had been searched for something that may or may not have been found and taken. The drug label was probably just because of the area.

They would know more after the autopsies were completed.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anything else out of this,” said Parker as she approached. It was getting warmer, so she’d long since lost her jacket, and her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She’d been drinking a steady stream of coffee all day, so she wasn’t acting tired, but the caffeine didn’t hide the circles under her eyes.

But Derek didn’t think she wanted to leave because she was tired. They’d been pretty damn meticulous so far, and he tended to agree that there was nothing more they could do from here. The uniforms had been talking to the people trying to get a view at the crime scene, so if anyone knew Albert or Erik, they could be brought in for more information. He and Parker needed to go through those notes and make sure they visited the nearest businesses to ask the same basic questions.

Some detectives had uniforms do that for them, but Derek liked to do it himself. It was time-consuming, but seeing their face as he asked questions was invaluable in his line of work.

“You’re probably right.” He stretched his back a little bit and blinked a few times to give his sore eyes a break. If he ever left a murder scene without his eyes feeling as though they’d been overworked, he wouldn’t be doing his job right.

Before he could relax, Ryan Carlson walked over. “What did you all find?” he asked. “What do you think happened?”

Derek and Parker exchanged a quick look of annoyance, but he wasn’t sure Carlson picked up on it. Probably not a great sign of his detective skills. “It’s really early in the investigation,” said Derek. “We’ll let you know as soon as we have a theory.”

“You know what I think?”

He didn’t know and he really didn’t want to. But considering Carlson had more experience in this neighborhood, it would be stupid for him to not at least hear the man out. “What do you think?”

He motioned to where the two bodies had been located. “Guys like that don’t come down here for fun. They were doing something bad. Something illicit, if you know what I mean. Things went wrong and whitie started to shoot. Black one went down but he got the white guy in the head, one clean blow.”

Derek was a hundred percent certain that wasn’t what happened but didn’t say anything.

“What do you think happened to the guns?” asked Parker in a dead-serious voice, seeming to enjoy the crazy stream of thoughts.

“Well, look around you, hun. Guns don’t stay around here long. They must’ve been picked up by a passerby before we got here. Pretty open and closed to me.”

He opened his mouth to politely disagree, but his phone started to buzz. It was a text from Sam. “I have to take this.” He left Parker to deal with Carlson alone, silently wishing her luck.

“Just crossed into Connecticut. Be there soon.”

He frowned. Connecticut? Why would she be going there? Considering that’s where Abigail lived, why would she be going there without him? He immediately called her, but it went straight to voicemail, which didn’t make sense. If she texted him, she would have her phone on, right? He called her again, but nothing.

A deep unease hit him. He walked up to where Carlson was going on some tirade and Parker was just nodding along. “I need to head out to Connecticut,” he said. “Parker, you’re my ride.”

He was sure she had questions, but she obviously wanted to get the hell away from Carlson. “Your assistance is invaluable,” she said to him as she started to walk away.