“Don’t come any closer!” she screeched. “Or I’ll call the cops.”
I backed up, frowning at the wood and the girl beyond it.
“I know what you are!” she yelled.
Obviously she didn’t if she thought a wooden cross could keep me away. But I let her think she had me figured out.
“You don’t go to UCB,” I said, getting to the heart of the matter. “Everest told me you were a student there, but you’re not. Why’d you lie about it?”
“I never claimed I was a student at UCB.” She pushed her shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair behind her ear, fingers trembling. “Your cousin’s a liar.”
“Was.”
“Huh?””He’s dead.”
The cross came down an inch, then another, as though it suddenly weighed too heavily in her hand.
“Yes, and I’m sorry if I startled you back there.”
A car squealed to a stop next to me. And then Sarah flung open her door and stalked toward me. “Ness?”
Megan’s knuckles whitened on the wooden cross. “You’re that… that socialite deejay.”
“And you are?” Sarah sniffed the air.
“No one.” Megan took a step back. “I’m no one.”
Sarah cocked an eyebrow. “What’s up with the giant cross?”
Megan didn’t answer. She just kept backing away, gaze bouncing from me to Sarah. “I’m sorry for your loss, even though I’m not surprised. Everest was a creep.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He tried to recruit me for his escort agency.” She made a grimace that contorted her heart-shaped face.
“His escort agency?”
“He said I wouldn’t have to sleep with anyone, just gather information.”
I must not have blinked in a while, because my eyes started to prickle.
She kept backing away. “Was he killed?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Wouldn’t surprise me if he was.”
I couldn’t get my mouth to close or open. It just gaped like that striped bass Derek had been ogling.
“Anyway, leave me alone. I was serious about calling the cops.” When she reached the end of the street, she spun on her heels and took off running.
“Well, that was weird,” Sarah said after a beat.
A car honked so shrilly I jumped.
“Chill out, dude!”
At first I thought Sarah was saying this to me, but she was staring daggers at the driver in the car behind hers.
She grabbed my arm to unglue me from the pavement. “Come on.”
The driver honked twice more. Sarah flipped him the finger.
Once inside the car, she drove out of the small street and pulled onto a delivery parking spot. “What the hell was that about?”
I told her everything. Every sordid detail.
“Your cousin was a pimp who used girls to spy? Fuckin’ a. No wonder he’s dead.”
I realized then that perhaps it wasn’t the Sillin that had gotten him killed. Perhaps it was the espionage.
“What was he up to?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know, but at least I understand why he’s dead.” Or I assumed I’d come a little closer to understanding.
He must’ve spied on the wrong Creek.
“But what about the Sillin? How does that fit into the equation?” she asked.
I squeezed my bare knees with my clammy hands. “Maybe it was a security measure. Maybe he needed some to give to the girls he hired.” I’d used my own stock on Heath.
“Why would he drug human girls with it?”
“No. He gave it to them to use on the customers.” The same way he’d told me to dose Heath’s drink.
“So he was spying exclusively on the shifter community?”
Sarah and I stared at each other a long moment. And then she whispered, “Fuck,” which pretty much summed up the situation.
“Sarah, I think I need to talk to my Alpha. And I think you need to talk to Julian.”
Two cars, besides Liam’s black SUV, were parked in front of the sleek cabin: Matt’s Dodge silver sedan and a little blue BMW. I was sort of relieved Matt would be here. Even though I’d come to discuss a serious matter, a buffer was welcomed.
As I got out of the Mini, I tugged on the hem of my white dress. “I’m sorry about the way tonight turned out,” I told Sarah.
She shook her head. “Babe, I’m just sorry for what that calculating fucker put you through.”
I shivered. Ever since my run-in with Megan, I couldn’t get my body to warm up.
“You want me to wait for you?” Sarah asked.
“No. I’ll be okay.”