Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

KALLE

It had been days since the Police Officer showed up at their door. There'd been no calls, no issues, no questions… but instead of that leaving Kalle a chance to breathe, she found herself growing more and more tense with every passing hour.

She'd tried to pin Dillon down three times—all times he was scheduled to work. But he'd called in sick and wasn't answering his phone. She hadn't been able to bring herself to go to his apartment, but she was getting desperate.

What was he telling the Police? What damage had he already done?

He was the only person other than her family and their staff that new about the "marriage." It had to have come from him. The staff would have called him a boyfriend.

When she got up that morning and walked down to the dining room, it struck her how quiet the house seemed now that Shaw and Gahrye and Elia were all gone.

She stood in the massive entry, at the bottom of the stairs for a long moment, looking around.

Was this her life now? Would she spend the rest of her days walking through this cavern of a house alone?

What was Gahrye facing in Anima? Had they even made it safely? What if Elia had run and been lost to the voices? Would Reth kill Gahrye for losing her?

As she had every other time her mind turned to these questions, Kalle pushed them away and forced herself to keep moving, keep reading, keep investigating. She had a notebook of notes to share with Gahrye when he came back—and he would come back, she reminded herself. Until he did, there was nothing to be gained by dwelling on her fear.

She and her grandmother had both moved permanently back to the Big House. With Shaw gone and the investigation in place, there seemed no reason not to. They didn't want to look suspicious—and frankly, it made it easier for Kalle to give her time to what was really important. She'd given notice on her apartment, moved her important things back home, and sold or discarded the rest.

She'd even kept the room she'd shared with Gahrye. Grandma didn't care and Kalle needed to stay close to the memories. To remind herself that they were real.

When she reached the dining room, Grandma Eve was already there at the table, reading a newspaper and frowning.

Kalle had tried to tell her that she could read the paper online every day, probably for cheaper. Certainly easier. Those old papers left ink on her hands and the tablecloth… but Grandma just rolled her eyes and said she was too stuck in her ways. She liked to have something in her hands—and she loved the smell of the paper and ink.

She didn't look up with Kalle walked in and walked to the sideboard where the staff had left the food over warmers.

With only Kalle and Eve there now, the pickings were thin. They'd told them to stop cooking to feed five.

Then Kalle sucked in a breath. "I knew it!" she muttered.

"What is it?" her grandmother asked from behind her.

Kalle turned. "I mean, I already knew Dillon had to be the one to have said something to the Police. But now I'm certain."

Eve turned in her chair, her silver hair swept beautiful back for her face and a soft scarf under her chin giving her the air of wealth and prestige that Kalle had always taken for granted, but after the stories that had been written about Shaw's death, she  now realized how her grandmother must look to other people.

"Certain, how?" Grandma asked quietly.

"I was just thinking about the staff. They knew about Elia. They didn't know her well, but they knew she was here. Yet the Police haven't ever asked about her. That would have been suspicious, right? I mean, she left the same time Gahrye did. So that means that whoever the Police spoke to about Gahrye didn't know about Elia. It had to be Dillon. He's the only one."

Eve nodded calmly. "You're right."

Kalle stared at her a moment, but she didn't go on. Uh oh. "What's wrong?"

Eve turned back to the table and looked at the newspaper. "I just made my own little discovery," she said quietly.

Shit. There had to be another story about Shaw's "tragic" death. "What is it?" she asked.

She pulled out the chair next to her grandmothers and Eve placed the newspaper in front of her, tapping a spot on the page. "Read that paragraph."

Kalle scanned it quickly. But it just seemed like every other story she'd read recently—the Police had done a search… lots of blood but no other evidence… strange markings on the body, probably an exotic animal….

"What? I mean, we've seen all this before?" she said, re-reading the section in case she'd missed something.

Eve nodded. "I missed it before, too. Remember when that Detective talked about how they'd already searched and found their evidence?"

"Yes," Kalle said, frowning at the story. What had her grandmother seen?

"They're talking about blood evidence."

"Yes? So? Shaw's blood was everywhere. We never hid that from them."

Eve nodded. "But he stabbed Gahrye first, remember?"

Kalle felt like she'd taken a step and the ground had crumbled beneath her feet, spilling her into freefall.

Shit.

SHIT.

"Gahrye's blood…" she trailed off. Kalle stared at her grandmother, horror and dread making her skin crawl.

Grandma nodded again, affirming everything Kalle didn't want to see or hear. "They were taking sample evidence of all the different blood patches, Kalle. Even where Shaw got dragged by Elia. Gahrye was stabbed on the trail. There's no chance they missed that. And if they got a sample of Gahrye's blood, not only will they know that Gahrye was here when Shaw was killed, they'll also see that his DNA is different."

Ice slid the length of Kalle's spine, prickling her skin and raising the hair on the back of her neck.