Catastrophe by Liz Schulte Read Free Book Online

asked.
    “Have humans been dying too?”
    He tilted his head as he thought about it. “There have been a few maulings fairly recently. I don’t really pay attention to the human news, so I can’t offer you any specifics. Not enough of them have been killed to garner much attention. It doesn’t really matter, though. It’s not like they would likely jump to a werewolf conclusion.”
    I nodded. The council wasn’t likely to care what happened to humans. They never said a word about the jinn targeting them or vampires hunting them. Mostly, they turned a blind eye to humans, unless the humans knew about us. If the killer did target them too, then maybe he or she would have been sloppier with those murders, because they wouldn’t be investigated like the paranormal ones. It wasn’t likely, but it was at least worth a shot. “Why don’t you find out for me? I want their names and locations of their bodies as well. You ready to go?”
    He nodded, setting the fork down on his half-eaten plate of food. “Sure.”
    A few minutes later, we pulled into a remote graveyard. “This way.” He led me in, winding through the graves until we came to a small mausoleum nestled in the corner. He stopped next to it and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to the elbow revealing a tattoo of a snake coiled around some sort of knife on his forearm. Crouching down, he reached into a small hole where the stone had crumbled away.
    “This was where he was found?”
    “Well just outside of the grave. I tossed what was left of the body in.” He pulled out the remains of Gus and sat them on the ground between us. Three fingers, half a leg, and an ear.
    “How was he identified?” I asked.
    “The fingers.” Amos picked up two of the digits. “Gus didn’t have the tip of his finger, just like this one—and it’s tattooed, see?” He held it up for me. “He also had a tattoo on the ring finger. It’s definitely him.”
    I took one from him and had a closer look at the end. It definitely looked bitten off. “If something bit off his finger, it would have to spit it back out. Don’t you think it is convenient that the pieces needed to identify him were left behind?”
    Amos shrugged. “How would the killer know he could be identified by a tattoo and the missing end of a finger?”
    “You knew.” Amos had said he hardly knew Gus, and yet he still knew what to look for to make the ID. Obviously, it was a fairy well-known character trait.
    “It’s my job to know the people in the area.”
    “Then maybe the killer knew him too. There was some way he was found and targeted by the killer. I think the killer wanted us to know who the victims were and that these people died. Otherwise, why not finish the bodies off or hide the remains?”
    “Well, if the killer cared about that, wouldn’t he just leave the heads so there’d be no mistake in the matter? It would be more impactful.”
    Amos with another valid point. “Why leave behind bits and pieces?” I looked at what was left behind again. The ear was pierced, the leg was tattooed, and the two fingers Amos picked up were also flawed in some way. “Let me see the other finger.”
    He handed me the little finger. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it. I sniffed it, but all I could smell was death. “Can I keep this?” I asked, waving it at him.
    “I don’t have a problem with it,” Amos said. “It’s weird, but whatever you need.”
    “Great. I’m ready to go.”
    We headed back to the car. “You want to go to the next location?” he asked.
    I shook my head. “Just take me back to the hotel. I can find some of these on my own. You can start looking for the human deaths. We’ll meet up later.”
    His face froze and his mouth opened to protest, but nothing came out.
    “You’re supposed to watch me, huh?”
    He cleared his throat and glanced out of the window. “You could put it that way.”
    I nodded. “I’m not going to break their contract. This is what I