Echo Falls by Jaime McDougall Read Free Book Online Page A

apartments and only found the scraps. This plays right into my theory.”
    “Hypothesis,” Will said.
    “What hypothesis?” Aidan asked.
    “I think the murderer has help, and I think it’s someone we know.”
    Aidan waited for the smirk or snigger that would tell him Thomas was having a joke at his expense, but both Thomas’s tone and expression remained cold. He looked over to Will who reluctantly shrugged. Thomas leaned in closer so no one would overhear them.
    “We have no explanation for how the killer not only knows that his victims are our kind but also that they are not part of the pack. Close enough to call our attention but not close enough to get our defenses up. Yet. Now we have scraps of clothing floating around but no actual clothes, meaning someone picked them up. Phoebe said she heard two voices. The killer has to have help – and that help is coming from inside the pack.”
    “You don’ know that,” Will said. “The killer may have teamed up with a loner or two loners could have teamed up.”
    Thomas held up one finger. “But what fits? What makes it all make sense? Someone in the pack is helping the killer.”
    “One fatal flaw in your theory,” Aidan said. “We would have recognized the scent of someone in the pack.”
    “Yes, we would have. If we had been around to pick up the scent. You have only had your ‘nose’ at the third murder when it was fresh enough to distinguish the scent and you were only in that alley. Our traitor could have been all over inside the apartments while the killer was outside fighting you. I think -”
    “Well, Aidan O’Bryan! I didn’t expect to see you here.”
    Aidan nodded to Thomas, signaling that the conversation would have to wait for now. Had Aidan been a man less in control of himself, he would have groaned.
    Mia Ellis.
    Mia had been a part of the pack for nearly five years. She, Aidan and Will had all gone to school together. She moved away for a few years but came back as a newly widowed woman with a nice chunk of money, little remorse and a lot of confusion over how to deal with life as a werewolf. Finding out that Aidan and Will were also werewolves had delighted her to no end – especially when Aidan later became the pack’s alpha.
    “Mia. What are you doing here?” Aidan asked.
    She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Some little snot has been putting scratches in my car.” Her annoyance snapped into a bright smile in an instant. “So I figured I’d pop down here and see if someone could do something about it.”
    “We’re a little busy for that, Mia,” Thomas said, glaring at her. There had never been any love lost between him and Mia, though he would never say why.
    She ignored Thomas and all but purred at Aidan. “Lo and behold, you’re back in the office.”
    “Not officially,” he said, glancing at the clock. “I’m on my way out.”
    “Me, too!” she said cheerfully, taking a step closer to him. “You can walk me to the door.”
    Aidan looked at Will who could only shrug.
    “Come on. Let’s go.” She looked at the door.
    “Have some fun, Aidan,” Thomas said. “You’re supposed to enjoy time off.”
    “I’ll make sure he does,” Mia said, winking at him before taking Aidan by the arm and leading him out.

CHAPTER NINE

    “Charlotte would love this,” Elle said, holding up an incredibly soft and incredibly pink teddy bear. She smiled, rubbing its belly with her thumbs before placing it back on the rack amongst the other toys.
    Shopping with Elle turned out to be more about walking and looking than actual buying, which suited Phoebe just fine. The fresh air and acts of normalcy relaxed her. Maybe she’d stay for a while longer after all. The attack had been a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, not bad luck following her around. She jumped to the wrong conclusion and didn’t give enough credit to the fact weird things just happened sometimes.
    She could and would fight for Echo Falls. Here she