For Your Paws Only (Supernatural Enforcers Agency #2) by E A Price Read Free Book Online Page B

me again, when’s Gunner coming back?”
    “Not fucking soon enough,” muttered Cutter.
    He knelt on the ground and traced his fingers over the spot where a few drops of blood had been found. The body of their victim had been discovered elsewhere, but they guessed that the attack had started in the alley where Reginald, their hedgehog, kept his makeshift home, which was a kind of shelter made out of old mattresses, magazines and held together by used extension cords. The care worker told them that Reginald never strayed far from home for fear that someone else would take it over. He was very proud and territorial over his shack. They did wonder if the murder had occurred from a fight over that – a heat of the moment deal – but they weren’t sure.
    They guessed that the killer had hurt Reginald, perhaps hitting him hard enough to draw a little blood outside the shack, and then Reginald had tried to run, with the killer in pursuit. Small drips of blood, and also fibers from Reginald’s worn clothes had been found until they reached the alley where he was killed. His body, what was left of it, had been tossed into a dumpster, but the killer hadn’t tried to clean up the copious amount of blood.
    Cutter let out a long breath. “Okay, Wayne you be the victim. Avery, you’re the killer.”
    “Why am I always the victim?” griped Wayne as he gingerly sat in front of the shack.
    Avery gave him a playful pout. “You’re so much better at it than me.”
    Cutter hushed them with a scowl. “Okay let’s try it a few different ways. Avery, you’re walking down the alley.”
    She started walking. “Strange that I’m out here in the middle of the night.”
    Wayne pointed to the other end of the alley. “There’s free parking down there at night.”
    “So maybe I’m walking to my car, but it’s still kind of dangerous to be out at night.”
    Cutter nodded. “Marvin couldn’t really tell us anything other than a big predator with sharp teeth attacked our victim.”
    “Wolf, cat or bear?”
    “Yeah, those would be my first guesses. I’d lean to wolf or cat, though. Hedgehog shifters can actually be quite fast.” He almost smiled as he thought of the light-footed Lucie chasing him around the office.
    Avery stopped when she arrived at Wayne. “So then what?”
    “Maybe Reginald asked for some spare change or something and he got a punch for his troubles,” suggested Wayne.
    The parts of his body they found had enough bruises for that to be true.
    “Okay, show me,” said Cutter.
    Wayne and Avery play-acted that, with Wayne flailing around on the ground, over-acting in a manner that would make the hammiest actor proud.
    Avery rolled her eyes. “Settle down, Brando. Now, what?”
    The gator shifter rolled to his knees. “Maybe they got in an argument and our killer just lost his temper.” He gave Cutter a sly grin. “Wouldn’t be the first time a wolf shifter went nuts for no reason.”
    “We’re still not sure a wolf did this,” he muttered.
    Avery tapped a finger against her lip. “At that time of night and in this part of town, they could have been drunk and not exactly thinking clearly.”
    Cutter rubbed his forehead. “I don’t think this is helping. All we’re doing is guessing, and even if we’re right, we’re still no closer to finding out who did this.” He stared at Reginald’s makeshift home. “Did the crime scene techs look over all his stuff?”
    “They did,” replied Wayne. “They took a few things back to the lab to look at, but given that the murder happened elsewhere, they didn’t really bother with this place.”
    Cutter dug out the crime scene photo. The alley had been cordoned off for a couple of nights before being released. Since it wasn’t actually the scene of the murder, it wasn’t deemed important. It was odd that no one else had tried to take over the hedgehog’s area. His wolf stirred uneasily.
    “Didn’t that care worker say that Reginald never liked to leave