Of Blood and Monsters by D.G. Swank & Denise Grover Swank

Author:D.G. Swank & Denise Grover Swank
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781940562162
Publisher: DGS

Chapter Sixteen

Ellie

“Something’s wrong,” I said, pacing Piper’s living room floor. “I can feel it.”

“If anyone can take care of himself, it’s Collin,” David said, glancing up from his book.

I stopped pacing. “I could be worried about Piper and Jack.”

He gave me an understanding smile, but didn’t call me a liar.

“They’re back,” Rhys called out from the kitchen, and I raced in there in time to see Jack and Collin walk through the door, each carrying a handle of a large bag. They dropped it on the kitchen table with a loud thud.

“What took so long?” I asked, looking both of them over for signs of injury, relieved when I saw none.

“We ran into a little trouble,” Collin said, refusing to look me in the eye.

Rhys leaned out the still-open kitchen door. “Where’s Piper?”

Neither man answered.

“Where’s Piper?” I asked with a sharp edge in my voice.

“She hasn’t been hurt,” Collin said, finally glancing up at me.

I put my hands on my hips. “But that doesn’t tell me where she is, does it?”

“Where’s Abel?” Rhys asked as she closed the door. “His car’s not out there.”

“I suspect he’s at the police station,” Jack said with a heavy sigh. “A detective showed up at the Cordens’ house. He found Piper in the basement just as she was helping Robert Corden cross over. He arrested her for vandalism and took her to the station.”

“Vandalism?” Rhys asked. Then her shoulders sank. “If Corden was anything like her ghost last Friday, he didn’t go willingly.”

“There were wine bottles involved,” Collin said. “Many.”

I was still reeling from the news. “You two were gone for nearly two hours. What took so long?”

“I was stuck waiting on the priest,” Collin said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

“And you couldn’t call or text me with an update?”

He shrugged. “Piper sent me out of the basement when the wine started flying around. She knew she was going to be discovered, but she wanted to finish what she’d started. I got out through a storm cellar door and hauled the bag of swords to the back of the property. I saw no need to get in touch until I knew what was going on. It would have only worried you. We’re here now, and we have the swords and the spear.”

I couldn’t help noticing he hadn’t brought the spear inside—the bag they’d carried in wasn’t nearly long enough to hold a weapon with that kind of length—but I didn’t call him on it. Not yet. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Piper had been arrested. “So she’s at the police station now?”

Collin nodded, his face grim.

“Hopefully not for long,” Jack said. “Loretta said she didn’t want to press charges.”

“Why didn’t you call, Jack?” Rhys asked, sounding pissed.

“I had to wait for a police officer to question me about Piper,” Jack said. “Why we were there. Why she might have gone down to the basement. Why she’d smash nearly a hundred bottles of wine. I didn’t dare call any of you.

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