Woof at the Door by Laura Morrigan

Author:Laura Morrigan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2013-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

I should have known dropping the M-word was a bad idea. After I said it, I realized my mistake. I should have said, “Alexander Burke is dead.” Instead, I had said “murdered,” which is very different—especially to cops.

“How do you know he was murdered?” Kai asked for the second time. He was sitting on the passenger side of Bluebell’s bench seat. I’d told him if he wanted to ask me questions, he could do so just as easily out of the heat. So there we sat, me looking out at the ever-increasing activity in and around Alexander Burke’s house, and Kai staring at me the way a cat watches a mouse hole. Focused. Patient. Composed. Knowing his prey would eventually emerge. Then he would have what he was after.

The air conditioner rattled as it struggled to pump out cool air. The dogs sat in the backseat panting quietly.

It was actually Jax’s fault that I had announced Burke’s murder the way I did. After all, it was his canine sense of smell and understanding of things humans cannot that led me to that conclusion.

Death leaves a mark. Murder leaves a stain. An indelible tear in the fabric of a place that is violent and raw. Dogs can sense it. I knew Burke had been murdered because Jax knew. But I wasn’t about to tell Kai that.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He was murdered, wasn’t he?”

Answering a question with a question doesn’t work with law enforcement. My attempted deflection had the opposite effect. Kai’s face, already a blank mask, took on a harder edge. He pinned me with his gaze but said nothing. The silence stretched out to fill the space between us as thick and solid as Hadrian’s Wall.

I weighed my options. Kai knew I was holding out on him. He was clearly prepared to pursue me like a bloodhound to get answers. I could either keep being vague and cagey, which would probably only pique his interest, or I could come up with an explanation.

Well, when you can’t beat’um . . . lie.

“Okay. I’ll tell you why I think he was murdered. But you won’t believe me.”

Kai straightened. “I’m listening.”

“Jax knew Burke was murdered.”

“Jax.” That single word held a mountain of doubt.

“Just hear me out. There’s a theory out there that dogs can pick up on things that linger after death.”

“You mean pheromones?”

“Pheromones and . . . other things.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know . . . stuff.” I felt a twinge of insecurity, but banished it with a deep breath. I had to express this idea, but had to be careful not to say too much. I couldn’t explain the feeling of violent wrongness that lingered after someone’s life was ripped from them. I’d felt it only because Jax had. Science was something Kai understood. So I tried to think of a scientific example.

“You can hear my voice and understand me.

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