“You’re a bear shifter.”

  “And you’re a…vampire.” He’d nearly said bloodsucker, but not all vampires were bad and that would have been racist. Something Moose was not.

  “You’re very observant.” The vampire walked to his door and inserted his key but didn’t turn it in the lock. “Was there something you needed, or do you make it a habit of peeking into windows?”

  “There was something I needed.” Moose didn’t like that smug look on the vampire’s face. He wanted to wipe it right off. Moose took two steps toward him, and the guy finally looked wary. Moose didn’t normally use his size to intimidate. Only when it was necessary.

  And it was necessary right now. “I smelled you at the crime scene in the alley behind the bakery on Lemon Drive, and another shifter in town smelled you outside Mr. Hawking’s house the morning it was egged.”

  The guy seemed confused at first, and then his anger showed. “I cross through that alley all the time to get home. And as far as eggs, what do I look like, some hoodlum? I’ve heard about the vandal, but I am not him.”

  The vampire’s showing of fangs didn’t impress Moose. “Put your goddamn teeth away before one of your neighbors sees you.”

  “Look,” the guy said with a sigh, “I’m not the person you’re looking for. I work third shift for obvious reasons, but I get home just before dawn and don’t come outside. I have my blood delivered via a carrier and shop online for everything else I need. I have no issues with anyone in town, but a hell of a lot of my neighbors do.”

  Moose wasn’t sure if he should believe the guy. He pulled out his notepad and nodded. “Go on, mister…what’s your name?”

  “Jude Pearson. And on my nights off, you’d be amazed at what I see my neighbors doing.” He twisted the key and pushed the door open. “Why don’t you come in?” Jude looked toward the sky.

  Moose followed him inside.

  “Have you met the waitress at the diner?” Jude tossed his keys aside and closed the door as soon as Moose cleared the threshold.

  “I have.”

  “Well, that really is her brother she’s living with, but…” He gave a look that suggested things went a bit deeper between them.

  “And Mr. Pearl walks his dog late at night, letting him drop bombs on his neighbors’ lawns, and he doesn’t clean up behind that wretched little thing. I think it’s his way of getting back at everyone for not following some imaginary HOA rules.”

  That was a foul against his neighbors, but it wasn’t illegal or a precursor to murder.

  “Sheriff Archer, or should I say the retired sheriff, cheated on his wife with just about any female who would sleep with him. They aren’t going on a cruise. They’re getting a divorce. And by the way, he was the shittiest sheriff. He liked wearing the badge more than he liked being a cop.”

  That wasn’t the first time Moose had heard that. He hadn’t liked Chuck from the moment the human had driven to Grayson’s house to remind him of taking over.

  “And the Marvells.” Jude shivered. “They think they’re keeping those swinging parties a quiet secret, but everyone in town knows about them. When I’m here at night, I hear all kinds of arguments coming from their house. If you ask me, they hate each other and their parties are a way for Patsy to fuck someone who isn’t James.”

  “Mr. Hawking…” Jude tapped his chin. “Other than being a nasty slob, he seems like a pretty nice guy.”

  “For someone who can only go out at night, you sure know a lot about your neighbors.”

  “That’s because everyone does their scandalous deeds at night,” Jude replied with a huff. “They think the dark hides whatever they’re up to.”

  Moose wrote everything down, nodding here and there. He’d grown up and lived in small towns throughout his life and knew they were worse than cities when it came to scandals because everyone knew everyone. The gossip always made things worse.

  Jude hadn’t mentioned Jeremy Longing, and Moose didn’t ask. The guy was still in mourning and deserved to be left alone. He planned on stopping by Jeremy’s place later that afternoon just to check on the human.

  “If that’s all, I need my rest,” Jude said. “I’m tired from working, and the sun will be up any minute.”

  Moose still wasn’t convinced that Jude was innocent, but with nothing to go on, he had only one more question. “What about the victim, Chris Fisher? Do you know anything about him?”

  Jude gave an aggravated sigh. “He was a degenerate who was blackmailing half the town. If you ask me, he got what was coming to him. One of his victims was probably tired of forking over the cash to keep him quiet and silenced him permanently.”

  That wasn’t what Moose wanted to hear. His suspect pool had gone from five to half the town. He’d been hoping to eliminate a few people, not add to his list.

  “Can you think of anyone on that list that might have wanted him dead?” Moose asked.

  “I don’t know who is on the list,” Jude said. “I just know it exists. If you find that list, you’ll have your pool of suspects.”

  “Thanks.” Moose walked to the door and let himself out. The sun was just creeping over the houses. Jude closed the door behind him, and Moose heard the lock engage.

  If he was going to find out who killed Chris Fisher, Moose needed to search Chris’s home. Maybe there he would find his answers and his mate would be able to arrest the murderer.

  * * * *

  “Sheriff?” Deputy Roy Benton stuck his head into Grayson’s office. The newbie gave him a wobbly smile as he walked in, hitting his elbow on the doorframe when he tried to put his hands on his hips.

  “Yes?”

  Roy chucked a thumb over his shoulder. “We just got a call that someone is breaking into Chris Fisher’s house. Who do you want to send to check it out?”

  Grayson had been sitting there bored out of his mind. He was still waiting on the coroner’s report, which seemed to be taking forever. Pushing away from his desk, he stood and crossed the room. “I’ll go.”

  Roy nodded as his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, sir.”

  Grayson brushed past him and headed outside, walking out into the morning sun. He slid into a cruiser, turned on the air conditioner, then pulled away and drove the three blocks to Bristle Street.

  There was only one person he could think that would break into a dead man’s house.

  The killer.

  Even so, what was the culprit looking for? Was there evidence at Mr. Fisher’s house that could incriminate the assailant?

  When Grayson got out of his car, he pulled his weapon and moved up the driveway until he was at the back door. The door was unlocked and slightly ajar, so Grayson eased inside and silently checked the rooms.

  It was in a backroom that he discovered Moose standing there, looking around as if deep in thought.

  “Goddamn it!” Grayson lowered his gun. “What the hell’re you doing here?”

  “Waiting for you to show up armed and naked.” One of Moose’s brows rose, and there was a spark of humor in his eyes. “You’re not naked.”

  “And you were spotted coming in here.” Grayson stared at the bedroom and grimaced. The house was humid and reeked of garbage that had been sitting in the can too long. Since Mr. Fisher’s death was still being investigated, the landlord couldn’t come in here and clean up.

  Whoever owned this house was gonna have a fit. There were trash bags sitting in the middle of the bedroom, and from the clothes hemorrhaging from holes in the sides of the bags, it had been the guy’s laundry, as though he’d lived out of the bags instead of putting his clothes away.

  Then again, there were no dressers to speak of. There was a single bed in the corner and a makeshift nightstand next to it. A board sitting atop a plastic milk crate.

  “I found the vampire I smelled in the alley.”

  Grayson whipped his head around and simply stared at Moose. Since his mate had told him about the vampire, he’d been actively avoiding thinking about it.

  Hearing him say that out loud made Grayson think about the possibility, and he didn’t like it. “Who?”

  “Some guy name Jude Pearson.”

  The name didn’t ring a bell. “You talked to him?”

  Moose nodded. “About a half-hour ago.”

  Grayson gritted his teeth as he holstered his gun. He wanted to go back outside because the garbage scent was making him gag. “Are you gonna make me ask a million questions or tell me what he said?”

  “You’re adorable when you get pissy.” Moose grinned, and Grayson wanted to slug the man. “Come on, smile for me. You’re too gorgeous to frown.”

  A chuckle escaped Grayson. He couldn’t help it. Moose looked ridiculous pouting.

  “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

  “It stinks in here,” Grayson said. “Can you tell me what’s going on so I can get some fresh air?”

  Moose crossed the room and opened a window. “Jude told me that Chris was blackmailing half the town. So I figured, if that was true, then he had to keep some kind of evidence here of the people he was extorting.”

  “That makes sense.” Grayson looked around. “Where do you want to start?” He didn’t want to touch anything in the house. The room looked…well, nasty, and Grayson didn’t have any gloves on him.

  To his surprise, Moose pulled a pair from his pocket. “Always be prepared,” Moose said. “I was saving these to play doctor with you, but I guess I have to use them on this trashy house.” Moose shuddered and stuck his tongue out. “How can anyone live like this?”

  Grayson wasn’t one to judge, but he wondered the same thing. There was a plate on the bed with gunk stuck to it, as well as a fork. A few empty soda cans littered the floor, along with unopened mail. There were also odds and ends scattered about—pencils, pens, belts, an aspirin bottle, loose beads, and other crap.

  The walls could use a good scrub, too.

  “Do you think he might have a ledger?” Grayson asked. If Chris was blackmailing half the town, he had to have kept some sort of record of it.

  “That’s what I was hoping to find,” Moose said. “Although I didn’t know I’d have to search through all this crap.”

  “I’ll take the living room.”

  An hour later, they had nothing. Grayson wasn’t sure if Jude had lied, if Chris had hidden the ledger somewhere other than his home, or if there was a ledger at all.

  Grayson returned to his office, Moose right behind him. He found the coroner’s report on his desk. Marvin Cormack had finished the autopsy.

  “I’m gonna go get some breakfast,” Moose said from Grayson’s doorway. “You want anything?”

  “Nah, I’m not hungry.” Grayson sat down as his mate walked away.

  As soon as he opened the file, Marvin entered his office, a mug of coffee in his hand. The elderly man took a seat in one of the wooden chairs in front of Grayson’s desk.

  “There’re a lot of technical terms in there. I thought I’d come by and nutshell it for you.” He blew across the rim of his mug, took a sip, and nodded at the file. “Based on the pooling of the blood on his skin, Mr. Fisher wasn’t killed in that alley. He was killed by blunt force trauma to his head and then dumped there. I had to send his blood work to be analyzed, but that could take a while to come back since we don’t have a lab of our own.”

  “Do you know what he was struck with?”

  Marvin scratched at his jaw. “I would swear a fist, but it takes a lot of strength to kill someone that way. The wound was circular, with four indentations.”

  “Anything else?”

  Marvin shook his head as he stood. “That’s all I found. Sorry, I can’t be of further help.”

  So they still had nothing. With a sigh of frustration, Grayson closed the file and strummed his fingers on his desk as Marvin left his office.

  Chris Fisher had been killed and dumped in that alley. Why that particular place? Was it significant, and was the killer also the vandal?

  Grayson scrubbed his face with his hands, even more frustrated than he had been when they discovered the body.

  * * * *

  No sooner had Moose sat down at the back booth than Raven McCoy joined him. This time the wolf shifter hadn’t bothered to ask. He just slid in across from Moose and waved for the waitress.

  “I wasn’t aware we were making this a daily thing,” Moose said. There were a few vacant spots where Raven could have seated himself besides Moose’s table.

  “I thought having breakfast with a friendly face would be nice, but if you’d rather I moved…” Raven started to get up.

  “No, it’s fine,” Moose said. “I didn’t know my face looked so friendly.”

  Raven sat. “Well, it doesn’t. You look a bit rough around the edges, but that doesn’t scare me.”

  It wasn’t Heather who served them coffee. Moose remembered the guy from yesterday morning. He was the one who’d rolled his eyes when Heather had broken a glass.

  He was also the one who had been in the driveway last night with Heather.

  Her brother.

  “Thanks, Fred,” Raven said.

  The guy nodded, filled both their cups, cut a glance at Moose, and then walked away.

  Moose looked over his shoulder and watched Fred go behind the counter before he turned to Raven. “You know him?”

  “Who, Fred?” Raven took a sip of his coffee. “Nice kid, but a little weird. He lives with his sister. Why do you ask?”

  Moose grabbed three containers of creamer from the bowl on their table and poured them into his coffee. “No reason.”

  He didn’t want to discuss the case with a stranger, and Raven was a stranger.

  “You believe the rumors?”

  Moose looked at Raven. “What rumors?”

  The guy gave a half-chuckle. “Come on. You’re telling me that you’re investigating this and haven’t heard any of the rumors about the humans who live in this town?”

  The conversation was cut short when Fred returned, asking for their orders.

  Raven ordered what he’d ordered yesterday. Moose did, too. Fred looked Moose over then walked away. He couldn’t help that he had a hearty appetite. He was a growing bear and needed to feed his hungry beast.

  “I’m surprised you don’t weigh a thousand pounds,” Raven said. “If I ate like that, I’d have to go on a run three times a day.”

  Which Moose hadn’t done in a while. Maybe tonight after he got home he’d let his bear loose for a run in the woods surrounding the house.

  “The particular rumor I’m talking about is about Fred and his sister,” Raven said under his breath. “That they’re sleeping together.”

  “And what proof does anyone have?”

  Raven shrugged. “I didn’t say I believed it. Just because siblings live together and are really close doesn’t mean anything hinky is going on.”

  With all the rumors everyone kept telling Moose about, he wasn’t sure which ones to believe and which ones to dismiss.

  So did he believe Jude? Had the vampire been telling the truth about the human blackmailing half the residents?

  That was the lead Moose was gonna work, and hopefully it panned out, leading him to the person who had killed Chris Fisher.

  Chapter Nine

  Two weeks had passed, and the only progress that had been made was Moose becoming friends with Jeremy Longing. And also getting his cast off, which Grayson was grateful for. It seemed that being mated to a shifter helped him heal pretty quickly. The cuts on his face had vanished, and his arm was as good as new.

  Even better if you asked him.

  He no longer felt the aches and pains of being in his forties, either. Moose was like some kind of miracle drug. Grayson smiled at that thought.

  “What’s so funny?” Moose chopped some green onions at the counter as Grayson prepped the chicken with olive oil and spices.

  Things felt so domestic for Grayson. He also had to admit that he was falling hard for his big lug. Moose was everything anyone could want in a partner.

  Partner. The word made Grayson feel guilty as hell. Roy had asked again the other day if Grayson and Moose were dating, and Grayson had changed the subject quickly. He still wasn’t ready to come out to his employees, especially Hayley’s hateful ass.

  Was it because he wanted to keep his private life private, or was he too chicken to admit to the town that he and Moose were an item? He’d come out to his family and had lost most of them.

  Maybe that was what he was afraid of. He didn’t want to lose the town’s respect, but Grayson also didn’t want to care what they thought, either.

  His skin tingled when Moose kissed him on the back of his neck. “How’s the chicken coming along?”

  Grayson washed his hands in the sink. “It’s ready to go into the oven.”

  “Have I ever told you how sexy you are when you’re barefoot and in the kitchen?”

  Grayson burst out laughing. “Sorry, but I’m not pregnant.”

  “Too bad,” Moose growled into his ear. “I would’ve loved having a cub with you.”

  Why did Grayson’s cock jerk at Moose’s soft growl, at the thought of giving the guy kids? Sadly, Grayson hadn’t been there much when his daughter was growing up. He’d been in the service and then spent too much time away on missions. And even if having kids was a possibility, Grayson was too old to start over raising them.

  “I thought I was your cub?” Grayson had no idea where those words had come from.

  “You know how to say all the right words.” Moose slapped him on his ass before he grabbed a baking pan and added the chicken and onions. He added some sauce and slid the pan into the oven.

  Grayson watched Moose’s every move—how the guy’s muscles flexed when he moved, how his ass looked perfect in those jeans, and how handsome a man he truly was.

  “Why do you think fate thought we’d be good together?”

  Moose looked from the stove to Grayson. He seemed to be deep in thought before he said, “I think we’re a good team. We complement each other.”

  “How?”