Moon Shifter 02 - Primal Possession

“Hey, Julia.” His voice was cautious. He doubted this was a social call.
    “Sheriff. How’s your sister doing?” She sounded sincere, but he knew better.
    The nosy reporter for the only newspaper in Fontana was a bulldog most of the time. When December had been attacked in her home, Julia hadn’t reported it. Now he knew why. She was holding on to that favor for a favor of her own. Hadn’t taken her long to call it in. “She’s fine. What do you want?”
    “No small talk?”
    “You really want to waste your time?”
    “Not really. I heard a human was killed by a shifter last night. Can you confirm this?”
    Parker held a tight lid on his annoyance. They’d kept the crime scene locked down tight. Abel, the owner of the gas station where the body had been found—and theone who’d discovered it—sure as hell wouldn’t have told Julia. “Where’d you hear this?”
    “You know I can’t reveal my sources.” Her voice was haughty.
    He snorted. “Then I can’t confirm or deny anything.”
    She let out a frustrated growl. “Fine. I got an anonymous call.”
    “Your cell or at work?”
    “I’m supposed to be the one asking you questions.”
    He was silent.
    Finally she spoke again. “Work. Satisfied? Now, what’s going on?”
    “I can only tell you that, yes, we found a body, but it wasn’t a shifter attack.”
    “Do you know the identity of the victim?”
    Parker shook his head at her persistence. He knew but he wasn’t telling her. “Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you until we notify next of kin. You know that.”
    “So you
do
know who it is. At least tell me if it’s a man or woman.”
    He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “The victim is male.”
    “Thanks, Sheriff. You’re a doll. Are you going to the Chocolate Ball next month? I heard they’re doing a bachelor auction. If you’re on the auction block, you better get ready for—”
    “
Good-bye
, Julia.” He disconnected and slipped his phone back in his pocket. The tall, leggy brunette was hot, but she’d been after him since he’d moved to town almost a decade ago and she wasn’t his type. Hell, he didn’t know what that was, but it wasn’t a bulldog in high heels who’d use him more than anything else.
    As he headed back to the station, he mulled over thephone call. It was too early for her to have gotten an anonymous call about the body. If it had been discovered later in the day, he’d have understood, but Abel had found it before anyone else and he wasn’t known for gossiping. No one at the station would have tipped her off. And he doubted anyone in town even knew about it yet. Fontana might be small but news didn’t spread
that
fast. The best possibility he could think of was that someone connected to the victim called. Now he had even more questions.
    Someone obviously wanted Julia to think a shifter had attacked a human. The motive could be as simple as someone hating paranormal beings, but it was a hell of a risk to take, dumping a body in the middle of town like that. Unfortunately he wouldn’t know more about the DNA found on the body until they got results back from the lab. Since they were a small town, they had to send everything out. It would be a few days until he knew more.
    At least he could still contact the family. If he could find them. He’d done a brief search before heading to the morgue and hadn’t come up with anything concrete. He’d found names but no addresses. That in itself was odd. A dull headache started at the back of his skull. Something told him there was more to this case than a simple murder.

Chapter 9
    A fter driving around for a few hours, Liam and Jayce parked on Avalon Street a few blocks down from December’s store. After leaving the fae, Liam hadn’t wanted to come directly to see December. He wasn’t exactly concerned they’d have any interest in her, but he didn’t like the idea of them even knowing of her existence or her importance in his life. Their opinions of humans had been perfectly clear. The driving time hadn’t been a waste, though. It had given Jayce a chance to scout out the rest of Fontana and get a feel for the layout of the town. Liam understood that looking at maps could help someone only so much. Sometimes being on the ground was the only way to do reconnaissance. Now it was well past lunchtime as Liam opened the front door to December’s store.
    Immediately he was accosted by the scents of the candles that lined the window.