10

I walked right into the back and watched Jasper lift Paris's wrist. He looked up. "Ed? What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

"About the case?"

I moved so I was standing across from him. "This case is…odd. But it's about tonight actually."

He frowned as he pulled stuff from under Paris's fingernails. "What about tonight?"

"Henry Rong will be there." Might as well give him a warning. Not that I'm going to interrogate Henry at all. I'm just going to ask some questions.

"Why?"

"Mrs. Air and he are dating."

His head snapped up. "Dating?"

See? He's surprised too. "Yes."

"Do you think he's the killer or something?"

I groaned. "I don't know! This case isn't like any I've done. Mr. Hoot is at the top of my…" My phone rang. It was Lisa. "Hello?"

"I don't think Mr. Hoot is Night Wold," she said.

"Why do you say that?"

"He wasn't at the school so we went to his house. Night Wold got to him."

"Shit."

"Yeah. Tell Jasp he better get here." She gave me the address. "And obviously you should get here too. I don't have much authority here."

"Why hasn't someone called Jasper?"

She sighed. "Because there are several dead people in Mr. Hoot's basement. It kind of distracted everyone. All of the bodies are adults. The wold head without ears is drawn all over the place. Night Wold must have found out Mr. Hoot was coping him, got pissed, and killed him."

"I'm on my way." I hung up. "They need you, Jasp." I gave him the address and we both left in separate cars.

Noah met us. "Hey, boss. This guy shouldn't have copied Night Wolf."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Night Wolf didn't kill him nicely."

I saw why he had said that when we got into the room. Mr. Hoot's organs were everywhere. His intestines were even wrapped around his neck. I felt bile rise in my throat and I swallowed hard. "Where's the others?" I asked Noah.

"Basement. All the bodies down there had just been strangled."

I nodded as I watched Jasper- look around then look at the body. Hoot's torso had been ripped open. I turned and walked out of the room. I will never know how Jasper could cut people open and look at their organs and not throw up. I barely managed not to. Everything glass had been shattered. This had definitely been Night Wolf. Guess he really didn't like being copied.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Julian standing there. "Julian? Are you okay?" I asked.,

He shook his head. "The guy had been torn to pieces just because he copied Night Wolf. I'm Just glad he didn't kill the kids that way."

"Hoot murdered a lot of people," Lisa said as she came into the room.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "No one deserves to die like that no matter what they did, Lisa."

"Mr. Hoot did."

I ground my teeth together. "Stop it."

"What happens if I don't stop? I'm just stating my opinion."

Jasper walked in. "Detectives keep their minds open. You know that. Mom told us that all the time."

"Maybe I don't want to be one anymore."

I blinked at her. "What?"

"It's too much. I never do the right thing, never ask the right questions, and Mom's the one who made me become a detective! Hell, I can't even date! I'm done. I quit!" She stormed out of the room.

I looked at Jasp and saw he was just as surprised as I was. I remembered how Lisa looked away when Jasp had said she had chosen to be a detective. Had she looked away because she was thinking of quitting? Julian looked surprised too. "Should I go talk to her?" I asked Jasper.

He shook his head. "I'll do it. Then I'll get back to the office," he replied and left.

I turned to Julian. "How many dad people are down in the basement?"

"Um, about fifty to fifty-five," Amanda said as she came in with Noah.

"There are camera's all over this property. I pulled the footage and will be looking through it when I get to the station," Noah said.

I nodded. "Julian, Amanda, I want you to do door-to-door. Noah, you get to the station and look at that footage. I'll…"

"Uh, excuse me?" A woman said.

I turned. She was in a uniform. "Yes?"

"Are you Detective Zone?"

"I am and you are?"

"Detective Hilda Grant. The boss sent me down here and said to report to you."

"Um…"

"He said you are missing someone on your team and he didn't like it."

I winced. Lisa moved fast. "Okay."

"I just want to let you know they found an orange sedan in the garage. No license plate. The principal's blue Volvo had been stolen. We found that license plate in the backyard."

So Night Wolf stitched cars. At least we know what the car is and the color. Wish he didn't keep taking the license plate off though. I nodded. "Hilda, I'd like you to go talk to the teachers at both schools, okay?"

"Yes, sir." She turned to leave then paused. "Can I just say that it's an honor to finally be working with such an amazing detective? I'm glad I get to work with you," She left.

"Kiss ass," Amanda muttered.

"She acted like you're a famous person," Julian said.

I nodded. "I know."

"Even though you aren't," Noah added.

"Maybe she's glad to be working on such a famous case," Amanda suggested.

Julian snorted. "She said it was an honor to be working with Edward."

I sighed. "I believe she used the word 'amazing'."

"Well, you are good at what you do," Noah said.

"That's true," Amanda said.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm only good at it because I enjoy putting killers in jail."

"I don't remember if you've even shot your gun at anyone," Julian said.

I shrugged. "I've never needed to. But I do know how to shoot." My dad had taught me how when I was ten. Of course, he died two years later and my mom followed a month after him. They had both been killed by the same person and when the killer went after me I managed to lead him into a trap. So he's in jail now.

"I've seen you at the range. You hit the center of each target easily," Amanda said.

"Okay, enough. Go do your tasks," I said.

"What are you going to do?" Noah asked.

I paused on my way out the door. "I have a dinner to get to." I left.