“I monitored news from around the country for days, waiting to see what it would do.” Her fist clenched, and light spilled through her fingers. “The first body surfaced a month later, and the autopsy confirmed the girl had been dead for almost that long.”

“The timing could have been a coincidence.” Fae were a brutal race. Murder was much less taboo among our people than mortals. “You can’t be certain it was the same fae.”

“Oh, but I can.” She tapped the side of her nose. “I flew out to view the body. The degree of decomposition and exposure to the water made it difficult to parse the smells, but I picked up faint traces of the same scent on the body as I did near the portal.”

As powerful as her talents were, I had no reason to doubt Thierry’s word. By linking the fae from the portal to the first body, she had established a chain of evidence, because I had tied it and all the others to the same magical signature. “You reported this?”

“To the magistrates, yes.” A frown developed. “I also counseled them to call in an expert to work the case. The body wasn’t getting any fresher, and I had a feeling that wasn’t the end of it.” The lines cut deeper into her forehead. “I hate that I was right, but I’m glad they brought you onboard, even if I am curious why Vause sent you here.”

“You knew this case wasn’t linked to Charybdis.” It hit me a second later. “You could tell by the scent.”

“Yep.” Her lips twisted. “I reached out to Vause when I got a heads up about a consultant visiting the site. I tried to save you a trip, but she made a point of not answering her phone or returning my calls until you had already arrived.”

The magistrate had known the death was unrelated to Charybdis, had wanted me in Wink. Staring across the table at the powerful young woman gazing back at me, I had to wonder if this interlude wasn’t the entire point. Did that mean Vause had orchestrated my arrival, positioning me in such a way that Thierry’s natural curiosity would take over? Or did it mean this comradery was false? That Thierry was Vause’s creature? And that our accord was one of many layers in a scheme I would have to peel back to reveal the core of truth?

“Why did you pull out?” I wondered, at the same time realizing this was why her first words to me were that she had been expecting me. She had known I was coming, or someone with a similar talent was, because I was there by her request.