“And?” Remy insisted through gritted teeth.

“The brothers had weighted somethin’ down and shoved it underwater. Both of us caught a glimpse of red material. Candy had been wearin’ a red nightgown in her bed when Juste and Jean brought the other girls in to see her.”

“You knew they killed this woman and you still didn’t come forward?” Remy demanded.

“You really are a worthless human being and an even worse leopard,” Drake snarled.

“I didn’t know for certain,” Robert defended his inaction. “I wasn’t about to try to bring up whatever the Rousseaus had put in the water.”

Remy felt Bijou press her face against his back. The anger had faded to be replaced by something altogether different. Fear had a distinct smell to it, and Bijou was afraid. His world was dark and violent. Most of the time he lived in the shadows. He tracked murderers and spent his time looking at crime scenes. Bijou lived very differently. She was alone a lot, but in some ways she was protected from the outside world. On tour she’d had a team of bodyguards to watch over her.

Being newly introduced to the world of leopards she had to be a little freaked out. Robert was no example of what they were like, she had to know that, but the rage in both Remy and Drake was tangible and that had to scare her. If nothing else, she had to consider whether or not she wanted to live in a world where the rules were kill or be killed. Make a mistake and the law of the jungle was brought down on one’s head. Robert was under a death sentence, and it wasn’t just talk. The more he revealed the extent of and his attitude toward the crimes he’d committed, the worse it was for him. No leopard could be jailed for long. The results would be catastrophic. To protect their lair and all of their kind, a rotten apple like Robert had to be dealt with immediately and permanently.

Remy wanted to comfort Bijou, but there was no way to do that. He glanced at his sister. There were tears in her eyes. She knew Robert had dug himself a deep hole. Robert and Dion had always been her friends. She had to be wondering how he could sink so low so fast.

Leopards didn’t tolerate drugs or alcohol. Most of the time none of the shifters bothered because one had to really suppress his leopard to feel the effects, and it took a lot. Robert had clearly chosen drugs and alcohol over his own leopard—another major sin in their world.