Remy shook his head. “I would have known. My leopard would have known. I was around him a few times.” There was distaste in his voice. He couldn’t help it. Taking an eight-year-old child into a room filled with naked men and women and endless drugs sickened him, and every time he thought of how he’d chosen the easy way out—palming her off on Pauline and taking off—he wanted to kick himself all over again. “Bodrie was no leopard,” he repeated.

“You can’t know that for certain. It isn’t as if we haven’t had our own mess here in the lair with half leopards and crazed leopards doin’ things they shouldn’t. Look at Bannaconni’s family. And right here, Tregre’s family. Not all leopards are worth anything,” Gage reminded.

Remy swung around. “What kind of crack is that?”

Gage didn’t back up even a step, although Remy was once again seeing in heat images. “It’s no crack. I know you didn’t like Bodrie. You never talked about why, but you had to have a reason. I liked his music, but I didn’t know the man. I wasn’t referrin’ to Bijou.”

Remy took a breath. The stench of the stalker felt like an infection in his lungs. “Sorry, Gage. I’m a little jumpy. Her leopard didn’t emerge last night and when she wakes up . . .” He shook his head. “She isn’t a one-night stand kind of woman. I was pretty brutal last night with her and she was innocent. I need to get to her and explain what’s goin’ on before she takes it into her head to bolt.”

“Imbecile. Remy, are you insane? She wasn’t even experienced and you just left her? What if her leopard decides she’s ready and you’re not around? She goes runnin’ in the swamp or bayous and half the lair will be chasin’ her whether you’ve marked her as yours or not. You know what happens to males when a female is in her time.”

“She’s exhausted.” Remy glanced at his watch. Like everything he’d done, there were risks. He calculated them against the benefits. He didn’t have much more time, which was why he was directing his brother to get the members of the lair to his apartment now that the forensic team was finished.

“She’d better be.” Gage shook his head in disgust. “You’re a damn good detective and a smart son of a bitch, but you don’ know jack about women, bro.”

Remy was beginning to be more than uneasy about leaving Bijou. Gage was right, although he wasn’t going to admit it.

“Have you talked to Saria? Is she back at the Inn?” There was worry in Gage’s voice.