Barabas cleared his throat.

“Go ahead,” I told him.

He turned to Dorie. “Before we start, you need to know your rights. Everyone here is either an alpha, an acting alpha, or a member of the legal department. According to state law, no alpha can be compelled to testify against a member of their pack. The State of Georgia has no jurisdiction in this room. Nothing disclosed here can be used against you in a court of law.”

But it could be used against her in ours.

“Tell me what happened last night,” I said.

Dorie sighed, her face defeated. “I met Mulradin at the Fox Den.”

“Was he a regular client?” Robert asked.

“Yes, for the last ten months. He paid well. We had sex. He was getting ready for round two when someone busted through the door. There were six of them and they had shotguns. I was in my wolf form with a collar on and chained to the wall. One of them fired into the wall and showed the rest of the bullets to me. They were silver. The big one with dark hair told me that they would take turns shooting me. He said that I wouldn’t die right away. He said they would keep shooting me until I did what they wanted me to do.”

“Did you try to escape?” I asked.

“They were pointing shotguns at me.”

I took that as a no. “Describe the ‘big one’ to me.”

“In his thirties, over six feet tall. Very good shape. Muscular. Dark hair. Blue eyes.”

Hugh. “What happened then?”

“He told me that I had to kill Mulradin. If I tore him up, they would let me go.”

She stopped.

“So?”

“So I did.” Her voice was flat. “He screamed a lot. It was horrible. Then they took off my collar and I ran.”

So simple. No big mystery. Hugh had held her at gunpoint so he could manufacture this whole incident.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“To my cousin’s house. She owed me some money, and I knew she’d hide me.”

“You didn’t notify your clan or your alpha?” the beta of Clan Nimble asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Dorie sighed again. “Why not, why not? Because I didn’t want to be arrested. I didn’t want to go to jail. I just wanted it all to go away. I wanted my life back.”

“I’m sure Mulradin did, too,” I said. “Did anybody see you leave the crime scene?”

“No.”

I looked at Jim. “We have no witnesses and Hugh moved the body from the original scene.” A good defense attorney could do wonders arguing that any evidence found on the body was contaminated.

“You’re thinking surrender?” Jim’s eyebrows rose an eighth of an inch.

I was thinking I wanted to avoid killing Dorie and sending her head out on a pike.

“They filmed it,” Dorie said.

I turned to her. “What?”