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liked to let go but when she did…” He reached over to scratch the back of his shoulder. “I’ve still got scars from when we were dating.” The sheepish grin disappeared in a second as his focus returned down to the papers. “And now the cops are saying nothing and it’s all going to go away without anyone paying.”
    “Someone’s going to pay.” I stood up and put the notebook in my leather jacket’s right pocket. “That’s why they sent me.” I hated to make promises, but this was something that needed to be taken care of. Anyone who could slip behind a woman like that and kill her couldn’t be left on the streets whether he was a Felis or not.
    “He broke her neck, you know.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’m not stupid. That takes a lot of strength to do, to do that.” The weary man shot me a sideways glance. “I think it was another one like us.” He wouldn’t even say the name aloud. Another point for the family’s secrecy.
    I nodded. “Board thinks that too.”
    Mike shook his head. “I don’t understand. We don’t…” His hands shook from side to side. Couldn’t blame him.
    “I’ll find out the truth. Promise.” I didn’t know what else to say, as if anything I could offer would blunt the shock and the pain. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything out.”
    “Thank you.” He got to his feet and looked at me, biting his lower lip. “I just don’t understand. Who would do something like that, send a photograph like that to the news? What sort of monster is out there?”
    I didn’t even try to answer.
    Loud music played upstairs as Mike escorted me back to the front door. Some sort of rap-pop slop stuff. Mike shrugged with a lopsided smile. “I can’t stand that crap.”
    “Kids.” We exchanged one of those knowing aren’t-we-wise-for-our-age glances. “I realize this is a pretty silly question, but did Janey have any enemies you know of?”
    “She was a teacher.” Mike opened the door. The dying sunlight was bright and intrusive as it split up between the houses, sliding between the buildings and cutting through the shadows. He put his hand over his eyes and squinted as I stepped out onto the porch. “Probably every kid she failed and every parent she pissed off by failing their kids. Standard.”
    “Well, that narrows it down.” We shared another set of awkward glances.
    Now for the toughest question. I couldn’t avoid it any longer. “There wasn’t any…” I waved my hand in the air in some vague shape. “Problems in your marriage, was there?”
    He stared at me for a minute before responding. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” A scowl appeared. “What, you think she was having an affair?” His hands began to shake, his entire body following as he gritted his teeth and continued to speak. “You think Janey was…”
    His eyes began to narrow, the backs of his hands beginning to fur up slowly. His lips started retracting from his teeth as he let his breath out slowly.
    “Stop.” I put my hands up and advanced, moving to let my jacket fall open as wide as possible, highlighting my weakness by showing my belly. “I didn’t say that. I was just pursuing a possible angle.”
    His breathing became more labored as he stared right through me, his fingers flexing back and forth. His face began to change, the faint orange fur shifting to cover his cheeks and his forehead, the nose beginning to retract just a bit.
    I sighed once and then moved into Mike’s personal space, face to face. “Mike Winters.” I dropped my voice down as low as I could and snarled his name again. I flipped my jacket down my arms and off, showing my white blouse. I’d done this before, calmed angry males by moving into a submissive mode. It didn’t have to extend to rolling on my back to offer my bare stomach. The slightest aspect of appearing vulnerable would do. The leather jacket landed behind me as I lifted myself up on my toes and roared into his face, hoping the