Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel #1) - Linsey Hall Page 0,2

in an anonymous tip to the police, hoping they’d arrive in time to prevent the murder. They hadn’t, but as soon as they did arrive, they wouldn’t want me rooting through the body for answers. Most didn’t believe in my gifts. Hell, I hardly believed in them myself.

Focused, I turned my attention back toward the body. Now that I needed to touch more of him, it was imperative to be careful. I pulled a pair of disposable gloves from my pocket and slipped them on, then began to search the body for clues. I moved quickly, desperate to be done.

My hand had just closed over a matchbook when I heard the shout from behind me: “Freeze!”

Shit.

Cold fear shivered down my spine.

I’d lingered too long.

Please be Corrigan.

He was my only friend with the police, though “friend” was still a stretch.

“Raise your hands!” a man shouted.

My gaze flicked to the matchbook in my hand. The leads on Beatrix’s murder had run cold months ago. This was now the only clue I had, and I couldn’t read it unless I took my gloves off. I should leave it for the police, but I needed something else to help me find Beatrix’s killer.

Quickly, I shoved the matchbook into the inner pocket of my worn leather jacket and raised my hands, knowing how damning the gloves looked. I ran this risk every time I came to a murder scene, but I couldn’t stop myself from trying.

“It’s just me, guys. Carrow Burton.”

One of the policemen cursed, and I knew it had to be Corrigan. He’d told me he didn’t want to find me at one of these scenes again, even though I helped him close half his cases.

Slowly, I stood and turned.

Two police officers stood at the end of the alley, their forms silhouetted in the dark night by the streetlights behind them. The taller, broader one was familiar in a good way. Corrigan.

The shorter, skinnier one was just as familiar, and my heart sank.

Banks.

He thought I was full of shit. Worse, he thought I was probably a killer. He’d made it his life’s work to get me for crimes I hadn’t committed. At the memories, ice chilled my veins.

A quick scan of the alley and building corners revealed none of the cameras that were so ubiquitous in London. It was one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the world, and this poor bastard had got himself killed in one without government eyes watching.

Just my luck.

It’d been purposeful on the killer’s part, I had to imagine. But now there was nothing easy and quick to clear my name.

My arms felt awkward above my head, but I didn’t lower them. “It’s not what it looks like, guys. I’m here to help, just like all the other times.”

“You’ve never been standing right over a body wearing killer’s gloves before,” Banks said.

“They’re standard issue, just like yours.”

“Except no one issued them to you, did they?” Banks was close enough that I could see the triumph in his ratty little eyes. His pale skin was sallow and his expression pinched, but he was more excited than I’d seen him in years.

No one should be that excited while standing next to a person who’d just been viciously murdered.

But Banks was right. I’d failed out of training. I was just a wannabe.

My gaze flicked to Corrigan. His warm, dark skin looked ashen, and his eyes flickered with worry. “Carrow.”

The disappointment in his words sent cold fear through me.

Shit, shit, shit.

“This looks bad, Carrow.” His deep baritone, which normally comforted me, was heavy with concern.

“Looks bad?” Banks’s voice was high with annoyance and excitement. “Bad? It looks like we caught our killer. Finally.”

The satisfaction in his voice made me want to kick him.

My heart pounded. “You know I didn’t do this, Corrigan. You know it.”

His keen eyes assessed the scene. “Then how are you here so soon before us? The body isn’t even cold yet, is it?”

How did I explain to him that I was here because I’d touched the wrong thing? A random rag thrown at me by a raccoon, in this case. It’d probably been owned by the victim at one point, though I’d seen no clues on it. One touch with my bare skin, and I’d seen it, along with a location.

I didn’t always get a location—a gut-deep knowledge of where on the planet something was happening—but this time, I had.

And I couldn’t ignore it. Even though I knew I was already so many strikes down that one more