“Yeah, it was a crime scene.” I suddenly felt an odd surge of embarrassment. “Kind of his jurisdiction. If something was on fire, I would have called you.”
When Will wasn’t nicking free food from me or making my nipples stand at unfortunate attention, he was a San Francisco firefighter, red hat, rubber boots, and all.
“If Feng the werewolf hunter was around, isn’t it kind of your jurisdiction?”
“No.” I swung my head. “The crime was not supernatural. Although it was pretty gruesome. They did kind of toss out the killing could have been done by some sort of animal.”
I saw Sampson blanch slightly.
“Don’t worry,” I said, putting my hand on his arm. “I didn’t say a word about you to Alex.”
“Why’s that?” Will said, snaking a piece of toast. “Alex think one of your wolf guys is responsible?”
Now it was my turn to blanch. “No, of course not. It was probably . . . gangbangers. Anyway, he doesn’t know about you, Sampson, I promise.” I looked imploringly at him. “You have to know I didn’t say anything to anyone about you being here.”
Will cleared his throat, looked down at his plate.
“That was different. You barged in. You have no respect for privacy.” I glared at him.
“So why was Feng at the crime scene?” Will asked, bringing us right back to the crime scene.
“I don’t know.”
Sampson looked as though he was working very hard to keep himself under control. “Why did Alex think she was there?”
I shook my head slowly. “He didn’t say. I don’t think he thought anything about it. A lot of people were there.” Even as I babbled, I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. “There were a lot of people trying to see what happened. People always want to . . .”
Sampson stood up quickly, his fork clattering to his plate. “I have to get out of here. I knew it was a mistake to come back. I’m putting you in danger.”
“No!” I stood up, too, a shower of sprinkles and pink icing dropping from my lap. “No, you’re safe here. If I were in any danger, Feng would have taken me out right then and there. She was just hanging out. It had nothing to do with you—or with me. I’m sure of it.” I wagged my arms, physically trying to get my point across. “And the last time I met her she choked me, just like Will said.”
“She’s a charmer, that one.”
“If I was in any real danger, she would have killed me on the spot. But she didn’t.” My lack of death should have been a victory, but somehow, it didn’t quite feel like it. “And you’re safe, too. She left. She didn’t find you. She wasn’t looking for you.”
“She was at a crime scene.”
“Maybe she’s taken to hunting actual criminals now,” I offered hopefully.
Sampson sucked in a breath. “Do you know how werewolf hunters work, Sophie?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, my eyes going to Will. “Feng gave us a little bit of the lowdown on our . . . visit.”
“She has a sister,” Sampson said.
Will grinned. “Right! Sailor Moon!”
“Xian,” Sampson corrected.
Feng’s twin sister—identical, except for their fashion choices—spent every moment she wasn’t tracking werewolves dressed up as a wide-eyed, short-skirted anime character, while Feng chose to dress like G.I. Jane.
“Xian is the tracker,” I said slowly.
“And if Feng was out there, Xian told her to be. Xian sensed something.”
“That’s perfect!” Relief washed over me in cool waves and I grinned. “Xian’s sensor is off then. Obviously! It was a regular crime scene. Double homicide, nothing special. Far from here.”
“What happened to the victims?”
My cool sense of relief left as easily as it came. “They were murdered.”
“Gunshot? Knife wounds? One of those eggy gang initiations?” Will asked.
“It was graphic. Lots of destruction. Looks like it was a team, if not a gang.” I focused on Sampson. “But there was nothing supernatural about it. There is no reason to think that Feng was there for any other reason than any of the other onlookers were there. She’s a looky-loo. Her business is slow. She said it herself.”
Will nodded agreeably. “She did say that she and the sis were rather good at their jobs. All but put themselves out of work.”
“That’s reassuring,” Sampson said. “Either way, it’s not safe here.” He began clearing plates. “I’m leaving as soon as I get this cleaned up.”
I crossed the living room and put my hand on Sampson’s forearm, taking the plates in my other hand. “No, you’re not. You’re safe here. You’ve got me and Vlad and Nina and Will. Will is right across the hall and he can fight. He can fight if Feng comes after us, or if anyone else does. And he has a car named Nigella.”
Will grinned, pride washing over him. “She’s a beauty.”
“See? You can finally stop running. Like I told you before, we’re going to help you. We’ll figure this out, Sampson.”