Half Truths (A Helheim Wolf Pack Tale) (10 page)

The sign above
the door told them it was both the administration and accounts building. Vaile
opened the door for Grey, grunting a noncommittal noise when she thanked him.
From there, they approached the reception-slash-help desk.

There was a
thin-looking, crooked-nosed man standing behind the counter they were
approaching. Vaile noticed how the cocksucker’s eyes drank in Grey, and that
instantly set Vaile on edge. He’d been planning to let Grey take this
questioning, but now he didn’t want her near anyone who was going to leer at
her like that. Brushing past her, he stepped up to the counter, enjoying how
the guy paled when he took in the size of Vaile’s shoulders. He swallowed
thickly, his Adam’s apple working overtime to get whatever he was choking on
down … it was probably his balls.

Vaile let his
wolf slip for the briefest second. ‘Detective Wolfe from Buxton P.D.,’ he said,
flashing his billfold. Normally he would have introduced his partner, but he
wasn’t doing that today. No, today they were just going to pretend that she
wasn’t there because if he acknowledged her presence, it would draw more
attention to her, and Vaile was having a hard enough time now stopping himself
from reaching into the guy’s throat and retrieve his balls via his stomach for
even thinking about Grey. ‘We’re here investigating a murder. We need to speak
to someone in admissions.’

The guy only
stared, his mouth hanging open and slack. Vaile stared at him hard, standing a
little straighter when the guy’s gaze flickered to Grey again. Motherfucker!
Vaile cleared his throat. ‘Admissions?’ he asked; his voice hard and dangerous.
The guy took a shaky step back. Vaile could smell his fear, the sweat breaking
out on his body—under his arms and down his back.

‘D-down the
h-h-hall … f-f-f-fourth office on the l-l-left,’ he managed to stammer. Vaile
smiled at him, revealing his slightly elongated canine teeth to him. ‘Thanks.’

When he looked
up, the entire office was staring at him, including some students loitering
around waiting for friends. The expression on their faces was a familiar one:
fear; pure, unadulterated fear. He glared back at all of them before turning
away. When he looked at Grey to see if she’d noticed, he was surprised to see
curiosity burning brightly in her green eyes.

Turning on his
heel, he stalked out of the office and down the hall—Grey’s soft footsteps following
him. The scent of her skin enveloped him, and he suddenly felt horrible for
what he’d done to that guy.

‘Sorry about
that,’ he rumbled, still not looking at her face as he navigated his way down
the hallway.

‘That was
amazing!’ she gasped. He stopped dead, turning to study her face.

‘What was
amazing?’ he asked, suddenly suspicious.

‘What you did in
there.
That
was
amazing
!’ She reached out for his arm as he
turned back around. His breath left him in a rush. ‘How did you do that?’

‘Do what?’ he snapped
back, shrugging out from under her hand because it just felt too damn good.

‘Vaile, you
breathe menace. What I wouldn’t give to be able to just walk into a room and
for everyone to know that I meant business. I wish I could do what you do.’

‘I don’t know
what you’re talking about.’

She raised a
pale brow at him. ‘You mean you haven’t noticed how people go out of their way
to avoid you? How they suddenly become busier when you’re in the room?’

His wolf came to
the surface, a new sense of curiosity burning slowly. ‘No,’ Vaile replied.
‘Come on, we have work to do.’ He was smiling when he turned back around, but
it soon disappeared when he came to the office he’d been searching for.

This office was
a lot smaller than the last, with fewer people too. There was a woman sitting
behind a desk cluttered with Swarovski crystal cats. Vaile was surprised that
she got any work done with that much shit in the way. She smiled warmly at
Grey, but her smile faltered when she took in Vaile. He glanced at Grey, letting
her know she could take over from there.

‘Hello. I’m
Constable Larissa Grey from Buxton P.D., and that’s Detective Wolfe over
there,’ she said. And Vaile liked how she said his name, although he wished it
was his first name, and while they were in some compromising positions without
clothes on. ‘We’re here investigating the murder of one of your students. His
first name is Aaron. Unfortunately, we don’t know his surname or anything else
about him, only that his major was philosophy.’

Grey pulled the
photos taken from the morgue out to show her. The woman gasped, her hand
fluttering to her chest as she stared at the bloodless face of Aaron No Last
Name.

‘Do you
recognise him?’ Grey asked her softly.

‘Why, yes I do.
His name is Aaron Mills. I only spoke to him yesterday morning about his
scholarship,’ she said, all the while staring at his picture. The woman looked
up at Grey; her eyes glassy and wide. ‘He’s dead?’ she asked, her voice
shaking.

Grey nodded.
‘I’m afraid so. We need some information about him. Can you help us with that,
please?’

The woman nodded
slowly, standing up shakily and shuffling around the corner where Vaile heard
filing cabinets being opened and closed. The woman appeared again clutching a
manila folder to her chest. ‘Won’t you sit down?’ she asked, nodding at the two
plush chairs across from her desk. Grey looked back at Vaile, and when he
nodded, she sat. Vaile lowered himself into the chair, not allowing himself to
get comfortable.

The woman opened
the manila folder, revealing a double-page spread. On the left was personal
information about Aaron complete with a photo clipped to the top left corner.
Vaile looked at it, finding it hard to recognise him as the same boy they’d
found. The woman suddenly cleared her throat.

‘Aaron Steven Mills
was born January 2
^nd
, 1992.’ Her eyes travelled to the right-hand
side of the folder. ‘He was a sophomore, majoring in Philosophy, but on
scholarship.’

‘Did he live on
campus?’ Grey asked gently.

‘Yes, it was one
of the stipulations on his scholarship. He lived over in the Jefferson building
in the east wing, room three zero three.’

‘We’ll need to
have access to his dorm room,’ Vaile rumbled. She looked at him like she’d
forgotten he was even there before pasting an unsure smile on her face.

‘Of-of course,’
she stammered. ‘I’ll page his roommate to come and take you. If you would
excuse me for a moment?’ she said, standing up but not taking the file with
her. Grey turned it around so it was the right way around and began making
notes while Vaile called central command.

‘Wolfe, what
have you got?’ D’Angelo barked into the phone two rings in.

‘The kid’s name
was Aaron Steven Mills. D.O.B Jan 2
^nd
, 1992. Can you pull his
parents’ address and email it to me?’

‘Sure … they’re
local,’ he said after a few taps of the keyboard. ‘Do you want me to send a Uniformed
out there for you?’

 ‘No. We’ll head
over there after we’re done on campus chasing leads.’

‘You got it,
although I’m sure that’s not all you’re chasing,’ D’Angelo said before hanging
up. Vaile growled into the handset, flipping it shut and shoving it back into
his pocket.

‘What’s wrong?’
Grey asked.

He looked up to
find her staring—worried. ‘Nothing,’ he replied, thankful their helpful admin
woman was back.

‘His roommate’s
name is Steven Wong. He’ll meet you outside this building in five minutes. Now,
was there anything else you needed to know?’

‘No. That’s all
for now. Thank you for your help,’ Grey replied, taking the woman’s hand into
hers and giving it a squeeze. The woman instantly responded to her, smiling
back sadly. As they turned to leave, she called after them.

‘When did this
happen?’

Grey glanced
over at Vaile. ‘Early this morning, ma’am,’ he replied, feeling the need to be
polite after Grey’s altruism.

She nodded. ‘Do
his parents know?’

‘They’ll be
informed within the hour,’ replied Vaile.

They left the
office, walking out to the front of the building to wait for the roommate. They
were only waiting a few minutes before a gangly-looking guy with thick glasses
and an overbite approached them cautiously.

‘Steven Wong?’
Vaile asked.

The guy nodded
timidly. ‘What’s this about?’ he asked, pushing his glasses a little further up
his nose.

Grey spoke
before Vaile could. ‘It’s about your roommate.’

Steve grinned.
‘He got arrested, right? I
knew
he’d get arrested one of these days.’

‘No, he didn’t
get arrested,’ Grey replied just as Vaile said, ‘He’s dead.’

Grey glanced at
Vaile who shrugged at her. Turning her attention back to Steve she said,
‘Unfortunately, Aaron passed away last night. Detective Wolfe and I are on the
case.’

‘Wait. Aaron’s
dead?!’

Grey nodded. ‘We
need to look at his room and ask you some questions, so the faster we do this,
the faster we’ll solve the case.’

Steve looked
like he was going to be sick; his face pale. He ran an unsteady hand across his
sweaty upper lip and nodded. Shoving his hands into his pants pockets, he led
them silently toward their dorm.

The boys’ dorm
was a double-storey building that roughly housed around sixty students. Aaron
and Steve’s room was the third door on the right. When Steve opened it, Vaile
and Grey stepped inside and shut the door behind them, locking out the prying
eyes of Steven’s fellow students.

The first thing
Vaile and his wolf noticed was the stench of boys growing into men. One of them
jacked off at least once a day in that place, and judging by the posters of
nude girls on the walls, he guessed it had been Aaron.

‘So, what
happened to him?’ Steve asked, slumping down into the roller desk chair on his
side of the room.

‘Murdered,’
Vaile replied matter-of-factly, looking around Aaron’s side. With his pen, he
lifted different bits of paper from his desk finding sketches of naked women.
‘Admissions said he had a scholarship. What for?’

‘Basketball,’
Steve replied.

‘Really?’ Vaile
asked. Aaron had seemed too thin to be a ball player.

Steve shrugged.
‘Apparently he was really good. I never saw him play though.’

Grey said, ‘So,
you would describe him as athletic then.’ She made it a question.

Steve shrugged.
‘I guess so. He was the typical jock.’

‘How so?’ asked
Vaile.

‘He was an
asshole to women, but they just kept flocking back to him.’

‘Have you ever
seen him dressed as a Goth?’ Grey asked absently, looking around the room and
taking notes.

Steve’s eyebrows
shot up. ‘A Goth? No. Never. Why?’

‘At the time of
his death, he was found wearing clothing most Goths would wear. Do you have any
idea why that might be?’ Vaile asked.

Steve shrugged.
‘He was trying to nail this Goth chick from his philosophy class.’

Vaile and Grey
shared a look.

‘Her name
wouldn’t happen to be Cherry Green, would it?’

‘Yeah, that’s
her. She hates jocks, so he faked interest in whatever she was interested in.
She agreed to take him to that Goth club in town, the …er … the …’ Steve
stopped, scrubbing his hands down his face in thought.

‘“The Imp and
Impaler”?’ Vaile offered when he took too long.

‘Yeah that’s the
place. He’d never been there before,’ Steve shrugged. ‘He thought it’d be good
for a laugh.’

‘Well that got
him killed,’ Vaile rumbled. ‘Can we look in his wardrobe?’

‘Go for it. He’s
not going to mind.’

Vaile nodded at
Grey to start looking, but turned back to look at Steve the roommate. ‘You
don’t seem too upset by your roommate’s death.’

Steve shrugged.
‘It’s a shock, but I only started rooming with him a few months ago. At least I
can get some sleep now. He brought girls home all the time. And let’s just say
that earplugs didn’t suffice.’

Vaile evaluated
Steve, deciding that he was the one who jacked off in his room all the time.
His jealousy of Aaron was stinking up the place.

 ‘No other signs
of black clothing like he was found in,’ Grey told Vaile under her breath.

‘No, he bought
that stuff especially for last night. Is that where he was killed?’ Vaile’s
eyes narrowed, but he nodded to confirm. Steven sat back in his chair.

‘We’re done
here. Thanks.’ Vaile said, following Grey out.

Once they were
outside and on their way back to the car, Vaile checked his Blackberry for the
email from his boss. The address was for a house in Ashgrove—the nicer part of
Buxton where white-collar workers washed their cars on the weekends and the
kids played in the street until the streetlights came on.

Half an hour
later, they pulled into the driveway of number twenty-two Pine Grove, and Vaile
cut the engine.

‘Do you want me
to handle this?’ Grey asked, staring out the windshield at the Colonial in
front of them.

‘Yeah, you do
that. I don’t want to scare them off,’ he murmured, looking at her profile,
noticing at how the sun touched her face. He wanted to let out her hair, and
run his fingers through it, but he scrubbed the idea away quickly. She turned
to look at him, capturing him in her green gaze.

‘You can be kind
when you want to be Vaile,’ she said smiling, and got out of the car leaving
him floored and floundering to get back his usually indifferent facade. He
managed it after a minute, following her to the door.

Grey rang the
doorbell, and took a step back, bumping into Vaile’s chest as she did. He
sucked in a hiss, but didn’t move out of her way. She looked over her shoulder
at him; her gaze molten until it was torn away when the front door opened.