“When you’re ready, I’ll have the ME pull the curtain back,” the detective said.
“I’m ready,” Mav said without hesitation and he faced the window. I automatically moved to his side, but I doubted he noticed me. Mace was on his other side. The detective went to an intercom and spoke into it and a second later the curtain was drawn back. I forced myself not to react to the sight of the covered body, but I felt like I was going to throw up when the ME began drawing back the covering to reveal the body.
I hadn’t asked Mav how his mother had died, but I had my answer the instant the woman’s face was revealed. Because there was a small, almost perfectly shaped hole on her right temple. I shifted closer to Mav when I heard a rush of air escape him.
Pain tore through me for him and without thinking, I automatically reached out to grab his hand. A few moments later, his fingers remained lax in my grip so I began to release him, but the second my fingers loosened, his hand tightened around mine.
“Mr. James, is this your mother, Kim Red Winds?” the detective asked as he read the name from a piece of paper in the folder he was holding.
“Kimimela,” Mav murmured. “It’s her Indian name. She shortened it to Kim when she left the reservation. It means Little Butterfly,” he said dully.
The detective didn’t respond, but I saw him jot it down.
“What happened?” Mav asked, his eyes never leaving his mother’s bloodless face.
“It was a domestic altercation with the man she was living with. Witnesses said they were often heard arguing and evidence suggests she may have been trying to leave him when he shot her.”
“Where is he?” Mav asked, his hand tightening on mine.
“Dead. He took his own life shortly afterwards.”
Even though Mav’s hold on me bordered on painful, the rest of his body showed no reaction whatsoever.
“Mr. James, the ME will need some information on what you would like done with the body. Have you selected a funeral home yet?”
“No funeral home,” Mav said. “I’m taking her home.”
* * *
“Come in,” I called when I heard the knock on the door. I’d been sitting out on the balcony of the guest room in the townhouse Mace shared with Cole and Jonas, the two men he lived with and who I had already guessed were his lovers based on the single master bedroom Mace had shown us when he’d given us a tour of the place.
I’d been surprised that Mav had agreed when Mace had suggested we stay with them rather than at a nearby hotel, but I’d figured out why he’d said yes as soon as we’d gotten to the spacious townhouse. Because when Mace had shown us to the bigger of the two guestrooms, Mav had declared the room mine, leaving Mace no choice but to offer him the second guestroom on the other side of the hall.
Mace pushed opened the door. He had a couple of towels in his hand which he placed on the bed. Behind him trailed a small, fluffy tabby cat that promptly jumped up on the bed and lay down on top of the towels.
“Digger,” Mace murmured as he reached for the cat.
“No,” I said quickly. “Leave him.”
“You sure?” Mace asked as we both watched the cat curl itself into a ball, its tail wrapping around its body. I hadn’t missed the fact that the animal was missing one of its eyes. From the moment Mav and I had stepped over the threshold of Mace’s townhouse, we’d been greeted by several dogs and cats, though I hadn’t seen this particular one at the time. Mace had explained that a few of the animals were fosters, but with the way he greeted them and they him, I had to wonder if they would be fosters for long. Because the huge, heavily tattooed man clearly had a soft spot for them.
“Yeah,” I said as I stepped forward to run my hand over the cat’s soft fur. “I’d love the company,” I added before I could think better of it.
“Well, if you need anything else, just let me know. I’m going to get dinner started since Jonas is teaching a late class and Cole won’t be back from Connecticut for another hour or so.”
Agitation was rolling through me and the idea of being cooped up in the room across from the man who hadn’t acknowledged me even once after he’d dropped my hand at the Coroner’s office after his mother’s body had been covered back up had me unable to sit still for more than a minute at a time. “Can I help?” I asked.
“With dinner?” Mace asked in surprise. “Um, yeah, sure.”
I turned to close the balcony door so Digger wouldn’t go outside and then followed Mace from the room. I glanced at Mav’s closed door. He’d disappeared in there shortly after Mace had finished the tour with the excuse that he had arrangements to see to, but I wasn’t certain that was the complete truth since he’d made several calls from the car and I’d garnered enough information from the one-sided conversation to glean several things.