The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"Well, she was with him in the front window when I arrived, so yeah, I presume it was her that murdered Frank."

"Did she see you?"

He snorted. "Hell, yes. She paused and waved at me. There was blood smeared all over her hands and skin."

"She was naked, then?"

He nodded.

Not only a killer, but a brazen one, who seemingly didn't have any fears about getting caught. "Where were you?"

"Sorta standing in the middle of the road, a little shocked. I mean, it's not every day you see your boss and a babe making out in the window."

No, I guess not. "Were you the only one watching?"

"There was a drunk." He shrugged. "Most of the traffic kept zipping by. One of them almost ran me over. People in cars generally don't take much notice of what's going on around them."

And if they had glimpsed the naked woman, would they actually have believed it? Or would they have thought it a mannequin? "What happened then?"

"She jumped out of the display area and I presume she walked to the back of the shop. There were no lights on in the store, so I couldn't be sure, but she certainly didn't come out the front."

"Did you enter the shop?"

He shook his head. "I called the cops, and waited out the front. If she could kill Frank - and he wasn't responding to me banging on the window, so I had to presume he was dead - I wasn't taking the chance of confronting her alone. I mean, I'm half Frank's size."

Wise man. I waited while he took a sip of coffee, then asked, "Is there another exit besides the front door?"

He shook his head. "Only the window above us."

I looked up. The window in question was maybe one foot square in diameter, and wouldn't have been large enough for a woman or a cat the size of a tiger to get through. But the latch was undone and the woman had gone, so this had to be her exit point.

Which meant we had a shifter who could actually alter the size of her beast. Interesting.

"Did you see her well enough to give us a description of her?"

He nodded. "She was tall and willowy, with large breasts and a lush mouth. Blondish hair, long fingers."

I raised my eyebrows again. "Long fingers?"

"I'm a pianist. I notice hands." He hesitated. "I'm sure she lives around here somewhere. I've seen her on the street a few times."

"But you don't know her name?"

"No. Sorry."

I squeezed his hand then rose. "There'll be another Directorate officer in here in a moment or so to take a full statement and work up an image ID, then we'll send you home."

He nodded. "Thanks."

I left him to his coffee and walked back into the main shop area. Cole looked up as I entered. "Anything useful?"

"He saw the killer, so we'll need a full statement."

"Does his description match that of the woman James was last seen with?"

"Only in that they both had blond hair."

He quirked an eyebrow. "It'll be interesting to see what the DNA comes up with then, because the MO is the same for both murders."