Hell or High Water (Gemini Book 3) Read Online Free

spell was cast sometime in the last forty-five minutes. Our technicians made attempts to recover evidence, but the scene has been sterilized.”
    Report given, he turned on his heel and returned to the rest of his polo-clad crew.
    “Forty-five minutes,” I echoed. “That’s not possible. I’ve been here for over an hour. I would have…”
    “The cercibis,” Graeson reminded me.
    “I’m sorry?” Comeaux anchored his hands at his hips. “You said cercibis? Do you mean Bert?”
    “I didn’t ask for his name.” Bert. Yeah, he looked like a Bert. “He was flighty, and I didn’t want to spook him.”
    “Flighty,” Graeson murmured.
    Great. Now Dell had him poking fun at me too.
    Comeaux glanced between us and chuckled. “Locals are convinced there’s a chupacabra on the loose.”
    “He revealed himself to humans?” I had spotted him loitering on the edge of the field and assumed I’d gotten lucky. Maybe not. “That was a bold move for such a nervous guy.”
    “Well, it’s like this. He got the name Bert in part because he resembles a reject from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and in part because he was half of a pair. See, there used to be an Ernie. It turned out she was an Earnestine. She startled some hunters last deer season, and they shot her. We couldn’t prosecute, because the humans had no idea what she was to be aware she was endangered. Bert lost his mind after that. He started people-watching, getting bolder about where he goes and who he reveals himself to. A few of us are concerned he’s stalking the humans responsible for his mate’s death, but he can’t stay cohesive for long enough to present a true threat. At least not yet.” The marshal’s tone sharpened. “How is he mixed up in this?”
    “The cops arrived within minutes of us, so we parked on the curb to wait for you.” Without a badge to grease the wheels, I didn’t have much choice. The local boys wouldn’t take my word that I was a law enforcement officer without proof, and admitting the truck belonged to my missing cousin would have gotten me barred from the scene before I contaminated it. “I noticed the cercibis’s crest twitching in the wheat field and went to question him.”
    Comeaux flicked Graeson a questioning glance. “Alone?”
    “No,” he answered, managing to sound insulted. “A pack mate provided backup while I went across the street to the feed store.”
    Tactful as any seasoned alpha, he avoided mentioning that in Dell’s heightened emotional state, she had exploded into her wolf form the second the cercibis’s scent hit her nose and bulleted in pursuit of him, leaving Graeson no choice but to let me calm her while he purchased the necessary bribe.
    “I read a paper on cercibis in the academy, which is why I knew Bert would make an ace witness if I could get him to cooperate,” I explained to Comeaux. “Offer one a gift and, if they accept it, they’re obliged to answer any one question truthfully in the future.”
    “Huh.” Comeaux turned contemplative. “I’ll have to remember that.”
    “One more thing to keep in mind,” I advised him. “Get as much information as you can before you give up the seed. Cercibis are worthless after you reward them.”
    “Good to know.” He traded his phone for a thin spiral notebook and pencil, scratching a few notes before glancing up at me. “How much information did the seed buy you?”
    “Enough. He told me a pink-haired girl was on the scene.” I didn’t name names, but I didn’t have to.
    “Not Harlow.” His hand froze poised over his notes. “How did she get mixed up in all this?”
    “She was abducted from the last crime scene I worked before going on leave.” Hating to do it, I slid a half-truth past him. “I’ve been trying to find her ever since.”
    It wasn’t a total lie. I had spent weeks searching for her before finding and losing her again.
    “I didn’t know.” He scratched the pencil thoughtfully against his cheek. “I