Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel Read Online Free

kept doing this to himself. It was like a slow suicide and it bothered her to think that her friend was so deeply unhappy with his life that living this way was better than facing it. Allie frowned at the thought and then picked a blanket up off the floor to cover him with while he slept, since there was no way for her to get him properly into the bed. She could worry about how to break her friend’s self-destructive habits later.
    She stood looking down at the unconscious elf for another minute before sighing and heading back out to clean up the mess in the hall. She’d rather just go back to bed, but the odds were that Bleidd wouldn’t wake before noon and it was easier to clean up his mess herself than listen to the other three roommates fighting over it. The lamp and table were broken beyond repair but the coat rack was mostly undamaged, having lost a few pegs off its wooden trunk but otherwise still being serviceable. She stood that back up by the door, dragged the assorted wreckage out to the garbage cans by the side of the house, and returned to begin the painstaking process of wiping up the blood and picking up the tiny shards of glass scattered across the floor. She had gotten most of it taken care of when she heard the sound of a key in the door and looking up realized that the hazy light of dawn was just breaking through the window.
    She was standing up, feeling satisfied, as Syndra walked in, but her mood soured as soon as she saw the other woman’s face. Syn’s short blond hair was in its usual chubby ponytail and her uniform was spotless but her expression was so grim Allie expected her to break some horrible news. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Where’s Bleidd?” Syn asked without the teasing tone that normally colored her voice.
    “In his room sleeping off a roaring drunk,” Allie responded puzzled.
    “You’re sure?” Syn pressed.
    “Sure?” she shot back, even more confused. “Of course I’m sure, I’m the one who put him there after he practically passed out in front of the door.”
    “He was really that drunk?” Syn’s eyes were moving around the entryway, noting the missing furniture. “What time did he get here?”
    “A little after 2. Well, that’s when he got in, I have no idea how long it took him to get up the walk and in the door,” Allie said, thinking of how totally out of it he’d been.
    “He came straight home after the bar closed?”
    Allie was getting annoyed now at all the questions, “I didn’t ask, but I assume so. The Tiger closes at 2 and it’s a 5 minute drive. Are you going to arrest him for drunk driving? What the hell’s going on Syn?”
    “What’s going on? He’s the prime suspect in all those murders is what’s going on,” Syn replied grimly.
    “That’s insane,” Allie winced, horrified, “Why? Because he found that body?”
    “How’d you know about that? Never mind, he told you right?” Syn pushed past her, tossing her uniform jacket at the battered coat rack and heading towards the kitchen, forcing Allie to jog after her, “It’s a total fucking mess. They questioned him; they called me in after they cut him loose and questioned me. They’d been thinking it was just some run-of-the-mill nut job, some human nut job,” Syn paused digging through the fridge for a beer. “But now they’re looking at it not being a human. They called in the Guard, formed a joint task force. It’s a total fuck show and he’s right in the middle of it.”
    “But why?” Allie asked, genuinely confused.
    “His history’s against him…”
    “You can’t be serious!” before Allie could build up any real outrage Syndra kept talking
    “His criminal record, his attitude…”
    “That’s ridiculous! Why would he report the body if…”
    “I’m not saying it’s him. I’m telling you what they think!” Syn cut her off, her voice rising. “They hinted that maybe he was trying to throw them off track or some stupid shit. It didn’t help anything