Under Her Skin Read Online Free PDF Page A

tiredly. “So do you really think these murders are connected?” I asked.
    Moreland leaned over to see me past Nevala. “That’s what we’re hoping to find out, now that Dr. Nevala brought the connection to our attention.”
    This wasn’t something that Scott had dug up, then. Or the police.
    Speaking of . . . “Why aren’t your guys handling this?” I asked Moreland.
    “We’re looking into a number of possibilities,” the detective responded. “But cases involving children are especially delicate, and since the CAP-C grant allows for collaboration between agencies, we’re taking advantage of some extra eyes on the cases. Especially since they’re eyes with confidentiality clauses already in place.” A tiny smile flashed across his face, acknowledging the pragmatic element of co-opting CAP-C personnel for the grunt work of digging through files.
    Gloria, who had been jotting notes down on the legal pad in front of her, dropped her pen down onto the table and sat up a little straighter, her curly blonde hair bouncing a little with the motion. As usual, she looked like a former beauty-queen, moved into a soft, kindly middle-age. People often made the mistake of assuming she was as sweet as she appeared. Those people often paid for their mistake when she unleashed her sharp, analytical mind on them, via her equally incisive tongue.
    Our secretary, Jose, called her “a needle in a cotton ball.”
    I might be the snake, but when it came to protecting children, Gloria was a viper.
    I could see the calculation behind her eyes now. “Lindi, you and Kade spend today hitting the records, see what you can dig up. Start with these girls, since there won’t be any confidentiality issues. Then move to the others.” She turned to the DA. “Who’s coordinating?”
    Jason tilted his chin toward his investigator and responded to the table at large. “Scott’s got everything. If you find anything at all suspicious, let him know and he’ll pull together any necessary warrants to ferret out the rest.”
    “Your hospital agreed to let us dig through your patient records?” I asked the doctor.
    Kade shrugged. “Not precisely.”
    “Can’t you get in trouble for that? Because of HIPAA or something?”
    “That’s why Gloria made me a CAP-C board member—I signed all the nondisclosure and confidentiality paperwork that allows me to see your clients’ records.” With a nod, he hefted the strap of a soft leather bag he carried over his shoulder. “And you’re not going to see any medical records that aren’t already part of your files.”
    “That makes you the only person who knows everything about this case?”
    “Until we get enough for a warrant, yes.”
    The setup made me uncomfortable—the limited flow of information was bad enough. The fact that everything we knew was coming through the man—the creature—who had all but assaulted me the night before caused my stomach to clench.
    “How are we going to do this?” I asked. There had to be some way for me to verify any claims he made.
    Why had Gloria trusted him so immediately?
    Had he used some sort of weird enchantment on her? Did magic even exist?
    I was about to spend hours working with someone who might be my sworn enemy, and I didn’t have a clue about his abilities.
    For that matter, I didn’t know much about my own abilities. My parents had taught me to be as human as possible.
    I didn’t know a damn thing about being a shapeshifter.
    Somehow, I was going to have to find a way to get Dr. Kade Nevala alone to quiz him.
    But first, we needed to find a killer.
    “I know it’s a tenuous connection, but it’s all we’ve got. We need to find a way to identify possible future victims.” Now that I was looking for it, I saw stress-lines around Jason’s eyes and mouth.
    “So what can we do?” I asked, suddenly more willing to cut the man some slack. He nodded his thanks to me.
    “Scott’s going to interview everyone else here so we can get you