Free Jack A Grim Reaper Romance by Calista Taylor

the covers back and hauled her to feet. “Would you make haste?”
     
    Lilly shrugged her arm out of his grasp, her chest tight with dread. “Please, Mason. I don’t know if I can witness such brutality again. I know I agreed to help, but there must be some other way. I have not the stomach or heart for it.”
     
    Mason locked eyes with hers. “I’d not put you through this if there was another option, but there is not. This can only be accomplished by one who’s been… close… to the reaper who’s left his essence.”
     
    Her eyebrows perked in question. “You mean someone who’s had relations with the reaper.” She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off a chill, her linen nightgown doing little to keep her warm.
     
    “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” He cupped her face and brushed a thumb across her cheek. “And you, my dear, are the only reaper with that honor.”
     
    ***
     
    Lilly turned into Mason’s shoulder and swallowed her rising bile, their presence hidden and their actions neither seen nor heard. Mason ran a hand down her back, but with such brutality, nothing could soothe her. She squeezed her eyes shut, mentally searching the area, and true enough, Jack’s essence was there on the body.
     
    “I’m sorry to ask you such a thing, but I must. Please take a look and see if there’s anything that stands out to you.” Mason’s voice was firm, though sympathetic and kind.
     
    They had not gone to the scene of the murder, but instead stood with the coroner. The poor woman lay on a long table her body stripped of her clothing, the blood washed away. The metallic tang of blood hung thick in the air, the room cold and bone chillingly damp.
     
    The coroner started his inquest, unaware of their presence. He started by noting the wounds to the woman’s body so his apprentice could record their findings.
     
    “All injuries appear to have been made by the same instrument, a long bladed knife, relatively sharp, with each cut delivered in a violent manner.” He ran his fingertips over her neck. “The victim’s throat has been slashed, not once but twice, the wounds so deep they nearly sever her head from her body. A bruise can be found running along her jaw on the right side of her face.”
     
    He proceeded to examine the rest of her body as he gave his findings. “Several incisions run across the abdomen. One is deep and jagged enough to cut through the tissue beneath. Three, no, four more violent downward slashes cut the right side of the abdomen. All injuries appear to have been made from left to right, as if from a left-handed person.”
     
    Lilly’s breath hitched when she heard those last words—Jack was indeed left handed. Though there may have been more in the coroner’s report, Lilly heard none of it. “I need to go, Mason. Please. ”
     
    Something in her voice spoke of her desperation, for he did not argue with her, and escorted her out to his carriage. He gave his driver an address and then settled back in his seat, pulling Lilly into his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
     
    She sat up and turned to look at him. “Are you? Because I didn’t see the point of it. Even if I notice things about the murder, how does that get us any closer to Jack?”
     
    Mason shrugged but did not meet her eyes. “It doesn’t.”
     
    She felt as if she might be ill as the realization settled in. “But it does build your case against him.”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    At least he was honest with her. “Why bother, Mason? Since when do the Elders need to build a case against anyone? They just do as they like.”
     
    “Lilly, I’ll be honest with you, because I don’t want deception and half-truths to ruin our friendship.” His words sent her pulse thudding inside her ears, as she anticipated the worst. “With a crime of this magnitude, we’re not dealing only with the murders of these women and the consequences their deaths will have. As a reaper committing the