The Alpha Claims A Mate(29)
If it were necessary, Ginger would have announced the truth, but there was no need to humiliate this man’s family. The man hadn’t been murdered; he’d died in the middle of sex.
“Death by natural causes,” Ginger said coolly. “He appears to have collapsed and died from a heart attack.” She turned to the widow. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
There were audible sighs of relief from the widow and several of the people sitting with her.
“What?” Portia’s voice cracked angrily through the room. “Remember…you’re certified! You are sworn to tell the truth!”
“I am telling the truth,” Ginger said coldly. And she was. It appeared that the man had died of a heart attack. She didn’t need to mention what activity he was indulging in when he had that heart attack.
“If you lie during an investigation, you will lose your certification!”
“You think that the coroner’s office is going to find some other cause of death besides a heart attack? He wasn’t shot, stabbed, strangled, or poisoned…he collapsed,” Ginger said firmly. “I’m not a doctor, but I know what I saw. He collapsed. And never regained consciousness.”
Suddenly Portia looked around the room and realized that all eyes were now on her. All the people in the room who’d been glaring at Ginger were now glaring at her.
Her gaze dropped to the floor, and she shot Ginger a dirty look.
“We’ll just see about that,” she mumbled angrily.
“Portia Sinclair, what the heck is going on here?” Loch Armstrong’s voice rang through the air.
Chapter Nine#p#分页标题#e#
Loch had come into the house un-noticed, and was standing in the arched entryway to the living room, his face dark with anger.
Portia’s face went pale. “Outside. Now,” he snapped.
Portia swallowed hard, then turned and stalked out of the house without a word.
The sheriff nodded at the widow. “I’m sorry for your loss, Miss Timmons,” he said, and turned and walked out, and Ginger followed him, her heart frozen in her chest. What the hell was happening here?
Portia was quickly climbing into her patrol car when the sheriff barked at her “Get back here, now!” She froze and sat there for a second as if contemplating the idea of ignoring him, then she slowly climbed out and walked over to where he stood, her face sullen.
He glanced at Ginger. “What are you doing here?”
“Portia said that you wanted me to investigate…” she saw Portia frantically gesturing at her as if begging her to be quiet. Obviously Portia had lied when she’d said the sheriff wanted Ginger at the scene.
The sheriff turned to Portia. “Are you crazy? You thought you’d get away with going behind my back like that?”
Portia didn’t answer, staring sullenly at the ground.
“We all know what happened with Mr. Timmons. There was absolutely no need to humiliate that woman and her family like that. You brought Ginger here to stir up trouble and make her look like the bad guy – at that family’s expense.”
“I didn’t say anything to the family,” Ginger said hastily. “I just said that it appears that he collapsed and died of a heart attack. Which is true. Mostly. I mean, there was a young man in the room with him when he collapsed, and they were, uh…”
“I can imagine,” the sheriff said darkly.
He turned back to Portia. “I should be out dealing with a missing professor, and preventing Jax from starting a war with the Panther Nation. Instead I’m here dealing with your childish and completely unacceptable behavior.”
“Unacceptable!” Portia hissed. “I’ll tell you what’s unacceptable! She’s a red wolf, you’re grey! You can’t-“
The sheriff let out a low, warning growl, and his eyes glowed amber with rage.
Portia wilted, shrinking back. “You can’t treat me like this. You know who my aunt is,” she muttered weakly. “I’ll quit, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Resignation accepted. Ginger, come with me.” He turned on his heel and walked away, with Ginger quickly following him.
Portia’s wails of protest filled the air. “You can’t do this! You’ll hear from my aunt! You’ll hear from the council!” she shouted.
Ginger and the sheriff climbed into the patrol car. Ginger had to hug herself to keep her hands from shaking.
The sheriff pulled out of the parking lot. “I apologize for that. And for this morning. I owe you an explanation,” he said. “Portia…her family has been trying to arrange a marriage between us for ages, for political reasons. Their family is very wealthy, mine has a lot of connections and influence in this area of the state. I made it very clear to them that she wasn’t my fated mate, but they kept pushing . A year ago I took her out on a couple of dates, and then I broke it off. She didn’t take it well. She managed to get herself hired at the sheriff’s department by having her aunt pressure the mayor, and she’s constantly trying to meddle in my personal life.”#p#分页标题#e#