“If it was a woman or someone elderly, I’d give the driver the benefit of the doubt, but her baby could have died. And Franny could have also.”
“Agreed. She said he was wearing a camo cap and his hair was cut short, but that’s all she could see before she swerved to avoid him. He was about our age.”
“Then he should be strung up.”
She wasn’t surprised at the way Allan felt. She had thought the same thing, though she had tried to see it from the other driver’s point of view too. But she had to agree with Allan.
When he drove into her duplex driveway, he finally said, “Uh, about lunch, yeah. I’ll give you a call in just a bit.”
Then he dropped her off, and she knew as distracted as he was, whatever was the matter had to be really important.
He pulled out of her driveway, a frown marring his temple as he talked to someone on his cell. She wondered again just what the trouble was and if she would be going alone to the clinic.
She realized she really wanted to be part of his life, to be there for him if he needed someone to talk to about family stuff. Not in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, particularly, but just as a friend. That had been something she had trouble with growing up. She had had no one to talk to about her parents. Better to just leave home and stay away. As a kid, that had meant spending hours at the library after school and immersing herself in books until the library closed for the night. Often a police officer would drive her home.
She’d gotten to know nearly everyone on the police force that way. One of the officers had rescued her father from his submerged truck when he’d gotten drunk and crashed it through the bridge. The officer had only delayed the inevitable, though. Her dad killed himself a year later in another accident, one with a concrete bridge column. But the officer’s dedication as a diver, and her love of the water and subsequent scuba diving certification, had made the decision for her. She had become a contracted police diver just like Officer Hardy Monroe.
She knew Allan had chosen to be one so he could work closer to home and spend more time with his family, though he had told her when he was needed for a mission, he would have to take a leave of absence and deal with it. She was surprised he would continue to do missions away from home as close as he was to his family. In the four and a half months he’d been working with her, he hadn’t gone on any assignments. She was glad because she really enjoyed working with him. Trying to train with a new diver would mean learning his or her idiosyncrasies all over again.
Paul Cunningham was the same way as far as continuing to do contract work out of country, though he’d set aside that business because his wife was pregnant. Debbie had felt bad when he’d broken his leg and hoped it would mend just fine. He was out of the cast now, but he was still using a cane. When he was fully recovered, would he go back to being partnered with Allan?
That made her feel a little blue.
After washing up, getting dressed, and drying her hair, she was hopeful she could have lunch with Allan and head over to the clinic. When she checked her phone, Allan had texted his regrets: Need to deal with some family issues. Talk to you soon. Allan
No “sorry for lunch.” No “wish I could see Franny and the baby.” Debbie knew whatever it had to do with had to be bad news or Allan would have said something more. He was always good about that. And he was always conscientious about personally seeing victims they’d rescued to learn how they were faring.
She wished she could help in some way. She put in a call to the clinic as she headed over there, hoping when she saw Allan again, he’d feel comfortable sharing with her this time.
* * *
“We don’t know who she is?” Allan asked Paul, angered that a lupus garou had come into their territory, maybe looking for protection, and had been murdered.
His countenance stormy, Paul stared out the window of his cabin overlooking the lake, his arms folded across his chest. “No. Since she was naked and one of our kind, we presume she was trapped and killed as a wolf. Your sister and my mate were out running as wolves before dawn’s first light and came across her body in the woods near the cabin. Whoever did it caught her in an animal trap and shot her. The ladies saw burn marks on the bullet wounds. Though ballistics haven’t come back to confirm it yet, the rounds had to have been silver. The ladies smelled the sweet, subtle scent of pure silver. She had lots of defensive wounds where she was trying to get loose from the trap and bite at her attacker.”
“Did she bite him?”
“Yes.”
“What about DNA samples from his blood? Skin?” Allan considered the ramifications further. “What if her bites transferred the lupus garou genetics into his bloodstream and he turns into a wolf? He won’t have much control over it for some time. He won’t be able to shift for another week—not while it’s the phase of the new moon right now.”
“The forensics lab is testing the blood and tissue samples. But you know it takes a while for the lab work results to come in. If he hasn’t committed any crimes, or even if he has, he might not be in the database. An autopsy is being done as we speak. If we find the bastard soon, he’ll be wearing some hefty bite marks and scratches. But if he’s been turned, that’s another story. That means we have a week to catch him before the half moon appears. What’s worse is someone anonymously reported the murder. If he was a wolf, we’d have to handle it on our own. But now the police are involved.”
“The killer did?”
“Possibly.” Paul let out his breath. “Probably. Neither Lori nor Rose saw, smelled, or heard anyone. Rowdy Sanderson is the homicide detective in charge of the investigation. Because the killer used silver rounds, whoever murdered the wolf had to have known she was a lupus garou.”
“He didn’t try to remove her body to claim he’d killed a werewolf?”
“No. I’m declaring that no one in the pack shifts until we can learn who did this and take him down.”
“Good idea. Any clues?”
Paul shook his head. “I suspect the woman was coming here to meet with us so she could join the pack. I want you to check out the crime scene. I’ve got Everett trying to track down who she was. I’ve asked Lori’s grandma to discover if the woman had any contact with any member of our pack, asking to join, since Emma and your mother have been involved the most in asking single female wolves to join the pack.”
“Sounds like we have a werewolf hunter on our hands, don’t you agree?” In all the years of their existence, they had never had to deal with such an issue.
“It sure as hell sounds like it. On the other hand, what if it is a lupus garou, and he covered his tracks by making it look like a werewolf hunter was after her? If that’s the case, his victim wouldn’t have turned him.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking that too. And if he’s not recently turned, that can be good and bad. Good, because he won’t shift unexpectedly around humans and give our kind away. And bad because he’ll be harder to track down.”
“Either way, we have to stop him. But if he hasn’t been turned, we need the police to handle this.” Paul headed into the kitchen and got them both a bottled water. Then they moved to the living room and took a seat on the couches.
“Agreed.” Allan noticed Paul’s cane leaning next to the couch, but he wasn’t using it today. “How’s your leg?”
“It’s fine. If one more person asks…”
Allan nodded. He knew how much that had to bother Paul. “But you’re getting around without the cane, and I don’t see you limping.”
“Inside buildings, I’m fine. Plowing through snowdrifts or walking on ice…” Paul shook his head. “Besides, I get enough coddling from Lori, Mom, Rose, and Grandma. I don’t need it from you also.”
“Me coddle you? When have I ever done that? It’s not in my SEAL or wolf nature. Hell, any of us, broken leg or not, can have trouble on ice unless we’re in our wolf form and have better traction. It’ll get better.”