Paul grunted, then took a swig from his water bottle. “There was a lupus garou pack that had to deal with a werewolf hunter group. They successfully turned one of the men, and he works for the pack. The others had to be put down. They couldn’t have the men arrested and tried for murder—they had to deal with the threat permanently, because the men wouldn’t give up their quest to destroy the wolves and to convert new wolf hunters. They hadn’t even been looking for werewolves initially. They were searching for Bigfoot, but saw a lupus garou shift. The same could have happened with this case. I could be mistaken, but I suspect the shooter is someone who possibly had prior military service or is a hunter. I can’t imagine the average man would take up a gun to hunt werewolves.”
“All right, so that’s a possibility. That the hunter didn’t know about our kind until the woman shifted and he saw her. I would agree with you about being a hunter or prior military.” Allan set his bottle on the table.
“Here’s another thought, though it’s even more farfetched,” Paul said. “After seeing the murdered woman, Rose told Lori that she had looked into one of those live action role-playing game, LARP, groups in southern Montana: werewolf versus villager werewolf hunters. She wanted to see if it was just a game or if any of the players were real wolves while we were away on a mission.”
“Hell, Paul. Why would she even do that?”
“She had been corresponding with one of the players online, thinking he was one of us. She had no one to date in the area, and she had discovered his website where he talked about werewolves and being one.”
“Which should have clued her in that he wasn’t.”
“I agree. But no lupus garous had passed through our area in months, and she was lonely. When she began to talk to him, she had convinced herself he really was a lupus garou. So she went down to see him. This was a month before she met Everett. Which shows we were right to stay here and take over the pack.”
“Sounds like it.”
“When Rose arrived in Helena, she had lunch with the man, Guy Lamb, and discovered he really was a wolf.”
Allan’s jaw dropped, then he shook his head. “I never would have believed it. And by the name of Lamb?”
“Yeah, it was his parents’ idea. Everyone teased him about being a lamb when he was a kid, so he had fun with saying he was a werewolf on his website.”
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Right. Anyway, he liked Rose, but once she met him, she wasn’t interested in getting to know him further. She said he was too weird for her. Loved horror stories, music she didn’t care for, books she wouldn’t read. He was such a big horror fan that he loved to act in plays of that nature and visit horror conventions. They just didn’t have anything in common. But she did want to check out the game for curiosity sake, in case one of the other players was a real wolf also. Someone she might connect with more. Rose did manage to meet with the group: eight werewolf hunters, one seer, and two wolves. Though who was playing which roles was a mystery. She said no one smelled like wolves. But when she and Lori came across the woman’s body, Rose was pretty rattled and told us about the group, just in case it had any bearing on this situation.”
“Okay. I can’t think of any other scenario offhand. The notion the killer saw the lupus garou shift and then eliminated her has my vote.”
Paul finished his bottle of water and set the empty container on the coffee table. “After viewing the wounds inflicted on the woman, I really think something deeper was going on. The murderer attacked her in a rage. It wasn’t just a case of killing a random person—passion was involved—anger.”
“Maybe he was a former lover and discovered what she was?”
“Now that could be.”
“Why would he leave her like that? Why not hide the body?”
“Lori and Rose’s arrival might have stopped him.”
“Why would he call the police to warn them about the killing, if he was the one who called in anonymously?” Allan asked.
“Because he’s proud of the kill? Maybe he thought the coroner could prove she’s a werewolf through DNA. Then he could brag about killing a werewolf.”
“Then he had to know or believe the woman was a werewolf. She had to know him, probably trusted him.” Thinking of an even worst-case scenario, Allan ran his hands through his hair. “What if he was watching when Rose and Lori arrived? And when they left, followed them?”
“That’s what I’m worried about. The police were at the crime scene while you were at work this morning. And I’ve told the homicide detective in charge of this that you’ll be looking into it also since it was so close to our cabin and we might have more trouble because the two ladies found the victim.”
“Good. What was said about how Lori and Rose located her?”
“They were taking a hike through the woods. There’s a trail near there. They were headed up to the lookout over the lake. Anyway, that’s the story. In truth, they smelled blood and lots of it. So they headed that way to locate the wounded wolf and help it, if they could. When they discovered the woman, smelled she was one of us, they hated to have to leave her body behind, but they didn’t have any choice. They went to the cabin, shifted, dressed, called me, and then headed back to the killing site to ‘find’ her as humans.”
“They didn’t wait for you though?”
“No. It would have taken me too long to get there. I was at Lori’s dojo, working out some of the stiffness in my leg. Lori called me to make sure she and Rose were doing the right thing. Of course, I didn’t want them returning to the scene in case the bastard was still in the area. But understandably, they wanted to call it in before the body happened to vanish, if the murderer decided to dispose of it.”
“Hell. Which means if the killer was watching the women arrive as wolves and then return as humans, he could have put two and two together, tracked them back to your cabin, learned you’re Lori’s mate, and well, hell, just everyone related to them: Lori’s grandmother, Mom, Rose’s mate, and his mother and sister. And that’s just the few of us from the original pack.”
“You and me. Yes, very possibly. Which means we have to catch this bastard pronto. Rose contacted everyone on the roster to let them know they need to avoid seeing any of us for the time being. We don’t know if this guy has any way to track the rest of the pack members, but if we cut off seeing them in person, that might help.” Paul pointed to a map on the wall showing the whole area: lakes, parks, trails, even elevations. “Here’s where the woman was found.”
“I’ll let you know if I discover anything further.”
His blood cold with anger, Allan left the cabin and drove to the logging road closest to the location of the crime scene.
On the way to the site, Allan made a call to Debbie, wanting to know how she was doing and how Franny and her baby were faring. He had already called ahead to let the staff know that Debbie would be arriving to check on them on her own, but he learned from them that she had already called ahead. He felt bad that he hadn’t been able to go with Debbie to see to Franny and the baby, that he’d had to break his lunch engagement with Debbie, and that he hadn’t been able to discuss this other business with her. “How’s the baby and Franny doing?”
“I’m still at the clinic and the doc is keeping them overnight. They’re going to be just fine. Thanks to you.”
“And you. Hell, you saw the vehicle first.”
He mentioned that only because she’d commented on his keen vision too many times to count, and he didn’t want her to find that odd. “I’m sorry about lunch. I’ll make it up to you later.”
“No problem at all, Allan, but I’ll certainly take you up on it. Is everything all right?”