LustUndone (13 page)

No. He’d better get control of his body and concentrate on
the job at hand.

* * * * *

Sophia stopped at three places to warn the residents and
made notes on two more where no one was home. It felt good to be out in the
vastness of northern Aroostook County, where the animals outnumbered the
residents. She’d always been a child of nature, more than a social human being.
Maybe that’s why the idea of shifters hadn’t been so foreign to her. Not just
the shocking theories about the Chupacabra. More than that, it was the total
acceptance of the team members who were wolf shapeshifters.

Was there something wrong with her that she not only didn’t
find it strange that someone could change shapes like that but that they also
could live undetected among humans? And mate with humans as well. She marveled
at the success of the pairings of Jonah and Dakota, and Mark and Chloe. The more
she learned about their ability to adapt in human society, about the ability to
mate with humans and how those relationships worked, the more fascinated by it
she became.

She knew all about the special herbs they needed to take on
a regular basis. Dakota had packed a special small case for Logan before they
left Texas for Maine, enough to last him for a month if necessary. Sophia sent
up silent prayers that they wouldn’t have to be here that long.

She’d been on high alert ever since she’d split off from Logan
and Rebecca. The devil beast was out here, somewhere, hiding and waiting. From
everything they’d learned she was sure it had a higher level of intelligence
than most animals. If someone was breeding these abominations that person would
make sure of it. So it wasn’t just a matter of avoiding native predators. She
wasn’t about to get caught by the Chupacabra. By the time she stopped again she
was stiff from tension and a dull headache was building behind her eyes.

Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was already twelve
thirty. They’d agreed to meet back at the parking lot, have lunch and thaw out
and then hit three more sections after this. She had planned to go by and see
Frenchy today while Clint was at work, maybe find out a little more about this
man who told her nothing about himself but totally rocked her world. At the
moment, however, that didn’t seem a likely possibility.

Tomorrow Shelley and Damien would be home. She knew from
Rebecca that they’d left right after Darrell Franklin’s body was found. Damien
was concerned that the shock of the animal’s possible return might affect
Shelley’s pregnancy so he’d left his open cases with his law partners and gone
to Boston for a week. Sophia hadn’t talked to either of them yet but Rebecca
said the change had done Shelley a world of good. They’d be back in the morning
and then Sophia would go to see them. Tell them what she could. Assure them
that Night Seekers was pulling out all the stops to find the devil beast and
destroy it.

Preoccupied with her own thoughts she almost missed the
flash of an animal in the distant trees. Something black. A bear? No, much too
small. Too big for a fox. And foxes weren’t black.

She stopped the snowmobile and shut off the engine, waiting
and listening. She strained her eyes in the direction she’d seen the…whatever
it was, but nothing was moving. Anywhere. There wasn’t even a bird flying
overhead. She lifted the rifle from where it was attached at the side of the
machine and held it ready. Waiting. Hoping whatever it was would show itself
again. When nothing moved she finally placed it back in its clamps, fired up
the engine and roared off, but her mind was spinning in a dozen directions.

Logan had mentioned seeing a black wolf, but black wolves
were rarely seen in Maine. Sophia knew the coloring was actually a melanin
accident in the pigment of gray wolves, but other factors entered into it and
the scarce population of Maine gray wolves tended to be just that. Gray. So
what on earth had Logan seen? What had
she
seen?

Was it possible there was a shifter living in the area
around here? Maybe isolated from its pack or his immediate friends? But if that
was so, wouldn’t Logan have sensed it in some way? She’d learned that shifters
had some kind of built-in radar that allowed them to connect with others.

Later she’d be sure to ask him. And tell him she’d spotted
something, too.

* * * * *

Rebecca looked at her watch. Nearly one o’clock. The time
they’d agreed to meet up again and stop for lunch. She turned the snowmobile
around and yanked the lever into high gear.

People had been home at only one place where she stopped but
she marked the locations on her map for later notification. It was very cold
although thankfully the wind had died down. Still, searching out locations in
this area on the snowmobile was exhausting.

It wasn’t just covering so much territory and checking on
people whose access to the highways was temporarily impassable. She had to be
alert at all times not just for wild animals but also for the possible
appearance of the devil beast. The only time it had ever killed during daylight
hours was when it attacked the twins. Just remembering that made bile rise in
Rebecca’s throat and a pain lance through her heart.

She couldn’t believe some of the detectives actually thought
it was a coyote. In the first place, coyotes were not new to the area. Except
for the rare moments when someone stumbled into a pack away from civilization
and disturbed the animals they had pretty much left humans alone. They
certainly didn’t come right up to the houses and attack. And when coyotes
killed there was less damage to the underlying tissue.

Others on the team were willing to entertain the thought
that it might be some other kind of animal that maybe they’d never seen before.
And then there was the sergeant with his theory of a killer wielding some kind
of bizarre weapon.

But Rebecca knew. She still had nightmares about the
killings when her nephews were destroyed, remembering what the bodies looked
like.

To distract herself from the gruesome direction her brain
was taking she thought instead of Logan Tanner. What a hunk of man he was. From
the moment they’d shaken hands he’d set all her nerve endings tingling. She
could tell just by the look in his eyes that he’d had a similar reaction. And
he always managed to sit next to her, whether in a meeting or having a meal.

She had no idea if he wanted to take it any further. Or if
she did. Sooner or later he’d be going back to Texas and she had a job and a
life in Maine. But at least it made for pleasant daydreams.

Chapter Seven

The end-of-the-day meeting proved less than productive. The
other members of the team had questioned everyone who had any contact with
Darrell Franklin in the past six months and searched the records of the fish
camp for the past three years. But despite digging as deeply as they could no
one had been able to find no one who had a grudge against Franklin who’d kill
him in the atrocious way he’d been slaughtered.

Jody Kuyper, their computer expert, had done a thorough
internet search for any type of weapon that could have left a body the way
Franklin’s was and came up empty. The atmosphere in the conference room was one
of dejection and depression.

Sophia cleared her throat. “I know that no one’s really
interested in revisiting my theory,” she said, “but do you really want to add
to the list of unsolved killings because you’re unwilling to at least accept
that this is possible? You’ve got four dead bodies exactly like Darrell’s still
on the books and it doesn’t seem anyone’s any closer to solving this one.”

Bobby took a sip of his coffee, the end-of-the-day sludge
from the pot, made a face and set it down.

“You have to admit, Soph, that it sounds really farfetched.
Like something from a horror movie.”

She leaned forward in her chair. “That’s because it
is
something from a horror movie. I’ve shown you pictures of the carcasses Craig
Stafford had taken back to his private lab. And of the other pictures I’ve
taken off the web, shots that were taken when others thought they’d captured El
Chupacabra. Tell me
those
don’t look like something from a living
nightmare.”

“Maybe Sophia’s right.” Unexpected support from Scott
Mooney. “I’m not saying this…
thing
actually exists. But maybe something
close to it with a more logical explanation.”

“We need to look at it before the next body shows up,” Logan
put in. “Because there
will
be another one, I promise you.”

“It kills in a sequence of threes,” Sophia added, “just like
I told you in the beginning. Then it moves on.”

“But when the twins were killed there were four bodies, not
three,” someone pointed out.

“Because they were together we’re counting that as one
kill,” she answered. “It’s the only time so far that the victim wasn’t alone
and isolated. We’re convinced it stalks its prey, looking for the best place
for an uninterrupted kill. That’s why the three of us spent all day running
around like ice cubes on those snowmobiles, trying to warn people to be on the
alert.”

“I made copies of the combined map,” Bobby said. “The least
I can do is follow up on those places where no one was home. Regardless of who
or what the killer is, I’d never forgive myself if someone else ended up like
Franklin because I blew this off. I’ll have someone make the phone calls
tonight. If no one answers I’ll check and see if they’ve gone off somewhere.”

“Thanks, Bobby.” Rebecca gave him a tired smile. “We
appreciate that. I just wish we’d been able to cover the whole northern area
today.”

He looked uncomfortable. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll assign some of
the team to split up the rest of the area with you.”

“Jesus, Bobby,” someone said. “It’s colder than a witch’s
tit out there.”

“And you’ve lived here all your life,” Bobby shot back. “It
hasn’t gotten any colder.”

“I’ll go, Bobby.” Deb Roland, the other woman in the team of
detectives, raised her hand. She looked at the man beside her, the one who’d
spoken. “I’m not afraid of a little weather.”

“See there, Gary?” Bobby dredged up a tired smile. “You want
me to tell everyone that three women had more stamina than you big strong men?”

“Okay, okay,” Gary grumbled. “I get it.”

“I know this is hard, slogging work,” Bobby went on. “We
have support from the sheriff’s deputies when we need it and maybe tomorrow
we’ll utilize some of them. Meanwhile let’s all go home and get a good night’s
sleep. Everyone back here at eight again.”

In the parking lot Sophia turned to her sister. “They just
don’t get it. And I’m afraid while we’re chowing down and sleeping in our
comfortable beds the devil beast will find another victim.”

“Honey, there’s only so much you can do. And we can’t go
running around in the dark in places with no lights. We can’t put ourselves at
risk that way. The three of us are the only ones who really believe in the idea
of the Chupacabra.”

“I know, I know. I just have this awful feeling that we
won’t be quick enough. Thorough enough. I wanted to have something concrete for
Damien and Shelley when they get back tomorrow.”

Rebecca hugged her sister. “They know you’re doing your
best. That’s what counts.”

Sophia tried to talk Rebecca into riding to The Crown with
them, their unspoken destination for dinner. But Bec wanted to have her own
car.

“That way I can leave whenever I want to, in case you two
aren’t ready.”

But that gave Sophia a chance to talk to Logan about what
she’d seen that morning. She hadn’t wanted to mention it in front of Rebecca,
especially if what she had seen was a shifter on a daylight run. She and Bec
hadn’t really gotten into a discussion of the whole shifter thing, except where
the devil beast was concerned. She knew her sister had an open mind about
almost everything but still…

“I spotted something today,” she began, “and it may have
been the same thing you saw the other night.”

Logan gave her a quick glance. “A black wolf?”

“Uh-huh. I can’t be sure, but it was too small for a bear
and too big for a fox. And coyotes don’t turn black.”

“Where did you see it?”

“On a parcel that connects with the one where you took your
run.” She paused. “Logan, do you think there could be a shifter in the area?”

“Well, shifters do take on the coloring of their particular
genes.”

“But wouldn’t you be able to tell if there was one around
here? I thought you all had some particular kind of built-in radar for that.”

“It’s not flawless. And if the other shifter wants to mask
his or her scent there are ways to do it. He or she may not want to take the
chance that a shifter passing through the area could scent them. For any number
of reasons.”

“Well, would you try to sharpen up that detector?” she
asked. “Starting tonight?”

“I’ll do my best. I agree that would be the most logical
explanation. And if he or she happens to be one of the good guys maybe they
could help us with this.”

The Crown was a little more crowded tonight but they still
managed to find a booth and settle themselves in. Sophia noticed that Logan
slid in next to Rebecca rather than her and she swallowed a smile. They’d
barely shucked their jackets before Diane appeared with a tray holding three
drinks.

“You guys are either slipping Clint big bucks when no one’s
looking or he’s been taking secret classes in social behavior,” she said,
setting their drinks down in front of them.

Sophia raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”

“Yeah. You’re the only people he’s bought drinks for since
he’s been filling in for Frenchy.” Her smile was sly and knowing as she looked
at Sophia. “Maybe someone’s ringing his chimes. Although we were all beginning
to think he didn’t have any.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sophia asked.