“We know what we’re looking for,” Sophia reminded him. “We’re not going to take any chances. And we’ve got these.” She held up the long-range radios Rebecca had signed out for them.
“We won’t take any chances,” Rebecca repeated.
So he’d allowed himself to be persuaded and now was riding the big machine through the pristine cover of snow broken only by animal tracks. He tensed every time he caught the flash of a deer or raccoon among the trees. The beast was out here somewhere, he knew it, and every sense in his body was on high alert. At least a dozen times he slowed and reached for the rifle, only to discover it was native wildlife spooking him.
But he sensed it, out there somewhere. It could be yards away or miles, but he felt its evil presence. And he wasn’t about to let himself suffer the same fate as his brother and sister-in-law.
He rode for more than fifteen minutes before he saw the first house, a white frame building with a peaked roof sitting next to a huge matching barn. The surrounding land according to Logan’s map was potato farm, now hibernating beneath the heavy weight of the snow. He knew potatoes were planted two to three weeks before the last anticipated freeze of the season and harvested from August through October. Then the land was plowed under and allowed to sleep during the winter.
He wondered what the potato farmers did to pass the time in the winter. For himself he knew he’d go absolutely nuts with nothing to do.
There appeared to be a path shoveled from the house to the barn, and inside the barn itself he spotted a man in protective winter gear working on some kind of heavy machinery. He turned as Logan pulled up to the open door, casually reaching for the shotgun he had propped against the machine.
“No need for that,” Logan called, holding his hands out. “My name’s Logan Tanner and I’m working with the Maine State Police. If you’ll allow me, I’ll show you my identification.”
“Just move real slow,” the man said, holding the shotgun at the ready. “My finger might get nervous on the trigger here.”
Logan made a show of unbuttoning his shearling-lined jacket, reaching into the inside pocket and pulling out his ID folder. He climbed slowly off the snowmobile and walked toward the man, holding it open.”
“That’s far enough,” the man said when Logan was about three feet from him. “Toss it over here.”
Logan had to hand it to the man. He never took his eyes off Logan or his finger off the trigger as he stooped to retrieve the wallet then scan it briefly.
“Sorry about that.” He walked up and handed it back. “Since Darrell Franklin got killed you can’t be too careful.”
“I’m glad to see that. As a matter of fact, that’s one of the reasons I’m out today. Warning people off the beaten path to take extra precautions.”
The man held out his hand. “George Duffield. Thanks for coming by.” He hefted the rifle. “As you can see, I’m prepared.”
Logan tried to figure out how to frame his next words. “We’re really not sure at this point if the killer is human or wild animal. Don’t open your doors to anyone and don’t take anything for granted, even if it seems familiar.”
Duffield frowned. “I thought the word out had it was some kind of crazed killer with a weird tool of some kind.”
“We don’t know exactly yet. That’s why we’re all out trying to make sure everyone has their guard up.”
“I’ll pass it along to the folks I talk to, also. Thanks for coming all this way.” He chuckled. “Pretty isolated out here.”
Logan grinned back at him. “I’m from Montana originally. We’ve got a lot of open spaces out there, too!”
Logan headed out again, sparing a moment to hope the women were okay. He was struck by the vivid image of Rebecca as she’d mounted the Sno-Cat, eyes sparkling, energy radiating from her body. Every time he looked at her his cock stood up at attention and want coursed through his body. He had to keep reminding himself that she was off-limits. Besides being Sophia’s sister she had a job and a life here. And he was a shifter. Just because Sophia accepted all of them didn’t mean Rebecca felt the same way. Or would accept one as a lover.
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.
“It means every female over the age of eighteen around here, including me, has sent out the strongest signals we could and the man’s just not buying. We were beginning think he was, you know, gay.”
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