Moving forward more slowly, he scoured the area, moving in ever-widening circles. He nearly missed the icy snow cave, it was so well hidden, but the very faint lingering odor of turpentine dragged at him. The opening was barely large enough for an animal to crawl in and out. Logan got down on his belly and wriggled inside the enclosure.
He found himself in a depression in the snow obviously made by some creature which had been spending time here. Sniffing the icy ground, Logan again detected turpentine although the essence was elusive. Since it dissipated so quickly at the scene of Chupacabra kills he assumed the only reason it lingered here was because the beast had spent sufficient time in this space.
Logan rooted around in the space, large enough for a body at least six feet in length, but other than the faint odor he found nothing else. Maneuvering very carefully in the tight space, he crawled out slowly, rose up on all fours and shook himself. Looking around to orient himself, he realized the cave was not more than a mile or two from where the tiny animal carcasses had been found. He closed his eyes and tried to call up the maps he’d been working with, to identify a target area that would narrow the search down.
The beast was around here somewhere. All his wolf senses told him that. It was just a matter of where. Orienting himself, he drew a mental circle to follow and took off, racing over the frozen landscape and through the stark, snow-covered trees. Maybe they were finally going to catch a break.
* * * * *
Rebecca checked the schedule and learned that the two pharmacy techs currently on duty were Joy Blanchard and Larry Marshall. Human Resources told her they had both shared shifts with Elaine Warren on a regular basis. She and Sophia decided the workplace was the best place to begin to question people. If they found nothing there, they’d go onto the list of friends and acquaintances.
The pharmacy itself was decent size, with a space for customers to turn in and wait for prescriptions. A slightly plump blonde woman stood behind the counter, in back of her a second, raised counter where two men were busy working and behind them rows of shelves and cabinets that held medications.
The woman looked up expectantly when Sophia and Rebecca walked in, her lips curving in a practiced, professional smile.
“May I help you?”
When Rebecca pulled out her CID shield the smile disappeared.
“We’d like to talk to you for a few minutes,” she told the woman, glancing at her name badge. “Joy, right?”
“Yes. What’s this about?”
“We just wanted to ask you some questions about Elaine Warren,” Sophia told her. “I’m assuming you must have worked with her.”
“We already talked to the police,” she said, her face tightening. “I told them everything I know.”
Sophia studied the woman. Her body language was contradictory to what she was saying and Sophia got that little kick to the gut that always told her they were onto something.
“I know.” Rebecca’s voice was pleasant. Well modulated. “I’m just going over some of the material again to make sure we didn’t miss anything. You and Elaine worked the same shifts, right?”
Joy fiddled with the pads of paper and processing equipment on the counter. “Sometimes.”
A tall, dark-haired man in a white lab coat came down from the elevated counter to stand next to her. “Problem, Joy? Do you need Allen?”
Sophia saw the other man was still working away but glancing down at them every few seconds.
“No, no, no.” Joy looked at the two women. “It’s okay.”
The man, however, didn’t walk away. He narrowed his eyes at Sophia and Rebecca. “I’m Larry Marshall, the other tech on duty today. What’s the problem here?”
“Just a few follow-up questions about Elaine Warren,” Rebecca told him. “Did you work any shifts with her?”
“Is this about her murder?” he asked.
Rebecca nodded.
“We already talked to the police and answered questions. Why are you back?”
“Just tying up a few loose ends,” Rebecca said smoothly.
Sophia noticed that the longer they stayed, the more Joy Blanchard fidgeted. She’d been doing this long enough to know the woman was hiding something. Her nerves were about more than just additional police questioning.
“Rumor has it that there’s some kind of homicidal maniac running around,” Larry commented. He stood with his hands in his slacks pockets, obviously trying for a casual pose. Yet he, too, exuded an air of tension.
“Where did you hear that?” Rebecca asked.
He shrugged. “You know. Just the usual gossip.”
“We’re all just so upset about Elaine,” Joy said, twisting her fingers together. “She was such a sweet person.”
Larry made a rude noise. “A doormat, if you ask me.”
Rebecca looked at him quizzically. “Why do you say that?”
“Don’t you say a word,” Joy snapped, sudden anger splashing across her face. “Elaine was a good person. No one is interested in your opinions.”
“On the contrary.” Sophia leaned on the counter, studying the two people behind it. “We’re extremely interested.” She looked from one to the other. “Didn’t the police come and talk to you about her?”
Joy twisted her fingers together. “Just about the hours she worked, how often she worked the night shift. Things like that.”
Sophia wanted to shake both of them, but she could tell that they were each hiding something. Maybe the same something. And she had the feeling that Larry was the one with the key. She was about to see if they could separate the two of them when the other man behind the elevated counter came down to join them.
“Can I help you with something?” he asked. “I’m Allen Borden, the pharmacist on duty. We’re a little busy at the moment and I need my techs to get back to work.”
Rebecca showed him her badge. “We just had some questions about Elaine Warren. We’ll try not to take up too much time.”
“I thought we’d told the police everything. Elaine worked a third of the time at night, no one bothered her that any of us could recall and she wasn’t getting any threats. And she also barely knew Darrell Franklin, so I can’t imagine a connection there.”
“Did she know Bradley Howard?” Sophia studied all three faces in turn. “He worked here in the X-ray department, I believe.”
The tension in the air snapped and crackled. Sophia would bet money the police hadn’t asked about a connection between the two. Why would they? Howard’s body had just been discovered and she was sure no one had yet come to the hospital to follow up.
Allen frowned. “Why are you asking about him? The two departments don’t really interact. Is he involved in this somehow?”
“He’s dead.” Sophia dropped the words bluntly, wanting to see the reaction she got.
Joy turned pale and Larry’s eyebrows lifted nearly to his hairline. Allen just looked objectively distressed.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.
“You don’t think it’s a strange coincidence that two hospital employees have been killed within forty-eight hours?”
“Not really.”
“Maybe someone has a grudge against the hospital,” Sophia interjected.
Allen frowned. “I’d think we’ve had heard something if that was the case. No, I don’t think we can tell you anything.”
“I do,” Joy blurted out. “I wasn’t going to say anything because…”
“Because?” Rebecca prompted.
“Because the police told us Elaine was killed by some stranger. They were trying to find some connection between her and Darrell Franklin, so I didn’t think anything of it.”
“But this puts a different light on it,” Larry butted in.
“Wait a minute.” The pharmacist moved closer to the two techs. “What’s going on here? What don’t I know?”
“That Bradley’s been humping Elaine for the past six months.”
The expression on Larry’s face was
one of vicious satisfaction.
“Only because she was married to a man who mistreated her,” Joy protested. “Bradley was nice to her.”
“Yeah.” Larry snorted. “Nice in bed.”
“I think both of you need to come down to the barracks,” Rebecca said. “We need to go into this in greater detail. It’s not a good thing that you held back information.”
“Wait a minute.” Allen looked at Rebecca and Sophia. “The pharmacy can’t be left without any staff. Can’t this wait until shift change?”
Rebecca shook her head. “Not with a fresh murder to consider.”
He sighed. “All right. Can you give me a few minutes to get other staff in here? I’ll call the HR office and see who they can pull to at least work the counter.”
“Of course.”
“I just want to be sure you know that whatever these two tell you, I had no knowledge of anything.”
“I understand,” Rebecca told him.
Sophia looked at Joy and Larry standing uneasily behind the counter, watching. “Both of you wait right here until your replacements arrive,” she said. “Then we’ll go down to the barracks together.”
“Wait a minute,” Larry protested.
“You withheld information important to this investigation,” Rebecca pointed out. “If we’d known there was a connection right away, maybe Bradley Howard would still be alive. You’re both going to have to come in for questioning.” She pulled out her cell phone and called Bobby. “We’re bringing two very interesting witnesses down to the barracks,” she told him.
She gave him a very concise version of the conversations that had just taken place. Rebecca saw her sister’s hand tighten on her cell phone and her mouth flatten in a thin line.
“Bobby, there’s a connection between Warren and Howard. It’s time to take a look at Harland Warren, just like Sophia said. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Okay, then you’ll have someone pick up the husband right away? Because if what my two witnesses say is true we’re not looking at a homicidal maniac. Just a husband with some major anger management issues. Okay, okay. We’ll be along in a few.”
“Problem?” Rebecca asked as Sophia clicked her phone shut.
“No. Bobby’s stubborn but not stupid. He’s had men sitting on Warren, anyway. They’ll just stuff him in a state car and bring him in.”
“He certainly seemed broken up about his wife,” Sophia pointed out.
For the moment they’d forgotten the two techs standing there.
“Harland Warren puts on a good act,” Joy told them. “But I saw Elaine come to work many times with bruises she tried to hide. And if I said anything she always made excuses. No wonder she was susceptible to a man who was nice to her.”
“Bradley Howard’s a nerd,” Larry said nastily.
“He’s a nice man,” Joy snapped, finally angry. “A lot nicer than you.”
Allen walked back up to them. “I have replacements on the way. Intake has agreed to lend me someone until then. Just to handle the counter.” He looked up when the pharmacy door opened and a tall redhead walked in. “And here she is.”
“Then we’d better get moving,” Rebecca told them.
* * * * *
Sophia had still not heard from Logan by the time she and Rebecca finished questioning the two pharmacy techs. The story, unfortunately, was an all-too-familiar one. Rebecca wrote up the formal statements and had Joy and Larry sign them. Their lunch break disappeared because Bobby and two of the other detectives brought Harland Warren in and everyone was interested in that interview.
“I guess I should have paid more attention to what you said,” Bobby told Sophia grudgingly.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. If I didn’t have the background on the devil beast killings I’d have followed the same path.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I ignored the bump on the head. On both Warren and Howard. Figured they got it from falling. But shit, Sophia. As bad as it sounds, it made more sense to think we had a homicidal maniac running around, a bloodthirsty serial killer, than to even consider what you believe.”
“You didn’t believe it when we had the last spate of killings, either.” She swallowed hard. “I remember what the twins looked like. And the others. I did all the research on the internet for similar kills. I found all the information and you and everyone else told me I was crazy.”
He looked at her helplessly. “You have to admit it sounds insane.”
She looked at him sadly. “Sometimes insanity is the only answer.” She turned away. “Let’s go see what you can get out of Harland Warren.”
But Warren was a tough nut to crack. For a while Sophia was almost ready to think either the man really hadn’t done it or he was a convincing liar. But Bobby knew just how much to push him to make his temper flare. It took two detectives to restrain him, even handcuffed as he was, when he reared up in anger and shouted, “Hell, yes, I killed the cheating whore and her asshole lover. And I’d do it again. Woman’s place is with her husband, not in another man’s bed.”
When they got him back in the chair they manacled his ankles and fastened a chain from the handcuffs to the ankle cuffs. He was still raging when Bobby assigned one of the two detectives in the room to take his statement.
“Looks like you were right,” he told Sophia grudgingly. “I’m getting a crew back out to his house to search for weapons right now. God only knows what he used to kill them the way he did. It turns my stomach just to think about it. But that leaves me right back where I started. With an unknown killer or your crazy theory.”
“Logan will be back here around five o’clock,” she told him. “If you can get all of your team into the conference room I’ll do my show and tell with the pictures and you tell me what you think.”
“I called the sheriff,” he said, running his hand over his face. “He’ll send out the night shift to patrol. Why don’t you go over the maps with me and tell me where you think they’d best spend their time. It’s a hellacious big county, after all.”
“All right. Logan will be back before then and he might have something to add.”
* * * * *
The show and tell with the pictures got mixed reactions. Some of the detectives were beginning to buy into the theory that they were dealing with some kind of bloodthirsty creature but they still balked at completely accepting the Chupacabra story.
“At least we got Bobby to get night patrols from the sheriff,” Sophia told Logan when he reached the barracks at the end of the day. She’d just finished the frustrating meeting with some of the detectives and her nerves were frayed. “I wish we had someplace for it to look. Besides the whole damn county, I mean.”
“We may be able to narrow it down.” He told her about finding the snow cave. “I’d say the beast has spent a good amount of time in there or I never would have been able to track its scent.”
“Can you mark that area on a map for Bobby?”
“Sure. If he’ll pay attention to me.”
“Pay attention to what?” Bobby had just come out of the conference room, looking harried.
Logan looked at Sophia, then back at Bobby. “I did some more scouting today,” he began.
“Without the snowmobiles?” Bobby stared at him. “How did you get around?”
“That doesn’t matter. What is important is that I think I can identify an area where the sheriff should concentrate the night patrols.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“Look.” Logan huffed his frustration. “I’m not about to waste manpower here. I was in law enforcement myself for a number of years so I know you can’t just send people chasing after nothing.”
“The deputies will be out anyway,” Sophia pointed out. “Whoever or whatever is doing this we’re looking for isolated dwellings with protection close to the house for concealment. I was right about the Warren and Howard killings, so can you cut me a little slack here?”
Bobby heaved a sigh. “Yeah, sure.
Sorry. I know you guys are trying to help and I appreciate it.”
“How are things going with Harland Warren?” she asked.
“That sick bastard.” A weary expression settled on Bobby’s face. “He’s lawyered up but I sent Scott and another detective out to the house, as I said I would. Got the judge to sign a warrant immediately so there’s no question about the legality.” He shook his head. “They found a box cutter in the garage and a pail with a rubber hose coiled in it. The lab’s testing them all for blood right now.”
“He used the hose to siphon the blood,” Logan guessed. “That’s how he managed to drain it from the body.”
“That’s my assumption. We’re also questioning more of the Warrens’ friends to get a better handle on what was going on with the marriage. I’d say we’ve got him nailed.” He looked at Logan. “Why don’t you come into my office and show me your target area on one of the maps I’ve got in there. I’ll call the sheriff and tell him covering them is a priority.”
“Thank you, Bobby,” Sophia told him. “I really appreciate this. I have this bad feeling we’re running out of time.”
“Ric’s sending the helo up,” Logan said when they finally headed out of the barracks. “He’s bringing it himself. He’ll call when he gets here.”
“Good. I just hope he gets here in time.”
Chapter Twelve
Sophia, Logan and Rebecca took their usual booth at The Crown, Sophia frustrated after a long and unproductive meeting with the other detectives.
“I was so sure they’d at least consider the possibility.” She sipped on the hot tea she ordered instead of a drink.
“When I spoke to Ric he mentioned that Craig’s not very happy with the reaction we’re getting from the state cops,” Logan said, salting his fries.
“But he understands, right? I know his influence got us into this to begin with but you can’t make a horse drink if he’s not thirsty.”
Rebecca laughed. “I think you’ve got your metaphors mixed, but I understand what you’re saying.”
When Clint managed to join them for a few minutes they brought him up to speed. Sophia caught her sister looking at the man strangely and she was sure Bec was wondering about Clint’s heritage, too. She’d have to tell her sooner or later, no getting around it. But right now she was pretty sure her sister could only deal with one shifter.
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