Besides, her reserve commission also gave her an excuse to drive around Verdaville late at night, keeping an eye on her town. There was nothing like terrifying a would-be convenience store robber to help a girl sleep.
This, however, wasn't going to be anywhere near that much fun.
Knowing what was coming, Diana felt her gut tie itself into a knot as she got out of the car. She barely managed to clip her badge onto her belt and slip on her shoulder holster before somebody in the crowd called her name.
Oh, well. She really hadn't thought she could get through this mob without being recognized anyway. She made the front page of the local weekly too often.
The entire bunch surged as one in her direction, voices lifted in anger, fear or distress. "Miss London, do they know…"
"Have they caught…"
"… need to see my brother!" That last was a howl from a sobbing young woman whose face was swollen with tears. She tore herself from the restraining hands of a young man and lunged to grab Diana's wrist. "You've gotta tell me what happened! Is he dead? They said he's dead. Please, please tell me what's going on!"
Diana froze, battling half a dozen conflicting instincts. She'd never liked being grabbed, but this was a particularly bad time of year for a stranger to lay hands on her. Especially a woman. It took her a moment to squelch her more lethal impulses enough for speech. "I probably know less than you do right now. If you'll let me by, I'll send the chief out to talk to you." Her voice emerged at a rumbling register that didn't sound quite human. Oh, hell.
The woman jerked away from her as if scalded. Fear blazed up on a score of faces as the entire crowd shrank back. "You… you do that," she managed finally, obviously trying to convince herself she'd imagined whatever she'd seen in the city manager's face.
"I'll send the chief out in a minute." Diana nodded shortly, put her head down to hide her burning eyes, and strode toward the front door of the house. The crowd melted from her path. Humankind might be at the top of the food chain now, but they still knew a predator when they saw one.
Whether they could admit it or not.
Dammit, Diana thought. I've got to watch that. In old movies, pulling crap like that was what got the torch-wielding mob after the monster.
"Sorry I wasn't here sooner," Jerry panted from behind her. "Had to park up the street. By the time I got back, they were all over you." She looked around to see him wearing an apologetic smile. He'd evidently missed her near-transformation. "Maybe you should start keeping your uniform at City Hall so you can change. Public's not as obnoxious when you're in blues."
She grinned, remembering some of her own more recent adventures. "Unless they're drunk. Then they're worse."
He grinned back. "There is that."
Jerry led the way up the irregular cement steps and pushed open the screen door. As Diana crossed the narrow front porch behind him, she automatically sized up her surroundings. The vinyl siding was relatively new, though she'd bet the house itself was pushing ninety. The shutters and wooden door were the same dark shade as the steps, though in the dark, it was hard to tell the color. Even so, she could make out the wooden swing hanging at one end of the porch. A couple of lawn chairs stood across from it, looking out over a postage-stamp yard that had been recently cut. There was no trash or beer bottles in the yard. The owner might not have much money, but he'd cared about appearances.
Poor bastard.
Jerry paused in the act of reaching for the door to meet her eyes. At five-eleven, she was actually an inch taller than he was, a fact that had never stopped him from trying to protect her like the Southern gentleman he was. Diana would never dream of telling him just how little she needed his protection. "It's pretty bad," he warned her.
"I figured that out. Please tell me it's not a kid."
His white smile flashed in the dim light. "Grown man."
"Good." She grimaced. "I hate it when it's kids."
"Everybody hates it when it's kids. But I gotta tell you, what the killer did—well, it's sickening."
He opened the door. Death spilled out with the ripe stench of blood and human waste. Even in human form, Diana's sense of smell was so acute, she had to swallow hard. "What'd they do, gut him?"
"Pretty close." Jerry lifted a brow at her as he led the way inside. "You could tell that from the smell?"
"I've got a good nose."
"That ain't exactly a blessing in here." He jerked a thumb at a closed door to the right. "Chief's in the bedroom. Unless you need me, I'll be in the kitchen."
"No, that's fine."
Jerry gave her an absent wave and headed across the little den for the even smaller kitchen, where male voices rumbled in conversation. The sheriff's office must have sent men to help out, since the Verdaville PD couldn't muster enough men for a crowd on its own.
Somebody laughed, but the sound held the strained note of a man trying very hard not to think about whatever he'd just seen.
Oh, yeah. This was going to be bad.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a reporter in South Carolina, Angela Knight covered murders, car crashes, fatal fires, and school board meetings (which often had more in common with the first three than you might expect). She once spent one sunny winter morning watching her husband, a police sergeant, look for pipe bombs. It's an experience she devoutly hopes never to repeat.
She finally left all that to write romances in which there are murders, car crashes, and fatal fires, but very few school board meetings. That's just as well. There's only so much reality a girl can take.
Jane's Warlord
by Angela Knight
The sexy debut novel from
the author of
Master of the Knight
The next target of a time travelling killer, crime reporter Jane Colby finds herself in the hands of a warlord from the future sent to protect her—and in his hands is just where she wants to be.
"Chills, thrills…[a] sexy tale."
—Emma Holly
0-425-19684-4
Available wherever books are sold or at
www.penguin.com
BERKLEY SENSATION
COMING IN NOVEMBER 2004
Miss Fortune
by Julia London
The third book in the Lear sisters trilogy, in which the last of the sisters must get her head out of the clouds
and her feet on the ground to find love in order to fulfill her father's last dying wish.
0425-19917-7
The Demon's Daughter
by Emma Holly
Inspector Adrian Philips' job is to keep the peace between humans and demons, and he's hated by both sides. But when he meets Roxanne, a fellow outcast, he will risk everything for a dangerous love.
0425-19918-5
Arouse Suspicion
by Maureen McKade
Ex-cop Danni Hawkins must come to terms with her father's murder and, along with the help of an ex-Army Ranger, she must track the path to a brutal murderer.
0425-199196
The Prince
by Elizabeth Minogue
Prince Florian wants only to reclaim his throne. But when he is forced to help Rose of Valinor, he finds the last thing he ever expected—love.
0425-19920-7
Available wherever books ate sold or at
www.penguin.com
Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Online
What will you be reading tomorrow?
Tom Clancy, Patricia Cornwell, W.E.B. Griffin,
Nora Roberts, William Gibson, Robin Cook,
Brian Jacques, Catherine Coulter, Stephen King,
Dean Koontz, Ken Follett, Clive Cussler,
Eric Jerome Dickey, John Sandford,
Terry McMillan…
You'll find them all at
http://www.penguin.com
Read excerpts and newsletters,
find tour schedules, and enter contests.
Subscribe to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Newsletters and get an exclusive inside look
at exciting new titles and the authors you love long before everyone else does.
PENGUIN GROUP (USA) INC. NEWS
http://www.penguin.com/news
Master of the Night Page 29