Blood Trail

Chapter Four

 

  "I'm Nadine Heerkens-Wells. You must be Vicki Nelson. "

  The woman approaching, hand held out, shared a number of features with Peter and Rose; the same wide-spaced eyes and pointy face, the same thick mane of hair - in this case a dusty black marked with gray - the same short-fingered, heavily callused grip.

  Her eyes, however, were shadowed, and lurking behind that shadow was a loss so deep, so intense, that it couldn't be completely hidden and might never be completely erased. Vicki swallowed hard, surprised by the strength of her reaction to the other woman's pain.

  On the surface, Vicki had absolutely no doubt she faced the person in charge, and Nadine's expression proved that the welcoming smile had originally developed out of a warning snarl. Still, I suppose she has no reason to trust me right off, regardless of what Henry 's told her. Keeping her own expression politely unchallenging, Vicki carefully applied as much force to the handshake as she received, despite the sudden inexplicable urge to test her strength. "I hope I'll be able to help," she said in her public service voice, meeting the other woman's gaze squarely.

  Force of personality weighted with grief struck her almost a physical blow and her own eyes narrowed in response.

  The surrounding wer waited quietly for the dominant female's decision. Henry stood to one side and watched, brows drawn down in a worried frown. For Vicki to work effectively, the two women had to accept one another as equals, whether they liked it or not.

  Nadine's eyes were brown, with a golden sunburst around the pupil. Deep lines bracketed the corners and her lids looked bruised.

  I can take her, Vicki realized. I'm younger, stronger. I'm. . . out of my mind. She forced the muscles of her face to relax, denying the awareness of power. 'I hadn't realized London was so far from Toronto," she remarked conversationally, as though the room were not awash with undercurrents of tension.

  "You must be tired from your long drive," Nadine returned, and only Vicki saw the acknowledgment of what had just passed between them. "Come in and sit down. "

  Then they both looked away.

  At that signal, Vicki and Henry found themselves surrounded by hearty handshakes and wet noses and hustled into seats at the huge kitchen table. Henry wondered if Vicki realized that she'd just been accepted as a kind of auxiliary member of the pack, much as he was himself. He'd spent long hours on the phone the last two nights arguing for that acceptance, convincing Nadine that from outside the pack Vicki would have little chance of finding the killer, that Vicki would no more betray the pack than she'd betray him, knowing as he did that Nadine's agreement would be conditional on the actual meeting.

  "Shadow, be quiet. "

  The black pup - about the size of a small German shepherd - who had been dancing around Vicki's knees and barking shrilly, suddenly became a small naked boy of about six or seven who turned to look reproachfully up at Nadine. "But, Mom," he protested, "you said to always bark at strangers. "

  "This isn't a stranger," his mother told him, leaning forward to brush dusty black hair up of his face, "it's Ms. Nelson. "

  He rolled his eyes. "I know that, but I don't know her. That makes her a stranger. "

  "Don't be a dork, Daniel. Mom says she's okay," pointed out one of two identical teenage girls sitting on the couch by the window in a tone reserved solely for younger brothers.

  "And she came with Henry," added the other in the exact same tone.

  "And if she was a stranger," concluded the first, "you wouldn't have changed in front of her. So she isn't a stranger. So shut up. "

  He tossed his head. "Still don't know her. "

  "Then get to know her quickly," his mother suggested, turning him back to face Vicki, "so that we can have some peace. "

  Even though she was watching for it, Vicki missed the exact moment of change when Daniel became Shadow again. One heartbeat a small boy, a heartbeat later, a small dog. . . Not that small either, and I can't call them dogs. And yet, they aren't quite wolves. A cold nose shoved into the back of her knee and she started. And does that make this, him, a puppy or a cub? Ye gods, but this is going to get complicated. Trying not to let any of this inner debate show on her face, she reached down and held out her hand.

  Shadow sniffed it thoroughly then pushed his head under her fingers. His fur was still downy soft.

  "If you start scratching him, Ms. Nelson, you'll be at it all night," one of his sisters told her with a sigh.

  Shadow's nose went up and he pointedly turned his back on her, leaning up against Vicki's legs much the way Storm had leaned against Rose that night in Henry's condo. Which reminded Vicki. . .

  "Where's Peter and Rose? Peter. . . " She paused and shook her head. "I mean, Storm, met the car and I was sure I saw Rose - I mean, Cloud - when I first came in. "

  "They've gone to get their Uncle Stuart," said the graying man next to Henry. Although he'd taken part in the welcome, those were the first words he'd actually spoken. He extended his hand across the table. An old scar puckered the skin of his forearm. Vicki wasn't positive, but it looked like a bite. "I'm Donald Heerkens, their father. "

  "I'm Jennifer. " The closer of the two girls on the couch broke in before Donald could say any more.

  "And I'm Marie. "

  And how the hell does anyone tell you apart? Vicki wondered. Sitting down, at least, they appeared to be the exact same size and even their expressions looked identical. Mind you, I'm hardly one to judge. All kids look alike to me at that age. . .

  The two of them giggled at their uncle's mock scowl.

  "So now you've met everyone who's here," Marie continued.

  "Everyone except Daddy," Jennifer added, " 'cause like you already met Rose and Peter. " The two of them smiled at her in unison. Even their dimples matched.

  Daddy must be Stuart, Vicki realized; Nadine's husband, Daniel's father, Donald's brother-in-law, Peter's and Rose's uncle. The dominant male. Meeting him should prove to be interesting.

  "Nice thing to be ignored in my own home," growled a voice from the door.

  Shadow flung himself out from under Vicki's fingers, charged across the kitchen barking like a furry little maniac, and leapt up at the man who'd just come into the house - who caught him, swung him up over his head, and turned Daniel upside down.

  Vicki didn't need an introduction. The same force of personality that marked Nadine marked Stuart and he was definitely very male. He was also very naked and that added considerable weight to the latter observation. Vicki had to admit she was favorably impressed although at five ten she could probably give him at least four inches. Judging by human standards, which was all she had to work with, Henry's warning aside, he appeared to be younger than his wife by about five years. His hair - all his hair, and there was rather a lot of it all over his body - remained unmarked by gray.

  "Stuart. . . " Nadine pulled a pair of blue sweatpants off the back of her chair and threw them at her husband.

  He caught them one-handed, Daniel tucked under the other arm, and stared at them with distaste. Then he turned and looked straight at Vicki. "I don't much like clothing, Ms. Nelson," he told her, obviously as aware of her identity as she was of his. "It stops the change and in this heat it's damned uncomfortable. If you're going to be here for a while, you're going to have to get used to the little we wear. "

  "It's your house," Vicki told him levelly. "It's not my place to say what you should wear. "

  He studied her face, then smiled suddenly and she got the impression she'd passed a test of some kind. "Humans usually worry about clothing. "

  "I save my worry for more important things. "

  Henry hid a smile. Since they'd met, he'd been trying to figure out if Vicki was infinitely adaptable to circumstances or just so single-minded that anything not leading to her current goal was ignored. In eight months of observation he'd come no closer to an answer.

  Tossing the sweatpants in the cor
ner, Stuart held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Nelson. "

  She returned both smile and handshake, careful not to come on too strong. Come on too strong to a naked werewolf. Yeah, right. "And you. Please, call me Vicki. "

  "Vicki. " Then he turned to Henry and by the tiniest of changes, the smile became something else. He held out his hand again. "Henry. "

  "Stuart. " The smile was a warning, not a challenge. Henry recognized it and acknowledged it. It could change to challenge very quickly and neither man wanted that. As long as Henry kept to his place, the situation between them would remain tense but stable.

  Uninterested in all this grown-up posturing, Daniel twisted against his father's side, found the grip loose enough to allow change, did, and began to bark. His father put him down just as the screen door opened and Cloud and Storm came in.

  For the next few moments, the two older wer allowed themselves to be attacked by their younger cousin, the fight accompanied by much growling and snapping and feigned - at least Vicki assumed they were feigned - yelps of pain. As none of the other adults seemed worried about the battle, Vicki took the time to actually look at her surroundings.

  The kitchen furniture was heavy and old and a little shabby from years of use. The wooden table could seat eight easily and twelve without much crowding. Although the chairs had chew marks up each leg they - to judge by the one under Vicki - had been made to endure and still had all four feet planted firmly on the worn linoleum. The lounge that the twins were perched on, tucked under the window by the back door, had probably been bought in the fifties and hadn't been moved from that corner since. The refrigerator looked new, as did the electric stove. In fact, the electric stove looked so new, Vicki suspected it was seldom used. The old woodstove in the far corner would likely be not only a source of winter heat but their main cooking facility. If they cooked. She hadn't thought to ask Henry what the wer ate or if she'd be expected to join in. A sudden vision of a bleeding hunk of meat with a side of steaming entrails as tomorrow's breakfast made her stomach lurch. The north wall was lined with cupboards and the south with doors, leading, Vicki assumed, to the rest of the house.

  To her city bred nose, the kitchen quite frankly swelled. It smelled of old woodsmoke, of sheep shit - and quite probably sheep, too, if she had any idea of what sheep smelled like - and very strongly of well, wer. It wasn't an unpleasant combination, but it was certainly pungent.

  Housework didn't seem to be high on the list of wer priorities. That was fine with Vicki, it wasn't one of her top ten ways to spend time either. Her mother, however, would no doubt have fits at the tufts of hair piled up in every available nook and cranny.

  Of course, my mother would no doubt have fits at this entire situation. . .

  Peter stood up and dangled a squirming Shadow at shoulder level - front paws in his left hand, rear paws in his right - deftly keeping the pup's teeth away from the more sensitive, protruding, areas of his anatomy.

  . . . so it's probably a good thing she isn't here.

  Just as she was beginning to wonder if she shouldn't bring up the reason for her visit, Stuart cleared his throat. Peter released Shadow, smiled a welcome at Vicki and Henry, changed, and curled up on the floor beside his twin. Shadow gave one last excited bark and went over to collapse, panting, on his mother's feet. Everyone else, the two visitors included, turned to face Stuart expectantly.

  And all he did was clear his throat. Vicki was impressed again. If he could bottle that he could make a fortune.

  "Henry assures us that you can be trusted, Ms. Nelson, Vicki. " His eyes were a pale Husky blue, startlingly light under heavy black brows. "I'm sure you realize that things would get very unpleasant for us if the world knew we existed?"

  "I realize. " And she did, which was why she decided not to be insulted at the question. "Although someone obviously knows. "

  "Yes. " How a word that was mostly sibilants could be growled Vicki had no idea. But it was. "There are three humans in this territory who know of the pack. An elderly doctor in London, the local game warden, and Colin's partner. "

  "Colin the police officer. " It wasn't really a question. A werewolf on the London Police Force was a phenomenon Vicki was unlikely to forget. She pulled a notebook and a pen from the depths of her purse. "The twins - Rose and Peter, that is - mentioned him. "

  Donald's expression seemed more confused than proud. "My oldest son. He's the first of us to hold what you could call a job. "

  "The first to finish high school," Nadine said. At Vicki's expression, she added, "Generally we find school very. . . stressful. Most of us leave as soon as we can. " Her lips twisted up into what Vicki could only assume was a smile. "Trouble is, they're making it harder to leave at the same time they're making it harder to stay. "

  "The world is becoming smaller," Henry said quietly. "The wer are being forced to integrate. Sooner or later, they'll be discovered. " He had no doubt as to how his mortal brethren would treat the wer; they'd be considered animals if they were allowed to live at all. When so small a thing as skin color made so large a difference, what chance did the wer have?

  Vicki was thinking much the same thing. "Well," her tone brooked no argument, "let's just hope it's later. I personally am amazed you've managed to keep the list down to three. "

  Stuart shrugged, muscles rippling under the thick mat of black hair that covered his chest. "We keep to ourselves and humans are very good at believing what they wish to believe. "

  "And seeing what they wish to see," Donald added, the skin around his eyes crinkled with amusement.

  "Or not seeing," Marie put in with a giggle.

  The assembled wer nodded in agreement - regardless of shape - all save Shadow, who had fallen asleep, chin pillowed on his mother's bare instep.

  "What about those who might suspect what you are?" Vicki asked. Murderers were almost always known to the victim. The times they weren't were usually the cases that never got solved.

  "There aren't any. "

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "There aren't any," Stuart repeated.

  He obviously believed what he said, but Vicki thought he was living in a dream world. A noise from the right pulled her gaze down to the two wer on the floor. Cloud looked as though she wanted to disagree. Or maybe she wants to go walkies. How the hell can I tell?

  "You do have contact with humans. The younger ones, at least, on a regular basis. " Vicki's gesture covered both sets of twins. "What about other kids at school? Teachers?"

  "We don't change at school, " Marie protested.

  Jennifer's head bobbed in support, red hair flying. "We can't change when we're dressed. "

  "And as you're dressed at school, you can't change at school?" They seemed pleased she was so quick on the uptake. "It must be frustrating. . . "

  Marie shrugged. "It's not so bad. "

  "Don't you ever want to tell people what you can do? Show them your other shape?"

  Stuart's growl sounded very loud and very menacing in the shocked silence that followed. The girls looked as though she'd suggested something obscene. "Okay. I guess not. " Don't judge them by human standards. Try to remember that. "What about special friends?"

  Storm and Cloud were unreadable. Marie and Jennifer looked puzzled. "Boyfriends?"

  Both girls wrinkled their noses in identical expressions of disgust.

  "Humans don't smell right," Stuart explained, shortly. "That sort of thing never happens. "

  "They don't smell right?"

  "No. "

  Vicki decided to leave it at that. She really wasn't up for a discussion of werewolf breeding criteria, not at this hour of the night. There were, however, two things that had to be covered. The first still made Vicki uncomfortable and, in almost a year of working for herself, she hadn't come up with a less than blunt way of bringing it up. "About my fee. . . "

  "We can pay it," Stuart told her and only nodded when she mentioned t
he amount.

  "All right, then," she laced her fingers together and stared into the pattern thus formed for a moment, "one more thing. When I find whoever is doing this, what then? We can't take him to court. He can't be held accountable for murder under the law without giving away the existence of your people. "

  Stuart smiled and, in spite of the heat, Vicki felt a chill run up and down her back. "He will be accountable to our law. To pack law. "

  "Revenge, then?"

  "Why not? He's killed two of us for no reason, no cause. Who has better right to be judge and jury?"

  Who indeed?

  "There's no other way to stop him from killing again," Henry said quietly. He thought he understood Vicki's hesitation, if only in the abstract. Ethics formed in the sixteenth century had an easier time with justice over law than ethics formed in the twentieth.

  What it came down to, Vicki realized, was a question of whose life had more value; the people here in this room or the maniac, singular or collective, who was picking them off one by one? Put like that, it didn't seem to be such a difficult question.

  "The three people you have, then, I'd like to check them out. "

  "We already checked," Donald began but Stuart cut him off.

  "It's too late to do anything tonight. We'll get you the information tomorrow. "

  As Vicki had already been told, they'd attempted to deal with this themselves after Nadine's twin had been shot. She wasn't surprised that they'd done some checking. She wished they hadn't; in her experience, amateurs only muddied the waters. "Did you find anything?"

  Stuart sighed and ran both his hands back through his hair. "Only what we already knew; Dr. Dixon is a very old man who hasn't betrayed us in over forty years and isn't likely to start now. Arthur Fortrin went north at the end of July and won't be back until Labor Day weekend. And Colin's partner, Barry, had both the skill and the opportunity. "

  Vicki tapped her pen against the paper. "That doesn't look good for Barry. "

  "No," Stuart agreed. "It doesn't. "

  "Hey, Colin! Wait a minute. . . "

  Colin sighed and leaned against the open door of the truck. There really wasn't anything else he could do; leaping inside and roaring off in a cloud of exhaust fumes would certainly not make things any better. He watched his partner cross the dark parking lot, weaving his way around the scattered cars belonging to the midnight shift, brows drawn down into a deep vee, looking very much like a man who wanted some answers. Exactly the situation Colin had been trying to avoid.

  "What is with you, Heerkens?" Barry Wu rocked to a halt and glared. A line of water dribbled down his face from his wet hair and he swiped at it angrily. "First you act like a grade A asshole all shift, then you slink out while I'm in the shower without so much as a 'See you tomorrow,' or a 'Go fuck yourself. ' "

  "You're my partner, Barry, you're not my mate. " As an attempt to lighten the mood, it was a dismal failure; Colin could still smell the anger. He did his best not to react to it, catching the growl in his throat before it rose to an audible level.

  "That's right, your partner - let's set aside the fact I thought I was your friend - and as your partner I have a right to know what it is that's got you tied in knots. "

  "It's pack business. . . "

  "Bullshit! When it affects your job - our job - like it did tonight, it's my business! Three to eleven shift has enough problems without you and your attitude adding to them. "

  All right. If you really want to know, we think you've murdered two of my family. Except Colin didn't think it, couldn't think it, had to think it. He'd searched Barry's locker, the trunk of his car, even quickly searched his apartment one evening when they went back there for a few beers after work. Nothing beyond the rifles the pack already knew he had. No indication that he'd been casting silver bullets. Nor had his scent been anywhere in the woods. If Barry was responsible for the two deaths, he wasn't leaving evidence lying around. If he wasn't responsible, Colin had found nothing that could clear him.

  Colin wanted to confront him. The pack leader had refused to allow it. Torn between pack law and this newer loyalty, Colin had almost reached the point where he couldn't stand it any longer.

  He swung up into the truck and slammed the door. "Look" he snarled, "I want to tell you but I can't. Just leave it!" Slamming the truck into gear, he screeched out of the parking lot, knowing full well Barry wouldn't leave it. He'd worry at it and tear at it like Shadow with a slipper until he had it in pieces and could see what it was made of. Colin wasn't looking forward to going to work tomorrow night.

  Still, tomorrow night was a long time away and maybe this hotshot Toronto PI Henry Fitzroy had convinced the pack to hire could turn something up.

  "When I get out of the city," he told his reflection in the rearview mirror, "I'm going to have a good long howl. I deserve it. "

  He watched Colin return home, bad mood obvious even through the scope. Finger resting lightly on the trigger, he tracked him from the truck to the house but, although he had a clear line of sight, he couldn't apply the necessary pressure. He told himself it was too dangerous - there were too many others too close - but in his heart he knew it was the uniform. Colin would have to die in his other form.

  Shadows moved against the windows, then the kitchen light went off and the farmhouse stood in darkness. Fire would take care of the lot of them, but he doubted he could get close enough to set it.

  Staying carefully downwind, he worked his way back to the road and his car, old skills put to new uses. Although tonight's reconnaissance had brought him little new information and no chance of making a kill, his penetration so close to their home had convinced him it would only be a matter of time before he won.

  There were, however, the visitors to consider.

  Until he found out who, and what, they were, he would not act against them. He would not have the murder of innocents on his conscience.

  Henry stood by the bed and watched Vicki sleep. She had one arm thrown up over her head, the other across her stomach. The sheet, like the darkness, did little to hide her from his sight. He watched her breathe, listened to the rhythm of her heart, followed the path of her blood as it pulsed at wrist and throat. Even asleep, her life was like a beacon in the room.

  He could feel his hunger growing.

  Should he wake her?

  She slept with the corners of her mouth curved slightly upward, as though she knew a pleasant secret.

  No. There had been enough strangeness for her to deal with for one night. He could wait.

  Lightly, very lightly, he drew his finger along the soft skin of her inner arm and whispered, "Tomorrow. "

  For the first moment after waking, Vicki had no idea where she was. Sunlight painted molten gold across the inside of her lids and, as pretty as it looked, it shouldn't be there. Her bedroom window faced a narrow alley and across that another bedroom window so, even if she'd left the curtains open, which she never did, it couldn't possibly be this light.

  Then she remembered and opened her eyes. The ceiling was a blue blur with a yellow blur across it. Reaching out to the right, her fingers scuttled across the bedside table until they found her glasses. She settled them on her nose and the blurring vanished although the ceiling didn't change significantly. It was still blue. The yellow was a slanting bar of sunlight streaming through the space between the thin cotton curtains. Her room, Sylvia's old room, was obviously on the east side of the house. That settled, Vicki sat up.

  The black shape stretched across the lower left corner of the bed gave her a second's panic until she recognized Shadow. Sliding carefully out from under the sheet so as not to wake him, she was just about to stand when she noticed that the bedroom door was wide open and, given the angle of the bed, she'd be fully visible to anyone who walked by.

  Fully visible.

  Vicki hated wearing pajamas and although she'd brought a T-shirt to sleep in, it had been so hot
she hadn't bothered. She supposed she could handle Shadow - mostly because so far she'd avoided thinking of Daniel - but Shadow's cousins or uncle or father - especially Shadow's father - were another kettle of fish entirely and what's more, she could smell coffee so she knew someone was up.

  Well, I can't stay in bed all day. . . Girding her loins, metaphorically speaking, she dashed across the small section of open linoleum and eased the door closed. Shadow scrubbed at his muzzle with one oversized paw but didn't wake. Feeling considerably more secure, Vicki got into a pair of clean underwear and began to hook on her bra. She'd have to have a word with Sha. . . Daniel when he woke up as she knew she'd closed the door last night.

  The door opened.

  Jennifer, or maybe Marie, came into the room.

  It didn't really help that of the two, Vicki was wearing more clothing.

  "Hi. Mom sent me up to see if you were awake. Like it's really early still but Aunt Sylvia always said the sun in this room was like an alarm clock. You coming right down?"

  "Uh, yes. "

  "Good. " She shook her head at the bra. "Boy am I glad I'll never need one of those things. " Glancing around, she sighed volubly. "So that's where the runt got to. If he bugs you just throw him out. "

  "I'll, uh, do that. "

  Vicki pushed the door closed again as soon as the bushy tail of the long legged, half-grown wer had cleared the threshold.

  Something Henry had said last night as they walked up the stairs together now made sense.

  "Inside the pack, the wer have no sense of personal privacy. "

  She got dressed in record time and decided to skip having a shower. After her father left when she was ten, it had been just her and her mother. With the exception of a year in university residence when she didn't have a choice, she'd lived alone all her adult life. Something told her that all this family togetherness she found herself in the midst of was going to wear thin pretty quickly. . .

  Elbows on the kitchen table, sipping at cup of very good coffee, Vicki tried to look as though a half-naked woman joined her for breakfast every morning.

  "The vinyl seats stick," Nadine had explained as she sat, smoothing her cotton skirt. It had been wrapped so that a single tug would release it.

  Apparently Stuart's decision the night before to leave off the despised sweatpants had given the rest of the family the opportunity to dress as they chose. Or not. Given that the heat had already left a damp vee down the back of Vicki's T-shirt, she supposed the "or not" wasn't such a bad idea. She couldn't help but notice the various items of clothing scattered all over the house, ready to be pulled on if an outsider arrived. "Although if it's someone we don't want to see," Na-dine had confirmed, "we just stay in fur-form and ignore them. " Considering the size of the fur-forms, Vicki was willing to bet the wer had no trouble with trespassers.

  From where she sat, Vicki could see out the largest of the three kitchen windows. The view included a scruffy expanse of lawn, a weathered building with a slight list to the west that appeared to be a garage, and beyond that, the barnyard. Cloud and Storm were stretched out under the huge willow tree in the center of the lawn. As Vicki watched, Storm lifted his head and yawned. He got slowly to his feet, stretched, and had a vigorous shake, dark russet fur rippling with highlights in the early morning sun. He sniffed at Cloud who ignored him. Dropping into a half crouch, he pushed his muzzle under her jaw and lifted. Her head rose about six inches off the ground and then dropped. She continued to ignore him. He did it again. The third time, Cloud twisted, changed, and Rose grabbed his muzzle with both hands.

  "We're at the end of a very long lane. " Nadine anticipated Vicki's question. "You can't actually see the house from the road and, with the exception of mail delivery, almost no one uses the road but us. "

  Out on the lawn, Cloud chased her brother twice around the tree and out of sight.

  The sound of claws on linoleum shifted Vicki's attention back into the house but it was only Shadow coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. He sat in front of the refrigerator, had a quick scratch, then changed so he could open the door.

  "Ma, there's nothing to eat. "

  "Don't stand with the fridge door open, Daniel. "

  He sighed but obediently closed it and Vicki marveled at how universal some things could be. . .

  "If you're hungry why don't you go out to the barn and hunt rats?"

  . . . and how universal some things were not.

  Daniel sighed again and dragged himself over to lean against his mother's shoulder. "Don't know as I'm hungry for rats. "

  Nadine smiled, brushing the hair back off his forehead. "If you catch one and you don't want to eat it, you can bring it to me. "

  This apparently solved all problems because it was Shadow who put both front paws up on Nadine's lap and swiped at her face with his tongue before bounding outside. The screen door, Vicki saw, had been hung so that it swung freely in both directions with no latch to prevent a nose or a paw from pushing it open.

  "They grow up so fast," Nadine said reflectively, snatching a fly out of the air.

  For one horrified moment, with the rats still causing her a little trouble, Vicki was afraid Nadine was going to eat it but the older woman only crushed it and threw it to the floor. All things considered, lousy housekeeping was much easier to deal with. Vicki brushed a fly off the edge of her own mug and tried very hard to be open-minded. Rats. Right. If I don't eat until sundown maybe Henry 'II take me to MacDonalds.

  "Cloud comes into her first heat this fall," Nadine continued in the same tone, wiping her hand against the fabric of her skirt, "so pretty soon now, Peter'll be leaving. "

  "Leaving?" Back on the lawn, Shadow was stalking the waving plume of Storm's tail.

  "It's too risky to have him stay. We'll probably send him away in early September. "

  "But. . . "

  "When Cloud goes into heat, Storm'll go crazy trying to get to her. Better for all concerned if the males are far away when their littermates - their twins - mature. " Her voice shook a little as she added, "The bonds between twins are very strong with our kind. "

  "Rose said something similar. " Vicki traced the pattern on her mug with the tip of one finger, unsure if she should say anything about Sylvia's death. The pain shadowing Nadine's eyes was so intensely personal, sympathy might be seen as an intrusion.

  Nadine's nails tapped against the tabletop. "The wer see death as a natural result of life," she said, reading Vicki's hesitation. "Our mourning is specific and soon over. Jason was my brother and I miss him, but with the loss of my twin, I feel as though I've lost a part of myself. "

  "I understand. "

  "No, you don't. You can't. " Then Nadine's voice twisted into a snarl and her lips lifted off her teeth. "When you have found this animal with a coward's weapon, he will pay for the pain he has caused. "

  It was so easy, Vicki realized, to forget why she was here; to get caught up in the strangeness and lose sight of the fact that two people had been murdered. So some aspects of the case were a little unusual. So what. She put down her mug, unaware her expression almost exactly mirrored Nadine's. "I'd better get started. "