Part 12 (2/2)
The twins looked at each other and laughed. ”Close enough,” Rose admitted.
Shadow raced back silently, but only, Vicki suspected, because the huge yellow frisbee he carried made barking impossible. He dropped it at Peter's feet - it looked more than a little chewed - and sat back, panting expectantly.
Peter skimmed out of his shorts and scooped up the plastic disk. ”You ready?” he asked.
The entire back end of Shadow's body wagged.
Looking not unlike an ancient Greek discus thrower, Peter whipped the frisbee into the air. Shadow took off after it and a heartbeat later so did Storm. Muscles rippling under his russet coat, he raced past the smaller wer, drew his hindquarters under and flung himself into the air, jaws spread, ready to clamp his teeth down on the rim of the disk.
Only to have it s.n.a.t.c.hed out of his grasp by a larger black wer who hit the ground running with both Storm and Shadow in hot pursuit.
Rose giggled, thrust her sundress into Vicki's hands and Cloud took off after them. They raced around the yard for a moment or two then, working as a team, Cloud and Storm cut the larger wer off and jumped it. Shadow, still barking whenever he managed to find a spare breath, threw himself on the mix of tumbling bodies.
A moment later, Nadine looked up out of the pile of multicolored fur, tossed the frisbee to one side and grinned at Vicki. ”So, you about ready for lunch?”
”We found tracks, not five hundred yards from the house.” The words were almost an unintelligible growl. The silence that followed them took only a few seconds to fill with answering anger.
Nadine crossed the kitchen and clutched at her mate's arm. ”Whose?” she demanded. ”Whose tracks?”
”We don't know.”
”But the scent. ...”
”Garlic. The trail reeks of nothing but garlic.”
”How old?” Peter wanted to know.
”Twelve hours. Maybe a little more. Maybe a little less.” Stuart's hair was up and he couldn't remain still, pacing back and forth with jerky steps.
If Ebon had been shot from that tree in the woods, as all evidence seemed to suggest he had, five hundred yards and twelve hours meant the a.s.sa.s.sin had come within range of the house sometime last night.
”Maybe you'd all better stay at a hotel, in town, until this is over,” Vicki suggested, knowing even as the words left her mouth what the reaction was going to be.
”No!” Stuart snapped, turning on her. ”This is our territory and we will defend it!”
”He's not after your territory,” Vicki pointed out, her own voice rising. ”He's after your lives! Take them out of his range, just for a time. It's the only sensible thing to do!”
”We will not run.”
”But if he can get that close, you can't protect yourselves from him.”Stuart's eyes narrowed and his words were nearly lost in his snarl. ”It will not happen again.”
”How do you propose to stop it?” This was worse than arguing with Celluci.
”We will guard. ...”
”You haven'tbeen guarding!”
”He has not been on our territory before!”
Vicki took a deep breath. This was getting nowhere fast. ”At least send the children away.”
”NO!”.
Stuart's response was explosive and Vicki turned to Nadine for help. Surelyshe'd understand the necessity of sending the children to safety.
”The children must stay within the safety of the pack.” Nadine held a solemn looking Daniel very tightly, one hand stroking his hair. Daniel, in turn, held tight to his mother.
”This coward with a gun does not run this pack.” Stuart yanked his chair out from the table and threw himself down on it. ”And his actions will not rule this pack. We will live as we live.” He jabbed his finger at Vicki. ”You will find him!”
He wasn't angry at her, Vicki realized, but at himself, at his perceived failure to protect his family. Even so, the heat of his gaze forced her to look away. ”I will find him,” she said, trying not to resent the strength of his rage.Let's just hope I find him in time.Lunch began as an a.s.sault; meat ripped and torn between gleaming teeth, an obvious surrogate for an enemy's throat. Fortunately for Vicki's piece of mind, things calmed down fairly quickly, the wer - especially the younger wer - being incapable of sustaining a mood for any length of time when distracted by the more immediate concerns of who forgot to take the b.u.t.ter out of the fridge and just where exactly was the salt.
The entire family ate in human form, more or less in human style.
”It makes it easier on the kids when they go back to school,” Nadine explained, putting Daniel's fork into his hand and suggesting that he use it.
The cold mutton accompanying the salad was greasy and not particularly palatable, but Vicki was so relieved it was cooked that she ate it gladly.
”Ms. Nelson went to see Carl Biehn this morning,” Peter announced suddenly.
”Carl Biehn?” Donald glanced over at Stuart, whose ears had gone back again, then at Vicki. ”Why?”
”It's important I talk to the neighbors,” Vicki explained, shooting a look of her own at the dominant male.
”I need to know what they might have seen.”
”He hasn't been around here for years,” Nadine said emphatically. ”Not since Stuart ran him off for frightening the girls. Jennifer had nightmares about hisG.o.d for months.”
Stuart snorted. ”G.o.d. He wouldn't know a real G.o.d if it bit him on the b.u.t.t. Old fool's a gra.s.seater.”
Vicki blinked. ”What?”
”Vegetarian,” Rose translated.”Did he tell you that?”
”Didn't have to.” Stuart cracked a bone and sucked out the marrow. ”He smells like a gra.s.seater.”
Donald tossed a heel of bread onto the table and dusted his hands off against his bare thighs. ”He stopped me in town once and pointed out the evils of giving life to animals only to kill them.”
”He did it to me once too but I pointed out that killing animals was easier than eating them alive.” Peter tossed a radish up into the air, caught it between his teeth, and crunched down with the maximum possible noise.
”Like majorly gross, Peter!” Jennifer made a disgusted face at her cousin, who only grinned and continued devouring his lunch.
”You don't think it's old man Biehn, do you, Vicki?” Rose asked quietly, pitching her voice under the general noise level around the table.
Did she? Living so close, Carl Biehn had opportunity to both accidentally discover the wers' secret and access the tree the shots had come from. He was in good physical condition for a man his age and deeply held religious beliefs were historically a tried and truemotive for murder. He had, however, expressed an abhorrence for killing that Vicki believed and, besides a sneaker tread he shared with all and sundry, no evidence linked him to the crimes. The fact that she'd liked him, as subjective as that was, had to be considered. Good cops develop a sensitivity to certain personality types that, no matter how carefully hidden, set off subconscious alarms. Carl Biehn seemed like a decent human being and they were rare.
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