The Mountain's Shadow

I misplaced something. There was one folder that he wanted me to hold for you until you had become more acquainted with the Manor and its secrets.”

And the werewolves. “What do you know about this butler he arranged for me? You said there was something I needed to know.”

“Yes, Gabriel…” He tapped the arm of his chair. “His last name escapes me at the moment.”

“It’s McCord,” Iain said. “Gabriel McCord.”

“You know him?”

“If it’s the same bloke I’m remembering. He was a member of the Society in the UK, sort of a research assistant, but he wasn’t at the meeting you came to. He certainly was interested in your work, though. He made copies of all the slides and notes I brought back.”

“When was that?” Galbraith asked.

“Five years ago, to the month.” I did some mental calculations. “You’re missing the meeting right now, aren’t you?”

“I am, but it’s worth it to see you again.”

“Flatterer.”

“That’s interesting,” Galbraith said as he got up and moved around to his desk to pull out a file. “I believe your grandfather had me start looking for domestic help at about this time last year, and this Gabriel person contacted me in response to the advertisement we placed.”

“My grandfather actually looked for a butler?”

“He was planning on having some renovation done on the house, and he wanted someone to keep the mess and chaos at bay while he worked. He had a woman from the village who would cook and clean for him occasionally, but he needed something a little more permanent.”

“That must have been Louise.” I tried to block the memory of the last time I’d seen her. “Who also died under suspicious circumstances.”

“Really?” Iain raised an eyebrow at me. “Does death always follow you, or is this a recent development?”

“It has ever since the fire.” I fingered the tip of the scar at my collarbone. “That’s when the chaos started.”

The braying of a car alarm startled the three of us.

“That’s my rental!” Iain jumped and headed toward the door. “What could have set that off?”

My mind flashed back to the night my lab burned. The sound of my car alarm had broken my concentration and called my attention to the smoke that crept under the door.

It's nothing to worry about. But there was something else, some small noise I couldn’t identify. My heart thudded in my chest and sent roaring waves through my throat and skull. Every instinct told me something wasn’t right. Iain opened the door to the lobby, and I ran after him.

“Don’t go out there!” I gasped and held on to the sleeve of his jacket.

“I have to see what set it off! It’s going to eat up the battery!”

“Give it a minute. Maybe it’ll go off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Joanna! All I have to do is click the lock button to stop it.”

My stomach clenched as he opened the heavy wooden door and pointed the remote at the black Lexus. I forced myself to watch as he pushed the button so I could yank him inside as soon as the alarm stopped. We tumbled to the floor just inside the door and knocked over an end table.

“Joanie, what the hell?”

The wooden door with its metal core saved us from the brunt of the explosion. The whole building rocked with its force, and the windows shattered inward. If we had been farther into the room, we would have been shredded. Smoke poured under the door, and we coughed, holding each other tightly as we cowered by the wall. We didn’t dare move.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked.

I almost didn’t hear him over the ringing in my ears. “I think so. You?”

“Yes.” The stubble of his chin scraped against my forehead. I picked up my hand from the floor and hissed in pain—it was the same one Leo had adjusted a few nights before.

“You’re hurt.”

“An old injury.”

“Is everyone okay in there?” a voice called from outside. “It’s the fire department. Please respond.”

“We’re fine,” Iain called back.

“Don’t move! We’re concerned you may be injured. Someone will get you out in a second.”

“That was fast,” Iain commented.

“I guess they don’t get many big explosions in Little Rock. And the fire station is just down the road.”

“I didn’t hear the sirens. Must be the ringing in my ears.”

The inner door opened, and Galbraith looked out, his expression one of concern, then shock.

“Doctor Fisher, Doctor McPherson? Are you all right?”

“I think so. Don’t come any further—there’s glass everywhere.”

The outside door swung open, and a fireman in full gear came through. “Is everyone all right in here?” he asked.

“Yes. Can we get up now?”

He held out his hand and helped me up first—by my uninjured hand—and then Iain. Galbraith picked his way across the debris.

“We have to make sure the building is still sound,” the fireman said. “And the two of you should get checked out at the hospital just to make sure you are. The paramedics are here if you want to talk to them.”

I wondered why he didn’t say the same to Galbraith, but then realized that Iain and I both had soot on our faces and dust in our hair. My left hand throbbed.

“I’m fine, but Doctor Fisher has injured her wrist in the fall.” Iain stopped when he saw the smoldering wreck of what had been his car. “My god!”

“Was anyone on the road?” I asked, craning to see.

“No, luckily there was a lull in traffic when the car exploded.”

A policeman walked up to us. “Was this your car, sir?”

Iain ran a hand through his hair. “It was a rental.”

“And when did you pick it up?”

Something still didn’t add up. I let the paramedic look at my wrist as Iain answered the policeman’s questions. No, he hadn’t let anyone else have the keys to the car, no he hadn’t valet parked it anywhere, yes, the rental place would know the history of the vehicle better than he would, yes, he had called ahead and requested a luxury vehicle…

I started, and the EMT apologized for jarring my wrist.

“No, it wasn’t you,” I told the earnest young man.

“Well, you should put some ice on it. It’s swelling.”

I nodded but was too busy following my own train of thought to hear him. There had been a noise outside the window, a noise I’d heard before. It was what had warned me of the impending explosion. But that was as far as my memory would go.

Again, that feeling of being watched, those invisible fingers across the back of my neck that raised all the hairs. I tried not to be obvious about it as I looked around. A shadow at the corner of the building detached itself from the other shadows and moved into the alleyway beside Galbraith’s office. The shadow turned, its tongue lolling out at me, and my heart stopped. The black wolf. Before I could be sure, it was gone, but I could hear Louise’s warning in my mind.

The black wolf knows.

That was the noise I had heard—the sound of an animal prowling outside the window. It was the same noise I’d heard the night of the fire before my car alarm went off and before the explosion in the hallway that started the fire. I remembered it now.

“What happened?” Lonna pulled up with Leo in the car, and he leapt out of the passenger seat. He stopped short when he saw Iain.