was mad. Still, my heart rate picked up. Was it Leo? Was he trying to warn me?
“Where do you think she might go?”
“Hmmm…” I flicked on my flashlight. “There’s an Italian place around the corner. Why don’t we check the dumpster?”
“Werewolves go dumpster diving?”
“She might be hungry.”
“You don’t think she’s hunting?”
“I don’t want to think of her like that.”
“The jealousy in your voice is priceless.”
I stopped and he bumped into me. “What do you mean?”
“You sound sulky, like you wish it had been you.”
“Do not.” We moved onward again and headed toward the patch of woods behind the apartments and beyond a small lake. The path around the pond was treacherous during the daytime with loose gravel and places where the path may slide out from under unwary walkers, so we stuck to the ground above it. We searched the area for footprints, but the wet grass kept its secrets.
“This is pointless,” Iain started to say, but I heard something and held my hand up. “What?”
“Do you hear that?” It was a scratching noise.
“Hear what?”
“Follow me.”
We crept around to the right of the pond and heard it more clearly, a noise like someone—or something— scratching in the dirt. Then I realized that something pawed at the spent coals in the barbecue pit. Our flashlight beams hit it at the same time: a wolf with tawny fur ticked in black. It glared back at us with topaz eyes, a bone in its mouth.
“Iain, that’s her.”
“Ah, and how do you know?”
“I could make some smart-ass comment about that being how she always looks if you try to take barbecue away from her, but it’s the fur. It’s her coloring. And the eyes.”
“Right now she’s looking at us like we’re dinner.”
“Running away from a predator is the best way to get it to chase you.”
“So what do we do now that we’ve found her?”
“Good question.”
She answered it for us by spitting the bone out and loping down the hillside to the woods, where she vanished among the trees.
“What now? Go after her?”
I nudged the bone with a toe. “We’re never going to be able to keep up with her. We’re going to have to wait until dawn and then try to find her before she gets taken to the loony bin for running around naked.”
“I had no idea hanging out with you would be so interesting.”
“Me neither. Or should I say likewise? Until I saw you today, no one had tried to blow me up.”
“Is there someone else who could help?” he asked as we made our way back up the slope and picked through the weeds at the side of the lake.
“Like who?”
“Another werewolf?”
“The only one who’s nearby is busy on another hunt.”
“How many are there?”
“Five, er, six now. That I know of, anyway.”
“That’s incredible. It’s the advance we’ve been looking for, the one we didn’t dare think would happen, but which defines the disease.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember my book, the one about Hillary Baehr, the woman who escaped from the asylum?”
“Yep. It’s required reading at Cabal now.”
“I didn’t want to put it in there for fear someone would refuse to take it seriously, but the guard on duty that night said that the only strange thing he noticed was a ‘large dog’ that dashed through the yard and then disappeared.”
I swung my flashlight so that the beam hit him in the face, his pupils narrowing before he put a hand up to block the light. “Now I know you’re kidding me.”
He squinted. “Think about it. Say you’re an orderly doing your rounds, and you look into a patient room, but you don’t see her. So you open the door, and a wolf dashes out. You look inside the room, no patient, so you sound the alarm. But who is going to believe you if you tell them a wolf came out of the room? No one, and they’ll probably stick you in the room next door.”
“But how would a wolf get out of an asylum?”
“If she was a patient there, she would know the nooks and crannies that a human may not be able to access or hide in, but an animal might, particularly a petite one. And who cares if the patients see you? They’re all crazy anyway. You just wait and slip out behind someone who can open the doors.”
“I guess that’s plausible.”
“Now that you know I’m not kidding you, perhaps we should call one of your friends. Dawn won’t be for another few hours. They could follow her trail and find her before she hurts herself.”
“They’re all up in Piney Mount, er, Crystal Pines. It will take them hours to get here.”
“What about the one who’s not? The good Doctor Bowman?”
“He’s chasing another werewolf.”
“So that makes seven?”
“Yep. At least, I think that one’s a werewolf. I don’t know the human behind it.”
“Call Gabriel.”
“What?”
“He’s one of them, right? That’s why he was so interested in your work.”
“I guess.”
“Joanie, it’s better than nothing. Your friend could hurt herself or someone else.”
“Are you really concerned about Lonna or more interested in finding a research subject?”
Iain shrugged. “Would you hate me if I said yes to both?”
“No, I guess I would understand.”
I tried the house, but Gabriel wasn’t answering, and his cell phone went to voice mail. I had no idea how to find Ron or Leo—Ron may be at the house, but he wouldn’t answer the phone. Leo could be anywhere.
So we did the only logical thing. We made a large pot of coffee and waited for sunrise. In spite of the caffeine, I had difficulty staying awake. So did Iain, and we were both startled when someone pounded on the door.
“Is it her?” I asked.
He held up one finger and reached for the heavy flashlight as I tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole.
“It’s Gabriel.” I hoped he didn’t hear the relief in my voice.
“The research assistant turned butler has arrived to save the day.”
I shot Iain a dirty look and opened the door. Gabriel’s expression turned from concern to carefully neutral when he saw his fellow Scot.
“Doctor McPherson,” he said and held out his hand. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Likewise. I guess. So I understand you have CLS. That explains a lot, admittedly. But why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to, but I couldn’t find the words, and I didn’t want to compromise my perceived objectivity.”
I stepped between them. “Guys, can we save this discussion for the morning? Lonna is out there.”
“Do you have something of hers I can mark the scent from?”
“Her pajamas are by the door.”
