I didn’t respond. We approached Annalise.
She stared at me as we approached. “You’ve been raising quite a ruckus, I hear.”
“You could have joined in if I had a way to contact you. A cell phone number or something.”
She shrugged. “You seem to have come through okay without me.”
“People died.” She didn’t respond. She didn’t even blink. “And the bad guys got away.”
“How many bad guys?” she asked. “What kind?”
“Three, maybe four. Remember when I said I wasn’t sure if Emmett was a werewolf or if he was alone? I’m sure now, and I’m sure about all three of his brothers. I may even have killed one or two of them.”
“Really?” Annalise glanced at Arlene, measuring her expression.
“Yep. What about you? Have you found
“No, and yes.”
“What happened to Henstrick’s men?”
“They had a car accident. A terrible, terrible accident. None of them survived.”
“Okay. What’s next?”
“I’ve never killed werewolves before. That sounds like fun.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Annalise pulled open the passenger door and climbed in. I walked around to the driver’s side.
“I’m coming with you,” Arlene said in her most commanding tone.
“No, you’re not.” Annalise’s voice didn’t carry a lot of power the way Arlene’s did, but there was a dangerous undercurrent to it that I doubted Arlene would recognize.
“I am,” Arlene said. “I need to. There are some things I have to know.”
Annalise had not yet closed the door. Arlene climbed onto the footrest and stepped up much too close. Maybe someone else would have been uncomfortable, would have yielded, but Annalise’s girlish little voice just got very low. “Step back.”
“Arlene,” I said. “Get down. You don’t know what you’re doing.” Reluctantly, she stepped back onto the parking lot. “Boss, she could be useful.”
Annalise snorted. “How?”
“I can find them,” Arlene said. “Emmett keeps the others close. They’ve never left the house they grew up in.”
“What if the Dubois brothers aren’t at the station? She could direct us to their house.”
“So could a phone book.”
Arlene smirked. “They’re unlisted. You-“
“Fine,” Annalise said. “But she’s your baggage, Ray. You have to haul her around, and it’s on you if she gets killed.”
Annalise slammed the van door. Arlene huffed indignantly and began to walk around the front of the van.
I went to meet her. “Don’t annoy my boss.”
“She certainly seems to be short on manners.”
“You’re not listening. Emmett Dubois is nothing compared to the woman in that van. She’s not going to show either of us any respect, and if you can’t handle that, you can go back to organizing the cleanup at church socials.”
“I… I understand.” Arlene looked toward the ground.
“Climb in,” I said. “You’ll have to stand between the seats. We’re not set up for hitchhikers.”
She did. I strapped myself in behind the wheel and started the engine. “Where to first, boss?”
“Let’s try their home. If you injured them, they might go to ground.”
“North,” Arlene said immediately. “They live on the north end of town, about three blocks east of the station.”
I pulled out of the parking lot slowly. Even so, Arlene winced as she used her injured hand to stabilize herself. On the way, we passed a knot of people attending to a body on the sidewalk. It was Rake-Thin Arms, who had been shot and fallen out the window. I wondered if I would ever learn his name.
Sugar Dubois was nowhere in sight.
After a few minutes of driving, Arlene turned to us. “Can I ask a question?”
Annalise didn’t answer. “Okay,” I said. I had a question of my own to ask, but I wasn’t going to do it in front of Arlene.
“If one of them bit me, does that mean I’m going to…”
She’d already asked me this question. I didn’t know if Annalise was going to answer or not. After a few moments of silence, I said: “Annalise? Is she going to become a predator?”
