Jimmy gave me a look that made something in my chest shift—like I was a prize student and he was a lifetime teacher. “Very good. We’ll make a seer out of you yet.” I half expected him to pat me on the head. “Always doubt the so-called legends. Not doing so will get people killed.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“Any blessed item will repel a vampire. But…” He shook his head. “It takes a lot more than that to kill a demon of such power.”
“What about sunlight?”
“That will kill some. Depends on the type.”
I blinked. “There are types?”
“Of course. The bruxa, from Portugal, can only be killed by use of a magical amulet. The liderc, from Hungary, must eat garlic—and good luck getting them to do that. The vjesci, from Poland, must be buried in sand.”
“This is too complicated.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
I doubted that.
“As soon as the case is closed,” Jimmy continued, “and 1 bet it won’t be long now, the police will give you Ruthie’s necklace back.”
“They didn’t tell me her necklace was missing.” They had to have known. Everyone knew Ruthie wore that crucifix every minute, every day.
The light dawned. “They withheld the information. Only the killer would—”
“Let’s go.” Jimmy walked away from Springboard without a backward glance.
He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I had no choice but to get in.
“You’re setting him up.”
“I need to be out from under the cops.” Jimmy put the car in drive. “If they think Springboard killed Ruthie, I will be.”
“You think that just finding her crucifix in his pocket will convict him?”
“Since he’s not around to argue, I hope so.”
I glanced over my shoulder as Springboard’s body and that of the cougar’s became smaller and smaller in the rear window, then faded into the shadows altogether.
The crucifix might be enough to close the case, though I didn’t think it would be enough to get Hammond and Landsdown completely off Jimmy’s back. Still, I doubted they’d track him to New Mexico if they had another suspect tied up neatly with a bow. Their superiors wouldn’t let them.
We reached the end of the long dirt drive and turned onto the two-lane highway that would return us to the freeway. From there we could go just about anywhere. Unfortunately we were going to New Mexico. I was still trying to figure out how to avoid that.
“You said the DKs are breeds.” Jimmy nodded. “What was Springboard?”
“The way this is supposed to work is that you tell me what kind of beast lies behind the human face, not the other way around.”
“Well, excuse me for screwing up the way things are supposed to be. But I’m a little seer come lately, so why don’t you just tell me what Springboard was?”
“Hyena,” he snapped. “About an eighth.”
“He was one-eighth hyena,” Laughter bubbled, and I swallowed hard to make it go away.
Jimmy cast a quick glance in my direction, then returned it to the road and continued to speak. ‘“Bouda was once a country in Africa—maybe it still is, 1 don’t know—which was governed by a matriarchal society of witches who could shift into hyenas.”
“Nephilim.”
“Yes. Eventually the shifters themselves became known as the bouda.”
“So Springboard could become a hyena under the light of the silvery moon?”
“Boudas can shift any time they want to; they aren’t bound by the moon. And Springboard wasn’t a full-fledged bouda, but a breed, several times removed.”
“What does that mean!”
“He could shift, but it wasn’t easy for him. Took too long, so it wasn’t exactly something he wanted to do in the heat of battle. Springboard was better on two feet, with a gun or a sword. In human form he was stronger and quicker, we all are. As a hyena he was a predator. They have some of the most powerful jaw muscles in the animal kingdom.”
I frowned, wondering what, exactly, that particular gift had done for him.
“Adult hyenas fear only the big cats as predators,” Jimmy finished.
Pretty strange that a big cat had been the death of him. Or maybe not so strange after all.
“Because he was part hyena, the chindi jumped to him?” I asked.
Jimmy’s eyebrows lifted, as if he hadn’t thought of that. “Maybe so. Although humans are animals too, I’ve never heard of a chindi possessing anything but the furry. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”
“Could it have been sent for him?”
“Doubtful. No one knew he’d be at the farm.”
“No one was supposed to know we’d be at the farm either, but someone did.”
“And I plan to find out who.”
Silence fell between us for a minute, then I had another thought. “Springboard’s autopsy—won’t they find traces of hyena fur, blood, something?”
“He wasn’t in hyena form. But even if they did…” Jimmy let his voice trail off, and I understood.
“That would make the case more open and shut, because they probably found traces of animal fur at the murder scene.”
“Considering the number of shifters there, I can’t imagine they wouldn’t have.”
“Did you see a hyena?”