“They didn’t wait for you though?”
“No. It would have taken me too long to get there. I was at Lori’s dojo, working out some of the stiffness in my leg. Lori called me to make sure she and Rose were doing the right thing. Of course, I didn’t want them returning to the scene in case the bastard was still in the area. But understandably, they wanted to call it in before the body happened to vanish, if the murderer decided to dispose of it.”
Allan swore under his breath. “Rose is too far along to be running as a wolf, and both she and Lori could have been in real trouble. Still could be.”
“Rose said it was her last time to run. They didn’t expect to find the dead woman.”
“Hell. If the killer was watching the women arrive as wolves and then return as humans, he could have put two and two together, tracked them back to your cabin, learned you’re Lori’s mate, and well, hell, about everyone related to them—Lori’s grandmother, Mom, Rose’s mate, and his mother and sister. And that’s just the few of us from the original pack.”
“You and me. Yes, very possibly. Which means we have to catch this bastard pronto. Rose contacted everyone on the pack roster to let them know they need to avoid seeing any of us for the time being. We don’t know if this guy has any way to track the rest of the pack members, but if we cut off seeing them in person, that might help.” Paul pointed to a map on the wall showing the whole area: lakes, parks, trails, even elevations. “Here’s where the woman was found.”
“I’ll let you know if I discover anything further.”
His blood cold with anger, Allan left the cabin and drove to the logging road closest to the location of the crime scene. Even if the murderer had witnessed Rose and Lori discovering the body as wolves, then returning later as humans, Allan knew they would have pretended they had suddenly come across this horrific scene, screaming and calling Paul on his cell, maybe pretending to be calling 911. So if the murderer was watching, he might not have made the connection between them and the wolves. But they still couldn’t chance it.
On the way to the site, Allan made a call to Debbie, wanting to know how she was doing and how Franny and her baby were faring. He had already called ahead to let the staff know that Debbie would be arriving to check on them on her own, but he had learned from them that she had called ahead. He felt bad that he hadn’t been able to go with her, that he hadn’t been able to see to Franny and the baby, that he’d had to break his lunch engagement with Debbie, and that he hadn’t been able to discuss this other business with her.
“How are the baby and Franny doing?” he asked.
“I’m still at the clinic and the doc is keeping them overnight. They’re going to be just fine. Thanks to you.”
“And you. Hell, you saw the vehicle first.”
He mentioned that only because she’d commented on his keen vision too many times to count, and he didn’t want her to find that odd. “I’m sorry about lunch. I’ll make it up to you later.”
“No problem at all, Allan, but I’ll certainly take you up on it. Is everything all right?”
He couldn’t lie to her and say everything was fine. Everything wouldn’t be all right until they caught this maniac. “It’s a small family crisis.” Which was the truth. Anything that affected lupus garous in their territory affected them. So it was a family crisis. But small? Not really. Especially if the man was a newly turned wolf who had shifted and was wholly out of control. “I’ll be back tomorrow to help investigate the Van Lake accident scene.” It was located fifty-three miles from where Allan lived, so not too far.
“Can I help in any way?”
“No, thanks. I’ll…I’ll call you later tonight.” He hated this part of their relationship, where he couldn’t be completely honest with her. He could imagine just how well telling her the truth would go over. That he even considered such a notion bothered him. Normally, he never gave it any thought when he was around humans. He and his kind were what they were and that was their own business.
“All right. I’ll fill out the accident report on the mother and baby. I’ll…talk to you later.”
He knew she wasn’t happy with the way he always shut down about his family when there were issues. She’d told him about her alcoholic father, and he suspected it bothered her that he wouldn’t come clean with his family “issues.”