“If I see him, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.”
“So you don’t know where he is?”
“Not right at this moment, no.” He could have left the bedroom by now.
“You know, Doctor Fisher, I wouldn’t want to have to bring you to the station and ask you about a crime called obstructing justice.”
He looked at me with his beady eyes, and I struggled not to look away. This wasn’t friendly Bud Knowles, mountain country sheriff. He was letting me see the shrewd character that had survived all those years in the worst parts of Little Rock.
“That would probably be more trouble than it’s worth, Sheriff.”
“Then you won’t mind if I let one of my boys watch the house in case Leo Bowman shows up here. He might be a dangerous character, if you know what I mean, and I wouldn’t want him to hurt you or the lovely Ms. Marconi.”
“That would be fine, Sheriff. Ms. Marconi and I are actually traveling to Little Rock this afternoon and plan to be gone for the night, so an extra pair of eyes on the house would suit me perfectly.”
“And what is the nature of this trip?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going to meet with my solicitor about some estate affairs.”
He chuckled, a wheezing, grating sound. “As you recall, a woman died here under suspicious circumstances this week, Doctor Fisher. Remember that little agreement we had? You were going to notify me if you decided to leave.”
“Consider this your notification.”
“And when will you return?”
“Probably tomorrow. You may reach me through my solicitor, Lawrence Galbraith, if you need me before then.” I’d be damned before I gave him my cell phone number.
“I’ll do that.” With a respectful tip of his hat, he was gone.
“What are you going to do about…” Gabriel inclined his head up the stairs.
“If he knows what’s good for him, he’s already gone.”
Gabriel smiled and watched the sheriff’s car pull out of the driveway. “You should go as well, then.”
“I guess I should.”
“Please be careful.”
“Can’t watch over me down there, huh?”
“I shall be miserably bored while you’re away.”
I stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”
Leo caught up to us in the garage. He carried his duffel bag and walked with a determined step.
“What are you doing here?” I glanced outside to see if the sheriff’s deputy’s car was there yet. “You know they’re looking for you!”
“I said I was coming with you.”
I glanced at Lonna, but she held her hands up. “I’m staying out of this.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I fixed him with my sternest stare.
“If the sheriff is looking for me here, then doesn’t it make sense for me to be somewhere else?”
I couldn’t fault his logic.
“Besides, I need to go by UAMS and get Ron’s and my medical records. I have a release-of-information form from him in my bag. That way we can see if we got flu shots from the same batch.”
“Didn’t you get them at the same time?”
“No, we were on different rotations.”
“Okay, so you have a valid reason to go. But what about me? Knowles said something about obstruction of justice.”
“If we get caught, I’ll tell them I forced you to take me. Look, I’ll hunch down in the back of the car until we’re out of town.”
“There’s no way you’ll fit.”
“Then put my duffel in the trunk.” He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt…and kept going.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I couldn’t help it, I watched him undress. Fine black hair covered his chest and stomach, but I could still see the tense muscles underneath. Running through the woods might not be good for the paws, but he was in excellent shape. I’d never been much for hirsute men, but damn!
“Ah, Joanie? Perhaps we should give him a moment of privacy.” Lonna grabbed my arm, and we walked back into the hallway.
“There you go, ruining the show.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t think I want to see that show.”
We heard a whimper, and a moment later, something wet licked my hand. I looked down into Leo’s eyes in a black canine face.
“I guess we’re going to have to take you now, aren’t we?”
The wolf’s lips parted in a snarl.
“Okay, okay!”
He barely fit in the backseat, let alone the well, but we covered him with a blanket. A casual glance wouldn’t reveal too much, I hoped.
“Are you ready to do this?” I asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Leo?”
A noise between a bark and a yip came from under the blanket in the back.
“Does this mean I’ll be able to say whatever I want to you, and you can’t talk back?”
“Not necessarily, elf-girl.” The words brought me back to seeing them that night on the lawn with the deer, and I remembered that I was dealing with a predator whose animal brain was now in full gear.
“Gotcha. And don’t call me elf-girl.”
“What?” Lonna looked from me to the blanketed lump in the backseat. “I didn’t call you elf-girl.”
“No, but he did.” My heart skipped a beat. “What did you hear?”
“Just a woof or something.”
“So I can understand them and you can’t.” Just like I had understood my brother from the cradle. I remembered my father yelling at him, telling him to speak like a human boy. I had tried to protect Andrew because his speech sounded muffled, but I could still make out what he said.
I didn’t breathe easily until we got out of the Crystal Pines gates and on the road. Even then, I felt uneasy about our passenger and the trip in general, especially with this new revelation. Did that mean I was genetically predisposed? Or did I have some other, more sinister talent?
Chapter Fifteen
Grief has a funny way of sneaking up on you. It’s like one day you’re out getting groceries or something, and then wham! It punches you in the middle of the chest, or maybe the solar plexus, and it would bring you to your knees if you weren’t afraid of dropping the eggs.
It’s a good thing Lonna was driving when it happened to me. Leo snoozed in the backseat, still in his lupine form. I was watching the road signs as I used to when I was little, looking at the towns we passed, their posted populations, and trying to remember which had been the smallest when I had been a lot smaller. For a moment, I was back there with my mother, her perfectly manicured hands tight on the wheel, her knuckles white, and her teeth clenched with the desire to be away from “that godforsaken place”. It seemed like every town, no matter how small, put a new obstacle between me and Wolfsbane Manor, the only place where I felt loved and protected.
I snapped back to the present when Lonna asked if I needed a bathroom or coffee break.
“You looked like you were in another world there.”
“I think I was.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” But the images crowded my mind, and the words caught in my throat in their rush to be the first ones out. Would I tell her about the pretend balls we held, when we would go down into the ballroom and dance with our candles, which would cast weird shadows on the ceiling and make the eyes of the painted woodland animals glow? Or should I tell her about the long hikes we’d take down to the river and the stories he’d tell me about the trees and bugs? What about his patience for my hundreds of questions? It had always taken me a few days to wind down and get used to being quiet after my visits up there.