Hidden Moon (Nightcreature 7)

"What's 'mmm'?"

"Cartwright could have done something with him. "

"Why?" I "He hurt you. I'd like to kill the guy. "

My eyes widened. "You just skipped from missing to murdered. "

"I'm funny that way. "

"Grace, you can't actually think Malachi killed Josh. "

"I think all sorts of things until I'm proven wrong. "

"He wouldn't - "

"You barely know him, Claire. " Grace shuffled her papers impatiently. "You have no idea what he's capable of. "

She was right, so I changed the subject. "What happened this morning?"

"Nothing. "

"You went hunting?"

"Yes. "

"I love it when you give one-word answers. Gets me all tingly. "

She scowled and slapped my statement into a file. "There isn't anything to tell. We went into the woods, traipsed around for hours, and found absolutely nothing. No wolf, no tracks, no missing tourist, no signs of a camp. "

"Weird. "

"Not really. The mountains go on for miles. " She spread her hands. "If someone, or something, really wants to hide, and knows how. . . "

Her voice trailed off, but I heard what she wasn't saying. We could look for years and never find the man or the beast. Except -

"This morning, just before the sun came up, I heard wolves. "

"Plural?" Grace asked.

"Yeah. "

"Fuck. "

"Mmm. "

"Could you tell where they were?"

I shook my head. "When the sun broke over the mountains, they went silent - bam - mid-howl. It was. . . kind of spooky. "

"I like this less and less every day. "

We remained quiet for several minutes, thinking about what might happen with more wolves than one. None of it was good.

"Did you see Balthazar in the woods?" I asked.

Grace frowned. "No. Why?"

"Weasel-faced guy at the Gazette said he went after you to get a story. "