Hidden Moon (Nightcreature 7)

Malachi was right. But if I'd let him punish Josh, then Malachi would be the one going to jail. Cops were funny that way.

"May I wash?" Cartwright held out his hands, which were dotted with Josh's blood.

"Of course. " I glanced at Josh, but he remained unmoving.

"He'll be all right for a minute," Cartwright assured me. "And it isn't as if you don't know where to find him if he decides to go. "

True enough. Together Cartwright and I went into the house.

Grace answered on the sixth ring; she sounded wide-awake. "I'll be there in five. "

Cartwright turned away from the sink, drying his hands on the dish towel. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I was. . . delayed. "

I remembered what had happened between us earlier that night and what hadn't because he'd been called away.

"Is everything all right at your camp?"

He began to nod; then his gaze swiveled toward the open doorway. "Hell. " Josh was gone.

Chapter 20

Cartwright was out the door and down the back steps before I could catch up. "Wait!"

"He'll be getting away. "

"It isn't as if I don't know where he lives, as you said. Where he works and where he plays, too. He won't get away. "

Cartwright paused with his long fingers curled around the wooden handrail, the white moons of his nails stark against the darker shade of his skin. "I'd feel better if I found him now. "

I stared at the prehistoric trees, and I remembered what was out there. "There's - uh - a presumably rabid wolf on the loose. "

Cartwright turned to look at me. "I thought there were no wolves in these woods. "

"Someone neglected to tell that to the wolf. "

His lips twitched. "Has anyone seen the beast?"

"I have. "

"You?" His lighter expression turned dark. "When?"

"Earlier tonight. I nearly ran it over on the road near your camp. "

"I suppose it was hanging about because of the menagerie," he murmured.

"Or your people. You need to be careful. Grace is going to go out with a hunting party tomorrow. "

"Is she now?" He seemed amused again.

"She's the best tracker in town. "

"She will be hunting in the daylight?"

"It's kind of hard to hunt at night. Illegal, too, I think, though I doubt that would affect Grace. "

"As long as they don't muck about near the lake once the sun has set, I give my permission. "

Permission? I opened my mouth to ask what in hell he was talking about, then remembered the Gypsies' weird contract with Lake Bluff.