Page 14

14

T ess

(At my house, before we left to collect Lizzie for the full moon run)

Dinner was fun. Jack and Carlos did their usual chest-puffing banter, and I mostly ignored them. But when the talk turned to serious things, we shared information on Brigadier General Barstow, and most of what we thought we knew was smoke and air.

“Brigadier means one star, right?” I thought he’d said so.

Jack nodded. “Yes. With a rep like his, they won’t let him get much higher, but he’s a fixer, and the military does like their fixers.

“The vampire high council has no dog in this hunt, as our father liked to say,” Carlos said, startling me. I mean, I knew he was Susan’s brother, but it was hard to think of a vampire having a dad.

“You don’t care about NACOS?” Jack looked skeptical. “Hard to believe.”

“It’s not that we don’t care. We think you’d be better off with a unifying organization. It’s more that it’s none of our business how you do it. Unfortunately, however, we, too, have heard of this General Barstow. The elders among us hate him like fire.” Carlos looked at me with a hopeful smile. “Is there more pie?”

I laughed. “For you, yes.”

After I put another slab of pie on his plate, Carlos continued. “If Barstow has his sights set on you, we need to find out why and encourage him to back off.”

“We?” Jack asked.

“Yes. It’s not random that he knew I lived here. Definitely not random that he called you to accuse me of murdering someone. Enormously not random to accuse me of murdering someone in Tess’s garage.”

“A shifter killed him,” I said. “The M.E. confirmed it.”

“Susan told me. But shifters can work with vampires, so it’s not like Barstow will believe I’m innocent. Or, if he’s trying to frame me, he’ll continue to accuse me of hiring someone to do the job. What about this internal pack warfare?”

“Not really a thing,” Jack said. “And Tess says Reynolds’ wife is very well-liked by everyone in town. I don’t think he’s our killer, but it sure is convenient to throw him under the bus for it. That may have been the reason behind the phone calls. Make it look like Reynolds or one of his allies is threatening me, so we’ll start looking at him.”

“Subtle and twisty,” I said with a hint of admiration. “If so, we have that rarest of killers: a smart one.”

Carlos laughed, but Jack didn’t.

As I thought more about it, my smile faded, too. “The last thing we need around Dead End is another intelligent, twisty criminal.”

Carlos nodded. But then he brightened and grabbed a small brown paper sack he’d plopped on the seat next to him at the kitchen table. “I almost forgot! I brought you something from Romania.”

“You really went to Romania? A little on the nose, isn’t it?” Jack asked dryly.

I just laughed. “It’s on brand, Carlos.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t choose the location. Anyway, the innkeeper was a lovely lady and a great baker. I told her about you, and she pointed me to the man who hand carves her baking utensils. I got you a mortar and pestle.”

He handed me the bag, careful not to touch me.

“Carlos! You didn’t have to do that!”

“Jack said I couldn’t give you a BMW.” He gave Jack a sly grin. “This was the next best thing.”

I pulled out the lovely elm mortar and pestle, which the artist had carved with great skill. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re very welcome. Oh! One more thing.” He pulled an envelope from a pocket. “She gave me this for you with her best wishes. It’s the recipe for her prize plum cake.”

“Ooh! Gimme! Thank you, Carlos. And you have to give me her address so I can write and thank her!” I was already pulling the handwritten recipe card out of the envelope.

“It’s written in Romanian, but I knew you’d find a way.”

“I will!”

“And make it for me.”

“For us,” Jack said pointedly. “And hey, vampire. Are you busy later tonight?”

“No, shifter, not particularly. What do you need?”

Jack told him about the full moon run. “Might not hurt to have stealth backup. Tess is going to stay here, where it’s safe.”

“Wasn’t safe last night,” I remind him. “What if I’m here alone, and the killer comes back? I’m going with you.”

Carlos laughed. “You’ve met your match in Tess, my friend.”

We talked over and around the problems until we were all sick of talking, and then it was time to go pick up Lizzie. Carlos said he’d meet us in the forest, but we wouldn’t see him unless Jack or I gave the signal. When I asked what the signal was, my vampire friend only raised one eyebrow and said, “Yell, ‘hey, Carlos.’”

Everybody’s a comedian.

“Jack? What happens if Lizzie isn’t able to shift?”

His jaw clenched, and I saw his hands tighten on the steering wheel. “That would be bad, Tess. Really bad.”

C onsidering all the things that had gone badly recently, we were thrilled when one thing went completely, magically right:

Lizzie was a beautiful wolf.

The special magic that happened when a pack got together beneath the full moon helped her transform for the first time. One moment, Lizzie stood there, naked under a blanket—none of the other wolves bothered with blankets, to my embarrassment—and the next moment, a gorgeous, chocolate-brown wolf with huge brown eyes and a splash of white fur on her chest stood looking up at me.

“Lizzie! You did it!”

The new wolf was unsteady on her paws for a few moments, but her new pack mates surrounded her, welcoming her, and soon they all bounded off together. Jack waited until they entered the woods, and then he looked at me and smiled.

“Tess, you are so tenderhearted,” he said, hugging me.

“I know,” I sniffled. “It was just so beautiful. I’m so happy for her.”

“Me, too. But I’m also wary. Even if Reynolds isn’t our killer, one of his pack may be. I need to get out there with them.”

“Okay, but be careful. I worry about you with all those wolves.”

He grinned, and then a tiger stood next to me.

“I worry about the poor wolves with you out there,” I said dryly. “Go! I’ll be in the truck, reading.”

Jack bounded off in gigantic leaps. He’d catch up to the wolves in no time. I went back to the truck and picked up my book, but I locked the doors.

Just in case.

When a woman banged on my window twenty minutes later, I shrieked.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said loudly, to be heard through the glass. “I’m with Sheriff Reynolds. I thought maybe we could wait for them together.”

“Oh! Whew. You startled me.” I unlocked the door and stepped out of the truck. “I’m Tess. Tess Callahan. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Kay. Nice to meet you, too.” She was medium-tall, with black hair and dark brown eyes, and she was pretty in jeans and a T-shirt. She smiled at me until I closed the truck door, and then she leaned close, her smile changing into a scowl.

“Stay away from Paul,” she spat. “I know your type, hanging on the powerful men like a groupie. He’s taken. Stay away, or I’ll hurt you.”

“I don’t want Sheriff Reynolds,” I tried to explain, shocked. “I?—”

“Don’t make me warn you again!”

Before I could even think of how to respond, she raced off into the woods in the direction everybody else had gone.

It was at least five minutes before I remembered the signal.

“Hey, Carlos!”

When Jack and the wolves returned, most of them were wary when they saw the vampire. But Sheriff Reynolds immediately shifted, pulled on his clothes, and then crossed over to where Carlos, Jack, and I stood.

“What happened?”

I didn’t know how to talk about this. I could feel my face heat, and I was hideously embarrassed for both of us. Nothing I’d heard from friends in Riverton had made me expect Mrs. Reynolds would act like that.

“Sheriff, I am so sorry, but will you please tell your wife I don’t have any … um … romantic intentions toward you?”

“ What ?” Jack said.

“ What ?” Reynolds said.

“I didn’t really have time to explain before she shifted into her wolf form and followed you guys. I’m so sorry if I ever gave the impression?—”

“Wait.” Reynolds held up a hand. His face was a study in consternation. “Did you say shifted? Vicki isn’t a shapeshifter.”

I blinked. “Who’s Vicki? She said her name was Kay.”