Blood's Shadow

Chapter 2

2

Selene changed in her office, and I in Max’s, and then Detective Garou met me in the conference room. He rubbed his close-cropped beard and studied me with narrowed eyes.

“Sorry to be presumptuous sir, but aren’t you…?” His accent held a hint of French, definitely more continental than English or Scottish.

“Yes, I’m Gabriel McCord, Investigator for the Lycanthrope Council.”

“Oh. Dreadfully sorry to trouble you, sir. You may go.”

“No,” I said and stopped myself from snapping at him, choosing instead to patiently explain. “I was there when the body was discovered. Question me like you would any other witness on the scene.”

“Right, then. What was the nature of your business here today?” He glanced at the clock. “And when did you arrive?”

“That’s better. I was here on official Council business, mostly to see how they’ve been progressing with starting up and to help determine whether they’re ready for the first batch of applicants.”

“I’ve heard of this place, sir, but I don’t know what it’s about. The Council has kept it all hush-hush, calling it merely ‘The Institute’.”

“The full name is The Institute of Lycanthropic Reversal. It’s a sanitarium for the newly turned werewolves in the United States and elsewhere tainted vaccines were used as part of a horrible pharmaceutical experiment.”

“So that’s why there’s so many Americans here. Why not just build it over there?”

“The method is still experimental. Some of the substances have been approved for study here, but not by their Food and Drug Administration.”

He nodded. “And the time you arrived, sir?”

“About nine o’clock.”

“And when you discovered the body? It was you, correct?”

I told him how I smelled the blood and about the discovery of the body, my run through the woods, and where I think the getaway car had been stashed.

“Had you any contact with the deceased, sir? When he was alive, I mean.”

“None whatsoever. I imagine I would have met him today had circumstances been different.”

“Thank you, that is all.”

I gave him my card in case he had any further questions but doubted I’d hear from him. The Lycanthrope Police were creatures of the Council, which I disagreed with, but which had been well-established by the time I came on. He surprised me by stopping me before I left the room.

“Sir, since you’re the Investigator, and all this will be going to the Council anyway, would you like to sit in on the questioning?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Thank you, Detective. I had not thought to ask, but that would be helpful.”

He gestured for me to take the seat beside him and walked into the hall to have his deputy summon the next person.

When Lonna entered the room, she pressed her lips into a line and nodded to me. It occurred to me that I knew this group of people’s secrets except for the lovely Selene, who had intrigued me by following me. There were things I had not shared with the Council, and I knew I’d have to be careful not to betray I knew more than they did. In that context, the detective’s invitation no longer seemed so friendly.

“When was the last time you saw Doctor LeConte alive?” Garou asked once Lonna sat.

“This morning at staffing at eight o’clock,” Lonna said, her lovely light green eyes filling with tears. I waited for her to add something and then remembered her background as a social worker and private investigator. She would be careful and only answer what was asked.

Garou seemed to come to the same conclusion. He leaned forward and said in a gentle voice, “Any information you can give us will be helpful. Was there anything unusual about the meeting?”

“No. We were mostly preparing for Mister McCord’s visit.”

“Yes, he told me that he was here in an official capacity. What was Doctor LeConte’s task to be?”

“He and Doctor Rial were to give him a tour, and then we were all going to have a meeting and then lunch.”

“And what was LeConte’s role here?”

“He’s our associate geneticist.” She sniffled. “Or he was.”

“I see. You have another one, then.”

“Yes, Iain MacPherson, a human. He’s out of the country currently.”

“And where were you between when you last saw Doctor LeConte and when Mister McCord and Doctor Fortuna discovered him?”

“I was in a meeting with Doctor Rial and Doctor Fortuna, finalizing the details of the visit.”

Garou made a note in his pad. “Why was Doctor LeConte not present?”

“He was working on a project, but I can’t say more,” she said. “It’s confidential Institute business.”

“I see.” He dismissed her with an aerial downstroke of his pen and said, “That will be all.”

She gave me a pleading look before she rose from the table and stalked to the door.

“Excuse me,” I said to Garou. “Please continue without me.”

I caught up to Lonna in the hall and followed her up the stairs to her office. Max had been called in next, and Selene had been instructed to stay in her office until summoned, so Lonna was alone.

“Come in,” she said. Her office fit her title of Institute Director with a large desk, windows overlooking the lawn and woods, bookshelves, and even two wingback chairs in front a fireplace. Their clawed feet rested on an oriental rug.

“Nice,” I said. “It’s Masterpiece Theatre meets University President’s office.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Sorry,” I told her. “I’m a little off, so my jokes aren’t working like they should.”

“Oh.” She gestured for me to take a seat in one of the chairs by the fireplace, which was, of course, not on. She went behind the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out two bottles of water. “My fridge isn’t here yet,” she said and handed one of the waters to me.

“I was hoping you’d offer me some Scotch.”

“Not while the police are still here. Max has some rum in his office if you want to get into something later.”

“I might.”

She plopped into the other chair and took a deep drink of the water. “This isn’t how I’d hoped your visit would go.” She tucked a stray dark curl behind one ear. “I was looking forward to showing our facility off and walking you through the reversal process, or at least our planned method for it.”

“Yes, I imagine you had a different agenda. We can discuss other things if you like, but I am interested to know what LeConte was doing while you met without him.”

“He was the one who excused himself,” she said. “We didn’t kick him out.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“He was excited because Iain had sent him the files and blood samples for the first batch of applicants for our program recently, and he wanted to review and organize them so he could tell you we’d made progress on that front.”

“Where are the files now?”

“Good question. Since the Council still requires us to do everything with paper, probably in the mess in his office.”

“The Red Sea,” I murmured.

She covered her eyes and groaned. “Gabriel…”

“I know, I know. I told you, I’m off today. Would Iain have kept copies?”

“Yes, in case the ones he sent were lost in transit. We can tell him the bad news and ask about the files in another couple of hours when he checks in. It’s still early there.” She looked at me sideways. “Go ahead and ask, Gabriel. You know you want to.”

“Ask what?”

“Where Wolf-Lonna was and why didn’t she go after the perpetrators once y’all discovered Otis.”

“It hadn’t crossed my mind.” Indeed, her odd situation hadn’t even occurred to me until now. Whereas most of us could not access certain parts of our spirit, Lonna had a sort of spirit guide or guardian who was simultaneously part of her and capable of independent action and thought.

“I sent her to watch over Abby.” She gestured to a photo on the mantel of a baby girl with light green eyes and hair the same reddish color as Max’s. “I was so afraid, not sure who might have been attacking us or why, but I might have ruined the opportunity to catch the murderer.”

“You did what any mother would have done,” I said. “And we were all shocked.”

“I know, but now I’m afraid the whole thing will tempt Max to push his boundaries, and I can’t lose him.”

These were the secrets we couldn’t discuss in front of the detective. “Has he said he wants to use blood magic to investigate LeConte’s murder?”

“No, but I know him. It will only be a matter of time, and if he uses it outside the narrow parameters we know are safe…” She shuddered.

“Your husband is a smart man. He won’t do anything that could hurt you and Abby.”

As if our words had summoned him, the door opened to reveal Max with a bottle of rum in one hand. He looked from me to Lonna, and the ease with which we had been conversing disappeared. By this point, she and I had moved past our brief but significant history, but I could see awareness of it in her husband’s eyes every time he looked at me.

“They’re almost done,” he said, his tone weary. “The detective wants to talk to you again, Gabriel.”

“Thank you. I may be back for a nip of that.” I gestured to the bottle in his hand.

“I brought it to share.”

I found Detective Garou in the reception area, talking to Selene.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not available on Friday night,” she was saying, and I quickened my stride.

The disappointed look on Garou’s face confirmed they weren’t speaking about the case.

“The detective was kindly offering to bring me to a Solstice ceilidh,” Selene told me, “since I’m obviously not from around here. However, I’m not free that night.”

“You needed to speak to me, Detective Garou?” I asked, moving to stand between them so as to give Selene a buffer should she need it.

“I’ll be in my office,” she murmured and excused herself with a thank you smile, which she seemed to direct at me.

“I may have some follow-up questions for the doctors and Mrs. Marconi-Fortuna as well as the rest of the staff, whom Doctor Fortuna said would be reporting soon,” he said. “If I do, I will let you know so you may stay involved with the investigation.”

“I would appreciate that, as would the Council. I would also remind you that Doctor Rial is a potential witness and a suspect.”

He narrowed his eyes. “As I would you, Investigator.”

“I would say something, but there is nothing to defend myself against. I only met her today, and I’m not the one who just asked her out.” I fixed him with a glare that told him he needed to focus on his work. “Anything else, Detective?”

“That is all.”

“Good. Please keep me apprised of your progress with the investigation and let us know when someone can go into LeConte’s office and see what could be missing.”

“Yes, sir.” With a slight bow, he left to supervise the forensic team as they cleaned up outside. I had no doubt they would follow the same trail I had with the same result, but they had the equipment to get paint flakes off tree branches and other tiny pieces of evidence that even our wolf senses could miss.

With the detective and his crew gone, quiet stuffed the reception area. I stood by the window and plotted my course of action. I would have to make a report to the Council, of course, but I didn’t feel I had all the information. What could LeConte have been doing or have known to be the target of whoever had done that to him? Why such a brutal murder when something like poison in his coffee could have been as effective and much less messy? No, the way in which he had died—and I forced myself to shift through the details of what I had seen in spite of them turning my stomach—was meant to send a message.

Max’s voice startled me out of my reverie. “Lunch is here if you feel like eating.”

I turned to see him watching me from the door to the back hallway. As it had earlier, my nose picked up faint smells, this time of roast beef and potatoes. My stomach, fickle thing, growled.

“I suppose I do.” I followed him back up to Lonna’s office, where Selene sat in one of the wingback chairs, a plastic cup in her hand. The sweet smells told me it was rum and soda.

“What are you drinking?” I asked. “And where can I get one?”

“Rum and Coke,” she said and waved the glass at me. “Tastes like home.”

Lonna handed me a drink. “Sorry we don’t have any Scotch. I looked.”

“Thank you.” Lunch sat in chafing dishes on a long table against one of the bookshelves, and I made myself a plate and sat in the other chair by the fireplace. Lonna and Max sat at her desk. Although we didn’t face each other, it was easy enough to talk.

“You’re not eating,” I told Selene.

“Don’t feel like it.” She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I just keep going back to this morning and wishing I’d insisted Otis not go back to his office, that the applications could wait.”

“He did seem very excited about something,” Max said.

I checked my watch. “Is it late enough to call Iain?”

“He’s normally up early,” Lonna said. “Might as well try.” She picked up her phone and dialed out.

I crossed my right ankle over my left knee and tried to appear at ease. I was not Iain McPherson’s favorite person, and the feeling was mutual. I hoped we could keep our conversation cordial for the sake of those grieving in the room.