Finders Weepers

by Belinda White

  "I remember. Mom thought Gran sent it." I forced my brain back to the present. "Can we trace the packages back to who sent them?"

  "I'm working on it, but so far I'm not having any luck. Seems he sent most of them prepaid UPS. Paid with cash, so no way of tracing. And the packages came from all over the United States. Usually from a city where the people had relatives. Whoever he is, this killer did his homework."

  Or had an organization do it for him.

  "Will you have time to keep trying? Without getting in trouble with Hoover?"

  He laughed. "Hoover. You crack me up, Babe. But yes, I'll be able to keep looking. I do get some down time you know. In fact, I have a very cushy assignment coming up in your neck of the woods. I had to pull some strings to get it, but at least I'll be there in case the killer shows up."

  What would have been good news a week ago was suddenly an anxiety attack. How was I going to manage both Mason and Jed?

  "Uh," I said, searching for diplomatic words.

  "Hey, contain your excitement, Babe. I'll be doing some preliminary talks and interviews with some IU students next week, but I figured I'd come into town late Friday night or early Saturday for some quality time with my gal."

  My guilt ratcheted up a notch.

  "Sure, Mason. Uhm, how long will your talks last?" More importantly, how long could I put Jed off. Luckily, I had told him about Mason, but I wasn't sure how he would take being usurped.

  "The better part of next week. Really depends on the kids. I'll be pretty busy during the days, but my evenings and nights should be my own. Keep your schedule open for me." I could tell Mason was holding his hand over the phone as voices came up in the background.

  "Sorry, Babe. Duty calls. I'll rent a car when I land, so you won't have to pick me up at the airport. I'll give you call once I get settled in at the hotel and we can make plans for the weekend. Look forward to seeing you."

  "Yeah, uh, me too."

  He disconnected. Well, at least my weekend wouldn't be boring. Alaska was looking better and better.

  I glanced at my to-do list. It was a bit dented now, but still readable. I needed to focus on the task at hand. Who knows? Maybe I wouldn't be alive come Saturday and then I'd have wasted perfectly good living time on worrying. Live for the moment. My new motto.

  Gathering up all the information I had collected from the motel and Inn yesterday, I drove up to Rose's to drop it off. Pulling into her driveway I realized it was Wednesday and that Lilith would be in school. I picked up the pile of papers and walked to her door.

  Rose opened it as I stepped onto the porch. "Why, hello, Taz. And I didn't even have to Call you."

  "Nope, I came to load you down with work. All of my own free will." I hesitated. "Were you going to Call me?"

  "I was thinking about using the telephone this time, but yes, I was going to call you. Come in, dear, I'd like to show you something."

  She took my bundle and led me into the living room. Motioning toward a stack of printouts on the coffee table, she said, "Have a look, dear."

  I walked over to the table and glanced down at the top sheet. It was a handwritten note from Lilith.

  Dear Gran, and yeah, you'll probably call Taz, so Taz, too: Don't take this as a sign that I'm starting to believe in all of your hocus pocus stuff. But I've started thinking about making this whole thing into a story, maybe even a book. Fiction, of course. Anyway, I did some research online. If Taz is right and the creature doesn't smell like a real wolf, and the Benandanti do when they are in wolf form, then the creature—and I'm in no way admitting that I believe there is a creature—is probably a skin walker. I printed off some information I found online. Fodder for my story. Happy reading. Lilith.

  "A skinwalker," I said, trying out the term. Of course, I had heard of them. People, usually bad ones, who took the form of a wolf by wearing a wolf's skinned hide. Ugh. Sounded disgusting to me, but then I am a wolf, too.

  "She's a smart girl, my Lily," Rose said proudly. "Doing research for us on the side, and giving it to us when we need it the most. Any Gran would be proud."

  I smiled. "And her book will probably hit the bestseller list, although it may be way too unbelievable for the general public. The truth is always stranger than fiction."

  "Ain't that the way of it," Rose agreed.

  I looked at the stack of paper under the note. There was probably a good twenty pages there.

  "Have you read through all of it?" I asked hopefully.

  "Enough of it to get the gist." She smiled at my look of relief. "You know some of the best things in life come on a printed page."

  "Yeah, well, I'll take your word for it. Me, I'll wait for the movie."

  She laughed and shook her head. "Okay, okay. I'll give you the highlights of Lily's timely research. It isn't a pretty picture."

  "Basically, skinwalkers have to make a pact with a demon—possibly Satan himself—to gain the power to change form. In order to prove their evil intentions, the demon requires a test. The inductee, for lack of a better name, has to kill a family member to seal the pact. Then they are presented with the skin and the power to change."

  "It shouldn't be too hard to find a family member you wouldn't mind killing off, especially if you're basically an evil person. I have an Aunt on my dad's side I'm none too fond of." Seeing as how she didn't even come to the funeral of her own brother. Or offer to take in a scared and orphaned niece.

  Rose was shaking her head again. "No, the demon is a bit more demanding than that. The required sacrifice must be an immediate family member, preferably a sibling. For those who are only children, a mother or father."

  "Makes sense. Someone willing to kill their own brother just to change into a wolf would definitely be on the devil's short list."

  "So, reading between the lines of Lilith's note, I believe she is suggesting that we look for people who have tragically lost a close family member. It wouldn't necessarily have been marked as a murder. A simple farming accident with two brothers alone in a field would hardly be called murder, even though that is what actually took place."

  "Cain and Abel."

  "Exactly. Only instead of being punished, Cain is rewarded with power."

  I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, trying to calculate how much time it would take to dig through the last few years or so of newspaper archives. A week, maybe two, at least. In the meantime, a skinwalker was stalking the people of Spencer. My village. And, damn it, I'm a Benandanti. A Good Walker. It's my job to battle evil and protect my village.

  Not to mention the fact that a Luparii assassin was on their way to deal with what they thought was a simple were. Me. Oh yes, and I had to also remember that I was mentoring a young what-the-heck-is-she were who was going to change for the first time on Friday.

  All in a day's work for a Finder.

  FOR ONCE I LUCKED OUT in timing. I spent the better part of Wednesday afternoon at the library, looking at old newspaper copies for any likely deaths, be it murder or unfortunate, but bloody, accident. Unfortunately, my list was already growing fairly long and I was only back two years. I was shooting for five to make sure I had all the most likely candidates. Not one for reading or research, I was disheartened to think about doing this for at least a couple of more days.

  Then Lilith walked into the library and offered to take over. I would have kissed her if I hadn't thought it might send her the wrong message. Her school was on fall break and she was at loose ends, so she was happy to do more research. She was really getting into the idea for a book. I have to admit, I was starting to wonder who they would cast to play me in the movie.

  The weather had turned off nice for the time of season, so I leashed Reb and we took a stroll through some of the more dense areas of the park, looking for a wolf-not-wolf scent. Of course, I probably should have been looking in the Owen-Putnam forestry, but I just don't know that area as well as I know the park.

  Plus, technically I believe it would be out of my jurisdic
tion, though I've never been told just how far a Benandanti's territory covers. If the ratio was one Benandanti to a county, it was on my beat. If it was one per town...well, that depended on what one considered a town, I guess. I mean we are talking pretty rural areas here. So probably up to me after all. I made a mental note to ask Rose if she could get online and print me off a map of the forestry...or at least tell me where to get one.

  After covering most of the park on two feet—well, Reb lucked out and got to use all four—and encountering almost a half dozen men carrying firearms, which of course is illegal in the park, we called it a night and headed for the car. I'd driven through the main entrance to save my poor human feet, so after our park patrol, it was an easy ride home.

  I thought about my to-do list as my Jeep wound its way back to the entrance gate. Item number one, finding the Luparii, was now in Rose's capable hands. Item number two, finding the killer, was being handled by Lilith at the library and me and Reb at night with our patrols. Number Three, the wolf statue was coming along nicely and was actually ahead of schedule, so I was good there. The sex thing, number four, I didn't even want to think about. With two candidates, the possibilities, not to mention the guilt and embarrassment, were far too overwhelming. So that left number five, buy a present for Lilith's birthday.

  Nodding to myself, I turned toward Spencer out of the park instead of toward home. A trip to Wal-Mart was in order. At least there was one item that I could have checked off in short order.

  I pulled into a parking space and told Reb to keep his head down. All the windows were tinted, so unless he made a scene, no one would even know he was in there. I still felt guilty. Maybe I should have driven him home, but I really would be only a few minutes, so I walked on into the store.

  Spencer, Indiana is a small rural town. All total the town's population is just under twenty-five hundred people, including children. As such, we do not rate one of the big Super Wal-Marts. While our store does carry all of the essentials, the selection is not as great as one of the big city stores. This actually helps when shopping for gifts. The less selection, the fewer choices to be made, and the quicker the purchase. So what to get a Goth teenage girl whose life as she knew it was about to take one heck of a wild turn?

  Thinking back to my first shift, and of course being sixteen, I finally settled on a scrapbook and some supplies to get her started. Locked in a footlocker under my bed was the scrapbook I had made sixteen years ago. It was a rather crude affair, but then they didn't have all the nifty scrapbooking stuff then that they have now. If I knew what she would change into, I could make a better selection of items, so I just went with some generic supplies. A fancy black gift bag and card and my shopping was done and I was at the checkout.

  Instantly, I wished I had either skipped the card or spent more time shopping, because it was there I was accosted by James Riley, Sr.

  "Where the hell was that wolf of yours when that there camper got killed?" His voice being loud and belligerent, everyone at the front of the store stopped what they were doing to watch and listen.

  "He was with me, Mr. Riley," I said, as calmly as I could manage. "We were taking a run in McCormick's Creek, a good long way from the forestry. Ask the Sheriff. He can verify where we were."

  "Huh, he weren't out running with you, he just seen you when ya got back to your place. You coulda been out to the forestry and then gone a running."

  I whirled on him, my temper flaring. "What is your problem, Riley? Rebel is half wolf and half shepherd. He's known by more than half the town and has never shown an ounce of aggression toward anyone. Ask the kids at the elementary school that Reb checked out for that bomb threat. Ask Ms. Harden's boy, Luke, who got lost while they were out camping and Rebel brought him back. Ask anyone who knows my dog and you'll be told the same. Reb was cleared from your first accusation, after being the one to help find your boy's body."

  I took a step closer to him in anger. "So if you have a problem with Rebel, Riley, take it up with Sheriff Dunwood. Otherwise, leave me—and him—alone or I'll slap you with a restraining order."

  Stretching my limited height as far as I could, I looked him in the eyes. "And another thing, the night that camper was killed, we were in the park. So were you. Drunk and firing that damn rifle of yours at anything that moved. I'll be watching the park, Riley. If you're going to hunt for killer wolves, you'd better dang well be sober."

  "Here, here," a man cheered. I looked toward the voice. I couldn't recall his name, but I remembered his face. He was a teacher at the school. Several other people joined him and Riley stomped out of the store, red faced.

  I looked at my purchases and at the door. Seeing my dilemma, the teacher asked, "Is Rebel in your car?"

  "The yellow Jeep, with the black soft top," I answered. He nodded and went out the door. Like I said, Reb has friends.

  My purchases finally made, I walked out to the Jeep to find the teacher waiting beside it. "Thank you," I said.

  He smiled at me and then ducked and smiled at Rebel through the tinted glass. "No problem. It's good to know Reb is there if we need him. I've been telling the sheriff's department that they ought to just be done with it and give the dog a badge."

  I laughed. "Why put him on the payroll, when he's willing to work for kibble?"

  "Got a point there." He hesitated. "Are you going to be okay going home? I could follow you if you like."

  "Thanks, but I'll be fine. We're going straight home and I think he got the wind taken out of his sails a little in there. Maybe he'll do some thinking. If not..." I shrugged. "I really will get a restraining order."

  "Well, you two take care of each other, you hear?" He nodded his goodbye and waved at Reb, walking back into the store. People like him are what make the Benandanti's work worthwhile.

  We drove through for fast food hamburgers and a soda. Slightly paranoid, I kept watching for Riley's truck to come up behind me, but it didn't. We made it home and into the cabin unmolested.

  There really wasn't anything to do, so I put in a dvd of Dark Wing Duck and laughed anew at his crazy antics. Creator, how I love that duck. I used to watch every episode just waiting for his tag line. He added at least one for every show. Committing them to memory, I used to drive everyone nuts by using them as often as I could in normal conversation. My personal favorite was 'I am the check writer in the cash only line at the supermarket'. They just don't make cartoons like they used to.

  As I took out my contact lenses and got ready for bed, I realized I was feeling pretty hopeful. Not at all like someone who might have an assassin after her. For the first time in a long time, I had friends I could count on. Even strangers who were willing to stand up for me and Reb. It was a nice feeling, hope.

  Too bad, it wasn't to last that long.

  Chapter 16

  My phone was pleasantly silent. I awoke to sunshine and quiet. Well, Rebel was snoring, so make that relative quiet. Stretching, I thought about how I would spend my day. Probably the best use of my time would be to make a day patrol in the forestry. Cover some of the different areas, and see if I could find sign or scent of our skinwalker.

  With a plan in mind, I busied myself getting ready for the day. I must have been in the shower when the delivery came because I didn't hear them. But when I opened my door to leave, grateful for the warmer weather and the glorious sunshine, I found the package.

  It was in a plain small white box with a return address in Spencer. The name and street address were illegible. Only the city and state were readable. I swallowed as my whole world came crashing down, bringing my misplaced feelings of hope with it. I knew what it was, but still, I don't know how long I just stared at it before picking it up and bringing it in to the kitchen table.

  I was careful to preserve any fingerprints that may be on it, but I was certain none would be found except mine and the hapless UPS drivers'. I unwrapped the parcel and just as I had feared, there it was. Lil Red Riding Hood. My parent's copy had been on vinyl, but
the killer had moved along with the times. Mine was on compact disc.

  Of all the songs the creep could have chosen, he had to pick that one. I really had thought the album had come from Gran all those years ago. When my folks had been killed, Gran had followed them with a massive coronary. Her funeral was within days of my parents'. That song was my last memory of her. Her sense of humor, her laughter. She's the only one I'll ever know who could still smell like vanilla extract even in wolf form. I sang that song all through high school, thinking of her. And now I learn the truth. The bastard.

  Sitting at the table, staring at the lie my memory had been, I planned my day anew. I couldn't stay here. They could come for me at any time. I wouldn't endanger my new friends by going to their house. Picking up my cell phone, I dialed Rose's home number, hoping she was still on the road taking Lily to the library, not sure I could face hearing her sweet voice for what might be the last time.

  The Creator was with me, and I got her voice mail. "Hi, Rose. It's Taz. Look, I just got a package from the Luparii with the sick sense of humor. It looks like I'm next on the hit list, so I'm going to one of my bolt holes. I know I haven't known you all long, but...you guys really mean a lot to me, okay? Thanks for everything. I'll call you as often as I can. If you don't hear from me for more than a couple of days...remember me?" I hung up, unable to force any more words around the big knot in my throat. Damn it, I was crying. I hadn't cried in sixteen years.

  I loaded the half bag of dog food we had left into the back of the Jeep, along with the extra sodas I had in the fridge. My bolt hole was pretty well stocked and I didn't want to waste time with packing. For all I knew, they could be watching my cabin right now, ready to track me to my hiding place.

  Well, I smiled, let's dance. I'd lived all my life fearing this bastard. Come for me, damn it. I'd be waiting—on my turf.

  Rebel and I jumped in the Jeep and headed north on 67 past Martinsville. My parents had owned a house and 20 acres off Robb Hill Road. When I had sold the house, it went with only 8 acres. The other 12 were still owned by me.