Two deputies in uniform, both looking pretty pale, were stringing crime scene tape around the backyard as Jonah and Dakota approach. One of them looked up and put up a hand.
“Sorry,” he said. “This is a restricted area.”
“Let him through.” John Denby’s hard voice sounded from the porch steps. “Come on, Jonah.” He looked at Dakota, curiosity plain in his eyes. “I don’t think this is something you want to see.”
Jonah felt her fingers tighten around his. “I’m fine, Sheriff. There are reasons I need to see this.”
He frowned. “And what would those reasons be?”
“She’s with me.” Jonah’s tone of voice made it plain he wasn’t budging. “We can both leave if you want.”
“If you want to show her a nightmare, be my guest. Denby shook his head. “Whatever. Just be careful where you step.”
He moved back enough for them to see what at first looked like a pile of cloth on the floor of the porch behind him. But when Jonah got a good look he understood why the deputies looked the way they did. A woman’s body, covered only in the tatters of a nightgown, lay crumpled in a heap. The puncture wounds in her neck were obvious, but they were overshadowed by the image of the gash that ripped her body open from her neck to her pubic area. As with the other bodies Jonah had seen pictures of, the entrails—or what was left of them—lay scattered on her skin.
Behind him Jonah heard Dakota gasp. He turned to her, seeing how pale she was and watching her swallow hard. Maybe this had been a mistake after all, but she’d insisted.
“Listen. Why don’t you wait in the truck?”
“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I’ll be okay.”
He studied her with a critical eye. She looked anything but okay, but he didn’t want to argue with her in front of Denby or strong-arm her and embarrass her, so he just nodded.
“Who found her?” he asked.
Denby inclined his head toward the mass of vehicles. “Howard Brent was bringing a load of fertilizer for her garden. She planted twice a year, rotating her crops. He went to the back door to knock and tell her he was here and just about stumbled over her.”
“Jesus.” Jonah whistled through his teeth. “The poor guy’s probably going to need therapy after this.”
“No doubt.”
Jonah walked around the body, noting the face twisted in pain and the absence of all but a small amount of blood. Just like the others. He looked around at the barn, the scrabbly yard, the huge garden off to the right.
“She work that garden all by herself?” he asked the sheriff.
“Yup. Donna Perkins was kind of a legend. Left town when she was young, came back a so-called widow and when her folks passed she stayed on here and kept up the produce garden.”
Jonah quirked an eyebrow. “So-called.”
Denby let out a heavy sigh. “Well, she called herself a widow but everyone around here figured it was just a story to save face. She was pretty much a loner growing up and no one knows what happened to her while she was gone. She hung that Widow-Keep-Away sign on herself and went about her business.”
“That’s a pretty big garden for her to work by herself,” Jonah commented.
“She hired day workers when she needed them. Otherwise she had it pretty much under control.” He raised his eyes to the barn. “Looks like someone’s been working on the roof, and I know it wasn’t Donna. Too hard for her, for one thing. For another, she was afraid of heights.”
“If she hired someone, where is he?”
At that moment a deputy came walking out of the barn. “Sheriff?” he called.
“Find anything?”
“Yes sir. Looks like someone—or something—has been sleeping in one of the stalls.”
“Something? What’s that supposed to mean?”
The deputy fidgeted. “The stall’s filled with straw but it looks more like an animal was digging around in it than a person. And there’s dishes from a meal on one of the old benches.”
Denby frowned. “Then where the hell is whoever was eating and working here? And what kind of animal would Donna let in her barn? She’d have blasted him with that shotgun of hers.”
Jonah had his own suspicions about what happened. “Sheriff, we still have no idea how the Chupacabra gets near its prey without being harmed itself. Maybe it’s able to disguise itself in some way.”
The sheriff snorted. “I’m willing to buy the story that this is some kind of devil beast but not that it has paranormal qualities. That’s a little too far out there.”
Jonah pulled out the small camera he’d shoved into the pocket of his jeans and began snapping pictures. When he thought he’d had enough, he set the camera on Video and shot a two minute video strip, circling the body to get it from all angles.
“What do you think?” Denby asked, watching him with a strange expression on his face.
“I think this was done by the same animal I’ve been chasing for quite a while. I’m going to send these back to my office and have them do a comparison with the other photos we’ve got.”
Denby studied his face. “You have plenty of photos with you. Why can’t you use those for comparison?”
“They have equipment that can enhance them and look for things the eye might miss.”
“I don’t know what kind of things you think you’ll find. I’ve got my crime scene techs taking photos and samples of everything around here but they tell me there’s nothing to find.” He lifted his hat, ran his fingers through his hair, then placed his hat back on his head. “I was hoping, since you’ve done so much research, you might spot something we missed.”
“That’s why I’m shipping these to the office,” Jonah pointed out. “But I have to tell you. Every crime scene has been the same. Absolutely no trace of whoever or whatever did this. It’s almost as if it materializes out of thin air and disappears the same way.”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t show those pictures around here anyplace.” Denby’s look was wary. “The less publicity we have the better off we’ll be.”
“Don’t you think people should be made aware of what’s in their backyard?”
The sheriff shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll tell them as much as they need to know. Sensationalizing it won’t bring back Donna Perkins or the hunters and it will only get folks riled up.” He glanced over at Dakota. ”That goes for both of you.”
Jonah let his eyes shift to Dakota, who had moved away from the porch to sit down on the steps. She was staring off across the yard, arms wrapped tightly around herself. He knew she was putting on a stoic front because the sheriff and his men were there and he worried about how she’d be when he got her back to the cabin. He turned back to Denby.
“I’m going to take some shots of the area around the house and yard,” he told him. “Then I’ll get all of this up to someone who can analyze them a lot better than I can. I’ll let you know the minute I hear anything.” He looked toward the barn, then back at the sheriff. “I’d like to take a look in the barn, too, if you don’t mind, take some pictures.”
See if I can sniff out something they didn’t.
The sheriff didn’t say anything for a moment, just stood there with that same assessing look on his face. “You’re a little more than a crime magazine writer, aren’t you.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“I’m exactly who you see.” He couldn’t reveal anything about Night Seekers without Craig Stafford’s permission, which he knew he was about to ask for.
“Yeah, well, maybe I see more than you think I do. All right. Go ahead. Just don’t touch anything.”
“No problem.”
He left Dakota by the truck and jogged slowly to the barn. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to spot the place where someone had definitely been sleeping. Making sure not to disturb anything, he closed his eyes and sniffed the air. Something pricked at his sense of smell. Very faint. Turpentine. What the hell? With his wolf’s eye
s he scanned every inch of the area but nothing stood out. He snapped pictures of every inch of it, then made his way back to the truck.
“You check in with me later today, okay?” the sheriff said.
Jonah nodded. “I’ll be sure to.”
“You still at the motel?” His eyes shifted from Jonah to Dakota and back again.
Keeping his face and voice expressionless, Jonah said, “No. I’m staying at a different place now.”
He could have sworn a smile tried to creep across Denby’s face. Maybe not everyone in Eagle Pass thought Dakota was about as welcome as the plague.
“Fine. I’ll call that fancy phone of yours if we need to talk.”
“You do that. I always have it on.” He urged Dakota up from the steps and led her to the truck. Backing carefully around, he drove back up the driveway and onto the highway.
“I didn’t think it was possible for a human being to be destroyed like that,” she said after a long silence.
“This is exactly what the hunters and the deer looked like.”
“Is-Is this the way your…fiancée looked when you found her?”
“Yes.” He bit the word off. Looking at Donna Perkins’ body had brought back the image of Jenna sharp and clear.
“This must be very hard for you.”
Hard? She didn’t know the half of it. Only his desire for vengeance drove him forward.
“I’m sorry,” she said when he didn’t answer. “The last thing you need is me asking questions.”
“It’s not as if we can ignore it.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Look. This is all a lot more than you bargained for. Maybe—”
“Maybe nothing.” There was a fine edge of anger in her voice. “Don’t even think it. You said yourself this might be quick but it’s more than just good sex. I don’t scare off that easily.”
He smiled to himself, the first release he’d felt since the phone call. “No, I don’t suppose you do. I should be thankful for that.”
“So what happens now?”
“Now we go back to the cabin and scrounge some breakfast, put on a big pot of coffee and I call my team to let them know what’s happened.”
“I’ll fix breakfast while you transmit all the photos and video you shot.”
He reached over and squeezed her thigh, the feel of her warm body easing some of the tension that gripped him like a coat of steel. He had the sickening feeling that the devil beast wasn’t yet finished with Maverick County. What he needed was help, and a way to set it up without pissing off the sheriff and his crew.
* * * * *
“Mark, I think you need to be in on this one.”
Ric Garza sat at his desk in what they had all taken to calling the war room. A long table stretched down the middle of the space Filled with working desks, computers, communications equipment and every other piece of technology they could possibly use. The Night Seekers were gathered around it now, the photos Jonah had just transmitted visible on the four large screens that took up most of the wall space.
The issue on the table was Jonah’s request for additional team members who could unobtrusively scope out the area with him and expand his search capabilities. Victim Number Two had been discovered that morning. That meant all Jonah’s senses would be on high alert and he’d need some help.
Mark Guitron, who had left his position as a sheriff’s deputy in a Texas border county to join Night Seekers, nodded thoughtfully. Of average height, his body was solid muscle. But his face was what drew people. Dark complected, it featured deep-set brown eyes the color of old coffee, a hawklike nose that had been broken more than once, and cheekbones like slash marks across his face. He was a master at concealing whatever he felt, a habit developed over his years in a dangerous area of law enforcement.
“You’re probably right,” he agreed. “I know the area. And the people.”
Ric had tried to urge Mark to take the assignment to begin with. The original plan was for someone to go into the area with a plausible cover that would allow them to ask questions, and Mark had thought he might be too recognizable. But no one expected two killings so close together. Now Jonah was asking the team for help and wondering if they should just tell the local law enforcement about Night Seekers.
“What do the rest of you think?” Ric looked around the table at the other members of the team. “I’d like to get your opinion before I clear it with Craig Stafford. The final call is his, after all.”
“It’s going to be impossible to keep this organization under the radar for very long, anyway,” Chelsea Roland commented. A trained investigator, she was the only one of the Night Seekers who came to the team from the private sector. “Even when I was working a case I could only hide who I was for so long.”
“I think Craig’s worried how people will react,” Ric told her. “He doesn’t want us to be looked at as some crazed vigilante group running amok and shooting animals and people at will.”
“I think we’re all smart enough and experienced enough to know how to handle this,” Mark said. “And I’m thinking now, if we tell John Denby about the group and I meet up with Jonah, he might see it as much-needed help.”
“Has anyone simply chalked it off to one of the feral animals in that area?” Sophia wanted to know?
“Oh, yeah,” Mark snorted. “Everyone would like to think that’s what happened. But the people who live in those counties come from families with long histories of bad superstitions, and they think if they give voice to something it makes it real. So they just burn oils and pray it goes away.”
“Are you comfortable jumping in here?” Ric asked.
Mark nodded. “I think we’re at the point where I could maybe do some good. Everyone knows I left to work on some special project. Maybe it’s time to let them in on what it is.”
“Do you know anything about this woman Jonah’s now staying with?”
“I’m just shocked he’s doing anything with a woman,” Sophia commented. “We all know how Jenna’s death has continued to affect him.”
“I don’t know her,” Mark said, ”but I can find out about her easily enough. She must be something special for him to have moved in with her.”
“Let’s just hope he’s thinking with his brain,” Ric said, “and not his dick. Pardon me, ladies.”
Chelsea burst out laughing, “What, you think we’ve never heard the word dick?”
“I just didn’t mean to use crude language.” He grinned. “My mother brought me up to be a gentleman. Or at least she tried.”
“Your mother was a shifter,” Mark pointed out, “and might have ripped your throat out if she thought you were insulting women.”
“No offense taken, Ric,” Chelsea told him. “We’re all grown-up people here. Let’s move along.”
“Let me call Jonah and see what he needs me to bring.” Mark was scribbling on the pad of paper in front of him. “Then I’ll load up.”
“I’ll call Craig,” Ric said, “and tell him what we’re doing. If you leave in the next hour when will you be there?”
“Late afternoon. Let’s make our calls and get this thing in gear.”
* * * * *
Dakota had managed to pull herself together for Jonah but inside she was still shaken by what she’d seen at the farm. She was no novice to the destruction animals could wreak on each other. Living in a rural area as well as when she’d worked for Neil, she’d seen the destruction one animal could cause to another. This was the first time she’d ever seen it happen to a human being and she hoped never to see it again. She had no idea how Jonah lived with it. Or how he dealt with the memory of seeing his fiancée this way.
He seemed calm enough as they walked into the cabin but she knew inside he had to be battling immense pain. She needed to suppress her own feelings to be able to provide comfort for him. In whatever manner she could do it.
While he called his team headquarters she started the coffee dripping and gathered eggs and bacon for breakfast.
“I’m not too hungry,” he told her when he disconnected the call.
“Me, either, but it won’t do us any good to starve ourselves to death. I’m going to assume you have a long day ahead of you and you need energy.” She gave him a soft smile. “And I’ll be right there with you.”
He set his phone down on a small table along with his keys and came to stand beside her. She could feel the tension radiating from his body.
“What was that you said about waiting for the next victim?” She made her voice as even as possible, even though her nerves were jumping all over the place. There was a long pause. She glanced over at him, waiting for his answer. “Well?”
“The beast has a pattern,” he said at last. “It attacks three times before leaving an area. Donna Perkins is the second so we know it’s stalking its third prey.”
She stopped what she was doing and crossed her arms in front of her. “And you were going to tell me this when?”
“Dakota, listen,” he began.
“Stop.” She turned form the counter to face him. “Whatever you’re going to say, don’t. If you meant what you said, that whatever’s between us is more than sex, then you have to let me be there for you. Help you, even if it’s only to give you a place to vent your anger or sorrow.” She reached out a hand and touched his face. “And that also means not hiding anything from me. Don’t shut me out. Please.”
He blew out a long breath. “There’s just so much I have to explain to you. So much you need to understand. What if it’s too much?”
“It won’t be.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed her mouth against his. “I promise you that.”
The coffee was ready, so he took two mugs down from the cupboard, filled them and urged her to the table. He handed her one of the filled mugs and sat down with his own.
“Let’s start with when I…disappeared…for a while last night.”
“Yes.” She inhaled the steam from her coffee and took a sip. “Let’s definitely start there.”
He sighed. “I explained to you about shifters and how we came to be. What you don’t know is we can only go a certain length of time before our bodies demand the shift. The desire to run and enjoy our wolven selves is very strong.”
Lust Unleashed (Night Seekers, Book One) Page 12
