by Howe, A. E.
“Which was our original plan,” Bobby interjected. “Look for someone who has a motive or find someone acting suspicious.”
“Right, and that way we can deal with him when he’s human. Human… It all sounds mighty crazy.” Etheridge shook his head.
“This animal must be brought down. In the mountains back home, the creature that hunted there killed over fifty people. There was a werewolf in France that slaughtered hundreds before he was killed,” Blasko told them.
“We’ll kill it or capture it,” Bobby said with determination, looking at the house where a dozen people were gathered around the door, standing vigil over the dying man.
Etheridge asked about the sheriff and Bobby explained the situation as he understood it.
“Sad news, but we don’t have time to be sentimental. If Logan is going to be laid up for a while, the governor needs to find a replacement. This town is going to need leadership,” Etheridge said.
“We better hope some idiot isn’t appointed to fill out his term as sheriff. For now, I’m going to proceed with our plan. I’ll question Handlin in the morning and see if there’s anyone who might have a reason to target his wife.” Bobby paused and looked at Blasko. “Man or beast. In your experience, do you think he is acting with human motivations when he kills?”
“If he’s committing random assaults then we don’t have much chance of catching him, so we’d better hope he has human motivation. For now, I think it’s best if we assume that the attacks on Seth Taylor and Mrs. Handlin had some reason. Of course, tonight he was in beast form, became enraged when he was discovered and struck out at whoever was nearby. But I don’t think it was a coincidence that he was stalking us tonight.”
“I saw that in Africa. The witchdoctor was able to channel his beast self for his human motivations, but at times the animal seemed to take over.”
“With my sword, I also received a book that might have more answers,” Blasko told them. “It was written by the man who was tasked with hunting the werewolf that stalked the French countryside in the 1700s.”
“I’d like to get a look at that myself,” Etheridge said.
“You’re welcome anytime.” Blasko gave a slight bow.
“You said that you planned to question Handlin. Are you still holding him?” Etheridge asked Bobby.
“I told him that I would keep him at the jail for another night or two for his own safety. People are so riled up, I’m glad I did. With him in jail, no one can blame this attack on him.”
They agreed to meet again the next night. Etheridge volunteered to stay awhile and help organize a team of deputies to search the area around Cypress Lake. Even if they didn’t find anything, it would help keep the deputies busy and prove to the community that the sheriff’s office was actively searching for the killer.
Bobby stayed behind at Nash’s house, sending for Emmett Wolfe to photograph the man’s injuries. He was going to have to treat this like a normal crime scene, even though this murder would probably never go to trial. He could just imagine being on the witness stand and testifying that he had seen a monster attack Nash. He doubted he’d be able to keep his job after that.
Blasko, feeling drained from chasing the creature, headed home. He was eager to start his research. They needed to know everything they could about the beast.
He’d only gone a couple of blocks when he saw Matthew walking toward him.
“I noticed all the cars heading this way and figured the monster had been sighted. I didn’t see any point in hanging out at the Handlin house.”
Blasko told him about the evening’s events.
“Is this the same creature you were hunting in Romania?”
“I don’t know. It would seem unlikely.”
“But how many monsters like this can there be?”
“You said you saw one during your time in France.”
“Two. I’ve thought about that.”
“Maybe they are like other creatures of the night. Some are evil and others are, at heart, good.” Even if Josephine doesn’t believe I’m one of them, Blasko thought bitterly.
“This one would definitely fall into the evil category.”
“Agreed.”
Matthew walked with Blasko back to the boarding house. “What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“Listen. If you hear of anyone acting oddly or who has disappeared for a day or two, make a note of it. It seems odd that this creature just emerged out of thin air. He had to have come from somewhere. Are there any other strangers in town?”
“None that I’ve heard of. I’ll keep an eye on the medium.”
Blasko nodded. He was just about to part ways with Matthew when he asked, “Who is the worst person you know of in town?”
Matthew narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“A whim,” Blasko lied.
“Guy I hate the most is a creep by the name of Gene Hawkins. He lives four blocks off of the courthouse square.”
“What makes you hate him?”
“He’s a loan shark.”
“A what?”
“He makes loans at ridiculous rates that no one can repay. When they default, he kicks them out of their house, or takes their car, whatever he can. I’ve seen him boot a family of five to the curb for a debt that started out as ten dollars and was a thousand by the time he had them evicted. But he always stays just inside the law.”
“I see.” Blasko needed some fresh blood and, after his most recent fight with Josephine, he didn’t feel overly bound by their agreement. “He must live in an impressive home.”
Matthew looked Blasko dead in the eye. “He lives on Texas Street. The house is brick with green trim.”
“I will see you tomorrow,” Blasko said and left Matthew staring at his back.
He found Gene Hawkins’s house with little difficulty. His watch said it was three in the morning when he climbed the steps onto the small porch and rang the bell. It took five minutes for a very irritated man to come to the door.
“This better be worth getting your knees capped!” Hawkins hollered from inside the house. When he opened the door, one hand was shoved deep in the pocket of his robe. Blasko was sure he was holding a gun.
“What the hell do you want?” the tall man asked.
Blasko held up a gold coin to catch the light from the bulb above the door. “I think you will be very interested in a deal I can offer you,” he said.
Hawkins looked Blasko up and down, taking in the quality of his clothes and shoes. “You better have a good reason why you couldn’t have pitched it to me at a decent hour,” he said, but his eyes were already following the coin in Blasko’s fingers as it sparkled in the light.
“This coin and many others like it can be yours if you give me a few moments of your time. Look at the superb quality of the minting.”
Hawkins’s jaw hung slack as he looked at the coin.
“This is business better conducted inside,” Blasko instructed him, and Hawkins moved back to let him enter.
When Blasko left half an hour later, he was feeling reinvigorated while Gene Hawkins would feel weak for several days. After he recovered, he’d learn that the mere idea of offering a predatory loan would make him violently ill.
When Blasko arrived back at Josephine’s house, he looked up at the large Victorian. There were no lights on inside. Good, he said to himself. He wasn’t in the mood to talk with her tonight. The wounds were too raw. What was she thinking? He’d explained a dozen times now that their options were limited. The bond that bound them together could only be broken by death. And death for either of them would mean pain and suffering for the other. Josephine was going to have to accept their fate. Of course, there was one other way… but he wouldn’t consider it.
Blasko wouldn’t admit it even to himself, but he was already feeling ashamed of breaking his promise to her by feeding on Hawkins. Which was another reason he was glad that she was asleep.
He entered his apartment to find Poe waiting for him. H
e’d had a carpenter install a cat door for the animal’s use once Poe had become more accepting of Vasile and Blasko was convinced he would not harm the bat. Now the two mostly ignored each other.
“Where’s our flying friend tonight?” Blasko asked Poe, who sat by a food dish looking expectant. “He must be out enjoying the warmer weather.”
Blasko opened a tin of canned meat and put some of it in the cat’s bowl. He could hear snoring coming from the alcove he’d shown Anton for his sleeping quarters. “Have you met our guest?” he asked the cat, who was purring softly as he ate his food. “I don’t know how long he will be staying, but he seems to irritate your mistress and that is somewhat satisfying.” Blasko chuckled.
Then he sat down in one of his wingback chairs with the book by Captain Duhamel. The attacks in the south of France had been underway for months when the captain and his troop of dragoons had been sent to the Gévaudan region. Blasko read about the captain’s first engagements with the beast, who always managed to slip away. Baffled by the creature’s ability to escape his troops, Duhamel began to listen to some of the locals whom he’d originally dismissed as superstitious peasants.
The peasants told him that the beast was able to shift from human to animal form at will. As insane as it sounded, Duhamel came to believe in the beast’s supernatural abilities after several close encounters in which the monster seemed to vanish when Duhamel’s troops were sure they had him surrounded.
Blasko, his attention riveted, read until the first tinge of blue showed on the horizon.
Chapter Sixteen
“There was another attack last night,” Bobby told Josephine. He’d come over as soon he received the message she’d left with the sheriff’s office that morning. “What’d you want to talk to me about?”
“First tell me what happened,” Josephine said, surprised that there had been another killing so soon.
Bobby told her what he’d seen. “And in all of that, I lost the chance to get a picture of the footprint. By the time I got back to it, some of the gawkers had walked through it.”
“It’s not like you could compare it to the cast you collected where the Taylor boy was attacked.”
“You got a point there. I sent the plaster cast over to the zoology department at the University of Alabama. Their best guess is that it was a deformed Mackenzie Valley wolf, which is ridiculous. It lives out west. The professor also suggested that it might be a dire wolf, but they went extinct eleven thousand years ago. I think he was joking.”
“Did you tell them what Dragomir suggested?”
“I’m trying not to get tossed into a looney bin. Now, what did you want to talk about?”
“I think I can get the governor to appoint Colonel Etheridge to the position of sheriff.”
Bobby thought about it for a minute. “That wouldn’t be the worst solution. Will he do it?”
“If you and I both ask him to, I think he might. I thought we’d go talk to him and then drive over to Montgomery. We can visit Logan. After that, I’ll speak to the governor.”
“Can you get to see him that fast?”
“Money talks. I’ve spoken to Ray Butler on the bank’s board of directors. He was a state representative until two years ago and knows the governor well. He’s already gotten me a write-in on the governor’s schedule.”
Bobby stood there and looked at Josephine in awe for a moment. “On a Sunday? I should never underestimate you.”
“Damn straight,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll need to check in at the office and let them know I’ll be out of touch for a while.”
“And I need to dress the part. Pick me up in an hour.”
Bobby left detailed instructions with Deputy Paige that could have been summed up simply as: Don’t do anything stupid, then headed back over to Josephine’s. He got out of the car and started toward the front door, only to stop short when he saw her. Josephine stood on the porch wearing a stunning sapphire-blue day dress, black gloves and snappy black heels. Her honey-brown hair was elegantly styled and topped with an impressive black hat sporting several ostrich plumes.
“Are you looking for a marriage proposal from the governor?” Bobby asked with a wide smile.
“I thought I better bring out the big guns,” Josephine responded, walking carefully down the steps in heels that were an inch taller than she was used to.
The talk with Etheridge wasn’t difficult. He wasn’t about to be left out of the hunt for this creature and, with his experience, he had no qualms about being the person in charge. Bobby and Josephine were soon on their way to Montgomery.
“That was depressing,” Josephine said as they were leaving the hospital. “I’m glad Papa was able to die at home.”
“The doctor said Logan will recover enough to be released.”
“I remember when Mr. Norris had his stroke. His left side didn’t improve much.”
“Some people who’ve had strokes can get better. Logan has his wife. She’ll see him through it, if anyone can.” Bobby was reluctant to give up on the man who had guided him through his entire career.
Josephine grew quiet as they drove to the governor’s mansion. She felt like she was betraying a sick man by pulling the job out from under Logan so quickly. If it wasn’t for these murders, we could give him time, she told herself.
Governor Benjamin Miller met her in the back garden. It was a bright day and pleasant for late winter. Farther south the azaleas had started to bloom, but here they would have to wait almost another month before the bushes would be covered in pink, purple and red blossoms.
Bobby had agreed that it would be best for him to stay out with the car. They didn’t want it to look like this had anything to do with internal politics at the sheriff’s office.
“Miss Nicolson, it’s a delight to see you,” the governor said. “I still appreciate the advice I got from your father and your bank manager when I was considering that bank holiday last year.”
“You were eight days ahead of Roosevelt’s declaration.”
“I think we saved a lot of people from rack and ruin.”
“You certainly saved a lot of banks. Since it was at your order, it didn’t look like an act of desperation when the banks closed their doors.”
“A cooling-off period can make all the difference. Especially where money is concerned. Now you didn’t drive all this way to talk about banking.” He waved her toward a white wrought-iron table and chairs on the brick patio.
“Did you hear about our sheriff?” Josephine asked once they were settled. “He had a stroke and the prognosis is not good.”
“Yes,” the governor said solemnly.
“I don’t know if you’re familiar with our current difficulties. There have been several violent deaths in Semmes County.”
“I did read something about that in the Montgomery Advertiser. A bear attack or something?” he said with raised eyebrows.
“Or something. Trouble is, people are all worked up about it. Now the sheriff can’t fulfill his duties, so there’s a… power vacuum.”
Governor Miller leaned forward with a smile. “Just like we were saying. When people get all worked up, trouble follows.”
“Exactly, Governor Miller. I knew you would understand our situation,” Josephine said, layering on the butter.
“I can assure you that I will expedite the matter. I’ll get my secretary to look into qualified candidates and, as soon as we sort through them, I’ll appoint someone to fill the position.”
“I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but there is a candidate who is ready-made to step in.”
“Appointing a sheriff is a big decision.” Miller hesitated, recognizing Josephine’s pull in Semmes County. “Who do you have in mind?” he asked carefully.
“I think you know him. Colonel Samuel Etheridge. He served as the adjutant general of the state militia for several years and has a laundry list of other qualifications.”
“And why are you so anxious to see him app
ointed sheriff?” Miller asked, genuinely intrigued.
“He has already been involved in the hunt for the killer, so there wouldn’t be any loss of time with a new person trying to get up to speed. Honestly, I think the county is on edge. The people need some stability.”
“I see. Yes, I do remember Colonel Etheridge. He struck me as a very forthright individual. Very professional. Hmmmm.” The governor was lost in thought as he went over the pros and cons. Josephine wanted to push him a little more. Don’t do it, she advised herself.
Finally he said, “I’ll have my secretary dig into his background a bit more and, if nothing seems amiss, I don’t see why I wouldn’t make the appointment.”
Josephine sat back in her chair, relieved. She spent the next half hour talking to the governor about issues that he thought would be of interest to a woman. Truth was, she had little knowledge of gardens or popular movie stars, but she smiled and agreed with his opinions until he excused himself to attend to state business.
In the large circular drive, Bobby was leaning against the car like a taxi driver. He stood up when he saw her coming and opened her door.
“I think we hit the bull’s-eye,” Josephine told him as she slid into the car.
It was late afternoon by the time they got back to Sumter. Bobby had offered to buy her dinner before dropping her off, but she was tired and ready to get out of her fancy clothes and into something more comfortable. Plus, she wanted time to consider how she and Blasko could breach the crack in their relationship. However crazy the relationship is, she thought.
“I’m going to grab something at the diner,” Bobby said, “then I may come back for the baron. I’d like to question some suspects this evening, and having him along might come in handy. I’ll stop by and let Etheridge know that his appointment is in the works.”
Josephine thanked him and went into the house, where Grace met her at the front door.
“You look rode hard and put up wet,” Grace told her, taking in Josephine’s rumpled dress and drooping ostrich feathers. “Anna’s fixed a pot roast. Mr. Bobby didn’t stay?”
