was, but it was hidden behind thick, smoky clouds. Not a glimpse could be seen; not a star lit the sky.
I pulled into the driveway and we got out of the car, leaving our weapons behind. Though with Mandenauer wearing enough ammo to start a small war, I'm sure we made quite an impression on the nightly news cameraman, whom I saw filming us from the street.
"Jessie, thank God!"
Brad was glad to see me. Things must be worse than I thought.
I pointed to Mandenauer, who muttered, "We've met."
Well, that saved me from being polite. My favorite way to work. "What happened?"
Brad glanced at the street. I followed his gaze. People lined the yellow border tape, practically hanging over it in their eagerness to hear what we were saying. The television camera was trained right on us, and the reporter watched our mouths with an eagle eye. I'd bet my next doughnut she could read lips.
All three of us stepped inside. Considering the fiasco at the medical examiner's office, I was surprised the press hadn't been more avidly on my ass - or at least Clyde's. But without the bodies there wasn't much of a story beyond that. After tonight, there would be.
The low rumble of voices from the living room drew my attention. "Who's that?"
"The victim and his wife."
My estimation of Brad's brains plummeted. "He hasn't been sent to the hospital?"
"He refused."
Mandenauer and I exchanged glances. I raced him to the living room.
Pale and blond, the victim was perhaps six-foot-four, though it was hard to tell since he was sitting down.
He must have weighed 240. I didn't see an ounce of fat on him. He could have throttled the wolf with his bare hands. Maybe he'd tried, since his hand had been bitten.
Just like Karen Larson's.
His wife was as small as he was large. Why was it that huge guys always ended up marrying tiny women?
I'd think they'd be afraid of breaking them, or maybe that was part of the appeal.
I cleared my throat and they both glanced up. I stifled a curse. The wife was Prescott Bozeman's secretary.
Her eyes narrowed. "You," she spat.
"You, too. How... odd."
And it was. Not that the size of the town precluded running into people more often than I liked. But coincidences always bugged the hell out of me.
"Get an ambulance out here, Brad."
"No, II'm tine," the man said. He was pale, sweating. If he hadn't been in such good shape, I'd worry that he was going to have a heart attack right in front of us all. He still might.
"He doesn't like doctors." The wife rolled her eyes.
"Mr... " I let my voice trail off hopefully. He didn't answer, and I raised an eyebrow at itty-bitty snot-nosed bitch.
"Gerard," she supplied, though I could tell she didn't want me to know their name. As if I'd start calling her up and asking her to come out and play. "Mel Gerard, and I'm Cherry."
Of course she was.
I managed to keep any snide comments to myself and get on with business. "Mr. Gerard, you'll need to go to the hospital and have a rabies vaccine."
"Vaccine?" His voice raised to a near hysterical pitch on the end of the word. I frowned.
"Big manly man is afraid of shots." Cherry patted Mel on the hand that wasn't wrapped in gauze.
"D-don't want a shot."
He was more coherent than Karen Larson had been when I talked to her. Still, I remembered what Karen had been doing less than five hours after she was bitten. From the size of Mel, he could do a lot more damage. We needed to get him a vaccine and quick.
"He needs the medicine, Cherry."
"No. He'll be all right. Mel's never been sick a day in his life."
"We're dealing with something worse than the flu."
Her face went mulish and I sighed, then threw up my hands. She wasn't going to listen to me.
"It is for the best," Mandenauer murmured, moving in closer, talking low, keeping calm. "He must take the medicine. What can it hurt?"
Mel had lost interest in the conversation. His eyes were half-closed. He leaned on Cherry so heavily she was pressed into the arm of the couch. In the distance, the wail of a siren announced that Brad had done as I asked.
"I suppose that's true," Cherry said quietly. "A little old vaccine can't hurt Mel now."
"Right." I knelt in front of Mel. "1 just need to ask him a few quick questions."
"Jessie, we must go," Mandenauer pressed.
"We will."
I knew better than to