Blue moon - By Lori Handeland Page 0,69

killed a cinnamon-shaded female, then burned the body. I'd found Tina's key next to the fire.

I reached out and picked up a photo of Tina and Lucy outside the Clip and Curl. The blonde and the redhead, although Tina's hair had been more reddish brown. Auburn, some called it - perhaps cinnamon.

I set the photo down with a click, then collapsed onto the sofa.

What 1 was thinking was crazy. Tina had run off with some guy. It happened all the time.

Of course, how did I explain that her purse, her car, her keys, her clothes were still here?

She'd run off with a rich guy who'd promised to buy her the world?

Maybe.

I remembered the last time I'd seen her, when she'd questioned me on the street. Had she truly been concerned about mad wolves or more interested in discovering what we were doing about them? Hard to know when she wasn't here to ask.

Well, I'd follow procedure. Report her missing and send out the appropriate information to the media and other police stations. But I didn't think Tina was going to turn up.

My gut feeling was that the local hairdresser was one dead werewolf.

How was that going to look on a report?
Chapter 29
As I was leaving, a pile of books on the counter caught my eye. Since they were the shape and size of textbooks and Tina did not strike me as the textbook type, I was curious.

College algebra, biology, and intro to Indian studies. Before I even opened her notebook and peeked at the course list, I knew.

Tina had been in Cadotte's class. How was that for a coincidence?

I spent the rest of my shift driving around, handling the usual. Speeding, reckless driving, bloody bar fight - all in a night's work. I could deal with them in my sleep, which was lucky, since I was pretty damn distracted.

Memories swirled though my mind, little things and big, followed by questions. By the time I got off and went home, I was a mess. Had I been screwing a werewolf? Thank goodness we'd used protection. I certainly didn't want any puppies - or would that be cubs?

On my way up the stairs to my apartment I started to giggle; then I couldn't stop. I passed my landlord, Mr. Murphy. Still snickering, I nodded in lieu of hello.

"What's so funny?" He smiled along with me.

"Puppies," I managed between desperate attempts to catch my breath.

His smile disappeared immediately. "You know there are no dogs allowed in this building."

I couldn't help it; I erupted with laughter. Waving good-bye, I escaped into my apartment. This was all just too ridiculous.

Once inside, however, I sobered. As much as I hated the concept of woo-woo, I couldn't deny that something weird was going on in Miniwa.

Only fools ignored the evidence, and I liked to think of myself as one step above a fool, at the very least.

I sat down and listed all that I knew to be true.

Karen Larson bitten by a wolf. Loses her mind and rips out the throat of her principal. Despite her having her brains blown out, both she and the principal disappear.

The evidence gathered from the scene of the Larson accident vanishes from the evidence room of the Miniwa police station.

Someone breaks into Cadotte's office and ransacks the place, taking nothing.

Mel Gerard bitten. Rabies vaccine administered. Dies of as yet undetermined causes, with strange changes in the body.

Tina Wilson turns up missing. But the key to her apartment is found next to a wolf bonfire in the woods.

I watch the shadow of a man become the shadow of a wolf on the wall of a cave.

Sitting back, I chewed my lip and examined the evidence, none of which made much sense. However, when I combined facts and fantasy a clearer picture emerged.

Obviously Clyde had not used silver on Karen Larson. Hence her ability and that of her principal to get up and walk out of the morgue. Or perhaps her change had merely been delayed as Mandenauer had predicted and she'd run out of the place on all fours.

The disappearance of the evidence from the police station indicated the involvement of the department.

But who?

The ransacking of Cadotte's office led me to believe someone had been searching for the totem. But why had they been searching there? Again, police involvement was indicated - unless someone was following me. Also a possibility.

If I believed Mandenauer's claim that the rabies vaccine had killed Mel, then there could be something to his theory