ashes to ashes."
"Maybe. Don't you think it's weird that she was in your class?"
"Not really. We've established that someone is trying to raise a wolf god. That's an Ojibwe ceremony.
If this Tina was one of them, it made sense for her to be in my class."
"Why?"
"Maybe she was trying to discover something obscure that would help her leader."
I frowned. "Did you ever get that book you ordered?"
"Huh? Ah, no. Not yet." He went back to staring.
I cuddled closer and the beat of his heart beneath my cheek, along with the sure, steady stir of his breath against my hair, relaxed me. Combined with very little sleep and a whole lot of stress, I was out in thirty seconds.
I awoke to the sun slanting through the windows at an angle that signified early evening. Cadotte was still asleep beside me. I had to go to work, but I needed my clothes.
Slipping out of bed, I watched his face. He really was too pretty for me. Strangely, I was starting to like it.
He never moved, even when I kissed him on the brow. I tiptoed into the living room, stopped to get a drink of water in the kitchen - and found it.
At first I thought he'd left notes scattered across the counter. I was even smiling at his absentmindedness as I drank from a Flintstone jelly glass.
Then my own handwriting caught my eye. The words registered in my brain a second later. I nearly dropped the glass, which would have been a shame - the thing was damn near an antique.
I snatched the papers. One was the receipt I'd had Cadotte sign for the totem; the other was the crumpled, torn page of the evidence log. And beneath them both was the bag of fiberglass and plastic that I'd swept off the pavement after Karen Larson's accident.
What was the missing evidence doing in Cadotte's kitchen?
I had no idea. But before I beat it out of him, I was going to find out what else he was hiding around here that I wanted to know about.
I didn't have far to go. Spread across his coffee table were books and notes. All of them related to Miniwa's little problem.
He'd been very helpful, highlighting the pertinent passages. One book in particular - Legends of the Ojibwe - was fascinating. Was this the book he'd been waiting for? The one he'd told me hadn't arrived? From the amount and nature of information highlighted I suspected this was the case.
I swallowed the thickness at the back of my throat that tasted too much like tears. I did not cry over men. Hell, I didn't cry over anything.
I glanced at the bright and shiny yellow highlighting, which swam before my eyes. I closed them tight, gritted my teeth, and when I looked again the words were all too clear.
The ceremony must take place beneath a blue moon. Which, by my calculations, was tomorrow night.
I felt as if time were rushing past, pulling all of us inexorably toward that second full moon.
I forced my attention back to the book.
The way must be paved by a werewolf army.
"Yada, yada, yada," I murmured. "Been there, know that."
I turned the page. A jagged edge was all that was left. Will, or someone else, had torn out the rest of the information. That couldn't be good.
I found nothing more of interest in the book, so I went through Cadotte's papers again. I didn't find the missing page, but I did discover one tidbit.
A wolf totem with the markings of the Matchi-auwishuk was needed to complete the ceremony. Sadly, his notes didn't say how.
I put everything back where I'd found it; then I snuck out of Cadotte's house and went searching for Manden-auer.
Chapter 32
I hurried home to get dressed, where I found a message on my machine from just the man I wanted to see.
"Jessie, I went back to the cave last night. Now I must do some burning. I will meet you at the station for your shift."
"Can't leave him alone for a minute," I muttered as I put on my uniform. After checking my weapons, I grabbed more ammo and slipped the totem over my head. "Don't leave home without it."
It wasn't hard to find my man. I only had to drive to the place we'd been the night before, then follow my nose.
Mandenauer stood watch over a much larger bonfire than he'd made the last time. Thankfully, when I arrived what he was burning was no