heart and was slowly twisting the blade. He hadn't said two words since he'd sat down.
Did she think it was old man Biehn? No. Nor did she want to think it was Colin's partner. Nor could she completely rule either of them out, not until the murderer was found. A great many people had access to the woods, however, and in spite of the statistics, the most obvious suspects didn't always turn out to be guilty.
She turned back to Rose, waiting predator patient for an answer.
"Until I get more information, I have to suspect everyone, Rose, even Mr. Kleinbein. This is too important not to."
Having cleared the table of anything remotely like food, the wer were rising and going their separate ways. Donald had already changed, padded out to the porch, and collapsed in a dark triangle of shade. Shadow, with permission from his mother, had taken a bone into a corner and, holding it between his front paws, was chewing it into submission.
Vicki stood as Colin did, but he turned and headed out of the kitchen without acknowledging her in any way.
"Colin!" Even Vicki stiffened at the command in Stuart's voice and Colin stopped dead, shoulders hunched. "Vicki wants to talk to you."
Slowly, Colin turned, canines gleaming.
"Colin... " The name was a growl, low and menacing.
The younger wer hesitated for a moment, then his shoulders dropped and a curt motion of his head indicated Vicki should follow him.
It was far from gracious, but it would have to do. She fell into step behind him as he started up the stairs.
"It's too hot to walk outside, so we'll talk in my room," he said without turning. "Then the kids won't interrupt."
Vicki wasn't so sure of that, given the wer sense of privacy but, if it made Colin more comfortable, they could talk on the roof for all she cared.
His room was one of three in the addition built on over the woodshed and the door next to his was the first closed door Vicki had seen in the house.
"Henry," Colin said by way of explanation as they passed. "He bolts it from the inside."
"It's not a bedroom... "
"No. It's a storage closet. But it doesn't have a window, and if we shuffle stuff around there's room for a cot."
Vicki brushed her palm over the dark wood and wondered if Henry could sense her in the hallway. Wondered what it was like, lying there in the dark.
"I haven't seen the sun in over four hundred years. "
She sighed and entered Colin's room. He threw himself down on the bed, fingers laced behind his head, watching her through narrowed eyes. Despite the outwardly relaxed position, every muscle in his body hummed with tension, ready for fight or flight. Vicki wasn't sure which, nor did she want to find out.
"I used to get the laundry to do mine, too," she told him, nodding at the half dozen clean uniform shirts hanging on the closet door, still in their plastic bags. Pushing a pair of sweatpants off a wooden chair, she sat down. "I had better things to do with my time than iron."
"So," she leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees, "do you think your partner did it?" Colin's eyes narrowed further and his lips drew back but before he could move she added matter-of-factly, "Or do you want to help me prove he didn't?"
Slowly, his eyes never leaving her face, Colin sat up. Vicki accepted his puzzled scrutiny with her blandest expression and waited. The next line was his. "You don't think Barry did it," he said at last.
"I didn't say that." She rested her chin on her folded hands. "But I don't want to believe he did it and you're the best person to prove he didn't. For Chrissakes, Colin, start thinking like a cop, not a... a sheepdog." He flinched. "Did he have the opportunity?"
For a moment she wasn't sure he was going to answer her, then he mirrored her position on the edge of the bed and sighed. "Yeah. We were working days both times it happened. He knows the farm and he knows the conservation area. We got off at eleven last night and he could have easily come out here after shift and made those tracks."
"Okay, that's one against, and we know he has the skill... "
"He's going to the next Olympics, he's that good. But if he's casting silver bullets I couldn't find any evidence of it and, believe me, I looked."