Blood Trail - By Tanya Huff Page 0,79

redeeming characteristics... "Well," she said aloud, "you did challenge Stuart's authority in his own house."

"I was a little upset, werewolves are a new concept for me. I wasn't myself."

"You were definitively yourself," Vicki corrected with a smile. "But I think that under normal circumstances Stuart will be able to deal with that."

They stopped for breakfast at a hotel down the road and Vicki allowed Celluci to pump her about the case while they ate, giving the waitress only one bad moment when Vicki exclaimed, "... and to blow the top of his head off from that distance was one hell of a shot!" just as she put the plates down. If Celluci noticed she talked around Henry's involvement, he didn't mention it. She couldn't decide if he was being tactful or deep.

"You do realize," Celluci said, mashing the last of his hash browns into the leftover yoke on his plate, "that there're two of them out there? One with a shotgun and one with a rifle?"

She shook her head, setting down her empty coffee mug with just a little too much force. "I don't think so; this has all the earmarks of being a one-person setup. I know, I know," she raised her hand and cut off his protest, "Henry got shot at twice." Henry's injuries had been considerably downplayed over the course of the conversation. "But one man can operate two guns and up until now there's been no evidence of a second player."

Celluci snorted. "There's been bugger all evidence, period."

"But the tracks, the tree, the type of shot, all point to a single obsessed personality. I think he," she spread her hands as Celluci's brows went up, "or she, just kept the shotgun handy in case anyone got too close."

"Like your writer friend." His tone made it perfectly clear what he thought about both Henry and Henry wandering around in the woods playing the great detective.

"Henry Fitzroy can take care of himself."

"Oh, obviously." He stood and tossed a twenty down on the table. "That's why he got shot. Twice. Still, I'm amazed you let an amateur wander around out there at night, considering the danger."

"I didn't know about the shotgun," she protested as they left the coffee shop, then wished she could recall the words the moment they left her mouth. "Henry's a grown man," she muttered getting into the car. "I didn't let him do anything."

"That's a surprise."

"I'm not going to discuss him with you."

"Did I say I wanted to?" He pulled out of the parking lot and headed north. "You've gotten yourself involved with a pack of werewolves, Vicki. For the moment, that makes organized crime seem just a little tame."

"Henry is not involved in organized crime."

"All right. Fine. It makes whatever he is involved with seem just a little tame."

Vicki pushed her glasses up her nose and slouched down in the seat. That's all you know, she thought. She recognized the set of Celluci's jaw and knew that although he might be temporarily distracted by the wer, he wasn't going to let his suspicions about Henry drop. Fine. Henry can deal with it. In four hundred odd years, this can't be the first time. While she had no intention of getting caught in the cross fire, she would be perfectly willing to bash their heads together if it became necessary.

"Look," she said just before they reached Highbury Avenue, "if you're going to hang around, you might as well make yourself useful."

He scowled suspiciously. "Doing what?"

"Turn right. You're going to pay a visit to the OPP for me," she had to give him credit for brains, he understood the reason for the visit immediately.

"You haven't got the firearms registration list, have you? Why the hell not?"

"Well... " Vicki flicked the air-conditioner vents back and forth a time or two. "The OPP and I had a little misunderstanding." She hated admitting even that much, knowing that Celluci would blow it all out of proportion.

"I'll bet," he grunted and, to her surprise, let it drop.

Twenty minutes later when he came out of the station, he made up for his silence.

"A little misunderstanding?" He slammed the car door and twisted around to glare at her. "Vicki, you may have destroyed any chance of provincial cooperation with local police forces for now and for always. What the hell did you say?"

She told him.

He shook his head. "I'm amazed the Duty Sergeant let you leave the building alive."

"I take it then that you didn't get the list."

"Dead on, Sherlock, but I