"Now what makes you say that?"
"Do the names Hal White, Frank Lyle and Roy Benson mean anything to you?"
"Yeah. Benson lives a block away."
"Lived," Gabriel corrected bluntly. "He was murdered about an hour ago."
The old man raised an eyebrow. "And you're thinking I might be next?"
"We don't know, Mark. Nor do we know if the murder of White, Lyle and Benson is related in any way to our serial killings."
"But they could be?"
"Maybe."
The old man sighed. "Lyle, White and Benson were three of the eighteen scientists involved in our project."
"What about Cooper and Haynes?"
Allars nodded. "Them, too."
So did that mean someone was going after people who worked at Hopeworth? And how did the murder of Emma Pierce and the scientists link to the serial killings? Because she was sure they were linked. It was just too much of a coincidence for both these killing to be happening at the same time.
She leaned on the arm of the sofa, and covertly massaged her temple. Her damn headache had sprung into high gear again. Maybe it was working in sympathy with her calf, which had at least died down to a muted ache. "What project were they working on?"
"In truth, I can't really say. It was real hush-hush. All I know is that it went by the code name Penumbra."
Penumbra? Where in hell did the military get these names? "How were you involved?"
Allars smiled. "I was a specimen, much the same as the others. Took cell samples, se**n samples, stuff like that."
If Hopeworth was taking cell and se**n samples, they were obviously delving into the genetic side of human anatomy. "For what reason? Isn't Hopeworth a weapons development center?"
"Yeah, they are. But there's all kinds of weapons, girlie."
Meaning Hopeworth was developing human — or rather, nonhuman — weapons? Wasn't that a fantastic thought?
Gabriel rubbed a hand across his chin, his expression thoughtful. "Were the other seven people involved in your project shifters as well?"
"No. I was the only shifter. David was a changer; Meg a werewolf ; and Alice a vampire. Not real sure about the other four. Didn't really have a lot to do with them."
Or didn't really want to talk about them, for whatever reason. She tried a different tack. "What about the other scientists on the project? You said there were eighteen in all."
"They died some fifteen years ago. A massive fire took out half of Hopeworth. It destroyed our project and half a dozen others."
She remembered her dreams, remembered the fire that had danced across Joshua's fingers, and a chill ran down her spine. Were the two connected? Was she — they — Hopeworth brats?
"Why was the fire so extensive? And surely they had backups of everything?"
"That's the thing no one can figure out. There was plenty of fire prevention in place, but none of it worked. Everything was destroyed. The buildings, the computers, every scrap of data on Penumbra — backup systems, storage areas, everything — including the personnel who were in the buildings at the time. Nothing escaped."
"Nothing except five men." If the motive was revenge, why leave five alive? She glanced at Gabriel. "Maybe someone's making amends for a past miss."
"But why wait fifteen years? It makes no sense."
"That it doesn't, lad. Especially when whoever set fire to Hopeworth managed to get in and out without ever being seen. If they could do that, they could finish it off properly."
"Could it have been an inside job?"