"Why?" Richard asked.
"It could have been ghouls. They're cowards, but if she'd fallen and knocked herself unconscious, ghouls would have fed on her. They are active scavengers."
"What's that mean?" Dr. Onslow asked. "Active scavenger?"
"It means if you're wounded and reduced to crawling, you don't want to be in a ghoul-infested cemetery."
She stared up at me, then finally shook her head. "No graves. Just in the middle of our land. In the middle of the trolls' territory."
I nodded. "I need to go see the body."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Richard asked. He kept his voice as neutral as he could.
"They're expecting her," Dr. Onslow said.
It surprised us all. "What do you mean?" I asked.
"The state police found out you're in the area. Evidently, your reputation is good enough that they wanted you to see the body. They were trying to reach you at your cabin when I left."
How convenient. How weird. Who had called the staties? Who had put my name in front of them? Who, who, who?
"I'll go look at the body then."
"Take Shang-Da with you," Richard said.
I looked up at the tall man's face. The claw marks were still red and sort of gruesome looking on his face. I shook my head. "I don't think so."
"I don't want you going alone," Richard said.
Funny how he wasn't offering to come with me himself. He was going to stay here and comfort Dr. Onslow. Fine. I was a big girl.
"I'll be okay, Richard. You stay here with the good doctor and Shang-Da."
Richard stood. "You're being childish."
I rolled my eyes and motioned him over away from Dr. Onslow. When I was sure she couldn't overhear us, I said, "Look at Shang-Da's face."
He didn't glance back. He knew what it looked like. "What about it?"
I stared up at him. "Richard, you should know as well as I do that if you have someone eaten to death by a mysterious critter, werewolves are always top of the hit list to blame."
"They try to blame a lot of things on us," he said.
"So far, Wilkes and his men don't know what you are. If we show up with Shang-Da cut up like this and then he turns up healed, they'll figure it out. With a body on the ground, you don't want them to figure it out."
"Shang-Da won't be healed by nightfall," Richard said.
"But he'll be more healed than he is right now. It isn't human to heal that fast. If Wilkes finds out that we haven't really left town, he'll use everything he has. He'll out you or charge you with this crime."
"What could have killed this woman?"
"Won't know until I see the body."
"I don't want you going there alone. I'll go with you."
"The police don't like it when you bring your civvie boyfriends to crime scenes, Richard. Stay here; comfort Dr. Onslow."
He frowned at me.