Chapter 16

Bella gripped Devlyn’s hand as if an ocean current tugged her out to sea and she would drown if she let go. Her mother had always warned her to stay away from humans. They’d never accept the lupus garou’s ways. Now, so many years after her mother’s untimely death, those words haunted her.

Bella could never explain the truth to Chrissie. Yet she’d cherished her friendship with her…until now. But protecting her mate and the lupus garous took priority.

Immediately, she wanted to return home, to the grays that had taken her in, to a life where she could run with the pack and share the bonds that made them alike as well as the differences that made them unique. She wearied of hiding who she was, wanting nothing more than to be Bella, lupus garou, free to run on the wild side on moon-filled nights and enjoy the gifts being human meant, too.

On the other hand, the notion that Volan was confirmed to be perfectly alive, searching for her, and that he would kill Devlyn filled her with dread. Hell, after she shot him, he probably wanted to kill her, too.

Chrissie wrung her hands while the silence stretched between them. Devlyn waited for Bella to answer Chrissie’s question as to what had really happened at the zoo that night when Rosa escaped and Bella was left to freeze to death in the pen.

Weaving a new story, like a black widow spider ties the silken strands together into a web full of holes and deceit…how could she spin another lie like that?

“I don’t know what to say.” Sometimes the truth was better off said.

“Henry told me you’re hiding the truth. That you’re afraid of more than just Volan. I’ve been your friend for a long time and I want to help. So does Henry.” Chrissie looked at Devlyn and then faced Bella again. She rose from the couch. “But Henry and I can’t help if you’re not totally honest with us.”

Henry and Chrissie couldn’t help even if they were totally honest with them. Despite liking the two of them so much, Henry and Chrissie couldn’t refrain from being terrified if they knew of the real existence of lupus garou. No, Bella and her Rosa, one and the same, would have to remain a mystery to Henry, Chrissie, and any other curious human. Although Bella contemplated telling Chrissie that she feared the killer of redheaded women was after her, to give Henry and his police friends another reason why she was so concerned, she worried their interference could delay Bella and Devlyn’s locating the murderer and ending his terror.

Chrissie sighed. “All right, if you change your mind, I’ll be next door as usual. Um, do you think I could borrow some flowers from your greenhouse to make an arrangement? Henry really loved the way your house is filled with plants—like an extension of nature’s beauty. He’s genuinely into that sort of thing.”

“Take whatever you’d like. And thanks for all of your help, Chrissie. We’re just really tired, and neither of us can think straight,” Bella said.

“Yeah, all those late-night movies,” Chrissie said, winking.

Bella looked at Devlyn. He smiled back at her.

“See ya.” Chrissie headed out the back door.

Devlyn pulled Bella from the couch. “Now, we get some sleep. But now I’m worried things are getting too hot around here for us.”

“We have to catch the killer.” Bella had no intention of leaving the Portland area until they did. Yet Devlyn had made no mention of her going to California with his cousin again, and she wondered—although she wasn’t about to bring it up—why he had let the matter drop.

Devlyn walked with Bella to the hall and then made a detour to the front window. He peeked out and then turned and faced her.

Her heartbeat quickened when she saw the concerned look on his face. “Company?” she asked.

“Yeah. Seems we have some guard dogs on our tail.”

“The police?”

“Plainclothes stakeout. Maybe Henry’s worried that Volan’s accomplice will show up unexpectedly. Or Volan himself.”

She swallowed hard at the thought that Volan truly lived and could arrive any time on her front doorstep and that the final scene would play out between Devlyn and him…

Devlyn crossed the floor to join her. Taking his hand, she enjoyed the strength, warmth, and size of it, knowing he’d always be there to protect her if he could. They walked toward the bedroom, their steps betraying the tiredness they both felt.

Bella yawned. “Henry must have assumed that the jeep pulled up in front of Chrissie’s house in the middle of the night meant trouble.”

“Yeah. He probably wishes he’d had someone watching us before this.”

They stripped out of their clothes, intent on getting sleep. Both considered the other’s body with interest. The knowing look they shared turned into grins.

Devlyn drew her into his arms. “Sleep. Then I’ll have something ready for you.” He rubbed his cheek against hers.

His touch triggered interest, yet she yawned again. Both chuckled. “Can’t wait to see what gifts you want to bestow on me.”

She wished, as they climbed into bed and snuggled together, that nothing else mattered. That the red who killed the women had already been caught and put out of his misery, and Volan, too. That they were again home with the pack and Devlyn now served as the leader. But none of those wishes would come true without a fight, and the fear that the one left standing might not be the right one sent a shiver down her spine.

* * *

Later that evening, Bella woke to find Devlyn gone. Lightning flashed across the dark sky and distant thunder grumbled. A steady rain beat against the bedroom window at a slant, a perfect setting for snuggling longer under her down comforter. Listening for sounds of Devlyn in the shower, she touched her wet hair and remembered showering with him already. The memory of his large hands massaging her breasts, slippery with peach soap, heated her body. She tilted her nose up and smelled for any signs he was cooking dinner, although she vaguely remembered licking whipped cream and blueberries off his chest sometime earlier. Worried she might grow weak from lack of food, he’d enticed her to eat a bite. Heaven knows how her snack had ended up on his chest.

Domestic life with Devlyn was anything but domestic.

The email butler announced a new message. The office.

Slipping out of bed, she peered into the oval mirror hanging above her dresser. Her hair rested about her shoulders in a tangled, fiery-red mess. Well loved…that’s the way she appeared. The image sparked a secret little thrill. Her left cheek wore a faint redness…the result of his nuzzling her with his scratchy stubble of a beard at sometime or another in their bedtime romps.

A telltale hickey graced her right breast. She quirked a brow, trying to recall when he’d done that.

Without dressing, she wandered into her office. Devlyn sat at the desk, staring at her computer, intensely reading the messages.

Running her hand over his naked back, she felt his muscles instantly tighten. He turned and pulled her into his lap. “Bella honey.”

“Find anything?”

He slipped his fingers between her legs. “Mmm-hmm, nice and wet, too.”

She chuckled. “I mean about the reds, or the killer or something. You sure have a one-track mind.” She was damned thankful she’d deleted Volan’s message to her earlier.

“You distract me something fierce. But no. And I don’t think we will either until—”

“The moon appears.” She’d hoped everything would be resolved in the next few days before that happened.

But the way of the wolf would dictate the final draw. Everyone waited for the day to arrive, or the night, rather, when the moon began its sliver of an appearance. The waxing crescent that would grow until the moon swelled into a full sphere…the phase that would send lupus garous running through the wild in their wolf pelts, anxious to feel the wind at their backs and the feral freedom their wolf forms presented them. The reds would make their final move.

Then…Volan would seek Devlyn out to make his kill. She shivered and ran her hand over Devlyn’s. He stroked her nub, and she arched her back when he worked her hormones into a delicious frenzy.

Yet the notion still plagued her: three more days and their fate would be sealed.

* * *

The next afternoon, Bella heard kids’ laughter and looked out the front window. Like a lumbering grizzly, Thompson chased after Chrissie’s kids on the front lawn as her son, Jimmy, tossed a beach ball to her daughter. Mary missed the ball and Thompson feigned running for it. All squeals, Mary dashed after the rolling ball and grabbed it just before Thompson reached it.

Chrissie stood watching them, her face beaming.

Bella took a deep breath, and Devlyn moved silently in behind her and then wrapped his arms around her. “What’s all the racket about?”

“Looks like Thompson’s as good with kids as he is with animals.”

Devlyn shook his head.

Bella turned and nipped Devlyn’s chin. “I’ve been thinking.”

“I can tell this is going to get us into some tight places.”

“Yeah, well, you know me.”

He ran his hand up her sweatshirt and cupped a breast, quickly moving to the nipple and sending a spine-tingling jolt straight through her.

“Yeah, I know you. What’s brewing in that one-track mind of yours?”

She gave him a small smile and pressed her mouth against his in a lingering kiss. He responded, wrapping his arms around her in a tight squeeze, and she felt his arousal beckoning to her. He nudged her back toward the bedroom.

“I’ve been thinking,” she began again. “If the murdering red was so fond of the girl he killed, why would he have found others and killed them, too? Then Nicol’s reaction to seeing the necklace bothers me also. He really looked sick when he saw it.”

“And?”

“I want to search his place. Find out if there’s any sign of a girl murdered there. Maybe we’re dealing with two killers, not one. Or maybe he knew the girl intimately before the killer murdered her. Maybe she was at his place before she was killed. I just want to discover how connected he is to what’s happened.”

“You want the truth before I take Nicol down.”

She took a deep breath and raked her fingers through Devlyn’s hair. “Yeah. I want to know that, if there was more than one killer wolf, we’ll find them both and get rid of the threat. What if we left the area after we eliminated one murderer, only to discover the killings continue?”

“Against my better judgment, I agree. Would you stay home on this one?”

She gave him a get-real look.

He shook his head and pulled her back to the bedroom. “Didn’t think so. Why did I even ask?”

“Because you always want the best for me. But what if you left me alone and someone came for me, despite your thinking that they’ll honor the agreement?”

“That’s the only reason why I’m allowing you to come with me.”

She hit him in the shoulder. “You are sooo controlling.”

“Yeah, and you love me for it.” He swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom.

Pleasure before business.

* * *

An hour later, Devlyn watched over Bella’s shoulder while she hacked her way into the police headquarters files.

“Do this often?” he asked, not believing how devious his little red wolf could be.

“When I need to.”

She printed out a page and pointed to the printer where five more pages rested in the tray. “Okay, we’ve got all three of the reds’ addresses, the time of the killings, and the locations where the police found the bodies. Can you think of anything else we might need?”

“We already have a police escort.”

She groaned. “They’ve been parked across the street for so long I almost forgot they were there.” But then she smiled, the look pure evil. “I’ve never attempted anything like this, but it’s worth a try.” She accessed the police station’s computers again and sent a message to the sergeant in charge of the surveillance teams watching her house.

Pull the surveillance watch on Bella Wilder’s house. We’ll reinstate it if we have further evidence that it’s needed.

She sent the message off and looked up at Devlyn, her brows raised.

“But will it work?”

“Maybe. For a while possibly. Won’t know for sometime, probably. Want to get something to eat before we go investigating the reds?”

“Why couldn’t you have gotten rid of the search warrants on us in the same way earlier?”

“Ha! This might not even work. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

In the meantime, Bella hastily made tuna fish sandwiches while Devlyn kept an eye on the SUV parked across the street.

The vehicle wasn’t moving.

Bella joined him at the window, plates of sandwiches in hand. “Didn’t work yet?”

“Nope.”

“We have another problem, too.”

He took his plate and nodded. “Thompson.”

“But, maybe, Chrissie and the kids will keep him preoccupied.” She motioned to the window. “They’ve all gone inside the house.”

“Let’s hope so.” Devlyn began working on his second sandwich when the police SUV’s engine started and the vehicle began rolling down the street away from Bella’s house.

“Let’s go,” he said, already halfway to the kitchen.

Bella hastily ate her sandwich and raced after him. “Wait! Got to get the papers with all the addresses on them.”

Devlyn shoved the empty plate onto the kitchen counter and hurried out to the car. He punched the garage door opener, jumped into the SUV, and started the engine. Bella dashed into the garage, her expression harried.

Wishing he could have sent her home to his cousin, he took a deep breath. The situation could get really hairy if they ran into any of the reds while they searched their homes.

* * *

Bella considered the Oregon map as Devlyn drove out of her residential area. “Head for Beaverton, west of Portland. That’s where Ross lives. Nicol’s place is farther out, and Alfred’s ranch home is south of Portland.” She rifled through the papers and pulled out the one that listed their occupations. “According to a website that Nicol advertises on, he’s a professional game hunter and takes people on tours, but you found that out already when you spoke with him earlier.”

“Yeah, but not where he actually hunts.”

“Well, here’s the listing. He’s a fourth-generation big hunter game guide—”

Devlyn snorted. “As in he’s all four generations.”

“Bet you’re right. He charges fifteen hundred to thirty-five hundred dollars for hunts in northern Idaho for mountain lions, black bear, antlered deer, and elk.”

“Not too far away then.”

“Nope. But then he also schedules two trips a year to South Africa for antelope, buffalo, and kudu, for a price ranging from five thousand to ten thousand. And here’s his schedule. He’s on a hunt in Idaho for three days.” She looked over at Devlyn. “He’ll be home when the first of the moon appears.”

“In time for the fight.”

Suppressing a shiver, she ran her finger down the page to a listing for Alfred. “Okay, so Alfred owns a cattle ranch. Probably eats the cows on occasion when the moon’s out.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised. So what does Ross do for a living?”

“Owns a meat packing plant. Probably where Alfred sends his cows after fattening them up. He’s located in Woodburn, a few miles south of Portland.”

“Woodburn.”

“Yeah. According to the history of the place, men were burning the brush, clearing the area to lay railroad tracks when the fire got out of hand. They have a big tulip festival, and I’ve collected bulbs for my garden from there.”

He offered a sexy smile. “Never took much notice of flowers before, but I sure do like that greenhouse of yours. In fact, I wouldn’t mind working out with you there on a regular basis.”

Bella rolled her eyes. “My plants would all die from lack of care.”

He laughed. “So where does Alfred live?”

She held up two fingers. “Two places. One’s in Portland, probably to keep closer ties to his pack in the surrounding area, and a place south of that… Well, he had a place at Cottage Grove near the Row River where he initially had his cattle ranch. The river was named Row for the quarrel two men had over sheep- and cattle-grazing rights. Knowing the way Alfred is and his great-grandfather’s legend, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was the man who killed the other rancher. But he’s moved his ranch closer to Portland, near the Willamette River by Salem. That’s an hour south.”

Devlyn shook his head. “So, Ross is probably at the meat packing plant, running things. And who knows where Alfred is.”

“Turn down that street there,” Bella advised, pointing right. “Cross four more street intersections; the second house on the left is Nicol’s.”

When they reached the red brick home, Bella said, “Problem is, after we’ve checked out Nicol’s place and taken the drive to Ross’s, it might be close to closing time at the meat packing plant. If he’s even at work at all today because of his injured arm. Heck, Nicol might not have even gone on his hunting expedition.”

Devlyn parked the SUV in Nicol’s driveway and considered the house. “No lights on, unless he’s sleeping. Wonder if any of the rest of the pack live in the vicinity. Next-door neighbors, even.”

He climbed out of the SUV and Bella joined him. “Gray-haired lady peeking through her blinds across the street is watching every move we make,” she said.

At a leisurely pace, Devlyn checked the mailbox and pulled out a flyer. Then he headed straight for the front door as if he were a regular visitor. “No sounds inside the house. Won’t take long for us to check out the place, sense any signs of blood, see if either the murdering red or the girl were here before. We’ll be gone long before anyone can get here.”

“Unless someone calls the police.”

Devlyn picked up the newspaper lying on the front step, shoved it under his arm, and brought out his lock picks. Within seconds, he had the door open and they were in.

Both listened for any sounds that would indicate that Nicol or anyone else was in the house, but they heard nothing. The place was silent, vacant, unless Nicol was cowering somewhere or sleeping.

“The neighbors will see us drop off his paper and mail for him, stay a few minutes, and then leave without taking anything, and figure we have to be friends of his.”

“Is that how you and your cousins got away with snooping through people’s homes when you were younger?”

“Works like a charm. It’s the sneaky ones that get caught. And, thankfully, it’s cold enough here that no one will be suspicious of us for wearing gloves either. Although it won’t matter at the reds’ places. They’ll smell that we’ve been there, and catching a trace of your scent will drive them crazy to know you were there and all they can enjoy of you is the delicious fragrance you left behind.” He lifted his chin and took a deep breath. “Smells like Nicol and the strong odor of dead animals.”

Bella pointed at the stag heads mounted over the mantel as she made her way across the jungle of a living room. The couch covered in zebra and the chairs in leopard skins caught her eye, and she wondered if Nicol killed one of the women and took a trophy from her, too. When she walked into the cluttered kitchen, she found dirty dishes stacked in the sink, and the kitchen counter was buried in papers and half-eaten sandwiches, dried out and spotted with spreading black mold.

“A woman’s been here,” Devlyn called out from down the hall. “Well, make that a few.”

But was one of them the murdered woman?

Bella peeked into the fridge. Half-soured milk and green, fuzzy cheese. She wrinkled her nose and shut the door. Ransacking the drawers, she found nothing.

“Computer back here. You want to hack into his email?” Devlyn shouted.

Bella bolted for the sound of his voice and found him hunched over the keyboard, Windows starting up on the screen. He moved out of the chair to let her sit down.

“AOL. He’s got it set up where he can just log in automatically.” She clicked enter and the page took forever to upload. “Direct dial-up.” She studied the email message subjects and chose one that said, “Looking forward to Sunday!” dated three weeks earlier.

Here’s a newer picture of me, and, yes, Nicol, my hair is really red! Not a Clairol-bottle red! I’ve told all my friends how we’ve met on the dating service. They’re going to try it next, too. Got any brothers?

“Omigod, Devlyn, he was looking for redheads on an online dating service. Look.” As if Devlyn already wasn’t. His heated breath caressed her neck while he looked over her shoulder.

Bella’s breathing slowed as she clicked on the attachment. After several excruciatingly slow seconds, the picture appeared. “It’s her,” Bella said. “I recognize it from the police photos in the papers—the murdered girl, Linn McGowan.”

She hurriedly looked through several more emails, finding pictures of four more redheads from the online dating service.

“Where’s Linn’s residence?” Devlyn asked, his voice hard.

Bella pulled the papers out of her jacket pocket and fumbled through them. “South side of Portland.”

“What about the other redheads he’d contacted?”

“The other girls listed in this dating service live in other parts of Oregon. They’re not among those found dead here in Portland. He may never have met them once he found Linn.”

“Or if he did and they met bad ends, he might have killed them in other locations of the state, and the police may not have connected them with the killings here.”

Bella’s stomach clenched while she sifted through the emails and then she shut the computer down. “What about his bedroom? Find anything there?”

“He’s been with a few women in there. I thought he might not have brought the woman who was murdered here. But maybe so. We’ll have to check out her place to pick up her scent and compare.”

Bella headed into the bedroom and took a deep breath. “Lusty little red wolf. Ready to go to Linn’s place?”

Devlyn pulled out a date book from his pocket and flipped it open.

“Nicol’s?”

“Yep. Found it on his desk. When was the girl murdered?”

“A week before the mystery red’s murder.”

“This just about confirms it then. ‘Date with Linn, noon.’”

“What if he met her somewhere else?” Bella asked, as Devlyn guided her out of the house, pretending to lock the door, and then escorted her to the car.

“In his little black book, he had listed several dates with her beforehand. The last one is the day she was found murdered. I’d bet either he brought her here at least once, or he went to her place sometime during their courtship before her death.”

“The neighbor’s still watching us. She undoubtedly took down our license plate number.”

“No problem. We’ve acted above suspicion. Why would anyone break into a house and then not haul off computer equipment and a bunch of other valuable items?”

“You’re right.” Bella snapped her seat belt in place. “Do you want to chance going to Woodburn to search Ross’s place? We should make it before his business closes for the evening.”

“Yeah. Then we can check out the murdered girls’ places.”

“And Alfred?”

“We’ll have to leave him until tomorrow, unless we want to try investigating his place while he’s there.”

“We might have a police surveillance car back at our place before we return home,” Bella cautioned.

“Okay, Bella honey. We’ll make it an all-night sleuthing venture. The hunt is on.”

* * *

The sky was dark, with massive clouds threatening to rain, and the air was heavy with cold moisture. Devlyn hoped the impending storm would hold off until they were through. He sure preferred his drier Colorado weather to this.

The search for Ross’s place took longer than expected because, even though his address was Woodburn, he lived a couple of miles out on a gravel road. Because of the thick trees and winding road, they couldn’t see the houses hidden back off the lane until they were right on top of the drives leading to them.

When Devlyn finally spied the redwood house tucked back in the forest, he pulled off the main road and parked a few hundred yards from the place. Lights were on inside, and two vehicles were parked out front.

“Still want to check it out?” Devlyn asked, glancing at Bella.

She rubbed her arms. “No. Let’s go to where the women were murdered. Maybe we’ll pick up Ross’s scent at one of their places. Then we can check out Alfred’s house in town.”

Devlyn pulled back onto the main road and returned to Portland, where Bella directed him to Linn’s apartment. The rain was spitting by the time they reached the apartment’s door, and Devlyn mused that folks in Oregon couldn’t ever tan—they just rusted.

Devlyn picked the lock, but before they opened the door, a woman wearing pink foam curlers in her white hair, a pin-striped housecoat, and purple sneakers peeked out her door. She gave Bella a sad kind of smile. “Hi. You must be Linn’s sister. The poor thing. When I was laid up with a broken leg several months ago, she brought me canned chicken soup—she didn’t cook, you know. I told the police there were half a dozen guys or more seeing her. She told me it was some online dating service.”

The woman shook her head, making the curlers jiggle. “Darn foolishness and dangerous, I thought. Meet them at church, I told her. But she wouldn’t go to church. Do you go to services? See, if she’d been in Bible studies and listened to a sermon about the Lord and not seeing whoever murdered her that Sunday, she’d have been fine, I figure. I was away at a social gathering after services so didn’t get home until that evening. But by then it was too late. She sure wasn’t lonely. Do you need anything?”

“No, thank you,” Bella said in a small voice.

Devlyn rubbed her arm and the neighbor smiled. “You two must be newlyweds. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Bella said.

Devlyn pushed the door open. “It was nice meeting you.” He didn’t have time for niceties. Then he closed the door after them.

Taking a deep breath, Devlyn pulled Bella into his embrace. “Are you okay?”

“I…I didn’t expect a nosey neighbor.”

But he knew Bella’s upset was due to more than that. The more they learned about the dead girls and the reds, the more personal the situation got.

“The old woman’s lonely. Probably doesn’t have anything much to keep her occupied. But I bet you anything that, if it was Ross’s doing, he planned the Sunday killing because the next-door neighbor wasn’t going to be home.”

Bella agreed and turned on Linn’s computer. Before long, Bella was hacking into her email. “The only emails linking her to the dating service were sent to nine other men. Nothing that she emailed to Ross.”

“He deleted them to cover his trail,” Devlyn concluded. He took a deep breath. “His scent is in here, and the smell of antiseptic and blood. He cleaned the place thoroughly, but he didn’t expect lupus garous to be checking for his scent.”

They combed through the rest of the place and found nothing but the smell of Linn’s blood and perfume in the bedroom.

“He never took her to his place,” Bella said.

“Too wily. He left the other guys’ emails to her so the police would consider them all suspects. I imagine that, when he learned she was seeing other guys and not just him, he was pretty pissed off.”

A knock on the front door nearly gave Bella a heart attack and she let out a squeak. Devlyn gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and then answered the door while Bella turned off the computer.

The old woman next door gave Bella a kindly smile. “Linn felt so badly that my favorite gold necklace had broken, she gave me hers to keep. Said she didn’t really ever wear it. But, since you’re her sister, I’d like for you to have it.”

Bella began to object, but Devlyn took the necklace. “Thank you. She’ll treasure it.”

As soon as Devlyn and Bella climbed back into the SUV, she let out her breath. “Why did you take it?”

The old lady waved at them as Devlyn backed out of the driveway and Bella waved back at her.

“Do you see how similar it is to the other one we found in the woods? I have a hunch that’s why Nicol was concerned when you showed him the other. Maybe he even gave it to Linn, but when he went to remove it, he couldn’t find it because she’d given it to her next-door neighbor.”

“Hmm, sounds like Linn didn’t have any sentimental attachment to it, maybe not to Nicol either. Wish we could have found a diary of hers or something.”

“If she’d had one and it had any reference to him, he would have destroyed it.”

Devlyn smelled the necklace and nodded. “His scent is on it.”

“So he was the last one to see Linn alive.”

“I’d say that was a safe bet. What about the location of the other two murdered women?”

Bella searched through the papers. “Omigod, I didn’t see this before, but one lived only a couple of doors down from Alfred’s townhome.” She looked over at Devlyn. “He couldn’t have killed a woman, too.”

“Let’s find out.”

Bella was sure Nicol had murdered one of the girls because of the way he seemed so upset over the necklace. But Alfred had wanted the patch of red wolf fur she’d found in the murdered girls’ apartment when she and Devlyn were on the run. Did he think Bella had found it in the apartment of a girl he might have been seeing?

“No houses,” Devlyn said, driving through the development. “Condos, duplexes, townhouses. I can’t imagine he’d want a place so compact, no yard, front or back.”

“He has a big ranch. He probably doesn’t stay here that often. Maybe just for pack business.”

“Or picking up women.”

Bella glanced at him. “Yeah, way out on the ranch, all he’d have was a bunch of cows.”

They drove slowly past Alfred’s place, where six vehicles were parked.

“The girl’s place is two houses down. There—in that duplex. Looks like no one’s home next door.”

Seeing a police lockbox securing the front door, Devlyn pulled around the back under the metal carport. A lockbox secured the back door, too, but at least Bella and Devlyn were hidden from prying eyes.

For several seconds, Devlyn tried to unlock the box using his tool kit. Bella’s skin prickled with uneasiness. Eyeing a side window, she moved closer to check it out. When she pushed against the windowpane, trying to move it up, it didn’t budge. Glancing over at Devlyn, she saw him watching her, waiting to see if she was successful. She gave him a lopsided half smile and pointed to the lockbox. “Can’t get it open?”

“Take me a few seconds more.” He went back to work.

Looking up, she found another window directly above the locked one. Devlyn was struggling away with the lock, getting a little more aggressive, but not making any headway. Bella surveyed the area but couldn’t find anything that would help her reach the upper-floor window except for a plastic trash can on wheels.

“Devlyn, do you want to see if you can hoist me up and I’ll check the window—see if it’s unlocked?”

He grunted. “It’ll only take me a few more seconds to unlock this.”

“Fine, have it your way.” She grabbed the garbage can and rolled it underneath the window.

He stopped what he was doing and gave her a disgruntled look. “Here, you’ll end up breaking your neck,” Devlyn warned, shoving his lock pick set into his jacket pocket.

He lifted Bella onto his shoulders, and, as if she’d been on an exhibition cheerleading squad for years, she nimbly balanced herself on his shoulder blades. When she shoved at the window, it didn’t budge.

Devlyn snorted.

“Just hold still and I’ll try again. It might just be a little stuck.”

Bella pushed again and thought she felt a tiny give. “It’s unlocked. I see the latch is turned. But it’s a bit cemented in place.”

“Maybe we should switch places, and I’ll open the window.”

“Very funn—oh, oh, here it goes.”

The window suddenly gave, sliding up, and Bella lost her balance, her feet slipping off Devlyn’s shoulders. In a desperate attempt to avoid falling, she grabbed the windowsill and hung on, her gloved hands smarting where the metal window grooves dug into them.

Devlyn grabbed her feet and then lifted her until she could pull herself through the opening. As soon as she clambered into the bedroom, she knocked over a bunch of makeup jars and a mess of other items on the dresser, sending them crashing to the wooden floor.

“Are you all right?” Devlyn called out.

Bella got to her feet and peered out the window at a worried-looking Devlyn. “A cat burglar I am not. I’ll open the window down below. Be just a second.”

She glanced at the sheets and floral comforter torn in shreds, half dragging on the floor. Not good. And she could smell the blood in the room, too. But not just what must have been the girl’s blood. She smelled a hint of Ross’s blood, remembering the scent after she had sliced him with her knife in the living room. She shivered to think she’d danced with two murdering reds and hadn’t had a clue.

Stumbling through the living room where the couch and overstuffed chairs were ripped to pieces, stuffing scattered everywhere, she finally managed to make it to the kitchen. The room looked as if an earthquake had hit here, too. Or a wild animal had torn up the place.

Her boots crunched through broken dishes and shattered spice jars, the smell of cinnamon and paprika mixing in a nauseating medley. Reaching the kitchen window, she unlocked it and yanked up the glass. “I smelled Ross’s blood upstairs. She must have drawn blood when he tried to murder her. The smell of her blood is scattered throughout the duplex, too.”

Devlyn stood inside the kitchen, surveying the damage. “He tried to make it appear like a burglary.”

“How can you tell?”

“Computer hard drive’s missing, but keyboard’s still at the desk. Monitor’s gone. No printer, but there’s the cord.” Devlyn pulled open several kitchen drawers. “Silverware’s gone, but the spatulas, serving forks, and knives are all here.”

She followed Devlyn into the living room.

“No television, no stereo. And I bet upstairs you won’t find any jewelry,” he said and sniffed the air.

Bella’s gaze shifted to the Disney prints on the living room walls, all knocked askew. The brightly colored pictures complemented her floral seating arrangement, bright and cheerful—at one time. A collection of family photos hung on another wall, featuring the redheaded girl herself surrounded by what looked like her mother and father and a younger brother and sister, all with gleeful blue eyes and wide smiles. The Cinderella Castle spires rose in a lighted backdrop behind them.

Bella clenched her hands into fists. The reds who had murdered these girls were no more than savage killers. Now, she had no regrets if any of them should die at Devlyn’s hand. But her concern that he’d be overwhelmed by the three of them worried her more than anything.

When they reached the stairs, Devlyn motioned to the carpet. “Blood trails all of the way up. Scratches on the handrail indicate that she was still struggling to get away from him.”

“Was he enjoying the torture?” Bella asked, sickened at the way Ross’s twisted mind worked.

“More like a rabid wolf, no control.”

“But the police must have been baffled. She was killed in the same manner as the others. The police reports said canine saliva was found in her bite wounds. Why would Ross have tried to cover his tracks with a faked burglary?”

“Maybe he didn’t fake it. Maybe he really did burglarize the place.”

Bella considered the possibility and agreed. “That could be. I wonder if he was looking for something that connected him with her, too. Did he date her first, like Nicol had Linn? Or had he just stalked her and then attempted the change?”

“Not sure. Either could be a viable possibility.”

Devlyn shut the bedroom window and then led Bella back downstairs.

“Where to now, Bella? The last murdered girl’s place, or do we check out Ross’s house again?”

“What about his meat packing plant? It should be closed for the night.” She climbed out the kitchen window; Devlyn followed and then shut it.

A clap of thunder let loose another bout of rain, but thankfully the carport kept them from getting wet.

“Let’s find the other woman’s apartment first and check it out.”

“Boy, I really thought that, since this one lived so close to Alfred, he targeted her, not Ross,” Bella said.

“He probably saw her outside of her duplex sometime when he was visiting Alfred.”

“Do you think Alfred killed the other girl then?” Bella climbed into the SUV.

“If so, the red pack’s doomed unless we can take care of the bad seeds.”

They drove around the front of the townhouse and pulled to a stop at the street. A police cruiser drove on by slowly, the officer glancing in their direction. Bella’s heart nearly gave out.

“We could be the resident next door,” Devlyn said, trying to reassure her.

“Right.” But she didn’t feel at all reassured. That’s all they needed right now—some cop asking them why they were in the parking area of the unoccupied duplex when they didn’t live there. “The last girl on our list is Lisa Campbell, the first girl reported murdered. Her place is located on the other side of town.”

Devlyn drove them past Alfred’s place, but it was even more crowded with cars now. The time was nearly eight when they reached the victim’s house. But already they could see a dilemma. Lights were on in several of the rooms, and three vehicles were parked out front.

“Looks like it’s a little busy for a visit, Bella.”

She ground her teeth. “We have to know if Alfred killed her. Since he appears to be preoccupied in town, let’s take a country drive and check out his cows.” But she couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that someone was watching them.