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.I told Claudia. Iguess he s been doing this for a while. She nodded. And is escalating.He s refining his ritual, getting bolder, going for less vulnerable, morepublic targets.It s typical that he started with animals. The look on her face didn t bode well for Smithwhen we caught him. Gerry, it s only going to get worse from here.I m guessing that he s attributingsome special significance to the date the full moon, Christmas. Suddenly, I knew. It is Christmas, I said.I told her Weems s description of the corpse, what he d saidabout Advent calendars. Doesn t that sound like what you re talking about? Little, uh, treats leading upto the big day? She nodded. Right.Christmas.Good eyes on Weems. I snorted. He s my hero. But Christmas was just two days away. My question is, Why did Smith haveto call a cab? He didn t have a car, she answered promptly. Weems brought him in, right? Page 22 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI made a face at her. But if Smith is responsible for the murders, he must have a car. He can t afford to let it go out in public.Too many people could see.what? Bloodstains? Cracked window? Too recognizable, she said. A truck with a business logo on it, contractors, deliveries Right, it s got to blend in, but not the sort of thing you d drive for private stuff. I thought a minute, thenan idea hit me. Like a police car.Maybe it isn t Smith! Maybe it s Weems! Gerry.Get real.Weems is your bete noir, and he s a dickhead, but he s not our guy. He was at the hospital. I ticked off my reasons on my fingers, loving that Smith might just be agarden-variety psycho, his trail confused by Weems. He was at the donut shop.He s been dogging mytracks all day, and every time I saw him, I felt the call to Change. All places you d expect to see a cop investigating the same case as we are.Have you ever wanted toChange because of Weems before now? She put her hand on mine; it was warm as toast. I know youdon t like him, but you re getting distracted by this.You ve always been so damned sure abouteverything That was the problem: I couldn t be sure about anything anymore if Smith was Fangborn.I pulled away. I don t think so.I think you were picking up on his vibes, the same time you were dealingwith some ordinary, run-of-the-mill loony, and that s why you thought it was Smith. You re wrong, she said. Weems has nothing to do with this.I think you want it to be Weems so youdon t have to consider that there might be an evil out there we haven t seen before.I get it, Ger: youwant things to be cut-and-dried.But now we know.it can t be like that. Whatever. I turned away. Don t dismiss me, Gerry. You know about that traditional conflict between werewolves and vampires? It s really just a siblingthing. Claudia, just because Sssh! Claudia was pointing to the TV.The news was on.A school bus, its driver, and six kids were missing from their daycare center. Okay, I said, we ve got the fake address at the Point, a murder at the Willows, a body in the harbor.Throw in the missing pets, and we have someone with a familiarity with the waterfront.That s a couple ofbig neighborhoods to cover. He needs space, and he needs a place where people won t hear.screams. Claudia was looking atthe map spread out in front of us. He s sticking with what s familiar to him, which is good for us, buthe s also an organized psychopath, which is bad. The houses are too close together, here and here, I said, pointing out two neighborhoods. That leavesthe warehouses in the industrial park down at the Point and the coal plant down here. I pointed to aneighborhood that was near, by water, but on the other side of town, by land. A school bus is going to stick out in either place, Claudia said. Is he going to take them out to sea? If he is, we re pretty well screwed, I said. Protective coloring where can you take six crying kidsand a school bus where no one will notice? We looked at each other, then simultaneously at one of the neighborhoods we had just rejected.A shortdistance from my own house, separated by large parking lots and a playing field, was the middle school,now empty for the holidays.It s not that we need the moon to shift, though that helps.It s easier to run around as a wolf when therearen t many people around.It s easier to pick up a faint trail with the dust settled from the day.It s notthat we need the moon, but somehow, it makes it easier for me, the same way the sun takes the poisonout of vamps like Claudia.You d have to talk to our scientists who are working out exactly how weFangborn work, but if you think of it like a vulture s bare head helping to kill the bacteria they pick up, orphotosynthesis, taking nutrients from the sunlight, that s probably close.All I know is that Claudiacouldn t taste the blood and clean it, cauterize the wound, and numb the memory without sunlight toPage 23 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlcharge her up.And in the same way don t ask me how, I m not one of the geeks I get recharged bythe moon.Plus, lots of bad guys also wait for night to work.Makes it easier on us all.The moon was full and low on the horizon as we parked down the street from the school.We ran downthe plan again: check the school and then call the cops if we find anything.Simple, if we were right.If we weren t already too late. Got the gear? I asked Claudia.She nodded, held up the leash her excuse for being out with a very large dog and a charged cellphone.As for me, while I hate what people inflict on their pets birthday parties, pedicures, Halloweencostumes I will always be grateful for the dog-clothing craze.And grateful to the guy who inventedstretch fabrics: my Lycra doggie track suit makes it a heck of a lot easier if I have to Change back tohuman and don t want to be buck-naked.Claudia doubled the knots on her bootlaces, tied her hair back, and we went into the schoolyard.The bus was there, all right, on the side, cold and silent as an empty grave [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.I told Claudia. Iguess he s been doing this for a while. She nodded. And is escalating.He s refining his ritual, getting bolder, going for less vulnerable, morepublic targets.It s typical that he started with animals. The look on her face didn t bode well for Smithwhen we caught him. Gerry, it s only going to get worse from here.I m guessing that he s attributingsome special significance to the date the full moon, Christmas. Suddenly, I knew. It is Christmas, I said.I told her Weems s description of the corpse, what he d saidabout Advent calendars. Doesn t that sound like what you re talking about? Little, uh, treats leading upto the big day? She nodded. Right.Christmas.Good eyes on Weems. I snorted. He s my hero. But Christmas was just two days away. My question is, Why did Smith haveto call a cab? He didn t have a car, she answered promptly. Weems brought him in, right? Page 22 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlI made a face at her. But if Smith is responsible for the murders, he must have a car. He can t afford to let it go out in public.Too many people could see.what? Bloodstains? Cracked window? Too recognizable, she said. A truck with a business logo on it, contractors, deliveries Right, it s got to blend in, but not the sort of thing you d drive for private stuff. I thought a minute, thenan idea hit me. Like a police car.Maybe it isn t Smith! Maybe it s Weems! Gerry.Get real.Weems is your bete noir, and he s a dickhead, but he s not our guy. He was at the hospital. I ticked off my reasons on my fingers, loving that Smith might just be agarden-variety psycho, his trail confused by Weems. He was at the donut shop.He s been dogging mytracks all day, and every time I saw him, I felt the call to Change. All places you d expect to see a cop investigating the same case as we are.Have you ever wanted toChange because of Weems before now? She put her hand on mine; it was warm as toast. I know youdon t like him, but you re getting distracted by this.You ve always been so damned sure abouteverything That was the problem: I couldn t be sure about anything anymore if Smith was Fangborn.I pulled away. I don t think so.I think you were picking up on his vibes, the same time you were dealingwith some ordinary, run-of-the-mill loony, and that s why you thought it was Smith. You re wrong, she said. Weems has nothing to do with this.I think you want it to be Weems so youdon t have to consider that there might be an evil out there we haven t seen before.I get it, Ger: youwant things to be cut-and-dried.But now we know.it can t be like that. Whatever. I turned away. Don t dismiss me, Gerry. You know about that traditional conflict between werewolves and vampires? It s really just a siblingthing. Claudia, just because Sssh! Claudia was pointing to the TV.The news was on.A school bus, its driver, and six kids were missing from their daycare center. Okay, I said, we ve got the fake address at the Point, a murder at the Willows, a body in the harbor.Throw in the missing pets, and we have someone with a familiarity with the waterfront.That s a couple ofbig neighborhoods to cover. He needs space, and he needs a place where people won t hear.screams. Claudia was looking atthe map spread out in front of us. He s sticking with what s familiar to him, which is good for us, buthe s also an organized psychopath, which is bad. The houses are too close together, here and here, I said, pointing out two neighborhoods. That leavesthe warehouses in the industrial park down at the Point and the coal plant down here. I pointed to aneighborhood that was near, by water, but on the other side of town, by land. A school bus is going to stick out in either place, Claudia said. Is he going to take them out to sea? If he is, we re pretty well screwed, I said. Protective coloring where can you take six crying kidsand a school bus where no one will notice? We looked at each other, then simultaneously at one of the neighborhoods we had just rejected.A shortdistance from my own house, separated by large parking lots and a playing field, was the middle school,now empty for the holidays.It s not that we need the moon to shift, though that helps.It s easier to run around as a wolf when therearen t many people around.It s easier to pick up a faint trail with the dust settled from the day.It s notthat we need the moon, but somehow, it makes it easier for me, the same way the sun takes the poisonout of vamps like Claudia.You d have to talk to our scientists who are working out exactly how weFangborn work, but if you think of it like a vulture s bare head helping to kill the bacteria they pick up, orphotosynthesis, taking nutrients from the sunlight, that s probably close.All I know is that Claudiacouldn t taste the blood and clean it, cauterize the wound, and numb the memory without sunlight toPage 23 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlcharge her up.And in the same way don t ask me how, I m not one of the geeks I get recharged bythe moon.Plus, lots of bad guys also wait for night to work.Makes it easier on us all.The moon was full and low on the horizon as we parked down the street from the school.We ran downthe plan again: check the school and then call the cops if we find anything.Simple, if we were right.If we weren t already too late. Got the gear? I asked Claudia.She nodded, held up the leash her excuse for being out with a very large dog and a charged cellphone.As for me, while I hate what people inflict on their pets birthday parties, pedicures, Halloweencostumes I will always be grateful for the dog-clothing craze.And grateful to the guy who inventedstretch fabrics: my Lycra doggie track suit makes it a heck of a lot easier if I have to Change back tohuman and don t want to be buck-naked.Claudia doubled the knots on her bootlaces, tied her hair back, and we went into the schoolyard.The bus was there, all right, on the side, cold and silent as an empty grave [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]