Frostbitten
Page 16

Really? Huh. "Will Ms. Nygard talk to me?"
"Oh, sure. There's just one thing. Lynn has this theory about the deaths and it would, uh, help if you didn't… discourage it."
"Theory?"
He waved to a coworker stepping out for a cigarette, then lowered his voice. "She thinks they were killed by some kind of Inuit shapeshifter. There's a name for them-I can't remember it. You don't have to say you believe in them, just… "
"Don't laugh when she mentions it?"
"Exactly. If she warms to you, you can also ask about the missing girls. She has a theory on that, too."
"Alien abductions?"
He laughed. "Met a few Lynns in your time, have you?"
"I have. You said she works for the police?"
"They tolerate her eccentricities because she's the best damned crime-scene photographer and sketch artist in Alaska. Of course, according to her, that's because she's the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci."
"Ah."
"Yes, she loves that paranormal shit, but obsession can be good if you're looking for the best source of detailed information. You'll find Lynn in the phone book." He spelled her last name as I wrote it down, then gave me his card and offered, genuinely it seemed, to help if he could.
 
I CALLED CLAY from the SUV.
"How'd it go at the paper?" he asked.
"She called me perky."
"Ouch."
I told him about Mallory Hirsch. After he said a few choice words about that, I explained the lead on Lynn Nygard. "I called her place. No answer. I'm going to swing by there on my way, then grab lunch."
 
I MADE IT three blocks before Clay called.
"Change course, darling," he said.
"Did Reese show up?"
"Yeah. And we've got a situation."
 
 
SITUATION
 

I WAS STILL ten feet from Reese's hotel room when I smelled blood. I slowed, my stomach giving a reflexive clench. Yes, I hadn't wanted Reese hurt, but if he gave Clay any trouble, fists would fly and blood would flow. That was a given. There was a time when I'd convinced myself that Clay liked hurting people, because that fit the way I wanted to see him. But I'd always known it wasn't the truth. For Clay, beating a recalcitrant mutt was like brushing his teeth. It wasn't something he liked or disliked-he was just doing what needed to be done. A swift beating helped stop the spread of respect-decay, the kind that led to strikes against the Pack and its Alpha.
That's why Clay and I made such a good team. I played good cop and no one thought it a sign of weakness because, well, I was a woman, so naturally I'd be the soft touch. When a mutt wouldn't listen to me, he had to deal with Clay's fists. The mediator and the enforcer. It worked fine until half the team wasn't around.
So as I approached the door, I rubbed my face, erasing any sign that said I regretted anything Clay had done to Reese.
"Door's open," Clay called.
I found him pacing inside, cell phone at his ear. Reese sat on the edge of the bed, with a bloody towel around his right hand.
"I didn't do it," Clay said.
I motioned to the phone.
"Jeremy," he said. Getting medical advice, I presumed.
"What happened?" I asked Reese.
He glanced down at his towel-wrapped hand, as if startled to see it. His pupils were dilated and he blinked hard, having trouble focusing on his hand, still holding it up and staring. I glanced at Clay, but he'd turned his back to me as Jeremy gave instructions.
When I took Reese's hand, he didn't resist. His skin above the towel was clammy, despite the warm room. I slowly unraveled the towel until I saw his hand, and winced. Two finger joints of his ring finger and the last joint of his pinkie had been cut off.
"I didn't do it," Clay said.
"Feel the need to make that perfectly clear, do you?" I said.
He grunted and tossed the phone onto the bed.
"What happened?" I asked.
"No idea. I haven't gotten that far. Jeremy says we need to get him stitched up. We can get the details after."
 
CLAY RETRIEVED MY bag-with my first-aid kit-from the car. He had one in his luggage, too. Jeremy would sooner let us travel without clothing than forget emergency medical supplies.
I got Reese's hand cleaned, stitched and bandaged while Clay played nurse, taking away the dirty cloths and getting new ones. As for how he lost his fingers, Reese was staying mum. It seemed more shock than reticence, though, so Clay and I tried to distract him by discussing the latest injuries in our lives-our kids' fall.
" Logan wouldn't talk," I said. "But I finally got Kate to admit what happened, which was exactly what we thought."
"They jumped because they'd seen us doing it."
I explained to Reese. "Our kids have realized that our days don't end after they go to bed. We go for walks in the forest, we talk by the fire, the food comes out… "
"Especially the food," Clay said.
"Naturally they felt left out and kept getting up. Rather than turn bedtime into a battleground, we started going to bed at the same time, then sneaking downstairs or outside."
"Only they heard us if we went downstairs," Clay said.
"Being so young, they shouldn't have secondary powers. We aren't even sure they're werewolves-one or both or… it's complicated. Anyway, at this age, we don't know whether they have enhanced hearing or we're just louder than we think we are. But we thought we were safe, avoiding the stairs and jumping out our bed room window. Apparently not."
"They tried it?" Reese said, his first words since I'd come in. "Are they okay?"
"One sprained ankle, one sprained wrist and one very guilt-stricken parent."
"Two," Clay said. "We're going to have to come up with another solution."
"Other than tying them to their beds?"
"That'll be option two."
I cut off the bandage. "I know, we should probably just clamp down-bedtime is bedtime-but I was thinking of a compromise. We'll let them stay up until eleven two nights and we'll go to bed early, and the rest of the week, they're down at the normal time. If they don't settle, then we get tough-no special late nights."