LustUndone (23 page)

Chapter Eleven

Logan carefully made his way from the back of the motel to
the edge of the woods behind it, watching to make sure he wasn’t attracting
anyone’s attention. The sun was exceptionally bright today, reflecting off the
stark whiteness of the snow and making everything stand out more vividly. But
no one seemed to notice him as he followed his usual path and was finally
swallowed up by the trees.

About twenty feet into the woods he stopped by the tree he’d
marked that first night, a thick, majestic black spruce with a wide crotch
where one of the limbs met the trunk. A place he could easily stash his
clothing. Taking the waterproof pouch from his pocket, he shook it out and
loosened the drawstring. He undressed, very carefully folding his clothes and
stuffing them into the pouch. From one pocket of the jacket he pulled a radio
receiver on a cord that he hung around his neck, stuffed the jacket in with the
other clothes and tightened the drawstring. He tucked the bag and his boots
into his usual hiding place in the tree, hopping from foot to foot as the cold
snow seeped into his human feet.

Then he took a deep breath and allowed his body to change.
Bones elongated, fur sprouted on his skin and his face morphed into that of a
wolf. At last he was ready, down on all fours, scanning the area one last time
to make sure he wasn’t seen. Then he was off, racing across the frozen
landscape, his wolf vision searching, searching for any sign of the devil
beast.

He had run for perhaps an hour, scouting around the isolated
houses, when something teased at his nose. He stopped, snout raised as he
sniffed the air. Was that turpentine? He knew that the odor of that liquid
lingered briefly in the air after a Chupacabra kill, but dissipated quickly.
Did it also remain for a time after the beast had been in an area? What held it
and what made it disperse? There was just so damn much they still didn’t know.

Moving forward more slowly, he scoured the area, moving in
ever-widening circles. He nearly missed the icy snow cave, it was so well
hidden, but the very faint lingering odor of turpentine dragged at him. The
opening was barely large enough for an animal to crawl in and out. Logan got
down on his belly and wriggled inside the enclosure.

He found himself in a depression in the snow obviously made
by some creature which had been spending time here. Sniffing the icy ground,
Logan again detected turpentine although the essence was elusive. Since it
dissipated so quickly at the scene of Chupacabra kills he assumed the only
reason it lingered here was because the beast had spent sufficient time in this
space.

Logan rooted around in the space, large enough for a body at
least six feet in length, but other than the faint odor he found nothing else.
Maneuvering very carefully in the tight space, he crawled out slowly, rose up
on all fours and shook himself. Looking around to orient himself, he realized
the cave was not more than a mile or two from where the tiny animal carcasses
had been found. He closed his eyes and tried to call up the maps he’d been working
with, to identify a target area that would narrow the search down.

The beast was around here somewhere. All his wolf senses
told him that. It was just a matter of where. Orienting himself, he drew a
mental circle to follow and took off, racing over the frozen landscape and
through the stark, snow-covered trees. Maybe they were finally going to catch a
break.

* * * * *

Rebecca checked the schedule and learned that the two
pharmacy techs currently on duty were Joy Blanchard and Larry Marshall. Human
Resources told her they had both shared shifts with Elaine Warren on a regular
basis. She and Sophia decided the workplace was the best place to begin to
question people. If they found nothing there, they’d go onto the list of
friends and acquaintances.

The pharmacy itself was decent size, with a space for
customers to turn in and wait for prescriptions. A slightly plump blonde woman
stood behind the counter, in back of her a second, raised counter where two men
were busy working and behind them rows of shelves and cabinets that held
medications.

The woman looked up expectantly when Sophia and Rebecca
walked in, her lips curving in a practiced, professional smile.

“May I help you?”

When Rebecca pulled out her CID shield the smile
disappeared.

“We’d like to talk to you for a few minutes,” she told the
woman, glancing at her name badge. “Joy, right?”

“Yes. What’s this about?”

“We just wanted to ask you some questions about Elaine
Warren,” Sophia told her. “I’m assuming you must have worked with her.”

“We already talked to the police,” she said, her face
tightening. “I told them everything I know.”

Sophia studied the woman. Her body language was
contradictory to what she was saying and Sophia got that little kick to the gut
that always told her they were onto something.

“I know.” Rebecca’s voice was pleasant. Well modulated. “I’m
just going over some of the material again to make sure we didn’t miss
anything. You and Elaine worked the same shifts, right?”

Joy fiddled with the pads of paper and processing equipment
on the counter. “Sometimes.”

A tall, dark-haired man in a white lab coat came down from
the elevated counter to stand next to her. “Problem, Joy? Do you need Allen?”

Sophia saw the other man was still working away but glancing
down at them every few seconds.

“No, no, no.” Joy looked at the two women. “It’s okay.”

The man, however, didn’t walk away. He narrowed his eyes at
Sophia and Rebecca. “I’m Larry Marshall, the other tech on duty today. What’s
the problem here?”

“Just a few follow-up questions about Elaine Warren,”
Rebecca told him. “Did you work any shifts with her?”

“Is this about her murder?” he asked.

Rebecca nodded.

“We already talked to the police and answered questions. Why
are you back?”

“Just tying up a few loose ends,” Rebecca said smoothly.

Sophia noticed that the longer they stayed, the more Joy
Blanchard fidgeted. She’d been doing this long enough to know the woman was
hiding something. Her nerves were about more than just additional police
questioning.

“Rumor has it that there’s some kind of homicidal maniac
running around,” Larry commented. He stood with his hands in his slacks
pockets, obviously trying for a casual pose. Yet he, too, exuded an air of
tension.

“Where did you hear that?” Rebecca asked.

He shrugged. “You know. Just the usual gossip.”

“We’re all just so upset about Elaine,” Joy said, twisting
her fingers together. “She was such a sweet person.”

Larry made a rude noise. “A doormat, if you ask me.”

Rebecca looked at him quizzically. “Why do you say that?”

“Don’t you say a word,” Joy snapped, sudden anger splashing
across her face. “Elaine was a good person. No one is interested in your
opinions.”

“On the contrary.” Sophia leaned on the counter, studying
the two people behind it. “We’re extremely interested.” She looked from one to the
other. “Didn’t the police come and talk to you about her?”

Joy twisted her fingers together. “Just about the hours she
worked, how often she worked the night shift. Things like that.”

Sophia wanted to shake both of them, but she could tell that
they were each hiding something. Maybe the same something. And she had the
feeling that Larry was the one with the key. She was about to see if they could
separate the two of them when the other man behind the elevated counter came
down to join them.

“Can I help you with something?” he asked. “I’m Allen
Borden, the pharmacist on duty. We’re a little busy at the moment and I need my
techs to get back to work.”

Rebecca showed him her badge. “We just had some questions
about Elaine Warren. We’ll try not to take up too much time.”

“I thought we’d told the police everything. Elaine worked a
third of the time at night, no one bothered her that any of us could recall and
she wasn’t getting any threats. And she also barely knew Darrell Franklin, so I
can’t imagine a connection there.”

“Did she know Bradley Howard?” Sophia studied all three
faces in turn. “He worked here in the X-ray department, I believe.”

The tension in the air snapped and crackled. Sophia would
bet money the police hadn’t asked about a connection between the two. Why would
they? Howard’s body had just been discovered and she was sure no one had yet
come to the hospital to follow up.

Allen frowned. “Why are you asking about him? The two
departments don’t really interact. Is he involved in this somehow?”

“He’s dead.” Sophia dropped the words bluntly, wanting to
see the reaction she got.

Joy turned pale and Larry’s eyebrows lifted nearly to his
hairline. Allen just looked objectively distressed.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said.

“You don’t think it’s a strange coincidence that two
hospital employees have been killed within forty-eight hours?”

“Not really.”

“Maybe someone has a grudge against the hospital,” Sophia
interjected.

Allen frowned. “I’d think we’ve had heard something if that
was the case. No, I don’t think we can tell you anything.”

“I do,” Joy blurted out. “I wasn’t going to say anything
because…”

“Because?” Rebecca prompted.

“Because the police told us Elaine was killed by some
stranger. They were trying to find some connection between her and Darrell
Franklin, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

“But this puts a different light on it,” Larry butted in.

“Wait a minute.” The pharmacist moved closer to the two
techs. “What’s going on here? What don’t I know?”

“That Bradley’s been humping Elaine for the past six
months.”

The expression on Larry’s face was one of vicious
satisfaction.

“Only because she was married to a man who mistreated her,”
Joy protested. “Bradley was nice to her.”

“Yeah.” Larry snorted. “Nice in bed.”

“I think both of you need to come down to the barracks,”
Rebecca said. “We need to go into this in greater detail. It’s not a good thing
that you held back information.”

“Wait a minute.” Allen looked at Rebecca and Sophia. “The
pharmacy can’t be left without any staff. Can’t this wait until shift change?”

Rebecca shook her head. “Not with a fresh murder to
consider.”

He sighed. “All right. Can you give me a few minutes to get
other staff in here? I’ll call the HR office and see who they can pull to at
least work the counter.”

“Of course.”

“I just want to be sure you know that whatever these two
tell you, I had no knowledge of anything.”

“I understand,” Rebecca told him.

Sophia looked at Joy and Larry standing uneasily behind the
counter, watching. “Both of you wait right here until your replacements
arrive,” she said. “Then we’ll go down to the barracks together.”

“Wait a minute,” Larry protested.

“You withheld information important to this investigation,”
Rebecca pointed out. “If we’d known there was a connection right away, maybe
Bradley Howard would still be alive. You’re both going to have to come in for
questioning.” She pulled out her cell phone and called Bobby. “We’re bringing
two very interesting witnesses down to the barracks,” she told him.

She gave him a very concise version of the conversations
that had just taken place. Rebecca saw her sister’s hand tighten on her cell
phone and her mouth flatten in a thin line.

“Bobby, there’s a connection between Warren and Howard. It’s
time to take a look at Harland Warren, just like Sophia said. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Okay, then you’ll have someone pick up the husband right away? Because if what
my two witnesses say is true we’re not looking at a homicidal maniac. Just a
husband with some major anger management issues. Okay, okay. We’ll be along in a
few.”

“Problem?” Rebecca asked as Sophia clicked her phone shut.

“No. Bobby’s stubborn but not stupid. He’s had men sitting
on Warren, anyway. They’ll just stuff him in a state car and bring him in.”

“He certainly seemed broken up about his wife,” Sophia pointed
out.

For the moment they’d forgotten the two techs standing
there.

“Harland Warren puts on a good act,” Joy told them. “But I
saw Elaine come to work many times with bruises she tried to hide. And if I
said anything she always made excuses. No wonder she was susceptible to a man
who was nice to her.”

“Bradley Howard’s a nerd,” Larry said nastily.

“He’s a nice man,” Joy snapped, finally angry. “A lot nicer
than you.”

Allen walked back up to them. “I have replacements on the
way. Intake has agreed to lend me someone until then. Just to handle the
counter.” He looked up when the pharmacy door opened and a tall redhead walked
in. “And here she is.”

“Then we’d better get moving,” Rebecca told them.

* * * * *

Sophia had still not heard from Logan by the time she and
Rebecca finished questioning the two pharmacy techs. The story, unfortunately,
was an all-too-familiar one. Rebecca wrote up the formal statements and had Joy
and Larry sign them. Their lunch break disappeared because Bobby and two of the
other detectives brought Harland Warren in and everyone was interested in that
interview.

“I guess I should have paid more attention to what you
said,” Bobby told Sophia grudgingly.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. If I didn’t have the
background on the devil beast killings I’d have followed the same path.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I
ignored the bump on the head. On both Warren and Howard. Figured they got it
from falling. But shit, Sophia. As bad as it sounds, it made more sense to
think we had a homicidal maniac running around, a bloodthirsty serial killer,
than to even consider what you believe.”