Crowbones

CHAPTER 85

Ilya

Moonsday, Novembros 5

Ilya stared at Grimshaw. “Viktor?”

“That’s what Natasha told Vicki,” Grimshaw replied.

But didn’t tell me?

she said in response to his call.

Be the dominant predator among the terra indigene forms who were not Elders or Elementals. That’s what she meant. That’s why she had accepted him as her mate. The strongest. The most lethal among the Sanguinati living around Lake Silence.

If he failed, she might break with him and choose another as her mate.

Someone like Stavros, who wasn’t mated yet.

Ilya shook off those thoughts. There was work—and death—to be done.

“As soon as Osgood returns, we’ll pick up Richard Cardosa,” Grimshaw said.

“You have no evidence that Cardosa killed Edward Janse,” Ilya pointed out.

“I don’t think he held the knife, but I believe he is involved in some kind of brainwashing or psychological manipulation and was the human Eddie Crowgard saw talking with Civil and Serious Crowgard,” Grimshaw argued.

“Circumstantial.”

“Let’s just bring him in. Then we’ll worry about that.”

Ilya sighed. “Unfortunately, Chief, I’m required . . .”

Julian walked into the station, followed by Osgood and a raving Ellen Wilson.

“You can’t blame me,” she shouted. “You can’t. I told him not to eat those cookies. I told him!”

Grimshaw hurried to the cell in the back of the station and returned with Rodney Roash.

“You!” Ellen Wilson spit when she saw Roash. “You couldn’t even do one little thing, could you?”

Roash looked confused. “I don’t . . .”

“Put her in the cell,” Grimshaw said.

“You can’t!” Ellen Wilson yelled. “I have to make sure that stupid boy eats his macaroni and cheese.”

Ilya started to step back. He was needed for a hunt.

Julian looked at Ilya and said quietly, “Ask your secret friend to go to The Jumble and keep an eye on things. And tell your people to keep an eye on your fosterlings.”

“Natasha is already taking care of Lara,” Ilya replied. But what about Kira? Would she be another casualty, or was she Viktor’s ally? If she was . . .

he called.

Stavros replied.

Not good.

“Julian?” Grimshaw said as he returned to the front room.

Ilya turned his attention back to the trouble right in front of him.

“The Wilson boy was dead when we arrived,” Julian replied. “Some kind of poison from the look of things, mixed into the cookies. They were intended for the neighbor’s dog.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “You should inquire about missing children near the towns where Ellen or Richard Cardosa lived. You should also ask about runaways in those towns because I don’t think Theodore was Ellen Wilson’s biological son. She said she acquired him.”

Ilya stiffened as Julian’s comment about keeping an eye on the Sanguinati fosterlings made a different kind of sense. “She stole that human boy?”

Julian nodded. “That’s my guess. And he wasn’t the first. She admitted that she had sent her ‘monstrosities’ to the cabins, and they killed the wrong man. I think she sent those boys out there to kill Richard Cardosa, her perceived rival.” His mobile phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and answered. “Hello?”

Ilya couldn’t hear what was said, but the thin white scar on Farrow’s left cheek faded as his face lost all color.

Julian ended the call. “That was Michael Stern. Vicki got a call from Kira saying Aggie was hurt and needed help. She went tearing out to find them and only told Michael where she was going because she literally ran into him when she dashed out the door.”

“Crap!” Grimshaw said. “I told her to stay put.”

“Someone used a friend to bait the trap. Did you really expect Vicki to sit still and wait for you?”

Ilya called.

For a moment, there was no answer. Then the problem solver said,