Allyn and Ransom – 51

 

The wedding was being held on the grounds of the estate, in deference to the fact they were still uncertain if it would be safe for Henri to go into the city. Before he had arrived on the scene, Miranda had wanted to have the reception at one of the major hotels. She'd quickly shelved that idea and chose instead to have it be a catered affair at the estate, Henri's protests to the contrary.

 

"This is your big day," Henri had told her. "Yours and Allyn's. I can…stay out of view. Honest."

 

"Not on your life," she'd replied. "You're more of a friend now than any of the ones I'm inviting. Besides," she'd pointed out, "you're Ransom's best man. You can hardly hide when that's happening."

 

"He could choose one of the guys he works with."

 

"But he didn't. He chose you. Deal."

 

Henri had.

 

Allyn and Miranda managed to calm one another's nerves enough that, when they heard the music announcing the ceremony was about to begin, they were able to walk sedately to the double doors leading out to the veranda.

 

Arm in arm, they walked down the steps onto the lawn. Ahead of them, standing on each side of the minister, were John and Ransom.

 

"He's so damned handsome," Allyn whispered to Miranda.

 

"I agree," she whispered back. "So is Ransom."

 

"I meant—"

 

She grinned. "I know who you meant, silly."

 

After that, it was all a blur to Allyn until he heard the minister say to Miranda and John, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." Then he turned to Allyn and Ransom. "I now pronounce you husband and husband."

 

Cheers went up as the two couples kissed to seal their vows.

 

Soon the newlyweds and their guests were celebrating with excellent food—prepared by Mrs. Wilcox—dancing, or just chatting with one another. Miranda had hired a small band for the music, comprised solely of shifters. With Henri's permission, she had told the band members why it was imperative they keep his presence a secret. Once they knew, they readily agreed.

 

"Who would have thought," Allyn said, leaning back in Ransom's arms as they enjoyed a moment of quiet on the veranda, "everything would end like this?"

 

"Not me," Ransom replied. "But it's not the end, you know. It's just the beginning. We have our whole life ahead of us."

 

Allyn smiled happily before swiveling so he could wrap his arms around Ransom. "I do love you."

 

Ransom laughed. "I would hope so, since you seem to be stuck with me now."

 

"Not sure stuck is the right word. More like ecstatically, elatedly, enthusiastically wed to you until the end of time."

 

"That works. I feel the same way. I will love you always." With that, Ransom kissed Allyn deeply. "Always and forever."

 

The kiss turned passionate. Then, reluctantly, they separated and went to rejoin their friends and families—knowing that soon they could celebrate their marriage on a much more physical level. Until then, as Ransom put it, "Let's eat, drink and be merry. For tomorrow, we have to get back to our mundane lives."

 

Allyn grinned. "When have our lives ever been mundane?"

 

"Never, since you came back into mine," Ransom admitted. "And they never will be again, I suspect."

 

"Not if we can help it," Allyn agreed. "Not. Ever."

The End

 

 

Allyn and Ransom – 50

 

"I'm scared, Mandi," Allyn said as she adjusted his bow tie.

 

"You're scared? How do you think I feel? You don't have to get all decked out in a fancy dress and hope you don't trip walking down the aisle."

 

At the moment, it was three months after Henri had come to live at the estate. So far, Ransom and the others were no farther along in finding Xavier than they had been the first day. But they weren't giving up hope that someday, somewhere, they would track him down and deal with him.

 

In the meantime, there was a double wedding to contend with….

* * * *

One month earlier

 

"You really should ask him," Miranda said, early one evening when Ransom and Allyn had come to the estate for a barbecue.

 

"Ask him what?" Ransom replied, still not sure why she'd dragged him off to "talk privately" with him.

 

"Ask Allyn to marry you. Then we can have a double wedding. Think of the money we could… No, no, that's not really a selling point, I suspect. Think how neat it would be, the four of us getting married on the same day. You love him. He loves you, so there's no reason not to. Right?"

 

Ransom nodded. "No, I suppose there isn't."

 

She tapped his chest. "So go out there and ask him."

 

Ransom gulped. "Now?"

 

"Yes now, silly. John and I have our wedding planned for next month. That doesn't give you much time to get ready—shopping for tuxes, letting your friends know, all that stuff."

 

"Not sure those are selling points," Ransom muttered.

 

She laughed. "Probably not, from your standpoint. Still—" she swatted his butt, "—get out there and do the deed."

 

Ransom did. Walking over to where Allyn was talking to John and Henri, Ransom dropped to one knee, took Allyn's hands in his and said, "This is sudden, I know. So sudden I don't have a ring or anything but, Allyn Warwick, would you marry me?"

 

Allyn looked at him in stunned surprise for a moment, then nodded. "I would love to."

* * * *

Present day

 

Now, a month to the day after the proposal, Allyn was still trying to believe the wedding was going to go off without a hitch.

 

"What if Ransom changes his mind and doesn't show up, Mandi?"

 

"Then he's going to have to deal with a lot of pissed off friends, starting with me." She patted his cheek. "Do you really think that will happen?"

 

"No. I guess I'm having pre-wedding nerves. How can you be so calm?"

 

"I'm a woman. We take things like this is stride." She didn't look as if she was totally certain though, as she checked the mirror again, smoothing down the satin skirt of her gown.

 

It was going to be a simple wedding, just a few of Ransom's coworkers, a couple of Miranda and Allyn's close friends, and their parents, as well as John's.

 

Ransom had no family to speak of, and what was left of it was not on speaking terms with him anyway, due, he said, to his "sexual proclivities". "Meaning shifters are supposed to be straight so they can sire more of us," he had said blisteringly when Miranda had asked.

Allyn and Ransom – 49

 

Henri nodded. "In the meantime, if I think of anything, anything at all, I'll write it down." He looked hopefully at Ransom. "Do you really think there's a chance we can catch him?"

 

"As I said, it won't happen immediately, unless we get very lucky. If I were him, I'd go to ground, regroup then start hunting for you again when I thought it was safe."

 

Henri's shoulders slumped. "So I could be staying here for a long time."

 

"Hey," Miranda said, "it's not all that bad. It's a big estate with lots of running room when you need it, and there's the pool, the workout room, the pleasure of my scintillating company…"

 

"Good food…" John added.

 

"And," Allyn said, "you'll be safe here. Very safe."

 

"But what will I do? I can't just sit around." Henri shook his head. "That would drive me and everyone else crazy."

 

"You can come with me when I go out to protect the wolves," Allyn replied.

 

"What?" After Allyn explained, Henri looked at him with deep respect. "That's very noble of you."

 

"Not really. It's just something that needs doing."

 

"So he set himself up as a one-man crusader," Ransom said, giving Allyn a hug.

 

"I'm sure it would be safe enough," Allyn told Henri. "At the most, we'd spend a week in one place, always in our wolf forms. I don't think there's any way Xavier could find you since we'd never go into town."

 

Henri nodded. "I'm sure you're right." He looked at everyone, saying gratefully, "I don't know how I can thank you all."

 

"Henri—" Miranda hugged him, "—we stick together."

 

"Watch it. Here comes the 'All for one, one for all' speech," Allyn said, grinning.

 

"Well, it's true," Miranda muttered, winking at Henri.

 

"And on that note…" Ransom put one arm around Allyn, steering him to the door.

 

"We shall see you tomorrow night," Allyn said. "Sleep well, everyone. I know I'm going to."

Allyn and Ransom – 48

 

"Wow. This is something else," Henri said after Allyn had shown him around the mansion. He smiled ruefully. "I always dreamed of living like this, but never got around to making the dream a reality."

 

Allyn replied, "You make it sound as if you're ancient. How old are you, if you don't mind my asking? You look all of twenty-five but then so do Ransom and I."

 

"I'm a hundred and twenty."

 

"Younger than me, but not by much," Ransom said.

 

"I guess I'm the baby in the group," Allyn grumbled. "I'm only seventy-five."

 

"Nope," Miranda said, coming into the parlor. "I am." She looked at Henri with interest. "You're a different breed. Oh, and hi. I'm Miranda, Allyn's sister."

 

Henri bowed. "Henri Bosier, at your service."

 

Miranda glanced at Ransom. "You could learn a lesson or two from him, I think."

 

Ransom laughed. "If I bowed to you, you'd drop dead from shock."

 

"True. So, Henri, why has Allyn been showing you around?"

 

"It seems—" He looked at Allyn for help.

 

"Henri needs a very safe place to stay."

 

"Ah." Miranda tapped a finger to her lips. "Do tell." So between them, Allyn, Henri, and Ransom did. When they finished, she was shaking her head. "That bastard should have been strangled at birth. You're more than welcome here, Henri. We can put you in Allyn's old bedroom."

 

"You don't live here too?" Henri asked Allyn with surprise.

 

"Nope. Ransom and I have our own house, in the city proper."

 

"I…see. Oh, don't take that the wrong way," Henri added hurriedly. "I did pick up on the fact you two are close. I just didn't put all the pieces together." He chuckled. "Given this is New Orleans, I suppose I should have."

 

"Not to worry," Ransom said, patting Henri's shoulder.

 

"Do you have a girlfriend, or boyfriend," Miranda asked. "Someone who you'd like to stay here with you, Henri?"

 

"Me? No." Henri chuckled. "I had one—a girlfriend—a long time ago. But when she aged and I didn't… Well, things got tense, even though she knew what I was. So it ended and I haven't really looked for anyone since then, female or male."

 

"A problem Mandi and I will have in time."

 

Everyone turned to see John, lounging against the doorframe.

 

"Have you been eavesdropping?" Miranda asked, going over to hug him.

 

"Just long enough to know he—" he glanced at Henri, "—must be a shifter too." He went over to introduce himself. "I'm John Varley." After Henri told him his name, John continued where he'd left off. "Since I'm human, I'm going to age while Mandi continues looking all of twenty-four. I have one advantage over you, though, Henri. People don't think too much about it when the man is older than his wife by a lot."

 

"At least not for a while," Miranda agreed. "Then, when he looks like he could be my father, that's what we'll tell people who ask—after we move somewhere new." She smiled at John, joking, "That's when you start Botox and facelifts."

 

He snorted. "As if."

 

"Okay, everyone, I need to get going," Ransom said. "I actually have a real job, which means I need to get in a few hours sleep before heading to the station."

 

"What are you going to do about the murder of Mrs. Graham and her children?" Henri asked.

 

"Given the circumstances, I'll make it seem as if there's not enough evidence to help us find the killer—and let it end up as a cold case file. In reality, we'll try to find Xavier, one way or another. It could take time since we don't have any place to start looking. How about we get together again tomorrow night, Henri? We'll go over everything again and hope you'll remember more details we can use."

 

Allyn and Ransom – 47

 

Allyn shivered. It reminded him too much of his kidnapping by Grigore. He looked gratefully at Ransom when his lover gripped his hand in commiseration, obviously knowing how Henri's words were affecting him.

 

Ransom smiled at Allyn then returned his attention to Henri. "Do you have any idea how this man tracked you down?"

 

Henri shook his head. "Not really. He just… Xavier showed up at Mrs. Graham's front door with one of his assistants, claiming they were old friends of her late husband's. She believed them and invited them in. I was there, playing with the kids. They saw me the same time I realized who they were." Henri shuddered. "The assistant grabbed my collar. Mrs. Graham asked what he thought he was doing and tried to stop him. Xavier hit her. The kids started screaming." Henri looked down at the ground. "I should have done something but I was terrified they'd capture me again so I ran—much to my shame."

 

"Fight or flight. It happens to all of us at one time or another," Ransom said. "If you'd stayed, chances are they would have killed Mrs. Graham and the kids anyway. They wouldn't have wanted any witnesses. Remember, for all they knew, she knew what you are."

 

"That's what I keep telling myself, but it doesn't help," Henri said angrily. "I deserted them when they needed me."

 

"Henri," Allyn replied, "Perhaps on some level that's true. However, Ransom's right. They would have died either way. If Xavier had caught you again, what then? He finally might have been able to figure out how to create shifters, and you had better believe he doesn't want them for any good purposes. Imagine a whole army of them sent out to destroy—well, the enemies of anyone he sold them to, or who contracted with him to use them."

 

Henri frowned as he obviously thought about what Allyn had said. "It would be a disaster," he replied.

 

"Indeed it would," Ransom agreed. "Unfortunately, he's going to keep coming after you. You have no idea how he managed to track you down to Mrs. Graham's?"

 

"No. I've been trying to figure that out. He can't have implanted something in me. If he had, he'd have caught me soon after I disappeared from his lab." Henri looked at the two of them, then said, "By the way, you know my name but I have no idea who you are. Well, other than the fact you're a cop," he added, nodding at Ransom.

 

"I'm Ransom, and a gray wolf. He's Allyn, a red wolf," Ransom replied. "Are we right in thinking you're a coywolf?"

 

"I am."

 

"Okay. Back to what you were saying. The fact he not only found you, but knew that Mrs. Graham had lost her husband, says he must have done his research on her, and that he knew you were in the city to begin with. Is New Orleans your home?"

 

"No. I have a small house west of Paradis, by Bayou des Allemands."

 

"Is that where he found you the first time?"

 

"At the house? Thankfully, no. I don't think he knows about it, even though I wasn't too far away in the bayou. Still, when I escaped, I wasn't going to take a chance he hadn't somehow gotten the information out of me. I figured in the city I could lie low for long enough he'd finally give up."

 

"Why did it take him six months?" Ransom wondered aloud.

 

"More to the point," Allyn said, "how did he home in on the fact Henri was at Mrs. Graham's?" He looked at Henri. "Did you leave her house periodically for any reason?"

 

Henri chuckled. "Every time the kids wanted to take me for a walk to the park. It was a bit demeaning, but I went along with it. It was only a block away so I figured it was safe enough."

 

Ransom nodded. "I wonder…" Allyn and Henri looked at him in question. "If you lost your dog, what's one of the first things you'd do, other than putting up posters?"

 

"Umm, advertise it on Craigslist or in the Times-Picayune classifieds?" Allyn suggested.

 

"Yep. Hell, he might have done that in half the papers around the country, hoping for a hit. I suspect you're fairly distinctive in your coywolf form, Henri."

 

"I like to think so," Henri replied with an ironic grin.

 

Ransom got up to pace. "We have to come up with a safe place for you to hide, Henri. Then figure out how to find Xavier."

 

"The first part is easy enough," Allyn said. "He can stay at my estate."

 

"Your what?" Henri said in obvious disbelief.

 

Ransom chuckled. "Despite appearances at the moment, he's quite rich. But," he shot a glance at Allyn, "how will Miranda feel about that?"

 

"Knowing her, she'll be fine with the idea."

 

"Your wife?" Henri asked.

 

"Nope. My sister. She and her fiancé live there at the moment."

 

"How's he going to feel about my moving in? Presuming I agree."

 

Allyn shrugged. "He's easy-going."

 

Henri nodded. "May I at least see the place before I decide?"

 

With a nod, Allyn gripped Henri's arm and the three shifters teleported to the estate.

Allyn and Ransom – 46

 

Seconds later they were standing on the edge of the small island, looking at the ruins of what once had been a hexagonal tower with thick brick walls. Now it was only a pile of rubble.

 

Allyn suggested they shift back to their human forms. ::That way we can move the stones to see if there's something underneath them. I'd think there would be a basement of some sort, if it used to be a fortification for…whatever.::

 

"Troops were garrisoned here during the Civil War, if I remember correctly," Ransom replied after shifting.

 

Both men were back in jeans and boots now, although they wore shirts, not T-shirts, since they had been "official" while they were at the scene of the murder.

 

Carefully they made their way across the debris, moving the larger pieces to peer underneath, looking for any signs of an entrance going down below the level of the lake.

 

"If there is a basement, or whatever they'd have called it," Allyn said, "it's probably filled with water."

 

"Not all of it," someone said, before a man climbed into view. He was holding a battered rifle which he pointed at Ransom. "You are trespassing."

 

"I'd say so are you," Ransom replied calmly.

 

"Squatter's rights. Now go back where you came from."

 

::Our shifter, from the smell of him,:: Allyn said to Ransom.

 

::I agree.:: Ransom studied the man. He was shorter than Ransom, lean but muscular, with dark hair streaked with red and a piercing glare, which told Ransom he meant what he said. "We'll leave, but not until we have a talk with you about the dead family you left behind when you fled the city."

 

Keeping the rifle leveled at them, the man replied, "If you think I'm responsible for that you're…" He paused, his gaze focusing in on Ransom. "You're not human—any more than I am."

 

"Nope. It's how we were able to follow you."

 

"And you'll let the cops know where to find me, I presume."

 

"I already know," Ransom replied smiling slightly when the man looked surprised—and angry.

 

"I didn't kill them," the man spat out. "Although they did die because of me. Damn it to hell!"

 

"Would you care to explain?" Ransom asked. "Starting with your name?"

 

After a moment's hesitation, the man said, "Henri Bosier." He lowered the rifle, holding it tightly by his side. Ransom had the feeling he could raise it and shoot in less time than it would take to think about it. "Would you mind…?" Henri nodded to a pile of reasonably level debris close to where Allyn and Ransom were standing.

 

Glancing at each other, Ransom and Allyn sat.

 

"To begin with," Henri said, "I swear by all that's holy I'm not the one who killed them."

 

"And yet, from what you told us, you're responsible for their deaths," Allyn said quietly. "Did they—or at least did the woman—know what you are?"

 

"No. As far as she was concerned, I was a stray dog who came into her yard. She had just lost her husband a few weeks before and—I guess—was feeling vulnerable. Unprotected. She fed me and I hung around." Henri smiled dryly. "It was a perfect situation for both of us. She had a watchdog; I had a safe place to hide."

 

"From whom?" Ransom asked.

 

"A man by the name of Xavier. He knows what I am. He was studying me so he can figure out how to create more of my…of our kind. His idea of studying was to keep me drugged—and caged—except when he was examining me to see what made me…what I am."

 

"How did you manage to escape?" Allyn asked, only partially buying Henri's story.

 

 "And how did he find you afterward?" Ransom added.

 

"I escaped," Henri replied, "by taking advantage of the fact—during one of his experiments—that he needed my system clear of the drugs he was using. He was very certain he had me totally under his control and that I wouldn't be strong enough to teleport away. He was wrong. Yeah, I was weak, but I was damned sure not going to miss what might have been my one chance to get out of there."

 

"Where?" Ransom asked.

 

"I wish I knew." Henri's reply was exasperated. "He captured me, drugged me, and when I woke up, I was in a cage, in a lab…somewhere."

Allyn and Ransom – 45

 

"Who are you and what are you doing in my yard?" an aggressive voice asked from the back porch of the house next to the murder site.

 

"Police," Ransom replied, showing the man his badge. "We're investigating the murder of a family over there," he pointed, "and are trying to determine which way the killer went when he left."

 

"Shit. That nice lady and her kids? Who the hell would want to kill them?"

 

Ransom smiled dryly. "That's what we're trying to find out. Did anyone come this way in the last couple of hours?"

 

"Nope. Not that I saw anyway. Did hear a couple of screams though. But that's kind of normal with all the kids in the neighborhood, so I thought nothing of it." He leaned against the porch railing, glancing at Allyn. "What's he looking for? Footprints?"

 

Allyn joined Ransom at that point, asking the man, "Do you own a dog?"

 

"Sure don't. But the lady your partner says got killed did. Got it maybe five, six months ago, right soon after her husband died. I figured it was for protection. It wasn't there? Why you asking?" The man looked at Allyn.

 

"Because there's some paw prints in your yard, heading around the side of your house toward the street."

 

"Maybe was her dog's and he ran instead of defending her?" The man snorted. "Some watchdog, if that's the case."

 

Ransom nodded. "Thanks for your time."

 

"No problem."

 

Ransom and Allyn walked back through the gate, then quickly around the block to the front of the man's home.

 

"Anything?" Ransom asked, while Allyn studied the ground in front of the house.

 

"It would be easier to track him if I could shift."

 

"And be my loyal police dog?" Ransom said, chuckling. "It's almost dark enough. Let's get back to the car. You can do that while I find a parking spot here, and we'll go from there."

 

Five minutes later, Ransom had parked and he and Allyn—in his shifted form and wearing a collar and leash—were back where the hybrid shifter had left the yard.

 

::He was scared. Terrified.:: Allyn said. ::Makes me wonder if maybe he was the intended target and managed to escape in time.::

 

::Then why kill the family?::

 

::Because they saw the killer—or killers. That would be my guess anyway, especially if the woman knew she was harboring a shifter.::

 

As they spoke, Allyn, nose to the ground, followed the faint trail of the shifter. He paused at one point, shook his head and crossed the street, muttering, ::Roads are as bad as streams when it comes to losing a scent.:: He moved right, then left, along the sidewalk, finally stopping in front of a cut-through between two houses. ::He went that-a-way, pardner.::

 

Ransom chuckled. ::That was bad.::

 

They moved down the cut-through to the next street. From there, they spent an hour tracking the shifter through yards and alleys. He appeared to be moving east, in a zigzag pattern, toward Bayou Chaperon.

 

::We'll lose him for sure in there,:: Ransom said.

 

::Maybe, maybe not.:: Allyn continued tracking until they got to the canal separating the sparsely populated residential area from the bayou. ::He crossed here, via the bridge," he said. ::Once we're in the bayou, you can shift too. It'll make things easier and I can get out of this damned collar.::

 

By then it was almost full night, with a three-quarter moon the only illumination. Following the shifter's trail became marginally easier, as he didn't seem to be trying to cover his tracks once he got into the bayou. They led, eventually, to a wide canal and seemed to end there. Beyond it, they could see the shore of Lake Borgne. Allyn teleported across the canal, then, once he picked up the trail again, waved for Ransom to join him.

 

::Damned good thing we can teleport back to the car when the time comes,:: Ransom said when he landed beside Allyn. ::I feel like we've been walking for hours.::

 

::Maybe because we have?:: Allyn replied, now at the edge of the lake. ::The problem is, where did he go? The trail ends right here.::

 

::You tell me,:: Ransom replied in frustration as he stared out over the dark waters.

 

::Maybe…there?:: Allyn nodded to what he thought could be an island.

 

::Hmm. Possible. If I don't miss my guess that's Tower Dupre. Martello Castle is its other name—or what's left of it.::

 

::It would make a secure hideout.::

 

::Then let's see if it's where our shifter ended up,:: Ransom said.

Allyn and Ransom – 44

 

"Ready to leave?" Ransom asked.

 

"Let me take one more stroll around the exterior," Allyn replied. He had been brought in by Ransom—without the knowledge or permission of Ransom's superiors—to help track down a killer.

 

It was the third time in the last six months they had worked together this way. As Ransom put it, "It keeps you out of trouble when you're not off chasing down wolf hunters."

 

Allyn wasn't certain about that, but it had kept him out of the clubs. Of course that's because I don't find them fun anymore. I have better things to occupy me now. Like Ransom in our bed, or our kitchen while we fix supper, or our pool while he works off the tensions of his day.

 

Allyn knew Ransom had already done a walk around, looking for anything that said which way the killer, or possibly killers, had gone when exiting the small home on the edge of Marigny, after butchering a mother and her two young children. A neighbor had heard screams and called 9-1-1, but by the time the police arrived, they were too late.

 

"One thing I know for sure," Ransom had told Allyn in private, while waiting for the crime scene technicians to finish. "At least one killer isn't human."

 

It didn't take Allyn long to reach the same conclusion. The scent the male had left behind was definitely animal in nature. The reason Ransom enlisted Allyn's help in cases like this one had to do with Allyn's excellent tracking skills—honed by his work saving wolves from extinction at the hands of rabid hunters.

 

"Wolf-coyote shifter," Allyn stated.

 

"My thought as well," Ransom agreed. "Although I haven't heard of any rogues in the area."

 

"This could be a domestic situation." Allyn frowned. "If the kids are his and the woman's, and the coroner checks their blood…"

 

"Which he will. However, I doubt they are, from what a couple of neighbors I've interviewed said. She and her husband lived here for two years before the first child was born. The husband was killed in an auto accident six months ago. There's been no man in the picture since then."

 

"That they know of," Allyn pointed out.

 

Ransom chuckled dryly. "Believe me, one of the women is the type who knows everything about everybody on the street, down to the type of underwear they wear, if the women line-dry their clothes."

 

"Okay, so we're working with a stranger killing?"

 

"What stranger would butcher a family the way this one was?"

 

Allyn shot him a look. "You're asking me? You're the expert on things like that. I'm just your eyes and nose when it comes to figuring out where a killer disappeared to."

 

"Given that we think he's a shifter…" Ransom stopped talking when one of the CSI team came over to say they were finished, and that they'd have a report on Ransom's desk by morning. When the man left, Ransom said, "We know his scent, which will help us find him if he's anywhere in the city."

 

"Yeah. We'll just wander around, sniffing," Allyn replied with a tight grin before telling Ransom he was going to walk the perimeter of the yard one more time before it got too dark.

 

When he reached the fence at the back of the house, something caught his eye. Why did he leave on foot when he could have teleported away? he wondered, as he pulled a few hairs from the top of the fence. He sniffed them and nodded. These came from him. He returned to Ransom, giving him the hairs. Ransom put them in an evidence envelope—one he wouldn't turn over to the CSI people—then followed Allyn back to where he had found them.

 

"Why shift then go over the fence rather than teleport out?" Ransom asked, more to himself than expecting Allyn to reply.

 

Allyn replied anyway. "That's what I was thinking."

 

"Damn it. Hang on." Ransom headed out to the street. Allyn tagged along, wondering what had brought that on. Ransom knocked on the door of one of the neighbor's homes. He talked to the woman who answered, nodding a couple of times, then came back to where Allyn waited. "They had a dog. A scary brute of a thing, to quote the neighbor."

 

"Now that makes me wonder if the victim knew she was harboring a shifter, or if he was hiding out there and something went wrong."

 

"Guess we won't know until we find him."

 

"Then let's get started," Allyn said, heading to the backyard of the house again and through the gate in the fence. "He could have taken the easy way," he commented with a brief smile, while scanning the adjoining yard. Kneeling, he looked carefully at the dirt, still damp from an earlier rain shower.