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."
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