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I nodded to Eli and he climbed the rocks--the ones still whole and not reduced to rubble--taking the highest point Using his equipment, he scanned the yard on the other side and nodded to th, leaping high, grabbing the brick top, and swinging over the fence, to land in a crouch Mud flew up from my feet and I realized I was still barefoot The breeze was silent but steady from upriver All I smelled on it was food and rain and exhaust All I heard was rain pattering down and cars and music from several directions

One hand on the brick, I scanned Katie’s back garden with Beast’s night vision, a sheen of greens and grays and silvers everywhere I sucked in scent through ue, and across the roof ofto scent silently I s, and, faintly, just at the edge of my ability in this form, blood Vamp blood,before Katie him took away But--

"Holy crap," I whispered to myself If Katie killed Leo, or let someone else kill Leo, she wouldto Mithran law Leo had been unconscious and gravely injured frouaranteed to benefit froain To Eli, I said, "Clear" No louder, but not for the headset, I said, "Brute Get over here"

Two seconds later the wolf landed beside me and mud flew all over me Brute, when he had been able to achieve huhed in at more than three hundred pounds He was still that in wolf for spatter offfrom here to the house, please Then I’ll ask a few questions Okay?"

Brute made a low Rrrr sound in the back of his throat, which I took as affir the yard like a police detective ht at a criether, taking the sa as a tea on my shoulders Troll, Soul, and Eli appeared at a backof Katie’s, silhouetted by diht fro new scents to the scene

Brute covered the yard and reached the back door to Katie’s before he raised his head to look over his shoulder at me His white coat was drenched with the slow rain, as was I, and his paererass, , and the back door opened to let us both in There was a length of plastic on the floor in the back entrance and a stack of towels And four working girls in various stages of undress I accepted a large towel fro on the plastic, applied another towel to the wolf

As we both worked at drying off the rainwater, I said, "Brute" The wolf lifted his crystalline eyes tohiain, her eyes on me too I said, "I need answers Let’s start with: Did Katie and Leo and Derek land on this side of the fence?"

Brute nodded once up and down It was a strange sight, seeing a wolf mimic human behavior I wondered whether I looked that odd when I responded to questions like a human when in animal form

"Okay Did they make it to the door?" Brute shook his head side to side, no "Was there a fight?" Brute nodded "Close to the fence?" He nodded

"Did the fight continue for a while?" He nodded I took a slow breath "Did anyone die in the fight?" Brute shook his head and I let the breath out "Do you recognize the attacker or attackers’ scent?" He nodded again "Was it Peregrinus?" Brute’s big head dropped and rose slowly

"Was anyone injured?" The skin and hair over Brute’s eyes wrinkled, and I recognized his inability to answer the question "Did you smell fresh blood?" Brute stared hard atbetween each for an answer "Leo’s? Katie’s? Derek’s? Peregrinus’? The Devil’s?" I got a solerinus has the hatchling, Leo, and Katie There is nothing he cannot do once he controls the that over "We have a limited tiet out of the yard?"

Eli knelt and rolled towels to form a square on the plastic "Here’s the fence at our back courtyard Here’s Katie’s back door There’s a long alley from Katie’s backyard to the street down this side, but it’s locked and a ca there There’s no side yard here" He pointed to the other side, where Katie’s and the house being remodeled next door were so close that you’d have a difficult ti an old-fashioned phone book between the walls "So we have a fight that took place in a rain- and thunderstoret out?"

Brute whined softly, looking at the towels and up to Soul

"Brute is having soentle "We think his brain has been too long in wolf foro outside, in the yard?" Brute whined and thu He turned and put a paw on the door, which left a muddy smear before Troll opened it I followed the olf stuck in wolf form into the dark

Outside, the rain had stopped and there was only the gurgle of water running off the roofs and through gutters, and the heavy fall of collected rainwater dripping from plant leaves and house eaves Distantly, I heard cars splashing through the rain and jazz fro downstrearound, Brute trotted around the yard, circu an area about twenty feet round Most of the yard Several ti irass or on a plant "Soul, what’s that mean, when he puts his pan?"

"He s back to eight different places just in the circumference

Brute trotted to the side yard and put his paws up on the building next door to Katie’s, the building where I had heard hammers and skill saws earlier in the week, where the construction was taking place I looked up and saw that aon the attic floor was broken "Crap," I said to Eli The breeze had carried all scent from the ay from us, so I hadn’t noticed it I was too wedded to the nose and not enough to the eyes "We suck as investigators," I continued "You found the sniper out front But I’ the back from the attic of that house"