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I could sh to be certain what it was: a bare footprint or at least no obvious shoe tread I got the sht I carried in one of the ht down on the blood The light was bright enough that at night it looked like a prison-break searchlight; on the diainst the dark carpet nicely It was a clear footprint, and the stair steps were deep enough that the entire foot showed

“That’s weird,” I said

“What’s weird?” Newman asked

“Let me check another print before I answer you”

I moved down a step and then more, until I finally an on the floor beloaited patiently at the top of the stairs I didn’t need the footprints trailing off away from the stairs to know that I was close to the murder room, because I could smell the blood and meat It had that thick, beefy s has bled out in a room I have to say that one plus for vampire kills is that they are usually neater; less blood means less smell Then I realized all I smelled was meat and blood I didn’t smell the outhouse smell that usually comes with someone who has been ripped open by a wereanimal It didn’t mean that Ray Marchand’s body hadn’t emptied itself, which is what usually happens, but the intestines hadn’t been pierced at all or the smell would have been a lot worse If Bobby had lost so much control of his beast that he had killed the ure, then it should have been brutal If the stomach hadn’t been opened up and none of the body had been eaten, which is what the crime scene photos had shown, then it had been a controlled attack If Bobby had had that much control, he’d have remembered the kill

I walked back up the steps toward Newht to make sure I didn’t step in the footprints “The footprint evidence is all wrong I h the blood and up the stairs, but he’d reed to human form”

Newman ca to avoid the prints, as if anyone ever collected that much evidence at a crime scene when the perpetrator would be dead in less than two days “Also, Bobby still passes out when he changes from animal to human form He should have been passed out next to the body, not in his own bed”

“Yeah,” I said “Are you sure he always passes out right after changing back?”

“Are you wondering if he did it now?”

“No, but I like to cover my bases I like Bobby, but just because I like sos”

“That’s fair I interviewed soot three people who live on-site They’ve seen hiarden wall in back and then collapse and change back He’s human, but it’s like a coma He’s out cold for hours”

“Would the domestic help lie for Bobby?”

“The gardener and his wife, Mr and Mrs Chevet, have worked for Ray Marchand since Bobby was a toddler They can’t believe that Bobby woul

d do so him out of the house if he’s in leopard for house cat Until this happened, they weren’t afraid of him”

“Were they around hio soot it under control?” I asked