Bayou Wolf. Debbie Herbert
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Название: Bayou Wolf
Автор: Debbie Herbert
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы
isbn: 9781474063357
isbn:
“A possible heart attack?”
“I wish. No.” She pursed her lips a moment. “His neck was cut open. Or—” her eyes narrowed a fraction “—he was bitten.”
“Bitten?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice mild, his expression neutral. Holy hell. The nightmare continued. “Bitten by what? A wild dog? A bear?”
She set the mug on the table. “No bears in these parts. Not for decades. No wild dogs, either, that I’m aware of.”
Easy, Payton. Easy. Keep your eyes and face like Switzerland.
Silence weighted the space between them.
“I can’t help thinking of that creature I saw near here,” Tallulah said at last. “The wolf that entered the house.”
Payton smiled sardonically. “If a wolf had walked in here, I promise one of us would have noticed.”
“I know what I saw.”
“What you think you saw,” he amended.
“Something strange is going on around here. Is there something you want to tell me? While we’re alone?”
A pang of longing shot through his heart. How nice it would be to confide in someone instead of keeping the secret locked inside. Never. Don’t even consider such a dangerous notion. His loyalty was to the pack. To his own kind. And they were in deep, deep trouble.
“There’s nothing to tell,” he replied dully. “We’re here to do a job and then we’ll be on our way in a few months.”
“You’re lying,” she said flatly.
Payton pursed his lips, biting back a sharp retort. Bad enough he was forced to live a lie, but he wasn’t a hypocrite. He did what he must in order to protect himself and the pack. If the wrong people knew they were shapeshifters, it would result in a witch hunt—the likes of which would make Salem appear tame by comparison.
He shifted the inquisition. “Who did you call?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When I was upstairs, you called someone. Who? And why?”
Her face was as calm and stoic as a piece of polished amber. “Nobody.”
“Now who’s lying?”
Siren wails intruded upon their impasse, signaling the rapid-approaching arm of the law. Footsteps lumbered up the back porch steps as several members of the pack returned.
It was going to be a bitch of a day.
“I understand you’re the one who found the body.”
Sheriff Angier casually maneuvered her to the side.
A young Bayou La Siryna cop frowned, clearly irritated. “I can take her statement.”
“Relax, rookie. We all want the same thing—to discover what happened to Mr. Johnson. Now go talk to some of the others.”
The rookie flushed, but left them alone, grumbling under his breath.
“Tell me why you wanted to speak to me personally,” the sheriff said. “Do you have some suspicions you’re afraid to voice in front of anyone else?”
“I trust you. Your dad and my dad went a long way back.”
“I remember,” Angier said.
“So hear me out. What I’m about to tell you is a little weird.”
He gave her a sideways glance. “I’m plenty used to weird in Bayou La Siryna.”
Tallulah knew that. Annie claimed Angier’s wife was “different” and perhaps otherworldly. Her sister-in-law, Annie, was the granddaughter of the local hoodoo queen, Tia Henrietta, and had the ability to hear auras. Tallulah didn’t believe it at first, but she’d learned that Annie did indeed have powers. She’d seen her do it many times, especially during a crisis.
“Around Shelly Angier I hear the ocean,” Annie had said. “It’s especially clear when I’m near her cousins, Jet and Lily. With Jet, the ocean sounds powerful and releases a ferocious beauty of pounding waves. And with Lily...” Annie’s eyes grew dreamy and she sighed. “I can’t do justice to describing her aura. It’s a beautiful voice that sounds like an angel, except the notes are carried out over the sea in waves—rippling and melodic.”
She’d laughed. “Are you saying Angier is married to a mermaid?”
Annie hadn’t laughed. “Anything’s possible in Bayou La Siryna.”
Tallulah tried to gauge the enigmatic sheriff’s reaction to her probe. Her image reflected off his polarized sunglasses. Did law enforcement wear those to deliberately keep people from guessing their thoughts? ’Cause she could read no emotion on Angier’s stern, rugged face.
What the hell. She had to tell him what she’d seen. If he laughed and brushed her off, so be it.
“Go on,” he urged.
“Jeb’s neck... I’ve never seen anything like it. Could it have been a wild animal? A stray dog?”
“The forensic expert will make that call.”
Hah. He was stonewalling her. “I asked what you think?”
“I think you know something,” he countered. “What is it?”
“I’ve seen a wolf roaming this area.”
A heartbeat passed.
“Never seen one in this bayou. That’s all you got?” Angier asked.
“The wolf is menacing. Its behavior is odd. One moment feral and dangerous, and the next it’s—it’s—”
“Spit it out.”
She glared at the sheriff and then pointed to the farmhouse. “I saw it walk up those back porch stairs and then enter this house. And no one said a word after it happened.”
“Anything else?”
“Awful strange that something like this happens just as the new renters come to town.” There, she’d said it.
“Could be you have a bias against them. Considering how much you love this land and have protested their timber clearing.”
“That’s not true,” she said, immediately on the defensive. She’d never insinuate a person had committed a crime based on a personal grudge. “It’s not fair. I—”
“Hey, come look at this!” one of the cops cried СКАЧАТЬ