Blood Trail

deny the feeling of strength he got from the man. He was still more than half convinced the writing covered connections to organized crime. After all, how long could it take to write a book?

    There'd be plenty of time left over to get involved in a great many unsavory things.

    Unfortunately, he couldn't wait around indefinitely.

    "Thank you for the invitation, but ..."

    "Detective?"

    He turned toward the summons.

    "It's Ms. Nelson. On the phone for you."

    "If you'll excuse me?"

    Nadine nodded, barely visible under the folds of a slightly ragged fitted sheet. Nocturnal changes were hard on the linens.

    Wondering what had gone wrong, Celluci went into the house and followed the redheaded teenager into a small office just off the kitchen. The office was obviously the remains of a larger room, left over when indoor plumbing and a bathroom had been put into the farmhouse.
    "Thank you, uh ..." He'd met the younger set of twins not fifteen minutes before, when they'd appeared to help Peter and Rose get Donald upstairs and into bed, but he had no idea which one this was.

    "Jennifer." She giggled and tossed her mane of russet hair back off her face. "I'm the prettier one."

    "Pardon me." Celluci smiled down at her. "I'll remember that for next time."

    She giggled again and fled.

    Still smiling, he picked up the old black receiver - probably the original phone from when the line had been put in thirty years before. "Celluci."

    Vicki, who'd learned her phone manners in the same school, had no problem with the lack of pleasantries. She seldom used them herself. "I just found out that Bertie Reid won't be in until five at the earliest."

    "You going to wait?"

    "I don't see as I have an option."

    "Shall I come in?"

    "No point, really. Stay around the farm so I can reach you and try to keep the we ... Heerkens from going out to those south fields."

    "Should be safe enough in the daytime."

    "I don't care. No one else gets shot if I have to leash the lot of them."

    She hung up without asking about Henry. Celluci found that a little surprising, as though she'd known he wouldn't be around. Of course, she could just be showing more tact than usual, but he doubted it.

    Mulling over possibilities, he returned to the yard and Nadine. "It looks like I'll be staying around for a while, the woman Vicki needs to speak with is going to be late."

    "No problem." Which wasn't the exact truth, but in Nadine's opinion, Stuart needed to work on tolerating non-wer dominants. This Toronto detective would be good practice for the next time Stuart had to go into the co-op; the last time had almost been a disaster. It was getting hard enough to keep their existence a secret without Stuart wanting to challenge every alpha male he met. And while she recognized her mate's difficulty in accepting outsiders as protectors of the pack, it was done and he was just going to have to learn to live with it. Or we all die without it. Like Silver. She passed Celluci a handful of clothespins. "Put these in that basket, please."

    Frowning a little at her sudden sadness, Celluci complied, wondering if he should say something. And if so, what?

    "Mom?" The perfect picture of six-year-old dejection, Daniel dragged himself around the corner of the house and collapsed against the step. "I wanna go to the pond, but there's no one to take me. Daddy's got his head stuck in a tractor and he says Peter and Rose gotta fix that fence up by the road and Uncle Donald's sick and Colin's gone to work and Jennifer and Marie are taking care of Uncle Donald ..." He let his voice trail off and sighed deeply. "I was wondering ... ?"

    "Not right now, sweetie." She reached down and stroked his hair back out of his eyes. "Maybe later."

    Daniel's ebony brows drew down. "But I wanna go now. I'm hot."

    "I can take him." Celluci spread his hands as Nadine turned to look at him. "I don't have anything else to do." Which was true as far as it went. It had also occurred to him that children, of any species, often knew more than adults suspected. If Fitzroy was an old family friend then Daniel might be able to fill in some of those irritating blanks.

    "Can you swim?" Nadine asked at last.

    "Like a fish."

    "Please, Mom."

    She weighed her child's comfort against her child's safety with this virtual stranger. In all fairness, last night couldn't be weighed against him. Males were not accountable for their actions when their blood was up.

    "Mommy!"

    And the challenge had,