Page 27 of So Twisted

Gus trundled toward her, lazily at first, then much faster. She cried out and stepped back.

Something bit her leg. She hopped up and spun around, and the movement tore skin from the back of her calf. She stared in shock at the little instrument that jutted from the wall. It looked like a spring with a pair of those chattering teeth at the end, only instead of teeth, it was filled with nails. A bloody piece of flesh was caught in between those nails.

“Took you long enough,” a voice cried out.

She shrieked and spun around again. Someone wearing a fur suit stood in front of her, holding another spring trap in his hand. Or her hand. Or its hand.

I’m dreaming. I must be dreaming.

Then she heard the motion alarm going off in her office. She saw the red light flashing above the door and felt the pain searing through her calf.

Oh God. This is real, this is real, this is—

The figure rushed her. She threw her hands in the air and screamed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Faith could see by Cuthbert’s expression when he walked into the room that she was right. The detective gave her a wan smile. “Well, you were right,” he admitted. “Knights of Nature have never committed any violent act. Besides the animal skins thing, they’ve tied themselves to a couple of trees and poured water dyed with food coloring to represent blood on themselves to protest some land development in Bellevue. But no violence.

"As far as Alex Forrester, he's… well, like you said. So far, all bark and no bite. He's been questioned a couple of times, and each time, he's really meek and cooperative. He seems to be really passionate about his animal rights beliefs, but… yeah, those things about advocating all the garish slaughter of people and stuff did, in fact, come from an essay he wrote in college. Hedidsend those threatening notes to Chen and Reeves, though. I don’t have enough to hold him right now, but he’s going to be watched, and wearegoing to keep looking at him. The no alibi thing still makes me wonder if maybe he’s getting braver. But… as of now, I’m inclined to agree with you.”

Faith sighed. “Can’t say I’m overjoyed but thank you for finding out for sure. Keep looking at him and look at the others in his group. Maybe someone else is braver.”

“Will do.”

He headed out, and Faith gave Michael a similarly wan smile. “Well, so much for that.”

“Yeah. Damn it.”

Faith shrugged. “At least we followed up.”

“Yeah, but we wasted time following up. We could have been out there looking for the real killer.”

“Well, let’s not give up on this yet. I’m only ninety-five percent sure Alex isn’t the killer.”

Michael glared at her. “That makes me feel much better.”

She tried to chuckle but only managed a half-smile. “Let’s get some rest. Cuthbert’s team will be looking into the other Knights of Nature kids through the night. We should recharge.”

“We can go back to the hotel and get some dinner and more coffee,” Michael said, “but I don’t think either of us are getting much sleep tonight.”

“No,” she agreed. “Probably not.”

***

It was nearly midnight when they arrived at their room. Turk yawned and trotted in between the beds, turning in a circle before falling instantly asleep.

Unfortunately for the human agents, Michael was right. They were exhausted, but Faith couldn’t shut her brain down, and it looked like Michael had the same problem.

The other problem was that there wasn't much to do about the case right now. Their one lead had evaporated almost completely. They were chasing the smoke, hoping to find another burning ember, but as it stood, the killer of Alison Chen and Marcus Reeves was still at large.

They ordered room service and ate in silence, then showered in equal silence, Faith first, then Michael. After they were clean, Michael made more coffee.

And finally, they ran out of things to occupy themselves and only sat there, unable to sleep.

Michael broke the silence. “How’s David handling the Allentown thing?”

Faith shrugged. “He’s handling it. He’s not happy, but he’s just as gung-ho about living with me as ever. This will all be over soon, and we’ll get to move in finally. He says it’s worth the wait.”

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