Page 66 of Hidden Moon (Nightcreature 7)
Malachi was right. But if I'd let him punish Josh, then Malachi would be the one going to jail. Cops were funny that way.
"May I wash?" Cartwright held out his hands, which were dotted with Josh's blood.
"Of course. " I glanced at Josh, but he remained unmoving.
"He'll be all right for a minute," Cartwright assured me. "And it isn't as if you don't know where to find him if he decides to go. "
True enough. Together Cartwright and I went into the house.
Grace answered on the sixth ring; she sounded wide-awake. "I'll be there in five. "
Cartwright turned away from the sink, drying his hands on the dish towel. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I was. . . delayed. "
I remembered what had happened between us earlier that night and what hadn't because he'd been called away.
"Is everything all right at your camp?"
He began to nod; then his gaze swiveled toward the open doorway. "Hell. " Josh was gone.
Chapter 20
Cartwright was out the door and down the back steps before I could catch up. "Wait!"
"He'll be getting away. "
"It isn't as if I don't know where he lives, as you said. Where he works and where he plays, too. He won't get away. "
Cartwright paused with his long fingers curled around the wooden handrail, the white moons of his nails stark against the darker shade of his skin. "I'd feel better if I found him now. "
I stared at the prehistoric trees, and I remembered what was out there. "There's - uh - a presumably rabid wolf on the loose. "
Cartwright turned to look at me. "I thought there were no wolves in these woods. "
"Someone neglected to tell that to the wolf. "
His lips twitched. "Has anyone seen the beast?"
"I have. "
"You?" His lighter expression turned dark. "When?"
"Earlier tonight. I nearly ran it over on the road near your camp. "
"I suppose it was hanging about because of the menagerie," he murmured.
"Or your people. You need to be careful. Grace is going to go out with a hunting party tomorrow. "
"Is she now?" He seemed amused again.
"She's the best tracker in town. "
"She will be hunting in the daylight?"
"It's kind of hard to hunt at night. Illegal, too, I think, though I doubt that would affect Grace. "
"As long as they don't muck about near the lake once the sun has set, I give my permission. "
Permission? I opened my mouth to ask what in hell he was talking about, then remembered the Gypsies' weird contract with Lake Bluff.
