I grinned as I reread the text from Yuki. Emma giving me ride 2 library. C U there!
I was happy that Emma and Yuki were hanging out again. It was also a relief to know that Yuki was safely away from the grave site. My pack scouts hadn’t seen anyone approach the area, but the Grabber could show up at any time.
Part of me wanted him to show up.
I let out a low growl and stalked into the clearing. My wolf pushed its way to the surface, struggling to break free. I closed my eyes and took a steadying breath, letting my wolf senses heighten without fully shifting. The full moon was drawing close, weakening my control.
I was new to my werewolf abilities, a mere pup as Simon continually reminded me, but I was also pack alpha. With pack members nearby, I had to demonstrate my dominance. Involuntarily losing control of my wolf would be seen as a sign of weakness.
And if I changed fully into my wolf form this close to the full moon, I may not be able to change back. Missing finals week was unacceptable, and I didn’t think my teachers would let a wolf sit for my exams.
So I focused on the changes within my body and fought to exert my will over my wolf half. Soon, I promised. I would travel north to the hundreds of acres of Maine woods the pack owned, as soon as the Grabber was found and graduation was over. There I could run and hunt without fear of humans.
But I wasn’t on pack land. I was in a public park and would not risk the secret of my people because of a lack of control.
Eyes closed, I visualized the changes within myself. I began at my feet and worked my way up through my body, and the corresponding chakras. My body relaxed as I visualized sending all tension and negative thoughts out through the crown of my head as white light, to return to the earth mother to be cleansed. My wolf was hovering at the surface, but we were now at peace with each other.
I opened my eyes to a vivid riot of color. The clearing itself had not changed, but I had. I remained in human form, but now my senses were heightened by the close presence of my wolf spirit.
The vibrant red of the roses seemed painfully bright as they wound their way up the moss covered stone wall. It was no wonder that Yuki chose this location to paint. A breeze carried the scent of roses to my wolf-enhanced nose, and birds sang in the trees. The place would have been a tranquil place for a picnic, if not for the skull peeking out of the soil.
I scanned the ground looking for clues as Simon loped into the clearing. The snorting sounds from his direction, as he scented the air, seemed unnaturally loud to my sensitive ears. Simon was our most skilled tracker. If the killer had been here recently, he would be able to catch his scent.
“Anything?” I asked. I didn’t take my eyes from the ground, continuing to search for anything the killer may have left behind.
“Sorry, mate,” he said. “There’s nothing here. Just Yuki’s scent all over the clearing and park trail. I can smell the paints she used, some snack food she must have brought here, and the chain oil from her bicycle, but nothing helpful. The crime is too old and the Grabber hasn’t returned here recently.”
A pebble shot toward me as Simon kicked the gravel path with his expensive shoes. His frustration was beginning to show, if you knew where to look. He may try to act indifferent, but Simon had a sympathetic streak for hard cases. His time living on the streets had taught him the horrors that humans can inflict upon each other, especially on the weak. Simon wanted to rescue Sarah Randall from the Grabber, but we had to find him first.
“Don’t worry, man,” I said. “We will find the Grabber, and we’ll save that girl.”
I crouched, examining the ground at the base of the rock wall. I could see pieces of candy and trail mix scattered near the skull and imagined the hand that held the snack food flailing as Yuki realized the pale object in front of her wasn’t rock, but human bone.
In the shadow of the wall, something caught my eye. Running my hands along the mossy ground, I found a small piece of paper sticking out of the rock wall. The paper was thick, the type used for high quality business cards or party invitations. Only one corner remained. The only reason it survived the passage of time at all was its location wedged between the stones, where a rough protrusion created a natural shelf from the elements.
“Do you have a pair of tweezers with you?” I asked.
“Of course,” Simon said.
With a flourish, Simon withdrew a grooming kit from his coat pocket. He was wearing his leather jacket, even though temperatures had climbed into the eighties today. I don’t know how he can stand it. Werewolves run hot. I was suffering in a cotton t-shirt and paper thin pair of jeans.
Using tweezers, I grabbed hold of the piece of paper and slowly wiggled it from side to side. With a soft sound, like the whisper of dry leaves caught in a breeze, the paper came free. Moving out of the wall’s shadow, I held it up to the light. The only thing remaining on the card was a sunburst insignia.
“There’s no text,” I said, shaking my head. “But maybe we can trace this symbol.”
“It’s more than we had,” Simon said. He tilted his head to the sky and let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, let’s go see what the girls have found. Maybe this will make more sense once we have information on photographers who have worked in Wakefield.”
I remembered the words of Mahatma Ghandi and felt a stirring of hope. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.
Leaving Rose Peterson in this shallow grave might have been the beginning of the Grabber’s downfall. With the smell impressions that Yuki sensed and the sunburst symbol to go on, we have a chance of catching this murderer.
I smiled at the card in my hand. In the end they always fall.