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“Well, out near Garrison’s Field,” she said, “close to those woods out there. I was visiting my dear friend Alice Ball—her husband has had another episode and she needed my support, you see. And as I was coming back from the house, and walking to my car, there it was! A monster big as a house! It roared and showed its horrible fangs! And I ran and ran and ran, and when I looked back, it was gone!”

“It didn’t attack you?”

“No, it didn’t. I guess I was one of the lucky ones.”

“Why, has someone been attacked?”

“No, but I heard Scarlett Canyon tripped and fell when she ran from the beast. Nasty cut on her elbow.”

“Mh,” said Odelia, and walked along to the main open-floor precinct office.

Even there, highly upset citizens were accosting every available police officer, and a harried Alec was trying to drown out their voices by shouting louder than they were.

Finally, he gave up and returned to his office and slammed the door. To no avail. They simply followed him and yanked open his door and crowded around his desk, screaming.

Tough crowd.

She went in search of Chase, and found him next to the coffee machine, where he was smiling before him bemusedly.

“Shouldn’t you be out there chasing werewolves?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s all taken care of,” said Chase. “The Mayor is organizing a volunteer task force. They’re going to patrol the area tonight, armed to the teeth no doubt, to catch the beast.”

“But… isn’t that your job?”

“I thought so, too, but the Mayor decided differently. He said this is a shared responsibility for the whole community, and so the community should handle it.”

“What does my uncle think?”

“He’s not doing a lot of thinking at the moment,” said Chase, taking a sip from his cup of joe. “People are pestering him so much I don’t think he’s had time to think just yet.”

“Fiona isn’t coping very well either.”

He grinned.“Yeah, I noticed. Too bad, huh? I almost feel sorry for the girl.”

“I think you should get a warrant to search Jock Farnsworth’s place.”

He looked up in surprise.“You think he killed Grace?”

“I do. And I think he hid the body nearby. Either the house or the grounds.”

He nodded.“I’ll talk to the DA. Get the paperwork started. Alec won’t be pleased. He and Jock seem pretty close.”

“When he sees the pictures I took of Jock’s chicken shed, he’ll think differently.”

“I know. Who would have thought, huh?”

She’d shown the pictures to Chase last night, and he’d been as horrified as she was. His suggestion had been to bring in animal control, but she felt it was important to compile the full file before alerting Jock to what was going on. Catch him off guard.

“Chase!” Uncle Alec bellowed. “Get in here! Chase!”

Chase gave her a comical grimace.“I guess that’s my cue. Watch me go in.” And off he went, to save his superior officer from being torn limb from limb by his own citizenry.

Odelia returned to the front desk, and was greeted with a surprising sight: Fiona had picked up her coat and was shouting“I quit! You hear me, you losers?! I quit!” And then she was stalking off towards the exit, presumably with the intention never to return.

And as people howled with indignation, suddenly an irascible voice bellowed,“Silence!”

All eyes turned to the source of the impressive sound.

And there she was: Dolores Peltz, and as she proceeded, parting the masses like a latter-day female Moses, she quickly claimed her rightful position behind the desk.

And as she barked a set of curt orders for people to sit down and get in line, they all did as they were told, as if moved by an invisible but steely and all-powerful hand.

Odelia smiled, and as she caught Dolores’s eye, the older woman gave her a fat wink.

Odelia returned the wink and walked out.

Where would this town be without Dolores? Descending into a welter of chaos, probably.

And then she was heading home.

She’d suddenly had a crazy idea, and decided to put it to the test without delay.

Chapter 33

When Marge returned to work that morning, she found to her surprise that Jerry and Johnny hadn’t arrived yet. The two ex-cons worked long hours, and could usually be found at the library until late at night, trying to finish that wonky old wall for her.

They were really devoted to their work, that much was obvious.

When she stepped behind her desk, she found a brown paper envelope sticking up between the keys of her keyboard. On it, the words‘For Marge’ had been written in a spidery scrawl she recognized as Johnny’s.

She opened the envelope, only to find a contract inside. It appeared to have been drawn up a couple of weeks before, and the only name that jumped out at her was the Mayor’s, Dirk Dunham.

What was one of the Mayor’s contracts doing on her desk?

And suddenly a feeling of apprehension took hold of her, and she quickly headed for the stairs that led into the basement. And even before she’d reached the back wall where the two ex-cons had done such a great job, she had a feeling she knew what she’d find.