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Ric made a dismissive gesture with his hand.  Okay, let s get past that. How did
you get to it this morning?
 Leon Torres, the sheriff and my old boss, called me. They could see Mark
swallow. Hard.  Sorry. Besides having been close to& the latest victim, this all just
brought back the memories of the night I found Rob. Hold on.
Mark rose from his seat and moved out of their field of vision. Chloe took his place.
 Give him a minute, okay? He was pretty much a mess last night and it s all hitting
him again right now.
 Hello, Chloe. Ric forced a smile, knowing she could see him.  You doing okay?
 Hanging in there. Okay. Here s Mark again.
She moved and Mark took her place, a mug of coffee in one hand. He took a quick
swallow and set it down.
 Sorry about that. So. Same thing. Puncture marks at the neck. No blood. Body
ripped open and the intestines pulled out. Oh, and when Chloe and I were there last
night it must have been right after it happened because I could still smell turpentine in
the air. This morning there wasn t any.
 I think finding out what causes that odor could be key to learning where these
creatures come from, Sam put in.  And maybe how they re created.
 Yeah, well, we have to catch one to find out, Mark pointed out.  And pray it s the
right one.
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Desiree Holt
 So what plans does the sheriff have? Ric wanted to know.
 I insisted he call a meeting of at least the key people in the county to get the word
out. Not that I think too many people will believe him.
 They need to take precautions, Sophia put in.  The beast strikes without warning.
And I looked at the Google maps for Zapata County. There are a lot of isolated
residences out there.
Mark shrugged.  I ll do what I can. A lot of people think the Chupacabra is just a
superstition and won t take it seriously. Some will hide in their homes, which is good.
Chloe and I are going out again this afternoon in the truck. We re still trying to find
some trace of her friend. I ll make a note of the houses we want to check at night.
 Any word on her friend at all? Ric asked.
Mark shook his head.  I ll let you know if there is. At least the sheriff realizes he
screwed up before so he s hot to jump on it again.
 Chloe? You still there? Ric asked.
She leaned into the field of vision.  I m here.
 I hate to be blunt, but you know your friend is probably dead by now.
 Yes. They all heard the sadness and pain in her voice.  Actually I m hoping that s
the case. Anything else& 
Her voice trailed off but everyone in the room knew what she was thinking. If there
was something human behind the devil beast and Melinda had been kidnapped, death
would be preferable.
 Okay. Mark finished his coffee.  Leon asked me if my  new boss would be
willing to lend a hand if he needed it. What do you want me to tell him?
 Tell him you reported in and it s being discussed. But we need to know
specifically what he wants before we make a commitment. Right now we re still chasing
shadows. And you and Chloe hunting at night can do as much as we can until we get
something more concrete.
 I m going to try to pinpoint just a handful of the most likely places for attack,
Mark said.  I have a good idea now, especially with the pictures Logan got, what the
beast will be looking for. Then we ll see where we are.
 Okay. Stay in touch, you know we re here for you.
 Thanks.
The screen went dark.
No one said anything for a long moment. Finally Sophia spoke up.
 I don t even want to think about the possibility of some demented human being
having a hand in this.
 Let s not jump to conclusions right now, Ric told her.  The first thing we need to
find out is if there s more than one of the creatures. Who s on research duty today?
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 Me. Dante held up his hand.  I ll be looking for any other reports anywhere of
similar killings and trying to put a timeline together. That will give us a better idea if
there s one or many.
 All right. Ric stood up.  Let s get to work, folks.
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Desiree Holt
Chapter Nine
Neither of them had much appetite for breakfast, although the both headed for the
coffeepot as soon as they were in the house. Knowing they d need it, Mark had taken
the time to set it up on a timer before they d left. He knew Chloe wasn t nearly as
together as she pretended. The scene at Sherry s had shaken her up more than she
allowed herself to show. But he saw how the color leached from her face, lines of strain
bracketing her mouth and hollowing her cheeks. She was thinking of Melinda.
Imagining her in that situation. And doing her best to clamp a lid on her imagination.
He figured the best thing he could for her right now was distract her and keep her
occupied. While she showered he made sandwiches and filled a cooler with them and
bottles of water.
By the time he was finished Chloe was out of the bathroom, dressed again in jeans
and t-shirt and towel drying her hair. She looked marginally better although was still
pale and he noticed a faint trembling in her hands.
She stared at the cooler.  Where are you going?
 We, he corrected.  Remember what I said earlier? We are going for a long drive
to hit some of the places we haven t seen yet.
 Looking for likely targets?
He took the towel from her and turned her to face him, keeping his hands on her
shoulders.  And for Melinda, he said in a soft voice.  We ll find her, Chloe. I promise
you that.
Tears clouded her eyes and she leaned her face against his solid chest.  I m just so
afraid of what we ll really find, she told him, her voice muffled by his body.
 I know, sugar. And I m not going to try to bullshit you about what that might be.
But at least we d have an answer, and that s better than not knowing. Right?
 Right. She looked up at him.  Thank you.
 For what? I haven t done anything yet.
 For taking me seriously. Not trying to shut me out this morning. And just&  She
waved a hand in the air&  everything. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]