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"I have a hunch it does. I'll keep fishing."
"Be careful. He's skittish enough. Push and--"
"He'll bolt. I know. I'll take it slow, but I think it's important. The kid wants to open up. I'll work on it, at least until you need me there."
*
AFTER JOEY WOKE up, we spent the afternoon with maps spread over our hotel bed, marking the locations of Dennis's cabin and the kill sites, trying to narrow down where we might find the Teslers.
That was our best hope: corner them in their lair. We could let them come to us, and I'm sure they would, but for now they seemed to have gone to ground, maybe waiting to see whether Joey would get rid of us. If he didn't, they'd hurt Noah, to prove they would. We had to find them first.
JOEY SEEMED AMBIVALENT about joining us, but when we gave him the option of staying behind, he said he needed to come, though he might not be much help in a fight.
"An extra pair of eyes and ears," Clay said. "Still useful."
Joey picked up dinner. I'd suggested we go out, having been cooped up inside all day. But Joey knew Clay would be happier eating in his room. He'd brought back Malaysian. It was one ethnic food I wasn't familiar with, and it wasn't quite to my taste. I like spicy, but this was too spicy to enjoy. For Clay, food is fuel, and he made sure his tank was full for the night ahead.
"So Karl Marsten is a Pack member now?" Joey said. "How hard up are you guys for new blood?"
Clay rolled his eyes, and stuffed a curry-sauce-drenched boiled egg into his mouth.
"Not that I know the guy," Joey said. "But even when we left the Pack, he had a reputation, and he wasn't more than a couple of years older than me. A thief, wasn't he? And a ruthless SOB, if I remember right. Killed mutts who came on his territory, ignoring the fact that non-Pack werewolves can't hold territory."
"Which, ultimately, became an issue," I said. "He wanted territory and had to join the Pack to get it."
"And you let him in?"
I shrugged. "Ruthless is good if it's on your side. He's not the most committed Pack member, but he'll be here if Jeremy calls. And if he doesn't jump fast enough, his girlfriend will give him a shove. She thinks the Pack is good for him, and he gives us a hundred percent to please her."
"His girlfriend knows he's a werewolf?"
"She's a half-demon."
"Half... Shit." He shook his head. "Dad said the Pack had gotten involved with other supernaturals but..." Another shake of his head. "Dad wanted to know all about it. Fascinated. I'd rather just leave my world at werewolves. That was another issue we didn't agree on." He went quiet for a minute, then shook it off. "So Karl Marsten, huh? Didn't Malcolm kill his father?"
I glanced at Clay.
"Wouldn't surprise me," he said. "But I never heard that."
"I did, back when we were with the Pack. You and Nick had gone someplace, and I had to hang out with the Santos boys. Malcolm was there with their dad and uncle, and they were talking about it, how Malcolm had killed Josef Marsten. Raymond was razzing Malcolm because the boy got away on him."
"Karl?"
"I presume so."
I'd never heard that, certainly not from Karl. It might explain some of his reluctance to commit himself to the Pack, taking orders from a man whose father had killed his own. I'd have to talk to him about it.
"So you've got two kids, right?" Joey said. "Twins?"
I nodded. "A boy and a girl. Three and a half."
"Planning to have more?"
"Right now, two is enough."
Clay nodded as he tore a bite off a giant prawn. "Got too much else going on. Two is good. We can give them all the at-att-enshun..." Clay stumbled over the word, slurring it.
I looked over sharply. He blinked hard, as if struggling to keep his eyes open.
