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I patted her, as clumsy with it as Cal had been, then joined Ian by the door.
“I’ve got a bad feeling,” he said.
“I’ve had one for days. What’s going on?”
“I can’t be sure until we’ve got an autopsy report, but I think the Raven Mocker’s figured out how to steal the lives of the living.”
I got a sudden chill, even though the room was July-in-Georgia warm. “That’s not what the legend says.”
Ian’s eyes met mine. “Legends are made to be broken.”
* * *
“Merry was as heartless as the rest of them,” Doc said in lieu of ‘hello’. He complained about caller ID, but he had it, too.
“I’ve got another one.”
Doc sighed, sounding as exhausted as I felt. “Who is it this time?”
I’d moved out of the bedroom and into the hall, not wanting Nora to hear me call the medical examiner and order an autopsy. Ian had run back to the clinic to get his bag so he could sedate her if she didn’t stop whispering to the dead. Before I’d called Doc, I’d called Nora’s mother, who was on the way.
“Ben Fitzhugh,” I answered.
“What? He’s maybe twenty-five.”
“He doesn’t fit the profile,” I said, “but then, neither did Merry. At least when she died.” An idea flickered. “I wonder if the Raven Mocker didn’t know that until it was too late?”
“The what?”
Whoops. Doc was still under the impression we were dealing with aliens. I hated to burst his bubble, but quickly I filled him in.
“You think that makes more sense than alien invasion and pods in the basement?” he asked.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Not really.”
“All the evidence points to the killer being a Raven Mocker. The loud shrieking, the lack of a heart in the victims, lack of a scar from the removal, and the storm on the night of the Thunder Moon.”
“Except the Raven Mocker steals the lives of the dying. So what about Merry and Ben? If Ben’s actually a victim and not just a fluke. We won’t know for sure until I crack his chest.”
Sometimes Doc was too blunt even for me.
“Legends are made to be broken.”
“True,” he agreed. “When dealing with the supernatural, it’s good to remember that anything can happen. You have a theory?”
“What if the Raven Mocker didn’t know Merry was in remission, killed her anyway and discovered it could, so it moved on to a completely healthy victim with Ben? In killing a person who has years left, the witch would gain so much more time than it’s ever gained before.”
“If that’s the case, no one’s safe.”
I didn’t bother to curse, even though I wanted to.
“I’ll be there in ten,” Doc said.
I hung up. Ian stood just inside the front door. “You heard?”
He nodded. “We’d better figure out how to identify this witch before the thing eats every heart in town.”
