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She motioned to my laptop. "Let's see what the pictures have to tel us."
I could tel the guys were dying to ask questions, but with Menol y and Camil e at my back, they'd have to leave me alone for now. I smoothly slid into position at the computer and flipped the switch. The first picture Morio had taken came up on the wal screen. He grabbed one of the barbecue skewers to use as a pointer, forgoing the mouse that I offered him.
"Thanks, but I'l do it the old-fashioned way."
We were looking at a house that could have been any other suburban ranch house--huge rambler that stretched across a third of the lot. Two stone wal s formed the fence, but it wasn't gated. The house looked reasonably clean, the yard was tended, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on that bothered me.
"Do you realize that the picture was taken in broad daylight, but the curtains are tightly closed? Look at that--not a crack in them. Seems odd, especial y since the house has quite a bit of privacy." Iris wandered over to the picture and cocked her head. "Windows are barred if you look closely."
Morio nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. I didn't want to chance going in there in fox form, but I managed to get close enough to see the bars on the windows. And you're right--I'm almost certain someone was back there, watching out. I doubt if they noticed us. The house is across from a corner store--
one of those old mom-and-pop type outfits. We parked there, and I slipped around with the camera while Vanzir and Roz made pointed entrances and exits from the store." He motioned for me to click to the next image.
Morio had been hiding in a thicket, with ivy fronds and ferns thrusting their way into the picture. We could see a side yard to the right of the house. A gate cordoned off the front yard from the back, and enough of the backyard showed to indicate several sheds back there, as wel as a dog kennel. What looked like a very large Rottweiler was chained next to the kennel.
"Friendly or dangerous?" Rottweilers could be either--depending on their owners. Actual y, I thought, most dogs were like that. While some breeds had a predisposition to aggressive behavior, it was al in the breeding and training whether a dog ended up a lover or a fighter.
"Oh, I can tel you right now, that dog is not a playmate. He could sense me, I think, and barked the whole time. I got as close as I dared, but if I moved forward any farther, I would have been in their yard instead of the neighbor's. By the way, the neighboring house is for sale, there's no one there, and we can get into the backyard without too much trouble. A lot of cover until you hit the fence, which is stone covered with ivy."
Vanzir cleared his throat. "While Morio was taking pictures around back, we were hanging out by the car. Saw a couple of lean guys come out of the house and drive off in a beat-up VW van. They looked thin but wiry and tough. Don't underestimate them--they can probably throw some nasty punches."
"Do you think they'd risk hiding Doug and Saz in the house? If the guys are stil alive, that is? They had to store them somewhere to hype them up before they . . ." I stopped, thinking again about Paulo's remains. "Before they murder them and rip them apart."
"And if they're holding Amber, could she be there, too? Yes, it's a large rambler, but my guess is that this is where they live, not where they stash the bodies, so to speak," Menol y said.
"Only one way to find out," I said. "Any more pictures?"
Morio ran through three more, giving us a little more information on the layout of the neighborhood. "What it comes down to, though, is when we go in, I have no doubt somebody wil be there. I'm worried that we might put Amber, Doug, and Saz's lives in danger if we don't do this right. Which is why we fol owed the van."
"I could kiss you for that," I said, beaming at him. "But why didn't you say so before and save us time?"
"Every piece of the puzzle counts--every piece could be important. Better to go through this step by step than overlook some information and have somebody pay the price. And from now on, I think we need to keep that in mind. With Stacia putting out bounties on your heads, we can't afford to be lax or stupid or lazy. Because one of these days, somebody tough enough and bad enough is going to come along and take up her offer and manage to snare one of you in a trap. We don't want that to happen."
He let out a long sigh. "I drove. I'l let Roz take over as to what we found. That's why there are stil pictures to look at. We took them along the way and when we got there."
"Got where?" Camil e asked.
"To a very unlikely compound," Rozurial said as he took the pointer from Morio. "First, these dudes are good at hiding in plain sight. They aren't coyote for nothing, I'l tel you that."
The picture that flashed on the screen showed what looked like a warehouse down by the docks. Smal , freestanding, but definitely a warehouse. The sign over the door read EMPORIUM MEATS, and a very realistic-looking delivery truck sat by the side.
"Oh, please tel me they aren't real y sel ing meat. I'd hate to think where they got it and what they put in their hamburger," Camil e said.
"Thank you so much for the visual, and no--they aren't," Roz countered. "My guess is that if you look in that truck, you're going to find restraints and whatever else they need to transport very angry, very drugged male beta werewolves turned alpha."
"Perfect." I stood, staring at the image. "They real y have cloaked themselves in the middle of the city. What about the warehouse?"
"Several entrances--standard front door. Big loading dock in back with doors on both sides. Morio scanned magical y for traps, but we were too far away, and we couldn't very wel walk up there and ask. The parking lot in back is big enough for about twenty cars--we did some checking and found out that at one time this building did, indeed, house a slaughterhouse. So it's got plenty of good setups inside for torture and tearing things apart."
"Then why would Van and Jaycee need to dissect the Weres at their house, if the warehouse had everything necessary?"
"I can answer that," Camil e said. "Two reasons. One--magic. Pure and simple. Or rather, not so pure. Think of it as territory. Sorcerers--even witches and mages--al have personal magical signatures. Each of us radiates a unique footprint on the magical realm, and my guess is that the coyote energy may interfere with Van and Jaycee's sorcery."
"And the second reason?"
"From what we can tel , for some reason, they kept it from the shifters that they're Demonkin. But the basement reeked of energy that--had I been a little more perceptive--would have told me just that fact. They wanted their privacy, and they didn't want to be recognized. And that fact may have saved our butts, since their unwil ingness to use the warehouse also seems to have been the one factor that prevented them from finding out about Amber and the spirit seal."
"So what next?" I asked.
