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.That night it was her specialty: Shepherd s Pie.While Jeremy dished it up, I threw together a salad in thekitchen.I walked into the dining room to see him leaning over the steaming pan, spatula only partwaythrough the first cut."Smell this," he said.I did.The scent of hot beef and potato wafted up.My stomach rumbled."Smells great.Now hurry up and scoop it out or I ll take the whole dish."I reached for the casserole, but Jeremy pulled it back."I m serious.Something smells off.""The meat?" I said, leaning in for a closer sniff."Seems fine to me.Doesn t matter anyway." Ourstomachs, like a wolf s, were strong enough to withstand meat that was undercooked or past itsbest-before date. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlJeremy waved me away from the food, forked up a mouthful and sampled it.Then he made a face anddiscreetly spat it into a napkin.I scooped up a fingerful and ate it.It tasted fine, but I didn t say so.IfJeremy thought our food had been tampered with, I wasn t going to argue.His sense of smell and tastewere marginally better than my own and, even if he was imagining things, he was entitled to a littleparanoia these days.Jeremy started for the door, paused, came back and took the casserole with him."Hey, if you think there s something wrong with it, I m not going to eat it," I called after him.After one last look in the direction of my vanished dinner, I tucked into the salad.A few minutes later,Jeremy returned."I called John," he said.John was Pearl s son, who d taken over delivering our meals when his fatherdied a few years ago."He says he didn t see Pearl this afternoon.When he got to the house, the coolerwas inside the front door, so he took it and left."I laid down my fork."And he didn t think that was strange?"Jeremy shook his head."These days, Pearl often naps in the afternoon.Even I knew that.""Does Malcolm?"As Jeremy pulled something from his pocket, he gave a half-shrug that I interpreted as "probably." Helaid the Shepherd s Pie in front of me again."Close your eyes," he said.I did.He instructed me to sniff and I again smelled the pie.Then he held something else in front of mynose and I inhaled a vaguely familiar odor one that I d also faintly smelled on our dinner."Yeah, that s it," I said, opening my eyes."What is ?" I knew the answer before I even saw the bottlein Jeremy s hand."Sedative.The stuff from your medical bag.Is any missing?"He shook his head."But Malcolm s seen it before, plenty of times.We all have.If he knew the name, he d know what toget, and he d know it works on werewolves." I looked at the casserole."So he dumped enough in thereto kill us.""No, we d smell that much easily.This is just enough to knock us out."I pushed my chair back and stood."Well, I m not waiting around to see what he planned to do next."Jeremy laid a hand on my shoulder."I think we should do exactly that.Malcolm expects us to be asleepearly tonight.Let s give him what he wants, and see what he does with it."EndgameThree hours later, when I heard the garage door knob turn, I was sprawled out on the sofa in the study,the most likely place for me to crash pre-bedtime.Sure enough, the footsteps headed straight for me.I Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlcounted three sets and, almost the moment I d finished counting, identified them: Wally and his two oldestnephews, Stephen and Andrew.Disappointment zinged through me as I realized Malcolm wasn t amongour uninvited guests, but I wasn t surprised.As much as Malcolm might like a showdown with his son, hewasn t stupid enough to take that risk.This way, if things went bad, he could claim that the Santos hadacted on their own.I held myself still as they came into the room.I was lying on my back, with my left arm slung up to hidemy face, in case I slipped up.As they walked into the room, I struggled to keep from tensing.I could endthis here.We had to let them make the first move, or Malcolm would claim he d only sent them toretrieve his shaving kit or something equally ridiculous."Out like a light," Andrew said, leaning over me."Probably because he scarfed down most of dinner himself," Stephen said."Let s just hope he left enough for Jeremy," Andrew said.Stephen snorted."Like it matters.Even if Jeremy s wide awake, I could take him with one hand tiedbehind my back.""Maybe so," Wally said."But you re not going to try it.Andy, I want you to stay here, make sureClayton doesn t wake up.""Let s skip that step," Stephen said, stepping close enough that I could feel the heat of his body."Howabout we stage a little accident ? Damn, Mal, I know you wanted Clay left alive, and we really tried, buthe woke up and we just had to ""Don t even think about it," Wally said."Even if he does wake up, we re following orders, tying him upand leaving him alive.You don t want to test Malcolm on this.""Goddamn it!" Stephen snarled."He hates Malcolm.We re the ones who ""It s not fair, I know," Wally said softly."When all this is over, we ll take care of Clayton, and things willchange.Now, Andy, as I was saying, you stay here.If he so much as stirs, come and get me.Got it?""Got it."The moment Wally and Stephen left, my heart started pounding, urging me to take care of Andrew andgo protect Jeremy.Yet I knew it would take them a while to find Jeremy.if they found him at all.Jeremy had crisscrossed the house, from top to bottom, laying enough trails that they d eventually getfrustrated and give up trying to track him.Then they d check the obvious spots he might have passedout his bedroom, his studio, the bathroom but he wasn t in any of those.I had at least fifteen totwenty minutes before they began to suspect that Jeremy wasn t asleep at all.I forced myself to count off five minutes before I peeked.By that time, Andrew had retreated toJeremy s armchair.He sat there, staring at me, unblinking, as if I could wake up and pounce in themillisecond it took him to blink.The stink of fear wafted from him.That was why Wally had left himbehind, because if I did wake up, Andrew would make damned sure he called for help instead of tryingto take me on by himself.After another couple of minutes, Andrew began to relax and, as he relaxed, his gaze wandered to the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlbookshelf.Two more minutes passed.Then he eased up from the chair, gave me one last look, andturned toward the bookshelf.I sprang the moment his back was to me.My hand was around his mouth before he realized I d left thesofa.I could have killed him then [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.That night it was her specialty: Shepherd s Pie.While Jeremy dished it up, I threw together a salad in thekitchen.I walked into the dining room to see him leaning over the steaming pan, spatula only partwaythrough the first cut."Smell this," he said.I did.The scent of hot beef and potato wafted up.My stomach rumbled."Smells great.Now hurry up and scoop it out or I ll take the whole dish."I reached for the casserole, but Jeremy pulled it back."I m serious.Something smells off.""The meat?" I said, leaning in for a closer sniff."Seems fine to me.Doesn t matter anyway." Ourstomachs, like a wolf s, were strong enough to withstand meat that was undercooked or past itsbest-before date. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlJeremy waved me away from the food, forked up a mouthful and sampled it.Then he made a face anddiscreetly spat it into a napkin.I scooped up a fingerful and ate it.It tasted fine, but I didn t say so.IfJeremy thought our food had been tampered with, I wasn t going to argue.His sense of smell and tastewere marginally better than my own and, even if he was imagining things, he was entitled to a littleparanoia these days.Jeremy started for the door, paused, came back and took the casserole with him."Hey, if you think there s something wrong with it, I m not going to eat it," I called after him.After one last look in the direction of my vanished dinner, I tucked into the salad.A few minutes later,Jeremy returned."I called John," he said.John was Pearl s son, who d taken over delivering our meals when his fatherdied a few years ago."He says he didn t see Pearl this afternoon.When he got to the house, the coolerwas inside the front door, so he took it and left."I laid down my fork."And he didn t think that was strange?"Jeremy shook his head."These days, Pearl often naps in the afternoon.Even I knew that.""Does Malcolm?"As Jeremy pulled something from his pocket, he gave a half-shrug that I interpreted as "probably." Helaid the Shepherd s Pie in front of me again."Close your eyes," he said.I did.He instructed me to sniff and I again smelled the pie.Then he held something else in front of mynose and I inhaled a vaguely familiar odor one that I d also faintly smelled on our dinner."Yeah, that s it," I said, opening my eyes."What is ?" I knew the answer before I even saw the bottlein Jeremy s hand."Sedative.The stuff from your medical bag.Is any missing?"He shook his head."But Malcolm s seen it before, plenty of times.We all have.If he knew the name, he d know what toget, and he d know it works on werewolves." I looked at the casserole."So he dumped enough in thereto kill us.""No, we d smell that much easily.This is just enough to knock us out."I pushed my chair back and stood."Well, I m not waiting around to see what he planned to do next."Jeremy laid a hand on my shoulder."I think we should do exactly that.Malcolm expects us to be asleepearly tonight.Let s give him what he wants, and see what he does with it."EndgameThree hours later, when I heard the garage door knob turn, I was sprawled out on the sofa in the study,the most likely place for me to crash pre-bedtime.Sure enough, the footsteps headed straight for me.I Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlcounted three sets and, almost the moment I d finished counting, identified them: Wally and his two oldestnephews, Stephen and Andrew.Disappointment zinged through me as I realized Malcolm wasn t amongour uninvited guests, but I wasn t surprised.As much as Malcolm might like a showdown with his son, hewasn t stupid enough to take that risk.This way, if things went bad, he could claim that the Santos hadacted on their own.I held myself still as they came into the room.I was lying on my back, with my left arm slung up to hidemy face, in case I slipped up.As they walked into the room, I struggled to keep from tensing.I could endthis here.We had to let them make the first move, or Malcolm would claim he d only sent them toretrieve his shaving kit or something equally ridiculous."Out like a light," Andrew said, leaning over me."Probably because he scarfed down most of dinner himself," Stephen said."Let s just hope he left enough for Jeremy," Andrew said.Stephen snorted."Like it matters.Even if Jeremy s wide awake, I could take him with one hand tiedbehind my back.""Maybe so," Wally said."But you re not going to try it.Andy, I want you to stay here, make sureClayton doesn t wake up.""Let s skip that step," Stephen said, stepping close enough that I could feel the heat of his body."Howabout we stage a little accident ? Damn, Mal, I know you wanted Clay left alive, and we really tried, buthe woke up and we just had to ""Don t even think about it," Wally said."Even if he does wake up, we re following orders, tying him upand leaving him alive.You don t want to test Malcolm on this.""Goddamn it!" Stephen snarled."He hates Malcolm.We re the ones who ""It s not fair, I know," Wally said softly."When all this is over, we ll take care of Clayton, and things willchange.Now, Andy, as I was saying, you stay here.If he so much as stirs, come and get me.Got it?""Got it."The moment Wally and Stephen left, my heart started pounding, urging me to take care of Andrew andgo protect Jeremy.Yet I knew it would take them a while to find Jeremy.if they found him at all.Jeremy had crisscrossed the house, from top to bottom, laying enough trails that they d eventually getfrustrated and give up trying to track him.Then they d check the obvious spots he might have passedout his bedroom, his studio, the bathroom but he wasn t in any of those.I had at least fifteen totwenty minutes before they began to suspect that Jeremy wasn t asleep at all.I forced myself to count off five minutes before I peeked.By that time, Andrew had retreated toJeremy s armchair.He sat there, staring at me, unblinking, as if I could wake up and pounce in themillisecond it took him to blink.The stink of fear wafted from him.That was why Wally had left himbehind, because if I did wake up, Andrew would make damned sure he called for help instead of tryingto take me on by himself.After another couple of minutes, Andrew began to relax and, as he relaxed, his gaze wandered to the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlbookshelf.Two more minutes passed.Then he eased up from the chair, gave me one last look, andturned toward the bookshelf.I sprang the moment his back was to me.My hand was around his mouth before he realized I d left thesofa.I could have killed him then [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]