Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann Page B

take superglue. Industrial strength.”
    She had followed uninvited, but he hadn’t gotten mad. When he realized she had made it to the top, he said, “Well, come on over and have a look.”
    She had swelled with the thrill of accomplishment. “Have you shown Reba?”
    “I want to. But she won’t come. The climb is too hard and dangerous.”
    I made it , Tia thought. But Reba was a girlie-girl, weaving Jonah into her feminine spell until he believed her too dainty for real life. Settling into the saddle of the rock, her arm against his, Tia had looked out and thought how much her sister was missing.
    Sweat had collected beneath her breasts, down her spine, in the hollow of her throat. The awareness of him had been as heady as the thin air, the steep pitch, the perilous footing. The hint of danger that lay beneath his calm worked on her like the unfiltered sun, burning into her senses, leaving her breathless with wants she could not articulate.
    Clenching the walking stick, she halted, suddenly short of breath. Jonah did not own this mountain. But she turned around anyway, shaking.

Six
Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.
—FREDRICH HALM
    C limbing the hill behind Duffy’s cabin, Jonah called out so Moser wouldn’t shoot him. The warning wasn’t necessary. He was in no shape to shoot. “What’ve we got?”
    Moser straightened, still white from puking up the contents of his stomach. “Duffy hiked up here, like he does every day, discovered the kill, and thought it weird enough to call.”
    This time, the young raccoons were about eight feet apart. They had gotten that far by emptying their body cavities, the entrails having been sewn together. Two of each animal’s legs had been removed at the hip and shoulder socket so that together they had only four.
    “It’s like a wolf in a trap, chewing off its leg.” Moser’s voice wobbled.
    “Only this trap was another animal as frantic to separate as the first.”
    As he had the last time, Jonah took a number of closeups with the digital camera, holding his gorge with difficulty. It appeared that several of the organs had been divided and joined. A more complete connection than the last time when each beast had been left intact. “Our perpetrator has knowledge of anatomy and surgical skill.”
    “But why … what …” Moser’s question petered off.
    Jonah shook his head. “Let’s get a team up here, do a ground search. Footprints, maybe something dropped by observers.”
    “You think it’s a sport?”
    “Sport, rite, fetish. I don’t know, but these creatures didn’t get this way by themselves.”
    He surveyed the location. The steep slope and dense forestation were not a natural choice for a spectator event, though a half-dozen hooded spectators could have slipped in among the trees for their ceremony and slipped away as silently. He saw no circle of stones or ritualistic markings on the trees. Maybe it was one sick individual.
    Duffy’s property bordered parkland, accessible from several trails. He glanced at the one a short distance above. Both times the animals were released near a path or trail. Was there a pattern? a purpose? Or was it simple expediency?
    Newly arrived to help with the search. His steel stomach proved once again impervious to stink or gore, but the blood-soaked pine needles, cones, and twigs did not give up easy secrets. Double-pronged deer tracks marked a soft patch, probably a full-grown buck by the depth. They found no wrappers or cigarette butts, no boot prints, no human hairs.
    Jonah sent Newly back to his usual duties and told Moser to ask Duffy for a shovel. The photos would show enough. Not long ago, such a crime would have been considered minor. But animal cruelty had gained recognition, and this took it up a notch. Evisceration was dark stuff.
    Hands on hips, he scanned, trying to sense the motivation, gratification, whatever the perpetrator was going for. Footsteps crunched behind him, and he