Night of the Wolves by Heather Graham Page A

back, and he thought he was tougher than solid stone. He went out to Brigsby. We found what was left of his body on the ground out by where the horses went crazy on Dave and me.”
    “We need to get out there as soon as we can manage it,” Cody said. “I’d like to be sure what we’re up against. Men like Milo…they can deceive, build traps. We need to find out everything we can if we’re going to fight them. Anyway, Sheriff, what you and your deputy here need to be doing is warning your townsfolk not to open their doors to strangers—and especially not even to be on the streets at night. I tried to tell the girls at the saloon that it was important to be…cautious, but that may have been a lost cause. Thing is—” Cody broke off, hesitating. The thing was, Cole Granger was going to have to accept some ofthe truth of the matter—or else the sheriff would be running him out of town before he could count to three.
    “Inviting folks in just leads to danger,” Cody finished lamely. “This place needs to be locked up tight at night. We’ll talk more in the morning, if that’s all right with you, Sheriff. I think we’re all worn to the bone right now.”
    “Good night, then,” Cole said, and Cody and Brendan started out of the graveyard. “Hey,” Cole said, calling them back. “Where are you staying?”
    “Miss Alex is back in town. They’re over at the boardinghouse,” Dave said.
    “Right. Alex is home,” Cole said thoughtfully. “Good night, then. And thank you for your help this evening. I offer you a true welcome to Victory.”
    Cody waved a hand in acknowledgment, wondering at the sheriff’s tone when he’d mentioned Alex’s name. Was something going on there? Long-ago lovers? She had gone back East to marry, so the story went. But now that she was back in town, maybe things would be rekindled out here. Why not? The sheriff seemed like a good man, young, good-looking. And Alexandra Gordon was…beautiful. More than that. She was a fighter. There was a life inside her that was like a shimmering flame, beckoning everyone to her.
    Even him.
    He tamped down the thought. He’d decided long ago that his life was meant to be a solitary one.
    “You think the boardinghouse is safe?” Brendan asked as they walked together along the street.
    Cody shook his head. “It’s a boardinghouse. Its business is opening its door to strangers.”
    “Someone in there knows something, though. There arecrosses all over the place, garlic festooned around the window.”
    “Doesn’t matter. Milo has already been in there,” Cody said.
    “Maybe we need more crosses,” Brendan suggested.
    “What we need is to kill Milo,” Cody said, and kept walking.
    Brendan looked after him. “Right. And then pierce his heart, chop off his head and burn the body to ash.”
     
    A S THE TWO OF THEM walked back to the boardinghouse, Cody thought back to how he and Brendan had met. It had started with the murderer Aldridge had needed his help in stopping. He could still remember bending over the first two bodies….
    The first of the two latest victims was lying on his back, a look of abject terror on his face. His wife was in worse condition. Her tormentor must have played with her first, because her eyes were closed, as if she had clenched them hard against the sight of her impending death.
    Both bodies bore stab marks about the chest and abdomen, but neither was lying in the expected pool of blood, and both were curiously white.
    “It beats everything I’ve seen,” Aldridge said quietly, watching as Cody moved the woman’s hair aside to reveal the marks he’d been sure he would find. Cody hesitated, wondering just how much of the truth Aldridge might be able to accept.
    The evidence was actually encouraging, at least as far as putting an end to the killing spree went. He was pretty sure he was looking at a rogue killer, someone who was trying to blend in with the population of the city. The stabmarks had been made to fool