"You've thought of something, what?" he asked.
I opened my mouth, closed it, and tried to think of something else to say out loud. "Why keep killing the tigers?" I said.
"You mean now that they know you and Jean-Claude have your own gold tigers in St. Louis?"
"Yes. They were supposed to kill the clanless tigers to keep us from getting the gold tigers to bond with metaphysically. It's too late, Edward, we've already done that, so why keep killing the other tigers?"
"Maybe they're looking for a specific weretiger."
"Maybe, but why, or who, and again why? There's nothing to be gained by it."
"I can think of one thing they've gained," he said.
"Okay, what?"
"They've separated you from Jean-Claude and all the other people you're metaphysically tied to. In St. Louis you have enough bodyguards to make up a small army. Here, it's just you and the police."
"You think they'd risk attacking me with the cops around? I mean, the whole concept of these guys is that no one knows they exist. They're really invested in being this big dark secret."
"If Mommie Darkest told them to kill you, would they risk being outed to the human police?"
"Maybe," I said, and then I had another idea. I wasn't sure it was worse, but it scared me more. "Her first idea was to take over my body. She wanted to kill me only after she realized I was too powerful for her to move into me."
"Are you as powerful out here hundreds of miles away from Jean-Claude and the rest?"
I thought about it, really made myself look at it. "Metaphysically, no. I'm safer if I can touch my master and animals to call."
"Maybe they're killing the tigers to keep you out here."
"You think they'll try to kidnap me?" I asked.
"If she still wants your body, yes."
"And if she just wants me dead, then that works better out here, too," I said.
"It does," he said. He was looking out at the edge of the field. He was checking the perimeter for danger, trying to see the Harlequin hiding in the trees along the edge of the green, summer field.
"I don't sense any wereanimals," I said, "and walking in full daylight is incredibly rare. I've only met three vampires that could do it."
"If they're these ultimate spies, would you be able to sense them?"
"I think so," I said.
He glanced at me, then went back to scanning the area. "That's pretty arrogant."
"Maybe, but I'd still know if there was a preternatural close to us."
He spoke without looking at me, "Please, tell me this isn't the first time you wondered if this was a trap for you."
"I thought they didn't know the gold tigers were in St. Louis. They should have stopped killing the others after they learned that. It's one of the reasons we made it public."
"So either it's a trap to keep you away from St. Louis or Mommie Darkest forgot to rescind her order."
"What do you mean?"
"Would they slaughter the weretigers until she ordered them to stop, even if it made no sense?"
I thought about it. "The ones that are loyal to her are fanatically loyal, so I think they might."
"So either she forgot to tell them to stop, because she's busy doing something else . . ."
"Or she's just that crazy," I said.
He nodded. "Or she's that crazy, or they're waiting to either kidnap you, or kill you."
"Fuck," I said.
"You need to talk to Jean-Claude."
"I thought you didn't like him," I said.
"You don't like Donna either," he said.
"So we each don't like the people that the other one loves." I shrugged.
"You need bodyguards, Anita."
"Why not just go home to St. Louis?" I said.
"The Marshals Service frowns on us leaving a case in the middle of it, but that's not the problem."
The other marshals were moving toward us. I moved closer to Edward, and asked, "Then what is the problem?"
"How would you go home?"
I frowned, but answered. "I'd get on the first plane I could catch and go home."
"The police would drop you off at the airport, and then you'd be alone."
"What?"
"You'd be in the airport, and on the plane alone, Anita. If I really wanted to take you and it was important to not be seen doing it, that's what I'd be waiting for, you alone, away from the other police, and Jean-Claude."
I leaned close, speaking low. "So what do I do?"
"Have some guards come in from St. Louis."
"How do I explain that to the other cops?"
"We'll think of something." And then I knew the other marshals were too close to talk more, because Edward's face folded into a grin. His face lit with that charm that Ted always seemed to have. If there was an Emmy award for hired killers, Edward would so have won.
I wasn't nearly that good, but I managed a pleasant blank face to my fellow marshals. They asked, "See anything that'll help us catch these bastards?"
Edward and I dutifully said, "No."
Chapter Two
I HAD BEEN called into Marshal Raborn's office. It was a neat, square room. The only thing in the room that was messy was the desk, as if he'd straightened every edge in every file cabinet, and then left file folders on his desk overnight and they'd bred into short, unsteady towers of paperwork. Raborn was the local marshal in charge. If I'd been a regular marshal he'd have been more in charge of me, and Edward, but the preternatural branch was rapidly becoming its own entity, which meant Marshal Raborn was frustrated. He seemed to be particularly frustrated with me.