Slocum 428 (15 page)

“I'll tell you just one more time, Hella. Then you have to get some rest.” Slocum tucked the quilt up under her chin and set the cup of tea down beside her bed.

“By the time I got up there at the top of the hill just behind the buildings in Timber Hills, there you were, flopped in the snow, but breathing.”

“Obviously,” she said, rolling her eyes, but smirking, too.

“And,” he continued, “there was a whole lot of blood everywhere, and not a few parts and pieces of what had once been Torrance Whitaker. And leading away from the mess, straight up into these hills . . .”

“Yes?” she said, like a little kid hearing the same ghost story every night.

“Tracks. Maybe a bear? Maybe . . . something else? What do you think?”

Hella smiled and closed her eyes, sinking back into her pillow. “I never said anything about skoocooms . . . ”

Slocum stood quietly and went to the fireplace, stirred a bubbling pot of stew. It looked like he'd be stuck in this warm mountain cabin with this Crazy Trapper Lady for the rest of the winter. Once again, John Slocum shook his head, wondering how it was that he'd come to end up here, safe and sound in big timber country—surrounded by wild beasts of all sizes and shapes.

As if in response to his thoughts, from the woods all about the little cozy cabin a ragged chorus of growls and shrieks filled the chill night air.

Watch for

SLOCUM AND THE WANTON WIDOWS OF WOLF CREEK

429
th
novel in the exciting SLOCUM series from Jove

Coming in November!