Along Came a Tiger (Tiger Shifters) (10 page)

Oh, god. If she killed Williams, and he did have another victim somewhere who was still alive, there would be no way to save the woman. Sarah would ensure her death as surely as she’d killed Williams.

She wanted to throw up. Daniel was right. She hadn’t been thinking. She hadn’t seen past her own need for retribution. But this man had killed before. He had a drug he’d used on at least two victims, a drug designed to incapacitate. There was no reason to think the two women they knew about were the only two victims, or that Williams would stop.

Killing him might stop future murders, but it wouldn’t save any potential victims he had now. She had no idea,
no idea
what he had done or when. He needed to be handed over to the authorities alive, so he could talk. Just in case…

In tiger form, she couldn’t say any of this to Daniel, but he must have felt her shaking beside him, as he gently bumped against her shoulder. She gave him an almost silent chuff but kept her gaze on Williams.

When Williams closed the car trunk, he had something else in his hands besides the shovel. He scanned the area again then he walked toward the trees where she and Daniel hid. Sarah edged backward on silent feet, as fast as she could move without making any noise. Daniel stayed with her. Williams turned into the woods just before reaching them and circled around behind his property, making his way into the park.

Heading toward the burial spot.

Damn it. He was going to move the body.

CHAPTER NINE

Without thinking, Sarah tracked Williams through the trees. They had to see where he moved the body and hope somehow the police could still tie it to him.

Why was he doing this? Had they given themselves away last night? Did he realize they suspected him of murder? Or had he always intended to move the body?

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Her nose curled as she caught Williams’ scent again. The stench of his craziness was so obvious to her now. How had she missed it before? How had she let her best friend get anywhere near this killer?

Guilt was a physical lump in her gut, and that distraction left her careless for a split second. She stepped too hard on some dried leaves and they crunched. She froze as Williams paused and looked over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed.

“Who’s there?” he shouted.

She and Daniel remained as still as the trees. She barely breathed as she waited for Williams to move on. After a long, tense moment, he started forward again.

She waited for Daniel to follow. This time, she concentrated on keeping silent. Time for regrets and guilt later. Now she had to focus on doing what she could to point the human authorities in Williams’ direction.

When he reached the spot where the body was buried, he set the shovel into the ground and crouched, fingering a place in the dirt. The place Daniel had disturbed.

How the hell could he see that? He was human. She was positive he was. She would have been able to smell “other” on him if he was something more. The tigers were an insular population, but there were things in the world
…other shapeshifters, other beings who might have been able to see that disturbed ground. But Williams wasn’t one of them. She was sure of it.

Yet, he’d spotted something. In the dark. Without even a flashlight to help.

Damn.

Williams stood and scanned his surroundings again, turning in a slow circle. When he faced them, Sarah realized he’d pulled a gun from somewhere. He held it up and out as he turned, poised to fire.

She held her breath, crouching low.

“I know someone is there,” Bradley said, almost pleasantly. “I can feel you watching.”

Sarah didn’t even twitch her whiskers or swish her tail. She kept everything tucked and quiet. He definitely shouldn’t have been able to feel them. Was he just guessing, shooting in the dark, so to speak? Or did his psychosis give him heightened senses?

Williams’ gaze narrowed. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Just a hint of agitation leaked into his voice. He was being watched by two deadly predators. Maybe his insanity didn’t override common self-preservation instincts after all. He had no way of knowing these particular predators wouldn’t actually attack.

Sarah realized Daniel didn’t know
she
wouldn’t attack. He must be worried about her as they waited. She had no way to relieve his concern except to remain motionless, so she did, trying to let him know she had no intention of killing Williams now.

The man stared at the surrounding trees for a long time before he finally picked up his shovel, but rather than start digging, he considered the point, frowning. He looked into the trees again.

“Ah, ah, ah,” he said in a weird sing songy voice. “I’m not that easy.”

He hefted the shovel over his shoulder and started back toward his house.

Sarah frowned. So he wasn’t going to move the body now? Was that good or bad for them?

He returned the shovel to his car trunk and then went into his house while Daniel and Sarah remained safely hidden in the trees.

Now what? If they left to call the cops, they gave Williams time to move the body unobserved. If they remained, they wasted time. If they separated…As far as Daniel was concerned, if they separated, he risked her trying to get her revenge.

They needed to shift so they could talk.

She nudged his shoulder and motioned him away from the house. She led him to the place where they’d left their clothes and changed back to human form. She dressed while Daniel shifted, keeping her back to him so she wouldn’t have to see him naked.

When she was sure he was ready, she faced him. “Now what?” She spoke in a whisper too quiet for a human to hear, because even though they were a ways from Williams’ house, she didn’t want to take any chances. Not when he was proving to have better senses than a human should.

Daniel stared at her. “We need to contact the human authorities and try getting them here tonight, before he has time to move the body. They might have cause to search his car and find that shovel.”

“Why? The body isn’t on his land. They have no legal reason to suspect him. Besides the shovel smells like grass and dirt,
not
dead body. It’s not going to have evidence on it.”

“But it’s suspicious. A shovel in the back of a Jag? It’s something. The person who’s buried probably has friends and relatives who might be able to connect Williams to the body. That could give the cops cause to search his property.”

“They won’t get that information fast enough to keep him from covering up evidence. And what if he moves the body while we’re gone?”

“Then we’ll just have to—”

Daniel stopped short and his head came up, his gaze narrowing. A beat later, she heard what had caught his attention. The house door opening and closing.

“He’s leaving?” she mouthed.

Daniel shook his head and continued listening. She focused on the distant sounds too, waiting for the car to start. It didn’t. Instead, she heard…nothing. They were far enough away that she wouldn’t be able to hear Williams breathing, but she should be able to hear him walking. Maybe he was just standing outside his door? Maybe he hadn’t actually come outside and just opened the door to…put trash out or something harmless.

But as Daniel continued holding himself still and watchful, anxiety crawled through her gut. Then she heard it, a snap of a twig.

“He’s coming this way,” Daniel said in a hushed tone. He grabbed her arm and dragged her deeper into the trees, back toward the park.

“He can’t know we’re here,” she said.

“He suspects something, though. Take a deep breath.”

She did and realized what Daniel was talking about. Gun oil—not the same smell as the small pistol he’d held up earlier. “He’s got another gun?”

“Yes.”

“A bigger gun?”

“Can’t say. Just don’t want you anywhere near it.”

“We need to get to the truck.”

“He’s angling across that direction, cutting us off. He’s closer to the truck than I like. We risk being seen if we try passing him.”

“We can move fast enough…”

“You saw him spot the place in the ground I disturbed. Don’t assume anything with this man. Even if all he sees is the truck and a license plate, we’ll be fucked. We can’t risk going directly back. We need to lead him away, then make a wide circle back.”

“Shouldn’t we shift then? If he sees us in human form, we’re in trouble, too.”

“And if he sees tigers where they don’t belong?”

“He’ll recognize us both like this, though. If he tells people he saw tigers, no one will believe him.”

“Good point. Especially since the ground is dry enough, we aren’t leaving discernible paw prints. Okay.” He raised his head, as if gauging his location. “This way, as fast and quiet as you can. We’ll put some distance between us and him and then shift.”

Daniel took them deeper into the park. She clearly heard Williams now that he was inside the woods. He was extremely quiet for a human, moving like a skilled hunter, which was more than a little unnerving. But her sensitive ears still picked up enough to allow her to pinpoint his location.

How the hell had they become the hunted instead of the hunters?

To avoid making noise, they didn’t jog nearly as fast as they were able, but it was enough to give them the brief window they needed.

Stripping quickly, she glanced around. “Where do we leave the clothes and shoes?”

“Tie everything up in a bundle. We’ll carry them. If he or the authorities find our clothes, they could lead them back to us.”

“We need to get to a phone.” This was one of the rare times she regretted never getting a cell phone.

“I know,” Daniel said. “We will. Just not with Williams on our tails.”

Despite the tension, Sarah’s heart beat faster when Daniel took off his jeans and t-shirt. A part of her, the part that wasn’t worried about being shot by a crazy human, got a little charge out of this adventure.

As she let the tiger take her, her excitement started outweighing her anxiety. Her tiger recognized danger, but also viewed its own skills as superior. As she rose up on four paws, she savored leading the human on a wild-goose chase.

Digging her claws into the dirt, she stretched her long muscles. Then picked up her bundle of clothes in her teeth and faced Daniel where he stood waiting for her. They took off at a fast lope, purposefully drawing Williams after them.

The run through the dark woods was far more freeing than the situation should have allowed. She let her body move on instinct and savored the stretch and pull of thick muscles and heavy limbs. Letting this part of her out released days of tension and frustration. She needed this.

Her ears twitched as she listened for Bradley. He’d changed directions, picking them up and tracking them.

Daniel led her deeper into the woods, keeping well away from any hint of human presence. This area was relatively isolated. Williams had likely chosen a house at this edge of the park for that very reason. This was as quiet and isolated as he could get and still be close to Philadelphia.

She and Daniel paused at the edge of a sluggish stream. Daniel raised his head, staring back toward their “hunter”. Rather than jumping over the stream, he switched directions, keeping Williams close.

As they drew him in, Sarah suddenly realized she couldn’t hear him anymore. She’d been following Daniel and lost track of Williams’ location. When Daniel stopped abruptly, his head up and moving as he scented the air, she realized he’d lost Williams, too.

The man must have stopped moving. He was quiet, a good hunter, but not quiet enough when walking to avoid their sensitive hearing. He was down wind too, because she couldn’t smell him at all. She and Daniel both faced the direction they last sensed him and waited, crouched low, listening intently.

The fur on her nap rose as instinct warned her all was not well. She eased back to put a tree between her and the area she thought Williams might be. Daniel did the same, but because the human was no longer moving, his exact location was impossible to detect.

If he’d been a tiger, they would have sensed his location. She wasn’t able to do that with humans. Daniel might be able to but as far as Sarah knew, most tigers could only locate humans by sound and smell.

They waited, muscles bunched and ready to move, still as was physically possible. She let her belly touch the soft, dry dirt but remained ready to spring up if necessary. She searched with her eyes as well as her ears, looking for any telltale glint off Williams’ gun, or even the flash of light in his eyes. Her eyesight was far superior to a human’s in the dark, but if Williams was a hunter, he would know how to keep from giving himself away visually.

Tension vibrated through her muscles and her heart pounded. She considered moving closer to Daniel but didn’t want to risk calling attention to their location. The longer they waited, though, the closer dawn drew and the harder it would be for them to get out of the area without being spotted. On the other hand, Williams would hardly risk digging up a body once it was light, so the closer they got to dawn, the better chance they had of getting the human authorities here before it was too late.