He stopped at an intersection, watched one crow light on a streetlight near him and another perch on a bench only a few feet from the Jeep.

So he had an escort. Maybe. And if he did, it was likely the crows were also keeping an eye on the rest of the team. To watch what they did? To stand ready to help?

Or because they had their own agenda?

After how Duncan had used them, they would have been justified, after all, in having a less-than-positive opinion of the humans around them. That Nellie had gained them their freedom was good, but they had been prisoners of Duncan’s dark ambition much longer than they had been free of it.

Bishop shook his head slightly and drove on, still thinking about Salem. In only a few short months, this town had been the site of too many brutal murders, and if the majority of its citizens had been unaware of or able to ignore the deaths of victims just passing through or otherwise visiting Salem back in January and earlier, they were bound to feel very differently about family, friends, and neighbors being killed so viciously.

Between Aylia Blackwood’s farseeing, Simon Cavendish officially being missing, and the remains of two victims brought out of the mountains today, it was no wonder most of the people of Salem had apparently chosen to go home from work and stay home, keeping children home as well.

The town was shaken. And Bishop was very much afraid it was only going to get worse.

—

IN THEIR MAKESHIFT command center at Hales B and B later, after an evening meal no one had done justice to, the team considered what they had.

“Which is pretty much nothing,” Quentin pointed out. “The remains of one victim murdered six months ago or more. The remains of one murdered sometime last night or early this morning. A third potential victim missing. Unless Dr. Easton can tell us something we don’t already know, the only thing we’re more certain of than we were when we got here is that the targets do appear to be members of the five families.”

Diana stirred restlessly in her chair. “Nearly half the citizens of Salem are members of the Five—more if we try to add up all the descendants, right?”

Bishop nodded. “Do you doubt the Five are targets?” he asked her directly.

“No. Not really.” Her gaze met their team leader’s. “What’s happened so far seems to confirm it, right? And it was clear enough in the gray time that someone’s hunting the Five.”

“But?”

“I don’t know that there is a but. Except . . . it really can’t be just that, can it? The goal? To destroy the Five?”

“It’s certainly ambitious, if so.”

“I’d call it insane,” Quentin offered.

Diana nodded. “The Blackwood elder saw someone hunting the Five, killing them horribly. Hollis and I were told in the gray time someone was hunting the families, killing them, and Daniel showed us torture victims. Okay, we have two victims, so far, horribly killed. Tortured, or at least we’re sure the second victim was tortured.” She held her voice level. “And we have Simon Cavendish missing. All are members of the five families, if the tentative ID on Cole Ainsworth holds. But . . . if nearly half the people of Salem belong to the five families, even if what we believe we know is true, can we still just assume they’re being targeted because of that?”