Hibla shrugged. “That will be harder, but I will ask some questions. I’m going to station additional guards on the walls and put another sentry here.”

“Have them carry torches or flashlights,” Derek said.

“We can see in the dark,” Hibla said.

“He’s right,” I told her. “Even with night vision, in the dark you might not notice a guard being attacked right away, but you would notice a fallen torch. It’s a pain in the ass and it’s tedious, but it’s better than being dead.”

Hibla nodded. “Yes. You have a fair point.”

“I would also interview my people,” I said.

“I know every one of them. None of them did this.”

“It goes to the theory of the crime,” Derek said. “We don’t know why these murders are happening and we need to figure out why, so we can anticipate their next move.”

I nodded. “Two of your people are dead, Tamara and the guard by the gate. We need to know if there was any link between them. They could be random victims, or they could be part of a pattern. You need to reconstruct their lives. Did Tamara and the other guard have enemies, were they in debt, and so on? Right now we don’t know enough.”

“They could be targeting Desandra,” Hibla said. “They could be targeting one of the packs. They could be targeting Lord Megobari.”

“Exactly,” Derek said. “We need to collect information and then we can howl in the dark.”

* * *

Hibla led us back to the main keep and left us to our own devices in the main courtyard. It was mostly empty, except for some djigits tending to the horses. Above us the sky was so blue and beautiful. I stared into it. Maybe I’d see a flying monster and solve all of our problems.

“Are you waiting for a clue to fall on your head?” Derek asked.

“Yep. Tell me if you see one coming.”

“Nope.”

“My super mental powers must be getting rusty.”

We walked toward Doolittle’s room.

“Thoughts?” I asked Derek.

“Jarek,” he said. “He has the most to gain.”

I had to agree with the reasoning. Desandra’s father was the only one who really won if she failed to survive. He wouldn’t want to be blamed for it, so he’d somehow hired or allied himself with some weird shapeshifters and now they were trying to nuke his daughter. It was a good theory. Except again Jarek Kral the founder of the dynasty didn’t fit with Jarek Kral the daughter killer.

“Why take the bodies?” I thought out loud.

“Hiding the evidence. For kicks. Or food.”

I glanced at Derek. Cannibalism was forbidden to shapeshifters. Eating human bodies triggered a catastrophic avalanche of hormones that led straight to loupism. It drove the shapeshifters insane.

We reached my room. I opened the door and stuck my head in. Empty.

“Curran?”