A smoking pistol cast its shadow over the wall. Gideon turned, his gaze sliding past the pistol to the young man in police blues who cast an even larger shadow than the gun.

“Silver bullet,” the officer said flatly. “Works every time.”

The distant song of sirens congested the air, growing steadily louder. The officer’s eyes, as dark and flat as his voice, drilled into him. “Don’t say anything, kid. There’s gonna be a lot of questions. Let me do the talking.”

Gideon nodded, unable to speak, and looked back at the dead beast littering his hallway.

Only it wasn’t a beast.

The beast had vanished.

In its place sprawled his mother—naked except for the familiar gold cross nestled in the indentation of her collarbone.

And through the open doorway of his parents’ room lay his father’s mutilated body—a mangled, broken toy, blood pooling around him in an ever-enlarging circle.

CHAPTER ONE

Beware the silent dog.

—Man’s Best Friend: An Essential Guide to Dogs

Stepping out of her car, Claire Morgan sniffed the smog-laden air warily. Locking her door, she faced the run-down apartment building and sighed. Brushing the salt of French fries off her slacks—evidence of her weak-willed drive-through detour—she eyed the gray building made all the more ugly by painted-on shutters framing every window. It had taken her over an hour to find it. Apparently in this neighborhood, when street signs went missing, no one bothered to replace them.

Distracted, she failed to notice the two adolescents on skateboards launching themselves down the center of the street in her path. One of the skaters clipped her hip, nearly knocking her to the pavement.

“Hey!” she cried.

One of the youths turned back and flicked her an obscene gesture.

“What am I doing here?” she muttered, shaking her head.

But she knew the answer to that question even as she asked it.

She was here for Lenny.

By all accounts, Lenny Becker had been a lost cause. Seventeen, repeating his sophomore year, he’d originally sat in the back of the class with his head down, buried in his arms. Gradually, as the year progressed, he’d started paying attention, even staying after class so she could tutor him for his SAT, which he was scheduled to take tomorrow. It was the one test he couldn’t miss; he would be there if she had to drive him to school herself.

Squaring her shoulders, she faced Lenny’s apartment building. A radio played in the distance. The rock music that echoed off the row of apartment buildings lining the block had a liveliness that contrasted with the eerie stillness of the neighborhood. Sweat dampened her nape and she lifted the hair off her neck to let the faint breeze cool her skin.