“That’s not good enough. The whole world knows of your kind now. You shouldn’t be leaving us out of this.”

Donovan patted his leg. His hand came away bloody. “Whatever did this is out there. I’ve got four injured Weres and one dead teen. Check your CCTV tapes and you’ll understand that it’s in your best interest not to get involved. This is very dangerous.”

“Fine. Fine!” McTavish stared up at the sky, hands on his hips as he calmed down. After a minute, he blew out a breath. “What do you need from me?”

Wow. That was easier than expected. Maybe the American cops needed to take a cue from the Irish garda.

“We’ll have it cleared up within the hour. You’ve my word,” Donovan said. “It’d be a huge favor if you got rid of the CCTV tapes after you watch them. We’ll do the rest.”

“All right. I’ll get the footage. I can’t guarantee anything if it’s not all cleaned up by morning, but no one comes by at this hour.”

Donovan held out his hand. “Thank you, Colin.”

“Aye.” McTavish took the offered hand, giving it a shake. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Donovan nodded. We watched as the cop got back in his car and drove away.

“Well, that was easier than I expected,” I said.

“The town is all locals who’ve known of us their whole lives. For generations. We pay to keep the town healthy and prosperous. In turn, they help us when we’ve a need.”

“It’s kind of like that in Texas, but not quite. Mr. Dawson tries but…”

“Aye. If it had been so, the footage wouldn’t have gotten out.”

Nothing we could do about that now. “One question.”

“What?”

Something he said to McTavish wasn’t sitting right with me. “Does the beast really only kill after dark?”

Donovan shook his head. “No. John was killed in the day, remember?”

“Right.” It’d been night when we heard about it, but it was daytime in Ireland.

“I had to tell him something. Don’t want anyone to panic.”

“No, that would be bad.” Even though I was panicking a little. That beast was bad. I didn’t know how we were going to stop it. “So, how can I help?”

“Nothing much to do. Ian and some of the others are coming with the cleanup crew. We’ll burn what’s left of Thomas tomorrow before the run.” He sighed. “Christ. What the fecking hell is goin’ on?”

I caught an undercurrent of something that was bothering him—just a twinge—and couldn’t help but ask What’s wrong?

His blue eyes glowed. My second murdered and now Thomas… It’s too convenient.

I was missing something. Why convenient?

After this, if someone isn’t coming after me, then I’ll be very surprised.