Arnoux gave a harsh bark. “No. The beast controlled him. But I know how capable he is of murder.”
“But there was… no evidence—”
“How cold-blooded you are,” he said, his rage replaced with contempt. “To continue your ‘study’ after your lover’s death, blinding yourself to the obvious truth.” He leaned forward, and Alex smelled the old sweat on him, felt the heat of his breath. “But you are a scientist, and scientists require proof. What of the woman he killed in Saskatchewan—the woman you picked up in Falkirk? Did you ignore that as well?”
Alex fought harder than ever before to show nothing of what she felt. “Lori?” she whispered.
“He tore her to pieces, Miss Warrington. Just around dawn this morning. I saw her body.”
“I don’t believe you!”
“You can read it in the papers tomorrow. Or did you know all along? Was this part of your ‘study’?”
“No!” she cried, jamming her hands over her ears. “I didn’t know! Oh, God.” She bent double, bringing back all the horror she’d felt when she first learned of Lori’s death. It wasn’t hard to do. “We picked her and her son up in Falkirk,” she said, letting the words spill out. “Kieran said he’d known her once. But he was acting strangely, and we fought. We fought, and he… ran off, and I didn’t see him after that. I thought he’d continued his journey here. Lori’s sister came to get her son, and then Lori disappeared—”
“Isn’t that proof enough?” Arnoux said heavily.
She stared at him through her tears. “He never… hurt me.”
“You were lucky, Miss Warrington. You gave him what he wanted. But sooner or later, he would have turned on you.” His fanatic’s eyes took on a glaze of distance. “Just as he turned on me.”
As Arnoux traveled to some place beyond her reach, Alex forced herself to be as cold-blooded as Arnoux had suggested, tallying the few facts she’d managed to gather. Arnoux was hunting Kieran, apparently believing him to be a murderer, and with full knowledge of what Kieran was. He knew all about her and Peter, and Lori. Somehow he’d overheard, from Julie, where they were bound. He had followed them all the way from Minnesota.
Followed them, like a dark shadow. He had been at each place where the murders had happened. Julie’d said he lived near Merritt. He could have been there five years ago when Julie’s cousin had died the exact same way.
“You saw… Lori’s body?” she croaked.
He focused on her again. “Yes. As I’ve seen the others he killed.”
She covered her face with her hands. “I don’t understand,” she moaned. “I thought I’d… discovered a scientific wonder when Kieran came to me. But you’re saying I… helped him when he’d… killed…”
Arnoux grasped her wrists and pulled her hands from her face. “Is there something human in you after all, Miss Warrington?”
“I’m no murderer!” she shrieked.
He slapped his hand over her mouth. “Quiet.” When she nodded, eyes wide, he let her go again. “What has been done cannot be undone.” He sighed. “Your error is almost understandable. I believe such creatures have great power to delude mortal men. They can look into your eyes and make you believe falsehoods, in the same manner as their Master. As Kieran deluded me.”
Alex swallowed several times. Unbelievably enough, her act was working. “Then… what if I want to help you?”
His eyes narrowed again, and she hurried to keep her momentum. “If—” She sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. “If I helped him kill people—if he killed Peter—then it’s partly my fault.” She met his gaze with the look of one who has reached a sudden but difficult decision. “I have to stop him. Isn’t that why you’ve come—to stop him?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his reply, but he offered nothing more.
Alex sat up. “He was with me for over a week. I know his habits. I know how he thinks. I can help you.”
“Then tell me why he came here.”
“I don’t know.” Stick dose to the truth, she told herself. She leaned forward, holding his hooded gaze. “Not entirely. Only that something was calling him here. I had to find out what it was.”