Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury by C.t. Adams . Cathy Clamp

see. Will invited Adam to the friendly lunch he already had scheduled with you, Cara. Now that I've met you all and heard all the great things the town has to offer, I'm interested in investing and think my mutual friend of Adam's would be interested, too." He turned to Adam and pointed a finger at his chest. "Who in your pack has the most ready cash, or already has investment properties? We'll need to involve them.”
    Adam pursed his lips briefly. "Probably Mike and Sheila Kassner. They've got a string of art galleries in the cities and do some rental renovations on the side. He's loaded but is getting fed up with his partner in the gallery, a family member—not part of the pack. He's actually one of the people who offered to come down.”
    Cara furrowed her brows at Adam's statement. She couldn't quite figure out what he meant by a family member who wasn't in the pack. How was that possible? She nearly opened her mouth to ask, but it wasn't important. What was important right now was getting the stories straight. Curiosities could wait.
    "So, what am I supposed to do besides introduce you guys?”
    Now Lucas turned stern again. He looked at both her and Adam critically. "You and Adam will be spending as much time together as possible for the next three days—making up a list of potential candidates for this pack. Adam, I know that volunteers were your preference for those who came down, but the reality is that Cara's right. The transition from city to small town is going to be difficult, and Sazi abilities are critical. You'll need to think of your pack as a whole. Which members could start new businesses down here that might prosper, what businesses are needed here that wouldn't be seen as an intrusion by the locals? Where to house them, etcetera.”
    Cara cocked her head a bit as the phone started to ring in the office again. "Why three days?
    What's going to happen then?”
    Lucas opened his mouth to reply when an intentionally loud voice came over the answering machine's recorder. "Cara, it's Maggie. You're needed.”
    Adrenaline rushed through her. She stood up in a rush without excusing herself and headed into Rosa's office. It was a damned good thing Maggie had raised her voice, since she never would have heard it normally from underneath the invoices and packing slips stacked on top of the machine.
    "You there, Sheriff? You're not answering your radio.”
    Sheesh! She really needed to talk to Rosa about fire hazards like covering up the vents on an electrical appliance— especially one this old. She picked up the receiver and tucked it into the crook of her neck while she removed the multihued papers to find the off button so the conversation wouldn't get recorded. Ah. There it was. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Maggie. What's up?”
    "There's trouble down at the hospital, Cara. Billy spotted a white van, just peeking out of the brush off Little Coffey Creek Road. He thought it might be a coyote dropping off illegals, so he radioed for backup and took up a position to watch.”
    Oh, God! Here she was, sitting in a stupid meeting while some of her people might be—"Were shots fired? Is anyone down?”
    She heard Maggie's sigh of relief. Even though she seldom showed it, being the dispatcher—
    hearing horrible things happening and knowing she couldn't go help—was a huge strain on her.
    "Thankfully, none of our people. But by the time Rick arrived, Billy noticed vultures were starting to circle. They found three bodies—cause of death unknown. They looked recent, probably no older than last night, according to Billy, but it was obvious animals had gotten to them. I guess it was pretty messy with claw and bite marks. They're at the hospital now and the coroner's been called. Rick found papers on them and checked them. The IDs are fake, and there was a whole stack of blank ones in a compartment under the driver's seat. So if Will's still there with you, you might mention it. I've called it in to Immigration and