The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles) (8 page)

I needed no more motivation
and within minutes, I was good and out. Bliss only lasted a few
hours and I was awoken by my alarm clock at six thirty. The aroma
of breakfast filled the air again and that always took the edge off
of such an early morning. Just like the day before, I had a plate
full of eggs and bacon waiting with a cup of coffee.

“
Keep this up and I’m going
to hire you on here.”

“
As lovely as that would
be, I highly doubt you could afford that on your
salary.”

She was right there; I
certainly wasn’t in this for the money. Everything was pleasant
until I got a knock on my door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so when
I opened the door and saw all three Alphas standing there, I felt a
headache coming on.

“
Victor my boy, Argent sent
your email over to me and Chaz. What the hell were you doing in El
Paso and, more importantly, what did you get yourself involved
in?!” Chaz and Argent were standing behind dad; I figured those two
bums got him riled up.

“
Callum Inglewood, please
allow me to explain what is happening. It was my fault that your
son was dragged into this messy affair.”

Just like that all of dad’s
bluster was gone. “Of course Lady Ambassador, I would be most
interested to hear your take on the events.”

I just shook my head as
they all sat down in my living room and soon were listening to
Elizabeth. I was still hungry so I went back into the kitchen to
finish my breakfast. After I had my fill, I reluctantly went back
into the fire that was my living room. All three of them were
hanging on to her every word like little kids being told a
story.

“
All four of us were no
longer in fighting shape and it looked bad. Through the good
relationship forged between your son and the local Reds’ Alpha,
they came back to check on us and saved us all. Within minutes of
their intervention, the monster was torn to shreds.”

Dad looked over at me as I
walked in. “Is that true my boy? Look at you forging bonds with
other packs!”

“
Yeah, Chief Greenfoot is a
good guy. I think you two would get along rather well,
dad.”

“
While I am all for good
relations Callum,” Argent was a negative Nancy, “the point to Miss
Swansea’s story is that this Cactus Killer seems to either be
expanding his territory or recruiting. By the way sheriff, Munoz
from Howling Canyon is going to be up today to check out the
Alvarez body.”

I shrugged my shoulder.
“I’ve no issue with that mayor. Have him work with Detective Jacobs
on the matter; she is leading the investigation on him. I’ll
coordinate with her once I get back from Elephant Butte this
afternoon.”

“
With all due respect
mayor, I think we need to start reaching out to the other packs.
Whoever is behind this nonsense is turning humans into monsters!”
Chaz, I could tell was getting worried.

“
You are right Chaz; I will
make the necessary phone calls to packs outside of our area. With a
dead Red in Texas, the rest of the southwest needs to know what’s
going on.”

“
Miss Swansea, do you have
a number that I can reach Josh Greenfoot? I would personally like
to thank him for saving my boy and set up a meeting. It has been
too long since I had the pleasure of meeting with another Red
Alpha.”

She gave dad the
information and with everyone having their part to play, the three
Alphas left. For a few moments, I thought it was funny how things
had dramatically changed within forty-eight hours. When I woke up
on Saturday, I doubted you could have gotten Argent to go meet with
one of the local packs, let alone start calling packs from
different states. And I couldn’t remember a time in my life that
dad ever left town. Granted, he was pushing two-hundred and ten
years old so I am sure he knows other Reds, but he never mentions
anything about it.

“
So what is our plan for
today? Do I need to top off my tank to be ready for another
fight?”

“
Not to be discussing a
sensitive topic, but how often do you need to eat
something?”

“
Since I can tell you have
not been paying a bit of attention since I moved in, I have enough
bottles of blood in your refrigerator to last me another week or
so.”

“
You put blood in my
fridge? That thing is only meant for beer and meat!”

“
So I noticed, but if you
want me not to go out and find it from the source, you will just
have to suck it up.”

She was right of course,
plus the next town over wasn’t exactly close. “You keep cooking and
I will have no issues.”

I’m pretty sure she mumbled
something about men being useless. “As for our plan today, I hope
we don’t stir up the nest. I just want to get in and do some recon
work and get out. Depending on what we see, we will take it from
there.”

“
Could we really have a
peaceful day in Full Moon? I did not think that was possible. I am
going to hold you to that, Vic.”

“
I blame you; my life was
pretty peaceful until this nonsense started.”

“
Fair enough, but look at
the time. We need to get on the move if we are going to meet up
with the local officers before heading over to Holy
Methodist.”

She had a good point and we
both went to our rooms. I got myself dressed and took a moment to
make sure Roscoe was reloaded before putting it in the holster. I
also took the time to shave the fur off of my hands. It would keep
growing back for a few days until the effects wore off, but I
didn’t want to tip these guys off.

Before I went downstairs to
meet with Elizabeth, I opened my closet. After last evening’s
encounter with the monster, I knew I had to arm both of us with
something a little more tangible. Popping the floor board up, I
pulled out twin tantos (Japanese style short swords) my grandfather
had made me as a turning gift. Forged from silver from the mines,
these were near and dear to my heart. I had never used them, but
God rest his soul, he would want me to.

I pulled them both out of
the scabbard and they shined like the day I got them. Satisfied, I
put them back in and headed downstairs. It was high time I made an
acquaintance with Rev. Warren Tucker. 

We were back on the road
and Elizabeth was fawning over the two swords. “These are perfectly
crafted! Did you say it was your grandfather who made these for
you?”

“
Yeah, they were a turning
gift for me. He said I didn’t need fur to be a wolf.”

“
I would have liked to have
met him. I assume he has passed on?”

“
He passed away when I was
sixteen. He was old for a wolf though, so it wasn’t a sad passing.
That’s when dad took over the pack.”

“
It is ironic, two old
beings like him and I and we never crossed paths. Though in
fairness to him, I never felt the need to come to New Mexico.
Amongst vampires, we consider it sort of the land lost in time.
Obviously, I neglected a lot. Maybe if I took a stronger role, this
‘Cactus Killer’ we have now would not be such a
problem.”

“
Hindsight is always
perfect, but we learn from the past. No one is to blame but this
psycho for the crimes committed. With some luck today, we may just
be one step closer to putting an end to his sick ways.”

“
I am glad you entrust me
with one of these swords. I feel much safer now if we run afoul a
creature similar to what we encountered last night.”

She wasn’t the only one who
felt a bit better about it. I’m not one to brag about my abilities
in a fight, but I’ve taken down my fair share of drunken (the
keyword here) wolves that would normally a lot more gumption than
me. It was quite disconcerting that nothing I did even put a dent
in that thing. We don’t have a pack of wolves to call at a whim, so
hopefully these will do.

When we got to the Elephant
Butte police station, we were greeted by a Detective Lawrence. He
was a rather chatty guy who asked us a million and one questions
about our case and where we were from. Thankfully, Elizabeth used
her magic powers of persuasion and soon after, he led us up to the
church without another word.

Holy Methodist is exactly
what you think of when you picture a southwest style church. It was
made out of stucco with curved clay shingles on the roof. Lots of
stained glass windows and mosaic tiles covered the walls to give it
that Spanish feel. Elizabeth told Detective Lawrence to hang out in
the car and we made our approach to the church.

“
Can you enter a church
without bursting into flames?” I snickered at my own joke and she
just stopped. Uh oh…

“
I can and will knock you
into next week and not bat an eye.”

I know it’s juvenile, but
when she said ‘bat’ I started laughing even more. She just huffed
and stormed into the church. I quickly decided it would be in my
best interest to follow. I also got into the zone; I wanted to see
if that musky smell was present here.

Being a weekday, there
didn’t seem to be much activity in the church. In fact, it was
empty. We walked up to the alter and so far nothing out of the
ordinary struck me. I caught the fragrance of incense and old
books. That was normal to me.

“
Good morning! It is so
nice to see young ones come into the church! What can I do for you
two?”

An older gentleman came out
of the back room and was walking towards us. Again, nothing jumped
off at me that screamed suspicious about him. In fact, he looked
downright harmless and just how a church leader should look,
Godly.

“
I wish I could say we were
here for the right reasons pastor, but my partner and I are
investigating some nasty stuff.”

“
Oh no, well that is not
good. The fact you are here is a little troublesome.”

“
Why do you say that? And
can I get your name for the record?”

When I asked for his name,
there was no telltale sign of a man with his back against the wall.
The man in front of me was genuine, calm, cool, and
collected.

“
Of course, my name is
Pastor Michael Browne. Before I continue on, may I know to whom I
am speaking as well?”

“
My apologies, I am the
sheriff of the small town of Full Moon, Victor Inglewood. This is
my partner in this investigation Elizabeth Swansea.” I also flashed
him my badge and he smiled and approved.

“
Sheriff, if you don’t
mind, let us go back to my office. We will have more privacy for a
conversation of this magnitude.”

We followed Pastor Browne
into his office and he closed the door. Elizabeth and I sat down in
the antique wingback chairs in front of his desk. At least we were
going to be comfortable.

“
I’m going to shoot it
straight with you sheriff; I came into a mess here a few weeks ago.
The previous leader of this church was always considered eccentric,
but his behavior had grown increasingly erratic.”

I had been writing down
everything he had said. I didn’t even get to tell him why we were
here yet and he was already giving me information. I wish all
interviews went like this. “Was his name Rev. Warren
Tucker?”

“
Yes, that is him. How did
you know that?”

“
Bibles with his name and
this church were found at an assault scene and a murder scene. The
crimes themselves were full of weird happenings as
well.”

“
Would it have anything to
do with his obsession that werewolves, vampires, and their ilk are
among us? That is the mess I came into sheriff.”

“
Oh, I don’t know anything
about that sort of thing, but in both cases the suspect used a
cactus branch as his signature.”

“
Are you sure?” For a man
who was so calm a second ago, the mention of a cactus branch sure
did spook him.

“
I’ve lived in New Mexico
my whole life Pastor; I know what cactus looks like.”

“
Pastor Browne, what has
you looking so flush? I could swear I can almost hear your
heartbeat increase.” Elizabeth was right; I had also picked up on
that.

“
Rev. Tucker used cactus
all the time in his sermons. He was famous for using them as an
analogy for his followers.”

That was odd indeed. “Can
you give me an example of such?”

“
Oh sure, he used to
compare us to the cactus. He would say much like the cactus
survived in a harsh world, it was our job to survive in the desert
of life and find water, or faith.”

“
That is very interesting.”
These notes would make for a great read for the rest of the people
back in Full Moon.

“
If you would expand on
your earlier point, Pastor Browne, you said Rev. Tucker had some
delusions of monsters living among us?” It was hard to tell if she
was being serious or having fun with him, but it was a good
question.

“
I found some journals left
here when I took over, and yes, he had a very detailed delusion. In
the oldest ones he stated that vampires had infiltrated our way of
life and by the time you got to the most recent ones, it expanded
to werewolves. He was under the impression God had given him a
mission to exterminate the daemons.”