Falcon Ridge, but the roaring wind continued to shake the trees and howl incessantly, biting at his cheeks.
A half hour later, he packed the boxes in the trunk of his SUV and drove down the mountain to the vet. Dr. Phil Priestly, the town veterinarian, studied the animals with dismay. The vet was in his midforties, intelligent and had done an internship at Cornell University at its Veterinary School of Medicine. He had also been attacked by violent wild dogs once and had a special interest in animal behavior. His assistant, a young guy named Elmsworth, watched him from the lab.
“I’ll look them over, take some samples and blood, and see what we can find.” He frowned and pulled at his chin. “You say the woman had talon marks on her back?”
“Yes. Thankfully her heavy coat offered some protection, but the attack was pretty vicious. My brother is calling a wildlife biologist and the EPA to help us look into this matter. If the water or vegetation is contaminated, it could affect other creatures in the forest.”
And eventually might trickle into the town’s water source and affect humans. A danger Brack didn’t want to face.
The vet nodded. “I’ll run full tox screens and let you know what I find.”
“Good. We need to solve this mystery ourselves before Cohen stirs up so much panic, the town goes on a wild bird hunt and destroys the wildlife.”
He thanked Priestly, then climbed into his SUV and cranked the engine. He wondered what the doctors had determined about Sonya, if they’d discovered anything on the blood or hair fibers on her skin.
He punched in the hospital’s number. It took a minute but the receptionist finally patched him through to Sonya’s doctor.
“It’s Brack Falcon, Doctor Waverman. I’m calling to check on Sonya Silverstein.”
“She’s fine. I’m preparing the paperwork for her release now.” He paused. “Although I wish she’d stay the night. She’s weak and needs rest, but she insists she wants to go home and be with her daughter.”
The mother bear protecting her cub.
“What did you find on those tests? Anything unusual?”
“I can’t discuss her medical records with you, Mr. Falcon.”
“I’m not asking about personal information. But if I’m going to find out what attacked her, I need to know if you discovered anything unusual. I’ll check with the CSI lab if I need to.”
Waverman muttered something beneath his breath. “There was something odd,” Waverman admitted in a low voice. “I haven’t told Sonya yet, but mixed with her blood, I found traces of another human’s blood. What’s even weirder, there were also traces of animal blood on her skin.”
Brack’s blood ran cold. “The blood of a bird?”
“That I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait on more tests to verify the source.”
Damn, Cohen would have a fit.
An image of Sonya wounded and bleeding, lying in that snow the night before, flashed back, and Brack pressed the accelerator.
If Sonya’s attacker was part animal and part man, then they were dealing with a mutant creature of some sort.
But if it was human, the sicko might be afraid she would recognize him. Which meant that he might come after her again.
And she might still be in danger.
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