Shadrack was sitting outside his Winnebago, playing spades with his mother, on a small folding table, when he saw a police car pulling up to their lot. It was a black and white sedan. An officer stepped out of the car and started toward them. She had brown hair, tied back in a bun, dark sunglasses and a gray uniform. Her figure was lean and muscular. She wore a service revolver on one hip and a mag light on the other. Despite the lateness of the evening, the officer was easy to see because of flood lights mounted on the RV.
She approached them slowly and cautiously, as if she were unsure of her reception, or she worried that they would be dangerous. Shadrack had seen this visit coming. She was here to check on the gypsy and to try to influence them to find another place to stay.
Her voice was authoritative as she called to them. "Are you Sharon and Shadrack Rumancek?" Her arms were crossed over a modest chest.
They both nodded together, and Sharon called out. "That's us officer. Is there something we can do for you?"
The officer shifted her weight and looked them over with a critical eye. Her gaze seemed to rest more on Shadrack than his mother. "I have some questions for you."
"What's this about officer?" Shadrack leaned forward in his camp chair and put his cards down on the table.
"I'm not at liberty to say. I just need for you to answer my questions."
Shadrack nodded his agreement. He had nothing to hide. It hardly mattered. The police were always harassing them, even if they did not have just cause. He was, unfortunately, used to such treatment.
"Where were you both earlier today."
Sharon started. "I was at the dinner working and then my son picked me up at seven when my shift was over."
Shadrack said "I was studying at the library until about six fifty and then I went to collect my ma."
The officer nodded, "And did you come straight home after that, or did you make any other stops.
Sharon answered. "No officer, we did not stop. We came straight home."
The officer did not seemed convinced, though it was hard to tell without being able to see her eyes. She wrote their answers down in a little log book.
"Did either of you see a stranger come through her, walking or jogging? She would have been blonde."
Shadrac did not like where this was going. These were not the standard questions. Something bad had happened. He shook his head. "No, I did not see anyone else, but ma and me." His mother nodded in agreement. The police officer, whose name badge said Stephanie Rainford, was scared. Shadrack could smell her fear. She was prey, to the wolf. The wolf wanted to change and to track her down and eat her. He had control of his inner wolf, most of the time, except when the full moon came. The closer to the full moon, the more difficult it was to control it. Fortunately it would be another week until the next full moon.
"And your sure you came straight home. You did not stop off for groceries, or pick up any hitchhikers?" Sharon and Shadrack nodded.
Sharon laid her cards down as well. "Officer, what is it that your not telling us?"
"I'm not at liberty to say, but I would be obliged if you would both come down to the station with me, so that the sheriff can question you. Any little thing out of the ordinary that you remember could be critical."
Neither of them took is as a request, but as the polite order that it was Sharon was allowed into the RV for a moment, to grab a jeans jacket for her and her son, and then they loaded themselves in the back of the squad car.
A darkly dressed man, with a deep hood over his face, watched from the edge of the treeline. It seemed that the gypsies were under suspicion for the little craft project he had recently undertaken. Excellent. They would make good patsies. His work was not yet done. The demon Azreal still had to be appeased, and that meant that another craft project would been needed. With the police concentrating their efforts on the boy, he would be more free to look for the perfect opportunity.