As she walked in, she was surprised at the lack of smell. She smiled as the rescue looked rather well cared for, and the animals looked healthy. She smiled at the unexpected pleasure. She didn't even have time to reach the desk when Maddy appeared, a woman with just a touch of gray to her dark, tied-back hair. While her jeans, sneakers, and smile said casual, her purposeful stride and sharp eyes said otherwise.

“You're early.” She motioned for her to follow.

Straight to business; she could respect that. “I'm all yours.”

Maddy smirked. “You may come to regret that.”

Lady Astor smiled. “Probably. Let's find out.”

For the next couple of hours, Maddy worked with Lady Astor. Lady Astor helped clean out the pens, give the dogs a flea bath, and even feed the animals. She did this while scratching and cooing to each animal, treating them like her own children. If an animal was a little rough, she took a sterner stance until the animal backed down, but it was never done merely to impose her own will on the animal. She worked hard, and she worked with minimal supervision.

When lunch finally arrived, Maddy approached Lady Astor with a hoagie and bottled water when she put up some food bags. “You may want these.”

Lady Astor took the proffered food. “Thanks.” She opened the water. “It's been a while, but it's easy to see why this place is in as great a shape as it is.” She took a couple of sips of water before tearing open the sandwich.

“You did better than I thought you would.” She sipped out of her bottle. “So, I presume this is more than mere volunteering?”

Again, straight to business. “I've been looking at the deserted homesteads and the effect they had on the surrounding area, and I wanted to talk to someone about keeping it that way.” She tore into her sandwich.

Maddy thought about it for a moment. “Nothing to really discuss. The deserted fields provide some good food for the birds and deer, and those, in turn, keep the wolves and bears alive.”

Lady Astor put down her sandwich. “I was thinking of splitting the homesteads into conservatorships and research stations, with each station responsible for its area and a deserted homestead.” She sipped. “Some of our own want to get away from the town, and we could fill the remainder with interns.”

Maddy sipped as she thought about the plan. “Interesting. It would give some of our youths the chance they've been looking for while helping out the forest.” She took another sip. “Can you write me up what that would look like? I'm especially interested in how it would affect the local economy.”

Lady Astor grabbed something out of her pocket. She handed Maddy a small drive. “That should be everything you need.”

Maddy smiled as she accepted the drive. “Figures.” She put the drive in her pocket. “So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?”

Her eyes rolled. “Let's just say that cleaning the pens was the fun part of the day.”

Maddy smiled as she saluted her. “I don't envy you then.” Maddy walked back to the others. Lady Astor finished her lunch and walked to her SUV. That went better than I had hoped. She opened the door. The next should not be as easy.

* * * * *

Percival parked his bike and walked up to the ramshackle house. He hated this aspect of the investigation, but he needed to do this. Hyak Boqs had been the protector of the woods for the last several generations and had served in his position for so long that no one living, even Lord Jonathan, knew his real age. Percival just knew that the old man was the one who protected the forest from the big threats, but hoped that he had seen or heard something that may be of use.

As he parked his bike, Boqs emerged from the house with a couple of longnecks. He was an older man, short, wiry, covered in stiff hair, and wearing a pair of greasy overalls and dirty boots. His piercing green eyes stood out from the wild brown mustache and beard. He sat in a rocking chair on the left side of the table that had been a box in a former life. He opened both of the longnecks, placed one on the table, and tipped the other to Percival as he walked up.

“Evening, Inspector.” He motioned for Percival to sit down in the other chair. Percival did a quick salute as he sat down and grabbed the longneck. He took a sip from it, brow furrowing as it went down. “We need to get you a better brand, Boqs.”

Boqs smiled. “I drink what I'm used to. You may be more city than you think, boy.”

Percival smiled. “Maybe. But I'm still forest enough to know that you know every sound in this forest; a leaf doesn't fall that you don't know about, and I need some of that knowledge.”He sipped again.

Boqs looked to the forest. “True.” He looked back at the younger man. “So I presume that you're here about the rituals.”

Percival put down his beer. “Sounds about right.”

Boqs took a long drink from his beer. “Now, I don't get in the middle of the coven's activities, and occasionally they do some human sacrifices, especially when the seasons turn. It don't happen often, mind you, but it has happened.” Boqs stole a glance at Percival, enthralled by his story. “They started a couple of months ago, so I noted them but didn't interfere as long as the forest wasn't being attacked.”

“I'm not worried about you mortals as long as my forest ain't involved.” He took a long swig.

“As they were taking precautions to make sure that nothing was burnt, I let them do their little rituals. Some even benefitted the forest, so it's okay by me.”

Percival took a moment to take a long sip. “Understood, Old Timer.” Percival played with the bottle for a moment. “Thanks for your time. Be nice to the cubs who deliver your food.” He put the bottle down and stood.

“Willdo, Cub.” Boqs smiled as he saw that Percival had only drunk a couple of sips of his beer. “payment accepted.”

Percival headed for his bike. He made a mental note to have a week's worth of supplies sent to the cabin. Still, he couldn't shake a lingering suspicion: I know it wasn't witches, but he never lies. Percival put on his helmet and headed out, not knowing what to do with the information he had been given.

* * * * *

Sheriff Ann parked outside of the hospital. She decided she needed to see the victims up close; hopefully, they were up and ready to give their statements. First, she headed to the coroner's to find out what had happened to the victim. The coroner confirmed that her suspicions had been on the nose: James “Jimmy” Sanderson had died of exsanguination followed by burning. His liver had been removed, but minus that and the blood, everything was still there. Agents of the coven had accepted the corpse.

She hated it sometimes when she was right.

She then went up a couple of flights of stairs to track down a charge nurse. The female victim, Melissa Ortega, had already been discharged but had left behind a full statement. While she would need to question the girl to confirm the statement, it was nice that the coven was helping; usually, they played a bit cattier when it came to any sort of coven business. She would look at the statement later; she wasn't really sure if she would learn anything from the statement; the perpetrator had been thorough when it had come to hiding his tracks, after all.

She also looked in on Peter Stonehound, the accidental victim in all of this. He had yet to come out of his coma. His case was annoying the doctors as they had no idea why he was still comatose; he passed all of the physical tests with flying colors and none of the scans gave any reason why he should still be down. She looked at the gorgeous tattoos encircling his wrists; they looked sort of new but we're well past when they healing. She wasn't sure about the interlocking hands of the design.

She did feel sorry for the kid; he was a student renting a place in the woods alone. That meant that he had no family nearby, although his parents were flying in; they should be here by the weekend. Fortunately, one of the nurses, a Jena McBride, was keeping a close look on him, and she seemed to be making a point of visiting him several times each shift and had come in on her days off a couple of times. She doubted that there was anything brewing, but she would check in on her nonetheless; he may have said something, possibly while in the throes of a nightmare.

Otherwise, while she had found another possible lead, she had struck out here. She hadn't found anything new, but it was an interesting trip nonetheless; she had at least taken care of a few hanging threads. Percy had told her not to expect anything from the pair, but McBride might be able to fill in some blanks. She just had to find the girl at home. She left the hospital, heading straight for her home address.

* * * * *

The man finished the beer and walked inside. He locked the door behind, hoping that the kid remained clueless. Percival was sharp; hopefully, his patsy would work. But there was time enough to deal with the recriminations later; for now, he had to check in on his guest and make sure that he was fed. He had no idea how much longer he could keep the kid, but it only needed to be for a few more days. He had already gathered the materials he needed. He just needed to wait until the stars were right, and that would be in a few days.

He smiled as he opened the gate to the guest's room. Tomasz would not like his little surprise, and that was fine with him.