**********

If Nik hadn’t been a cop he would have had a good chance of success as a professional boxer. His asymmetrical features, including the hint of a broken nose from a past altercation, and his impressive physique meant he was often mistaken for just that. Adelmo looked at him, wondering how many times a month Nik visited a barber to keep his fade so perfect.

“Where am I?”

Nik laughed, looking at his old high school buddy with a curious expression.

“Where do you think?”

Adelmo looked around at the hospital room. There was an elderly man in the next bed being visited by what appeared to be his adult children and a couple of grandkids.

“What are you doing here?”

Nik laughed again.

“I’m the detective, remember? How about you answer some of my questions?”

Adelmo finally smiled, and sat up in bed.

“Yeah, sure. If I can.”

“Let’s start with what the hell were you doing breaking into that store?”

“What?”

“What were you doing?“

“I heard you the first time. I wasn’t breaking in. I was just taking some pictures. Or trying to.”

“Adelmo, they found you inside.”

“No way. I had just taken a picture of the bloody paw print on the outside wall, and then somebody clocked me.”

“Wait a second. Bloody paw print? What are you talking about?”

“There’s a bloody paw print on the side of the building. I just went back to take a picture of it.”

Nik just looked at him strangely.

“That’s another thing. Why were you snooping around the store this morning?”

“I wasn’t snooping. I was just...”

“Look, Adelmo. We’ve been friends a long time. But I have to wonder why you keep showing up at this crime scene.”

“I told you.”

“Yeah, the picture. You just wanted to take a picture.”

“That’s right.” Adelmo was starting to get a little nervous now. Nik was a good friend, but he was also a good cop. Adelmo would have been wondering the same things if the shoe was on the other foot.

“With what?”

Adelmo was getting more confused by the minute. Nothing was as it seemed.

“I don’t understand.”

“You had no cell phone on you. You had no camera. How exactly were you gonna take a picture?”

“But...”

Adelmo looked around, checking the drawer in the table next to the bed.

“Del, relax.”

“Where are my things?”

“Adelmo, calm down. Your clothes are right there.” He gestured toward a plastic bag on the chair by the window. “There was no phone in your pockets, or at the crime scene.”

“But, I had my camera.”

“Adelmo, look at me.”

Adelmo looked into the eyes of his friend, whom he had known since he was a boy. Nik’s eyes showed real concern now. He was starting to think maybe even Adelmo didn’t know why he was at the store.

“You really don’t remember how you got into that store?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t go there with anyone, break in, and maybe have an argument or something?”

“No.”

Nik looked at him for a long time, finally leaning in to squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. “I believe you.”

Adelmo felt relief wash over him. With all the crazy stuff happening over the last couple of days, it was good to know someone out there was on his side.

“Let’s get you checked out of here.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Then we’ll take a little drive.”

“Where to?”

Nik just smiled.

**********

Adelmo and Nik looked at the side of the store where the paw print had once been. The surface of the brick was rough and dirty, and there was no evidence of any recent staining, let alone cleaning.

“I don’t understand. It was right there.”

Adelmo stood there, looking more confused than ever. Finally, he turned to Nik. “I know it was there.”

Nik sighed. He was hoping the little conk on the head had only temporarily addled his friend’s thinking, and that a trip out to see the wall would convince him to snap out of it. He didn’t believe that Adelmo had anything to do with the murders, but it was strange how he showed up so soon after the bodies were found and snuck past the police lines, not to mention showing up unconscious in the store eighteen hours later with no recollection of how he got there.

The paw print was the icing on the cake.

Nik had to wonder if his friend was cracking up a little. Suddenly, Adelmo’s eyes lit up, and he dropped to the ground and started crawling around in the grass like a dog. This was too much for Nik. He roughly grabbed Adelmo around the waist and scooped him off the ground like a bag of laundry. Nik was built like a bull and incredibly strong.

“Del, what the hell is your problem?”

“Let go of me, Nik.”

“Not until you tell me what the Hell is going on with you.”

Adelmo suddenly broke free of Nik’s grip and shoved him away. Nik hit the wall hard, losing his breath with the force of it.

Adelmo dropped once more to his knees and started sniffing the grass like some kind of animal, until, apparently, he found what he was looking for and turned back to Nik triumphantly, rising up on his knees.

To Nik, who’d finally caught his breath but was still leaning against the wall, Adelmo looked for all the world like a wolf that was ready to howl at the moon.

**********

Nik drove his car while Adelmo sat quietly beside him, lost in thought. He wasn’t sure what it all meant, but he knew it was somehow related to his grandfather and that strange man from the shop.

Nik rubbed the back of his neck. Adelmo had thrown him off pretty hard. He snuck a look at his friend. He’d never known him to be that strong. Maybe he hadn’t been holding him as tightly as he’d thought. And the way he’d been sniffing the ground like some sort of tracking animal. It wasn’t like a dog, it was something else. He was acting more like some sort of predator.