The second floor included a master bedroom, a guest room, a full bathroom, and what appeared to be a small craft room.In the master bedroom, the king-sized bed was neatly made, a decorative pillow carefully centered against the headboard.On the bedside table, a glass of water and a well-worn paperback novel.Jenna checked the closet—clothes hung in orderly rows, shoes paired on the floor below.
In the bathroom, a towel hung over the shower rod.A toothbrush stood in a holder by the sink, toothpaste nearby, its cap firmly in place.The mirror cabinet revealed ordinary medications—Tylenol, antihistamines, a prescription for occasional migraines.
The last room they checked appeared to be a teenaged girl’s bedroom.Jenna remembered that Claudia had a daughter away at college—Emily, Jenna thought her name was.
They finished checking the upper floor and returned downstairs.Jenna's unease had deepened rather than diminished.It all seemed too normal, too undisturbed.Whatever had happened to Claudia, it had happened elsewhere, after she'd left the house—but her car was still in the driveway.None of it made sense.
“Let's check the backyard,” she suggested.“Maybe there's something askew out there.”
They moved through the kitchen to the back door, which opened onto a wooden deck overlooking a neatly maintained yard.Like the front, the backyard showed Keir's input—stone pathways winding between garden beds, a small water feature bubbling in one corner, the edges of the lawn precisely trimmed where it met the woods beyond.
The woods.Something made Jenna look up, scanning the sky above the tree line.
“Jake,” she said, her voice tight.“Look.”
Against the clear blue of the morning sky, dark shapes circled lazily.Vultures.Five or six of them, riding thermal currents as they maintained their vigil over something below.
Piper's words echoed in Jenna's mind with sudden, terrible clarity:Vultures circling over the wolf.
“Damn it,” Jake muttered beside her.“That's never a good sign.”
Although Jenna didn’t say so, she realized it might be worse than Jake realized.He didn’t yet know about Piper’s communication about vultures.
“Call Miller, Ramirez, and Delgado around,” Jenna said, already moving down the deck steps toward the yard.“Tell them to let Mrs.Thornfield go home and join us.We need to check this out.”
Jake spoke into his radio as he followed her across the lawn.Officers Miller, Ramirez, and Delgado appeared moments later, rounding the side of the house.
“Stay alert,” Jenna instructed them.“We don't know what we're walking into.”
At the edge of the woods, a well-worn path led between the trees.It wasn't a formal trail, more like a route that had been traveled often enough to compact the earth and clear away undergrowth.Jenna led the way, her hand resting on her holstered weapon, senses heightened.The sounds of suburban life faded behind them, replaced by the rustle of leaves and occasional chirp of a bird—though there weren't even many of those, as if a lot of woodland creatures had vacated the area.
About fifty yards in, Jenna paused.To the right of the path, discarded beer cans and cigarette butts littered a small clearing.
“Looks like someone's been partying out here,” Jake observed, crouching to examine the debris.He picked up an empty plastic bag with gloved hands, sniffed it, and grimaced.“Weed.Probably local kids using the woods as a hangout.”
“Could Claudia have confronted them?”Officer Miller suggested.“Maybe things got out of hand?”
“Maybe,” Jenna said, but the theory didn't feel right.The beer cans were dusty, the cigarette butts looked soggy.The debris had been here since before last night.
They continued down the path.The trees grew denser, the light dimmer, filtered through the canopy overhead.The vultures were directly above them now.
Then Jenna saw it—suspended from a thick branch about twenty feet ahead.Something large and misshapen, hanging by a rope.
"Stay back," Jenna ordered, drawing her weapon."Jake, with me.Miller, Ramirez, and Delgado wait outside and keep any curious people away."
The officers complied, moving to positions that gave them visual coverage of the surrounding area while keeping a respectful distance from whatever was hanging from that tree.
Jenna and Jake approached slowly, weapons ready.As they drew closer, the grotesque details came into focus.A large burlap bag hung from a sturdy rope, but it wasn't just a bag—someone had attached crude legs and paws to its sides and a papier-mâché wolf's head to the top.The head was primitive but unmistakable—pointed ears, elongated snout, jagged teeth painted white against gray.Black button eyes stared sightlessly ahead, giving the creation an eerie, watching quality.
“What the hell?”Jake whispered.“A wolf?”
Jenna stood frozen for a moment.Piper had said that vultures would show where to find a wolf.And then she’d added, “You have to cut open his belly.”
“We need to get it down,” Jenna said, holstering her weapon.“Carefully.”
Jake looked at her sharply.“You think...?”
“I think Claudia Kingsley is likely to be inside that bag.”