LITMIR.BIZ

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tail. Her mate continued to circle above, calling to her with a distinctive, slurred squeal: “Keee-rrr.”

      “Hello, my friend,” I said. “What can you show me?”

      I kneeled down as if praying, and held out my hand. When I opened my eyes, Hawk stood before me. She had done well through the winter, feeding on rabbits and rodents. Her legs were thick with the hard scales that allowed her kind to hunt poisonous snakes, snatching them off the ground in continuous flight then ripping their heads off.

      I touched her wing to strengthen our connection, then everything around me faded into the mist, and I saw the world through her eyes. We looked down upon this tabletop from her aerie, set into a crevice in the uppermost basalt layer of Schnebly Hill.

      Night. Her life mate was resting inside the stick nest, warming their three little eggs. She stood guard on the rim of the nest, mesmerized by the flickering campfire further down the hill and the human that passed in front of its golden glow every now and again. Movement near the escarpment caught her attention. She zoomed in on it.

      Even with her binocular vision, she didn’t see well at night. Between the darkness and the distance, the figure was nothing more than a shadow within a shadow. It was, however, unmistakably human and male.

      The human vanished then reappeared on the tabletop. He crept out to the edge. After some time, he opened his jacket. A rifle appeared. The human slithered onto his belly. The deadly black length of metal inched out over the precipice. He flipped the triangular hood of his jacket over his head.

      “Keee-rrr, keee-rrr, keee-rrr!”

      The panicked cries from above filtered into my awareness, and I jolted from the abruptness of Hawk’s retreat.

      The thumping drone became a shrieking wind as the news helicopter assaulted nature, and caused even me, a human, to cower from its thundering madness. The interruption didn’t dampen my excitement. I was finally on the SK’s trail.

      I knew I should alert David, but remembering Agent Delaney’s apparent ineptitude, I hesitated. Finding the hide would put the FBI one step closer to taking jurisdiction.

      The FBI had been in charge of all the SK murder scenes, and, not only did my father’s killer still walk free, but, based on my research, they’d never found a shred of evidence that they could act on. Either the SK left nothing behind, or the FBI had missed clues. They weren’t referred to by the rest of the law enforcement community as the “Feeble Eye” for nothing.

      I was in a race to close the distance between me and the SK, but I’d only get one chance at this scene. I needed details and I needed them fast.

      I drummed my staff on the ground, tapping into my gift. Pulsating life forces surrounded me, growing louder, until they drowned out the helicopter. I picked through the heart signatures until I located the animals whose skills would best serve my purpose. They were huddled together in a decayed fallen log, sleeping with their first litters of the season. I woke the little critters and asked for their help.

      David shouted my name from down the hill.

      I wasn’t ready to share my find.

      “Hey, Abra!” he called again.

      Dang it, I couldn’t withhold this from David. “Up here!”

      What the heck was taking the mice so long? I tuned in and found their fluttering heartbeats cowering near the base of the stair steps.

      Oops, sorry. I tapped back into my gift and gave instructions to the other animals.

      Raven took flight and glided down the hill toward Merry Go Round. Sundara trotted off to retrieve David. I sent an “off limits” message to the hawks who’d returned to the safety of their nest, then I reconnected with the mice. The coast is clear.

      Deer mice are agile climbers, and a few seconds later, a pack of twenty brown rodents crested the path to the hide. They swarmed the spot where the SK had lain.

      Deer mice, being nocturnal, see well in the dark, but sunlight blinds them somewhat. They kept their heads down and used their white gloved feet to scour the hide. It wasn’t long before I was rewarded with their excited squeaks.

      Keeping to the far side of the tabletop where I was sure the SK had not tread, I crept to the mice. Two feet in from the edge, there was a slight indentation where the SK’s left elbow had been. There were two little dents further out. I’d been hoping for more.

      David stomped on the talus below. His boots sounded rather pissed off until they stopped near the cairn I’d built.

      I thanked the mice and warned them to get undercover.

      Though the others had raced away, one mouse stayed. He rose up on his haunches and cheeped.

      “What?” I asked.

      His whiskers tickled at the indentation.

      I leaned over and put my face next to his. Two dark hairs were partially buried in the shallow hole.

      “You’re awesome, little one,” I whispered.

      “What did you find?” David asked.

      Mouse made a beeline between my knees and wedged himself under my ankle.

      “Take a look,” I said.

      David was an excellent tracker, his skills honed in the military as a means of survival. He studied the ground, tilting his head to get the right angle of light.

      “Elbow, bipod, line of sight,” he said. “I think you got it, girl.”

      “That’s not all.” I pointed to the hair.

      “Holy sh — ” He yanked the radio off his belt. “Devlin to base. Copy.”

      I coveted the two hairs. My fingers itched to take one. It held the SK’s essence, a piece of his soul. It would energetically connect me to him as sure any of the amulets attached to my staff.

      It was tempting, but I was well aware of the repercussions. I’d listened to David rant through plenty of movies whenever a character messed with evidence in any way. In real life, it was an affront to the victim, akin to spitting in her face. If we caught the SK, and my larceny was ever brought to light, he’d walk right out of the courtroom a free man. Nothing I might gain from having one hair would be worth that cost, but there was something I was willing to risk.

      I fished a plastic poopie-pick-up bag out of my gear pack. David was facing downhill toward the murder site, relaying our coordinates. While his back was to me, I slid my knife out of the scabbard fastened around my thigh and scooped dirt onto the blade from the section of earth where the SK’s scent would be the strongest. I poured the dirt into the baggie, and brushed away the marks I’d left on the ground. I was tucking the baggie into my pocket when David turned around.

      “Do you know what this means, Abra?” he asked. “DNA. We finally have something on this guy!”

      “I get it, but DNA won’t catch him.”

      Sundara whined from the base of the stairs, impatient to get on with the hunt.

      “She’s got his scent, David,” I said. “We’ve got to stay on it. No one’s ever been this close to the SK.”

      “Abra, slow down, we’re hours behind him. Wait till the others get here then we’ll track him together.”

      “We don’t have time to wait for them, or to do this on foot.” I put my fingers to my lips and let loose with a piercing, three toned whistle.

      “You’ve got to be kidding,” David said. “I didn’t see her.”

      “She knows to keep off the road and off the skyline.” Not to mention the natural camouflage of a pinto horse.

      I scooped up Mouse, hid him in my hand, and hopped to my feet.

      “He’s long gone, Abra, you know that.”

      “Maybe,

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