He didn’t have time for power struggles this morning. Lizzy hadn’t touched the two slices of the peach he’d cut up to share between them, and the half slice of toast had a single bite out of the soft middle.

This morning he wasn’t going to cajole or scold.

He picked up Lizzy’s dish, put the peach slices into a container, which went in the fridge, and dumped the toast into the sealed bucket that held scraps that would be used as food for the critters the terra indigene ate.

He poured the rest of her milk down the drain and heard her shocked “Daddy!” as he rinsed the dishes and left them in the sink—and was glad his mother wouldn’t see them.

He fetched his service weapon from the gun safe in his bedroom. Lizzy was still sitting at the table. At least she was dressed for the day. “Let’s go. You need to stay with Miss Eve until it’s time for school.”

“I have to brush my teeth,” Lizzy protested.

“You’re out of time, so you’ll just have to go to school with stinky breath and fuzzy teeth.” Monty walked to the door and opened it. “Let’s go.”

Lizzy slid off the chair and clutched Grr Bear as a column of smoke flowed through the open door. The Sanguinati’s head, chest, and arms shifted to human form; the rest of him remained smoke.

“Do you want me to stay with the young one until an appropriate human comes to fetch her?” he asked.

“Appropriate human” meaning someone who wasn’t Jimmy or Sandee.

No reason to think the Sanguinati would hurt Lizzy—or feed on her. He wouldn’t have hesitated if Vlad had made the offer, but he didn’t feel comfortable leaving his girl alone with someone he didn’t know well, human or not.

Lizzy settled things by rushing over to him and grabbing his hand. “Grr Bear and I want to go with Daddy.”

The Sanguinati nodded, shifted back into a column of smoke, and returned to his position at the foot of the stairs, guarding nothing.

Monty locked the door but left the screened windows open. Providing intruders with easy access to one’s residence was not what the police department recommended, but he knew the Hawkgard and Crowgard made use of the porch railings and the shade as they kept an eye on the activity in the Courtyard apartments—and watched for small furry meals.

He hustled Lizzy across the yards and up the porch steps. Pete Denby met him at the door, a question in his eyes.

“Hi, Monty,” Eve said too brightly as she joined her husband. “Lizzy, Miss Ruth hasn’t gone to the schoolroom yet, so why don’t you come in? Sarah is just finishing her breakfast.”

“Daddy poured my milk down the drain,” Lizzy announced as she and Grr Bear went inside.

“I should put a sign around my neck,” Monty muttered.

Pete forced a smile. “Don’t bother.”

They both heard the caws as Crows winged back to the Courtyard.

Kowalski came around the side of the two-family house, dressed for work. “Lieutenant?”

“Call me if I can help,” Pete said.

“I will.”

Unspoken warnings from Pete and Eve. Did they know something about Sierra’s disappearance, or had they observed something this morning that made them cautious? Monty went down the steps and met Kowalski on the walkway. “Karl, you should go to the station, see if there is anything we need to know before we start the day’s shift.”

“Should I look for anything in particular?”

Monty hesitated, but only for a moment. “A yellow taxi picked up my sister and her girls around daybreak on Earthday. I might need to talk to the driver after I speak to my mother.”

“I can make some calls, but you might want to ask Simon first. I didn’t see the taxi, but I saw him in the customer parking lot that morning. He might have seen something.” Kowalski hesitated. “If Sierra had been coerced in any way, I think the whole neighborhood would have known about it.”

“I know.” Simon might be upset with Sissy, but he wouldn’t have allowed her to be taken against her will.

“I’d better get moving if I’m going to catch the bus,” Kowalski said.

Monty saw the lights go on in Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite. “Tell Captain Burke I’ll be in after I see a Wolf about a girl.”

• • •

Simon didn’t flip the Closed sign, but he unlocked HGR’s front door before returning to the counter where he’d begun sorting the book requests from the terra indigene settlements the Courtyard supplied with human goods. According to Toland publishers, an entire warehouse of stock had been destroyed in the storm, and shipments of paper had been reduced by half.

No reason to doubt the statements, and he wasn’t about to accept damaged goods. Which meant he really needed to see what Intuit and terra indigene publishing companies might have available. He looked up as Lieutenant Montgomery walked into the store.

Before he dealt with books, he had to deal with Montgomery’s pack.

“My sister left yesterday morning,” Montgomery said. The hand he set on the counter kept trying to curl into a fist.

Tension, not aggression, Simon decided. “Yes. She and her pups left in a taxi.”

“Did you notice the license plate by any chance? Did anyone overhear where she was going?”

“She bought tickets for a bus that was going east.”

“Do you know where?”

“Not yet.” Simon studied Montgomery, who looked a bit . . . trampled. “Meg was itchy because of the Sierra, so we kept watch on Watersday night. I asked Air and her kin to follow the Sierra and let me know where she makes a new den.”