Suddenly, the cat yowled. Alex jumped, chill bumps racing up her spine.

Something was in that cabinet. Something Margo didn’t like.

Swallowing hard, Alex entered the bathroom, crossed to the cabinet and knelt in front of it. She reached for the knob and eased the door open.

The stench hit Alex hard. Her stomach clenched and she covered her nose and mouth with her hand. At least now she knew where the smell was coming from.

But what was causing it?

She peered into the cabinet. A plastic bag, she saw. Black.

She didn’t want to reach her hand in there. Her every instinct recoiled from the thought. But she had to.

Grabbing a hand towel to hold over her nose and mouth, Alex grasped the bag and dragged it out. She noticed the flies then. Dozens of them. The contents of her stomach rushed to her throat.

Choking sickness back, Alex opened the bag. An animal, she saw. Or what was left of one.

With a cry, she released the bag and stumbled backward. Getting to her feet, she ran for the front of the house and out onto the porch. She reached the edge, bent over the rail and vomited.

Trembling, she squeezed her eyes shut. But instead of forcing the image out, it filled her head. Matted fur. An eye winking up at her.

She breathed deeply and slowly through her nose, fighting for calm. To slow her thoughts so she could think.

Who’d done this? She searched her memory. The creature hadn’t been there when she moved in, she was certain of it. So when had it been placed there?

Saturday night. It must have been. While she was out? When she was sleeping? Sunday morning was the first time she’d smelled-

The drop of blood. On the vanity.

Not hers. Not Reed’s. The creature’s.

And then she realized: somebody was messing with her. Wanting her to be afraid. To run.

Sick bastard. She didn’t scare that easily.

Anger kicked in. Sucking in a sharp breath, she marched back into the house. She rinsed her mouth, then retrieved her cell phone and punched in Reed’s number. He answered right away. It sounded like he was eating.

“It’s Alex. Am I interrupting your dinner?”

“If you call a burger at my desk dinner. What’s up?”

“There’s something here I think you should see. Someone left a… someone was in my house and left a dead animal under my bathroom sink.”

For a long moment he was silent. When he finally spoke, he simply said, “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

True to his word, he pulled up thirty minutes later. She was waiting on the front porch, Margo in her arms.

“The bathroom?” he asked as he approached her.

“Yes. I’ll wait here, if you don’t mind?”

He said he didn’t and a few minutes later, he returned. He was on his cell phone. When he hung up, she looked at him in question. “One of the CSI detectives is on their way over to collect it.”

She nodded.

“Can you answer some questions?” When she nodded again, he said, “Tell me how you came to discover the animal.”

She did, starting with noticing the spot of blood on the vanity, then the subtle smell later that same morning, to arriving home tonight to find Margo acting strangely.

“The smell had gotten much worse and I started to search for what was causing it. When I found Margo in the bathroom staring at that cupboard I… knew.”

“That the smell was coming from in there?”

“Yes.” She rubbed at the chill bumps on her arms. “I saw the bag, pulled it out and-” She drew a deep breath. “What kind of animal was it?”

“A lamb. Very young.”

Her stomach rolled. “How did it… what happened to it?”

“It was sliced open.”

Alex brought a hand to her mouth. “A sacrificial lamb,” she whispered.

“What did you say?”

She repeated it and looked at him. “Why?” she asked. “Why hurt that poor creature and… why bring it here? I don’t understand.”

“You noticed the smell the first time Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“And the drop of blood on the sink, also Sunday?”

She nodded. “I remember looking at my hands, for a cut, then thinking maybe you-”

“I didn’t use the bathroom.”

“I didn’t think so, but I couldn’t remember for sure.”

“And then?”

“I wiped it away and forgot about it.”

He was looking at her strangely, as if he was trying to figure something out. “What?”

“You’re awfully calm.”

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“It’s a little surprising, that’s all.”

“I suppose I should be frightened and feel violated. Maybe I will later, but right now I’m pissed. Really pissed.” She looked away, then back. “The bastard wants me afraid. I’m not inclined to give him what he wants.”

He continued to look intently at her. “Him?”

She met his gaze. “Or her.”

“Any idea why someone would target you this way?”

“None.” He cocked an eyebrow and she made a sound of irritation. “You’re the detective, piece it together.”

The CSI unit arrived. Alex recognized the woman: Detective Tanner.

She greeted Alex, then she and Reed headed into the house. This time she followed them inside, opening windows as she went. She’d rather the cold than the smell.

She moved from the front of the house to the back. As she neared the bathroom, she caught snatches of their conversation.

“-a little odd,” Tanner was saying, voice low. “I find it difficult to-”

Reed murmured something she couldn’t make out, then, “to the site-reaction-don’t you think?”

As if aware of her proximity, they went silent. Alex hurried past, to the kitchen. She unlocked the single window above the sink and slid it up.

“Are you okay?”

She turned to Reed in the doorway. “Trying to get rid of the smell.”

“Tanner’s going to take care of the animal. Dust for prints.”

“Great.”

“There’s something I’d like to get your opinion on. It’ll mean taking a drive.”

“Now?”

“As soon as Tanner’s done. You up for it?”

She was, and thirty minutes later, they were in his Tahoe, traveling the narrow, vineyard-lined road. They had driven in silence for several miles when he spoke again. “A biker discovered a makeshift altar yesterday. I thought maybe you could tell me something about it.” He glanced her way. “Your area of expertise, right?”

“Right. Why tonight?”

“Why not? I was there, you were there-”

“Brought together by a dead animal found sliced open and stuffed into the cabinet under my bathroom sink.”

“Yes.”

“One I called a sacrificial lamb.”

“You did.”

“And you’re thinking the creature may have been used as a sacrifice on the makeshift altar we’re going to see.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But it’s a possibility.”

He didn’t respond, though he didn’t have to-they both knew it was true. They fell silent. Alex gazed out the window, her thoughts turning to the other night and their lovemaking.

Odd how she hadn’t thought of it until now. She wondered if he had.

They arrived at their destination. Reed opened the glove compartment and brought out a flashlight, then reached around to the backseat for a second. As he did, his coat opened and she caught a glimpse of his gun.

Her mouth went dry. They were in the middle of God only knew where. Pitch-black, the only illumination from the stars and slim crescent moon, the only sign of civilization a house they had passed a mile down the road.

He was a cop. She trusted him. Enough to have had sex with him, for Heaven’s sake.

So, why the unease?

He turned back and handed her the light. She took it and shook off the question and the crazy thoughts that had prompted it. She opened her car door and stepped out into the night. She snapped on the light. Its bright beam sliced through the dark, landing on the altar. She moved the beam over the site, taking a quick, visual inventory.

This site didn’t look that different from ceremonial sites she had seen over the years. And she had seen many. Been witness to many religious rituals, from the routine Catholic mass to the truly bizarre and sometimes frightening. Most she had attended as an academic, a chronicler of culture.