The Mystery of the Mother Wolf

by Carolyn Keene

  the blood circulating again, Nancy turned to George

  and said, “I have a sneaky feeling you're hiding

  information from me, Fayne—like, who alerted the

  police?”

  George grinned. “Remember the man who showed

  up to buy the puppy? I told him that Rainbow and her

  litter were stolen property and to call the police

  immediately Luckily, he was a good guy, and he be-

  lieved me.”

  “Luckily is right,” Nancy breathed. “If it hadn't been

  for him, we would have been bear food.”

  “Yeah,” George said. “I love animals, but I sure don't

  want to cater to them.”

  Nancy rolled her eyes at George's joke before bor-

  rowing a police cell phone to telephone the Marshall

  with the good news.

  Later that evening everyone staying at Elk River

  Ranch had gathered around Rainbow, Grover, and

  their puppies in John and Alice's suite after Paul and

  Jenny had fetched the animals home.

  “I'd be one hundred percent happy if I weren't so

  upset about Grandma,” Paul said soberly. “I had no

  clue about her plan, or that she was even capable of it.

  Yes, she is spoiled and selfish, but stealing wolves and

  attacking people?” He shook his head glumly, unable to

  say anything more.

  Bess broke the silence. “There's one thing that I still

  don't get. Who wrote the note on the elk's antler?”

  Dody Warriner cleared his throat, looking horribly

  embarrassed as he blurted, “I have a confession. My

  good friend Bill Ehret asked me to put the note on the

  elk's antler. If I'd known it was a threatening note, I

  never would have done him that favor.”

  “Why did he want to threaten us like that?” Alice

  asked, her face clouding over.

  “It's complicated,” Dody explained. “See, when I

  scolded Bill later about the note, he told me he was just

  trying to get Paul on his side about the wolf issue. Bill's

  worried sick about his livestock's safety with the new

  wolf packs roaming around, and he's especially

  concerned about having a wolf sanctuary so close to his

  ranch. I think he feels desperate. But I'm sorry if I

  caused any of you pain. I really didn't know what the

  note said.”

  Alice smiled. “Don't worry, Dody. We believe you.”

  With a sigh of exasperation, Dexter said, “You trust

  everyone too much, Dad. You should have read his

  note first.”

  Paul said, “Well, I'm hoping Bill Ehret won't feel

  desperate for much longer. The moment I learned that

  he hadn't taken Rainbow, I called him to arrange a

  friendly meeting. Tomorrow we're going to sit down

  together at Thunderbird Ranch to try to hash out a

  compromise between the Montrose ranchers and the

  needs of my wolf sanctuary. Bill's eager to talk. I have a

  feeling we can work something out.”

  “That's great news,” Jenny said, elated.

  Paul smiled at Jenny, then looked back at Alice and

  John. “But the best news of all is that Jenny and I have

  set a wedding date. How does June fourth sound?”

  “Lovely,” Alice said, beaming.

  “What a romantic day it's been,” Bess gushed, with a

  sideways glance at Dexter. “First, Rainbow and Grover

  are reunited, and now Jenny and Paul have a wedding

  date.”

  “Speaking of Rainbow,” Alice said, “let's all give

  three cheers to Nancy for her brilliant detective work.

  Thank you so much, Nancy. Rainbow and the puppies

  wouldn't be here now if it hadn't been for you.”

  Nancy smiled, shooting a glance at Rainbow, who

  was staring at her placidly with her mysterious golden

  eyes. On a whim, Nancy reached down cautiously to

  pat her for the first time, and Rainbow didn't flinch.

  Gently removing one of the puppies from the pen,

  Nancy lifted it to her lap. As she stroked its soft baby

  fur, Nancy said, “I love it that Rainbow trusts me with

  her puppy. It's as if she's thanking me, in her own

  wolflike way.”

  “Now you're an official part of her pack,” Bess said,

  and grinned.