Fangs

by Vella Munn

  Kendall was in surgery and had been for about two hours. There’d been next to no information about the procedures being performed, which didn’t bother her as much as listening to his mother cry and his old man curse did. Of course she wanted to know how Kendall was doing, whether they thought he’d survive. The more she replayed what had happened, the less sure she was she wanted him to live.

  She had no doubt how she’d feel if it was her on some blood-soaked table with hospital staff crowded around. She’d tell them to pull the plugs because she had no interest in going through life in a wheelchair with people staring at her.

  Her mother poked her arm and said something, but Summer had done all the listening she was capable of. If it didn’t take so much effort and she had a clue where to go, she’d walk out of the damn stuffy space. It was almost funny having her mother trying to comfort her. Not only was dear old Mom lousy at expressing compassion, Summer was equally lousy at accepting something so foreign from her. Given different circumstances, she might’ve cut Mom some slack, but this was here and now.

  Two things she wanted nothing to do with.

  She didn’t look up from her study of her messed-up nails when two men walked into the room. If they weren’t dressed in white, she wanted nothing to do with them. Then everyone stopped talking, and she focused on the newcomers.

  She didn’t recognize the two, but there was no mistaking their uniforms. These men were wildlife officers. Lyle appeared as shocked and uneasy as she felt. It took a moment for her to acknowledge that the officers couldn’t be here to fine or arrest Kendall for shooting that elk.

  “We aren’t going to take much of your time,” one of the men said. He didn’t seem to be talking to anyone in particular. She could just make out his name tag. Jeff Julian. “We know you’ve already, briefly, talked to law enforcement. Right now the only thing we have to say is how sorry we are that four families are being put through this. We want and need a clear picture of what happened so, as soon as the three of you who were with Kendall can talk, please get in touch.”

  She was silently making fun of all that ‘we’ business when only one of the officers was talking when Jeff Julian headed for her holding out a card. He wasn’t bad looking for someone who might only be a few years younger than her mom, better than Kendall had been on his best day, which was behind him.

  Kendall. Torn apart. Wishing he was dead.

  Numb again, she took the card.

  “You’re Summer, right?” Jeff Julian asked.

  She nodded.

  “I’ve talked to the woman who called nine-one-one. She asked me to let you know how impressed she was by how you handled things. You remained calm.”

  What choice did I have? “Tell her I appreciate the compliment.”

  Her mother snorted to let Summer know that, in her opinion, her daughter had said something she shouldn’t have. Summer wished she could remember what her exact words had been, so she could repeat herself.

  “Call me,” Jeff pressed and indicated the card she was in danger of wrinkling.

  “I will.”

  After that, things got even more awkward with Jeff and his partner being stared at by everyone and the room heavy with silence. Because she had nothing else to do, Summer checked to see how many people she recognized. Both Lyle and Melinda had older sisters who’d married and moved away from the burg she could hardly wait to escape. They weren’t there, but Melinda’s friends must have heard because three girls about their age were around her. Summer gave fleeting thought to any friends she might call, but came up blank. Nothing new there.

  Kendall’s and Lyle’s dads were across from her. They were fraternal twins, but so different in appearance that their both being bald was the only similarity she could see. The brothers were sitting together, instead of with their wives.

  She didn’t know who the four men around them were, but going by how Jeff and his partner were staring at them, she figured the men were known to the wildlife officers. She’d have to be deaf, blind or dead not to sense the mutual distrust.

  * * * *

  Jeff Julian and his partner had left and Melinda’s friends were asking if she wanted to go down to the cafeteria with them when the man who’d been sitting next to Lyle’s dad stood and walked over to her.

  “You need to eat,” the solid man in need of a shave said. “What if my friends and I treat Lyle and you to something?”

  At the question, she became aware of her empty stomach. In addition to being hungry, she’d gone too long without sleep. Sleep? Where nightmares waited.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Summer.” Her mother touched her arm. “I don’t think—”

  “It’s all right,” the man said. “Kendall’s and Lyle’s fathers will be with us. Your daughter deserves a break from all this waiting.”

  Without bothering to acknowledge her mother—if Mom wanted to be seen as maternal, she should have started years ago—Summer shrugged, planted her less than steady legs under her, and headed for the door. No way would Kendall’s surgery be over for a while and if he died, surely they’d call for her over the PA system.

  Don’t go there, she tried to warn herself for the umpteenth time.

  The man rested his hand on her shoulder and introduced himself as Ram. A total of eight people were heading toward the elevator. She was the only female.

  Because not everyone could fit in the space, she found herself descending with Lyle, his dad, uncle and Ram. Kendall’s old man looked as if he’d been hit by a truck. Even when Ram spoke directly to him, Carl Taft didn’t respond. No wonder, considering what his son was going through. In contrast, Carl’s twin brother cursed everything from the elevator to how his shoes fit.

  The smell of bacon made Summer’s mouth water. She didn’t know or care what time it was, just that she could eat a horse. Or a big elk steak.

  Wishing she hadn’t thought that, she took Ram up on his offer to treat her to whatever she wanted. As she moved along the line, she pointed at everything except the canned fruit. Melinda and her friends were already at one of the tables, and she was relieved when Ram suggested those in their group head for the other side of the cafeteria. She knew Carl Taft well enough to carry on a casual conversation with him, not that there was anything to say this morning. His silence made her uncomfortable. He didn’t blame her for what had happened, did he? As the men pushed two tables together and snagged chairs, it occurred to her that this gathering might be about more than people killing time.

  “I’ll get right to it.” Ram handed her the salt shaker. “You’re with men who have camped and hunted together for years. That kind of activity brings people close.” He briefly closed his eyes. “I was with Kendall when he got his first deer.” Sober-faced, he nodded at Kendall’s old man. “I’ve never seen Carl prouder of his son than he was that day.”

  “Oh,” was all she could think to say. Lyle was sitting across from her and picking at his eggs.

  Instead of getting to the point—and there had to be one—Ram gave her a blow by blow of that hunting trip, as well as several others that had taken place after it. In addition to tracking and shooting game, there’d been a lot of drinking, which didn’t surprise her. In fact, with their dads encouraging them to ‘be men’, Lyle and Kendall had gotten so drunk they’d thrown up.

  Because he shoveled in his food while he talked, she kept her gaze off Ram. Her bacon tasted all right, but everything else was flavorless. The longer Ram rattled on, the more she wanted to leave. Damn it, she didn’t care about duck hunts or fishing trips. What would these guys think if she told them she’d never understand why anyone wanted to kill something simply because they could?

  “You’re quiet,” Ram said at last. “I bet you’re exhausted.”

  “Kind of.”

  “That’s understandable.” Ram’s gaze landed on her plate. “For a little thing, you can pack it away.”

  Whatever.

  “Feeling a little better are you, now th
at you have some food in you?” he asked.

  She nodded. Just fine—for someone whose boyfriend’s blood is on her and is scared to ever go to sleep.

  “That’s great. There are some things that need to be said, things that don’t need to go beyond right here.”

  She might only be eighteen, but she understood. Ram, who had tiny lines around his eyes, bushy brows, and had put his whole body into the act when he walked, was about to tell her why he’d been willing to feed her. If he expected her to give him all the gory details, he was going to be disappointed. She couldn’t, just couldn’t.

  “We don’t know enough”—he indicated the others—“about what to us is most important.”

  While Lyle and Melinda were being checked out, she’d ducked down a hall and taken refuge in a bathroom only hospital staff were supposed to use. She’d hidden in there for the better part of an hour, trying to imagine what was being done to Kendall, but mostly struggling to accept that the impossible had really happened. By the time she’d left the bathroom, Kendall had been in surgery and Lyle and Melinda had gone to the waiting room.

  The news had obviously reached everyone within driving distance who knew Kendall. They’d all descended on the hospital. The moment she’d joined the crowd, her mother had bombarded her with questions.

  It wasn’t until she’d repeatedly shrugged Mom off that she’d realized the others were disappointed that she wasn’t adding to what Lyle and Melinda had told them. Listening to fragments of conversations, she’d concluded that the more people talked, the more convoluted the story became. That, in part, was why she’d decided to get in touch with the wildlife officials. They and the police needed to know the truth.

  “One thing we need to get straight,” Lyle’s dad said. “Is whether my nephew did anything to stir up the dogs.”

  “I told you.” Lyle glared at his father. “We didn’t know the bastards were around until Kendall was attacked.”

  “I’m perfectly aware what you said,” Parker Taft replied. “But you’ve been through a lot. A trauma like that, the details can get messed-up.”

  A trauma like that? When had anyone else been through what they had?

  “It happened just like he told you,” she said, hoping to get things over with. “We didn’t stir up those mutts. The first we knew they were on the mountain was when one of them barked.”

  The here and now fell away. She was no longer trying to pick bits of bacon out from between her teeth while men hung on her every word. Instead, in her mind’s eye she was watching the man she’d been having sex with being dragged away. His screams, oh god, his screams.

  Ram patted her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine,” she snapped. “Just damned fine.”

  “You’re upsetting her,” Lyle said. “Can’t this wait?”

  “No.” Ram bit out the word. “It can’t. Summer, we can’t put words in your mouth, but we want you to carefully consider what you say to the wildlife officers.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yes.” Ram stared at Kendall’s dad as if waiting for him to say something. “Let me put it to you this way. Kendall and Lyle had loaded rifles with them. It isn’t any kind of hunting season. The last thing your boyfriend needs while he’s fighting for his life is to have to defend his actions.”

  “No one can talk to him,” she pointed out.

  “No. But down the road—Summer, you’re key to the cousins keeping their reputations. The focus needs to be on justice, not on a bunch of ignorant people saying Kendall got what he deserved.”

  She shuddered. “Why would they say that?”

  “Because some people are always going to think the worst. It’s their nature. Also…” He pushed his, mostly untouched, meal around. “I recently had a conversation with Jeff Julian. He’s a hard ass, by the books.”

  “Why did you talk to him?”

  Ram shrugged and a couple of the other men snorted. “It doesn’t matter. I’m just giving you a heads up that he’ll question everything that happened on Dark Mountain.”

  “Do you understand what he’s saying?” Lyle asked. “Depending on what you tell him, that officer could make things even worse for Kendall and me.”

  She didn’t see how that was possible when it came to Kendall, but Ram and Lyle wouldn’t be saying what they were if they weren’t worried.

  “Summer,” Ram said. “None of us here knows what the wildlife cops will focus on. At this point they probably don’t either, but only one thing matters to us.” He nodded to indicate his companions.

  “What’s that?” she asked, when Ram didn’t immediately spell things out. She prided herself on picking up on what people were thinking, but this morning her brain was struggling to keep up.

  “There are some incredibly dangerous animals out there.” Ram clenched his fingers. “They have to be stopped before other innocent people are ki—attacked.”

  But was Kendall innocent? He’d left a cow elk to die and had returned to Dark Mountain because he wanted to kill a trophy bull.

  “We can’t help Kendall,” Ram continued. “That’s a damn helpless feeling. You want to see those dogs pay for what they did, right? That’s what all of us here have vowed to do. It’s a promise we intend to keep.”

  Ram had struck her as having his emotions mostly under control. Now that changed.

  “Law enforcement officials have their agenda. We have ours. The beasts that did that to your boyfriend will not get away with it. Lyle doesn’t want to go back to where it happened. You feel the same way, right?”

  Just thinking about standing where Kendall became a cripple made her sick to her stomach. She nodded.

  “It’s all right. We aren’t asking you to. All we need is for you to verify what Lyle told us about where you were camped.” The look he gave Lyle led her to conclude that Ram didn’t think much of Lyle. Maybe Lyle wasn’t living up to Ram’s idea of what it meant to be a man. “I have maps in my truck I want you to study.” He jabbed a finger at the other men. “We need to be sure we’re going to the right place.”

  “You intend to—”

  “Make sure those bastards pay for what they did, you better believe it. Summer, you’ll have to talk to the wildlife officers, but…” He stroked her upper arm. It took all her self-restraint not to slug him. “What we need from you is a little forgetfulness. Melinda had no idea where you were camped and Lyle is going to send them to the wrong place, aren’t you, Lyle?”

  Eyes downcast, Lyle nodded.

  “I’m sure you see where this is headed. You don’t have to lie, just be a little vague. When Officer Jeff Julian asks where the attack took place, you tell him you’d never been on that part of Dark Mountain.”

  The weariness and tension she’d been drowning in lifted. “Let me get something straight. You’re going to kill the dogs?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

  “We’re going to blast them apart. Leave them for the vultures.” Kendall’s dad spoke for the first time. “Make them pay for what they did to my son.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “It’s the only thing people are talking about,” Niko said, when Mia opened the door to let her friend in. Niko held up a frosty bottle of white wine. “I’m sorry it took me so long, but I couldn’t get out of work.”

  “It’s all right.” Mia took the bottle from Niko and headed for the kitchen. In preparation for the visit, she’d already set out two glasses. “I’ve been chasing aphids. Think I have them whipped, but—that’s insane. Here I am talking about getting rid of tiny creatures after what happened.”

  “Normalcy.” Niko picked up the wine puller and poked it into the cork. “Nothing ever happens around here so when something does…have you heard any updates about the young man who was hurt? I was listening to a Portland radio station on my way here. They said he survived surgery, but is in critical condition.” She extracted the cork, poured two glasses, and handed one to Mia. “Going by what you told me this morning I’m
surprised he’s alive. The amount of blood he lost…”

  “What were you going to say?” Mia asked, as they headed for the front porch. It wasn’t quite five o’clock, maybe a little early to start drinking, but she didn’t care.

  “I was thinking.” Niko scooted her lawn chair around so they faced each other. “The last time you and I were together we talked about Ice. We’d talked ourselves into looking for him. Now that seems so naïve. What if the dogs had found us?”

  As Mia swallowed her first sip, she mentally went back to this morning, when Jeff had brought her a cup of coffee. She couldn’t decide which gesture she appreciated the most. Certainly Jeff’s had more layers.

  “I’m not sure we would have been in danger.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Let me run some things by you. Is it possible there’s a connection between Ice and the gray? Or I should say, grays.”

  “How the hell would I know?”

  “I’m not asking you to. While we were waiting for the ambulance, one of the girls told me that four dogs were involved, two adults and two puppies, all of them with basically the same coloration.”

  “They did?” Niko frowned. “The news didn’t say how many dogs were involved and little by way of description. Makes me wonder if whoever’s in charge of the investigation is deliberately holding back certain information.”

  “That’s probably true of most crime investigations, but there’s no suspect, at least not a human one.”

  “Not human. That sounds crazy.” Niko rubbed her chair arm with her free hand. “What you were told blows a hole in my theory that the victim was attacked by a random pack of wild dogs. What are the chances they’d all look the same? Practically none. What else did the kids say?”

  Answering should’ve been easy. After all, she’d thought of little else today. What she’d seen when she removed the blood drenched sweatshirts from Kendall’s ankles was the worst by far, but the entire scene had been something from a horror movie.