by Linda Turner
“Could you see if he had a gun with him?”
“Well, of course he did,” he retorted in a voice that implied Zeke shouldn’t have even had to ask. “He always carries that .42 of his on the gun rack over the cab window of his wrecker. Claims that in his line of work, he never knows when he’s going to run into trouble. If you want my opinion, I think he goes looking for it half the time, but I guess that’s his business.”
It was going to be his business if he found out Chester had anything to do with Napoleon’s killing or the threats left on Elizabeth’s answering machine, Zeke thought grimly. “What time of day was this, Mr. Godwin?”
“Around four-thirty in the afternoon,” he said promptly. “I was trying to get to town before the bank closed.”
Four-thirty. It fit, Zeke thought. Five hours later, just about the time he was kissing Elizabeth at Myrtle’s, the wolf’s collar had started emitting the mortality code. “And did Mr. Grant have anyone with him in the truck?”
“I don’t think so, but I couldn’t swear to that. You got to remember—I was trying to stay on the road, and it happened so fast that I didn’t notice anything but his face when he raced past me.”
“Where exactly did this happen on Ridge Road?”
“Right past the cutoff to the meadow where the wolf lady and her people set up that dang holding pen for the wolves,” he retorted.
Across the desk, Zeke’s eyes met Nick’s. Bingo. Finally, they had a break! “Thank you for calling, Mr. Godwin,” he said into the phone. “The sheriff and I will check into this, and if anything comes of it, I’ll get back in touch with you about the reward. For your own safety, sir, I’d advise you to keep this conversation to yourself. The incident may have been completely innocent, but until we know that for sure, you could be in danger for coming forward.”
“Don’t you worry about me,” the old man retorted tartly. “Chester Grant’s not the only one that carries a .42 in his pickup.”
Great. Now he had to worry about a shootout at the OK Corral. Shaking his head, Zeke hung up and reached for his jacket. Already on his feet and ready, Nick raised a brow. “Your car or mine?”
“The patrol car,” Zeke said, grinning. “We want to make an impression.”
Chester’s Garage was the last building on the south end of town and the bane of his neighbor’s existence. Cars in various states of disrepair crowded the parking area near the street, while at the back of the lot, junkards that looked like they hadn’t been driven in decades sat rusting under mounds of snow. To make matters worse, a general air of filth permeated the area. Even the snow was greasy.
It wasn’t the kind of establishment that Zeke’s family would have ever taken their vehicles to, but there were plenty in town who did. As Nick pulled up before the garage, a half dozen men stood inside the open bay door shooting the breeze while Chester fiddled under the hood of a three-year-old Chrysler. Everyone of them knew Zeke and Nick by name, had grown up with them, knew their families, but at the sight of the patrol car, they stiffened like men who had something to hide.
And Chester was the worst of all. As Zeke and Nick stepped from the car, he straightened abruptly, slammimg his head against the hood of the Chrysler. He swore and nervously wiped his greasy hands on a rag, looking everywhere but at his visitors. He couldn’t have looked more guilty if he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Greeting him with a nod, Nick said, “We need to talk to you, Chester, if you’ve got a second. Maybe in your office?”
The blood drained from his face, leaving him pasty white, and for a second, he looked ready to bolt. But with Zeke and Nick in front of him and his customers blocking his back, there was nowhere to go. Throwing up his chin, he decided to bluster his way out of the situation. “You just can’t come in here and expect me to drop everything so you can talk,” he said irately. “I’ve got a business to run—”
“We can do it here, if you like,” Zeke said smoothly. “The choice is yours.”
Flustered, he sputtered, “N-no! I don’t like, damn you! What do you want, anyway?” he demanded, glaring at Zeke. “You’re not the sheriff here. You’re not anybody but a damn McBride with more money than God. I don’t have to talk to you if I don’t want to.”
Zeke considered himself an even-tempered man who didn’t lose it often. But there were some things he didn’t handle well, and name calling about his family from a perp with an attitude was one of them. Quick as a flash, he had his badge out and shoved in the garage owner’s face. “Wanna bet? I’m a federal agent, Chester, and in case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re not winning any Brownie points here. I suggest you cooperate before I forget I’m not allowed to shove my badge down your freaking throat.”
In the stunned silence that followed that announcement, Nick said lightly, “What was it you were saying about that chat in your office, Chester? You’ve changed your mind? Good. I think that’s a wise decision. Don’t you, Zeke?”
“The smartest one he’s made all day,” he said curtly, never taking his gaze from Chester’s beady-eyed glare. “Some things should be discussed in private.”
Not as dense as he appeared, Chester obviously didn’t have to be hit over the head with a two-by-four before he got the point that this was one fight he couldn’t win. Grumbling, he turned toward his office. “If this takes longer than ten minutes, you can explain to Mrs. Eisenhauer why she won’t be getting her car back today.”
“Trust me, Mrs. Eisenhauer is the least of your problems right now,” Nick told him dryly as he closed the office door behind the three of them. “Where were you Wednesday afternoon at four-thirty?”
It was a simple question, one that an innocent man wouldn’t have batted an eye at. Sucking in a sharp breath, Chester almost swallowed his tongue. “What d-do y-you mean?”
“It’s not a complicated question,” Zeke growled. “Everyone was somewhere at four-thirty Wednesday afternoon. So where were you?”
“I—I—” Desperate, he looked frantically around the small, cluttered room for an answer. “I was on a call!” he blurted out finally and nearly wilted in relief. “Yeah, that’s it. Now I remember. An out-of-stater blew a fan belt and needed a tow.”
“Where?”
Confused, he blinked. “Where’d he need a tow to? The garage, of course!”
Praying for patience, Zeke counted to ten and forced a smile. It never reached his eyes. “We figured you’d bring him here, Chester. What we’re trying to find out is where the man broke down.”
“Oh.” He hesitated, and Zeke could almost see the wheels working in his slow-thinking head. “It was down by Johnsonville. By the lake.”
He was lying—a blind man could have seen it—and Zeke and Nick both had perfect-vision. “Then I guess whoever thought they saw you up on Eagle Ridge the day that wolf was killed was mistaken,” Nick retorted casually, watching him like a hawk. “You couldn’t have been two places at the same time, could you?”
“N-no! C-course n-not!”
“You had this problem with stuttering long, Chester?” Zeke asked with exaggerated concern. “I never noticed it before. Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“I—I am. I—I mean I’ve already g-got an appointment w-with someone in Colorado Sp-Springs. In the m-morning!”
“That’s good,” Nick said. “You can’t let things like that slide. Now that we’ve got everything straightened out, you can get back to Mrs. Eisenhauer’s car. Oh, and Chester,” he said just as he reached the door, “you will let us know, won’t you, if you remember being up on Eagle Ridge for any reason on Wednesday?”
“S-sure,” he croaked. “But I don’t think I—I’m going t-to remember anything I-like that.”
“Selective memory,” Zeke drawled as they walked out and shut the door behind them. “It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”
“He’s in this up to his neck,” Nick replied. “You notice his .42’s not in his wrecker?”
“Yep. Saw it right
off.”
“As long as I can remember, Chester’s never been anywhere without that gun. You think he acted alone?”
Climbing into the patrol car, both men glanced back at the window of the garage office, where Chester was staring back at them with wide, frightened eyes “Not a chance,” Zeke retorted. “The man’s afraid of his own shadow. Whoever left those messages on Elizabeth’s answering machine and mutilated Napoleon was no coward. No, Chester didn’t do it, but I’ll bet next year’s salary that he knows who did.”
That was a bet Nick wasn’t willing to take.
The second the patrol car pulled out of the parking lot and headed back toward town, Chester snatched up the phone and punched in a number with fingers that were far from steady. “Be there. Be there, dammit!” he whispered harshly to himself, then almost wept when the line was answered on the third ring
“The sheriff was just here!” he said frantically. “And that damn Zeke McBride. They know, dammit! I’m telling you they know. You’ve got to do something!”
“Get ahold of yourself!” the man on the other end of the line ordered sharply. “They don’t know jack squat or they would have arrested you. They were just trying to rattle you, and it looks like they did a good job.”
“But they knew I was up on Eagle Ridge that day. Someone must have seen us.” A sob of panic rose in his throat at the thought. “God, what am I going to do?”
“Nothing,” the other man said coldly. “Absolutely nothing. You’re going to leave everything to me.”
“But—”
“Shut your mouth and listen. There’s no reason to panic. All the evidence has been taken care of. There’s nothing to link the killing of that damn wolf to anyone. And it’s not against the law to drive up to Eagle Ridge. The sheriff was just fishing.”
Trying to remain calm, Chester dragged in a shuddering breath. “Fishing. Yeah, he was just fishing Looking for someone to blame.”
“That’s right. And we know who’s really to blame, don’t we?” he asked silkily. “That hotshot little biologist. She’s the one who brought the damn wolves in here in the first place without asking us. We’re paying her salary, but did she listen to us when we told her to get those killers out of here? Hell, no! She’s causing problems for all of us, and we’re not going to stand for it anymore. She’s got to go.”
His heart pounding, Chester nodded like a parrot “She should have been run out of town months ago.”
“I’ll take care of the bitch,” the other man said coldly. “You just make sure you have an alibi for tonight. Tonight, Ms. Davis gets what’s coming to her.”
Chapter 10
Standing in the cabin of the forest-service lookout tower, Elizabeth aimed her binoculars at the huge old pine in the distance that towered over the other spruce and pine in the area. At the base of its trunk, nearly concealed by the tree’s low-hanging branches, was the rocky depression where Queenie had chosen to den. Studying it, Elizabeth had to admit that Napoleon’s mate had chosen wisely. The thick branches of the pine acted as an umbrella, shielding the den from bad weather, and the surrounding rocks were as protective as a stone fort. With the small opening to the den, Queenie could, if she had to, put her pups behind her and fight off any predator that threatened her or her offspring.
There were wolf pups once again in southwestern Colorado!
Her heart expanding at the thought, Elizabeth didn’t know if she wanted to laugh or cry or dance a jig. Finally, after years of preparing the way for them, fighting for their very right to exist in their native habitat, native-born pups could claim the area as their own. Napoleon’s pups.
The tears came then, welling in her eyes, but they were tears of happiness rather than sadness. He had done his job and sired the next generation of wolves Now it was her duty to see that nothing happened to those pups while they were still too young to protect themselves.
Her binoculars trained on the base of the tree, Elizabeth would have given anything to catch sight of one of them, but they were newly born and wouldn’t, she knew, leave the den for weeks. And even if one of them had accidentally wandered to the mouth of the den, it would be well hidden. In their searching, she and Tina had come within thirty yards of that old pine at least three different times without once suspecting what was concealed at its base. Only when they heard the faint whimper of the pups, quickly silenced by their mother, did they realize they had finally found Queenie.
At that point she and Tina had quickly backed off. A mother wolf would fight to protect her pups, but if she felt she might not survive an attack from an enemy, she would abandon her pups to later have another litter.
Elizabeth was determined that that wasn’t going to happen. Queenie was under enough stress as a single mother without having to worry about the curiosity of humans. Still, Elizabeth hadn’t been able to bring herself to leave. Not yet. So while she kept watch over things, she’d sent
Tina back to the office for food.
Down below, in the parking lot of the tower, she saw Tina pull up in her car, and wasn’t surprised to see Zeke pull in right behind her in his truck. Gazing down at him, she felt a smile bloom on her face and was helpless to stop it. Even though no one could possibly sneak up on here in the tower without her being aware of it, she’d called him to let him know she was there alone, but safe. She should have known he wouldn’t be able to resist checking out the situation for himself.
He and Tina looked up and waved, then moved to the trunk of Tina’s car to remove the carcass of a dead coyote. With Tina showing Zeke the way, he carried it into the trees toward the tall pine in the distance where Queenie had denned.
Through her binoculars, Elizabeth watched every step they took through her binoculars. “Careful,” she muttered. “Not too close. You don’t want to scare her. She’s got a good nose—she’ll smell it if you put it anywhere within a couple of hundred yards. That’s it. Right there!”
Relieved, she watched Zeke toss the roadkill as far as he could from where he stood, so that Queenie wouldn’t be put off by the scent of humans any more than she already was. Then he and Tina quickly faded back into the trees. Her gaze still trained on the thick shadows under the pine that concealed the den, Elizabeth found herself holding her breath and silently urging Queenie to accept the food. If she didn’t, she and her pups would have to be recaptured and held in the holding pen until the pups were old enough to fend for themselves.
“Come on, girl,” she urged, “dinner’s ready. You’ve got to be hungry. Go for it.”
But nothing moved in the shadows under the pine.
Down below, Tina signaled that she was returning to the office, and Zeke started up the long flight of stairs to the tower’s observation cabin. Elizabeth moved to unlock the door, then returned to the wide bank of clear glass that overlooked the den in the distance. Untouched, the dead coyote lay right where Zeke had thrown it.
“Beggars can’t be choosers, Queenie,” she muttered. “It isn’t as if you haven’t eaten roadkill before. That’s all you had for the three months you were in the holding pen, and it didn’t seem to bother you, then. So what’s the problem?”
It was the pups, and Elizabeth knew it. Instincts kicked in after whelping that weren’t there before. So while she might reluctantly accept roadkill from humans when she was penned, she would be suspicious of that same food now, if she thought it was somehow a threat to her litter.
The door opened behind her and Zeke stepped in. Only slightly winded from the long climb, he immediately joined her at the window, his own binoculars hanging around his neck. “She take it yet?”
“No. And I’m afraid she’s not going to. She probably picked up our scent, and after what happened to Napoleon, she’s got no reason to trust us, especially now that she has pups to protect.”
“It’s early yet,” he said. “Give her some tune. She’s a first-time mother in foreign territory and still getting the lay of the land. She’s probably just scoping the situation out. If she�
��s hungry enough, she’s not going to be able to resist the smell of that food for long.”
Elizabeth wanted desperately to believe him, but there’d been little to be optimistic about over the past few days. And as seconds turned into minutes and time dragged, she found it harder and harder to be positive. Then, just when she was about to turn away in defeat, she thought she saw something move in the thick shadows under the old pine. “Did something move? There! To the left of that boulder that looks like it was split by lightning. Is that Queenie’s nose sticking out? It is! Look, here she comes!”
Barely discernible in the concealing shadows that protected her den, Queenie sniffed the air warily, still not sure she was ready to trust the handout being offered her. Through narrowed eyes, she inspected the surrounding forest, searching for predators, but nothing moved. Elizabeth couldn’t be sure if the wolf was satisfied that she was safe or that she was just so hungry that she could no longer resist the lure of food, but suddenly she streaked out from under the pine and through the trees to the dead coyote.
She didn’t stay long—just a few minutes was all it took for her to swallow a few hulking bites—then she was racing back to her den and her pups.
“All right!” Zeke said with a broad grin. “Atta girl!”
“She did it!” Elizabeth said with a laugh and threw herself into his arms, babbling with excitement all the while. “I was so afraid we were going to have to put her back into the holding pen until the pups got bigger. But she’ll eat now. We’ve got nearly a freezerful of roadkill at the office, but it won’t take her long to go through that since she’s nursing. I need to call Nick—his deputies can keep a lookout for fresh meat. Oh, that sounds horrible, doesn’t it, but—”
Suddenly realizing that she was chattering and he was grinning down at her while he held her close, she felt her heart lurch in her breast and had no idea how she’d come to be in his arms. Had she moved or he? She couldn’t think, couldn’t remember. She just knew that it seemed as if she’d been waiting all day to find her way back to him, and she hadn’t even known it until now.
