by Nora Roberts
Coop hit the horn to scatter the birds as he slowed to scan the trees and brush, the road beyond the gate. In the dim, early light, his headlights washed over the dead wolf, turned its dead eyes eerily green.
Coop leaned over, opened his glove compartment, and took out his 9mm and his flashlight. Climbing out of the truck, he shined the light on the ground. There were footprints, of course. His own would be among them from the night before, when he’d opened the gate.
He saw none he judged as newer than his own on the inside. That, he supposed was something. Still, he walked in his own tracks to reach the wolf.
It had taken two shots—one mid-body, one head—to bring the wolf down, as far as Coop could see on a visual. The body was cold to the touch, and the small blood pool frozen.
It told him the message had been delivered several hours before.
He flipped the safety back on his gun, pushed it into his pocket. As he dug for his phone he heard the hum of an approaching car. Though he doubted the messenger would be back so soon, or travel in a vehicle, Coop slid his hand into his pocket and over the grip of his gun.
The light had gone misty gray with dawn, and in the eastern sky the red rose and spread. He walked back, cut his headlights, and standing at the gate saw his instinct had been right. The four-wheel drive slowed. He held up a hand to stop them, to keep them as far back from the gate as he could manage when they made the turn.
He recognized the man who got out the passenger side by sight, but not name. “Keep back from the gate,” Coop ordered.
Tansy climbed out the other side and stood holding the door handle as if for support. “Oh, my God.”
“You want to keep back,” he repeated.
“Lil.”
“She’s fine,” Coop told Tansy. “I just left her up at the cabin. I need you to call the sheriff—Willy. Get back in the car and call. Tell him somebody left a dead wolf at the gate. Two bullet holes that I can see. I want you to wait in the car, don’t touch anything. You.” He pointed to the man.
“Uh, Eric. I’m an intern. I just—”
“In the car, stay. The vultures come back, hit the horn. I’m going to go get Lil.”
“We’ve got some volunteers coming in this morning.” Tansy took a breath that huffed out a fog, then another, shorter, smoother. “And the other interns. They should be here soon.”
“If they come before I get back, keep them away from the gate.”
He got back into his truck, backed up until he came to one of the pull-offs. He did a quick three-point turn and pushed for speed.
She was already outside, standing on the path that led from her cabin to the offices. Her hands moved to her hips even as the scowl moved over her face.
“What now? Mornings are busy times around here.”
“You need to come with me.”
The scowl faded. She didn’t question him. There was enough in the tone, in his eyes to tell her there was trouble.
“Get a camera,” he called out when she started toward the truck. “Digital. Make it fast.”
Again, she asked no questions but set off toward the cabin at a run. She was back in under two minutes, with the camera and her rifle.
“Tell me,” she said when she jumped in the truck.
“There’s a dead wolf hanging over your gate.”
She sucked in a breath, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her hand tighten on the barrel of the rifle. But her voice stayed calm.
“Shot? Like the cougar?”
“It took two shots, that I can see. Not much blood, and it’s cold. He killed it somewhere else, hauled it down. It doesn’t look like he got in, or tried. But I didn’t look that close. A couple of your people pulled up right after I found it. They’re calling the sheriff.”
“Son of a bitch. What’s the damn point in—Wait!” Alarm ringing in her words, she pushed up straight in the seat. “Go back, go back. What if he’s using this to lure us away? If he got inside? The animals, they’re helpless. Go back, Coop.”
“Nearly at the gate. I’ll drop you off. I’ll go back.”
“Hurry. Hurry.” When he braked at the gate, she turned. “Wait for me,” she demanded and jumped out. “Eric!”
She circled wide of the wolf—smart girl—and Coop watched Eric get out of the car on the other side. “Catch this! Catch it. Get the best pictures you can of the wolf, the gate, of everything. Wait for the sheriff.”
“Where are you—”
She scrambled back in Coop’s truck, slammed the door on Eric’s question. “Move!”
He punched the gas, shot back in reverse, and went with the fishtail when he whipped into the turn. When he blasted the horn, she jumped, then stared at him. “On the off chance you’re right, and he hears us coming, he’ll book. This isn’t about confrontation.” Not yet, Coop thought. Not yet. “It’s about harassment.”
“Why off chance?”
“It’s unlikely he knew I was here last night, or I’d be leaving before your people got here. Otherwise, they’d be the ones to find the wolf, and they’d have come in, come up to tell you. Everybody’d be here, not at the gate.”
“Okay, okay, that’s a point.” But she didn’t breathe easily until she saw the first habitats, heard the usual calls and clamor of morning.
“I need to check them, all of them. If you take that direction, just follow the path, I’ll take this side and circle around, then we—”
“No.” He pulled up, stopped. “Off chance,” he repeated. “And I’m not risking him getting you alone.”
She lifted the rifle she had across her knees, but Cooper shook his head.
“Together.” And when they’d finished, he thought, he’d check both cabins, all the outbuildings.
“They’ll think I’m coming to visit, so there’s going to be some annoyance when I don’t.”
There were grumbles and hisses, and a few protesting calls as they walked by. She moved briskly as each visual confirmation eased the painful thud of her heart. That heart stuttered a moment when she scanned Baby’s enclosure. Then she looked up—she knew his games—and found him standing on the thick branch of his tree.
His leap down was gorgeous and full of fun. When he purred, she gave in and ducked under the barrier. “Soon,” she murmured. “We’ll play a little soon.” She stroked his fur through the fence, then laughed when he rose on high hind legs, pressed closer so she could use her fingers to tickle his belly. “Soon,” she repeated.
His disappointment rumbled in his throat as she stepped back behind the rail. She shrugged when Coop stared at her.
“He’s a special case.”
“Didn’t I hear disapproval, even some derision, in your voice when you talked about people who buy exotic pets?”
“He’s not a pet. Do you see me fitting him with a jeweled collar and leading him around on a leash?”
“That would be the one you call Baby.”
“You pay more attention than I think. He’s been at the refuge since he was a kitten, by his own choice. They’re okay,” she added. “If someone unknown was around they’d make some noise. But I have to check anyway. We’ve got a group coming in this morning, a youth group. And we’ve got two cats with ingrown claws that need to be seen to. Plus the interns have a few hundred pounds of meat to process in the commissary. We’ve got a routine, Coop. We can’t let this interfere with the health of the animals or the running of the refuge. If we don’t have tours, our budget dips. And you’ve got a business to run, animals to feed.”
“Check the rest on your cameras. Let’s go through the offices. If they’re clear, you can set up there, check your animals.”
“Willy’s going to let us open the gates, isn’t he? Let my people in.”
“Shouldn’t be long.”
“I didn’t get a good look at the wolf. It was good size, so I’d say full-grown. To take one down like that . . . Maybe it wasn’t with a pack. A lone wolf’s easier prey. He wants me upset, off-balance, to throw th
is place into upheaval. I took my share of psych courses,” she said when Coop only studied her face. “I know what he’s doing. Not why, but what. I could lose some volunteers, even some interns over this sort of thing. Our intern program is essential, so I’m going to be doing some fast, hard talking at our emergency staff meeting today.”
She unlocked the cabin that held the offices. Coop nudged her aside, pushed the door open. The area appeared to be clear. He stepped in, swept it, then moved from space to space to do the same.
“Stay in here, use the computer. I’ll check the other buildings. Give me the keys.”
She said nothing, only passed them to him. When he left her she sat and waited for the computer to boot up.
She’d known he’d been a cop. But she’d never seen him be one until today.
He’d thought he understood what went on in the refuge. But he realized he hadn’t considered the full extent of the work even after Lil had given him an overview. The commissary alone was an eye-opener, with its enormous coolers and freezers, its massive amounts of meat, and the equipment required for processing it, handling it, hauling it.
The stables held three horses, including the one he’d sold her. Since he was there, he saw to their feeding and watering, and marked off both chores on the chart posted on the wall.
He checked the equipment shed, the garage, and the long, low cabin posted as the education center. He took a quick scan of the displays inside, the photographs, the pelts, teeth, skulls, bones—where the hell did she get those?
Fascinating, he thought as he checked both restrooms, and each stall inside. He walked through the small attached gift shop with its stuffed animals, T-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, postcards, and posters. Everything tidy and organized.
She’d built something here. Saw to the details, the angles. And all of it, he knew, all of it, for the animals.
As he backtracked he heard the sound of cars, and headed around to meet the sheriff.
“Everything’s fine here. She’s in the offices,” he said to Tansy, then turned to Willy.
“Looks like he decided to hole up after all,” Willy said. “We can’t be sure it wasn’t somebody else, and they just happened to pick that gate. Or somebody got the bright idea because of the cougar. But the fact is hunting wolves is illegal around here, and people know it. Know the trouble they’ll get into for it. Now, a farmer shooting one that’s after his lifestock’s one thing. But I know every farmer in this county, and I can’t see any one of them hauling the body up here like this. Even the ones who think Lil’s a little on the odd side.”
“The bullets in that wolf are going to be from the same gun that shot the cougar.”
“Yeah, I expect they are.” With a nod, Willy folded his lips tight. “I’m going to be talking to the Park Service, and the state boys. You might do some talking yourself. Maybe somebody going on the trail, using your outfit or one of the others, saw somebody, saw something.”
He looked over as Lil came out. “Morning. Sorry about this trouble. Your vet around?”
“He’ll be here shortly.”
“I’m going to leave a man, same as before. We’re going to do what we can, Lil.”
“I know, but there’s not much you can do.” She came down the steps. “One cougar, one wolf. It’s bad, but it’s a hard world. And those two species may be romanticized in other places, but not here, not where they might wander down from the hills and take down a man’s cattle or ravage a henhouse. I understand that, Willy, I live in reality. My reality is I have thirty-six animals, not including the horses, spread over about thirty-two acres of habitat and facilities. And I’m afraid he’s going to decide to bring it here, that’s what he hinted at today. And he’s going to kill one of the animals that live here, that I brought here. Or worse, one of the people who work here, who I brought here.”
“I don’t know what I can say to ease your mind.”
“There’s nothing, that’s where he’s holding the advantage right now. My mind can’t be eased. But we have work to do here. We’ll keep doing it. I’ve got six interns who need to finish our program. There’s a group of eight- to twelve-year-olds coming in this morning, in about two hours, to take the tour and a session in the education center. If you tell me you don’t think those kids will be safe, I’ll cancel.”
“I’ve got no reason to think a man who kills a wild animal’s going to start taking potshots at kids, Lil.”
“Okay. Then we’ll all just do whatever we can do. You should go,” she said to Coop. “You have your own business, your own animals to see to.”
“I’ll be back. You may want to make up that list.”
She looked blank for a moment, then shook her head. “That’s not my top priority just now.”
“Your choice.”
“Yes. It will be. Thanks, Willy.”
Willy pursed his lips as she went back in the office. “I have a feeling the two of you were talking about something other than a dead wolf. Since I do, I’m thinking you’ll be staying here tonight.”
“That’s right.”
“I feel better knowing that. Meanwhile, I’m going to have some men scout around the area, check the other gates, look for weak spots. He’s holed up somewhere,” Willy muttered, looking out toward the hills.
LIL KNEW word would spread, and quickly, so it didn’t surprise her when her parents arrived. She walked away from the immobilized tiger to the habitat fence. “Just an ingrown claw. It’s a common problem.” She reached up to touch the fingers her mother slid through the fence. “I’m sorry you have to be worried.”
“You talked about going down to Florida for a couple weeks, working with that panther refuge. You should do that.”
“For a few days,” Lil corrected. “Next winter. I can’t go now. I especially can’t go now.”
“You could come back home until they find him.”
“Who do I put here in my place? Mom, who do I tell I’m too afraid to stay here, so you do it?”
“Anybody who isn’t my baby.” Jenna gave Lil’s fingers a squeeze. “But you can’t, and you won’t.”
“Cooper stayed here last night?” Joe asked her.
“He slept on the living room sofa. He wouldn’t leave, and now I’m forced to be grateful he wouldn’t let me kick him out of my own house. I have any number of people pushing to stay. We’re taking all the precautions we can, I promise. I’m going to order more cameras, use them for security. I’ve looked at alarm systems, but we just can’t afford the type that would cover the place. No,” she said even as Joe started to speak. “You know you can’t afford it either.”
“What I can’t afford is anything happening to my daughter.”
“I’m going to make sure nothing does.” She glanced back to where Matt worked on the tiger. “I need to finish up here.”
“We’ll go back to the compound, see if anyone can use some extra hands.”
“Always.”
FROM HIS POSITION on high ground, through the lenses of his field glasses, he watched the family group. Observing prey was essential, learning the habits, the territory, the dynamics, strengths. Weaknesses.
Patience was another essential. He could admit that the—occasional—lack of it was one of his weaknesses. Temper had been another. Temper had cost him eighteen months inside when it had pushed him to beat a man half to death in a bar.
But he’d learned to control his temper, to remain calm and objective. To use the kill for personal satisfaction.
Never in heat, never in rage. Cold and cool.
The cougar had been impulse. It was there, and he’d wanted to know what it was like to kill the wild thing eye-to-eye. He’d been disappointed. The lack of challenge, the lack of the hunt equaled no personal satisfaction.
It had, he was forced to admit, brought him a mild sense of shame.
He’d had to offset that by letting his temper out—just a little—and destroying the camp. But he’d done so precisely, and that was important. He’d d
one so in a way that sent a message.
Lil. Lillian. Dr. Chance. She was so interesting. He’d always thought so. Look at her with her family unit—there, a definite weakness.
It might be satisfying to use that against her. Fear added to the thrill of the hunt. He wanted her to fear. He’d learned how much more it meant when the fear came with it. And he believed it would be more exciting to scent hers, as he’d seen she didn’t fear easily.
He would make her fear.
He respected her, and her bloodline. Even if she did not respect her ancestry. She defiled it with this place, these cages where the free and wild were imprisoned. This sacred place of his people—and hers.
Yes, he would make her fear.
She’d be an excellent addition to his count. His biggest prize to date.
He replaced his binoculars, shimmied back from the ridge before he rose. He hefted his light pack, and stood in the late-winter sunlight, fingering the necklace of bear teeth around his neck. The single thing he’d kept of his father’s.
His father had taught him of the ancestry, and the betrayals. He’d taught him how to hunt and how to live on the holy land. How to take what he needed without remorse, without regret.
He wondered what he would take, and keep, from Lil after the kill.
Satisfied with the day’s scouting, he began his hike back to his den, where he would plan the next step of the game.
13
Lil was about to prep for the evening feeding when Farley arrived. He came on horseback, looking like a man who could sit easy all day in the saddle if that was required.
It struck her, as it never had before, how alike he and Coop were in that single area. A couple of city kids who’d morphed into cowboys. Who looked, when they were in the saddle, as if they’d been born there.
And there, she supposed, the similarity ended. Farley was open and easygoing, Coop closed and difficult.
Or maybe that was just her perspective on them.
She turned to Lucius.
“Why don’t you go keep an eye on things in the commissary? I’ll be right along.”
