Black Hills

11

March bit like a tiger, stalking from the north to spring in a killing leap over the hills and valleys. Snow and ice plunged out of the sky, cracking tree limbs with their weight, downing power lines, and turning roads into treachery.

At the refuge, Lil and any of the staff or volunteers who could make it trudged, plowed, and shoveled while the relentless wind blew mountainous drifts into frigid ranges.

The animals retired to their dens, wandering out when the mood struck them to watch the humans shiver and swear. Bundled to the eyeballs, Lil crossed paths with Tansy.

“How’s our girl?” Lil asked, thinking of the lioness.

“Weathering this better than I am. I want a hot, tropical beach. I want the smell of sea and sunscreen. I want a mai tai.”

“Will you settle for hot coffee and a cookie?”

“Sold.” As they plodded their way toward Lil’s cabin, Tansy gave her friend a sidelong look. “You don’t smell like sea and sunscreen.”

“Neither would you if you’d been shoveling snow and shit.”

“And we’re the smart girls,” Tansy commented. “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

“Even smart girls shovel shit. It should be a bumper sticker.” Lil stomped and scraped off snow, and felt her muscles quiver in response when the first shot of warmth inside the cabin hit her. “We got through the worst of it,” she said as she and Tansy stripped off gloves, hats, coats, scarves. “We’ll haul the dung over to the farm first chance. Nothing like shit for farming. And I’m going to insist this is the last ice storm of the season. Spring, with its flash flooding and acres of mud, can’t be far off.”

“Joy.”

Lil headed back to the kitchen to start coffee. “You’ve been Miss Cranky Scientist the last few days.”

“I’m tired of winter.” Scowling, Tansy dug a tube of ChapStick out of her pocket and smeared it on.

“I hear that. But I hear something else, too.” Lil opened a cupboard, pulled out her stash of Milano cookies, handed Tansy the bag. “And call me crazy, but I suspect the something else has a penis.”

Tansy gave her a droll look, and took a cookie. “I know a lot of some-things with penises.”

“Me too. They’re freaking everywhere.” Warm, and happy for a cookie break, Lil leaned back while the coffee brewed. “I have this theory. Want to hear it?”

“I’m eating your cookies, so I guess I’m obligated to.”

“Good. The penis is here to stay, so those of us without them must learn to appreciate, exploit, ignore, and/or utilize them, depending on our own needs and goals.”

Tansy poked out her bottom lip as she nodded. “It’s a good theory.”

“It is.” Lil got down mugs, poured the coffee for both of them. “As we’ve elected to work in what is still a male-dominated field, the ratio of us v. them may demand that we appreciate, exploit, ignore, and/or utilize more often than those of our species who have not elected to work in this field.”

“Are you correlating hard data or will you conduct an empirical study?”

“At this point, it’s still in the observation/speculation phase. However, I do have, on some authority, the identity of the penis which is, I believe, playing a part in making you Miss Cranky Scientist.”

“Oh, really?” Tansy got a spoon and dumped three doses of sugar in her coffee. “Who would the authority be?”

“My mom. She misses little. I’m informed that while I was away the spark quotient between you and a certain Farley Pucket increased.”

“Farley’s barely twenty-five.”

“That would make you a cougar,” Lil said and grinned.

“Oh, shut up. I’m not dating him, sleeping with him, encouraging him.”

“Because he’s twenty-five? Actually, I think he’s twenty-six. And that makes him-good God-four years younger than you are.” In wild reaction-and with some theatrics-Lil pressed the back of her hand to her lips. “Horrors! You’re a cradle robber!”

“It’s not funny.”

Sobering, Lil lifted her eyebrows. She didn’t mind the embarrassed flush on Tansy’s cheeks-what were friends for if not to embarrass friends?-but she did mind, very much, the unhappiness in those big, dark eyes.

“No, apparently it’s not. Tans, you’re seriously unwrapped because you’re a few years older? If the ages were reversed you wouldn’t blink.”

“But they’re not, and I don’t care if it’s not logical. I’m the older woman. The older black woman, for God’s sake, Lil. In South Dakota. It’s not going to happen.”

“So no problem if Farley was thirty-something and black?”

Tansy pointed a finger. “I told you I didn’t care if it was logical.”

Lil pointed a finger right back. “Good thing, because it just isn’t. Let’s put that aside for a minute.”

“It’s key.”

“I’m putting away the key for a minute. Do you have feelings for him? Because I admit I thought it was just a little lusty deal. Long winter, close quarters, healthy, consenting adults. I figured the two of you just had a maybe-we-should-fool-around thing going. Which I was going to rag you about mercilessly because, well, it’s Farley. He’s sort of my honorary lit-brother.”

“See, you were going to say little brother.” Tansy shook her fingers in the air. “Little brother!”

“Key is put away, Tansy. Obviously, this is more than a you’ve-got-a-nice-ass-on-you-cowboy-and-I’m-looking-for-a-little-tussle.”

“I checked out his ass, sure. It’s my inalienable right as a female. But never with the idea of a tussle. What a stupid word.”

“Oh, I see, you never thought about having-insert stupid word-with Farley. Excuse me while I get the fire extinguisher. Your pants are smoking.”

“I may have speculated on stupid wording with Farley, but never with any intent to follow through. It’s another inalienable right.” Exasperated, Tansy tossed up her hands. “We both checked out the ass of Greg the Adonis Grad Student when he volunteered for a month last summer. We didn’t jump that fine ass.”

“It was fine,” Lil said, remembering. “Plus he had that whole six-pack ab thing going. And the shoulders.”

“Yeah. Shoulders.”

They both fell into reverent silence for a moment.

“God, I miss sex,” Lil said with a sigh.

“Tell me.”

“Aha! So why aren’t you having it with Farley?”

“You won’t trap me that way, Dr. Chance.”

“Oh, won’t I? You’re not having it with Farley because he’s not just another hot body like Greg the Adonis Grad Student. You’re not having it with Farley because you have feelings involved.”

“I…” Tansy opened her mouth, then hissed. “Damn it. Okay. All right, I do have them. I don’t even know how it started. He’d come around to help out sometimes, and sure I’d think, Cute guy. He is a cute guy, and sweet. Cute and sweet and funny, so we’d talk or he’d give me a hand, and somewhere along the line I started feeling this buzz. He’d come around and, whew, lots of buzzing in there. And… well, I’m not stupid, but an experienced woman of thirty years.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I caught the way he’d look at me. So I knew he had the buzz going on, too. I didn’t think much of it at first. Just: What do you know, I’ve got the hots for the cute cowboy. But it wouldn’t go away, and it got buzz ier. Then last week, the bad day,” she said, and Lil nodded, “I was feeling sad and sorry, and he sat with me. He kissed me. I kissed him right back before I realized what I was doing. I stopped, and I told him it wasn’t going to happen again. He just kept grinning at me. He says, and I quote, he’s got ‘a powerful yen’ for me. Who talks like that? It’s put me in a mood.”

She dug for another cookie. “I can’t get that damn grin out of my head.”

“Okay. You’re not going to like what I have to say, but…” Lil put her index finger against her thumb, and flicked it sharply dead center of Tansy’s forehead.

“Ow!”

“Stupid. You’re taking the path of stupid, so get off of it. A handful of years and a skin color aren’t reasons to turn away from someone you care about, and who cares about you.”

“People who say skin color doesn’t matter are usually white.”

“Well, ow right back at you.”

“I mean it, Lil. Mixed relationships are still difficult in a lot of the world.”

“News flash. Relationships are still difficult in all of the world.”

“Exactly. So why add layers to the difficulty?”

“Because love’s precious. That part’s simple. It’s getting it and keeping it that’s hard. You’ve never been in a serious relationship.”

“Not fair. I was with Thomas for more than a year.”

“You liked, respected, and lusted for each other. You spoke the same language, but you were never serious, Tansy. Not this-is-the-one sort of serious. I know what it’s like to be with a nice guy you’re comfortable with and never think of him as the one. And I know what it’s like to know the one. I had that with Coop, and he broke my heart. Still, I’d rather have my heart broken than never look and know.”

“You say that, but you’re not the only one with theories. Mine is you’ve never gotten over him.”

“No, I never have.”

Tansy lifted her hands. “How can you handle it?”

“I’m still figuring that out. The bad day was, apparently, a day for a shift in status. He brought me chicken and dumplings. And he kissed me. It’s not a buzz with me, Tansy. It’s a flood, that pours in and fills me up.” She laid a hand on her heart, rubbed. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. If I sleep with him again, will it help me tread water until I can finally get to solid ground? Or will it just take me under? I don’t know, but I’m not going to pretend the odds aren’t strong that I’ll be finding out.”

Steadier for having said it out loud, Lil set her mug down, smiled. “I’ve got a powerful yen for him.”

“You’re-what was your word? Unwrapped. You’re unwrapped over the man who walked away from you and broke your heart. And I’m unwrapped over a farmhand with a rubber-band grin.”

“And we’re the smart girls.”

“Yeah. We’re the smart girls,” Tansy agreed. “Even when we’re idiots.”

COOP WORKED WITH the pretty buckskin mare he’d trained over the winter. She had, in his estimation, a sweet heart, a strong back, and a lazy disposition. She’d be happy to snooze in the stall, paddock, or field most of the day. She’d go if you insisted, if she was sure you really meant it.

She didn’t nip, she didn’t kick, and she would eat an apple out of your hand with a polite delicacy that was undeniably female.

He thought she’d do well with children. He named her Little Sis.

Business was slow in these last stubborn weeks of bitter winter. It gave him time-too much of it-to catch up on paperwork, clean the stalls, organize his new home.

And think about Lil.

He knew she had her hands full. Word got back to him through his grandparents-from her parents, from Farley, from Gull.

She’d come by once, he’d heard, to return his grandmother’s dish, and visit awhile. And she’d come by when he’d been in town, doing a stint in the storefront office.

He wondered if that had been accident or design on her part.

He’d given her space, but he was about done with that now. Those loose ends were still dangling. The time was coming to knot them off.

He started to walk Little Sis toward the barn. “You worked good today,” he told her. “We’ll get you brushed down, and maybe there’ll be an apple in it for you.”

He’d have sworn her ears twitched at the word “apple.” Just as he’d have sworn he heard her sigh when he changed direction and steered her toward the house when he saw the county sheriff step out of the back door.

“That’s a pretty girl.”

“She is.”

Standing, legs spread, Willy squinted up at the sky. “The way the weather’s clearing up, you’ll have her and the rest under the tourists and on the trails before long.”

Coop had to smile. “This is one of the few places I know where eighteen inches of snowpack and drifts taller than me would be considered clearing up, weather-wise.”

“Yeah, haven’t gotten anything falling since the last storm. Clearing up. Spare me a minute, Coop?”

“Sure.” Coop dismounted, looped the mare’s reins around the porch rail. Hardly necessary, he thought. She wouldn’t go anywhere she wasn’t told to go.

“I’ve just come from seeing Lil over at the refuge, and figured I owed you a stop-by.”

Coop could see it clearly enough in the man’s face. “To tell me you’re hitting dead ends.”

“To tell you that. Fact is, what we got is a dead cougar, a thirty-two slug, a buncha tracks in the snow, and a vague description of someone you saw in the dark. We’ve been giving it a push, but there’s not much to move along.”

“You got copies of her threat file?”

“Yeah, and we’ve been following up on that. I rode out and spoke personal to a couple of men who went by the refuge a few months back and gave them some trouble. Don’t fit the physical, either of them. One’s got a wife swears he was home that night, and through the morning-and he was at work nine on the dot in Sturgis. That’s verified. The other runs damn near three hundred pounds. I don’t think you’d’ve mistaken him.”

“No.”

“I talked to a couple rangers I know, and they’ll be keeping an eye out at the park, spreading the word. But I’m going to tell you like I had to tell Lil, we’re going to need a serious run of luck to tie this up. I gotta figure whoever it was is gone. Nobody with a lick of sense would’ve stayed up there when that storm came in. We’ll keep doing what we can do, but I wanted to tell her straight. And you, too.”

“There are a lot of places a man could wait out a storm. In the hills and in the valley. If he had some experience, some provisions, or some luck.”

“That’s a fact. We made some calls, checking if somebody who looked like they’d come off the trail moved into one of the motels or hotels around here. We didn’t get anything. Her camera’s been up and running since, and nobody’s seen anybody around the refuge-or the Chance place-who shouldn’t be around.”

“It sounds like you’ve covered everything you could cover.”

“Doesn’t close the book on it, though. Open book keeps my palms itchy.” Willy stood a moment, looking out at the snow, the sky. “Well. Good to see Sam up and around. I hope I’m tough as him when I get his age. If you think of anything I need to know, I’ll be around to hear it.”

“I appreciate you coming by.”

Willy nodded, gave Little Sis a pat on her flank. “Pretty girl. You take care, Coop.”

He would, Coop thought. But what he needed to take care of was at the refuge.

He dealt with the horse, so Little Sis got her rubdown and her apple. He took care of the rest of the chores, ones as routine to him now as dressing every morning. Because there would be coffee hot and fresh, he went into his grandmother’s kitchen.

His grandfather walked in, without his cane. Coop fought down the urge to comment, especially when Sam gave him a quick scowl.

“I’m still going to use it when I go outside, or if my leg gives me trouble. I’m just testing things, that’s all.”

“Stubborn old goat,” Lucy said as she came out of the laundry room with a basket full of whites.

“That makes two of us.” Sam limped over, took the basket, and while Coop held his breath limped away again to set it on a chair. “Now.” His face actually flushed with pleasure as he turned, winked at Coop. “Why don’t you get the menfolks some coffee, woman?”

Lucy folded her lips, but not before the quick smile escaped. “Oh, sit down.”

Sam let out a quiet sigh as he sat. “I smell a chicken roasting.” He scented the air like a wolf. “Heard a rumor about mashed potatoes. You ought to help me eat that, Coop, before this woman fattens me up like a pig before the roast.”

“Actually, I have something to do. But if you hear somebody sneaking around in here later tonight, you’ll know it’s me coming after the leftovers.”

“I can make you up some, put it over next door for you,” Lucy offered.

The bunkhouse had become “next door.”

“Don’t worry about that. I can fend for myself.”

“Well.” She set coffee in front of both of them, then ran her hand along Coop’s shoulder. “It looks nice over there, but I wish you’d take another look up in the attic. I know you could use more furniture.”

“I can only sit in one chair at a time, Grandma. I wanted to tell you the mare-Little Sis-is coming along.”

“I saw you working her.” Lucy poured the water she had simmering in the kettle to make the tea she preferred that time of day. “She’s got a sweet way.”

“I think she’ll be good with kids, especially if they don’t want to get anywhere fast. I was hoping you’d take her out a couple times, Grandma. See how she feels to you.”

“I’ll take her out tomorrow.” She hesitated a moment before turning to her husband. “Why don’t you ride out with me, Sam? We haven’t had a ride in a while.”

“If the boy can spare the pair of us.”

“I think I can manage,” Coop told him. He finished off his coffee and pushed to his feet. “I’m going to get cleaned up. Do you need anything before I go?”

“I think we can manage,” Lucy said with a smile. “You going out?”

“Yeah. I’ve got something to take care of.”

Lucy lifted her eyebrows at Sam when the door closed behind Coop. “I’ll give you two to one that something has big brown eyes.”

“Lucille, I don’t take sucker bets.”

STREAKS AND SMEARS of red shimmered over the western sky, and the light dipped soft into twilight. The world was vast and white, a land caught in the clutched fist of winter.

He’d heard people talking about spring-his grandparents, Gull, people in town, but nothing he saw gave any indication they’d turned a corner toward daffodils and robins. Then again, he thought, as he pulled up to the gates of the refuge, he’d never spent a winter in the Black Hills before this one.

A few days at Christmas didn’t come close to the whole shot, he mused, as he got out to unlock the gate with the copy of the key he’d had made from Joe’s. The wind whistled and skipped along the road and sent the pines whooshing. The scent of pine and snow and horse would forever say winter in the hills to him.

He got back into the truck, drove through the gate. Stopped, got out to close and relock it. And wondered how much an automatic gate with a frigging keypad ran. Plus a couple of security cameras for the entrance.

He’d have to check on what kind of alarm system she had installed.

If he could make a copy of the key, so could half the county. The other half could just hike around, circle back, and stroll onto refuge land on a whim.

Fences and gates didn’t keep people out if they wanted in.

He followed the road back and slowed at the first turn, the turn that brought the cabins into view. Smoke pumped out of Lil’s chimney, and lights glowed against the window glass. Paths leading from the split-log cabin led to the second cabin, to the habitat areas, to the education center and commissary, and around to where he understood they stored equipment, dry feed, supplies.

He assumed she had enough sense to lock her doors, just as he assumed she was smart and aware enough to understand there were countless ways onto the land, to those doors, for anyone who had the skills and patience to travel the hills and trails.

He skirted the small visitors’ parking area and pulled up by her truck.

The animals announced him, but their calls seemed almost casual to his ear. It wasn’t full dark yet, and from what he could see of the habitat most of the inhabitants had chosen their dens.

Casual or not, Lil was at the door before he’d gained the cabin porch. She stood in a black sweater and worn jeans, scarred boots, with her hair pulled back in a thick black waterfall. He wouldn’t have described her stance or her expression as friendly.

“You’re going to have to give my father back his key.”

“I did.” He stepped onto the porch, looked into her very annoyed eyes. “Which should give you a slice of clue on just how much security that gate gives you.”

“It’s served its purpose up till now.”

“Now’s the point. You need a more secure, automatic gate with a code and camera.”

“Oh, really? Well, I’ll get right on that as soon as I have a few thousand extra piled up, and nothing else to do with it but beef up a gate that is essentially a symbol and a deterrent. Unless you’re going to suggest I build a security wall around more than two dozen acres of land while I’m at it. Maybe post sentries.”

“If you’re going to have a deterrent, it might as well deter. Since I’m standing here, yours didn’t do such a good job. Listen, I’ve been outside most of the day, and I’m tired of freezing my ass off.”

He stepped forward, and since she didn’t move out of the doorway simply cupped his hands under her elbows, lifted her up, over. Inside, he plunked her down again and closed the door.

“Jesus, Cooper.” It was hard to form actual words when her jaw kept wanting to drop. “What’s with you?”

“I want a beer.”

“I bet you have some back at your own place. If not, there are several places to buy beer in town. Go there. Do that.”

“And despite the fact you’re bitchy and unfriendly, I want to talk to you. You’re here, and there’s probably beer.”

He started back to the kitchen. “Why are you here alone?”

“Because this is my house, this is my place, because I wanted to be alone.”

He glanced at the table, noted the laptop, a scatter of files, and a glass of red wine. He picked up the bottle on the counter, approved the label, and allowed himself a change of mind.

He got a wineglass out of one of her cabinets.

“Just make yourself the hell at home.”

“Willy came by to see me.” He poured himself a glass of wine, sampled it, then set the glass down to strip off his coat.

“Then I assume we both got the same information, and there’s nothing to talk about. I’m working, Coop.”

“You’re frustrated and you’re pissed off. I don’t blame you. The fact is, they don’t have much to work with, and none of the lines of investigation are going anywhere. That doesn’t mean they stop, just that they might have to change the angle.”

He picked up the wine again, glanced around the room while he drank. “Don’t you eat?”

“Yes, often when I’m hungry. Let’s just say I appreciate you coming by to reassure me the wheels of justice are turning, and add that I’m aware Willy is doing and will do his best. There. We talked.”

“Do you have a reason to be pissed at me, or is it just in general?”

“We’ve had some long and very physical days around here. I’m on deadline on an article I’m writing. Writing articles helps pay for that wine you’re drinking, among other things. I’ve just been told that it’s very unlikely that whoever shot a cougar that I caged will be identified or apprehended. You waltz in here when I’m trying to work and help yourself to the wine this article will help replace. So we’ll say it’s in general with a special section just for you.”

“I didn’t waltz.” He turned and opened the refrigerator. “Shit, Lil,” he said after a short exam, “even I do better than this.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Finding something to fix for dinner.”

“Get out of my refrigerator.”

In response, he simply opened the freezer. “Figures. Bunch of girl frozen meals. Well, at least there’s frozen pizza.”

He thought he could hear her teeth grinding all the way across the room. It was, he admitted, oddly satisfying.

“In about two minutes I’m going to get my rifle and shoot you in the ass.”

“No you’re not. But in about fifteen minutes, according to the directions on this box, you’ll be eating pizza. It might help your mood. You get some itinerant volunteers,” he continued as he switched on the oven. “Some one- or two-timers.”

Annoyance didn’t seem to work. She tried sulking. “So?”

“It’s a good way to scope out the setup here, the staff, the routines, the layout. A lot of the farms and businesses around here do the same. Hire somebody on in season, a few days, a few weeks, whatever works. I’m going to do the same in another month or so.”

He put the unboxed pizza in, set the timer.

“What difference does it make? Willy thinks he’s done and gone.”

“Willy could be right. Or he could be wrong. If a man knew what he was doing, and wanted to, he could make a nice shelter for himself in the hills. They’re pocketed with caves.”

“You’re not making me feel any better.”

“I want you to be careful. If you feel too much better, you won’t be.” He brought the bottle over, topped off her wine. “What’s the article about?”

She picked up the wine, scowled into it, then sipped. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”

“You’re writing about that? Can I read it?”

“I’m not going to sleep with you,” she repeated, “until when and if I decide otherwise. Tossing a frozen pizza in the oven isn’t going to make me feel warm and fuzzy about you.”

“If I was after warm and fuzzy, I’d get a puppy. I’m going to sleep with you, Lil. But you can take some time to get used to the idea.”

“You had me once, Cooper, and you could’ve kept me. You dumped me.”

His expression flattened out. “We remember it different.”

“If you think we can just go back-”

“I don’t. I don’t want to go back. But I’m looking at you, Lil, and I know we’re not done. You know it, too.”

He sat on the bench with her, sipped his wine, and poked at the photos she had fanned out beside the files. “Is this South America?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s it like going places like that?”

“Exciting. Challenging.”

He nodded. “And now you’ll write a story about going to the Andes to track cougar.”

“Yeah.”

“Then where?”

“Where what?”

“Where will you go?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have any plans right now. This trip was the big one for me. What I got out of it personally, professionally, what I can generate from it with articles, papers, lectures. The research, the findings.” She moved her shoulders. “I can channel a lot of that into benefits for the refuge. The refuge is the priority.”

He set the photos back down to look at her. “It’s good to have priorities.”

He moved in slowly, giving her time-this time-to resist or decide. She didn’t speak, didn’t try to stop him, only watched him the way she might a coiled snake.

Warily.

He caught her chin in a light grip, and took her mouth.

She wouldn’t have said he was gentle, or tender. No, she wouldn’t have called the kiss, the tone, the intent either of those. But there wasn’t the rough fire he’d shown her before. This time, he kissed her like a man who’d decided to take his time. Who was confident he could.

And though his fingers were easy on her face, she knew-didn’t he intend she would?-that they could tighten at his whim. That he could plunder instead of seduce.

And knowing it sparked excitement in her blood.

Hadn’t she always preferred the wild to the tame?

He felt her give, just a little. Just a little more. Her lips moved against his, warmed and softened, and her breath hummed low in her throat.

He eased away as slowly as he’d eased to her. “No,” he said, “we’re not done.” The oven timer dinged, and he smiled. “But the pizza is.”

12

He’d spent worse nights, Coop thought, as he added logs to the fire in Lil’s living room. But it had been a lot of years since he’d made do with a chilly room and a lumpy sofa. And even then, he hadn’t had the additional discomfort of knowing the woman he wanted slept one floor above.

His choice, he reminded himself. She’d told him to go; he’d refused. So he’d gotten a blanket, a pillow, and a sofa six inches too short for him. And it had very likely been for nothing.

She was probably right. She was perfectly safe on her own, in her cabin. Locked doors and a loaded rifle were solid safety factors.

But once he’d told her he intended to stay, he hadn’t been able to back down.

And it was damn weird, he mused, as he walked back to the kitchen to put on coffee, to be wakened in the dark by a jungle cat’s roar.

Damn weird.

He supposed she was used to it, as he hadn’t heard her stir, even when he’d been compelled to pull on his boots and go out to check.

The only things he’d discovered were she needed more security lights, and that even if a man knew there were sturdy barriers, the roars and growls in the dark could send an atavistic finger of fear up his spine.

She was stirring now, he thought. He’d heard her footsteps above, and the clink of the pipes as she turned on the shower.

It would be light soon, another frigid, white-drenched dawn. Her people would be heading in, and he had his own work to see to.

He hunted up eggs and bread, a frying pan. She might not agree, but he figured she owed him a hot breakfast for the guard duty. He was slapping a couple of fried egg sandwiches together when she walked in. She’d bundled her hair up, wore a flannel shirt over a thermal. And looked no more pleased to see him this morning than she had the night before.

“We need some ground rules,” she began.

“Fine. Write me up a list. I’ve got to get to work. I made two if you want the other,” he added as he wrapped his sandwich in a napkin.

“You can’t just come here and take over.”

“Put that at the top of the list,” he suggested as she followed him into the living room. He passed the sandwich from hand to hand as he shrugged on his coat. “You smell good.”

“You need to respect my privacy, and get it through your head I don’t need or want a guard dog.”

“Uh-huh.” He settled his hat on his head. “You’re going to need to bring in more firewood. I’ll see you later.”

“Coop. Damn it!”

He turned at the door. “You matter. Deal with it.”

He bit into his sandwich as he strode to his truck.

She was right about the ground rules, he thought. Most things worked better with rules, or guidelines anyway. There was right and there was wrong, and a big, wide mass of gray between them. Still, it was best to know which shades of gray worked for any particular situation.

She was entitled to set some rules, as long as she understood he’d be exploring the gray.

He ate his egg sandwich as he drove the looping road to the gate, and setting rules, guidelines, and the mystery of just what he wanted from Lil aside, he mentally arranged what he had to do that day.

Stock to be fed, stalls mucked out. Then getting his grandparents out on horseback would be an accomplishment. He needed to get into town for some supplies, do some paperwork at the storefront. If they didn’t have customers who wanted a trail guide, he’d get Gull to work on some of the tack.

He wanted to work out a basic plan, cost analysis, and feasibility of adding pony rides to the business. Take a few horses like Little Sis, he mused, walk them around a fenced track for a half hour, and you could…

His mind switched off business and to alert.

The corpse was draped over the gate. Below it, blood stained the hardpack of snow. A couple of vultures were already pecking for breakfast while more circled overhead.

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 this 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 done 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.”

She walked over to meet Farley and give his horse Hobo a pat on the cheek. “Hello, boys.”

“Hi there, Lil. Got ya something.” He pulled the clutch of pink-and-white daisies peeking their tops out of his saddlebag.

Pleasure and surprise bloomed in equal parts. “You brought me flowers?”

“I thought maybe you could use a little brightening up.”

She looked at them-sweet, fresh, and yes, bright. And she smiled. Smiling, she crooked her finger to signal him to lean over.

His rubber grin stretched when she planted a loud kiss on his cheek. Then she cocked an eyebrow. “Are those daffodils I see sticking out of your saddlebag?”

“Sure look like daffodils to me.”

Lil patted his ankle affectionately. “She’s touring a group who came in a while ago. The father’s a big fan of Deadwood. The TV thing. So they made the trip to see it, after doing Rushmore, and heard about us in town. He thought the kids would get a charge.”

“Bet they will.”

“They’d be about halfway around now, if you want to catch up.”

“Guess I will. Lil, I can bunk here tonight if you want.”

“Thanks, Farley, but I’m covered.”

“Yeah, I heard.” His cheeks pinked a little when she stared at him. “I mean to say Joe said how Coop was likely staying around. To keep an eye out. It eases your pa’s mind knowing that,” he added.

“Which is why I’m allowing it. Tell Tansy we’re about to start the evening feeding. The family from Omaha is going to get more bang for their buck.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Farley?” She gave Hobo another rub as she looked up into Farley’s face. “You and Tansy are two of my favorite people in the world. You’re family to me, so I’m going to say what I think.”

His face went carefully blank. “All right, Lil.”

“Good luck.”

His smile flickered, then expanded. “I guess I need it.”

He trotted off, bolstered. He set store by Lil’s opinion, so her approval-it seemed approval to him-meant a lot. Whistling a little, he traveled the loop of the path out of the compound and around the first enclosures.

The ground rose and fell as nature would have it. Outcroppings of rocks jutted up-some had been there since God knew, and some Lil had put in. Trees speared and spread, offering shade and opportunities for climbing, for scratching. Even as he rode by, one of the bobcats stretched out, sharpening his claws on the bark of a pine.

He spotted the trolley they used for groups around the bend and across the flat, but resisted the urge to nudge Hobo into a gallop. When he reached them they stood outside the tiger habitat watching the big cat yawn, roll, and stretch in a way that told Farley he’d just awakened from a nap.

Probably knew it was coming on suppertime.

“Howdy, folks.” He tapped a finger to the brim of his hat. “Lil said I should tell you it’s feeding time,” he told Tansy.

“Thank you, Farley. Excluding those in the petting zoo, the animals here at the refuge are nocturnal. We feed them in the evening, as it reinforces their natural hunting instincts.”

She used what Farley thought of as her “official” voice. He could listen to it all day long.

“We process hundreds of pounds of meat every week in our commissary. The staff and interns prepare the meat, primarily chicken, which is generously donated by Hanson’s Foods. You really timed your visit well today, because watching feeding time is an experience. You’ll see first-hand the power of the animals here at Chance Wildlife Refuge.”

“Mister? Can I ride on your horse?”

Farley looked down at a girl of about eight, pretty as a sunbeam in her pink hooded coat.

“If your folks say so, you can sit up here with me, and I’ll walk you around. Hobo’s a gentle one, ma’am,” he said to the mother.

“Please! Please! I’d rather ride on the horse than watch the lions and stuff eat chicken.”

There was a short debate. Farley stayed out of it and gave himself the pleasure of watching Tansy tell the boy-about twelve, Farley supposed-how tigers stalked and ambushed.

In the end, the girl had her way and squeezed onto Hobo in front of Farley. “This is a lot more fun. Can you make him go really fast?”

“I could. But I expect if I did your ma would have my hide.”

“What’s a hide?”

He chuckled. “My skin. She’d skin me if I did that after I promised to go easy.”

“I wish I had a horse.” She leaned forward to brush her hand over Hobo’s mane. “Do you get to ride all the time? Every day?”

“I guess I do.”

The little girl sighed. “You’re so lucky.”

Behind her, Farley nodded. “I am. I’m lucky all right.”

Since the girl-Cassie-couldn’t have been less interested in the feeding, Farley got the okay to show her around on the horse. Hobo, steady as Gibraltar, placidly clopped the path while the animals screamed, growled, roared, and howled.

As twilight fell, Farley waved goodbye.

“That was nice of you, Farley.” Tansy watched the minivan head down the road. “Taking the time and trouble to entertain her.”

“It wasn’t any trouble. Easier to walk a horse around than haul all that meat, which I’d’ve felt obliged to help do if I hadn’t been occupied.”

He pulled the daffodils out of his bag. “These are for you.”

She stared at the bright yellow trumpets. He wondered if she knew how clearly everything showed on her face, the surprise and the pleasure-and the worry. “Oh, Farley. You shouldn’t-”

“You had a rough start this morning. I’m hoping you let me give you a better end to the day. Why don’t you come out with me, Tansy?”

“Farley, I told you we’re not going to get involved like that. We’re friends, and that’s all. We’re not going to date.”

It took some effort not to smile. She was still using her “official” voice. “Then why don’t you let me buy you a burger, like a friend would when his friend has a hard day. Just take your mind off things, that’s all.”

“I’m not sure that’s-”

“Just a hamburger, Tansy, to save you from having to fix a meal or figure out where to get one for yourself. Nothing more than that.”

She gave him a long look, with that line digging in between her eyebrows. “Just a burger?”

“Well, maybe some fries. Doesn’t seem like a burger without the fries.”

“Okay. Okay, Farley, I’ll meet you in town. In about an hour. How about Mustang Sally’s?”

“That’s fine.” Since he didn’t want to push his luck, he swung into the saddle. “I’ll see you later.”

He rode away, with a big grin on his face and a loud yee-haw in his heart.

In the office she shared with Tansy, Lil sat with her foot on the desk and her eyes on the ceiling. She glanced over when Tansy came in, smiled at the daffodils. “Pretty.”

“I don’t want any remarks.” She clipped out the words. “It was just a nice gesture from a friend. Something to cheer me up.”

Lil debated for a moment, then decided if you couldn’t screw with your friends, who could you screw with? “I know. He brought me daisies.”

Tansy’s face fell. “He did?” She recovered, smiled toothily. “Well, there, you see? Just a nice gesture. It doesn’t mean anything but that.”

“Absolutely not. You ought to put them in water. The wet paper towels and plastic wrap only hold them for so long.”

“I will. I’m going to go home, if there’s nothing urgent. Long day. The interns are finishing up, so I’ll give Eric-and whoever needs it-a lift back to town.”

“Sure. Lucius is working on something. He said he’d probably be another twenty minutes, which in Lucius time means another hour. He can lock up.”

“After this morning that doesn’t seem good enough.”

“I know, but it’s what we can do.”

Worry clouded her eyes. “Cooper’s coming back, staying the night?”

“Apparently I’m outvoted on that. And no comments there, either. Tit for tat.”

Tansy held up her free hand. “Not a word.”

“I can hear what you’re thinking, and will ignore it. Meanwhile, one thing. I just got off the phone with a woman outside of Butte. She has an eighteen-month-old melanistic jaguar, born in captivity and purchased by her as an exotic pet.”

“Spotted or black?”

“Black. She’s had it since it was a kit. A female, named Cleopatra. A couple of days ago, Cleo was, apparently, feeling both frisky and peckish and ate Pierre, a teacup poodle.”

“Oops.”

“Yes, big oops for little Pierre. The owner is hysterical, her husband is furious. Pierre belonged to his mother, who was visiting from Phoenix. He’s laid down the law, and Cleo must go.”

“Where would we put her?”

“There’s a question. I’m working on it. We could provide a temporary habitat by fencing off a section of Sheba’s area. She’s not using all her area anyway. Rarely leaves the den or the immediate vicinity.”

“Can we afford it?”

“I’m working on that, too.” Leaning back, Lil tapped a pencil on the edge of her desk. “I think Cleo’s owner can be persuaded to make a nice, fat donation to ensure Cleo’s happiness and well-being.”

“Define ‘nice and fat.’”

“I’m hoping for ten thousand.”

“I like the way you hope.”

“It’s not an impossible dream,” Lil told her. “I just Googled the owners. They’re rolling in it. They’re ready to pay all expenses and fees to get her here, the transportation, the cost of sending a team to Montana for her-and indicated there would be a prize in the box if we could move quickly. I asked her to give me a day to consider the logistics.”

Lil’s eyes lit up as she tossed the pencil down. “A black jaguar, Tansy. Young, healthy. We could breed her. And God knows she’d be happier and better off here than on some ranch in Montana. We have most of the materials we need for a temporary habitat. In the spring, when the ground’s thawed, we can expand, put in a permanent one.”

“You’ve already decided.”

“I don’t see how we can resist. I think I can get the cat and five figures out of this. I think I can make this woman so happy and grateful we may end up with a valuable supporter. I’m going to think about it more. You do the same. We’ll talk about it in the morning, and decide.”

“Okay. I bet she’s beautiful.”

Lil tapped her computer screen, so Tansy skirted around the desk. “She e-mailed me pictures. We’ll get the rhinestone collar off her. She’s gorgeous. Look at those eyes. I’ve seen them in the wild. They’re dramatic and mysterious and a little spooky. She’d be an amazing addition. She needs a refuge. She can’t be introduced to the wild. We can give her a good home here.”

Tansy patted Lil’s shoulder. “Oh, yeah, you think about it more. See you in the morning.”

It was full dark by the time Lil left the office. When she stepped out and spotted Coop’s truck, she hunched her shoulders. She hadn’t heard him drive up. Too involved, she admitted as she crossed the compound, with refreshing herself on jaguars, working out the logistics of transportation and habitat. They’d need a vet to clear her, Lil thought. She couldn’t trust the word of the owner on that. Still, if the cat had any medical problems it might be even more important to give her sanctuary.

She’d wheedle money out of Cleo’s owner. She was good at wheedling donations. It might have been far from her favorite part of the job, but she was good at it.

She stepped inside.

A fire crackled cheerfully in the hearth. Coop sat on the sofa, his feet on her coffee table, a beer in his hand. With the other he worked on a notebook computer on his lap.

She shut the front door with a little more force than necessary. He didn’t bother to look up.

“Your mother sent over a chunk of ham, some sort of potatoes, and I think it might be artichokes.”

“I can make my own food, you know. I just haven’t had a chance to get to the store for supplies in the last few days.”

“Uh-huh. I brought over a six-pack if you want a beer.”

“Coop, this can’t… This is wrong in so many ways.” She pulled off her coat, tossed it aside. “You can’t just live here.”

“I’m not. I’ve got my own place. I’m just sleeping here for a while.”

“And how long is a while? How long do you plan to sleep on my sofa?”

He sent her a lazy glance as he took a pull of his beer. “Until you loosen up and let me into your bed.”

“Oh, well, if that’s all, let’s go. Come on, let’s hit the sheets. Then we can both get back to our regularly scheduled lives.”

“Okay. Just give me a minute to finish this up.”

She clamped her hands on her head, paced a circle. “Fuck,” she said. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“I might’ve put it more delicately than that.”

She stopped, then squatted on the other side of the coffee table. “Cooper.”

He took another sip of his beer. “Lillian.”

She shut her eyes a moment because there had to be some sense, some shade of sanity in the chaos murking up her brain. “This arrangement is awkward and unnecessary, and just weird.”

“Why?”

“Why? Why? Because we have a history, because we had a… thing. You do realize that everyone in the damn county figures we’re sleeping together again.”

“I don’t think everyone in the county knows either one of us, or cares. And so what?”

She had to scramble for an answer to that. “Maybe I want to sleep with somebody else, and you’re in the way.”

Coop took a long, slow pull from the beer this time. “Then where is he?”

“Okay, forget that one. Just forget that one.”

“Happy to. It’s got to be your turn to put the meal on.”

“See?” She jabbed a finger in the air. “There. What is this ‘turn’ crap? This is my house. Mine, mine, mine. And I come in to find you on my sofa, with your feet on my coffee table, drinking my beer-”

“I bought the beer.”

“You’re deliberately missing the point.”

“I got the point. You don’t like me being here. The point you’re missing is I don’t care. You’re not staying here alone until this trouble is resolved. I told Joe I’d look out for you. That’s it, Lil.”

“If it makes you feel any better I can arrange for an intern to stay in the next cabin.”

The faintest trace of impatience flickered over his face. “Would the average age of your interns be maybe twenty? I wonder why the idea of some skinny college kid as your backup doesn’t ease my mind. You’d save yourself from aggravation if you just accept that I’m going to be around until this is settled. Did you make that list?”

“Until” was the sticking point, wasn’t it? she thought. He’d be around until… he was finished, he decided to move on again, he found something or someone else.

“Lil?”

“What?”

“Did you make that list?”

“What list?” When he smirked, it came back to her. “No, I didn’t make any damn list. I had a few other minor things on my mind today.” Though she knew it was a kind of surrender, she dropped down to sit on the floor. “We took two thirty-two slugs out of the gray wolf.”

“I heard.”

“They have to run ballistics, but we all know it was the same gun, used by the same man.”

“That’s your good news. You’d have more to worry about if you had two shooters.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way. Well, whoopee.”

“You need better security.”

“I’m working on it. More cameras, lights, alarms. The health and safety of my animals is priority, but I can’t just reach in my pocket and pull out the money to pay for all that.”

He hitched up, reached in his pocket, and took out a check. “Donation.”

She smiled a little. Damn it, he was being considerate and kind-and she was being nothing but bitchy. “And all are gratefully accepted, but I priced some of the equipment and systems today so…”

She glanced at the check. Her brain simply froze. She blinked, blinked again, but the number of zeros remained the same. “What the hell is this?”

“I thought we’d established it’s a donation. Are you going to heat up that food your mother sent?”

“Where the hell did you get this kind of money? And you can’t just give it away like this. Is this a real check?”

“It’s family money. Trust fund. My father’s kept it locked down as much as he could, but it’s been trickling in every five years or so.”

“Trickle.” She whispered the word. “In my world this is a lot more than a trickle.”

“He’ll have to let loose of another payment when I hit thirty-five. He can hold the rest back until I’m forty, and he will. It pisses him off he can’t break the trust altogether and stiff me. I’m a big disappointment to him, on every level. But since that’s mutual, we deal with it.”

The gleam the donation put in her eyes dulled into sympathy. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry things never got any better between you and your father. I haven’t even asked about that, or your mother.”

“She’s married again. Third time. This one seems solid. He’s a decent guy, and from the outside, anyway, it looks like she’s happy.”

“I know they came out to visit. I was doing fieldwork so I wasn’t here. I know it meant a lot to Sam and Lucy.”

“She flew out when he got hurt. Surprised me,” Coop admitted. “I think it surprised everyone, including her.”

“I didn’t know. So much has been going on since I got back from Peru. I’ve missed a lot of details. It’s better, then? You and your mother?”

“It’s never going to be Norman Rockwell, but we deal with each other when we see each other.”

“That’s good.” She looked back at the check. “I want this. We could really use this. But it’s a lot. More than I was going to pry out of the jaguar lady, and that was going to give me happy dreams tonight.”

“Jaguar lady?”

Lil just shook her head. “This is a major contribution. The sort I usually have to go begging for.”

“I have a lot of money. More than I need. You’re a tax write-off, which’ll make my accountant happy.”

“Well, if it makes your accountant happy. Thank you, more than I can say.” She gave his boot, still resting on her table, a friendly pat. “You’re entitled to a number of fabulous prizes. A stuffed cougar, an official Chance Wildlife Refuge T-shirt, and mug. A subscription to our newslet ter, and free admission to the refuge, the education center, and all facilities for… with this amount the rest of your natural life.”

“Wrap ’ em up. You can use the strings attached to the check.”

“Uh-oh.”

“They’re simple. You use it for security. I’ll help you pick the system. It’s something I know. If there’s anything left after that, go crazy. But you use that to secure the compound, and as much of the refuge as possible.”

“Since I didn’t have this in my hand five minutes ago, I can live with those strings. I do need a new habitat. A home for the panther. Melanistic jaguar from Butte.”

“What the hell is ‘melanistic,’ and when did they get jaguars, unless you’re talking about ones with engines, in Montana?”

“‘Melanistic’means black or nearly black pigmentation, though black jaguars can produce spotted young. And there are no jaguars in the wild in Montana anymore. They may be making a comeback, but in the U.S. jaguars are bred in captivity. I have a woman in Butte who wants us to adopt her cat because it ate the dog.”

Coop studied Lil’s face for a long moment. “I think I need another beer.”

She sighed. “I’ll heat up dinner and explain.” She pushed to her feet, then stopped herself. She waved the check in the air. “See? I’m heating up dinner.”

“No, you’re just standing there talking about it.”

“You give me a big, fat donation and I’m heating up dinner, forgetting to be annoyed that you’re squatting like a homesteader in my living room.”

“There aren’t those kinds of strings on that check, Lil. I told you clearly the ones that were.”

“You don’t have to put strings on it for them to be there. Damn it.”

“Here, give it back. I’ll tear it up.”

“No way in hell.” She stuffed it in her back pocket. “But we do have to set boundaries, Coop. Ground rules. I can’t live like this. It’s too unsettled and stressful.”

“Write them up. We’ll negotiate.”

“Here’s one. If you’re going to eat here, whoever makes the food or heats up the food or whatever, the other cleans up after. That’s basic roommate dynamic.”

“Fine.”

“Did you ever have one? After college and the academy, I mean.”

“You want to know if I ever lived with a woman. No. Not officially.”

Because he’d seen through her very thin smoke screen, she said nothing else, but went back to heat up her mother’s care package.

Since it made for easy conversation, she told him about Cleo while they ate.

“She’s lucky it ate a dog and not a toddler.”

“Actually, that’s true enough. Cleo may-and probably did-start out playing. Then instinct took over. Wild can be trained, and they can learn, but they can’t and won’t be tamed. Rhinestone collars and satin pillows don’t make a pet out of the wild, even when they’re born and raised in captivity. We’ll bring her in, give her a big splash on the website. A new animal always generates more hits, more donations.”

“Will you include her taste for pups in her bio?”

“I think we’ll leave that out. What were you working on? On your laptop?”

“Spreadsheets. Just basic outlay, income, projections.”

“Really?”

“You sound surprised I’d know what a spreadsheet is. I ran my own business for five years.”

“I know. I guess it’s one of those gaps I still haven’t jumped. Private investigating. Is it anything like TV? I know I asked before, but you were being snotty when you answered.”

“I recall being honest. No, it’s not like TV, or not much. It’s a lot of legwork and sitting-on-your-ass work. Talking to people, computer checks, documenting.”

“But still, solving crimes?”

Amusement at her hopeful tone warmed those ice blue eyes. “That’s TV. We handled a lot of insurance claims, checking them for fraud. Divorces. Surveilling cheating spouses. Missing persons.”

“You found missing people? That’s important, Coop.”

“Not everyone who’s missing wants to be found. So it’s relative. And it’s done. Now it’s horses, feed, vet bills, farrier bills, tack, insurance, crops. They need a full-time hand at the farm. They need a Farley.”

She jabbed her fork at him. “You can’t have Farley.”

“If I tried to take him, he’d turn me down anyway. He’s in love with your parents.”

“Among others. He’s got his eye on Tansy.”

“Tansy?” Coop considered it. “She’s hot. Farley’s…”-he searched for a word-“affable.”

“And charming and reliable, and very, very cute. He flusters her. I’ve known Tansy since we were eighteen. I’ve never seen her flustered by a man.”

Intrigued, Coop angled his head. “You’re rooting for Farley.”

“Mentally I’m shaking pom-poms and doing C jumps.”

“Interesting image.” He drew his loosely closed fist down her braid. “When’s the last time you were flustered, Lil?”

Since the answer was right now, she slid off the bench, and took the plates to the sink. “I’ve got too much going on to be flustered. Dishes are yours. I’m going up. I need to finish my article.”

He caught her hand as she passed, yanked enough to throw her off balance so he could pull her across his lap. He took her braid again-no loose fist this time-and tugged so her lips lined with his. Took her mouth.

Irritated at being caught off-guard, she pushed, twisted. He was much stronger, his body a lot tougher than it had been once upon a time.

And his mouth, his hands, considerably more skilled.

Lust wrapped around irritation. Need lit a fire to the mix.

Then he softened the kiss, enough to add a layer of sweetness that bruised her heart.

“’Night, Lil.” He murmured it against her mouth before drawing back.

She pushed to her feet. “No physical or sexual contact. That’s a rule.”

“I’m not going to agree to that one. Pick another.”

“It’s not right, Coop. It’s not fair.”

“I don’t know if it’s right or not. I don’t care if it’s fair.” His tone was the equivalent of a shrug. “I want you. I know how to do without what I want, and I know how to go after what I want. It’s about deciding.”

“And where am I in this decision?”

“You’ll have to figure that out for yourself.”

“You’re not going to do this to me. You’re not going to break my heart again.”

“I never broke your heart.”

“If you believe that you’re either seriously stupid or emotionally stunted. Don’t bother me anymore tonight. Don’t bother me.”

She strode away, up the stairs, into her bedroom, where she shut-and locked-the door.

14

Lil waited until she heard Coop start his truck in the morning before she came downstairs. The delay put her a little behind, but the lack of stress made it worthwhile.

She’d done a lot of work, and a lot of thinking, locked in her room through the night. Clearheaded work, she decided. Clearheaded thinking.

She smelled the coffee before she reached the kitchen, and could-clearheadedly-consider that a benefit of having him stay overnight. There were benefits, and she’d weighed them against the difficulties.

Her kitchen was clean. The man was no slob. And the coffee was hot and strong, just as she liked it. Alone in the quiet, she zapped a bowl of instant oatmeal, shoveled it in. Dawn lifted the light when she’d finished, and interns and staff began to arrive for the day’s work.

Enclosures and stalls needed to be mucked out, and the enclosures disinfected. Interns would collect samples of scat from each animal, which would be tested for parasites.

Always, Lil mused as she manned a hose, a fun job.

According to her daily chart, it was time for Xena’s leg to be examined, which meant immobilizing the old wolf and transporting her to Medical. While she was out, they’d give her a full exam and take blood samples.

The little zoo animals required feeding and tending, and fresh hay laid. Horses needed feed and water, exercise, and grooming. The sheer physical labor of a routine morning at the refuge sweated out any lingering tension.

By mid-morning she had assigned some interns to inventory the fencing, the poles, and other materials needed to create a viable temporary habitat for the jaguar before Lil went into the office to contact Butte.

When she’d done all the plans and preparations she could, she went out to find Tansy.

“Elementary school field trip,” Tansy told her, gesturing to the kids being herded down the path. “I put Eric and Jolie on them. They work well together. The fact is, Lil, Eric’s one of the best interns we’ve had in the program.”

“I agree. He’s smart, willing to work, and he’s not afraid to ask questions.”

“He wants to stay another term. He’s already contacted his professors to ask if they’d clear it.”

“We’ve never had a second-term intern. Could be useful.” Lil considered. “He could help with training the newbies, and we could put his own training up a notch or two. If he can make it work with the university, I’ll clear it.”

“Good. We’ll be switching over very soon. Lose this group, start over with the next.” Tansy tipped her head. “You don’t look like you got much sleep.”

“I didn’t. Because I was working, fiddling and finagling, plotting and planning. I’ve got to head into town shortly, and deposit this.”

She pulled the check out of her pocket, held it by the corners, tipped it back and forth as if it danced.

“What-is that-Holy shit!”

Tansy threw her arms around Lil, and the two of them bounced in a circle. “Lil, this is amazing and wonderful and out of the blue. Coop? How many sexual favors did you have to offer and/or provide? Does he have that kind of money?”

“I didn’t offer and/or provide any sexual favors. But for this kind of dough, I would have. And yes, apparently he does have this kind of money. Who knew?”

“Does he have more? We can both offer and/or provide. I’m in.”

“We’ll keep that in reserve.” Because it still dazzled her, Lil studied all the zeros again. “I’ve spent this about ten times in my head overnight. I’ve got prices on security systems, security lights, cameras. New gates. We’ll see how far it goes. And to add to it, Montana is donating ten grand, with the stipulation we use at least part of it to build Cleo a spiffy new home in the spring.”

“When it rains, it freaking monsoons.”

“My mother always says life’s made up of cycles, of checks and balances. I like to think this is to balance out the horrible. Matt spoke with the vet in Butte, and we’re good there. I’m dealing with the permits, documentation, the paperwork, the logistics.”

“Jesus, Lil, we’re getting a jag. We’re actually getting a black jaguar.”

“And I need you to go to Montana and bring Cleo to her new home.”

“Sure, but you always go to check out the animals.”

“I can’t leave now, Tans, not even for the two or three days this’ll take.” She scanned the compound, the humans and animals. “I can’t take the chance that something could happen while I was gone. And since this is moving so quickly, I want to be here to help with the temporary habitat, and finalize plans for the permanent one. I’ve arranged for the crate and the box truck.”

“Problem there would be I’ve never driven one of those rigs.”

“You won’t be driving. You’ll be in charge of the cat. Her safety-public safety-her health. It’s about a seven-hour drive-eight, tops. Farley will handle the rig.”

“Oh, Lil.”

“Big picture, Tansy. He can handle the truck, and he’s a top-level volunteer. He’s the best one for it, and he’s got enough experience helping around here to assist you in any way you might need. I don’t anticipate any problems.”

“Your big picture’s logical. But what about the yen? What about that?”

Lil knew exactly how to play it. She widened her eyes. “Are you telling me you can’t handle Farley and his yen?”

“No. Not exactly.” Trapped, Tansy hissed out a breath. “Damn it.”

“You could be there in six hours if it goes well,” Lil continued, talking fast, “check out Cleo, charm and reassure the owner. Spend the night, load her up the next morning, and be back here before feeding time.”

Now, shamelessly, Lil added the big guns. “I can’t do it myself, Tansy, so I need you to do me this really big favor.”

“Of course I will. But it’s a situation.”

“Then why did you have dinner with him last night?”

Scowling, Tansy stuffed her hands in her coat pockets. “How do you know I did?”

“Because interns eat, too, and talk.”

“It was just a burger.”

“And this is just transport. I’ll put everything together for you before the end of the day, and you can go over any medical stuff you feel you might need to with Matt. You can leave in the morning. If you get here by six, you can get an early start.”

“You’ve already talked to Farley.”

“Yeah. He’s bringing the rig over here tonight.”

“Tell him to plan on leaving at five A.M. It’ll give us a good jump on the day.”

“Done. God, Tansy, you’re bringing home a jag. Now I’m going into town to swell our coffers before I deplete them.”

SHE HAD a number of errands to run in Deadwood. The bank, the store, the contractor, the post office. Since it would save time later, she loaded up at the feed-and-grain.

She saved Coop for last, since she saw his truck outside the stables they kept on the edge of town.

She took the folder with the information and specs she’d gotten off the Internet and went into the smell of horses and leather and hay.

She found him in the third stall, sitting on a stool as he wrapped the right foreleg of a chestnut gelding.

“Is he all right?”

Coop nodded, his hands steady and competent. “Just a little strain.”

“I had some business in town, and thought I’d drop this off when I saw your truck. I got information on a couple of security systems I think would work for us. I’ll leave it on the bench out here.”

“Go ahead. I made a call earlier. Contact I have in the business. I like their system, and he’d shave a little off the cost for me.” He named the system.

“That’s one of the two I have in the folder.”

“It’s a good one. If you go with that, he’ll give us the contact for the closest rep out here. They’ll come out, help you design and install.”

“All right. Let’s just go with them.”

“I’ll give him a call when I’m done here, have him contact you.”

“I appreciate it. I’ve also got an official letter of thanks from the refuge acknowledging your generous donation. Your accountant may want that on file. And Farley will be staying overnight in the compound.”

He looked over then. “Okay.”

“I’ll let you get back to work.”

“Lil. We have more to talk about.”

“I guess we do. Sooner or later.”

SHE WAS UP to see Tansy and Farley off in the cold dark. Farley’s easy cheer started her day with a smile, despite the occasional dirty look from Tansy.

“Try to avoid speeding tickets, especially coming back.”

“Don’t worry.”

“And call me when you get there, or if you run into any problems, or-”

“Maybe you should remind me not to leave the keys in the rig and to chew my food thoroughly before swallowing.”

She poked a finger in his belly. “Don’t speed-too much-and stay in contact. That’s all I have to say.”

“Then let’s roll. You all set, Tansy?”

“Yes.” She sent him a brisk, businesslike nod.

And he sent Lil a grin and a wink.

Knowing both of them, Lil would’ve laid odds the wink would cut through the businesslike before the first sixty miles.

Waving, she stood and listened to the diminishing sound of the truck as it curved toward the main road.

It occurred to her that for the first time since she and Coop had camped she was fully alone in the compound. For another two hours-give or take-she had it all to herself.

“Just you and me, guys,” she murmured.

She listened to the carol of her old lion, who often called out to the night before dawn struck. In those acres of sanctuary, the wild was awake and alive.

And hers, she thought, as much as they could be.

She looked up, happy to see the night sky brilliant with stars. The air was apple-crisp, the stars like jewels, and Boris’s roar joined Sheba’s.

In that moment, Lil, realized, she couldn’t have been more content.

A sane woman would go back to bed for an hour-or at least go inside in the warmth and have another cup of coffee, maybe a leisurely breakfast. But she didn’t want bed, or indoors. No, she wanted the night, the stars, her animals, and this small slice of solitude.

She went in to fill a go-cup with coffee, grabbed a flashlight, shoved her cell phone in her pocket out of habit.

She’d walk her land, she decided, her place. Wander the habitat trails before the sun rose, before it wasn’t all hers again.

As she stepped outside, a sudden, high beep-beep-beep stopped her in her tracks. Cage door alarm, she thought, as her pulse jumped. The coffee splattered when she dropped it to streak down the steps, to race to the other cabin.

“Which one, which one?” She booted up Lucius’s computer on the run, grabbed a drug gun and darts from Medical. Afraid of what she might find-or not find-she stuffed extra tranquilizers into her pocket.

She hit the switch for the path lights, the emergency lights, then rushed to the computer to call up a camera scan.

“Could be a blip, could be nothing. Could be… Oh, God.”

The tiger’s cage stood wide open. In the yellow glare of the emergency lights she saw a blood trail across the path and into the brush. And there the shadow of the cat, the glint of his eyes against the dark.

Go now, go fast, she ordered herself. If she waited she might lose him. Even at his age, he could travel fast, travel far. Across the valley, into the hills, into the forest, where there were people, hikers, farmers, campers.

Go now.

She sucked in her breath like a diver about to take the plunge, then stepped outside.

The alone, so appealing only moments before, now pulsed with fear. The air beat with it, matching the pounding of her heart, and stabbed at her throat like tiny, vicious needles with each breath. The steady beep of the cage alarm stirred the other animals, so roars, howls, screams broke across the compound and echoed toward the sky. That would help, she told herself, help mask the sound of her approach.

The cat knew her, but that made no difference. He was a wild and dangerous thing, more so out of containment and on a blood trail. More, the blood trail meant the cat wasn’t the only predator who could spring. She knew she might be stalked even as she stalked the cat.

She had to shut down the fear and ordered herself to ignore the rush of blood in her ears, the knock of her own heart, the snake of sweat slithering down her back. Her job-her responsibility-was to immobilize the cat. Quickly, cleanly.

She called on every instinct, every hour of training and experience. She knew the ground-better, in fact, than her quarry did. She forced herself to move slowly, to use caution, to listen.

She shifted direction. The route would take longer but would bring her upwind. If, as she believed, her tiger was busy with the bait that had drawn him from his cage, the route, the noise would be to her advantage.

She moved through the backwash of the lights, into shadows and back again. Gauging her ground, the distance, shutting her mind to everything but reaching the cat, immobilizing him.

She heard, under the calls from the habitats, a sound she knew well. Fang and claw rending flesh, the crunch of bone, and the low rumble of the cat as it tore through the meat.

Sweat slid down her temples, wormed down her sides as she angled again. The cat lay low, feasting. For a clear shot, one that injected the dart into large muscle, she’d have to step out into the open, stand in his line of sight.

Lil gripped the drug gun, moved sideways, and came out of the trees a bare six feet from him.

The cat lifted its head, and he growled. Blood from the nearly decimated elk calf smeared his snout, dripped from fangs. Eyes glinted at her, gold and feral.

She fired, struck him behind the shoulder, and prepared to fire again as he roared in rage. He twitched and shook, trying to dislodge the dart. She took a step back, and another, testing the placement of each foot before giving it her weight.

And he watched her, dipping his head back to the bloody meat while she counted off the time in her mind, while she listened to the thunder rumbling in his throat.

Though her fear screamed Run!, she knew running would spark his instinct to chase, to attack. So slowly, her muscles quivering, she continued the careful retreat. Get in his enclosure, she thought still ticking off the seconds in her mind, close the door. Inside, too far to make the shot, but close enough, maybe, to reach safety until the drug took him under.

Or to take a second shot if he went for her.

He should be under, going under. Goddamn it, go down. Don’t make me give you another dose. She heard the ragged whoosh of her own breath as he snarled again at her inching retreat, and readied to squeeze her trembling finger on the trigger as he bunched to spring.

Terror was bright. Bright and cold. She’d never make the cage.

But even as he gathered himself, his front legs buckled. Lil eased back a step, then another, maintaining distance, seeing the enclosure in her mind, as the tiger staggered. It sprawled, the feral glint fading from its eyes. She kept the drug gun aimed as she changed her angle and moved back into the shadows, the cover of trees.

She wouldn’t retreat to the enclosure now. The tiger was no longer the threat.

Nothing moved. The night birds had gone quiet, and the morning calls had yet to begin. She scented animal, and blood and her own clammy sweat.

If another hunted, she prayed he’d gone to ground. Though she crouched, made herself small, she knew if he was there, if he was armed, she was vulnerable.

But she wouldn’t, couldn’t leave her defenseless tiger alone. With her free hand she dug in her pocket for her cell phone.

Following instinct again, she called Coop.

“Yeah?”

“There’s been a break-in here. I need you to come, quick as you can. Don’t call my parents.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No. It’s under control, but I need you to come.”

“Fifteen minutes,” he said, and hung up.

She made a second call to the sheriff, then went to check the big cat. Satisfied his respiration was normal, she went into the light again, and down to the path. She checked the cage door, studied the damaged lock, the baited trail.

She pivoted at a sound, searched the path, the brush, the trees for movement before she realized the sound came from her. Her breath was whooshing in and out, short, hard gasps, and the hand that held the drug gun shook violently.

“Okay, okay, good thing I waited until it was done to fall apart. Okay.”

She bent from the waist, braced her hands on her knees to try to get her breath back. Even her legs were quivering, she realized, and tipping her wrist, she saw with some shock that only sixteen minutes had passed since the alarm sounded.

Minutes, not hours, not days. A handful of minutes only.

She made herself straighten. Whoever had broken the lock, baited the tiger out of containment would be gone now. Logic demanded it. If he’d stayed to watch, he’d have seen her immobilize the cat, make the calls. If he was smart, and he was, he’d know she’d called for help, called the police. He’d want to be well away before that help arrived.

Back to his hole, back to his lair.

“Stay away from what’s mine,” she called out, more in fury than in any hopes he would hear. “I’ll find you. I swear to God I’ll find you.”

She paced the path, checking the near cages, and counted off the minutes. When another ten had passed, she risked leaving the unconscious cat. She made the dash back to the compound, into the equipment shed to load the harness and sling into one of the carts. Even as she backed the cart out of the shed, she heard the truck roaring on the road. Lil leaped out of the cart, waved her arms to signal Coop when his headlights slashed over her.

“I want to move fast. I’ll explain. Just get in the cart.”

He didn’t waste time, didn’t ask questions until they were both back in the cart and she was speeding toward the habitats. “What happened?”

“Somebody got inside, compromised the lock on the tiger’s cage, baited a trail to lure him out. He’s okay. I tranquilized him.”

“He’s okay?”

“Yes. My priority right now is to get him back inside, to get him contained and the door secured. I called Willy, but let’s not get into all the whys and hows. I want the cat back inside before the interns get here, if possible. I don’t want a bunch of college kids freaking on me.”

She stopped the cart, jumped out. “I can’t move him by myself. He weighs close to five hundred pounds. I’m going to rig up this harness, and we’ll back the cart up as close to him as we can. The two of us should be able to lift him on.”

“How long will he be out?”

“About four hours. I gave him a strong dose. Coop, it’ll be easier to tell the interns if he’s secured than if they start coming in and see this.”

He looked as she did at what remained of the young elk, at the blood smearing the tiger’s muzzle.

“Let’s get it done. Then, Lil, I’ve got a lot to say to you.”

They worked to rig the harness on the unconscious tiger. “I bet this is something you’d never thought you’d be doing.”

“There are a lot of things I never thought I’d do. I’ll get the cart.”

He backed it over the plantings that lined the far end of the path, over the river rock, into brush. “We could rig these cables to drag him across.”

“I’m not dragging him.” She checked his respiration, his pupils. “He’s old and it’s rough ground. He didn’t do anything wrong, and I’m not having him hurt. We’ve used this method before, for transferring them from the habitat to Medical, but it takes two people.”

Three or four, she thought, would’ve been a hell of a lot easier and faster.

“A tiger is the biggest of the four big cats,” she said as she hooked the cables to the harness. “He’s Siberian, he’s protected. He’s twelve, and did time in a circus, in a second-rate zoo. He was sick when we got him, four years ago. Okay, okay, you’re sure the brake’s locked.”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“Sorry. You need to run that winch while I run this one. Try to keep him level, Coop. When he’s up, I can maneuver him on the cart. Ready?”

When he nodded, they both began to crank. As the harness lifted, she watched, eagle-eyed-to be sure the cat was secure, the harness holding. “A little more, just a little more. I’m going to lock my side down, move him in. I may need you to give me more play. There you go, there you go,” she muttered as she guided the harness over the cart. “Ease your side down, Coop, ease it down a few inches.”

It took time, and some finesse, but they transferred the cat to the cart, drove it into the enclosure. The first streaks of dawn bloomed as they lowered the tiger to the mouth of his den.

“His respiration’s good, and his pupils are reactive,” she stated as she crouched to do another quick exam. “I want Matt to run a full diagnostic on him. The bait might have been doctored.”

“You need a new lock, Lil.”

“I got one out of the equipment shed. I’ve got one in my pocket. It’ll do for now.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” She stroked a hand over the cat’s head, down its flank, then rose. Outside, she snapped a new lock on the chain securing the cage door. “The interns and staff are going to be coming along soon. So will the police. I need, really need, coffee. Coffee and a minute to breathe.”

He said nothing while she drove the cart back to the shed. As he started toward the cabin with her, he lifted his chin toward the headlights far down her road. “You’re not going to get that chance to breathe.”

“I still want the coffee, which is smarter than the three fingers of whiskey I really want. Did you relock the gate?”

“No, it wasn’t at the top of my to-do list this morning.”

“I guess not. I think it’s the law.” She nearly managed a smile with it. “One more favor? Will you wait for him while I get that coffee? I’ll get you one, too.”

“Make it quick.”

Funny, she thought, as she paused inside her own kitchen, her hands were shaking again. She took a moment to splash cold water on her face in the kitchen sink before filling two insulated mugs with black coffee.

When she went back out Coop was standing with Willy and two deputies.

“You doing all right, Lil?” Willy asked her.

“Better now. But Jesus, Willy, this son of a bitch has to be crazy. If that cat had gotten away from here, away from me… God knows.”

“I need to take a look at things. What time did the alarm go off?”

“About a quarter after five. I’d just glanced at the clock before I left my cabin, and I’d only gotten as far as the porch when it sounded.” She walked with them, leading the way. “Tansy and Farley left pretty much on the dot of five, maybe a minute or two after. Tansy was anxious to get started.”

“You’re sure on that? It was about five-thirty when you called me, and that was after you’d put the tiger down.”

“I’m sure. I knew where to find him. I’d switched on the computer, the cameras when I went in for the drug gun. I saw the cage open, I saw the cat, so I knew where to go. It didn’t take long, only seemed like a year or two.”

“Did you maybe give a passing thought to calling me first?” Willy demanded.

“I had to move fast. I couldn’t wait, risk losing the cat. If he’d left the compound… They can move damn fast when they want, and by the time you’d have gotten here… He needed to be contained as quickly as possible.”

“All the same, Lil, any more trouble, I want you to call me before you do anything else. And I’d think you’d know better than to go walking all over a crime scene, Coop.”

“You’re right.”

Willy puffed out his cheeks. “It’d be more satisfying if you’d argue a little.” Willy paused before they hit the blood trail. “Get some pictures,” he told one of the deputies. “Of the broken lock over there, too.”

“I left it where I found it,” Lil said. “And kept out of the tracks as much as I could. We didn’t touch the bait. The tiger’d only had ten minutes or so on it when I got to him, but he’d torn in pretty good from what I could see. It was a small elk.”

“You’ll do me a favor and stay here.” He signaled to his men and moved into the brush in the tracks of the cart.

“He’s a little bit pissed.” Lil sighed. “I guess you are, too.”

“Good guess.”

“I did exactly what I thought had to be done, what I still think had to be done. Know had to be. But… The interns are coming,” she said as she heard the trucks. “I need to go deal with them. I appreciate you coming so fast, Coop. Appreciate everything you did.”

“Save it, and see how grateful you are once you and I are finished with this. I’ll wait for Willy here.”

“Okay.” She’d handled an escaped tiger, Lil thought, as she headed back. She could handle an angry man.

BY SEVEN-THIRTY in the morning, Lil felt as though she’d put in a full and brutal day. The emergency staff meeting left her with a headache and a clutch of uneasy interns. She had no doubt that if turnover hadn’t been only days away, some would have quit and walked away. Though she wanted to assist Matt with his exam of Boris, and the tests, she assigned interns. The work would keep them busy and focused. And reinforce the fact that everything was under control. Others she put to work on the temporary enclosure, and had no doubt there would be several pairs of eyes tracking warily over habitats throughout the day.

“A couple of them are going to be calling in sick tomorrow,” Lucius said when he and Lil were alone.

“Yeah. And the ones who do will never make it in the field. In research, labs, classrooms, but not fieldwork.”

With a sheepish smile, Lucius raised his hand.

“You’re planning to be sick tomorrow?”

“No, but I spend most of my time right in here. I can guarantee I wouldn’t have gone out armed with a drug gun to hunt me down a Siberian tiger. You had to be scared fully shitless, Lil. I know you relayed all this at the meeting as if it was almost routine, but this is me.”

“Fully shitless,” she acknowledged. “But more scared I wouldn’t get him tranquilized and contained. My God, Lucius, the damage he might have done if he’d gotten away from us. I’d never be able to live with it.”

“You weren’t the one who let him out, Lil.”

Didn’t matter, she thought as she went back outside. She’d learned a lesson, a vital one. Whatever the cost, she’d have the very best security available, and as quickly as it could be arranged.

She met Willy and Coop on their way back from what she supposed they considered a crime scene.

“We’ve got what’s left of that carcass bagged, and we’ll test it, in case it was doctored,” Willy said. “I’ve sent the men to follow the tracks. I’ll be calling in more.”

“Good.”

“I’m going to need a full statement from you, both of you,” he added to Coop. “Why don’t we talk in your place, Lil?”

“All right.”

At her kitchen table, over more mugs of coffee, she went over every detail.

“Who knew you were going to be here alone once Farley left this morning?”

“I don’t know, Will. I’d guess word got out that he was driving with Tansy to Montana this morning. I had arrangements to make, and I didn’t make them on the down low. But I don’t know if that’s relevant. If Farley had been here, everything would’ve gone about the same way it did. Except I wouldn’t have had to call Coop to help me get Boris back in his enclosure.”

“The fact is the cage door opened a few minutes after they left, and almost two hours before any of your people were scheduled to get here. Now, maybe that was just luck, or maybe somebody’s keeping track.”

She’d thought of that, of exactly that. “He’d have to know we have alarm signals on the cages we keep activated unless we’re working in them. Otherwise, it would be getting the tiger out, baiting him out that was the goal here. It could’ve been another two hours, easily, before anyone noticed the door was open, and by that time, Boris might have roamed off, or just as easily gone back inside, to his den. His home. If I can’t be sure, and this is an animal I’ve worked with-this is what I know-whoever’s doing this couldn’t know.”

“You’ve been here for about five years now,” Willy said. “I’ve never had a report from you on anyone trying to get one of your animals out.”

“No. It’s never happened before. I’m not saying it’s a coincidence, just that the purpose might have been to get one of the big cats out and cause havoc.”

Willy nodded, assured she understood him. “I’m going to coordinate a manhunt with the park service. I can’t tell you what to do, as sheriff, Lil, but I’m telling you as your friend I don’t want you here alone. Not even for an hour.”

“She won’t be,” Coop put in.

“I won’t argue that. I don’t intend for anyone, including me, to be alone here until this man’s found and put away. I’m going to contact a security company this morning and arrange for the best system I can manage. Willy, my parents live less than a mile from here. Believe me when I say I’m not taking any chances, any, on this ever happening again.”

“I do believe you. But you’re a lot closer than a mile to those enclosures, and I’ve got a fondness for you. I had a painful crush on her when I was sixteen,” he said to Coop. “If you tell my wife I said that I’ll say you’re a dirty liar.”

He pushed to his feet. “I went around, took a good look. All your enclosures are secure. I’m not going to shut you down. I could,” he added when Lil made a strangled sound in her throat. “And you could try to get that overturned, and we’d end up on opposite sides here. I want you to make that call about the new security, and I want you to keep me updated on it. I got a fondness for you, Lil, but I’ve also got people to protect.”

“Understood. We haven’t violated a single ordinance or safety measure since we brought in the first cat.”

“I know that, honey. I do. And I bring my kids here two or three times a year. I want to keep bringing them.” The gesture both casual and affectionate, he reached out to pat her head. “I’m going to go. I want you to remember I’m the first call you make from here on out.”

She sat where she was, stewing. “I suppose you have plenty to say now,” she suggested when she and Coop were alone.

“You should’ve stayed inside and waited for help. Two people with drug guns are better than one. And you’re going to say there wasn’t time for that.”

“There wasn’t. How much do you know about tigers as a species, and Siberians as a subspecies?”

“They’re big, have stripes, and I’d have to assume come from Siberia.”

“Actually, the correct name for the subspecies is Amur-Siberian’s the name commonly used, and it’s misleading, as they live in the far east of Russia.”

“Well, now that we’ve cleared that up.”

“I’m just trying to make you see it. It’s fiercely territorial. It stalks and ambushes, and can reach a speed of thirty-five miles an hour, maybe forty.”

She took a breath, easy in and out as the idea still made her belly quake. “Even an old guy like Boris can book when he wants. It’s strong, and can carry a prey of, say, a hundred pounds and still leap a six-foot fence. Man isn’t its usual prey, but according to most accepted records, tigers have killed more humans than any other cat.”

“You seem to be making my point for me, Lil.”

“No. No. Listen.” She dragged at her hair. “Most man-eaters are older-which Boris is-often going for a man because they’re easier to take down than larger prey. It’s solitary and secretive, like most cats, and if interested in man meat would hunt in sparsely populated areas. Its size and its strength mean it can kill smaller prey instantly.”

Desperate to make him understand, she squeezed her hand on his on the table. “If I’d waited, that cat could’ve been miles away, or it could’ve wandered into my parents’ backyard. Your grandparents’ front pasture. It could’ve roamed to where the Silverson kids catch the bus for school. All while I was sitting inside, waiting for someone to help.”

“You wouldn’t have had to wait if you hadn’t been alone.”

“Do you want me to admit I underestimated this bastard? I did.” Both passion and apology shone in her eyes. “I was wrong. Horribly wrong, and that mistake could’ve cost lives. I never expected anything like this, never anticipated it. Damn it, Coop, did you? You know damn well I was taking precautions, because I made a point of telling you about the security systems I’d looked at.”

“That’s right, when you came by to make sure I knew you’d have Farley here, so I wasn’t needed.”

As her head started to pound, she dropped her gaze. “It made sense for Farley to be here, since they were leaving from here this morning. That’s all there was to it.”

“Bullshit. For Christsake, Lil, do you think I’d put wanting you in bed above wanting you safe?”

“No. Of course I don’t.” She looked at him again. “I don’t. Coop, I called you. I called you even before I called Willy.”

“Because I was closer, handier, and you didn’t want your parents scared.”

She heard the bitterness, and couldn’t blame him for it. “That’s all true, but also because I knew I could count on you. I knew, without any question, I could count on you to help me.”

“You can, and to make sure you don’t forget it, sex is now off the table.”

“Sorry?”

“You’re sorry?” Some of the temper-at least its sharp, leading edge-seemed to have dulled when he shook his head at her.

“Yes. No. I mean I don’t know what you mean.”

“Simple. Sex is out of the equation. I won’t touch you. I won’t ask you. And I’ll be here from dusk to dawn, every day. If I can’t be, someone else will be. I’ve got to go get caught up,” he said as he rose. “You’d better talk to your parents about this before someone else does.”

15

He could’ve taken her out as easily as he had the elk calf, just aim and down she’d go. The tiger would’ve gone for her then, oh, yeah. A shot in the leg, he mused, playing it out in his head. Not a kill shot, just something to take her down. Would the tiger have traded elk for woman?

He’d put money on it.

And wouldn’t that have been something to see?

But it wasn’t the game of choice. Plus it had been so interesting and entertaining to watch her. She’d surprised him, he had to admit it, even with what he knew of her. What he’d observed. He hadn’t expected her to act so quickly, so decisively, or to stalk the cat so expertly.

He’d left her-life and death-and the rest of the game up to fate. And the cat.

She’d shown courage, which he admired, and a cool head. If for no other reason, those traits, and his interest in them, had kept her alive for another day.

Most of the others he’d hunted had been pathetically easy. The first had been an accident really. Just an impulse, just circumstances. But the incident had, in a very real sense, defined him. Given him a purpose he’d never had, and a means to honor his bloodline.

He’d found his life with death.

Now this last phase of the hunt raised the stakes considerably. This added such a zing. When the time came, she’d give him some real competition, some real satisfaction. No question about it. Better, certainly, than the couple of countrified deputies tromping around trying to follow his trail.

He could take them out, too. So easily. He’d backtracked, circled around behind, and studied them as he might study some deer strayed from the herd. He could take them both out and be a mile away before anyone knew the difference.

It had tempted him.

He had sighted one, then the other, in the scope of the rifle he carried with him today, and made little popping sounds to mime the shot. He’d killed men before, but he preferred the female.

Females were, in nearly every species, the fiercer hunter.

He had let them live, primarily because two dead deputies would bring others swarming over the hills. That could spoil the main hunt. He didn’t want to lose his primary target or be forced to leave his territory before he was done.

Patience, he reminded himself, and he slipped away as silently as a shadow from the sun.

TELLING HER PARENTS and allaying their fears-or trying to-left Lil exhausted. When she contacted the security company, from her parents’ kitchen in a further attempt to calm those waters, the receptionist put her through, immediately, to the head of the company.

Ten minutes later, she hung up, turned to her parents. “Did you get any of that?”

“Someone’s coming out to work with you on a security system.”

“Not someone,” she corrected her father-“the head guy. He was expecting my call because Coop contacted him a half hour ago and gave him the rundown. He’s getting on a plane today. He’ll be here this afternoon.”

“How soon can they install what you need?” her mother demanded.

“I don’t know. We’ll find out. Meanwhile, there are cops and rangers out looking for this guy. I’m not going to be careless, and I promise, I won’t be alone in the compound again. Not even for ten minutes. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t consider he might do something like this. I thought he might try to hurt one of the animals, but I never thought he’d risk letting one out. I need to get back to the compound. The interns and staff need to see me there, need to see me going through the daily routines.”

“Joe, go with her.”

“Mom-”

Jenna’s eyes flashed. It took no more than that to have Lil swallowing her protest. “Lillian, I haven’t told you what to do in a long time. But I’m telling you now. Your father’s going with you, and he’s staying with you until he’s satisfied that I’ll be satisfied you’re as safe as possible. That’s the final word on it.”

“It’s just… I’ve already stolen Farley from you for two days.”

“I’m perfectly capable of handling this farm. I said it’s my final word. Look at my face.” Narrowing those heated eyes, Jenna pointed a finger at her jaw. “This is my final-word face.”

“Let’s go, Lil. Your mother’s final word is law. You know that as well as I do.” He leaned down, kissed his wife. “Don’t worry.”

“I’ll worry less now.”

Giving up, Lil waited while her father got his coat, and said nothing when he unlocked his rifle from its case. She got behind the wheel of her truck, sent him a look before she turned to drive away. “How come you don’t have to go with me every time I head out to the field? Did I see you in Nepal? You know I’ve tracked tigers, in the wild, for collaring programs.”

“Somebody wasn’t trying to arrange it so the tiger was tracking you, were they?”

“Okay, your point. Anyway, I could use you with the construction of the new enclosure.” With a sniff, Lil pushed her sunglasses on, then folded her arms. “Don’t think you’re getting a free lunch out of this.”

“I’ll remind you about lunch around noon. If I’m working, I’d better get a sandwich.”

It made her laugh, and when she reached over, Joe took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

COOP HELPED OUTFIT a group of eight men for a scheduled three-day trip. The group from Fargo put the package together as a bachelor’s party. Which, Coop reflected, made a change from a strip club. They ragged on each other constantly in the way of old friends, and were hauling enough beer to float down the trail. Since the horses were his, he checked their camping gear, their kits and supplies-and satisfied himself that everything was in good order.

With Gull, he watched them trot to the trailhead, and wondered how they’d have reacted if he’d mentioned there might be a psychopath roaming the hills. He suspected they’d have gone on their merry way regardless, and took some relief that their plans would take them well away from the refuge.

“They’d do fine,” Gull told him. “That Jake? He’s been coming around every year for the six years I’ve been working the outfit with your grandpa. He knows what he’s doing.”

“They’re going to get shit-faced tonight.”

“Yah,” Gull said, mimicking their accent. “You betcha. Anyhow, we could use more groups like that.” Gull watched their progress from under the brim of his battered brown hat. “We’ll be getting them now that it’s coming on spring.”

“It may be coming on spring, but those boys are going to freeze their dicks off tonight pissing out that beer.”

Gull grinned. “Well, yeah. Hope it thaws out for the groom before the honeymoon. So, boss, I got that guided in another hour. Family trail ride. The pa runs a good two-eighty. I was going to put him up on Sasquash.”

“He’s good to go. Do you have any plans for tonight, Gull?”

“Can’t say I do.” Gull’s grin widened with his wink. “You asking me on a date, boss?”

“I’m too shy,” Coop said, and it made Gull guffaw. “Lil’s had some trouble over at her place.”

“I heard about it.”

“She could use some help, if a man didn’t mind freezing his dick off.”

Gull gave his crotch a subtle pat. “South Dakota peckers don’t freeze so easy as a drunk’s from Fargo.”

“Must be from all the jerking off,” Coop mused, and put Gull in stitches again. “Can you take a turn at guard duty over there tonight? Say two to six?”

“Sure, boss, I can do that. Need anybody else?”

No hesitation, Coop thought. No complaint. “I could use two more men who you trust not to shoot themselves, or anybody else.”

“I’ll see what I can do about that. I’ll think on it. I guess I’ll go see about getting those box lunches for this guided.”

“I’ll check them in when they get here.”

When they parted ways, Coop went to the storefront. The old desk faced the window and gave him a view of Deadwood that wasn’t quite what he imagined Calamity Jane and Wild Bill had seen in their day. Still, it maintained its Western flavor, with its awnings and architecture and old-timey lampposts. Its feel, he supposed, as the town spread and climbed its way up the hills. Cowboys mixed with the tourists; saloons cozied up to souvenir shops.

And a man could find a game of poker or blackjack day or night if he wanted to gamble. But the proprietors weren’t likely to murder a man in the back room and feed him to the pigs.

Progress.

He dealt with the paperwork, the forms and waivers, so he could move the family group along when they arrived. And so he could carve some time for his own devices.

He pulled a ginger ale out of the cold box, since he’d buzzed his blood on coffee that morning. People passed by, and some likely glanced in. They’d see a man going about his business, keyboarding on a computer that, to Coop’s mind, desperately needed replacing.

He opened Lil’s file. He might not be an investigator anymore, but that didn’t mean he’d forgotten how to investigate. He’d have preferred being sure her list of staff, interns, and volunteers was complete. But he had enough to keep him busy. The staff, past and current, hadn’t netted him a thing. He probably knew more about all of them now than some would be comfortable with, but he knew more about a lot of people than most were comfortable with.

Though Jean-Paul had not technically been staff, Coop had done a run on him. Broken relationships were petri dishes waiting to brew trouble. He knew the French guy had been married and divorced in his early twenties. It was likely Lil had that information, and since it didn’t seem to be relevant, Coop simply filed it away. He found no criminal, and a current address in Los Angeles.

Stay there, Coop thought.

He’d uncovered a few criminal brushes on staff, but nothing more violent than the vet having a scuffle during a protest on animal testing fifteen years earlier.

The former interns comprised a bigger chunk. They were a diverse group, economically, geographically, academically. He followed some through college, grad school, into careers. A quick scan showed Coop that a high percentage of interns Lil had trained pursued careers somewhere in the field.

He found some scrapes with the law as he picked his way through. Drugs, DUIs, a couple of assaults and/or destruction of property-usually connected to drugs or alcohol.

Those would earn a closer look.

He did the same with the volunteers-any whose names actually made it into the files, he thought, annoyed.

He culled out any who’d lived in or moved to the Dakotas. Proximity could be a factor, and he believed whoever was harassing Lil knew the hills as well as she did.

In the tedious way it demanded, he cross-referenced the assaults, the drug busts, the DUIs with geography, and got a single hit.

Ethan Richard Howe, age thirty-one. A trespassing hit in Sturgis, and that was close, when he’d been twenty, charges dropped. Carrying a concealed weapon-.22 revolver-without a license two years later in Wyoming. And an assault that looked like a bar fight and had put him inside for a year and a half in Montana at the ripe old age of twenty-five.

Early release, time off for good behavior. And, thought the former cop, to move inmates out as others moved in.

Three hits, Coop mused, one for being where he didn’t belong, one for a weapon, and the last for violence. He’d give Howe a closer look.

He started to move on, then had to break as the Dobsons arrived-Tom, Sherry, and their two teenage daughters-for check-in.

He knew his job and it was more than getting forms signed, more than making sure the customers could actually sit a horse. He chatted with the father, gave little back stories on each of the horses. Took time as if he had an endless supply of it in his pockets.

“It’s a good, easy trail,” he assured Sherry, who seemed more nervous than excited. “There’s nothing like seeing the hills on horseback.”

“But we’ll be back well before dark.”

“Gull will have you back by four.”

“You hear about people getting lost.”

“Now, Sherry,” Tom began.

“Gull grew up here,” Coop assured her. “He knows the trails, and so do the horses. You couldn’t be in better hands.”

“I haven’t been on horseback in ten years.” Sherry stepped onto the mounting block Coop provided. “I’m going to ache in places I forgot I had.”

“You can get a good massage right here in town, if you’re interested.”

She glanced back at Coop, and for the first time a little light gleamed in her eyes. “Really?”

“I can book you one, if you’re interested. Maybe for five o’clock?”

“You can do that?”

“Happy to.”

“Five o’clock massage. I don’t suppose I could get a hot stone?”

“Sure. Fifty or eighty minutes?”

“Eighty. My day just got a lot better. Thank you, Mr. Sullivan.”

“My pleasure, ma’am. You have a nice ride.”

He went in, booked the massage, wrote up the particulars. The business would get a referral fee, which didn’t hurt. Then he shifted gears and went back to Lil’s file.

He started a new run on the women. He leaned toward a man in this case, but he knew better than to discount the female. He hadn’t gotten a good enough look that early morning to be absolutely certain. In any case, a woman might be the connection.

He worked his way through the ginger ale and half the ham sandwich his grandmother had packed him. He couldn’t stop her from packing his lunch, and had to admit he didn’t try very hard.

It was nice to have someone who’d take the time, take the trouble.

Marriages, divorces, kids, degrees. One of the earlier interns in the program now lived in Nairobi, another was a vet specializing in exotic animals in L.A.

And another, he noted as his instincts hummed, had vanished.

Carolyn Lee Roderick, age twenty-three, missing for eight months and a handful of days. Last seen in Denali National Park, where she’d been doing fieldwork.

He followed the hum and dug out what he could on Carolyn Roderick.

AT THE REFUGE, Lil shook hands with Brad Dromburg, the owner of Safe and Secure. He was a beanpole of a man, obviously comfortable in his Levi’s and Rockports, with a close-cropped head of dark blond hair and green eyes. He had an easy smile, a firm hand, and a voice with just a hint of Brooklyn.

“I appreciate you coming all this way, and so quickly.”

“Coop tugged the line. Is he around?”

“No. I-”

“He said he’d try to make it by. Some place you’ve got here, Ms. Chance.” He stood, hands on his hips, studying the habitats, the compound. “Some place. How long have you been in operation?”

“Six years this May.”

He gestured over where some of her interns had set the poles for the new habitat. “Expanding?”

“We’re acquiring a melanistic jaguar.”

“Is that so? Coop said you’ve had a little trouble. Someone compromised one of the cages?”

“The tiger enclosure, yes.”

“That would be a little trouble, all right. Maybe you could walk me around, give me a feel for the place. And what you have in mind.”

He asked questions, made notes on a PDA, and showed no particular nerves when he walked up to the enclosures to study the doors, the locks.

“That’s a big boy there,” he said when Boris rolled over to stretch in front of his den.

“Yes. All four hundred and eighty-six pounds of him.”

“It took a lot of balls or stupidity to open that cage, middle of the night, gamble that big boy’s going to go after the bait and not the live meal.”

“It would, but the fresh kill would be more appealing. Boris was trapped, illegally from what I can dig up, when he was around a year old. He’s been in captivity ever since, and he’s used to the scent of human. He’s fed in the evening, to continue to stimulate the hunt by night instincts, but he’s used to being fed.”

“And he didn’t go far.”

“No, fortunately. He followed the blood trail to the bait and settled in for his unexpected predawn snack.”

“Takes some balls to come out here and shoot a mickey into him.”

“Necessity is often the mother of balls, so to speak.”

He smiled, stepped back. “I don’t mind saying I’m glad he’s in there and I’m out here. So that’s four gates, including the one for public access during operating hours. And a lot of open land.”

“I can’t fence off the entire property. Even if I could, it would be a logistical nightmare. There are trails running through the hills that cross this land, my father’s, others’. We’re posted private around the perimeter, and the gates tend to stop people. My priority is securing the compound, the habitats. I need to keep my animals safe, Mr. Dromburg, and keep everyone safe from my animals.”

“That’s Brad. I’ve got some ideas on that, and I’m going to work something up. One of the things I’m going to recommend are motion sensors set outside the enclosures. Far enough that the animals won’t set them off, but anyone approaching the enclosure would.”

She felt her budget wince in pain. “How many would I need?”

“I’ll figure that for you. You want more lights. Sensor goes off, alarm kicks on, lights flood this place. An intruder’s going to think twice about trying for a cage at that point. Then there’s the locks themselves, and that goes for your gates as well as your cages. Interesting situation,” he added. “Challenging.”

“And-sorry I have to be crass here-expensive.”

“I’m going to work out two or three systems I think would work for you, and I’ll give you an estimate on each. It’ll be a chunk of change, I won’t lie to you, but getting it at cost’s going to save you some serious moolah.”

“At cost? I’m confused.”

“It’s for Coop.”

“No, it’s for me.”

“Coop made the call. He wants this place wired up, we wire it up. At cost.”

“Brad, this place runs on donations, funding, charity, generosity. I’m not going to turn yours down, but why would you do all this and not make a profit?”

“I wouldn’t have a business if it wasn’t for Coop. He calls, it’s cost. And speak of the devil.” Brad’s face lit up as Coop started down the path toward them.

They didn’t shake hands. Instead they greeted each other with the one-armed, backslapping hug men favored. “I wanted to be here sooner, but I got hung up. How was the flight?”

“It’s a long one. Jesus, Coop, it’s good to see you.”

“And I have to give you a job before you come out. Have you been around?”

“Yeah, your lady gave me the tour.”

Lil opened her mouth, then shut it. No point in breaking up the reunion by pointing out she wasn’t Coop’s “lady.”

“You’ll have to excuse me. It’s feeding time.”

“Seriously?” Brad asked.

He looked like a kid, she thought, who’d just been shown the biggest cookie in the jar. “Why don’t I get you both a beer, and you can watch the show?”

Brad rocked on his heels as Lil walked away. “She’s sexier than her picture.”

“It was an old picture.”

“Seeing her in the flesh, I’d say the chances of you coming back to New York are slim to none.”

“They started out slim to none, and she wasn’t why I moved here.”

“Maybe not, but I haven’t seen many better reasons to stay.” Brad looked over the habitats, up to the hills. “Hell of a long way from New York.”

“How long can you stay?”

“I’ve got to fly back tonight, so we’ll have to keep it to the one beer. I had to shuffle some things to get out here today. But I’ll draw up a couple of options in the next day or two. I’ll get them to you, and I’ll make sure I’m back when we do the install. We’ll lock it down for you, Coop.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Lil stayed busy, and out of Coop’s way. Old friends, to her way of thinking, needed time to catch up.

She and Coop had been friends once. Maybe they could be again. Maybe this pang she felt was just missing him, just missing her friend.

If they couldn’t go back, they could move forward. It seemed he was making the effort, so how could she do less?

She finished up in her office just as Coop walked in. “Brad had to go. He said to tell you goodbye, and he’d have plans for you to look over within the next few days.”

“Well. For a day that started out as bad as this one, it’s ending well. I just got off the phone with Tansy. Cleo is as advertised. Gorgeous, healthy, and she’ll be ready to travel tomorrow. Cooper, Brad said he’d be doing the security system at cost.”

“Yeah, that’s the deal.”

“We should all have such generous friends.”

“He likes to think he owes me. I like to let him.”

“My IOUs are piling up in your hat.”

“No they’re not. I don’t want an accounting.” Irritation darkened his face as he took another step toward her desk. “You were the best friend I ever had. For a good part of my life you were one of the few people I could trust or count on. It made a difference to me. In me. Don’t,” he said when her eyes welled.

“I won’t.” But she rose and walked to the window to look out until she had control. “You made a difference, too. I’ve missed you, missed having you for a friend. And here you are. I’m in trouble and I don’t know why, and here you are.”

“I have a possible line on that. On the trouble.”

She turned. “What? What line?”

“An intern named Carolyn Roderick. Do you remember her?”

“Ah, wait.” Lil closed her eyes, tried to think. “Yes, yes, I think… Two years ago. I think nearly two years ago. A summer session-after she’d graduated? Maybe after, I’m not sure. She was bright and motivated. I’d have to pull the records for more detail, but I remember she was a hard worker, serious conservationist disciple. Pretty.”

“She’s missing,” he said flatly. “She’s been missing for about eight months.”

“Missing? What happened? Where? Do you know?”

“Alaska. Denali National Park. She was doing fieldwork with a group of grad students. One morning, she just wasn’t in camp. Initially they thought she’d just wandered off a little to take some pictures. But she didn’t come back. They looked for her. They called in the rangers and Search and Rescue. They never found a trace of her.”

“I did fieldwork in Denali my senior year. It’s extraordinary, and it’s immense. A lot of places to get lost if you’re careless.”

“A lot of places to be taken.”

“Taken?”

“When they started to worry, her teammates looked in her tent more carefully. Her camera was there, her notebooks, her tape recorder, her GPS. None of them believed she’d wander off that way, with nothing but her jacket and boots and the clothes on her back.”

“You think she was abducted.”

“She had a boyfriend, someone she met while she was here, in South Dakota. According to the friends I’ve managed to track down so far, nobody really knew him. He kept to himself. But they shared a passion for the wilderness, for hiking, for camping. It went sour and she broke things off a couple months before the Alaska trip. Ugly breakup, reportedly. She called the cops; he skipped. His name is Ethan Howe, and he volunteered here. He also did a little time for an assault. I’m checking on that.”

It crowded in her mind, beat there until she rubbed her temple to quiet it. “Why do you think this connects to what’s happening here, now?”

“He used to brag about how he’d lived on the land for months at a time. He liked to claim he was a direct descendant of a Sioux chief, one who lived in the Black Hills. Sacred ground to his people.”

“If half the people who claimed to be a direct descendant of a Sioux chief or ‘princess’ actually were…” Lil rubbed her forehead now. She knew this, something about this. “I remember him, vaguely. I think. I just can’t get a clear picture.”

“He talked about this place, how he’d helped out here when Carolyn was an intern. She’s missing, and I can’t find anything on him. Nobody’s seen him since the breakup.”

She dropped her hand, and in one moment of weakness wished she didn’t understand him. “You think she’s dead. You think he abducted her, and killed her. And he’s come back here, because of the refuge. Or me.”

He didn’t soften it. Soft wouldn’t help her. “I think she’s dead, and he’s responsible. I think he’s here, living off the land. Your land. It’s the only solid connection I’ve been able to make. We’ll run him down, get a line on him. Then we’ll know who we’re dealing with.”

16

Tansy took another sip of truly crappy wine while a debatably crappy band slammed out what she thought of as “Ye-haw Coun try” from behind a barrier of chicken wire.

The clientele-a mix of bikers and cowboys and the women who loved them-looked perfectly capable of throwing beer bottles and plastic dishes of indigestible nachos at the stage but so far hadn’t worked up the energy.

A number of people were dancing, which she supposed boded well for the band, and their laundry bill.

She’d lived in what she, affectionately, thought of as the Wild West for a full five years now, not counting her years in college. And there were moments, such as these, when she still felt like a tourist.

“You sure you don’t want a beer?”

She glanced over at Farley, and thought he looked perfectly at home here. In fact, she’d never seen him anywhere he didn’t look perfectly at home.

“I should’ve listened to you and opted for beer in the first place.” She took another tiny sip of wine. “But it’s too late now. Besides, I’m going to head back.”

“One dance.”

“You said one drink.”

“One drink, one dance,” he said as he took her hand, tugged her off the bar stool.

“One.” She agreed because they were already on the dance floor. In any case, they’d both put in a long day, so one drink, one dance seemed reasonable.

Until he put his arms around her. Until her body was locked tight to his, and his eyes smiled down at her. “I’ve been wanting to dance with you a long time.”

Keep it light, she warned herself, even as her insides went soft and jittery at the same time. Keep it nice and easy. “Well, you’re good at it.”

“Jenna taught me.”

“Really?”

“When I was about seventeen, I guess, she told me most girls like to dance, and a smart guy learned how to move on the dance floor. So she taught me.”

“She did a good job.” He could move all right, she thought. Smooth as butter. And he had her heart doing a little flip when he spun her out, and back again. He did a quick turn, slid her under his raised arm, leading her around until her back was to him, pressed close again.

She knew she fumbled some-he was a hell of a lot better than she was-but she let out a breathless laugh as he turned her again so they were face-to-face and she was shuffling backward.

Damn it, the guy had moves. “I guess I need Jenna lessons.”

“She’s a good teacher. I think we dance pretty well together, seeing it’s the first time out.”

“Maybe.”

“You come dancing with me back home, Tansy, and we’ll do better.”

Her answer was the slightest shake of her head, and when the music stopped, she deliberately stepped back to break the contact before the next song started. “I really need to get back, and make sure I’ve got everything in order. We’re getting an early start tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He took her hand as they returned to the table.

“You don’t have to go. You should stay, enjoy the music.” And I should go, she thought, and take a long, cold shower.

“Even if you weren’t the prettiest woman in the room, I’d be walking you back just like I walked you over.”

It was only a few minutes at a brisk walk from the bar to the motel they were using, but she knew him well enough not to argue. He had, Tansy knew, an unbendable code about certain things-undoubtedly Jenna-taught as well. A man walked a woman to her door, and that was that.

But she stuck her hands in her jacket pockets before one of them ended up caught in his.

“Lil’s going to be happy when she sees that big cat,” Farley commented.

“She’s going to be ecstatic. She’s a beauty, no question about it. I hope she handles the drive without any trouble. Anyway, Lil said the temporary enclosure will be ready for her, and the permanent one’s already started.”

“Lil doesn’t wait for flies to land.”

“Never has.” She hunched inside her coat, as the short walk was still a cold one. Farley’s arm came around her shoulders, easing her against him.

“You’re shivering some.”

Not just from the cold now, she thought. “Ah… I think if we plan to pick up Cleo by seven, that’s early enough.”

“We’ll get gassed up first. Cut back on stops. We head out of here ’round six, that’d give us time to fuel up, get us some breakfast.”

“Works for me.” She spoke brightly while waging a small, violent war against her own hormones. “I can meet you at the diner. We’ll check out first, and go right from there?”

“We could do that.” He skimmed a hand down her back as they crossed the motel parking lot on foot. “Or we could walk over to breakfast together.”

“You can knock on my door in the morning,” she said as she dug out her room key.

“I don’t want to knock on your door. I want you to let me come in.” When she looked up, he turned her as smoothly as he had when they’d danced, so she was caught between him and the door. “Let me come in, Tansy, and be with you.”

“Farley, that’s not-”

His mouth found hers. He had a way of kissing her that had common sense, good intentions, firm resolve all slipping away. Despite sense, intention, and resolve, she was kissing him back.

Oh, hell, oh, damn, she thought, even as her arms locked around him. That rubber-band mouth of his was so good at kissing.

“It can’t go anywhere,” she told him.

“It could go to the other side of this door for right now. Let me come in.” He took the key from her, slid it into the lock, and kept his eyes on hers. “Say yes.”

No formed solidly in her mind, but it didn’t come out of her mouth. “It’s going to be like the drink and the dance. One time. You have to understand that.”

He smiled at her, turned the knob.

LATER, AFTER MORE than one time, Tansy stared up at the dark ceiling. Okay, she told herself, she’d just had sex with Farley Pucket-twice. What the hell was she going to do now?

Best, she decided, to think of it as an out-of-town exception. Just something that happened. She was, after all, a mature, sophisticated, and experienced woman.

All she had to do was ignore that the sex had been incredible, both times. That he had a way of making her feel as if she were the only woman who existed. And that it wasn’t just her hormones losing the battle, but her heart.

No, she had to remember she was older and wiser, and it was up to her to put things right.

“Farley, we need to talk about this. We need to understand that when we get back, this isn’t going to happen again.”

He linked his fingers with hers, brought them to his lips. Rubbed them there. “Well now, Tansy, I guess I need to be honest and tell you I’m going to do what I can to see it does. I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me, but being with you? It’s the best.”

She made herself sit up, cautiously bringing the sheet with her so he didn’t get any ideas. “We don’t exactly work together, but you do volunteer at the refuge. Lil’s my closest friend.”

“That’s all true.” He sat up, too, his eyes quiet on her face. “But what’s that got to do with me being in love with you?”

“Oh. Love. Don’t say love.” Panic ticked at the back of her throat.

“But I do love you.” Reaching out, he brushed his hand over her hair. “And I know you have feelings for me.”

“Of course I do. We wouldn’t be here, like this, if I didn’t. But that doesn’t mean-”

“I think they’re strong feelings.”

“All right, yes. I’ll cop to that. But Farley, let’s be realistic. I’m several years older than you are. We’re in different decades, for God’s sake.”

“In a few years we’ll be in the same decade for a while.” Amusement showed clearly on his face. “But I don’t want to wait that long to be with you.”

On a huff of breath, she reached over and switched on the bedside lamp. “Farley, look at me. I’m a thirty-year-old black woman.”

He cocked his head, studied her as she’d asked. “More caramel. Jenna makes these caramel apples in the fall. They’re all golden brown and sweet on the outside, and just a little tart in. I love those caramel apples. I love the color of your skin, Tansy, but the color of your skin’s not why I love you.”

It made her shiver. It made her weak. Not just the words, but the look of him when he said them.

“You’re smarter than me.”

“No, Farley.”

“Sure you are. It was the smarter that made me nervous around you for a while. Too nervous to ask you to come out with me. I like that you’re smart, and how sometimes you and Lil will get talking about things and I can’t understand the half of it. Then I thought, Well hell, it’s not like I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid,” she murmured, undone by him. “Not anywhere near stupid. You’re steady and clever and kind. If things were different-”

“Some things you can’t change.” He took her hand again, so the contrasting tones showed in the light. “And some things, Tansy, make the different not mean one damn. Like this.”

He drew her to him, laid his lips on hers, and showed her.

IT FELT STRANGE knowing people with guns patrolled the edges of her compound. Strange even, at her own insistence, knowing she was one of them. Her animals prowled and called. The night was their time. And more, the scent of man, the glow of the lights kept them stirred up.

She spent more time with Baby, to his obvious delight, and the love in his eyes when he looked at her steadied her nerves. When she stood or paced or drank yet another mug of coffee, she outlined long- and short-range plans to keep her mind occupied and off the reason she stood and paced and drank yet another mug of coffee.

They would get through this, and that was that as far as she was concerned. If the person causing the trouble was this Ethan Howe, they’d find him, and they’d stop him.

She remembered him a little better now. She’d had to go back, look up Carolyn’s files, refresh herself on the reports and data in order to get a clear picture of the student. But once she had, she’d been able to reform one of the men who’d come around a few times to lend a hand, to flirt with Carolyn.

Above average height, she thought, slim build, strong back. Nothing special about him that she could recall. Not a lot to say, other than his claim to be descended not just from any warrior but from Crazy Horse himself.

Lil remembered being mildly amused by his insistence on that, and largely dismissing it, and him. She didn’t think she and this Ethan had exchanged over two dozen words. Still, hadn’t most of them had to do with the land, the sanctity of it, and their duty to honor it because of their bloodline?

She’d dismissed that, too, had considered him just another harmless oddball. But she remembered now that she’d felt him watching her. Or did she remember that because of hindsight, because of nerves? Was she projecting?

Maybe Tansy would remember him more clearly.

And maybe he had nothing to do with what was happening. But Coop’s instincts said he did. She trusted those instincts. Whatever problems they had with their personal lives, she trusted Coop’s instincts absolutely.

That, she supposed, was also a matter of her own instincts.

She shifted her stance, rolled her shoulders, as they wanted to stiffen up from her stint in the cold. At least the overcast sky kept some of the heat in, she mused. But she’d have preferred the stars and the moon.

In the harsh glow of the emergency lights, she watched Gull head in her direction. He gave her a wide salute. She expected the gesture was a precaution, to make certain she recognized him.

“Hey there, Gull.”

“Lil. Coop said I should take over for you here.”

“I’m grateful, Gull, for what you’re doing.”

“You’d do the same for me. Never been out here at night like this.” He scanned the habitats. “It’s kind of cool, I guess. Doesn’t look like those animals are getting much sleep.”

“They’re nocturnal. And they’re curious what all the people are doing out here in the dark. Losing sleep and drinking too much coffee mostly. He’s not coming back around here tonight.”

“Maybe he’s not because all these people are out here losing sleep and drinking too much coffee.”

“That’s a good point.”

“Go on, get inside, Lil. I’ve got this now. Unless you want to wander over and visit with Jesse. Like old times.”

She gave him a light punch in the arm. “I don’t think Rae would like that,” she said, referring to her old sort-of boyfriend’s wife.

“What happens at the refuge,” Gull deadpanned, “stays at the refuge.”

She headed back, chuckling. She saw others moving toward their trucks or cars as friends and neighbors came to stand in their places. Voices carried, so she heard jokes, sleepy laughs, calls of good night.

She quickened her pace when she spotted her parents. “You said you were going to use the cabin and get some sleep,” she said to her mother.

“I said that so you’d stop nagging me. Now I’m going home to get some sleep. You do the same.” She gave Lil a pat on the cheek with a gloved hand. “I know this is a bad reason, but it’s good to see people come out to help this way. Take me home, Joe. I’m tired.”

“You get some sleep.” Joe tapped a finger on Lil’s nose. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

No doubt about that, Lil thought as they separated. They’d keep close tabs on her until this was resolved. It’s the way they worked. And if the situation were reversed, it would be the way she’d work.

Inside, she stowed her rifle, then peeled off her outdoor gear. She glanced at the steps, thought about bed. Too restless, she decided. Too much coffee in the bloodstream.

She set a fire in the hearth, got it going. If Coop didn’t want one, he could bank it down. But at least it added more warmth and cheer to his temporary sleeping arrangements.

She wandered back to the kitchen, thought about making some tea. And decided she was too impatient to wait for the water to boil. Instead she poured half a glass of wine, hoping it would counteract the caffeine.

She could work, she considered. She could spend an hour at the computer until the edge wore off. But the idea of sitting still didn’t appeal either.

Then she heard the front door open and knew she’d been waiting for that. For him.

When she came back into the living room he was sitting down, pulling off his boots. He looked, she thought, alert, awake, his eyes clear as they met hers.

“I figured you’d be upstairs by now.”

“Too much coffee.”

He made a vague sound of agreement, and took off the second boot.

“Maybe I’m feeling as restless as the animals. I’m not used to having people around this time of night either. I can’t settle.” She walked to the window, stared out.

“I’d suggest a couple hands of gin rummy, but I’m not in the mood.”

She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “And I’m in your way. I could try solitaire.”

“You could also try turning off the lights and closing your eyes.”

“That would be the sensible thing.” She swallowed the last of the wine, set the glass aside. “I’ll go up, let you get some sleep.” She started toward the stairs, stopped, turned back. He hadn’t moved. “What if I want sex on the table?”

“You want to have sex on the table?”

“You said sex was off the table. Maybe I want it back on. Maybe I don’t want to sleep alone tonight. You’re here; I’m here. We’re friends. That’s established, right? We’re friends.”

“We always were.”

“So that’s all it is. Friends, and not being alone. Giving each other something to take the edge off.”

“Reasonable. Maybe I’m too tired.”

Her lips curved. “Like hell.”

“Maybe I’m not.”

But he stayed where he was, watching her. Waiting.

“You said you wouldn’t touch me. I’m asking you to set that rule or provision, or however you think of it, aside. Come up with me, come to bed with me, stay with me. I need to shut my mind off, Coop, that’s the God’s truth. I need some peace of mind. A few hours of it. Do me a favor.”

He stepped to her. “Doing you a favor’s standing out in the cold until two in the morning. Taking you to bed?” He reached up, ran his hand down her braid. “Doesn’t qualify. Don’t tell me you need peace of mind, Lil. Tell me you want me.”

“I do. I do want you. I’ll probably regret it tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but it’ll be too late.” He pulled her in, captured her mouth with his. “It’s already too late.”

He turned toward the steps, then gripped her hips, boosting her up so she wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck.

Maybe it had always been too late, she thought as he carted her upstairs, and she let her lips roam his face as she had once, long before. Back in time, the familiar. Like closing a circle, she told herself. It didn’t have to be any more than that.

She pressed her cheek to his, sighed. “Feel better already.”

At the bedroom he turned, pressing her back to the door. And those eyes, the ice blue that had always snagged her heart, caught hers. “A hot bath makes you feel better. This is more, Lil. We’ll both have to deal with that.”

When his mouth took hers it wasn’t for comfort, or to soothe, but to ignite. So that slow simmer, never fully banked, came roaring back to full, furious flame.

Peace of mind? Had she thought she would find peace here, with him? There would be no peace with the war raging between them, inside her. Engulfed, she gave herself to it, and to him.

Maybe this time the battle would be done, and that constant flame inside her finally, finally burned out.

The need rose up, riding along her skin, filling her breasts, her belly with heat. Familiar, perhaps. But more and less than what had been. Had his hands been so sure, his mouth so urgent?

She was still wound around him when he strode to the bed. The lights from the compound slanted through the slats of her blinds, thin bars of light that fell over the bed, over her when he set her on the edge. A kind of cage, she supposed. Well, she walked into it willingly.

He gripped her boot, tugged. She heard herself laugh, nervous joy, as he pulled off the other. Then he reached down to unbutton her flannel shirt.

“Unbraid your hair.” He drew the shirt off. “Please.”

She lifted her arms, slid the tie at the end of her braid onto her wrist out of habit, and loosened her braid as he took off his shirt.

“No, I’ll do that,” he said as she started to comb her fingers through her hair.

“I’d think about your hair, the way it feels and smells, the way it looks after I’ve had my hands in it. All that midnight hair.”

He wrapped her hair around his fist, tugged so that her face tipped up to his. The gesture, the flare of heat in his eyes spoke as much of temper as passion. “I’d see you when you weren’t there. Like a damn ghost. A glimpse in a crowd, a tease out of the corner of my eye, disappearing around a corner. You were everywhere.”

She started to shake her head, but he tightened his grip. For an instant she saw that anger flash, then he released her hair. “Now you’re here,” he said, and drew the thermal shirt over her head.

“I’ve been here.”

No, he thought. No. But she was here now. Aroused, a little annoyed, just as he was. To please himself, to pleasure her, he traced his fingers down her collarbone, over the subtle swell of her breasts. The girl he’d known had been a willow stem. She’d bloomed without him.

She shivered at his touch; he’d wanted her to.

Then he pressed the heel of his hand to her forehead, gave her a light shove onto her back. And made her laugh again.

“Mr. Smooth,” she said, then he was on her, his body pressing her into the mattress. “You’ve put on a few pounds.”

“You too.”

“Really?”

“In interesting places.”

She smiled a little, and combed her fingers through his hair as he had with hers. “Well, it’s been a while.”

“I think I remember how everything works. How you work.”

He brushed his lips to hers, a teasing, then a sinking, sinking until it was drowning deep. His hands were on her, reminding her what it had been, confusing her with what it was now.

Strong, hard, working hands, sliding over her, pressing, molding until her breath quickened, until past and present were one brilliant blur over her senses.

He flipped open her bra, tugged it aside, and had her-hands and mouth, teeth and tongue-so quickened breaths became gasps, gasps became moans. She dragged at his thermal, yanking it up and away, impatient now to feel him. Strong back, ridges of muscle. New and fascinating.

He’d been a boy, just a boy really, when last she’d touched him like this. It was a man under her hands now, a man whose body pressed down on hers.

In the dark, barred with light, they rediscovered each other. A curve, an angle, a new point of pleasure. Her fingers skimmed over a scar that hadn’t been there before. And she whispered his name as his lips raced frantically down her body.

She quivered when he unbuttoned her jeans, hitched her hips up to help him pull them away. Rolled with him over the bed as they hurried to strip off every barrier.

Outside one of the cats called out, a wild thing prowling the dark. He took her there, into the dark, and what was wild in her cried out, released in harsh and primitive pleasure.

She moved for him, and with him, her eyes a gleam in the shadows. Everything he’d found and lost, everything he’d lived without was here. Right here. His senses swam with her, a rush of woman, all scent and skin, all wet and warm. The beat of her heart against his hungry mouth, the slide of her skin under his desperate hands.

He pushed her over, felt her rise and break, then gather again.

His name. She said his name over and over.

His name when he drove into her. He held, held himself on that whippy edge, filled and surrounded, entrapped until they were both trembling. Then it was all movement, mad, mindless. And when she broke again, he shattered with her.

She wanted to curl up against him, just fit her body against his like two pieces of a puzzle. Instead she lay quiet, willing herself to hold on to the pleasure, and the peace that had finally come with it.

She could sleep. If she closed her eyes, let her mind shut down, she could sleep. Whatever needed to be said or dealt with could be said or dealt with in the morning.

“You’re cold.”

Was she?

Before her brain could connect with her body he’d shifted her up and over. When had he packed on all the muscle? she wondered. He tugged the sheet and comforter over her, then drew her against him.

She started to stiffen-to ease away, a little at least. Didn’t she need some room, some sort of distance? But he held her there, curled her in exactly where she’d wanted to be.

“Go to sleep,” he said.

And too tired, too undone, to argue, she did just that.

SHE WOKE BEFORE SUNRISE, stayed very still. His arms had stayed around her, and hers had gone around him in the brief hours of the night.

Why, she wondered, did something that basic, that human, break her heart?

Comfort, she reminded herself. In the end, he’d given her the comfort she’d needed. And maybe she’d given him some in return.

It didn’t have to be more than that.

She’d loved him all of her life, and there was no point in trying to convince herself that would ever change. But sex was just an elemental act, and in their case a kind of gift between friends.

Single, consenting, healthy adult friends.

She was strong, smart, and self-aware enough to accept that-and keep it that way. The first step, she thought, was to untangle herself from him and get out of bed.

She started to ease away, as cautiously as she might if she’d been wrapped around a sleeping cobra. She’d barely gained an inch when his eyes opened and beamed straight into hers.

“Sorry.” She wasn’t sure why she whispered-it just seemed the reasonable thing to do. “Didn’t mean to wake you. I’ve got to get started.”

He kept her close, only lifted her hand, turning her wrist to look at the luminous dial of her watch. “Yeah, I guess we both do. In a couple minutes.”

Before she could react he rolled over, and was inside her.

He took his time. After that first shock of possession, he went slow. Long, lazy strokes that left her both weak and giddy. Helpless she floated up, felt herself all but shimmer. Pressing her face to the side of his throat, she let go.

She sighed, lingering longer than was wise.

“I guess I owe you breakfast.”

“I never argue with breakfast.”

She made herself turn away, made the effort to keep her voice light. “I’ll go start the coffee if you want to grab the shower first.”

“Sure.”

She grabbed a robe, pulling it on as she hurried out.

She avoided looking at herself in the mirror and concentrated on the practicalities. Strong black coffee and what she thought of as a full farm breakfast. Maybe she didn’t have any appetite, but she would damn well eat. No one would know she was sick with love. Again.

Better to focus on the positive, she reminded herself. She’d gotten more rest in four hours than she’d had in days. And surely that buzzing sexual tension between her and Coop would diminish now.

The deed was done. They’d both survived. They’d both move on.

Bacon sizzled in the cast-iron skillet while she warmed biscuits in the oven. He liked his eggs over easy, she remembered. At least he had.

By the time he came down, smelling of her soap, she was breaking eggs into the pan. He poured his coffee, topped her mug off, then leaned against the counter and watched her.

“What?”

“You look good. It’s nice to look at you over my morning coffee.” He glanced at the bacon she had draining, then the hash browns sizzling with the eggs. “Guess you’re hungry.”

“I figured I owed you the full shot.”

“I appreciate the breakfast, but I’m not looking for payment.”

“All the same. Anyway, I hope I can get that alarm system installed soon. I can’t expect people to keep guarding the place like it was Fort Apache. Everyone’s got their own to see to, including you.”

“Look at me.”

She glanced over as she flipped the eggs. “Why don’t you sit down? This is about ready.”

“If you’re thinking about stepping back, think again.”

With hands remarkably steady, she scooped out the hash browns. “Sex isn’t a ball and chain, Coop. I step where I want.”

“No, you don’t. Not anymore.”

“Anymore? I never-” She put up a hand as if to stop herself. “I’m not getting into this. I’ve got too much to deal with today.”

“It’s not going away, Lil, and neither am I.”

“You were gone for over ten years. You’ve been back for a few months. Do you think, really think, everything just picks up where you want it to, for as long as you want it?”

“Do you want to hear what I think and what I want? Are you ready to hear it?”

“No, actually, I don’t, and I’m not.” She didn’t think her heart could bear it. Not now. “I’m not interested in a discussion, debate, or rehash. We can be friends, or you can push until we’re not. That’s up to you. If what happened between us ruins our friendship, Cooper, I’ll be sorry. Really sorry.”

“I’m not looking for a fuck buddy, Lil.”

She let out a breath. “Okay, then.”

He took a step toward her, she took one back. And the door opened.

“’Morning. I wanted to let you know…” Gull wasn’t the quickest off the mark, but even he could sense bad timing. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“You’re not,” Lil said quickly. “In fact, you’re right on time. Coop was about to have breakfast. You can keep him company and have some yourself.”

“Oh, well, I don’t want to-”

“Grab some coffee.” She began dishing up two plates. “I’ve got to go up and get dressed. Everybody okay out there?”

“Yeah. Yeah. Um…”

“Have a seat and dig in. I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” She picked up her coffee, walked out without looking back.

Gull cleared his throat. “Sorry, boss.”

“Not your fault,” Coop muttered.

17

She didn’t come back down in a few minutes. In fact, she didn’t go back to the kitchen at all. She showered, dressed, then let herself out the front of the cabin.

Avoidance? No question, Lil admitted. But she couldn’t afford to bog down her mind, her heart, her spirit. The interns were her full responsibility until Tansy got back-and when she did, they’d have another cat.

She kept herself busy checking the temporary enclosure and working with the crew on the permanent habitat.

Sunny skies and rising temperatures meant she could work in shirt-sleeves for a change. It also meant more snowmelt, more mud. As fickle March headed for capricious April, the dawning of spring would bring more patrons-and more on-site donations.

For her morning break, she visited Baby, pleasing them both with a long play period with lots of scratching, rubbing, and petting.

“I swear, that one’s just a big house cat.” Mary shook her head as Lil came out of the enclosure, double-checked the locks. “Less arrogant than my tabby, come to it.”

“Your tabby couldn’t rip out your jugular if he turned.”

“Got me there. Can’t see that one turning. He’s been a sweetheart since day one. Pretty day, isn’t it?” With her hands on her hips, Mary turned her face up to the bold blue of the sky. “I got bulbs sprouting up in my yard. Crocus blooming, too.”

“I’m ready for spring. Good and ready.”

Lil took the path around, wanting to check all the animals. Mary fell into step beside her.

In their yard, the bobcats rolled and wrestled together like a couple of boys on holiday, while perched in her tree, the lynx watched them with what might have been disdain.

“I know the jaguar and the new security system are going to take a big bite out of the budget. We’re okay, aren’t we, Mary?”

“We’re okay. Donations were a little slow this winter, except for that whopper Coop gave us. That one put us far and away over last year’s first quarter.”

“Now we worry about the second quarter.”

“Lucius and I are brainstorming on some fundraising ploys. And we’ll start clicking along here with the warmer weather.”

“I’m worried the trouble we’ve been having will keep people away, and cut hard into entrance fees and on-site donations. Word gets around.” Reality, Lil knew, came in dollars and cents. “We’ll have two new animals, with Xena and Cleo, to feed, house, and care for. I’d hoped to be able to hire at least a part-time veterinary assistant for Matt this summer. I’m not sure we’ll be able to stretch the budget for it now.”

“Willy needs to catch that son of a bitch, and soon. Matt’s overworked, but so is everybody else around here. That’s the way it is. We’re okay, Lil, and we’re going to stay okay. Now, how are you?”

“I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Well, if you ask me-which you didn’t, but I’m telling you anyway-you look stressed. And speaking of overworked, what you need is a day off. A real day off. And a date.”

“A date?”

“Yes, a date.” Clearly exasperated, Mary rolled her eyes. “You remember what a date is. Dinner, the movies, dancing. You haven’t taken a full day off since you got back, and however much you enjoyed that trip to South America, I know you worked every damn day there, too.”

“I like to work.”

“That may be, but a day off and a date would do you good. You ought to get your ma and drive into Rapid City for the day. Do some shopping, get your nails done, then come back and have that good-looking Cooper Sullivan buy you a steak dinner, take you dancing, then parking afterward.”

“Mary.”

“If I were thirty years younger and single, I’d damn well see to it he bought me a steak dinner, and the rest of it.” Mary gave Lil a hard, somewhat impatient squeeze. “I worry about you, honey.”

“Don’t. Don’t worry.”

“Take a day off. Well, break’s over.” She checked her watch. “Tansy and Farley ought to be rolling up in a couple hours. Then we’ll have some excitement.”

She didn’t want a day off, Lil thought when Mary walked away. She didn’t want to go shopping-very much. Or to get her nails done. She looked at her nails, winced. Okay, maybe she could use a manicure, but she didn’t have any lectures, appearances, or events scheduled. No fundraising drums to beat. When she needed to, she cleaned up very well.

And if she wanted a steak dinner, she could buy her own. The last thing she needed was a date with Coop, which would complicate a situation she’d already complicated with sex.

Completely her fault, she admitted.

He’d been right about one thing that morning. She had to deal with it.

Why hadn’t she made that list?

She stopped in front of the tiger’s enclosure. He lay at the entrance of his den, eyes half shut. Not dozing, not yet, Lil thought. His tail switched lazily, and Lil could see awareness in those slitted eyes.

“Not still mad at me, are you?” Lil leaned on the rail, watched Boris’s ears flick. “I had to do it. I don’t want anything to happen to you, or for anything to happen because of you. Not our fault, Boris, but we’d be responsible.”

Boris made a rumbling that sounded so much like reluctant agreement, Lil smiled. “You’re beautiful. Big, beautiful boy.” Lil let out a sigh. “I guess my break’s over, too.”

She straightened to stare out across the enclosures, the trees, the hills. And she thought it didn’t seem as if there could be a thing wrong in the world on a day like this.

HE MUNCHED ON his second Ho Ho. He could live off the land, but didn’t see any reason to deny himself a few pleasures from the Outside. In any case, he’d stolen the box of snack cakes from a campsite, so technically he was living off the land as he ate them. He’d also confiscated a bag of potato rolls and a six-pack of Heineken.

He limited himself to one beer every two days. A hunter couldn’t let alcohol slow his brain, even for an hour. So he only drank the single beer at bedtime.

Drinking had been his weak spot-he could admit it-just like it had been his daddy’s. Just, as his daddy had often said, like it was for their people. Liquor was only one more weapon the white man had used against them.

Drinking had gotten him in trouble, brought him to the attention of the white man’s law.

But he did love the taste of a cold beer.

He wouldn’t deny himself. He would simply control himself.

He’d learned that on his own. Of all the things his father had taught him, control hadn’t been one of them.

It was a matter of control, he thought. Just as letting the campers live had been a matter of control, and power. Killing them would have been fish-in-barrel time, and that wasn’t worth his skill. He had considered killing three of the four, then hunting down the last.

It never hurt to practice.

But taking out four campers would have the cops and rangers covering the hills like ants. Not that he couldn’t evade them, as his forefathers had for so long. One day he would be a one-man war party, hunting and killing those who desecrated the land at his whim and his will.

One day they would speak his name with fear and reverence.

But for now he had bigger fish to fry, fish that weren’t in the barrel.

He took out his field glasses to scan the compound below. His pride still surged from his observation of the guards placed around the perimeters through the night.

Because of him.

His prey scented him, and feared. Nothing he’d done before had given him such satisfaction.

How easy, and how exciting, it would have been to have taken them out. All of them. Moving silent as a ghost, slitting throats, one by one, blood warm and wet on his hands.

All that game bagged in one night.

And what would his prize have felt in the morning, when she’d come out of the cabin to see the carnage he’d left behind?

Would she have run, run screaming in terror?

He loved it when they ran, when they screamed. And more, when they had no breath left to scream.

But he’d snapped control firmly into place. It wasn’t time.

He could send her a message, he considered. Yes, he could. Something that made it very personal. The more there was at stake, the deeper the competition when the time came.

He didn’t just want her fear-fear was easy to come by.

He watched her for another moment as she crossed the compound toward the cabin that held the offices.

No, not just her fear, he thought, lowering the glasses, licking chocolate off his fingers. He wanted her involved as none of the others had been. As none of the others had deserved.

He turned away, and hitching his pack on his shoulders, began a circular hike back to his den, whistling a tune.

When the lone hiker, puffing a bit, crossed his path, he smiled.

“Lost?” he asked.

“No. Not exactly. Glad to see a friendly face, though. I was on Crow Peak, heading toward the summit. I think I got off the mark a little.” He pulled a bottle of water out of his belt harness. “I guess I should’ve stuck with one of the easier trails. It’s been a while.”

“Mmm-hmm.” This one looked healthy enough, fit enough. And lost, just enough. “You’re making the trip alone?”

“Yeah. The wife headed back at the junction. I’da done the same except she said I couldn’t do the seven miles. You know how it is. Gotta prove them wrong.”

“I’m heading that way myself. I can get you back on track.”

“That’d be great. Wouldn’t mind the company either. Jim Tyler,” he said, offering a hand. “From St. Paul.”

“Ethan Swift Cat.”

“Nice to meet you. You from around here?”

“That’s right, I’m from around.”

He started off, leading Jim Tyler from St. Paul farther off the trail, away from the blazes on pines, the signs, the posts, and deeper into the wilderness. He kept the pace moderate. Didn’t want to wear Jim out before the games began. He watched for signs of others, and listened to the man talk about his wife, his kids, his business-real estate-back in St. Paul.

He pointed out tracks to keep the man entertained, waited while Jim took pictures with a nice little digital Canon.

“You’re better than my guidebook,” Jim said with real pleasure. “Wait until I show off these pictures, and my wife sees what she missed. I’m lucky I ran into you.”

“Lucky.” He gave Jim a big smile as he pulled out his revolver.

“Run, rabbit,” he said, grinning. “Run.”

LIL RUSHED OUT of the cabin when Farley pulled in. Staff, volunteers, interns dropped what they were doing to hurry over. Before Farley came to a full stop, Lil boosted herself onto the running board on Tansy’s side and grinned at her friend.

“How’d it go?”

“Fine. Good. She’s getting a little restless back there. As if she knew we were getting close. You’re going to be very happy with her, Lil. She’s a beauty.”

“You have all her medical records?” Matt asked her.

“Yeah, and I spoke with her vet personally. She’s got a clean bill of health. She’d had some intestinal problems a few months ago. Her owner liked to feed her chocolate truffles-I swear. Godiva truffles, and Beluga caviar on special occasions. Apparently Cleo’s very fond of dark chocolate with hazelnut filling, and caviar on lightly browned toast points.”

“Good God,” was Matt’s response.

“She’s left the high life, but I think she’ll adjust.” Lil forced herself not to climb right on in and take a look. “Take her on over to the temporary, Farley. Let’s get her out of the cage, and into her new home. I bet she’d like to stretch her legs.”

She glanced over to where two of the interns continued a tour for a small group. “Annie,” she said to the young woman at her shoulder. “Why don’t you go tell that group to head over toward the enclosure. This should be a real treat for them.”

She rode with them, standing on the running board. “We were expecting you about an hour ago,” she commented.

Tansy shifted in her seat. “We, ah, left a little later than we’d planned.”

“No problems?”

“No. No.” Tansy stared straight ahead. “No problems. Cleo handled the drive just fine. Slept through most of it. I’ve got all the paperwork if you want to go over it after she’s settled.”

Lil’s first look at the cat took her breath away. Sleek, muscular, her eyes tawny glints, Cleo sat in her travel cage like royalty on a throne.

She eyed the humans, with what struck Lil as a gaze of pure superiority, and let out her coughing roar in case they didn’t fully understand who was boss.

Lil approached the cage so the jaguar could get her scent. “Hello, Cleo. Yes, you’re gorgeous. Strong, powerful, and you know it. But I’m alpha here. No more Godivas or poodles on the menu.”

The cat tracked her with those exotic eyes as she circled. “Let’s get her out. Keep your hands away from the bars. Her favored killing method may be to pierce the skull, but she won’t quibble at taking a good swipe of a careless hand or arm. I don’t want any trips to the infirmary. And don’t let her taste for chocolate fool you. She’s got powerful jaws, arguably the most powerful of all felids.”

They lowered the cage by the lift, and as the tourist group took snapshots, positioned it at the entrance to the enclosure.

Cleo grumbled in her throat, displeased, Lil concluded, with the crowd, the scent of them, the scent of other animals. Across the compound the lion roared.

Lil lifted the cage door, locked it open, stepped back.

The cat sniffed the air as she scanned the space, the tree, the boulders, the fencing. And the other animals beyond.

Her tail switched as the lioness prowled along their shared fenceline and marked her territory.

“This melanistic, or black, female jaguar hasn’t reached maturity,” Lil began for the benefit of the tourists. “She gets her color from a dominant allele-a unique pairing of genes. But she does have rosettes-spots-that can be seen if you’re close enough. She’s one of the four big cats, along with the lion, the tiger, and the leopard.”

As she spoke, she studied Cleo’s reactions.

“As you can see, while young, she has a compact, muscular body.”

“It looks sort of like a leopard.”

Lil nodded at one of the men in the group. “You’re right. Physically she looks like a leopard, though she’ll be bigger and stockier in build. Behaviorally, she’s more like the tiger-and like the tiger, actually enjoys swimming.”

Cleo inched toward the opening of the cage. Lil stayed where she was, kept very still, and continued to talk. “And like the tiger, the female kicks the male to the curb after giving birth.”

That got a little laugh from the tour group as they angled for more pictures.

“She’s a stalk-and-ambush hunter, and no other species comes close to her abilities there. In the wild, she’s an apex predator, top of the food chain. Only man preys on her. Because of deforestation and encroachment and fragmentation of its habitats and poaching, jaguar populations are declining. The species is considered Near Threatened. Conservation efforts will help preserve her species, which in turn will help preserve other, smaller-range species.”

Crouched, the jaguar stepped out, nosing both ground and air. When she’d cleared it, Lil lowered the door on the enclosure, locked it.

The crowd applauded.

“She’ll be protected here,” Lil added. “Cared for by the staff, interns, and volunteers of Chance Wildlife Refuge, and through,” lest they forget, Lil thought, “the donations of our patrons and visitors. She’ll have a good life here, and may have it for over twenty years.”

She watched the black cat belly through the grass, nosing it, nosing the air, then rising to stalk. Squatting to pee, marking her territory as the lion marked hers.

She paced and circled, and even when she stopped to drink from her trough, Lil saw her muscles quivering.

She continued to pace, to prowl, sending out that hoarse roar. When she rose on her hind legs to sharpen her front claws on her tree, Lil felt her own muscles quiver at the beauty of the cat’s lines, the power of her build.

She watched, even when the others drifted away, she watched for nearly an hour. And smiled when Cleo leaped into the tree to spread her muscular body over a thick branch.

“Welcome home, Cleo,” she said aloud.

She left the new guest alone and went back to the office to check the paperwork.

She looked in on Matt first to find him reading the new addition’s medical records. “Everything as advertised?”

“Healthy female melanistic jaguar, who has not yet come into estrus. She’s had regular exams, the proper inoculations. Her diet has been somewhat suspect. Tansy brought blood samples, but I’ll want to examine her myself.”

“Understood. Let’s give her a day or two to adjust to her new environment before we put any more stress on her. I can get you some scat and urine without too much trouble if you want to start sooner.”

“Sooner the better.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Lil walked to the office she shared with Tansy, and shut the door.

Tansy looked up from the keyboard. “Everything okay?”

“We’ll get into that in a minute. First, what’s up with you?”

“Nothing. I don’t want to talk about it now. I want to talk about it later,” Tansy decided. “With alcohol.”

“Okay, after tonight’s feeding. We’ll have some wine and a debriefing. But here’s what you have to know now.”

Lil sat and filled Tansy in on what had happened during her trip.

“My God, Lil. My God. You could’ve been seriously hurt. You could’ve been killed.” Tansy shut her eyes. “If one of the kids-”

“Middle of the night. The kids aren’t here. We’re taking steps. Every step we can. With the new alarm system the animals, the staff, everyone will be protected. I should’ve dug into the coffers for an updated system before.”

“It did the job, Lil. It did the job until some crazy person came around. You have to be crazy to open the enclosure that way. Whoever did it could’ve ended up as fresh meat just as easily as that elk. The cops can’t find him? Any trace of him?”

“Not so far. Coop thinks he has a line on who it is. Tansy, Carolyn Roderick-you remember her?”

“Sure. What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s missing. She’s been missing for months, disappeared from a group working in Alaska.”

“Missing? Oh, no. Her family. I talked to her mother a couple of times when Carolyn was here.”

“She had a boyfriend-an ex. He came around here when she interned.”

“The mountain-man type-Ed? No, not Ed.”

“Ethan.”

“Right, Ethan, of the I’m-descended-from-Crazy-Horse blather.”

“You remembered that faster than I did,” Lil replied.

“I had dinner with Carolyn and some of the other interns a few times, and he’d come along or show up. Full of himself and his proud heritage, which came off as bullshit to me. But she liked it, liked him. He brought her wildflowers, did some volunteering. Took her dancing. She was smitten.

“It went bad between them. She broke it off, and people Coop contacted said they thought he was violent.” Lil got them both bottles of water. “I remembered, after I looked through her file, how he’d gone around claiming to be Sioux, and how he bragged about living in the wild for long stretches of time, like-well-Crazy Horse. Had a hard-on for the Park Service. Claimed this area was sacred ground.”

“You think it’s him? The one who killed the cougar and wolf? Why would he come back here and harass you?”

“I don’t know. But he’s vanished, too. Coop hasn’t been able to locate him. Yet. If there’s anything more you can remember about him, anything at all, you should tell Coop and Willy.”

“I will. I’ll think about it. God, you think he did something to Carolyn?”

“I wish I didn’t think that.” Thinking it made her feel sick and sad, and guilty. “I’m not sure if I’m actually remembering or if I just have the heebies, but I feel like he was a little spooky. Like I’m remembering him watching me. A lot. And maybe didn’t think anything of it at the time, as some of the volunteers and interns tend to watch me. They want to see what I’m doing, and how I do it. You know.”

“Sure.”

“And now I’m feeling like that wasn’t the feeling I got when he watched me. That maybe I felt something slightly off, but dismissed it.”

“I don’t remember him that well. I just thought he was a bullshitter, but he helped out around here and seemed focused on charming Carolyn.”

“Okay.”

“What else can I do?”

“Talk to the interns, keep them steady. I’ve told them everything I can, and I’ve contacted the universities for the incomings. I figured full disclosure. I don’t believe any of them are in any danger, and we have to keep the refuge running normally. Still, full disclosure. And that’s bound to make some of them jumpy.”

“Okay. Most of them are going to be over at the commissary, processing for the evening feeding. I’ll go over, get a gauge.”

“That’d be good.”

“We’ll talk later.” Tansy rose. “Do you want me to stay here tonight?”

Coward, Lil told herself when she nearly agreed. But the agreement wouldn’t be due to fear of some maniac prowling the hills. It would be due to avoidance of Cooper Sullivan.

“No. We’re covered here. I’d rather stick with routine as much as we can.”

Lucius tapped on her doorjamb as Tansy went out. “I e-mailed you pictures of Cleo, and a kind of montage we took as we were transferring her. I can get them on the Web page whenever you approve.”

“I’ll take a look.” Focus, she ordered herself, and she shifted gears into work mode. “I’ll write something up to go with the montage. We’ll want something on her specifically, the jag in general, and some behind-the-scenes stuff. Then put her up on the Adopt page. Did Mary see about getting the black jag toy for that donation, and for the gift shop?”

“I think she’s got some possibles e-mailed to you.”

“Okay. I’ll get on it.”

“Want the door shut?”

“No, open is fine.”

She dug up a soft drink for the hit of caffeine, then dug into work.

It took her through feeding time, and she still wasn’t quite satisfied. She copied the work and photos to a thumb drive, stuck it in her pocket. She’d give it another pass at home, after a solid break. Come to it fresh.

Contributors, she knew, wanted info, but they also wanted a story. A new animal meant new interest, and she intended to exploit that. She cleaned up other paperwork while twilight filled with the sounds of feeding.

She came out, locked up as the last of the interns left for the day. Eventually, she thought, she’d have enough in the budget to build the dorm. Housing for the interns, their own kitchen. Two years down the road, by her estimation, with the hit on the budget with the proposed security system, the expense of building a new enclosure.

She found Tansy in the living room with a bottle of wine and a bag of corn chips. “Alcohol and salt.” Tansy toasted her. “It’s what I need.”

“Food of the gods.” Lil tossed her jacket, her hat aside, poured her own glass. “You look tired.”

“I guess I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Tansy took a long gulp of wine. “Because I was busy having sex with Farley.”

“Oh.” Lil decided that bulletin required sitting down. “Okay. Yes, this is news best served with adult beverages. Wow.”

“Really, really good sex.” Brows knit, Tansy bit into a chip. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

“Ah, have more?”

“Oh, good God, Lil, what have I done? I knew better, but it just happened.” She knocked back a slug of wine. “Four times.”

“Four? Four times in one night. Jeez. Here’s to Farley.”

“It’s not a joke.”

“No, it’s a serious accomplishment.”

“Lil.”

“Tansy. You’re a grown-up, he’s a grown-up.”

“He thinks he’s in love with me.” Tansy crunched on chips. “Do you know what he said to me last night?”

“Before or after sex?”

“After, damn it. And also before. I’m trying, really trying to be sensible and fair and realistic.”

“And naked.”

“Shut up. Then he looks at me. Man, he sure can look at me.”

Tansy told her everything Farley said, nearly word for word.

“Oh.” She couldn’t help it. Lil pressed a hand to her heart. “That’s beautiful. And so Farley, so completely and beautifully Farley.”

“I know it. I know, but Lil, this morning, over breakfast in this diner, I’m fumbling around, trying to… I don’t know slow it down, calm it down. Be sensible. He just keeps smiling at me.”

“Well, four times puts a smile on a guy’s face.”

“Stop it! He says, ‘I’m going to marry you, Tansy, but you can take some time to get used to it first.’”

“Wow.” Lil’s jaw dropped before she managed to close it and take another drink. “Well. I repeat, Wow.”

“It doesn’t matter what I say. He just smiles and nods, and when we go outside, he gets ahold of me again and kisses my brains out. I felt them leak out of my ears. I think I lost half my brain in Montana.”

“Have you set the date?”

“Will you stop it! You’re not helping.”

“Sorry, Tans, but you’re sitting there, stress-eating Fritos and telling me a good man, a really good man, loves you and wants you. A man you had multiple orgasms with-I assume.”

“Yes, multiple was a factor. He’s very… attentive and energetic.”

“Now you’re just bragging.”

“Some. God, Lil, he’s sincere and sweet and just a little scary. I’m messed up over this, over him.”

“Which would be a first. I like that you’re in love with him, and all I can think is good. It’s good. All I can be is happy, and a little bit jealous.”

“I shouldn’t have slept with him,” Tansy continued. “Now I’ve complicated it even more, because before I could think I just had the hots for him, but now I know I have the hots for him, and I’m crazy about him. Why do we do that? Why do we end up sleeping with them?”

“I don’t know. I slept with Coop.”

Tansy ate another chip, washed it down with wine. “I thought you’d hold out longer.”

“So did I,” Lil admitted. “Now we’re mad at each other. I think. Or I snapped and snarled at him this morning. Which I knew, even as I was doing it, was ninety percent defense and ten percent truth.”

“He broke your heart.”

“Into countless pieces. Farley’s incapable of doing that to you.”

Tansy’s deep, dark eyes went soft. “I could break his.”

“Yes, you could. Will you?”

“I don’t know, that’s the problem. I don’t want to. He’s not what I was looking for. When I thought about what I might be looking for, down the road, it sure wasn’t a skinny white cowboy.”

“I don’t think we get to choose as much as we tell ourselves we choose.” Thoughtfully, Lil dug into the bag of chips. “If I could pick, it would be Jean-Paul. He’s a better choice for me. But he wasn’t the one, and I couldn’t make him the one. So I ended up hurting him even though I didn’t want to.”

“Now I’m depressed.”

“Sorry. No more talk of broken hearts.” Deliberately Lil shook herself as if shedding a weight. “Let’s talk about sex with Farley. Spare no details.”

“No.” Amused, Tansy pointed at her. “At least not on one glass of wine. And since I’m driving, no more for me. I’m going home and I’m going to think about something else. Anything else. You’ll be all right here?”

“There’s half a dozen armed men outside.”

“Good. But I meant regarding Cooper.”

Lil blew out a breath. “I’m going to take the late shift, thereby avoiding that problem, as he’ll take first duty. It’s not a solution but it’s a plan. Tansy, just one question. Don’t think first, just answer. Are you in love with Farley? Not just crazy about, but in love with.”

“I think I am. Now I’m even more depressed.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m going home to brood.”

“Good luck with that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Alone, Lil fixed herself a sandwich and a short pot of coffee. She sat at her kitchen table, eating her dinner and polishing her pieces for the website.

She braced, every muscle on alert, when the door opened. Then relaxed again when her mother came in. “I told you not to come tonight.”

“Your father’s here, I’m here. Live with it.” At home, Jenna opened the fridge, sighed once at the contents, then took out a bottle of water. “You’re working, and I’m interrupting.”

“It’s all right. I’m just fine-tuning some articles for the Web page, on our new princess.”

“I saw her. Lil, she’s beautiful. So elegant and mysterious. She’ll be a huge draw for you.”

“I think so. And she’ll be happy here. Plenty of room once we finish her permanent habitat. The right diet, the right care. I’m going to look into breeding her next year.”

Jenna nodded, sat. “This is probably nothing.”

“Oh-oh.”

“You know Alan Tobias, the ranger.”

“Sure. He brings his kids here.”

“He’s helping out tonight.”

“That’s nice of him. I should go out and thank him.”

“Yes, at some point. He told us there’s a hiker missing.”

“For how long?”

“He was due back around four. His wife didn’t start worrying, seriously, until five.”

“Well, it’s barely eight.”

“And dark. He’s not answering his cell phone.”

Nerves jangled, but she spoke calmly. “Reception’s spotty. You know that.”

“I do, and it’s probably nothing. He probably got turned around a little, and he may end up having a lousy night if he doesn’t make it back to a trailhead soon. But Lil, he was hiking Crow Peak, and that’s not all that far from where you trapped the cougar with Coop.”

“It’s a full-day hike to the summit and back, and it’s not an easy trail. If he’s not experienced, it would take longer, probably longer than he allowed. Why was he hiking alone?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have all the details.” Jenna glanced toward the window, and the dark. “They’re looking for him.”

“I’m sure they’ll find him.”

“They’ve looked for the man who shot your cougar, the man who came here. They haven’t found him.”

“He doesn’t want to be found,” Lil pointed out. “This hiker does.”

“They’re calling for rain before morning. Hard rain.” Jenna looked back toward the window. “You can smell it coming. I have a sick feeling about this, Lil. A sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that more than hard rain’s coming.”

18

The rain came, and came hard. At dawn, Lil dragged herself back into the house, hung her slicker up to dry, pulled off her soaked and muddy boots.

She wanted to grab another hour’s sleep. Two if she could manage it, then spend a couple days in a hot shower and eat like a lum berjack.

As of dawn, the hiker-James Tyler of St. Paul, according to her sources-hadn’t been found. She hoped the worst that happened was he’d spent an even more miserable night than she had.

She moved quietly in her bare feet out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. But when she glanced at the living room, the sofa was empty. Gone home, she assumed. She hadn’t seen his truck, but then in the driving rain she hadn’t seen much of anything. Relaxing, she climbed the stairs.

Set the alarm, she told herself. Ninety minutes would be a good compromise. Then bed. Warm, soft, dry bed.

When she stepped into her room she saw that warm, soft, dry bed was already occupied.

She gritted her teeth against the curse that sprang to her tongue, but when she started to back out, Coop’s eyes opened.

“I’m not sleeping on the damn couch.”

“Fine. It’s morning, so you can get up and go. You can make coffee if you want it, but be quiet. I need some sleep.” She stalked across the bedroom to the bath, and shut the door, firmly.

So, shower first, she thought. She’d sleep better for it. Nice hot shower, then bed. No big deal. And no reason the man shouldn’t make use of the bed after standing out in the dark for several hours.

She stripped off, leaving her clothes in a puddle on the floor, then switched the shower on, full and hot as she could stand. She actually moaned when she stepped in and felt the heat beat through her chilled skin to her chilled bones.

She hissed when the curtain flicked back. “Goddamn it!”

“I want a shower.”

“It’s my shower.”

He simply stepped in behind her. “Plenty of room, plenty of water.”

She shoved her wet hair out of her face. “You go too far, Cooper.”

“Too far would be putting my hands on you, which I won’t.”

“I’m tired. I’m not going to argue with you.”

“Good. I’m not in the mood for an argument.” He pumped out some of the shower gel, soaped up. “We’re going to get some flooding with this rain.”

She just let the water beat over her head. She didn’t want conversation either.

She stepped out first, wrapped her body in a towel, wrapped her hair in another. In the bedroom she pulled on flannel pants and a T-shirt, then sat on the side of the bed to set her alarm.

He came out, damp hair, jeans, and a shirt he hadn’t bothered to button. “Did they find the hiker?”

“No. Not yet. Not when I came in.”

He nodded, then sat to pull on socks, watching as she slid into the bed he’d left warm for her. “Your hair’s wet.”

“I don’t care. I’m tired.”

“I know.” He rose, went to the bed. Leaning over, he pressed his lips to hers, as gently as he might to a sleepy child. “I’ll be back later.”

He trailed a finger down her cheek before he walked to the door. “It wasn’t just sex, Lil. It never was.”

She kept her eyes closed, listened to him go down. Waited until she’d heard the front door open, then shut behind him.

And gave in to the turmoil he managed to set off inside her. As the rain pounded, she cried herself to sleep.

IT RAINED THROUGH the morning, canceling scheduled trail rides and rentals. Coop dealt with the stock at the farm, and gave up cursing the rain and wind after the first hour.

No point.

With his grandfather set cleaning and repairing tack, and his grandmother hip-deep in paperwork-both in the warm and dry-he loaded two more horses into the trailer.

“Plenty of shelter in the hills,” Lucy said as she packed up a lunch for Coop. “I pray that poor man found some. God knows how they’ll find him in this weather.”

“We’ve got six horses out with volunteers. I’ll take these into town in case they want more. Flash floods are going to be a problem.”

“So much trouble. Too much. It comes down like the rain.”

“It’ll clear. If they need more men on the search, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“You’ll be staying at Lil’s again tonight.”

He stopped, one hand on the door. “Yes. Until this is settled.”

“And you and Lil?” She gave him her keen, no-nonsense look. “Are you going to settle that, too?”

“Working on it.”

“I don’t know what happened between you all those years ago, and I’m not asking. But if you love that girl, stop wasting time. I’d like to see you settled and happy. And, damn it, I’d like some babies around here.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “That might be jumping the gun.”

“Not from where I’m standing. If you go with the search party, you take a rifle.”

She handed him the sack holding his lunch, then laid her hands on his cheeks. “You take care of my boy, because he’s precious to me.”

“Don’t worry.”

Nothing to worry about, he thought as he dealt with the miserable drive into Deadwood. He wasn’t the one being stalked, or the one lost somewhere in the hills. All he was doing was what came next. Provide the horses, and another pair of eyes if they were needed. And for Lil? All he could do was be there.

Did he love her?

He’d always loved her. He’d done what came next there, too, and lived without her. And look where she’d landed. Exactly where she wanted to be-needed to be. Doing what she’d dreamed of doing. She’d made her mark, and in his way so had he.

Now, well, he’d just keep doing what came next. The problem was, he didn’t know where he stood with her.

Friend? Occasional lover? A port in the storm?

Screw that. It wasn’t enough this time around, not for him. So he’d push, because that came next as he saw it. Then both of them would see where he stood.

In the meantime, he’d do whatever it took to protect her. She’d just have to deal with it.

Gull came out of the stables as Coop pulled up. Water poured off the brim of his hat, sluiced down the shine of his slicker as he helped unload the horses.

“Haven’t found him yet,” Gull shouted over the thunder of the rain. “No way to track in this mess. Got flooding between the snowmelt and the rain. It’s bad up there, boss.”

“They’re going to need more horses.” Coop looked toward the black and angry sky. Even if choppers could go up, what the hell could they see in this? Ground search, such as it was, would be the best bet.

“They’re working on coordinating or some such on his cell phone. Trying to find the signal.” Gull led his horse into a dry stall. “I don’t know how they’re doing there. But if you don’t need me, I figure I can replace somebody who’s been out in this long enough.”

“Take whichever mount you want and check in. You keep in touch with me, Gull.”

“Will do. He’s got any sense he’s holed up in a cave on high ground. Don’t know if he’s got any sense. Everybody else, so I hear, who was up on a trail or camping, they’re accounted for. Just this guy from St. Paul.”

“It’s a long time to be lost in this weather.”

“Damn right. Word is they haven’t found the first sign of him yet.” As he spoke, Gull saddled a big bay gelding. “Couple day-trippers saw him, even had a word or two with him at the junction on Crow Peak. They took the spur trail south, and he was headed north to the summit, so he said. But that was before noon yesterday.”

“Did they see anybody else?”

“At the junction, yeah, and on the spur trail. But not heading to the summit. He went on his own.”

“Then let’s hope he has sense. If they need more relief, you let them know I’m around. And you keep in touch.”

Coop drove over to the office, brewed a pot of coffee. Until he was called on, he intended to find out more about Ethan Howe.

He booted up the computer and picked up the phone.

He spent the next hour bouncing between cops and investigators in Alaska, North Dakota, New York, slowly, tediously filling in a few blanks. He talked to Howe’s parole officer and former landlords and added a few names to his call list.

As far as known companions, they were few and far between. The man was a loner, a drifter, preferred low-population areas, and as far as Coop could discern, had rarely stayed in one place more than six months at a time. Usually camping. Occasionally motels or weekly rooms. Paid in cash.

Employment sketchy. Day laborer, ranch hand, trail guide.

Kept to himself. Quiet. Hard worker, but unreliable. Came and went.

Coop dug deeper, followed the dots to a bar in Wise River, Montana.

Spinning wheels, he thought as he made the call. Chasing my own tail. Might as well throw a dart at a map.

“Bender’s.”

“I’m looking for the owner or manager.”

“I’m Charlie Bender. This is my place.”

“Was it your place four years ago, July and August?”

“Been my place sixteen years. What’s the problem?”

“Mr. Bender, I’m Cooper Sullivan. I’m a private investigator licensed in New York.”

“Then why are you calling from South Dakota? I got caller ID, buddy.”

“I’m in South Dakota. I’ll give you my license number if you want to check it out.” He might’ve sold his business, but his license was still good. “I’m trying to find someone who worked for you for a couple months the summer of ’05.”

“Who?”

“Ethan Howe.”

“Don’t ring, right off. Four years is a space of time, and I get a lot of people in and out of here. Why do you want him?”

“He may be connected to a missing-person’s case I’m working on. He’d’ve been late twenties,” Coop began and gave a description.

“Sounds like everybody else.”

“He’d have been fresh out of prison for assault.”

“Still not cutting him out of the herd.”

“He claims he’s part Sioux, likes to brag about his mountain-man skills. Keeps to himself, but he’s very polite and charming with the ladies. At least initially.”

“Chief. We called him Chief mostly because he talked about being blood kin to Crazy Horse after he’d had a couple beers. Just another asshole. I recollect he wore what he said was a bear-tooth necklace-talked about how he and his pa hunted bear and other bullshit. He worked good enough when he was here, but it wasn’t for long. Then he took off with my best waitress.”

“Got a name on her?”

“Yeah. Molly Pickens. She worked for me four years before Chief came along. Then she lit out with him, and I was short two people. Had to drag my wife in to wait tables, and I heard about it for weeks. So I remember.”

“Do you know how I can get in touch with Molly?”

“Haven’t seen or heard of her since that August.”

Coop felt a buzz at the back of his skull. “Does she have family? Friends? Someone I can get in touch with?”

“Look, buddy, I don’t keep tabs on people. She came in here looking for work. I gave her work. She got on fine with the rest, the customers. Minded her own business, and I minded mine.”

“Where was she from?”

“Christ, you’re a nosy bastard. Back east somewhere. Said once she’d had enough of her old man-couldn’t say if that was husband or father-and hit the road. She never gave me any trouble, till she took up with Chief.”

“She left you without notice. Did she take her things?”

“Didn’t have much. Packed up some clothes and such, cleared out her bank account, and took off in her old Ford Bronco.”

“Did she like the outdoors? Hiking, camping?”

“What the fuck? Are you looking for him or her?”

“Right now? Both of them.”

Bender heaved out an audible breath. “Now that you mention it, she liked being out and about. She was a good, strong girl. Liked to go off, take photographs in the park on her days off. Wanted to be a photographer, she said. She picked up some extra money selling photographs to tourists. I expect she landed on her feet somewhere.”

Coop wasn’t so sure of it. He worked Bender for more details, scrawling notes.

When he’d compiled everything, he sat back, shut his eyes, let his mind turn it over. Patterns, he thought. Patterns and circles and cycles. They were always there if you looked for them.

He shut everything down and went to see Willy.

The sheriff’s face was pasty with exhaustion, his eyes bloodshot, and his voice like the bottom of a gravel pit. “Caught something.” He sneezed heroically into a red bandanna. “Goddamn spring. Came back down from the search about a half hour ago.” He lifted a thick white mug. “Cup-a-Soup. Can’t taste a damn thing, but my ma always says you down chicken soup for a cold. I’m downing.”

“You haven’t found him.”

Willy shook his head. “A man can barely find his own pecker out in this mess. Supposed to let up tomorrow. That poor bastard’s alive, he’s miserable.” He drank, wincing. “Throat feels like my tonsils took sandpaper to it. It’s only been a day. He didn’t get hurt or dead, and he holed up out of the rain, he’ll do okay. He had pack food. Energy bars, water, trail mix, and the like. Wouldn’t starve. We’re mostly worried he’d get caught in a flash and drown.”

“Do you need more hands up there?”

“We got it covered. The fact is I’m worried somebody else is going to drown or fall off a damn cliff. Two on the search team had to be brought out. Got a broken ankle and what we thought was a heart attack. Just indigestion, it turns out. If we need to go up again tomorrow, we’ll need fresh horses.”

“You’ll have them. Willy-”

He broke off when a woman came to the door. “Sheriff.”

“Mrs. Tyler. Come right in here and sit down.” Wheezing, Willy got to his feet to lead her to a chair. “Now, you shouldn’t oughta be out in this weather.”

“I can’t just sit in the hotel room. I’m going crazy. I need to know what’s going on. I need to know something.”

“We’re doing everything we can. We’ve got a lot of men looking for your husband, Mrs. Tyler. Men who know the trails, who’ve done plenty of search-and-rescues before. You told me your husband was a sensible man.”

“Usually.”

She dashed a hand over her brimming eyes. From the look of them, Coop doubted she’d closed them for more than an hour since her husband had gone missing.

“He should’ve had more sense than to insist on making that hike.” She rocked in the chair as if the movement would help keep her calm. “He hasn’t hiked on much more than his own treadmill in five years.”

“Kept in shape, you said.”

“Yes. I should’ve gone with him.” Biting her lip, she rocked a little faster, a little harder. “I shouldn’t have let him go by himself. I just didn’t want to spend all day tromping around. I wanted to rent horses, but Jim, he’s nervous around horses. I thought I could talk him into coming back with me when we got to that junction. I was so annoyed when he wouldn’t. I snapped at him. The last thing I did was snap at him. Oh, my God.”

Willy let her weep, signaling Coop to stay and pulling up a chair so he could pat the woman’s arm.

“I know you’re scared, and I wish I had more to tell you, more that would ease your mind.”

“His phone. You said they’d try to track his cell phone.”

“I did. They did. We can’t find the signal. Could be the battery’s dead.”

“He’d have called. He’d have tried to call.” While her voice trembled, she mopped at her face with a tissue. “He wouldn’t want me worried. We charged our phones full before we started that morning. They said there’s flooding. On the news, they said.”

“He’s a sensible man. A sensible man sticks to high ground. We haven’t found him, Mrs. Tyler, but we haven’t found any signs to indicate anything happened to him. Let’s hold on to that for now.”

“I’m trying.”

“I’m going to have somebody take you back to the hotel. If you want, I can have someone stay with you, if you don’t want to be alone.”

“No. No, I’ll be all right. I haven’t called my boys-our sons. I was so sure he’d be back this morning, and now… it’s twenty-four hours since he should’ve been back. I think I have to call our boys.”

“You know best.”

“Jim just got it into his head he wanted to make this trip. Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, Crazy Horse, the Black Hills. We’ve got a three-year-old grandson, and another coming. He said we should practice taking them on hikes. He bought all new gear.”

“And you said he’d packed everything the guides recommended,” Will began as he led her out. “He had a map, a flashlight…”

Coop walked to the window to watch the rain hammer the ground. He waited until Willy came back and then shut the office door.

“Another night up there isn’t going to do Jim Tyler any good.”

Coop turned around. “If he ran into Ethan Howe, he might not have a second night.”

“Who’s Ethan Howe?”

Coop told him everything he knew, giving the information in a quick, concise report as he’d been trained to do as a cop, as an investigator.

“It’s a loose connection to Lil and her animals, but it’s a connection,” Willy allowed. “But as far as you know, or she remembers, this Howe and Lil never had any trouble, any hard words?”

“She barely remembered him, and then only because of the intern. He’s trouble, Willy. A drifter, a loner, stays off the grid-except for one serious bust. He’d been drinking. Slipped up there. Otherwise, he keeps his head down when he’s around people. He likes to talk about his Native American connection, but he blends. He’s got that temper, and that self-importance, his weak points.”

“I know a lot of people who have both of those.”

“Enough of a temper, according to her friends and family, to scare off this Carolyn Roderick,” Coop added. “She was a type, like the one from Montana. Athletic, pretty, strong, single. Molly Pickens emptied her bank account and left with him.”

Willy sat back with his white mug of soup, nodded as he sipped. “Of her own free will.”

“And that’s the last I can find her, when she left with him, of her own free will. There’s no credit card activity since that August, and up until then she used a MasterCard, regularly. She’s never renewed her driver’s license. Hasn’t filed taxes. She left Columbus, Ohio, in ’96. She was eighteen. Rumors of an abusive father, who didn’t file a missing-person’s report. She left a paper trail. I’ve picked up some of it. But when she left with Ethan Howe, nothing. No trail.”

Willy took a thoughtful breath that came out as a wheeze. “You think he killed that waitress, and the intern.”

“Damn right I do.”

“And you think he’s the same one who’s been causing this trouble for Lil.”

“He connects, and she fits his type.”

“And if Tyler crossed paths with him…”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to be seen, doesn’t want some guy going back and talking about this man he met on the trail. Or Tyler stumbled over his campsite, found him poaching. Or maybe he just likes to kill. There’s more.”

“Jesus.” Willy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s have it, then.”

“Melinda Barrett. Age twenty.”

Willy’s forehead creased. “That’s the girl you and Lil found.”

“Strong, pretty, athletic. Alone on the trail. I’m betting she was his first. He’d’ve been about the same age. There’ve been others.” Coop dropped a folder on Willy’s desk. “I copied my file for you.”

Willy stared, not at the file, but at Cooper. “Jumping Jesus, Coop, you’re talking serial killer. You’re talking about a dozen years of killing.”

“Which stopped, as far as I’ve been able to determine, during the year and a half Howe was in prison. The problem with tying the first killing to the others I tracked, the like crimes, was the wide time lag between. But when you add in missing persons, bodies that weren’t found, by chance or by his design? It plays then.”

Willy looked down at the file, started to speak, then broke into a hacking cough. He waved his hand until he’d caught his breath. “Goddamn spring,” he complained. “I’ll look at what you’ve got. I’ll read through it, and I’m going to want to talk to you about it after-one way or the other.”

He took a last swallow of his now lukewarm soup. “Want a job?”

“I’ve got one, thanks.”

Willy smiled. “Cop’s in the blood.”

“I just want my horses, that’s the fact. But in this case, I’ve got a vested interest. He doesn’t get a chance to touch Lil. He doesn’t get that chance.” Coop got to his feet. “That’s where I’ll be, most likely, when you’re ready to talk this through.”

He went home to toss fresh clothes in a duffel. He glanced around the converted bunkhouse and figured he’d spent less time sleeping there than he had on Lil’s couch. Or in her bed.

That’s the way it had to be, he decided, and trudged through the relentless rain to toss the duffel in his truck before going back to the farmhouse.

He sat his grandparents down at the kitchen table and told them everything.

When he’d finished, Lucy rose, went to the cupboard, and got out a bottle of whiskey. She poured three short glasses.

Sitting, she tossed hers back without a blink or hiss.

“Have you told Jenna and Joe?”

“I’m going by there on the way to Lil’s. I can’t prove-”

“You don’t have to prove,” Sam said before he could finish. “It’s what you believe. That’s enough. We’ll pray you’re wrong about this man they’re looking for. We’ll pray you’re wrong about that, and he just got lost, got himself a good soaking and a good scare.”

“While you’re praying I want you to stay inside. The stock’s fed and bedded down. I’ll be back around first light. You stay in, doors and windows locked, and the shotgun close. I need you to promise.” He pressed, and pressed hard when he recognized the stubborn set of his grandfather’s jaw. “If you don’t give me your word on that, I can’t leave. I can’t look after Lil.”

“Putting the squeeze on me,” Sam muttered.

“Yes, sir. I am.”

“You got my word on it, if that’s what it takes.”

“All right. If you hear anything, feel anything off, you call me, and you call the police. You don’t think twice, you just call, and don’t worry about false alarms. I need your word on that, too, your promise, or I’m getting a couple of men to guard the place.”

“You think he’ll come here?” Lucy demanded.

“No, I don’t. I think he’s on a mission. I don’t think he’s going to come here because here isn’t part of the plan. But I’m not leaving without your word. Maybe he’ll want some supplies, or a dry place to sleep. He’s a psychopath. I’m not going to try to predict what he might do. I’m not taking any chances with either of you.”

“You go on to Lil’s,” Sam told him. “You’ve got our word on all of it.” He looked at his wife, and she nodded. “Joe and Jenna are probably on their way over there, or will be soon enough. You can talk to them over there. Meanwhile I’ll call them myself, in case they’re home. I’ll tell them what you told us.”

Nodding, Coop picked up the whiskey and drank. And stared into the glass. “Everything that means anything to me is here. In this house, with Joe and Jenna, at Lil’s. That’s everything there is.”

Lucy reached over, laid her hand over his. “Tell her.”

He looked up, looked at her and thought about the morning conversation. He smiled a little, and gave her the same answer. “Working on it.”

BY THE TIME he got to Lil’s, feeding time was in full swing. He’d watched the process before, but never in a violent rain. Staff hustled around in black slickers, hauling and carting enormous hampers of food-whole chickens, slabs of beef, tubs of game, all processed in the commissary. Hundreds of pounds of it, he estimated, all cleaned, prepared, transported every evening.

Tons of fortified feed, grain, bales of hay, hauled, poured and spread night after night, whatever the weather.

He considered offering a hand, but he wouldn’t know what the hell he was doing. Besides, he’d had enough of the wet for now, and would have more than his share of it later.

He carried the tub of beef stew his grandmother had pressed on him into the cabin. He’d be more useful, he decided, putting a meal on the table.

He opened a bottle of red, let it sit to breathe while he heated the stew and buttermilk biscuits.

It was oddly relaxing, to work in the cozy kitchen with the rain beating on the roof and windows, with the sound of the wild rising with the dark. He took two candles from her living room, set them on the table, lit them.

By the time she came in, drenched and surly of eye, he’d set the table and heated the stew and biscuits through and was pouring a glass of wine.

“I can cook my own damn dinner.”

“Go ahead. More stew for me.”

“They’re going to start installing the new security tomorrow, weather permitting. Then we can stop this insanity.”

“That’s good. Want some wine?”

“It’s my wine.”

“Actually, I brought it with me.”

“I have my own.”

“Suit yourself.” He watched her as he took the first sip. “This is pretty nice.”

She dropped down on the bench, gave the candles the evil eye. “Is this supposed to be romantic?”

“No. It’s supposed to be a backup if the power goes out.”

“We have a generator.”

“Takes a minute to kick on. Blow them out if they bother you.”

She huffed, but not at the flames. “I hate that you can do this. Be all casual and reasonable when I’m feeling bitchy.”

He poured a second glass of wine, took it over, and set it on the table. “Drink the damn wine, bitch. Is that better?”

She sighed, nearly smiled. “Maybe a little.”

“It’s some job, feeding that zoo in this rain.”

“They have to eat. And, yes, it is.” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “I’m tired. I’m edgy. And I’m hungry, so that stew-which I’m assuming is Lucy’s doing-is welcome. I haven’t written out a list, but I have it in my head, and we need to discuss things. I changed things. My choice, my move, my doing. I’m sorry if it was a mistake, if it affects our friendship. I don’t want that.”

“You changed things the first time around, too. Your choice, your move, your doing.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“It can’t always be your way, Lil.”

“I’m not talking about my way, or your way. Besides, it sure as hell hasn’t been all my way. I just want to put us back on solid ground, Coop. So-”

“We may need to wait to get into all of that. I need to tell you what else I’ve found out about Ethan Howe.”

“The man you think abducted Carolyn Roderick.”

“Yeah. And the man I think abducted other women, killed other women. The man I think killed Melinda Barrett.”

She went very still. “Why do you think he killed her? That was nearly twelve years ago.”

“We’re going to eat, and I’m going to tell you. And Lil? If there’s anything on that mental list of yours that gets in the way of me being here, of me making sure nothing happens to you, you’d better scratch it off now.”

“I’m not about to refuse any help that protects me, my staff, my family, my animals. Any of it. But you’re not responsible for me, Cooper.”

“Responsibility has nothing to do with it.”

He set the stew, the biscuits on the table. Candlelight flickered between them as he sat and told her of murder.

19

She heard him out, saying little as he related facts, wove them into theory. She tried, again, to get a clear picture in her mind of the man Coop spoke of. But all she could form was vague outlines, smudged details, like a faded pencil sketch.

He’d meant nothing to her, made no real impression. They’d had only a few conversations when he’d come to volunteer or see Carolyn.

“I remember him asking me about my ancestry, the Lakota Sioux bloodline. It’s the sort of thing people I don’t know ask fairly regularly. We use it in my bio because it sparks interest, and it shows that my family’s lived here, in the hills, for generations. But he wanted more specifics, and told me he was Sioux, descended from Crazy Horse.”

She lifted her hands. “You get that, too. Some people want to claim the heritage, and since they do, why not go for the gold, so to speak? I didn’t pay that much attention, because the Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull claim is usually an eye-roller for me.”

“So you dismissed that, and him.”

“I was probably polite. I don’t make a habit of insulting people, especially volunteers or potential donors. But I didn’t offer to buy him a beer and talk about our ancestors.”

“You dismissed him,” Coop repeated. “Politely.”

She blew out an annoyed breath. “Probably. I just don’t remember that well. He was ordinary, mildly irritating but only because he seemed more interested in asking me about that sort of thing than about the refuge. Coop, I have dozens of conversations any given week with people I don’t know and don’t remember well.”

“Most of them don’t kill people. Try harder.”

She pressed her fingers to her eyes, thinking, thinking, trying to put herself back to that summer, that brief period. Hot, she thought. It was hot that summer, and insects-the parasites and diseases they could carry-were something they battled constantly.

Cleaning, disinfecting. They’d had an injured marmot. Or was that the summer before?

The smells. Sweat, dung, sunscreen.

Lots of tourists. The summer was prime for that.

She got a vague picture of standing in an enclosure, giving it a second rinsing after cleaning and disinfecting. Explaining to him? Yes, explaining to him about the procedures and protocols for providing safe, clean, healthy environments for the animals.

“The cougar’s enclosure,” she murmured. “I’d cleaned their toys. The blue ball Baby especially liked, the orange pylon, the red ball. All cleaned and stacked while I rinsed, and I explained all the steps to the daily cleanings. And…”

She struggled, but still couldn’t really see him. Just another guy in boots, cowboy hat, jeans. But…

“At some point he asked if I thought I was reclaiming sacred land for my people and their spirit guides-the animals. I was busy. I’m not sure exactly what I said. Probably that I was more interested in protecting the actual animals, and educating people, than spirit guides.”

Coop nodded. “So you dismissed him again.”

“Damn it.” She dragged a hand through her hair. “Now I sound like a bitch. I wasn’t bitchy about it. He was helping out. I wouldn’t have been bitchy. And what I said isn’t even entirely true. The cougar’s mine. Spirit guide or talisman, or whatever you choose to call it. But it’s private, it’s personal. I don’t trade off it.”

“Do you remember anything else? What he said, or did? How he reacted?”

“We were busy. Chichi was sick-the leopard we lost that fall. She was old and sick, and I was distracted. I don’t know, honestly, whether it’s hindsight or I’m projecting now that I know all this, but I didn’t particularly like him. He’d just sort of pop up out of nowhere. Just be there. He spent a lot of time around the enclosures, watching the animals, and me.”

“You? Specifically?”

“It feels like that now. But people do-it’s my place. I’m in charge and the refuge carries my name. Except… Baby didn’t like him. I’d forgotten that. Baby likes attention, but he wouldn’t come to the fence when this guy was around. He wouldn’t purr. In fact, a couple of times he charged the enclosure fence when Ethan was around. And that’s not Baby’s normal behavior. He’s not aggressive, and he likes people.”

“But he didn’t like this one.”

“I guess not. Otherwise, Ethan wasn’t here that much or that long, and we didn’t interact much. He didn’t wear a bear-tooth necklace or anything like that. I would’ve noticed, and remembered.”

“It would’ve stood out in a place like this. Animal refuge. You’d have noted it, commented.” Coop studied her face. “You wouldn’t have liked it.”

“You’re right about that. Coop, do you seriously think this man has killed all these people? That he’s the one who killed Melinda Barrett?”

“No proof. All of this is circumstantial. It’s speculation.”

“That’s not what I asked. Is it what you really think?”

“Yeah. Why aren’t you afraid?”

“I am.” The shudder caught her unexpectedly as if to prove it. “But being afraid doesn’t help. I need to talk to my parents. They need to know.”

“My grandfather’s taking care of that. I thought they’d be here.”

“I asked them to stay home tonight. I used guilt,” she added with a tight smile. “You’re worried about me? How about me being worried about you? I’ll worry if you don’t get a decent night’s sleep, and so on. My father put in six hours on the search today. My mother rode fence, they brought Jerry Tobias in to ride with her, and he hasn’t ridden fence in five years. Now I wish I hadn’t said anything. If they were here, they’d be tired, but I’d know they were okay.”

“Call them. You’ll feel better.”

She nodded. “If you’re right, he’s been killing since he was basically a boy. I can’t understand what drives someone to that, to make death his life’s work.”

Coop sat back, scanning her face. “That’s exactly what it is. His life’s work. You may not understand what makes him, but you understand that. I got some background. He spent some time in the system as a kid. Bounced from his parents to foster homes and back again. His father did some time, small time. Knocked him and his mother around off and on. She never pressed charges. They moved around a lot. Then he’s off the grid for a while. It looks like they did itinerant work, around here, in Wyoming, Montana. His old man got busted for poaching right here in the national forest.”

“Here?”

“When Ethan would’ve been about fifteen. No record of the mother at that time.”

“I could have met him,” she murmured. “I don’t remember him, but it’s possible. Or passed him in town or on the trail when we went hiking.”

“Or he might’ve seen you. Your family. Maybe he and his father came by looking for work.”

“I don’t remember.” She sighed, irritated with herself, and got up to dig up some crackers. She pulled a hunk of cheddar out of the fridge while she talked. “My parents don’t hire drifters as a rule. I think that policy was mostly because of me. They’re generous, but they’re protective. They wouldn’t have hired strangers, especially not when I was about thirteen and we’re talking about a man and his mid-teenage boy.”

She paused, worked up a smile as she set the quick snack on the table. “And I’d remember a fifteen-year-old boy who worked around the farm when I was that age. I was just really starting to find boys interesting.”

“In any case, from what I’ve been able to put together Ethan took off right around that time, and that’s when I lose him for a couple years. I picked him up when he got work as a trail guide in Wyoming. He’d’ve been eighteen. He lasted six months. Took off with one of the horses, some gear and provisions.”

“A man doesn’t steal a horse when he’s going to hit the road. He steals it when he’s going to hit the trail.”

With a nod that might’ve been approval, Coop topped a cracker with cheese, then handed it to her. “You might’ve made a half-decent cop.”

“It’s just plain logic, but what about his parents? Maybe if we were able to talk to them we’d get a clearer picture.”

“His father died eight years ago in Oshoto. Complications from a lifetime of alcohol abuse. I can’t find anything on the mother. Nothing for the last seventeen years. The last I had, she cashed her paycheck in Cody, Wyoming, where she worked as kitchen help in a diner. Nobody remembers her. Seventeen years,” he said with a shrug. “But up until then she worked. A few weeks, a few months, some space between jobs. But she picked up jobs wherever they were. Then she didn’t.”

“You think she’s dead.”

“People who are motivated enough, afraid enough, figure out how to hide. She could’ve changed her name. Hell, she could’ve moved to Mexico and gotten remarried and is at this moment bouncing a fat, happy grandkid on her knee. But I figure, yeah, she’s dead. Had an accident, or maybe her husband tuned her up once too often.”

“He’d have been just a boy. This Ethan. If that happened, if he saw that happen…”

His face went hard, went cold. “That’s what his lawyer will say. The poor, abused boy, damaged, broken by an alcoholic father and a passive mother. Sure, he killed all those people, but he’s not responsible. Screw that.”

“Learned behavior isn’t just for animals. I’m not arguing the point, Coop. In my head, killing is a clear choice. But everything you’re telling me says he was predisposed, then he made choices that brought him his life’s work. If all this is true, a lot of people are dead, and those who loved them grieving because of those choices. I don’t feel sorry for him.”

“Good,” he said shortly. “Don’t.”

“I don’t feel sorry for him,” she repeated, “but I think I understand him better. Do you think he stalked the others, taunted them the way he is me?”

“Barrett looked like a killing of opportunity, of impulse. Molly Pickens, by her boss’s account, went off with him of her own volition. But Carolyn Roderick? I think there was some stalking, some taunting there. I’m going to say I think it depends on how well he knows his quarry. And how invested he is.”

“If Jim Tyler’s dead, at his hand, that would be another impulse killing.”

“Or a form of release. None of the women whose bodies were discovered had been raped. No sign of sexual assault, no torture or mutilation. It’s the kill that gets him off.”

“I can’t quite see that as the glass is half full. Anyway, what he’s been doing has put me, put everyone on alert. It’s made it close to impossible for him to get to me, or to mine. So…” She read Coop’s face perfectly. “Which makes it-me-more of a challenge?”

“Maybe. If I’m right, this is at least his fourth time here, in this area. He may have been here other times. When he didn’t make contact with you, or when you were away. He could’ve picked up work around here, on one of the farms, one of the outfits. He knows the territory.”

“So do I.”

“He knows that, too. If he just wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

The cool, flat way he said it brought on another shudder. “Now that boosts my confidence.”

“He could’ve picked you off the night he let the tiger out. Or any other time you were here alone, he could’ve kicked in the door, and taken you out. You ride over to your parents, he ambushes you. Lots of scenarios, but he doesn’t do any of that. Yet.”

She picked up her wine, took a slow sip. “You’re trying to scare me.”

“Damn right I am.”

“Unnecessary. I’m scared enough, and I intend to be careful.”

“You could take another trip. There has to be somewhere else you could work for a few weeks, a couple months.”

“Sure. I’m practically renowned. And he could find out where I am, follow me, go after me somewhere I’m not as familiar with my territory. Or he could just wait me out, wait until I start to relax. And you’ve already thought of all that, too.”

“Maybe a better than halfway decent cop,” he acknowledged. “Yeah, I’ve thought of it. But I’ve also thought of the odds of tracking him down while you’re somewhere else. I like the odds.”

“I’m not leaving, Coop.”

“What if I could arrange for your parents to be somewhere else for a few weeks, too.”

She set her wine down, tapped her fingers on the table. “That’s low, using them.”

“I’ll use whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

She rose then, walked over to start a pot of coffee. “I’m not leaving,” she repeated. “I won’t be run off my own place, one I built. I won’t leave my staff, my animals vulnerable while I hide out. You know that, or you don’t know me.”

“It was worth a try.”

“You put a lot of time and work into this.”

“You want a bill?”

She glanced back. “I’m not trying to make you mad. I was before, hoping you’d get pissed off and go, give me some space. I don’t know what to do about you, Coop, that’s a fact. I just don’t. I know we need to have all that out, but it’s not the time. Not enough time,” she corrected. “I need to call my parents, and take my shift outside.”

“There are enough people out there. You don’t need to take a shift. You’re worn out, Lil. It shows.”

“First you boost my confidence, now my ego.” She got out a thermos. “I guess that’s what friends are for.”

“Take the night off.”

“Would you? Could you, in my place? I’m not going to get any sleep anyway.”

“I could shoot you with the drug gun. That’d get you a few hours.”

“What are friends for?” he said when she laughed.

She filled the thermos, took it to him. “Here you go. I’ll be out after I call home.”

He got up, set the thermos on the table to take her arms. “Look at me. I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”

“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about.”

He laid his lips on hers, a brush, a rub. And her heart rolled over in her chest. “Or given that we’ve got other things to worry about. Take the coffee.”

He pulled on his rain gear first, then picked up the thermos. “I’m not sleeping on the couch.”

“No.”

She sighed when he went out. Choices, she thought again. It seemed she was making hers.

LIL STATIONED HERSELF and wandered along the fenceline of the small-cat area. Despite the rain, Baby and his companions played stalk-and-ambush with the big red ball. The bobcats raced each other up a tree, making a lot of mock growls and snarls. She suspected if it hadn’t been for the floodlights, the sounds, scents, sights of humans, the cats would have settled down out of the rain.

Across the habitat, the newest addition sent out the occasional barking roar, as if to say she didn’t know where the hell she was, as yet, but she was pretty damn important.

“It’s like they’re having a party.”

She smiled at Farley as he stepped up beside her to watch. “I guess they are. They appreciate an audience. I feel stupid out here tonight,” she told him. “Nobody’s going to troop down here in all this mess to bother me.”

“Seems to me that’s just when you have to be most careful. When you figure you’re safe.”

“Oh, well. Want some coffee?” She offered her thermos.

“I had some already, but I can’t say no.” He poured himself a little. “I’m figuring Tansy told you about things.”

“She did.” She waited until he’d glanced over. “I think she’s pretty lucky.”

His smile spread slowly. “Feels good you’d say so.”

“Two of my favorite people become each other’s favorite people? There’s no downside for me.”

“She thinks I’m going through a phase. Well, she wants to think that. Maybe she’ll keep thinking it until we have a couple of kids.”

She choked on a gulp of coffee. “Jesus, Farley, when you finally move, you move like a damn cheetah.”

“When you find what you want, what’s right, you might as well get going. I love her, Lil. She’s all flustered up about it, and how she feels about me. I don’t mind that so much. It’s kind of flattering, really.”

He drank coffee while the rain dripped from the brim of his hat. “Anyways, I’m hoping you’ll do me a favor.”

“I talked to her, Farley. Told her I thought you were perfect for her.”

“That’s nice to hear, too. But that’s not the favor. I was hoping you’d go with me and help me pick out a ring. I don’t know anything about that kind of thing. I don’t want to get the wrong kind.”

For a moment Lil could only stare. “Farley, I… Just like that? Seriously? You’re going to buy a ring and ask her to marry you? Just like that?”

“I already told her I love her and I’m going to marry her. I got her into bed.” Even in the dark she could see he flushed a little. “I don’t mean to talk out of school on that, but you said she told you. I want to get her what she’d like, and you’d have a good idea. Wouldn’t you?”

“I guess I would. I’ve never shopped for an engagement ring, but I think I know what she’d like if I saw it. Holy shit, Farley.”

“You think we could find the right one in Deadwood? Otherwise, I could drive us on into Rapid City.”

“Let’s try Deadwood. We should… I can’t get over it.” She studied him through the curtain of rain. “Farley.” With a laugh, she boosted up to her toes and gave him a smacking kiss. “Have you told Mom and Dad?”

“Jenna cried. The good kind of crying. She’s the one who said I should ask you to go with me for the ring. I made them promise not to say anything until it’s all done. You won’t say anything, Lil?”

“Lips. Sealed.”

“I wanted to talk to them first. Sort of-I don’t know… it sounds dumbass.”

“What?”

He shifted on his long, grasshopper legs. “Get their blessing, I guess.”

“It doesn’t sound dumbass. You’re a prize, Farley, I swear to God. How come you didn’t fall for me?”

He grinned, ducked his head a little. “Lil. You’re all but practically my sister.”

“Can I ask you something, Farley?”

“Sure.”

She began to walk with him, at a pace that would’ve been a stroll in the rain but for the guns both carried. “You had it rough as a kid.”

“Plenty do.”

“I know. I think I’m more aware of that because I didn’t. I had it pretty damn perfect. When you took off on your own, you were still a kid.”

“I can’t say I felt like one.”

“Why did you? Decide to leave, I mean. It’s a big, scary step. Even when the familiar’s crap, it’s still the familiar.”

“She was a hard woman to live with, and I got tired of living with strangers, then being put back with her and whoever she’d taken up with. I can’t remember many nights there wasn’t yelling or fighting going on. Sometimes she’d start it up, sometimes the man she was with would. Either way, I’d end up bleeding sooner or later. I thought about taking a bat to this one guy once, after he slapped us both around. But he was a big man, and I was afraid he’d get it away from me and bash me with it.”

He pulled up short. “God, Lil, you’re not thinking I’d hurt Tansy, that I’d do her that way?”

“Not in a million years, Farley. It’s something else I’m trying to figure out, trying to get a handle on. You were broke when you got out here, and hungry and just a boy. But there was no meanness in you. My parents would’ve seen it. They may be soft touches, but they have good instincts. You didn’t steal or brawl or cheat your way here. You could have.”

“I’d’ve been no better than what I left, then, would I?”

“You chose to be better than what you left.”

“God’s truth is, Lil, Jenna and Joe saved me. I don’t know where I’d’ve ended up, or if I’d’ve made it there in one piece without them taking me in.”

“I guess we were all lucky that day you stuck out your thumb and my father drove by. This man, the one we think is out there, he had it rough as a kid.”

“So what? He’s not a kid now, is he?”

She shook her head. It was simple Farley logic-and while she appreciated it, Lil knew people were a lot more complicated as a rule.

Just after two, she went inside. She stowed her rifle and went upstairs. She still had some nice lingerie from her Jean-Paul days. But it seemed wrong to wear for Coop what she’d worn for another man.

Instead she changed into her usual sleeping garb of flannel pants and a T-shirt, then sat on the side of the bed to brush out her hair.

Tired? she thought. Yes, she was tired, but also aware. She wanted him to come to her, wanted to be with him after a long and difficult day. To make love with him while the rain drummed and night crept toward morning.

She wanted something bright in her life, and if it was a complicated shine, it was better than the dull and the dark.

She heard him come in, and rose to put her brush back on her dresser. Letting her mind drift, she walked back to turn down the bed. And turned to face him as he came in.

“We need to talk,” she said. “A lot has to be said. But it’s two in the morning. Talk’s for the daylight. I just want to go to bed with you. I just want to feel, to know there’s something good and strong after a day that’s been so bleak.”

“Then we’ll talk in the daylight.”

He came to her then, tunneled his fingers through her hair, tipped her head back. His lips met hers with a tenderness, a patience she’d forgotten he could give.

Here was the sweet they’d once shared.

She lay down with him on cool, smooth sheets, and opened body, mind, and heart. Slow and soft, as if he knew she needed… tending. Tension slipped away, swept back by pleasure. His hands glided over her, hard palms, a gentle touch. On a contented sigh, she turned her head as his lips explored her throat, her jaw.

No need to rush, to take and take, not this time. This was silk and velvet, warm and smooth. Not just sensation now, not just desires met, but feelings. She slid his shirt away, traced her fingers over the scar at his side.

“I don’t know if I could have stood it if-”

“Shh.” He brought her hand to his lips, kissed her fingers, then her mouth. “Don’t think. Don’t worry.”

Tonight he could give her peace, and take some for himself. Tonight he wanted to show her love as much as passion. More. Tonight they would savor each other. Skin, sighs, scents.

She smelled of the rain, somehow both dark and fresh. Tasted of it. He drew her clothes away, touching, tasting the newly exposed flesh, lingering when she shivered.

Scars crossed her, too. Scars that hadn’t been there when they’d first become lovers and all that lovely skin had been unmarred. Now she bore the marks of her work. Just as, he supposed, the scar left by a bullet had been a mark of his.

They were not what they had been, either of them. And yet she was still the only woman he’d ever wanted.

How many times had he dreamed of this, of loving Lil through the night? Of having her hands run over him, of having her body move with his.

She rolled, shifted to trail her lips over his chest, to bring them back to his and sink, sink, sink into the kiss while her hair fell around him in dark curtains. Beneath her hands, her lips, his heart tripped and stumbled. He rose up to wrap his arms around her, to rock and hold as his mouth found her breast.

Here pleasure was thick, movement slow, and every nerve alive.

She watched him as she took him into her, watched as her breath caught, then shuddered out again. Her lips came to his, trembling in the kiss. Then her body bowed, her eyes drifted shut.

She rode, gently, gently, drawing out every drop of pleasure. Slow and silky, so the beauty of it had tears rising in her throat. Even as her body released, her heart filled.

She let her head rest on his shoulder as she drifted down again. He turned his face into the side of her throat. “Lil,” he said. “God, Lil.”

“Don’t say anything. Please don’t.” If he did, she might say too much. She had no defenses now. She eased back to touch his cheek. “Talk’s for daylight,” she repeated.

“All right. There’ll be daylight soon enough.”

He lay down with her, drew her close. “I need to leave before dawn,” he told her. “But I’ll be back. We need to have some alone time, Lil. Uninterrupted time.”

“There’s so much going on. I can’t think straight.”

“Not true. You think straighter than anyone I know.”

Not about you, she admitted silently. Never about you. “The rain’s slowing down. Tomorrow’s supposed to be clear. We’ll work things out tomorrow. In the daylight.”

But the daylight brought death.

20

Gull found Jim Tyler. It was more luck than skill that brought him, his brother Jesse, and one of the greener deputies to the bend of the swollen waters of Spearfish Creek. They were walking their horses through the mud on a morning hazed with fog like a window steamed from a shower. The water, churning from the rain and snowmelt, beat like a drum, and above its rush thick tendrils of mist wound in long gray ribbons.

They were well off the logical route Tyler would have taken to the summit of Crow Peak and back to the trailhead. But the search had spread out through the tree-covered slopes of the canyon, with small groups combing the rocky high ground and the brown, deadwood shale of the low.

Gull hadn’t expected to find anything, and felt a little guilty about enjoying the meandering ride. Spring was beginning to show her skirts, and the rain teased out the green he loved in the hills. A jay shot-a blue bullet through the mists-while the chickadees chattered like children in a playground.

Rain had stirred up the waters, enlivened them, but there were still places the creek was as clear as gin in a short glass.

He hoped he got himself a tour group soon who wanted to fish so he could spend some time reeling in trout. Gull figured he had the best job in the whole damn world.

“That man got himself all the way over here from the marked trail, he’s got no more sense of direction than a blind woodpecker,” Jesse said. “Wasting our time.”

Gull glanced over at his brother. “Nice day to waste it. Besides, could be he got turned around in the storm, in the dark. Zig insteada zag, and he kept going the wrong way, he might’ve come this far off.”

“Maybe if the idiot’d find a rock and sit still somebody’d find his sorry ass.” Jesse shifted in the saddle. He spent a lot more time shoeing horses than riding them, and his sorry ass was sore. “I can’t take much more time riding around looking for somebody hasn’t got the sense to get found.”

The deputy, Cy Fletcher-the baby brother of the girl who owned the first pair of breasts Gull had ever got his hands on-scratched his belly. “I say we follow the creek another little while, then we’ll circle back around.”

“Fine by me.” Gull agreed.

“Can’t see shit on a stick in this fog,” Jesse complained.

“Sun’ll burn it off.” Gull shrugged. “It’s breaking through here and there already. What the hell better you got to do, Jesse?”

“Got a living to earn, don’t I? I don’t got some lazy-ass job where I ride around with numbnut tourists all damn day.”

It was a bone of contention between the brothers, and they poked each other about it as the sun strengthened and the fog thinned. As they approached one of the little falls, the drop and tumble of water made shouting insults at his brother over the noise too much trouble.

Gull settled down to enjoy the ride again, and thought about the whitewater outfits who’d start gearing up soon. Weather might turn again, he thought, more snow was every bit as likely as daffodils, but people sure did like to strap themselves into rubber rafts and shoot down the creek.

He didn’t get the appeal.

Riding now, or fishing, that made sense. If he could find a woman who appreciated both, and had a nice pair on her, he’d marry her in a New York minute.

He took a deep, satisfied breath of the fresh and warming air, and grinned happily as a trout leaped. It flashed, shiny as the good silver his ma used for Christmas dinner, then plopped back into the busy water.

His eye followed the ripples all the way to the foaming white of the falls. He squinted, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

“I think there’s something down there, down in the falls there.”

“I don’t see dick.”

“You don’t see dick doesn’t mean I don’t.” Ignoring his brother, Gull guided his mount closer to the bank.

“You end up in that water, I ain’t coming in after you.”

It was probably just a rock, Gull thought, and then he’d feel like a numbnut and have to suffer Jesse’s ragging for the rest of the ride. But it didn’t look like a rock. It looked like the front half of a boot.

“I think that’s a boot. You see that, Cy?”

“I can’t tell.” Cy peered with eyes shaded by his hat and not especially interested. “Probably a rock.”

“I think it’s a boot.”

“Alert the freaking media,” Jesse proclaimed, boosting up a little to rub at his worn-out ass. “Some asshole camper lost a boot in Spearfish Creek.”

“If some asshole camper lost a boot in the creek, why’s it just there? How come it’s not floating off, pushed along by the falls? Asshole,” Gull muttered as he dug out his binoculars.

“’Cause it’s a freaking rock. Or it’s some asshole’s boot that’s stuck on a freaking rock. Hell with this. I gotta piss.”

As he stared through the glasses, Gull’s face went pale as wax. “Oh, Jesus. Mother of God. I think there’s somebody in that boot. Holy shit, Jess. I can see something under the water.”

“Oh, bullshit, Gull.”

Gull lowered the glasses, stared at his brother. “Do I look like I’m bullshitting?”

Studying his brother’s face, Jesse set his teeth. “I guess we’d better get a closer look.”

They tethered the horses.

Gull looked at the deputy-the scrawny build of him-and wished he didn’t feel obliged. “I’m the best swimmer here. I’ll go.”

The breath Cy let out held both resignation and nerves. “It’s my job.”

“Might be your job,” Jesse said, as he got his rope, “but Gull swims like a damn otter. Water’s pretty rough, so we’re going to get you secure. You’re an asshole, Gull, but you’re my brother and I’m not going to watch you drown.”

Fighting off nerves, Gull stripped down to his jockeys, let his brother secure the rope around his waist. “I bet that water’s pretty fucking cold.”

“You’re the one who had to go see something.”

Since he couldn’t argue with that one, Gull eased over the bank, picked his way over the rocks and shale, and stared at the fast water. He glanced back, reassured himself that his brother had the rope secured.

He went in. “Pretty fucking cold!” he shouted. “Give me some slack.”

He swam against the fast water, imagined his toes going blue and just falling off. Even with the rope, he banged against the rocks, but pushed off them again.

He went under, pushing, pushing against the current, and in that gin-clear water, he saw he’d been right. Somebody was in the boots.

He surfaced again, choking, flailing. “Pull me back. Oh, holy bleeding Christ, pull me back.”

Panic buzzed in his head, nausea churned in his belly. Slapping and clawing at the water, swallowing it, choking it out again, he relied on his brother to get him back to the bank.

He crawled onto a rock, heaved up water and his breakfast until he could only lie panting. “I saw him. I saw him. Oh, God, the fish’ve been at him. At his face.”

“Call it in, Cy. Call it in.” Jesse slid and slipped his way down to wrap a saddle blanket over his brother.

WORD SPREAD AS word did. Coop heard about Gull’s discovery from three sources, with varying details, before Willy hunted him down at the stables.

“You’d’ve heard.”

“Yeah. I’m going by to check up on Gull.”

Willy nodded. His voice was still rough, but he was feeling better. “He’s pretty shaken up. I’m going over to his place, get a formal statement down if you want to come along. The fact is, Coop, I’d appreciate if you did. Not just because he works for you. I’ve worked killings before, but nothing like this. We’re going to have a lot of fingers in this pie. I’d like to have yours-unofficially.”

“I’ll follow you over. Did you notify Tyler’s wife?”

Willy’s mouth tightened. “Yeah. Worst part of it. I guess you did your share of notifications back east.”

“Worst part of it,” Coop agreed. “I’ve heard different versions. Do you have the cause of death?”

“Coroner has to give us that. He’d been in the water awhile-you know what happens. But it wasn’t a fall, and it wasn’t the damn fish that slit his throat. It wasn’t either that weighed the body down. Flooding hadn’t stirred it up, and Gull didn’t have eyes like a damn hawk, God knows when we’d’ve found him.”

“What did he use?”

“Nylon rope, rocks. Thing is, the way it was situated, it looked to me like the bastard had to get in the water to do it. Sick son of a bitch. Took his wallet, watch, pack, jacket, shirt. Left him with his pants and his boots.”

“Must’ve been the wrong size. He’d have taken them otherwise. No point in wasting anything.”

Gull had a little place on the other side of town, over a bar and grill. The narrow apartment smelled like him-horses and leather-and was furnished like a college dorm. With castoffs from his parents, his brother, and anyone else who wanted to upgrade a chair or table.

Jesse, despite his bitching about having to earn a living, answered the door. He hadn’t been ten feet from his brother since he’d come out of Spearfish Creek.

“He’s still a little shaky. I was thinking I’d haul him over to our ma, have her pat his head awhile.”

“That might be just the thing,” Willy said. “I’m going to get his statement now. I got yours, but could be you’ll think of more.”

“We got coffee on. He’s been sucking on that Mountain Dew of his. Christ knows how he chokes that down, but that’s what we’ve got.”

“Wouldn’t say no to coffee.” Willy crossed over to where Gull sat on a saggy plaid couch, his head in his hands.

“I still see it in my head. Can’t get it out.”

“You did a hard thing today, Gull. You did the right thing.”

“Can’t help wishing somebody else’d seen that damn boot poking out of the water.” He lifted his head, looked at Coop. “Hey, boss. I was going to come by, but…”

“Don’t worry about it. Why don’t you tell Willy everything. Just say it straight through. You’ll feel steadier after.”

“I told you,” he said to Willy. “And the rangers, too.” He blew out a breath, rubbed his face. “Okay. We were following the creek,” he began.

Coop kept quiet, letting Willy ask the questions when they needed to be asked. He drank cowboy coffee while Gull purged himself of the details.

“You know how clear that water is. Even after the storm, it’s good and clear. I went under, because I couldn’t get a good look with the way the falls were beating down, foaming up. I got a good look then. His one leg had come up, you know. I guess the rain, the churning, worked it up. He didn’t have a shirt on, just his pants and his boots. And the fish had been at him. His face…”

Gull’s eyes watered up as he looked back at Coop. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s not like the movies. It’s not like anything else. I couldn’t even say, for certain, it was him-the one we were looking for. Not from the picture we had. Because of the fish. I came up, but I swallowed a bunch of water. I guess I screamed like a girl under there and took a bunch in. I couldn’t get my legs to move. Jesse and Cy had to pull me in with the rope.”

He gave his brother a weak smile. “I got sick as two dogs-maybe not as sick as you did on a chaw, boss, but pretty damn sick. I guess I was pitiful enough Jesse didn’t even rag me about it.”

“I wanted to turn around,” Jesse said. “Bitching and complaining. I said how that guy, the one Gull found dead, was an asshole. I’m sorry for it.”

Outside, Willy puffed out his cheeks. “There’s some distance between the trail and where Tyler ended up. A lot of area where he could’ve run into his killer.”

“Do you think he got that far off the trail?”

“No, I don’t. Not on his own if that’s your meaning. Some, sure, but he had a map, he had his phone. I think he was driven that far, that’s what I think.”

“I’d agree with you. He didn’t want the body found too soon, and he didn’t want it found near his own territory. Drive the quarry away from your… habitat,” he said, thinking of Lil. “Do the kill, the disposal, then go back to your own area.”

“It would’ve taken time. Hours probably. The bastard got lucky with the rain.”

“He can’t stay lucky.”

“Right now, we’re looking for an unidentified subject. We can’t tie Tyler’s murder to what’s happened at Lil’s, or with the other murders you dug up. What I’m going to do is get Ethan Howe’s picture out, as a Person of Interest. My boy Cy kept that scene preserved as best he could. He’s green as a leaf of iceberg, but he’s not stupid. We got pictures, and I don’t think you’ll squawk if I happen to slip you copies.”

“I won’t.”

“Criminal Investigation Division’s combing that scene now. They’re not stupid either. If that bastard dropped so much as a toothpick, they’ll find it. When we get a ballpark on the time of death, that’ll help. We can do a couple of reconstruct scenarios. I’ll listen to any thoughts you’ve got on it. I’m damned if somebody’s going to get away with terrorizing one of my friends, and killing tourists.”

“Then I’ll give you a couple now. He’s holed up. He’s got a place, probably more than one, but one where he keeps the bulk of his supplies. He won’t have much. He needs to travel light and often. When he needs something, or wants something, he steals it. Campers, vacation homes, empty houses. We know he’s got at least one gun, so he needs ammo. He hunts for food, or pilfers campsites. And I think he keeps his ear to the ground. He’s going to find out you found the body. The sensible thing to do would be to pull up stakes, head over into Wyoming, get lost for a while. But I don’t think he’s going to do that. He’s got an agenda, and he isn’t finished.”

“We’ll be searching, ground and air. If he shows the tip of his dick, we’ll pull him in.”

“Have you had any reports of anything stolen from campers, hikers, houses, stores?”

“There’s always some. I’ll look over everything for the last six months. Maybe you’d let me deputize you, for the short term.”

“No. I don’t want a badge again.”

“One of these days, Coop, you and I are going to have to sit down over a beer so you can tell me why that is.”

“Maybe. I need to get to Lil’s.”

“You swing by, pick up those pictures. Badge or not, I’m going to use you.”

This time when Coop arrived at Lil’s he wore his 9mm under his jacket. He carted his laptop, the files Willy had given him, and three spare clips into her cabin. After some debate, he shoved one of the clips into his pocket and stowed the other two in one of her dresser drawers.

And with an eyebrow cocked, drew out a short, silky black gown with very sheer lace in interesting places.

He wondered why she always seemed to wear flannel.

He poked at something red and virtually transparent, shook his head, and dropped the black number back into the drawer.

In the kitchen he set up his laptop on her table, dug a couple of bottles of water out of her supply, then went out to take a look at the progress on her security system.

He spent a little time with the head installer out of Rapid City, and made his escape after the man figured out he knew something about security-and before he could get roped into helping with the wiring.

The good weather brought people out, he noted. He counted three groups making the rounds of the habitat. And the big yellow school bus indicated there were more on the property. Education center, he surmised.

She was keeping busy, and that was good. It was also too bad, or so she might think. But there were only a few hours of daylight left-and they had an appointment.

He hooked her horse trailer to his truck, loaded the horse he’d sold her onto it. He chose the younger and larger of the horses left in the stable, then secured that one in the trailer.

It amused him that no one questioned him. Either he was too familiar or too forbidding, but the interns went about their business-and from across the compound, Tansy sent him a friendly wave.

A single question to a passing staff member gave him Lil’s location as her office. He drove the trailer over to the cabin, then went in to get her.

“Coop.” Mary gave him an absent nod of greeting from her desk. “She’s on the phone, but I think she’s wrapping it up.” She glanced toward the office, lowered her voice. “Have you heard about the murder? Do you know if it’s true?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“That poor man. His poor wife. Come out here for a little holiday, and go home a widow. Every time I think people are basically good and decent, something happens that convinces me too many of them are no damn good.”

“You’re right, both ways.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? Oh, your friend-the alarm system man-he’s been in touch.”

“I talked to him. He should have you fully secured in another two days.”

“Glad to hear it, and that’s a shame, too. That we have to go to all this trouble and expense because some people are no damn good.”

“It’s the right investment.”

“Well. There, she’s off the line. Better get in there before she calls somebody else.”

“Mary, do you have any problem with me taking Lil off for a couple hours?”

“Not if it’s somewhere that doesn’t involve work and worry, which is all she’s been doing the last few weeks.”

“That’s a deal.”

“Don’t let her say no,” Mary ordered, as he walked to Lil’s office.

She sat angled toward her monitor, fingers on her keyboard.

He wondered if she had any idea how pale she was, or how shadowed her eyes.

“I’ve got a line on a tiger.”

“Not a sentence you hear every day.”

“Boris is lonely. Strip joint in Sioux City used a Bengal as part of an act.”

“Did she strip?”

“Ha ha. No, they kept her caged, or chained. Finally got shut down for animal abuse. She’s been declawed and drugged, and God knows. We’re going to take her.”

“Good, go get her.”

“I’m working on having her brought to us. A lot of red tape to wind through. I’m pushing for donations. She’s made some media outlets, and I can use it to beef things up. I just need to-”

“Come with me.”

He watched her tense. “Is something wrong? Something else?”

“For the next hour or two, no. The tiger can wait. Everything can wait. We’ve got daylight.”

“Cooper, I’m working. There’s a busload of middle-schoolers in the ed center, a bunch of people roaming around hooking up alarms. Matt just finished sewing up a fawn that got clipped by a car, and I’m working on getting Delilah here by early next week.”

“I assume Delilah’s the tiger, not one of the dancers. I’ve got work of my own, Lil, and it’ll be here when we get back. Let’s go.”

“Where? God, Coop, some poor man was killed and dumped in the Spearfish. I can’t think about taking a walk with you and discussing… whatever.”

“We’re not walking. And I guess we do this the hard way.” He came around the desk, pulled her up out of the chair, and boosted her over his shoulder.

“Oh, for God’s sake.” She gave his back a thump with her fist. “Cut it out. This is ridiculous. Don’t! Don’t you walk out of here with…”

He grabbed her hat on the way. “We’ll be a few hours, Mary.”

With her eyes laughing, Mary gave them a sober nod. “All right.”

“You okay to close up if we’re not back?”

“Not a problem.”

“Stop it. This is my place. You don’t tell my staff-Don’t you step outside this building. Cooper, you’re embarrassing both of us.”

“I’m not embarrassed.” He walked outside, continued toward the truck. “But you will be if you don’t sit where I put you, because I’ll just catch you and put you back again.”

“You’re just making me mad.”

“I can live with that.” He pulled open the passenger door, dumped her on the seat. “I mean it, Lil, I’ll just haul you back.” He reached across, hooked her seat belt, then dropped her hat in her lap. Ice-blue eyes met molten brown. “Stay where I put you.”

“Oh, I’ll stay. I’ll stay because we’re not having this out here. I’m not having more of a scene here.”

“Good enough.” He slammed the door, skirted the hood of the truck, then got behind the wheel. “We’re going riding. We’re not coming back until you’ve got some color back in your cheeks.” He glanced over. “I’m not talking pissed-off color.”

“Pissed-off is all you’re going to get.”

“We’ll see.” He headed down the road. “We’ll drive to Rimrock. We could consider that neutral ground.” And miles away from where Tyler’s body had been found.

“What’s the point of this?”

“The point is you need a break, and so do I. And Lil, we’ve put this off long enough.”

“I decide when I need a break. Damn it, Coop, I don’t know why you’d want to make me so mad. I’ve got enough going on without working in a fight with you-and we were fine. Just last night we were fine.”

“You were too worn-out to get into this last night. I’d rather have you mad than almost in tears with the idea of talking to me.”

“I’ve been talking to you plenty.” She leaned her head back, shut her eyes. “Jesus Christ, Cooper, a man is dead. Dead. And you’re pushing this? Talking about what? What’s over and done?”

“That’s right, a man’s dead. And the one who did it has you in the crosshairs. You need help, but you don’t trust me.”

With sharp, jerky movements, she plucked the hat off her lap, set it on her head. “That’s not true.”

“You trust me to help you protect your place. You trust me enough to sleep with me. But you don’t trust me down in the deep. We both know that.”

He parked at the campground. Together, in silence, they unloaded the horses. “We can take the lower loop from here. It’s shorter.”

“I don’t like being handled this way.”

“I don’t blame you. And I don’t care.”

She mounted, turned her horse toward the trailhead. “Maybe the women you got used to tolerate this kind of thing. I don’t. I won’t. You’ll get your two hours because you’re bigger and you’re stronger-and because I’m not having this out in front of my staff, my interns, my guests. Then that’s it, Cooper. That’s it between us.”

“You get some color in your cheeks, some worry out of your eyes, and we clear the air between us. After that, if you say that’s it, that’ll be it.” He opened the cattle gate for her to pass through, then closed it behind them.

“You can tell me everything you know about what happened to James Tyler. I can’t think about much else. I don’t know how you could expect me to.”

“Okay, we’ll get that out of the way.”

He laid it out for her, every detail he remembered, as they rode toward the rim of the canyon. He spoke of murder and death as the trail leveled out to wind through pines and quaking aspen where flickers swooped and darted among the trees.

“Is Gull all right?”

“He’s going to see Tyler, the way he found him, every time he closes his eyes for a while. He’ll lose sleep over it, have nightmares when he does sleep. Then it’ll pass.”

“Is that the way it was for you?”

“I saw Melinda Barrett for a long time. The first time I saw a body when I was in uniform, it was just as horrible. And then…” He shrugged.

“It becomes routine?”

“No. It becomes the job, but it’s never routine.”

“I still see her sometimes. Even before all this started up. I’d think it had gone away, then I’d wake up, cold and sweating, with her in my head.” Calmer, she turned to look at him, so their eyes met. “We shared a hard thing at an early age. We shared a lot of things. You’re wrong when you say I don’t trust you. And you’re wrong to think manhandling me is the way to get whatever it is you want.”

“You’re what I want, Lil. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

Color did indeed rush into her face as she whipped her head toward him. “Go to hell.”

She kicked her horse into a trot.