Full Wolf Moon

22

The following evening, after Logan made his way back from the main lodge after dinner, he found Randall Jessup installed on the front porch of his cottage. The ranger was sitting on the front steps in the same spot where he’d found Pace, Laura Feverbridge’s lab tech, waiting for him some two and a half weeks earlier.

“Randall,” Logan said as the ranger stood to shake his hand. “Nice to see you. Come on in.”

They stepped inside. Jessup took off his hat and hung it on the back of a chair, then took a seat on the wraparound sofa.

“Can I get you anything?” Logan asked. “Coffee, tea, something stronger?”

“Nothing, thanks.”

Logan sat down opposite Jessup. He wondered what this visit could be about. He hadn’t seen the ranger since the second dinner at the man’s house, well over a week before. This certainly didn’t feel like a social call. Quite the contrary: it was clear Jessup had something on his mind. There was a look on his face that could only be called troubled.

“Making any progress?” Logan asked, careful to give the question a light pitch.

“Not really. The search parties wrapped up without finding anything — no useful evidence, no rogue animal. We’re basically waiting — and I don’t like that at all.”

“Waiting?”

“For the next full moon.”

Logan nodded his understanding. They haven’t found the killer, he thought. So now they’re waiting for it — or him — to strike again. Logan knew such an approach would stick in Jessup’s craw.

“When’s it due?” he asked.

“The next full moon? Two days.”

Two days. “But surely you’ve made some progress.”

Jessup sighed. “Krenshaw still has a team of state troopers shadowing Saul Woden’s cabin, just in case. And I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Pike Hollow, investigating the Blakeneys as best I can. Thin pickings, as you can imagine, although I do have what might be an unexpected lead. In any case, that’s the spot — according to the locals, anyway, as you might guess — that trouble is most likely to come from. Krenshaw’s keeping an eye on their compound, too.”

“And what about you? Is that where you think the trouble’s coming — if it comes at all?”

Instead of answering, Jessup asked a question of his own. “Tell me something, Jeremy. Why did you make a second visit to the scientific outpost at the fire station?”

The tickle of apprehension Logan felt at this unexpected question reminded him of his complicity. “How do you know about that?” he asked.

Jessup waved a hand, as if to say, Let me have my few trade secrets.

Logan thought quickly. “Second visit,” Jessup had said. That meant he knew only of the two times Logan had been there during the day — not about his nocturnal visits. Unless he knew more than he was saying and was sifting his old friend for information. He looked closely at Jessup. But he didn’t see any suspicion in the ranger’s face. All he sensed was concern, frustration — and a degree of anxiety.

“The first time I went, it was to ask about Mark Artowsky, the lab assistant who was also the third victim. I met Laura Feverbridge. We talked a little about the nature of her work.”

“Which is?”

“She’s studying the lunar effect on small diurnal mammals.”

“The lunar effect?” Jessup repeated.

“It’s a theory that the moon, the full moon in particular, has an unusual influence on creatures. With people, for example, there are supposed spikes in the crime rate, more pregnancies, higher mortality during operations, things like that.”

Although he felt a little guilty doing so, Logan deliberately mentioned the most sensational and unlikely phenomena associated with the lunar effect. He realized that he had a vested interest in minimizing the ranger’s curiosity about the scientific outpost.

“Did she tell you what happened to her father?” Jessup asked.

“A little,” Logan replied, not wanting to lie.

Jessup nodded. “That still doesn’t explain your second visit.”

“Why are you curious?”

“Indulge me.”

Logan shrugged. “It’s no secret. It was just a social call. It gets boring here, you know, writing and researching day after day. We took a short hike in the woods. I find her work interesting. I’m an enigmalogist, after all — something like the lunar effect is just my cup of tea.”

“That’s all that’s going on there? Studying this lunar effect?”

“It’s all I know about.”

“Sounds like pseudoscience, if you ask me.”

Logan allowed himself a small smile. “Well, I’m not only interested in her work. I’m interested in her.”

Jessup had taken out his ever-present notebook, in preparation for jotting down a few items. Now he paused, raising his eyebrows. “I didn’t take you for such a fast worker.”

“Oh, I don’t mean anything like that. We’re just soul mates of a sort, working as we both do on the fringes of science.”

Jessup nodded slowly. The troubled look had not left his face.

“What’s bothering you, exactly?” Logan asked.

Instead of answering, Jessup slipped the notebook back into his pocket and stood up. Logan stood up as well. He felt torn between what he knew about Chase Feverbridge and what he was withholding from his friend. And yet he simply could not betray Laura — not only had he given his word, but he did not want to be held responsible for the old man’s suicide.

“I don’t know,” Jessup said, intruding into Logan’s thoughts. “Not for sure. Like I said, I might have an unexpected lead. Anyway, it’s something I’m looking into. If I learn anything specific, perhaps I’ll be more forthcoming.” He walked to the door, then turned. “Just remember: we’re only two days from another full moon. And there’s something else to keep in mind — while a true full moon only lasts a moment, it appears to look full for at least three nights.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning only this: be very careful in the days to come, my friend.” And with that, the ranger shook Logan’s hand again, nodded, and stepped out the front door and into the night.