A sliver of black plastic rested in the center of the cloth in Lex’s palm. “Toby found it,” he said. He plucked the thin, rectangular object, no larger than a communion wafer, from the folds of the bandana and held it close to the lantern. Metal lines etched the surface of the plastic. “It was in the dead wolf. It’s some kind of computer chip.”
Chuck’s brow furrowed. “A chip?”
“I’m as confused as you are. We all are.”
“It was in 217’s neck,” Toby said, his voice scratchy and weak. “Under the skin, above where a tracking collar would have been.”
“But 217 didn’t have a collar,” Chuck said.
“Or any signs of ever having been fitted with one—no rub marks, no callouses.” Tears continued to well in Toby’s eyes, but they no longer coursed down his cheeks. “I felt a lump when I ran my hand down 217’s body. The chip was encased in scar tissue.”
“Which means it had been there a while.”
“At least a year, I’d guess. Maybe longer.”
“Could it have been there its whole life?” Chuck turned to Lex. “Was this wolf raised in captivity?”
“No,” Lex said. “Every wolf in the park was born in the wild.”
“What about a past research project involving chip implantation?”
“There’s never been any such study that I’m aware of.”
“But lots of the wolves have collars.”
“Sure. That’s a big part of the Wolf Initiative—dart individuals in each pack, affix the collars, and track where they go. But not computer chips.”
“Someone could have stuck it in the wolf while it was darted and asleep.”
“That’s possible, I suppose. But why would someone do that? Besides, there’s a whole bunch of people on hand when wolves are collared. The idea of someone sticking a chip into a wolf without anyone else noticing? Impossible. Anyway, like Toby said, there’s no sign the wolf was ever darted and collared in the first place.”
“What are you thinking at this point?”
Lex took a deep breath. “I’m thinking the chip doesn’t really matter. Not anymore. The phone doesn’t matter, either. None of it matters, not with what’s just happened.” He exhaled, his cheeks sunken. “I just want to get out of here. All of us. Get everyone back to civilization and let the investigators do their work.”
“That’s what we all want,” Chuck said. “But we’re not there. Not yet. There’s a killer, a murderer, right here in camp. Are they planning to try to bluff their way through the investigation team’s questioning? Who knows. I’m convinced Sarah’s death had something to do with the smashed phone. Whatever that something is hasn’t gone anywhere—which means we have to stay on guard.”
Lex looked as if he’d aged ten years in the past few minutes, but he straightened and looked Chuck in the eye. “Okay,” he said. “I’m with you.”
The door to the cabin burst open. Clarence rushed inside. He scanned the room until he saw Sarah. He went to her and draped himself over her body, his head pressed to hers.
“Dios mio,” he wailed, his cry muffled by the sleeping bag. “Sarah! Jesucristo.”
He lifted her upper body from the bench and rocked her in his arms. After a minute, spent and sniffling, he lowered her to the bench.
“Janelle said...” he began. He stared at Sarah’s wan face, encircled by the collar of the sleeping bag. “Janelle said...” He drew a tortured breath and ran a forearm across his face.
A quiet knock sounded on the door. Clarence jerked. He turned Sarah’s face to the wall and stepped back just as Janelle entered the room with Carmelita and Rosie.
Chuck expelled a sharp breath. He hadn’t realized how nervous he’d been since Janelle had departed from the cabin on her own to retrieve the girls.
Taking Carmelita and Rosie by the hand, Clarence ushered them to the bench at the back of the room next to the small fireplace. Janelle pointed to Sarah and put a finger to her lips. “You know to be quiet, right?” she told the girls.
They nodded as they climbed onto the bench and sat with their backs to the log wall, their booted feet hanging off the edge of the foam pad.
Rosie eyed Chance. “Can we pet the doggie?” she asked in a loud whisper.
“Of course,” Keith told her, his voice hollow.
He reached for the clip that attached the leash to Chance’s collar. Before he detached it, a chorus of wolf howls echoed through the cabin.