Becca scowled at Gladys across Shelly’s dining room table. “I don’t know why the burglar smelled like Erin. They didn’t look like Erin, at least not from what I could see. Which wasn’t much. And yes, I tried to follow the scent, but they ran really fast, then took off in a car.” This was the third time she’d gone over what had happened and she was beginning to get cranky about it.
Who knew? Maybe the burglar had rubbed Erin’s clothes behind his ears or something for some weird reason. For that matter, all he appeared to have taken were some of Erin’s clothes. It was creepy as all get out, the more she thought about it. But going over and over it wasn’t helping a bit.
Wait, why did she suddenly think that the intruder had been a he?
“What is it? What did you just remember?” Mrs. Hui leaned forward, staring intently at her.
Lin. She said to call her “Lin.” Becca frowned, trying to focus. “I might be just assuming this, but I think the intruder was a guy, now that I’m thinking about it. There was something about the way he moved and carried himself. I’m not absolutely sure though.”
Shelly rubbed her eyes, then ran her fingers down her cheeks and let them come to rest under her chin. She looked exhausted. Molly silently poured a cup of coffee from the pot in the middle of the table and pushed it over to her. Shelly gave her a grin of thanks, then turned back to Becca. “You said that whoever it was, they moved faster than a normal human?”
Becca nodded, reaching for the coffee pot after Molly put it back. Her stomach growled loudly, reminding them that lunch was overdue. Shelly grimaced. “Right. Let’s a take a break and eat something. We’re running out of time; hopefully, food shakes loose some inspiration or memories.” She shoved her chair back and they all trailed after her into the kitchen.
Before Becca knew it, she found herself participating in an assembly line that was cranking out sandwiches and putting them on plates, slicing fruit, pulling out handfuls of tortilla chips and more. Gladys caught her eye and mouthed “teenagers” and Becca giggled despite herself. Maybe Gladys had her moments, after all. Shelly and Pete’s kids, Kira and the twins, were some of the best-behaved kids in Wolf’s Point. Looking at how Shelly was organizing the Pack now, it wasn’t hard to see why.
Becca followed Molly out and sat back down at the table with her plate. They all passed around the water pitcher and condiments before settling in to eat in silence, something that made her pretty happy after all the questions. She tried to not make herself think about the burglar anymore. Maybe if she stopped thinking so hard, she’d remember something more useful.
Molly was the first to speak up and break up the quiet. “You know, it feels like we just run from crisis to crisis, and sometimes I think we all don’t know each other as well we should, apart from emergencies. Why don’t we try going around and sharing something about our lives, something that doesn’t have anything to do with the Pack?” She caught Shelly’s eye and added, “Really short shares.”
Shelly frowned and Becca watched her glance dart toward the clock. They were all thinking it: there was no time, Erin was in trouble, they had to do something. Shelly wrinkled her nose as if she could hear what they were all thinking, then shrugged. “You have a point, Molly. But you’re right about keeping it short too. We can try a longer version after we…get Erin back.”
Molly nodded. “I’ll start. When I’m not working at the Post Office or, you know, doing stuff with you fine ladies, I play the ukulele with my partner who some of you know as Carlos, but who now goes by Carla, and who I’ll be referring to as my wife in the future. Our boyfriend Jonas and some other friends play instruments too and we have a super casual band.” She gave them all a cheerful gap-toothed grin. “Who’s next?”
Becca saw a few blinks and one or two puzzled frowns, but no one asked anything. She caught Molly’s eye and smiled at her, catching Shelly’s approving nod from the corner of her eye. Had her previous jealousy been that obvious? Or was Shelly just glad that she was being supportive? She winced a little, then made herself focus on the other members of the Pack.
Lin Hui was next, as it turned out. White-haired and poised, she met each woman’s eyes as she looked around the table. “I speak Mandarin, Vietnamese and French and a bit of several other languages. When the hospital in Mountainview needs a backup translator, they call me. I also volunteer at Circle House when I’m not working at our restaurant or on Pack business or spending time with my family.” After a moment of silence, she added, “I believe that this will be my last season of running with the Pack. I’m feeling more fragile and Circle House is calling to my spirit.” There was a moment of stunned silence, suggesting that several Pack members were holding their breath.
The moment passed, leaving a sense of quiet shock in its wake, and Lin nodded to the woman on her right before anyone could say anything else. Gladys went after that. She, it turned out, belonged to a Scrabble club and had played at tournaments. Shelly had been a star basketball player in high school and college, until an injury sidelined her. She still played pick-up games with Kira and her friends and did some volunteering with the high school girls’ basketball team. Adelía Rodriguez made pottery in her family’s garage and hoped to get good enough at it to sell her work one day.
And then everyone was looking at Becca. Oh crap, I’ve got nothing. The realization gave a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She worked at the hardware store, she lived with Erin and Clyde, she had volunteered at the Women’s Club before it burned down and she turned into a wolf once a month: wasn’t that enough? “I like to read books? Mysteries, fantasies, romances and whatever else looks good, things like that.” She could hear her voice tilt up when she said it, like she was nervous and asking for approval.
“Cool,” Molly responded. “We used to have a good book club at the Women’s Club before, well, it went up in smoke. We should start that up again. Speaking of which, any word on the insurance settlement?”
Lin nodded. “The Board should have an update in a couple of weeks. We’ve been talking to architects and contractors about what it will take to rebuild. I’ll be able to tell you more soon.”
A chorus of happy responses swept the room. Becca didn’t realize that anyone missed the Club as much as she did. It was good to be proven wrong. But if they didn’t get Erin back safely, it wouldn’t be the same. Nothing would. She chewed her lip, anxiety warring with the general warm fuzzies that everyone was still expressing about the Club news.
Shelly caught her eye and nodded. “Everyone done eating? Okay, I know we’ll need to continue some of these conversations, but for now let’s clean up. I think I have an idea that might be helpful for getting Erin back from wherever she is.” A few moments later, the dishes were in the dishwasher and they were all assembled in the living room.
Shelly pushed aside a woven rug on one of the walls to reveal a whiteboard. “Sometimes it helps to be old-fashioned.” She made a quick list of what they already knew and what Becca had told them. “I think we’ve established that either Erin escaped on her own, which looks unlikely, or she was taken from the jail. Becca’s burglar suggests the latter, like someone knows about her and is trying to found out more. If they’re holding her someplace, they’d want her to have clothes to change into. At this point, I want to split those of us who don’t have to get back to work right away into three teams: one to look at all the locations near town where you could hide out or hide someone else, one to go to the cave, and one to go check out Erin and Becca’s place from top to bottom and see what we can find. Any questions or other thoughts?”
Molly nodded. “I do need to get back to work, but I can help with whatever needs doing when I get off shift again. I’ll ask around at the Post Office about businesses and homes that have stopped getting mail or that look unoccupied.” She left, leaving the others to their tasks. Lin pulled up some county maps on the Pack laptop and started comparing the real estate listings.
Becca turned over her house keys to Gladys and Adelía, somewhat reluctantly. She realized that Shelly was right and they needed a fresh set of noses, but a little irrational voice in her mind howled, Any clues are mine. I get to find Erin. I get to save Erin. And she wasn’t that eager to get back to the cave, with its weight of ritual and magic and other things that she didn’t understand as well as she wanted to. But Shelly had picked her as her teammate for that task so there wasn’t much she could say about that.
She trailed after Shelly to the cars, and they had started to get into Shelly’s truck when she got a call from Lizzie. Becca went over to give Clyde a skritch, relieved to see that he looked happy and playful, clearly enjoying the company of the other dogs, but glad to see her anyway. By the time she wandered back, Shelly was still talking to Lizzie, but they’d switched languages to the one their tribe spoke and Becca no longer understood what was going on.
Shelly handed her the keys and they climbed in as she kept talking to Lizzie. Becca started driving as Shelly’s voice reached a frustrated higher pitch. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that Lizzie was pushing her to reveal what she know about Erin and Shelly was pushing back. Becca sighed quietly. Even after they got Erin back, they’d still have to deal with the body and the murder charges and the lawyer and…
The phone conversation ended with an exasperated growl from Shelly as she clicked off and put her phone back in her pocket. “It shouldn’t be this hard. We all know how badly she wants to be in the Pack, but if this is how it’s going to be when the Pack and Sheriff’s Department are in conflict, I don’t see how she’ll be able to balance the two. Especially not if she decides to run for sheriff.” Shelly rubbed her eyes and closed them for a moment.
“She thinking about that?” Becca gave her a surprised quick glance. Sheriff Henderson had had his position since long before she moved to town and he looked to be pretty entrenched.
“She is, and that would make her a lot of firsts if she won. So there’s a lot riding on solving this murder from her perspective and she’s feeling the pressure. I know she doesn’t want it to be Erin, but she’s torn.”
“I don’t understand why Erin confessed. And if she did do it, why kill Leroy now? There’s gotta be something more going on here.” Becca’s frustration was calling up her wolf. The full moon was too close, there were too many questions unanswered, they had to find Erin—a growl popped out of her mouth, startling both of them.
“That does sum it up, yep.” Shelly rolled down the window and took a deep breath as Becca turned off onto the road that led up toward the path to the Pack’s cave. They sat in silence for a few moments until they got to the turnoff and Becca parked the truck.
“Did you ever find out what happened to Annie, I mean, after what happened to Annie?” She grabbed the daypack with the water bottles and supplies and slung it over her shoulder as they locked up and started hiking.
Shelly glanced back at her. “You remember what they told us at Circle House? We all hoped that she’d turn out okay, back in the beginning, despite everything. Poor Margaret.” They hiked in silence for a few minutes before Shelly continued, “We’ve been looking for her since she changed and there’s been a sighting here and there. A missing chicken or some stolen food. But that’s been it so far. She’s definitely still alive.”
Becca tried to decide if this was the best time to ask about Margaret, but realized that she needed to save her breath for the trail. They hiked in silence, each lost in her own thoughts, stopping only to drink some water at the halfway mark before continuing upward. Becca wondered what Shelly hoped to find in the cave: spiritual guidance, perhaps? Erin hiding out?
That last thought made her heart leap. That would solve all…well, some of their problems. They could keep her safe somewhere nearby until they figured out who killed Leroy or the lawyers found a solution or…
They arrived at the ledge outside the cave, distracted and slightly out of breath. Neither was expecting a hurtling furry body to charge out of the opening. It knocked Shelly over and pushed Becca dangerously close to the cliff edge as the snarling mouth and ferocious claws sent them scrambling out of the way. The creature paused for a moment and studied them from a few feet away, as if it was thinking about attacking them.
Shelly answered with a snarl of her own that turned her eyes golden and sent a ripple of dark fur growing over her skin. She started to scramble to her feet as Becca recovered her balance and grabbed a loose rock from the ground nearby. The creature stared at them for a heartbeat more, then bolted off on the narrow and treacherous path that led up the mountain. An instant later, it vanished from view.
“Annie?” Becca gasped. The creature smelled like her, and how many other half-wolf monsters were there in the valley? The moment she had the thought, she regretted it. Given all the things she didn’t know yet and all that she had recently, it was likely that there was more than one and no one had mentioned it yet.
Shelly was shivering all over and staring upward with golden eyes. She’d stopped changing for the moment, but it was clear that she wanted to pursue Annie or whoever that had been. In another moment, she’d be lost to anything that Becca could suggest.
“Maybe just follow their trail while I check out the cave? It would be safer to save any attacks for when the whole Pack is here.” Becca’s voice trembled. The wolf called her too, but not enough to transform, even if she’d had Shelly’s level of control. She just knew that they couldn’t lose Shelly, not now. Annie was dangerous no matter what form she took.
Her Alpha growled something that might have been agreement and let the change take her. A few moments later, a medium-sized wolf, brown and black with silver highlights, stood in front of Becca. An instant after that, the wolf was loping up the mountain at a ground-covering, but cautious, pace. Becca watched her for a moment, then sighed. “Right. I’ll go try and figure out what she or they were doing in here, if I can.”
She picked up the pack and walked into the cave, letting the cool dimly lit darkness pull her in until it was ready to reveal what it knew.