Maya found the rest of their breakfast quite pleasant—until it ended and she got into a small squabble with Ryan about who was going to pay for her meal. She allowed Ryan to win after he convinced her that the federal agency he worked for might not directly make contributions to WHaM but would be glad to assist it in at least this small way.
On the way out, she noticed that Trev was sitting at a table near the door with another man and a couple of women. Good. Though he’d said he wasn’t from this town, he apparently had friends here—and hopefully was putting in a good word with them about WHaM and wildlife.
And those friends included women. Hopefully he was flirting with them, so Maya didn’t need to feel so uncomfortable with this nice fellow wildlife lover.
She split up with Ryan and Piers on the sidewalk outside and Maya gave Rocky a goodbye hug. She considered doing the same with the guys—Piers first, although it was really Ryan she wanted to touch again. But she hugged neither man.
“Where are you off to?” Ryan asked. She had wanted to ask him the same question but had decided not to since it might seem too personal.
“Oh, I need a few things so I think I’ll head to the grocery store.” She left unsaid that she hoped to learn more from the Sharans about the people in town who were happy that wolves were back. Not to mention whether they’d heard more about what had happened to Morton Fritts.
“Sounds good. But are you also going to follow up with our suggestion and arrange to do another talk in the park—one about staying away from wild animals?”
“Yes,” she said, “I’ll do that later this afternoon. And if you give me your cell phone number, I’ll call and let you know how it goes.”
All three exchanged numbers, and Maya wished she’d thought of doing that yesterday, after they’d met and learned of their joint appreciation of the wolves’ return. Considering all that had happened since then it seemed even more necessary that they keep in touch as long as she remained in Fritts Corner.
The men then led Rocky in the opposite direction from Maya along the fairly empty sidewalk. The street didn’t have much traffic, either. But Fritts Corner wasn’t a particularly large town. As far as Maya was concerned, its only claim to fame was the proximity of the influx of wolves.
She headed toward the grocery store, figuring she didn’t need to drive since she wasn’t intending to buy a lot of stuff anyway. Her main goal was to get any information that the store owners could convey.
On her way, she passed what was probably the only hospital in this area, the Fritts Medical Center. Its appearance was much starker than most of the town’s other buildings, six stories high and squared-off redbrick construction.
She wondered if Morton Fritts had been treated for wolf injuries in this facility—and whether he remained there.
How could she find out what happened, where he was attacked and whether the wolves who hurt him could be the same ones who might have harmed her if the other wolf hadn’t come along?
Asking him directly, or his wife, didn’t seem the best idea, but she’d give it a try if she saw them again.
She walked the few blocks to the Corner Grocery Store fairly quickly. It looked a little larger than other retail establishments like clothing stores that she’d passed. Its design appeared somewhat quaint as well, and the front consisted of long windows that showed off the well-stocked interior.
The place looked relatively crowded, too, with people in all the aisles and lined up at the couple of cash registers near the front. Was that because it had a good supply of healthful produce, reasonably priced food—or simply because it was the only grocery in town? Maya hadn’t seen any supermarkets since she’d arrived here.
Was the place too busy for her to approach the owners, who’d seemed so interested in and happy about the nearby wolves? She just wanted a better sense as to whether the townsfolk like the Sharans felt any differently about the situation today, after the sound of howls and more had infiltrated the town last night—and someone had been attacked.
And did the Sharans know the Frittses well? They had expressed concern for Morton at the restaurant, but for the wolves, too.
Was there any media coverage? Maya hadn’t seen anything so far on the internet via her cell phone about her talk, or even the attack—although she hadn’t spent a lot of time looking. Were there any social media reports that she wouldn’t know about?
The thing was, she had a whole lot of questions without any answers—at least not yet. And so she entered the store.
A young man exited as she came in. “Welcome,” he said, grinning at her.
Why was he welcoming her? Was he an employee? Related to the owners?
She saw Kathie Sharan as soon as she got inside. The woman chatted with some people near the closest cash register, and Maya approached.
“It’s a terrible situation,” she heard one of the group say, a senior woman in a loose dress. “And it should have been good for everyone.”
“Well, we still don’t have much information,” Kathie responded. “Maybe Morton was goading those wolves.”
Aha. A conversation exactly on the topic Maya wanted to discuss.
“Hi,” she said, taking a few strides forward. “Sorry to be eavesdropping, but you won’t be surprised to know I’ve been listening for the word wolf a lot these days.” She grinned toward Kathie, who smiled back.
“Oh, hello, Maya,” she said. “Everyone, this is Maya Everton. She’s the very nice lady with WHaM who talked at the park yesterday about the return of wolves to this area.”
“Do you know what happened last night?” the older woman asked. “I’ve always loved animals and was so excited—but maybe having wolves come back is a horrible situation.”
“Now, Yola,” Kathie said, “as I mentioned, we don’t really know what happened. You’ve lived here a lot longer than I have but I think it’s wonderful that even a few wolves have been sighted around here.”
“That’s right,” Maya said. “And of course all of you know a lot more about the area around Fritts Corner than I do, but I realized afterward that maybe I’d given the wrong idea at my talk. I love wildlife, but a lot of it is truly wild. I’m hoping to give another talk to make sure people understand not only to avoid attempting to turn wild animals into pets, but I also want to stress that no one should try to confront any wild animals, especially those that could harm them.”
The older woman, Yola, appeared a little mollified. “Morton is a bit...well, egotistical. Maybe he did think he could go find out about those wolves and confront them, maybe even try shooing them away from this area, without their reacting against him.”
“And might he have had a weapon?” asked another member of the crowd, a thin guy with shaggy gray hair.
“You’re new here, too,” Yola said. “Yes, it’s entirely possible that our Morton went to check on those wolves carrying something that could hurt them.”
“And potentially protect him,” Kathie said. “Which would have been fine as long as he just scared the wolves off without injuring—or killing—them.”
“Well, however it happened,” Maya said, “I’d really like to know how the confrontation went. And I’m terribly sorry Morton got hurt.”
“Me, too,” Kathie said fervently.
Her husband, Burt, joined the group just then from someplace within the store. “All of us are.”
The conversation continued a short while longer—but no one appeared to have any more information than Maya had. None of them could identify the people at her talk who’d said they were with the media. According to this group, there weren’t, in fact, any local TV or radio stations, although when things happened here major networks sometimes sent reporters from Tacoma or other not too distant towns. Or sometimes they just showed up here, which might have been the case during Maya’s talk—although she wondered if the wolf-haters invited them.
“I’m not going to be the one to contact any,” Burt said, “but I wouldn’t be surprised if those reporters return and start nosing around again.”
“Especially if the Frittses notify them about the attack,” his wife said, her expression troubled.
Maya’s concerns eased, if only a little. Apparently the Sharans, and hopefully other locals, weren’t totally turned against the wolves by this difficult situation.
And maybe, once the facts—whatever they were—came to light, the wolves would somehow be exonerated.
Although...well, she had somewhat brought the confrontation she’d had with a couple of them last night on herself.
She had a sudden urge to return to that area now, in daylight, to see if she could find evidence of where the wolves had gone. Would there be paw prints? Other indications?
But she still needed more information. So, after she bought a few things to justify her presence at the store, she just might head to the Fritts Corner Police Department to see what information they were releasing to the public about what happened last night.
She wondered where Ryan was. Had he already gone there to learn what he could on behalf of the US Fish and Wildlife Service?
She’d find that out later, too.
For now, she’d probably just head back to her hotel.
But as she reached the grocery store’s door, she saw Trev standing outside talking to one of the women who’d been at breakfast with him.
The fact he had company like that was a good thing. But was it a mere coincidence that they’d wound up at the very place she had headed after her meal?
Drat. She realized that the guy was making her uncomfortable, even though he’d done nothing but be friendly and cheer on WHaM—and her public talk about local wildlife.
She was undoubtedly worrying too much.
But she hoped whatever flirtation he was now carrying on with this lady—a short, slightly plump but definitely pretty girl wearing a bright-colored scarf over her sweater and carrying a huge purse—continued and got Trev to forget about her.
Though not about saying nice things to the world about WHaM.
Was he one of the people now becoming a skeptic thanks to the attack on Morton Fritts? If so, Maya could certainly understand it, even with a person who’d come from somewhere else to learn how WHaM wanted to promote the presence of the newest local wolves.
Maybe she’d have to speak to the guy—or at least be sure he was there if she talked to the public again.
* * *
“So what next?” Piers asked Ryan as they walked back toward the hotel from the restaurant.
“I texted a brief description of what happened last night to Major Connell first thing this morning but that’s my only communication with him so far since we arrived. I think it’s time to give a call to our commanding officer at Alpha Force and give him more detail.”
“Good idea,” Piers said. “But we need to find someplace more private than our hotel room. I’ve heard voices in the hallway from my room, so someone might be able to eavesdrop. The old place has some charm to it, but I doubt that soundproofing was topmost in the minds of the people who built it.”
Ryan held Rocky’s leash, and the wolf-dog stopped to sniff the stonework at the front of a drugstore—possibly where other dogs had lifted their legs. Ryan turned to look at his aide. “I’ve been trying to come up with a good idea about where to go for it,” he admitted.
“How about back to the park?” Piers stopped, probably since they weren’t going in that direction. “We can keep walking with Rocky there as we talk and avoid any nosy folks that way. Better yet, maybe we’ll find someplace where no one else is hanging out.”
“Good idea.”
They were soon at one end of the rolling lawn that constituted most of the park till it met the forested hillside. It was distant from the aging podium where Maya had given her talk. Maybe that was a good thing, Ryan thought. He’d have to mention her—not that his mind ever seemed to deviate far from her and her attractiveness both in looks and the way she talked about wolves. But he’d keep his talk about her to a minimum.
As Ryan had predicted, the park wasn’t empty, but most people, many with dogs and/or kids, paid them no attention.
Ryan headed for a bench beneath a pine tree and sat down, Piers right behind him. Rocky seemed fine with it, too, lying down on the grass at the end of his leash. If anyone got close, they could walk away.
“You ready to call?” Piers asked.
“Do it,” Ryan responded.
His aide pulled a cell phone from his pocket, pushed a few buttons, and Ryan heard it ring. Clearly Piers had put the call on speaker, so they’d have to remain remote and discreet, but that didn’t look like it would be a problem, at least for now. The nearest people weren’t close, and none came in their direction.
“Hey,” Drew Connell said nearly immediately. “I’ve got Patrick here, too.” Lieutenant Patrick Worley was the major’s second in command at Alpha Force. “Tell us what’s going on.”
Briefly, keeping his voice low and continuing to look around to make sure no other person in the park was coming closer, Ryan described what had gone on last night: the full moon, which they of course all knew about. Hearing wolves howl and bark, also no particular surprise but perhaps indicating that Ryan wasn’t the only shifter in the area. Describing his own shift with Piers’s assistance along with the Alpha Force elixir, with no artificial light under the full moon.
He then told how, while on the prowl, he had seen the woman who’d given a talk to the public the day before in the same park where they now sat—the woman representing the wildlife championing organization WHaM—out and about in the woods beneath the full moon. A couple of wolves had prepared to attack her, and he, in shifted form, had driven them off.
Then, the next morning, he and the rest of this town of Fritts Corner had learned that a local citizen, one not pleased about the influx of wolves, had apparently been attacked.
“We don’t know yet if those two wolves I went after were shifters, although their scents indicate the possibility to me. We also don’t know if they, or possibly other shifters, attacked Morton Fritts. Shifters or not, apparently we may have a problem here with wolves too prone to attack humans—although we of course don’t yet know whether Fritts was doing something to provoke them.”
“Better find out soon,” replied Drew. “Either way.”
“Yeah, we want to talk to Fritts but haven’t been able to yet,” Ryan said.
“And if they’re shifters,” Piers said, “we have a month till the next full moon to learn what we need to and ensure nothing like this happens again.”
“That’s a big if,” Patrick broke in over the phone. “First, even if they are shifters, we don’t know if they have access to anything like our elixir. We’ve recruited a few shifters who had done some experimenting, or their families had, and the formulas they came up with sometimes let them shift more at will than just under a full moon—and they had varying degrees of human cognition, just nothing nearly comparable to what we’ve got with the Alpha Force elixir.”
“And even if there are shifters in the area,” Drew said, “you still need to figure out if wild wolves conducted that attack and were perhaps provoked enough to do it again—without waiting for a full moon, of course.”
“Of course,” Ryan agreed. “Well, we’d thought we would only be here for a week or so, but looks like we’ll just have to see how long it takes. I assume that’s okay, Major Connell?”
“Just call me Drew unless we’re in a formal meeting.” Ryan heard the smile on his commanding officer’s face and grinned slightly himself. “Like I’ve said before, we’ve got too much between us in Alpha Force to maintain formality. But we—you—have responsibilities. Keep us informed about what you learn, and be sure to figure out as quickly as possible the details of what happened last night. If you have to stay till the next full moon or even beyond, that’s fine, too. But be cautious—and conduct your own shifts whenever you think it’s best for tracking any nonshifting wolves in the area to learn what you need to.”
“Yes, sir.” Ryan’s grin grew into a larger smile. “Er, yes, Drew.”
“Watch it, Lieutenant,” Drew responded. “Er, Ryan. And a couple more things.”
“Yes?”
“Keep an eye on that WHaM representative as long as she’s there. We won’t want someone embracing and promoting the idea of wildlife to be injured by a wolf, no matter whether it’s a shifter or not. And as we discussed before, if you do find shifters in the area, be sure to check them out to see if any are worth recruiting into Alpha Force. Our unit, as covert as it is, is strong and growing.”
“Will do, with both of them.” Of course the idea of keeping an eye on Maya sounded good to Ryan. Too good. He’d have to rein in his inappropriate interest in the lovely woman who liked wolves. Way back. Watch her, yes. Learn from her, sure. But nothing more than that.
“I’ll do my part to help him,” Piers added. “Rocky will, too.”
“Go to it, then,” Drew finished—a good thing since some kids tossing a basketball between them headed in the direction of the bench.
“Will do, and we’ll keep you informed about anything useful that we learn. Oh, and if you happen to hear any more about shifters in this area—”
“We’ll keep you informed,” Patrick said.