Season of the Wolf

by Jeffrey J. Mariotte

  He stopped just inside the roadblock and raised the megaphone. “Everybody, my name is Alden Stewart,” he began. “I’m the mayor here in Silver Gap. A lot of you don’t know me, but if you ask around I think you’ll be told that I’m a straight shooter. I mean what I say and say what I mean. So I’m not going to tell you that we don’t want you here, or that we don’t want these wolves dealt with. We do. We had another woman go missing just last night, and while there’s no evidence that wolves were involved in her disappearance, they’re behind enough others around here that we’re not discounting the possibility.”

  “Someone else is missing?” Alex asked.

  “Thought you would have heard,” Robbie said. “Barb Johnston. The wife of the man your friend tangled with yesterday.”

  Alex spun around and looked at Peter. The cameraman was oblivious to the conversation. He was watching Stewart, but paying more attention to the DOW people preparing their trucks. If he had reacted when the mayor mentioned the missing woman, it didn’t show. Ellen was looking at Stewart and seemed to be listening intently to his words.

  He didn’t always like Peter, but he couldn’t see him as a killer. He didn’t know where the Johnstons lived, but he didn’t think even if Peter was more vicious and vengeful than he believed, he would have been able to get there and take Mrs. Johnston away. Alex had gone out in the Lexus, and when he got up in the morning it was parked right where he had left it.

  “Are you serious?” he asked Robbie, keeping his voice low. “Is the husband okay?”

  “He was out drinking, is what I heard. When he got home, she was gone. No sign of forced entry, and definitely no sign of wolves. Most folks think she just got tired of being married to an asshole and moved out.”

  “How likely is that?”

  “You’ve never met Titus Johnston. He’s nobody’s idea of husband of the year. And after being knocked around by Peter, he probably would have been in a worse mood than usual.”

  “…further ado,” Mayor Stewart was saying, “I’d like to introduce Doug Wolters of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, who’s going to take charge of the wolf effort going forward.”

  He handed the megaphone to the other man, who was tall, lean, and tanned, with sandy hair and a reddish beard. He looked uncomfortable in his suit. “Good morning,” Wolters said. “As Mayor Stewart said, we’re going to be running this operation, and there are gonna be some ground rules.”

  “What gives you the right?” somebody shouted from the crowd.

  “The right to make the rules? We’re the DOW, we are the ones who make rules about hunting and wildlife management in this state. I think everybody here wants the same thing, which is to see these wolves stopped. Same time, I think you all can understand that we can’t just throw out the rulebook and let everybody go wild out there. We’d have a much bigger public safety problem then than we do right now. So here’s what we’re gonna do. Today, we’re going out and track those wolves. By we I mean DOW. You all can stay here in Silver Gap or not, but I want you to keep the forest clear. Last thing we need is for their tracks to be obscured by traffic, or somebody getting into a shot that we need to take. So I’m asking you—I’m asking you, please—stay back and let us do our thing. If we fail, then tomorrow we’ll run things different.”

  “I took time off work to be here!” one of the men in the audience called out.

  “I appreciate that,” Wolters said. “Same time, nobody asked you to, and I can’t take personal responsibility for every decision that brought you all out here today. My number one priority has to be those animals. I’m sure you can all appreciate that.”

  From the sound of the crowd, they didn’t. The mayor took the megaphone back. “Look, folks, let’s just do it their way, okay? Today’s their turn. If they aren’t successful, tomorrow’s your turn. In the meantime, Silver Gap’s wide open to you. Enjoy a meal, a cold drink, relax and breathe in some fresh mountain air.”

  More grumbling, but the shouting and catcalls stopped. Wolters and Stewart nodded to each other, and then Wolters went back between the sawhorses. He made a corkscrewing motion in the air with his hand, and the propeller on the ‘copter started to spin; lazily at first, then faster. At the same time, the truck engines started up, and the uniformed men took their places. Wolters climbed into one and shut the door.

  The chopper lifted away from the ground like an ungainly bird taking flight, kicking up a screen of dust and fallen leaves. Through that cloud, the trucks disappeared. In a couple of minutes there was no sign of them but the sound of their engines receding in the distance, and a slight haze in the air.

  The mayor was walking amongst the hunters, shaking hands and introducing himself, as if they could potentially vote for him. He had an election-eve smile on his face, and though Alex couldn’t hear what anybody said to him, he could hear Stewart’s loud laughter in response. “Guy doesn’t quit, does he?” he said.

  “He’s a politician through and through,” Robbie replied. “Fortunately, he’s also a decent man, so I don’t mind voting for him.”

  “Ellen!” Peter was standing with a clutch of hunters, camera and tripod in one big hand, beckoning Ellen. “Come on!” he shouted. “We’re going with!”

  “Wait, Ellen,” Alex said.

  She glanced back at him, but kept hurrying toward Peter, who motioned her on with exaggerated urgency. “Don’t worry!” he called to Alex. “We’ll get you some great footage!”

  “Peter, don’t!” Alex cried. But now he saw that Peter’s newfound friends weren’t alone. Most of the hunters were doing as they’d been asked, standing down for the day. But others were hurrying to their vehicles and ignoring the protestations of the cops posted, driving around the roadblock and after the DOW vehicles.

  Peter shot him a thumbs-up and followed the hunters to their truck. Ellen caught up with him. She smiled back at Alex and Robbie, then was lost in the crowd.

  “Now what?” Robbie asked.

  “I thought you were spoken for today.”

  “I’ll check with Morris, but considering what we just heard, I doubt he’ll want me taking anybody hunting today.”

  “I guess we could do some more location scouting,” Alex suggested. “If we can do it someplace where we’re not in the way.”

  “I was thinking about it last night,” Robbie said. “I remembered a couple of other places, not far from where we were yesterday, with lots of color. Not the kind of fall color you like to see, but color, anyway.”

  Alex was strangely pleased that Robbie had been thinking about him overnight at all. He had hardly stopped thinking about her.

  She used her cell to call the police chief. After less than a minute, during which she said very little, she tucked it back into its belt holster. “He’s got a lot on his plate today,” she said. “Not surprisingly, what with Barb missing now.”

  “That’s two, right?”

  “Barb and Marie.” Robbie confirmed. “I wish we could blame wolves, but I’m not sure we can.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “Like I said, the word is at the Johnston place, there’s no sign of wolves at all. At Marie’s, there was, but only downstairs and around Mrs. Morgenstern’s body. Dr. Steinhilber says he left Marie upstairs, with enough sedatives in her to keep her out all night. It’s highly unlikely that wolves would have dragged her down a flight of stairs and out of the house. And if they had, there would have been blood in her room, blood on the stairs. There wasn’t.”

  “What do you think it was, then?”

  She gave him a patient grin. “What’s left?”

  “People, I suppose.”

  “Be my guess.”

  They reached the Jeep and climbed in. Heading out of town in the other direction, there was almost no traffic, just a few vehicles full of hunters who had decided to give up for the day.

  Out in the woods, walking quietly, they heard the distant pop pop of hunters’ guns. “You think they got something?” Alex asked.<
br />
  “Doubt it. If the wolves were that easy to find, they would never have lasted this long in the first place. And given the damage they’ve caused, I figure any time a wolf is spotted you’ll hear a dozen shots or more. Maybe a hundred.”

  “I guess so.”

  “No, that sounds like frustrated guys shooting at whatever they see. There’ll be a lot of road signs and mailboxes with bullet holes in them by tomorrow.”

  They passed through a pristine stretch of forest that seemed, to Alex, to possess the dignity and the reverent hush of a cathedral. He understood how somebody, encountering such a beautiful landscape, could only see the hand of an all-knowing creator at work. The beauty of the scene only made it worse to know that the actions of humans threatened this forest and every other, and that others of his own kind fought back against every attempt to raise awareness and understanding of the problem. Corporate interests battled for every penny of profit, no matter the ultimate cost to the planet.

  “You know,” Robbie said as they explored, “wolf populations are actually beneficial to the forest.”

  “How so?”

  “Without natural predators like wolves, populations of elk and deer and other grazing animals can boom. They can overgraze an area in no time, resulting in a die-off for their own species and overstressing the landscape that other species rely on as well. Big predators help maintain a natural balance. Here in Colorado, without wolves, we manage hunting as an alternate method of population control.”

  “I guess I never looked at it that way,” he said.

  “Stick with me, baby,” Robbie said mischievously. “I can teach you all kinds of things.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  She laughed. “I suppose we could make a trade,” she said. “I teach you, and you tell me what deep, dark secrets you’re keeping.”

  “You think I’m a lot more interesting than I am.”

  “I’m not just good outdoors,” Robbie said. “I can read people as well as spoor.”

  He knew what she was pressing for, but even if he had wanted to talk about it with anybody, after this morning’s revelation—that Clara Durbin was related to Jared Flannery, and that she had shown up in his dream, with that strange silver smile—he needed time to process that. Something about being in Silver Gap had intensified his nightmares and brought something new to them. He couldn’t understand any of it.

  But it scared him to death.

  After a couple of hours spent walking through gorgeous forests, speaking only sometimes and then in low tones, Robbie led him back to the Jeep. She had packed a big lunch for the hunters she had been planning to take out, so they raided it. Sandwiches, fruit, salad, crackers and cheese. She offered a selection of beers and wines, juices and soft drinks. Alex wanted a beer but settled for a cola, concerned that if he had one he’d want more, and he was wary about losing the slightest bit of control. He could say the wrong thing, could confess to Robbie how he thought he was coming to feel about her, or could reveal his frankly insane dreams. If they did encounter a wolf, he wanted to be able to react appropriately.

  They ate sitting on a tarp in a clearing blanketed with tall grass. When Robbie brought up his “secrets” again, Alex tried to deflect by turning the conversation toward her. “I’ve never known anybody like you,” he said. “How is it you’re not married?”

  She laughed, and her laugh was as natural as the breeze through the pine needles and the sunshine gilding her blond hair. “You might have noticed I’m not exactly the most feminine chick,” she said. “I know this might be a surprise, but some guys—especially the ones I tend to meet—are a little intimidated by a woman who can handle a gun better than they can. Maybe I should wear more frills and ribbons, you know, and work in a place that doesn’t have so many heads on the walls.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s not the answer,” Alex said. “You’re beautiful, you’re smart, you’re successful, and you’re fun to be around. I don’t see a down side.”

  “To be fair, you’re not really much like the people who usually hire me,” she said. “I get the feeling that your ideas about how men and women should behave are a little different from the guys around here.”

  “That might be part of it,” he admitted. “All I know is, if you’re happy, then great. But if you want to be with somebody, then someone is missing a hell of a good thing.”

  She turned her head away, but he saw the spreading rose wash over her neck and cheeks. He wondered how much of what he had said was projection. He was the one who had wanted to take another shot at marriage, a family. With every year that passed, that possibility grew ever more remote.

  While they ate and talked, the sun disappeared and the sky overhead turned leaden. Robbie looked up at it for a long minute. “Snow,” she said.

  “You think?”

  “I’ve lived here for a long time,” she reminded him. “I know when it’s going to snow.”

  “I’m not doubting you,” Alex said. “It’s just, since I got here I’ve been hearing people saying how surprising it is that there’s no snow yet. Guess they’ll have to change that tune.”

  “We’ll want to head back to town pretty soon,” she said. “But you know, before we do, I’d like to try to find that wolf we saw yesterday.”

  “Why?”

  “Like I said then, there was something strange about her. It bugged me all night, and I wanted another look at her.”

  “You said she was hurt, or sick.”

  “Right. But it wasn’t just that. We don’t have to spend a lot of time at it, especially with snow coming on. But if we can find her trail, I doubt she’ll have gone far.”

  Alex was uncomfortable with the idea of actually seeking out a wolf, even one who was injured or dying. That, he had heard, sometimes made animals more dangerous. But Robbie was the expert.

  She took the lead, as usual. She had a rifle in her hands and a pistol holstered at her hip. They descended into the ravine they had seen yesterday, and Robbie went straight to where the wolf had disappeared from view. The animal’s tracks were visible in the soft earth at the bottom of the ravine, and her path was almost so easy to find that Alex could have followed it.

  The first flakes fell while they sought the wolf. They were fat and lazy, drifting down from the solid gray sky as if they hadn’t actually committed to the idea of reaching the earth. Robbie started walking faster, concerned that a serious snowfall would hide the wolf’s trail. Alex looked up and saw that the sun had faded away, not much more now than a pale wafer behind the flat, gray sky.

  The temperature had been dropping steadily, and Alex was close to giving up on his male pride and suggesting they head for town when Robbie found the animal.

  It had wedged itself into a crevice at the base of a rocky slope. She summoned Alex over, pointing into the tight space. “She’s dead,” Robbie said. “A few hours, I guess. Maybe sometime last night, but no longer than that.”

  “Can you tell what she died of?”

  “Not here. Maybe Dr. Steinhilber could.”

  “I thought he treated humans.”

  “He does, but we lost our only vet last year. We’d have to haul her down into Bellvue or Laporte to find a vet.”

  “I guess it doesn’t really matter,” Alex said.

  “Probably not. Help me get her out of here.”

  “Why?”

  She gave him a look that he had already become familiar with, suggesting that she was becoming more exasperated with him than whatever fee he was paying and friendship might be developing were worth. He shut up and helped her, glad he was wearing gloves. Together they lifted the wolf from between the big rocks and laid her out on open ground. Snowflakes drifted down and melted on her fur.

  Robbie stood back and studied the animal. To Alex, it was just a wolf, large and probably menacing when it had been healthy, but not so much now.

  “I was right,” Robbie said.

  “About what?”

  “She’s no norm
al gray wolf. Look at her.”

  “I am, but I guess I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

  Robbie squatted down beside the wolf. “Look how short her legs are,” said. “At least a couple of inches shorter than an average wolf of this size would have. They’re more muscular, too. She might be a little slower over a distance, but she could jump, and in a sprint she could cover some ground.”

  Alex didn’t see it, but he had no basis for comparison. “Anything else?”

  She lifted the animal’s head, drew back its lips. “This head is massive. And heavy. Look at the size of these teeth. This creature’s jaws are powerful, and her teeth could tear holes through steel, I think. Big shoulders, too.” She ran a hand across the wolf’s neck. “And neck. She needed those to hold that head up.”

  “So what are you saying?” Alex asked. “This wolf is some kind of mutant?”

  “I don’t know,” Robbie said. “I’ve seen wolves. Knowing about big animals is kind of what I do. But mostly I know how to track and shoot them. Wolf physiognomy is not really my field.”

  “Which leaves us where?”

  Instead of answering, Robbie bent over, hoisted the wolf up and over her head, settling the thing across her shoulders and around her neck, like a badly made fur stole. “Let’s go home,” she said. “We’ll figure it out there.”

  23

  Ellen thought sport hunting was a barbaric practice. Even this excursion struck her as beyond the pale. The government had marshaled its resources, like an army going to war, and had sent out dozens of armed men to destroy a few wild creatures doing what instinct demanded. A helicopter buzzed overhead like a giant wasp, as if it wasn’t bad enough to outgun the wolves on the ground—they needed the option of slaughter from the skies, as well. And then, to top it all, other theoretically human beings had piled into trucks and SUVs to follow, each member of the party armed, each one hoping he (or she, but Ellen had only spotted two or three women, besides herself, out in the forest that day) would be the one to fire a bullet into an animal’s brain.