Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

by Heather Day Gilbert

  It was a body.

  It looked like Dennis. His eyes were closed, and he almost seemed to be napping.

  Was he pretending to be hurt or dead, just to get me closer? That would be a very psychopathic thing to do.

  I extended the lantern, slowly moving toward him. His eyelids didn’t flutter, and in the flickering light, I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. I didn’t want to get close enough to feel for a pulse, because this felt like a trap.

  Three short claps sounded from behind Dennis, and Carson came into view. He pointed my cell phone flashlight directly at me. I had to shield my eyes so its intense beam didn’t blind me.

  “Thanks for the light—all the better to see you with,” he said. His voice was filled with a threatening surety I never would have dreamed he possessed. “Belinda, Belinda. You should’ve left well enough alone.”

  I was an idiot. How had I not seen this?

  “But the wolves…they chewed you…” I struggled to make sense of things.

  He laughed. “They’ll chew on anything that smells like meat if you shove it in their stupid mouths. I figured my attack would throw everyone off, and it worked.”

  I had to admit he was right. Carson was far more devious than anyone could have guessed. I glanced down at Dennis, who still wasn’t moving. “But why kill your grandpa? What did he have to do with anything?”

  He seemed eager to explain, like a little boy who was proud of his science project. “Gramps was in my way. Mom was well in hand—she was gearing up to close the preserve because the unfortunate wolf attacks had so maligned her good name. But since Gramps rightly owned the land, I figured I’d have to get rid of him, too. I told him to meet me here so we could talk about convincing Mom to shut the preserve. He never imagined he was going to become wolf attack victim number three.”

  “So you poisoned him, too? But how?”

  “But, but, but—you’re full of questions, aren’t you?” He casually leaned against the rock wall, and I saw my chance.

  Springing toward the now-unblocked exit, I tried to shove past Carson. I aimed the pepper spray at his face and pressed the button, but it only gave a light hiss, and nothing came out. At the same time, something hit my stomach with a thud that reverberated throughout my body. I crumpled to the floor, the wind knocked out of me. My grip on the worthless pepper spray loosened, and it rolled some distance away.

  He loomed toward me, holding a wooden two-by-four. Shaking his head, he crouched nearby. “No one thinks of checking the pepper sprays.” He chuckled. “I made sure they were all empty. Still, I wish you hadn’t gone and done that.” He reached over and touched a curl that dangled in front of my eyes, his voice softening. “You want to know the truth? You’re far hotter than Veronica. I had no real interest in her, you understand. She was a nuisance, someone I had to attach myself to so I could keep her away from the cave. She’s the only one who tended to wander in the woods.”

  Everything swirled into crystal-clear focus. That’s why Carson was always trailing Veronica around—to keep tabs on her. Yet he’d fooled everyone into thinking he was her lovesick admirer.

  My face must have registered my surprise, because he gave me a wicked grin. “I’m not the idiot everyone took me for—my own mother didn’t even believe in me. But guess what? I’ve used my geology degree to find the mother lode on this property—no one else could’ve done that.”

  “Natural gas, was it?” I asked, gingerly propping myself up on one elbow.

  Keeping his grip on the board, he grabbed one of the glass jars from the floor. “No—this.”

  All I could see was dirt. “Is it gold?” I asked.

  “In Greenwich? Of course not. This is rare earth element. I found a massive cluster of it in this cave.”

  I couldn’t hide my bewildered look. “Earth element? You mean dirt?”

  “No—it’s a term for special metal elements that are used in most technological devices, like those computers and game systems you’re so fond of.” He actually had the gall to wink at me before continuing his explanation. “Rare earths are in constant demand. Usually, the deposits occur in very small quantities, and rarely in the United States. But we have a large cluster of the stuff, so I’m going to make a sweet fortune—after I get my hands on Grandpa’s property.”

  My stomach muscles felt battered, and I knew they were going to bruise. Maybe if I kept Carson talking, he’d be distracted so I could attempt another run for the outside.

  Then again, maybe he’d wallop me in the head with that board.

  As usual, I found myself wondering what Katrina would do in this situation—how would she deal with Carson? He was obviously unhinged—who else would kill his own grandpa?

  Psychopaths liked killing and they were even proud of it, Katrina had said. I needed to get him talking about his murders.

  “Why’d you kill Shaun and Rich?” I straightened into a sitting position, hoping I could get to my feet quickly if given the opportunity. “And how?”

  “It’s a long story, but I guess we have time for it, since no one has a clue where we are.” Smiling, he set the board down. Hope rose in my chest.

  Then he extracted a hypodermic syringe from his jeans pocket.

  He began to explain. “This is how. It’s a potent dose of my mom’s wolf tranquilizers. I thought those bumbling cops would figure it out earlier in the investigation and nail Mom to the wall, but they’re so behind the curve.”

  The perfect setup. If he didn’t shut his mom down with the feigned wolf attacks, he would have done it with the tranquilizer overdoses.

  He went on. “I paid Rich to let me feed the wolves for several days. See, I knew that Rich was underpaid—and I knew he’d tried to butter Mom up by taking her to some fancy café to ask for a raise. His plan totally backfired, because she outright refused him. Mom isn’t the best boss, as you might have figured out. Anyway, as anyone would have expected, Rich threatened to quit.”

  He crouched near me, the needle still in hand, as he continued. “But I got to him first. I gave him a sob story about how my mom didn’t even trust me to feed the wolves, and I just wanted a chance to do it. Then I offered him money, and that swayed our desperate father of the bride. He made a show of wheeling the food into the woods, but then he’d leave it for me to distribute. What he didn’t know was that I was burying it out in the woods, so the wolves went hungry.”

  Carson had been laying his plans for a while, then. “Why did you kill Shaun?” I asked. “I can’t imagine he was any threat to you.”

  “He had overheard me talking on the phone with one of my professors about rare earth, right after the drilling. He started asking questions. Knowing how he practically worshiped my mom, it was only a matter of time before he put two and two together and told her she might be sitting on a fortune. Or he could have eventually blackmailed me. I couldn’t let either of those things happen.”

  I put my hand on my stomach because it was killing me. “So you starved the wolves. Then you gave Shaun a shot of tranquilizer, and dragged him into Njord’s enclosure?”

  “I smeared meat on him first, then when I dropped him in there, I held up his hand for the wolves to smell. Didn’t take long until they were going to town.”

  I cringed as the unwelcome visual sprang to mind. “And Rich…he’d started figuring things out, hadn’t he? He kept telling the police the wolves shouldn’t have been that hungry.”

  Carson nodded. “I thought about paying him more to keep his mouth shut, but I knew he could try to soak me for the rest of my life. He was easy enough to kill since he was always out in the woods, but then those idiot wolves wouldn’t even touch him. And Sergeant Hardy happened to be hanging around that day, so he messed things up by getting to him faster than I’d expected.”

  I glanced around, my hopes dwindling. Carson was right—no one had any idea I’d wand
ered out to this cave. If he gave me that poisoned shot, I’d be dead before I was found.

  Survival instinct kicked in. I had to get out of the cave at any cost.

  I had one chance to escape, and I couldn’t afford to miscalculate. Something told me that if I tried to make a break for it from my seated position, he’d have that needle jammed into me before I got off the ground.

  An idea presented itself to me. Katrina had a surefire method for getting me to do what she wanted—she used reverse psychology. It was a long shot, but maybe that would work on Carson.

  I feigned a shiver. “I know you’re going to kill me,” I said, allowing my voice to quake. “But please don’t take me to the wolves. I can’t handle the idea of getting eaten by them. It’s just inhumane.”

  Carson didn’t answer right away. If he was a true psychopath, he’d probably relish my fear and try to capitalize on it.

  A small smile played at his lips, and he touched my leg. I tried not to recoil.

  “Are you begging me?” he asked.

  I hated degrading myself like this, but I did it anyway. “Yes,” I squeaked.

  He leaned in closer, small teeth glistening in the light like a feral animal’s. His voice was cajoling. “I hate to tell you, but this was the fate I’d already decided for you. ‘Such a beautiful face,’ they’ll say. ‘So innocent. She didn’t deserve to die this way.’” He seemed to perk up. “I can imagine the headlines now. It’ll be the final nail in Mom’s coffin—so to speak.”

  Pulling twine out of his pocket, he forced me to stand, then tied my wrists together behind my back. The twine was somewhat frayed, and I wondered if I could finagle my way out of it at some point.

  He held the needle at my back like it was a loaded gun. “Now, walk,” he commanded. He grabbed the lantern and held it aloft, so I stumbled forward. When we reached the fresh outdoor air, I gulped some in and kept moving. We trudged around the outcropping and toward the main path.

  “Don’t think anyone’s coming for you,” he said. “Mom’s probably in the visitors’ center with Evie, and Veronica’s not here today. Marco already left, as you’re probably aware.”

  At least Carson spoke of his mother in the present tense, so that meant he hadn’t killed her yet. Maybe, in the end, she could salvage what was left of her preserve, or at least sell the wolves to someone who’d care for them.

  Carson continued talking. “When you were in our house, I was waiting to see if you pulled out that last file. It was a report from the drilling company that Mom insisted on keeping. She bought my story that they’d approached me, looking for natural gas, and that they didn’t find any. But their report actually specified that they were hunting for rare earth. Mom never even glanced over it—I knew she wouldn’t.”

  Chills ran through me. So someone had been watching me in that house.

  “I have to say, I was surprised you didn’t hack into her computer. Her password’s so easy: Marco. I mean, seriously, it’s so sappy.” He pulled up short as we got close to Njord’s enclosure.

  I was grasping at straws to divert his focus from the murder at hand. “I heard you do computer work? Do you know how to hack?”

  He laughed, pulling a key from his pocket and unlocking the first gate. “Do I know how to hack? Let’s just say that for about a week, every time the curvaceous Greenwich librarian Carly Browning would scan a book for checkout, ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ blasted on the speakers.”

  It was funny, but I couldn’t even force a laugh. I was about to have a poisoned needle plunged into my back.

  I’d heard that desperation could make people do funny things, and it turned out to be true. Njord, Saga, and Siggie had all gathered close to the second gate—almost like they knew I was in trouble. For one moment, I felt like I wasn’t alone.

  Sergeant Hardy couldn’t be far away, if Evie had indeed called him. But she might not have called him if Dahlia had shown up to sign the papers.

  It was up to me. I had one chance to draw attention to myself.

  I knew just how to do it.

  Taking a long step that placed me a couple of inches farther from Carson, I breathed deep, then gave a long, mad wolf howl.

  The wolves didn’t hesitate. They picked up the chorus and added their own unique notes. Their howling filled the air, and even Thor’s pack began to join in.

  “Why’d you have to do that?” Carson’s anger was palpable. I raced away from him, but he was lighter on his feet than I expected, and he pinned me to the ground.

  As the wolves added yips to their song, I gritted my teeth, waiting for the pinch of a needle in my back.

  But instead, I heard Sergeant Hardy bellow, “Get your hands in the air!”

  There was a moment of loaded silence, but thankfully, Carson must have decided it wasn’t worth it to kill me right in front of a police officer. He slowly climbed off me and stood to his feet. I stayed on the cool ground, my face pressed into the leafy path, my hands still tied behind my back. All my muscles were shaking, and I didn’t have the strength to budge.

  A police officer made his way to me and cut the twine. He helped me to my feet, asking if I was okay, but I didn’t need his ministrations. Instead, I directed him toward the cave and told him to call an ambulance for Dennis, just in case it wasn’t too late for him.

  I bobbed on my feet as an officer handcuffed Carson and led him away, but not before the deranged killer turned and gave me a slow, lurid smile.

  I was relieved when Sergeant Hardy approached me. “You did the right thing, calling me in. Dahlia’s okay, by the way. She must have been showering when you tried to check on her, because she showed up at the visitors’ center not long after Evie called me. I decided to trek around a bit anyway, since you were nowhere in sight.”

  I placed my shaky hand on his arm. “Thank goodness you did. I was one false move away from getting a heavy dose of wolf tranquilizers. That’s what he’s been using.”

  “The tox lab confirmed that this morning, but I assumed the poisoning method pointed to Dahlia. I was actually coming here to pick her up for more questioning.”

  I nodded. “That’s exactly what Carson wanted you to think. He wanted his mom off the preserve so he could have this land to himself. There’s some kind of valuable metal element he’s found on the property—something worth a lot of money.”

  “That explains a lot. How about if you head back to the visitors’ center and I’ll catch up with you later, after you’ve had a little time to rest? Can you get back there on your own?”

  I breathed deeply. My trembling seemed to have subsided. I rubbed at my wrists. “I’m okay. I’m just glad this is over.”

  Before I headed down the path, I walked over toward the wolf enclosure and murmured to Njord, whose eyes were fixed on me with a kind of benevolent wisdom. “You did great today,” I said. “Rich would’ve been so proud of you.”

  Swiping at tears, I turned and walked away. It was time for me to find a new job.

  25

  I waited with Evie and a totally hysterical Dahlia as Carson was escorted off to jail and Dennis Arden was retrieved from the cave. When the paramedics flipped the siren once they’d transferred Dennis into the ambulance, I realized he might still have a chance at survival.

  By the time Sergeant Hardy moseyed back to the visitors’ center, I was sipping on warm chamomile tea and sitting in the only recliner in the gift shop. Evie had wrapped a quilt around me, and I’d finally stopped shaking.

  The tall sergeant strode right over to me and handed me my cell phone. “He said this was yours. Also, they just told me that Dennis might make it, thanks to you, Belinda.”

  Evie surreptitiously handed me a packaged antibacterial wipe, which I tore into, using one to clean my phone with a righteous fury. I couldn’t bear to think of that crazy killer holding on to it. Meanwhile Dahlia, who had sagged in
to a nearby chair, didn’t say a word.

  “I’ve called Marco,” Evie whispered behind her hand. “He’ll be here soon. This has all been too much for her.”

  Evie cast a contrite glance at Dahlia, and I knew she probably still intended to quit, just like I did. Yet our departures shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to Dahlia.

  I wondered if Veronica would stick around.

  “Dahlia’s ex is going to hire a lawyer for Carson,” Evie said. “It’s the least he could do, so she’ll have one less thing to worry about in the aftermath of everything.”

  It was a relief to see Quinn stepping up for Dahlia, whose dream of owning a wolf preserve had been so hard-battered.

  But at the same time, I hoped the lawyer failed miserably and Carson got the harshest sentence possible. He was the type of person who should never be allowed to be free again.

  He needed to live in a cage, just like the wolves he’d tried pin his crimes on.

  * * * *

  When Marco arrived at the gift shop, Dahlia seemed to perk up a bit. And once Sergeant Hardy reported that the hospital said that Dennis was expected to make a full, albeit slow, recovery, Dahlia grew visibly calmer. She had probably never anticipated a day she would worry over her father-in-law’s health, but today turned out to be that day.

  Relieved that things seemed to be working out, I gathered my courage and approached Dahlia.

  She turned watery eyes toward me. “Yes?”

  Marco held her pale hand in his grip. He seemed to know what was coming next, but he gave me an encouraging nod.

  “I’m leaving before the end of my contract,” I said. “I’m sure you can understand.” Given that your son tried to kill me and I’ll probably have traumatic flashbacks about his creepy stalker eyes following me for the rest of my life.

  “S-sure.” Taking it better than I thought she would, she turned to Evie. “Dear, would you mind writing the check for Belinda?”

  Evie bustled about, probably grateful for something to do. I pocketed the check she presented to me, then I offered Dahlia a weak smile. “Thank you for this opportunity. Would you mind if Marco took me back to the enclosures, so I can say a proper good-bye to the wolves?”