you, for sure,” Heifort said. He had his fingers linked in his gun belt. “This your daughter? She’s pretty as you, Doc.” My mother demurred. Heifort insisted. The red-haired man shifted his weight from foot to foot. They spoke briefly about the mosquitoes this time of year. The red-haired man said that they weren’t near as bad as they were going to be. He called them “skeeters.”
“What’s the gun for?” I asked.
They all looked at me.
I shrugged. “Just wondering.”
Heifort said, “Well. Seems Mr. Lundgren here decided to take the wolf hunt into his own hands and do a bit of spotlighting.”
The red-haired Mr. Lundgren protested, “Well, now, Officer, you know that’s not what went down. I just happened upon it and shot from my truck. That’s not quite the same.”
“I suppose not,” Heifort said. “But there is a dead animal here and no one’s supposed to be shooting much of anything after sundown. Much less with a.38 revolver. I know you know better, Mr. Lundgren.”
“Wait,” I said. “You killed a wolf?” I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jacket. Even though it wasn’t that cold, I shivered.
Heifort gestured over toward the front of the truck, shaking his head.
“My husband told me no one was allowed to hunt them until the aerial hunt,” my mother said, her caramel voice a bit harder. “To keep from scaring them into hiding.”
“That’s the truth,” Heifort said.
I moved away from them to the ditch where Heifort had gestured, aware that the red-haired man was watching me dolefully. Now I could see a ridge of fur from an animal lying on its side in the grass.
Dear God and possibly Saint Anthony, I know I ask for a lot of stupid things, but this one is important: Please don’t let that be Grace.
Even though I knew that she was supposed to be safe with Sam and Cole, I sucked in a breath and stepped closer. The ticked fur ruffled in the breeze. There was a small bloody hole in its thigh, another in its shoulder, and finally, one just behind the skull. The top of its head was a little gross where the bullet had come out the other side. If I wanted to see if the eyes were familiar, I would have to kneel, but I didn’t bother checking.
“This is a coyote,” I said accusingly.
“Yes, ma’am,” Heifort replied, genial. “Big one, right?”
I let out my breath. Even a city girl like myself could tell the difference between a wolf and a coyote. I was back to assuming Mr. Lundgren had had one too many or just really wanted to try out his new handgun.
“You haven’t had too much trouble like this, have you?” Mom was asking Heifort. She was asking it in that way she did when she wanted to know something for my father rather than for herself. “People taking matters into their own hands? You’re keeping it under wraps?”
“We’re doing the best we can,” Heifort said. “Most people are being real good about it. They don’t want to spoil things for those helos. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a mishap or two before the real deal. Boys will be boys.” This was with a gesture toward Mr. Lundgren, as if he were deaf. “Like I said, doing the best we can.”
My mother looked less than satisfied. Her tone was a bit chilly when she said, “That’s what I tell my patients, too.” She frowned at me. “Isabel, don’t touch that.”
As if I was anywhere near it. I climbed back up through the grass to join her.
“You haven’t been drinking tonight, have you, Doc?” Heifort asked, as Mom turned to go. He and Mom both wore matching looks. Candy-coated hostility.
My mother flashed him a large smile. “Oh, yes.” She paused to let him consider this. “But Isabel’s driving. Come on, Isabel.”
When we got back into the car, no sooner had the door slammed than my mother said, “Hicks. I hate that man. This may have cured me of my philanthropic nature for good.”
I didn’t believe it for a second. Next time she thought she might be able to help, she’d be jumping out of the car again before it stopped rolling. Whether or not they wanted her.
I guess I was turning out a lot like my mother.
“Dad and I have been talking about moving back to California,” Mom said. “When this is all over.”
I narrowly avoided wrecking the car. “And you were going to tell me … when?”
“When it became