Her eyes narrowed. Yep, she definitely wanted to punch me. Which worked out well, because I wouldn't mind slugging her just for the hell of it.
Cadotte stepped in again. "Crow Valley was originally a mining town. That's why they call Wisconsin the Badger State."
"I thought it was because you had too many badgers."
In my opinion, one was too many. I'd met a few badgers in my travels, and they were mean little fucks.
"We do." Will's expression said he'd encountered a few himself and had about as high an opinion of them as I did. "But the nickname originated with the miners, who were called badgers because they dug in the ground."
"What kind of mines?"
"Lead mostly. Some zinc and copper."
"And there's a mine here?"
"Yes, but it closed a long time ago. The town remained. It's a beautiful area. Very peaceful."
"If you like snow eight months out of twelve, summer for one month, if you're lucky, and so many trees you can't see the sun half the time," I muttered.
"Some people do."
Cadotte was very good at smoothing the waters and imparting information without seeming to lecture, even though he was. He must have been an excellent professor. Just as I had once been an excellent teacher.
I put that thought right out of my head and focused on what he was saying.
"A lot of folks from the big cities who came north with their families for vacation have retired in Crow Valley. They don't want to live in a tourist trap."
"So this entire town is made up of old people."
Easy pickings for the werewolves.
"Not entirely. An older community needs a lot of services. Medical, restaurants, entertainment. I'd say Crow Valley is fifty-fifty between retirees and the regular Joes who wait on them."
"A very large transient population then." In my experience, waiters, bartenders, and other service people moved around a lot. I know I would. "Which makes it hard to tell if there's a new werewolf in town."
"I never said this was going to be easy," Edward murmured. "That is why I called you."
His praise warmed the cold spot in my chest that had been there since I'd met Jessie. She was too tall, too confident, too palsy with Edward, and too damned lucky to have Cadotte.
I needed to get over my jealousy. It wasn't as if I wanted her life. I knew better than to get close to anyone, and sooner or later Jessie would know better, too. I didn't want to be around when that happened. So I'd do my job and get out of Dodge.
"Point me toward my room, would you? Nighttime's a-wastin'."
Everyone exchanged glances.
"What?" I growled. I hated being treated like an outsider - even when I was.
"It's just..." Cadotte shrugged. "Since I'm not sure what's going on yet, it might be a good idea to refrain from killing them for a while."
"Sounds like a bad idea to me."
"What if killing them is what they want?"
"That makes no sense."
"Does anything make sense with werewolves?"
Good point. If I could believe in werewolves and assorted other creatures of the night, pretty much anything was possible. Even that killing them was what they wanted. Still, if I wasn't going to blast a few werewolves, what was I good for?
"You can train Jessie," Edward said, as if he'd heard my thoughts.
I scowled. She grinned.
"As soon as Will has some idea of what we're up against, the two of you can begin to hunt," Edward soothed.
There was no way I was hunting with Jessie or anyone else. There was no way I was sitting on my ass and letting werewolves wander free to do their dirty deeds and make more werewolves. But I didn't have to tell them that.
"Fine," I said. "We'll start tomorrow."
The way Edward beamed at me, I would have felt bad for deceiving him. If I were capable of such a feeling.
Everyone talked at once, offering to show me to my room - on the other side of town. But I wanted to be alone. How else was I going to sneak away?
"Just give me the address," I snapped.
"No problemo." Jessie snatched a paper from the end table, scribbled something on a corner, and tore it off.
Will flinched at the sound and sighed. "Jessie, could you check and see if that's a rare document or something important before you go tearing it into shreds?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry." She shrugged and handed me the corner anyway. Then dug into her pocket for the key.