horseback, but was there a specific shirt or color that would be identified as the law? And was there anyplace in town that sold uniforms?
She’d figure it out. She had to. Most likely, this was the only chance she would have to be a serving police officer, and Virgil Wolfgard was already against having her on his staff. Typical male. But she wasn’t going to buckle or back down. She’d stood up for herself against every man at the academy, and she would stand up for herself now. Besides, once she got her horse, she could do her work and avoid the sheriff much of the time.
She put a few personal items in her daypack, double-checked that she had her room key, and headed for the sheriff’s office.
* * *
* * *
“Here she comes,” Kane said from his post in the open doorway of the sheriff’s office.
Virgil pounded a nail into the last corner of the sign he’d attached to the cellblock wall, then stepped back to admire his work.
Tolya had wanted a human deputy, saying humans would be more inclined to ask for help from someone who wouldn’t bite them. What was understood and not said was that Virgil wasn’t interested in helping humans; he was interested in protecting the terra indigene by eliminating two-legged problems with swift, bloody efficiency. But leashing him to a small female? What good would that do? He’d listened to what some of the humans had said yesterday. They thought it was a joke. A female deputy? Ha ha.
If anyone except Simon Wolfgard had chosen her, Jana Paniccia wouldn’t be reporting to work this morning. At least, not reporting to work with him. But he knew Simon. More important, he trusted Simon—and Simon had seen some potential in this female.
Time to find out if she still showed potential now that she was here.
* * *
* * *
Jana smiled at the man lounging in the doorway of the sheriff’s office. It was a professional smile—friendly enough that men wouldn’t mutter “bitch” after she walked by but not warm enough to be in any way mistaken for an invitation to be friendly. When he removed the sunglasses and she saw the amber eyes, she hoped he wouldn’t be interested in finding out if she was friendly.
“I’m Kane Wolfgard. The other deputy.”
Oh good. She got to work with two snarlies instead of just the one she’d met yesterday.
“I’m Jana Paniccia.”
Giving her a brisk nod, he went into the office and disappeared through a doorway that had to lead to rooms in the back, leaving her to come in and look around the open area on her own.
Would one of the desks be her workstation? Who took the calls, or did they have a dispatcher? Each desk had a telephone, but there was only one computer and printer set up at its own workstation against the wall.
“Deputy Jana.” Virgil walked through the doorway where Kane had disappeared a minute ago.
“Sheriff Wolfgard.”
Virgil pointed to the desk closest to the computer workstation. “That one is yours.” He stared at the computer for a moment. “You know how to work that?”
“Yes.”
“Then that one is yours too. Tolya set up the e-mail thing for the sheriff’s office. You will watch for those.”
“One e-mail for the whole office? Don’t you want a private one?”
Now he stared at her. “Why?”
Okay, e-mail wasn’t private. Good to know. Not that it mattered since e-mails, like the phones, were limited to within a region.
“You can also sort mail.”
Desk work. If she’d wanted to work at a desk, she wouldn’t have gone to the police academy, wouldn’t have taken extra classes in order to prove she could do the job.
Virgil opened a drawer, took out a badge, and set it on the desk.
“You’re not getting someone to run the office?” she asked.
“We have you.”
She clenched her teeth to stop herself from saying something she might regret. Before she could come up with anything safe to say in response to that statement, a big Wolf trotted out of the back rooms, came up to her, and stuck his nose in her crotch.
“What the dickens are you doing?” Jana demanded.
“Kane is getting your scent,” Virgil replied.
“If you need to do that, you sniff an arm or a leg, but you don’t stick your nose there,” she snapped. “It’s crude and it’s rude and … How would you like it if I sniffed your penis?”
Virgil and Kane cocked their heads. The fact that one looked human and the other was furry