Adam stood and brushed off his snowy knees. "And the attack occurred how long ago?"
"Three days ago, and all the stuff with Eb's seeing it and those skiers finding the animals have been in the last week," Greg replied.
"I see. This has been most interesting. Thank you for bringing us out here," Adam told him.
Greg furrowed his brow. "That's it? You just came out here for a gander at some blood and hair?"
Adam turned and smiled at him. "This is only a hobby. I don't take it seriously."
Greg turned us back to the house and we trudged through the snow. "Well, if that's all you wanted then let's get back before my aching knees give out. Running around herding the cows into the front pastures hasn't been easy, and the hands have been all skittish thinking they're seeing the shadow of that werewolf around the barn," he mused.
"Have they?" I asked him.
He scoffed. "I doubt it. The only thing around here that's spooked is those chickens, and I'll believe there's something prowling around when the cows get jumpy."
We reached the farmhouse and our car. "Thank you again for showing us the kill spot. It can't be easy losing your livelihood," Adam commented.
"Death's a pretty common occurrence around farms, young man. We deal with it as best we can," Greg told us.
There came the sound of giggling, and I saw faces disappear from the window. "At least they didn't see anything," I pointed out.
Greg snorted. "Good thing, too. I didn't want to stand through another funeral."
"Funeral?" I repeated.
He nodded his head towards the farmhouse. "The other day these grandkids of mine had a funeral for one of the chickens my wife killed for dinner. Good thing their pa was around to get at the bird before they buried it or we would've been picking dirt and pebbles out of our teeth for a few days."
"Kids will be kids, but we must leave before the storm comes," Adam spoke up.
Old Greg looked up at the sky and frowned. "I'd say you have a few hours, but don't dawdle anywhere too long, and don't be afraid to come back." He looked to me and winked. "Maybe next time I can show you my bulls."
I snorted. "That sounds great. I'll remember to bring my red cape. Anyway, goodbye."
"Bye."
We slipped into our seats and I drove us down the road. I guided us about a mile down the road before I pulled us over at a barbed wire-and-wooden post gate that led into the far reaches of Greg's land. I turned to Adam and raised an eyebrow. "All right, 'fess up. What did you find?" I questioned him.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a wisp of brown hair. "This."
I leaned forward and squinted at the fuzz. "Werewolf?"
"Yes, but the smell is slightly strange. It smells of werewolf, but very weak for a creature that Greg described," he told me.
"So a small werewolf?" I guessed.
"Perhaps, or perhaps a newly turned one. Your employer's wife had a similar scent," he explained as he pocketed the fur.
I cringed. "Don't remind me. I never thought I'd get out of that mess with my job."
Adam didn't tease me by reminding me further. His attention focused on the road ahead of us. "From this farm, where is this Ebeneezer's home located?" he asked me.
I nodded at the forest a hundred yards off across Greg's fields. "A couple of miles into that mess. Why? You weren't thinking about going there today, were you?"
"Is there a problem with seeing this Eb?" he wondered.
"He likes visiting people, not being visited, and I know for a fact he's got a rifle and a decent aim when he's sober. Besides, didn't you promise my dad we wouldn't be bothering anyone?" I reminded him.
Adam pursed his lips and forlornly shook his head. "I'm afraid the situation is dire enough to warrant breaking the promise. We must investigate every sighting to confirm my suspicions, but we will try to be as diplomatic as possible."
"And your suspicions are that a werewolf is running loose around my hometown?" I guessed.
"Precisely."
I sighed and leaned over the wheel. "What a strange life I lead. It's even strange enough to affect my hometown."
Adam leaned back in his seat and frowned. "Yes, that is a strange coincidence."
I shrugged and pulled the car onto the road. "Maybe they like hamburgers. Old Greg's place isn't the only one with burger-on-the-hoof around here, and there's a lot of woods, too."
"That may be, but if the werewolf turns out to be a new one then we have two troubles to deal with," he pointed out.
I turned the car onto a bumpy back road that disappeared into the trees. "Well, whatever trouble we find I just hope it doesn't happen during the storm. That's two old guys who told us there's a blizzard coming, and even I can feel it's getting colder out there."
Adam grabbed his car door handle as the road grew rougher and we bounced around like pinballs. "How long will it take to arrive at Ebeneezer's home?"
"About a half hour. I almost hope he isn't home," I added.
I didn't realize I'd regret my wish.
Chapter 10
It was a long half an hour to Eb's house. A quarter mile onto the rough road the car was engulfed in woods that towered over us with their rattling bare limbs that scraped the sides of my car. The potholes were more like small swimming pools and I felt like we were on a slow rollercoaster ride through a haunted fun house.
The trip was bad enough that I was glad when the road opened and revealed Eb's shack. It stood at the far end of the small clearing on cinder blocks, and was made of old wooden slabs slapped together to resemble a building. The yard was filled with trash like old tires, cars, and pop cans. A generator sat beside the shack and was the only source of power for the tiny home.
I parked the car in front of the cinder block steps that led up to the rickety porch and we stepped out. Adam froze and his nostrils flared. "A werewolf has been here," he told me.
My muscles tensed and I whipped my head to and fro expecting one to jump out at us. "How long ago?"
"Last night." Adam lifted his nose and sniffed the air. "It is the same scent as the one I smelled at Greg's place."
"So no double-trouble yet?" I guessed.
"Not yet, but-"
"What was that?" I yelped as I jumped a foot in the air.
It was the noise of a sharp bang. I ducked down and expected old Eb to emerge from the woods armed and drunk. "The door to the cabin is open," Adam informed me.
I peeked over my closed car door and saw the front door was indeed open. The burgeoning wind grabbed it and again banged it against the door frame. I stood and sheepishly grinned at Adam. "I knew that."
"Is the door often left open?" he asked me.
I shrugged. "I didn't visit him much at all when I was a kid, so I don't really know."
Adam crept up the block stairs and kept low to the porch. He craned his neck and his sniffer flared and twitched. The scene was as if a man thought himself a killer rabbit stalking his prey. "It is safe to go inside. No one is around."
We walked into the interior and I clapped my hand over my mouth. The whole place was a mess of broken furniture, cracked windows, and dirty clothes. A cot stood at the far end beside the rock chimney, and to the left was an old gas stove powered by the generator. Overhead was a single light bulb. I tried the switch, and it flickered on.
I wish I hadn't turned it on because it revealed dark blood stains smeared across the walls. I pointed a quivering finger at the smears. "Is that-?"
"Human blood? No. It is the blood from the cows," he told me.
I slumped my shoulders and sighed. "That's some good news."
"I am afraid I will have to ruin the good news with the news that I cannot smell any recent signs of your neighbor," Adam informed me.
I cringed. "You don't think he was attacked, do you?"
"Let us go outside." Adam led the way outside and searched the ground around the shack. The ground had no fresh snow, and tracks several days old were visible to us. He stopped at
large, wolf-like footprints on the opposite side of the shack from the generator.
"Werewolf?" I guessed.
Adam knelt down and brushed his fingers over the tracks. "Yes. By the scent these are the most recent, but I can find no tracks from the man."
"So what do you think happened to him?" I asked Adam.
Adam pursed his lips and shook his head. "I fear the worst has happened."
I cringed. "So wolf chow?"
"Yes, unless the werewolf did to him as my creator did to me."
"You mean a werewolf might have dragged him off and made him into another werewolf?" I guessed.
"That is a possibility, but one we can't confirm unless we follow the trail," he replied.
A chill wind blew past us and I pulled my coat closer to myself. "How about we stop making evidence against ourselves around here and go tell the sheriff something's happened to Eb?" I suggested.
Adam pursed his lips, but gave a nod. "You are correct. If we hide this from the authorities then when the missing man is discovered killed we will be the primary suspects."
"That's what I said, so let's get away from this spooky place and get back to civilization." I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the car. In fifteen minutes we hit the main road and drove toward town. The sky above us was dark with thickening clouds, and I turned up the heater as the temperature dropped. "I think our old-man barometers are going to be right."
Adam leaned in his chair, leaned against his door, and held his chin in his hand. "So it seems."
"You think you can still find that wolf trail that led away from Eb's place?" I asked him.
"Perhaps, if the wind is not too-" A heavy wind hit the side of the car and tried to push us into the next lane.
"Whoa, girl!" I called to the car as I pulled it into the correct lane. "You were saying?" I quipped.
"I was saying that the odds of our finding the trail are not good," he corrected himself.
"Even with that super sniffer of yours?"
"Even with my super sniffer."
"Dang."
A few minutes later we reached town and I drove us to the small office of the sheriff. It was a low, deep, brick building, one of the oldest in town. The back held a few cells for the resident drunks, and the front was filled with desks. We stepped inside and I saw Sheriff Wyman himself seated at the front desk. The town was small enough there was need for only a sheriff and about five deputies.
Sheriff Wyman looked up from some paperwork and smiled at us. "Well, well, if it isn't the stamp stealer."
I walked up and glared at him. "I was just testing you guys. Besides, you had others."
"Another tale of your daring mischief?" Adam guessed.
Sheriff Wyman nodded. "Yep. This little girl here came with her class of fifth graders and pilfered one of our official stamps with our seal. I was a deputy at that time and made the arrest."
"I was locked up in a cell for the rest of the trip, and they wouldn't even give me a tin cup to rap against the bars," I added.
The sheriff snorted. "No, but I heard your dad gave you a good talking-to when you got home."
I cringed and rubbed my posterior. "Maybe 'talking' isn't the right word."
"Well, what can I do for you today?"
"We wish to report a missing person. We visited Ebeneezer Scald at his cabin and found him missing," Adam told him.
Sheriff Wyman's smile dropped off his face faster than a bowling ball off a ten-story building. "Missing?"
"Or maybe eaten by that thing that got Old Greg's cows," I added.
Sheriff Wyman pulled out a notepad and started scribbling down notes. "When did you go see him?"
"Thirty minutes ago. We wanted to ask him about the wolf," Adam explained.
"And what did you find?"
"Blood on the walls inside the cabin, and large dog or wolf tracks around the cabin," Adam explained.
At the mention of blood Sheriff Wyman whipped his head up and his eyes narrowed. "So no sign of Eb anywhere?"
Adam shook his head. "No sign at all."
Sheriff Wyman pulled out a few statement papers and handed them to us. "I'm going to need statements from you two, along with your contact information."
I glanced over my paper, but looked over the top at the sheriff. "But aren't you going to try to find him? He might still be around there," I suggested.
The lawman stood and nodded out the front windows behind us. I half-turned and noticed large, fluffy flakes fell from the sky. "That there is the start of what's predicted to be the first snow storm of the season. If anybody goes up that bad road they'll just end up getting stuck, and then we'll have two missing persons on our hands. First chance I get I'll go up there with a snowmobile, but until the wind calms and the snow ain't so bad Eb's on his own."
"When do you wish these statements to be returned?" Adam spoke up.
"As soon as you can, but I don't recommend you stay here to fill them out. That snow's going to be thick soon, and if that's your car out there then I suggest you go home right now and wait it out," he suggested.
"We will. Thank you for your time," Adam replied. He took hold of one of my shoulders and herded me outside.
I shrugged his hand off and glared at him. "You and the sheriff are awful calm about a man being murdered."
"We can't be sure of that yet, and the sheriff is a reasonable man. He knows the risk of investigating during a storm would only lead to more trouble," Adam argued.
We slid into our seats inside the car and I shook my head. "I can't believe this is happening in my hometown," I muttered.
"Yes, very unbelievable, but we will have our answers to why this is happening when we find the beast that destroyed Greg's cattle and stole away with Eb," Adam comforted me.
I glanced down at the paperwork and cringed. "I don't know if my parents are going to take this too well," I commented.
"We could avoid telling them until more is found," he suggested.
I snorted and shook my head. "By then they would've learned about Eb's disappearance from half a dozen other people, and I'd be in big trouble. No, we'd better tell them when we get home." I sighed and started the car. The large snowflakes already covered the windshield. "First a werewolf, then a missing woodsman, and now a snowstorm. Could this vacation get any worse?"
Chapter 11
We reached home a long half hour later. I drove like a granny in the thickening snow storm. By the time we reached the old farmhouse visibility was nil. Mom rushed onto the porch, but Dad wasn't to be seen.
"Thank goodness you're back! We thought you were trapped in town or down the road or in a ditch," Mom told us
"No, but we have some bad news." I turned my head to and fro. "Where's Dad?"
She nodded her head towards the barn. "Out there with his tinkerings, but what news do you have?"
"We tired to visit old Eb about the wolf sighting, but we found the place a mess-well, worse than usual, and he wasn't there. We-well, we think something might have happened to him. Like what happened to the cattle," I informed her.
My mom's face blanched and she snatched our arms to drag us inside. "Well, you two just get inside and I'll call your father. If there is a mad dog or wolf or something running loose then we'd better get inside. There's some sandwich stuff on the table in the kitchen. I'll be right back." She left us in the hall, grabbed her coat and ear muffs, and hurried outside. The storm gained strength and the wind blew snowflakes into the house before my mom shut the door behind herself.
"Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped," I muttered.
"She took it rather calmly," Adam argued.
I snorted and shook my head. "For my mom, that's not calm, that's panicked. In a minute you're going to see my dad come in with her and tell her-"
"I'm sure everything's all right, Annie. He's probably gone off again hunting somewhere," I heard my dad console my mom as they stepped onto the porch.
"But I think this is serious, Ralph," Mom insiste
d.
"What's serious is my missing sandwich. You sure I didn't leave it inside?" he asked her.
They walked inside and looked like two snow-people covered as they were in a thin sheet of snow. "You took it out to the barn with you, plate and all, Ralph, but I really think this business about Eb is serious."
My dad turned his attention to Adam and me. "What exactly is this business with Eb?"
"He's missing, and we found evidence that whatever attacked Greg's cattle attacked him," Adam told him.
Dad paused in removing an arm from his coat and raised an eyebrow. "Evidence? You make this sound like it's a murder case."
"Something serious may have happened to him," Adam confirmed.
"Did you tell the sheriff about it?" Dad asked him.
"Yeah, but he can't go up there until after the storm," I spoke up.
"It's a good thing he's not trying. This is going to be a real mean one, especially for this early in the season," my dad agreed as he nodded at the windows.
Outside the comfortable, warm farmhouse the storm raged. The wind whipped the gentle flakes so they barraged building and plant with their cold, wet bodies. Visibility was limited to what lay between your eyes and the tip of your nose, and the temperature tumbled to the low twenties. Not cold enough to throw water outside and watch it freeze midair, but cold enough to make me want to scuttle to the fireplace in the living room.
"But what if there really is a wild animal prowling around?" my mom fretted.
"Then it's taken to hiding some place where it'll be safe and won't bother anyone," Dad pointed out. He took my mom's arm and led all of us towards the kitchen. "Now let's go make another sandwich so I don't starve to death, and save some for my lunch tomorrow."
"Must you go to work? The roads will be awful," she pointed out.
"You know Tilly can't spell worth a darn in her columns, and nobody else is as thorough as I am at catching them. If I let anybody else be editor for even a day there'd be articles about people finding religion and dog, and tikes being stolen off the racks at the schools," he argued.
"Can't you just close shop for one day?" she pleaded.
The pair of them stood in the middle of the kitchen with Adam and me in the doorway. Dad wrapped Mom in his arms and smiled at her. "I'll be fine, Annie. I'm sure the roads will be plowed before then, and the old wagon's never failed me yet."