Chapter 29
Shana was sluggish when she got up. She’d been withdrawn last night when she came home.
“Maybe you should take it easy today.” She did let Shana have a half-cup of her special morning mocha. “You might have overdone it last night. Two days in a row could be too much.”
“I’m good,” was all she said.
She’d brought home the Suburban and used it to drive them to the Harding farm.
Once they were on their way, Shana asked, “Have you found Albert Nguyen yet?”
“Harry Madsen is looking into it.”
“Why aren’t you doing it?”
“We have nothing to investigate at this point. There’s no trail. No one has found his delivery truck. There have been no reported sightings. Harry requested to stay on the case because they were friends. Could Donny tell us anything that would help?”
She shook her head. “Donny and his mom are worried sick. His dad was happy and had no reason to leave.” Shana then asked, “Militias are illegal, right?”
“There’s no easy answer to that question. There are many types of militia. Most in this country are just ultra-conservative groups who are against big government, taxes and gun control. Some of the more radical ones preach arming its members for some kind of future threat, often cited as our own government moving too far to the left. It is illegal to form a militia with the intention of engaging in seditious activities or terrorism. Why?”
“Just curious.” She drifted off to sleep.
As she drove into the farm and approached where she saw Harding waiting, they passed a paddock beside a huge barn. What they saw in the paddock perked Shana right up.
“Oh, my god, he’s beautiful.”
Shana twisted in her seat as they drove past to keep watching the elk munching on the food two men had just brought to him. He had bandages on his left front shoulder and around his left rear leg that didn’t seem to bother him.
She parked the Suburban where Harding directed her to and they got out.
“Good morning.” Harding said to both of them. “I’m so glad you could come. We all are.”
Before she could respond, Shana yelped.
Behind Harding, a mountain lion was galloping toward them.
She grabbed hold of Shana and backed up.
Harding chuckled. “That’s just Caesar.”
Caesar raced up to Harding before skidding to a stop on the gravel and rubbing up against him. He then trotted over to Shana.
“It’s okay, Shana, I promise you both,” Harding said.
Shana reached out and patted his head. He started purring. She scratched him behind his ear. He purred even louder, rubbed himself along her leg and flopped down to be patted. His tail whipped back and forth as he curled up his front paws and exposed his belly.
“He loves it when you rub his tummy.”
Her face beatific, Shana knelt down and started rubbing Caesar’s belly. He wriggled with pleasure and rubbed his cheek against her knee.
“Well, he’s marked you. Once he likes you, he likes you. You have a mountain lion friend for life now.”
Caesar stretched out and closed his eyes to just enjoy all the attention.
She knelt down beside Shana and rubbed him too before leaving the petting to her daughter.
“We’ve had him since he was a cub.” He pointed over to a large pen. A mountain lion was standing at the chain link watching them. Her front left leg was missing. “That’s Cleopatra, his mother.”
“How did she lose it?”
“I’m sure you can guess.”
“A trap.”
“Who would do that?” Shana said. “That’s cruel.”
“She had torn her leg to shreds pulling it out of the trap. She was too week to go any further when we got to them. She must have been close to her den and Caesar came out to find her. We couldn’t save her leg. We never found any other cubs.”
“He’s fantastic,” Shana said. “I just love him.”
Caesar fidgeted under her caress and purred louder.
“He’s a big sissy. We haven’t had any success at preparing him for a return to the wild. He just likes it here too much. Three squares, all the attention he can get; he’s a stoner for every bit of it. He just thinks human beings are the best thing there is for him.”
Two women came from the hospital building. The older one stood about 5’4”, was in her early forties, had light-brown hair pulled back, and wore a white laboratory coat. She had been at the banquet with Harding. The younger one was four inches taller, walked very erect, was Afghani or Pakistani, had long, straight black hair, smooth features and wore blue jeans. An unbuttoned, long-sleeve, green-plaid man’s cotton shirt revealed a white T-shirt with a picture of Caesar on it underneath. The sleeves were rolled up to her elbows.
“This is Barbara Nyland, my partner in crime. This is Saleha Bibi Marwat. She’s a student. This is Sheriff Joan McGowan, and Caesar’s new friend there is her daughter, Shana.”
Shana waved before returning to spoiling Caesar.
She shook hands. “Which one of you is boss?”
Barbara smiled. “That depends.” Her laboratory coat had blood stains on it.
Saleha said with a soft voice, “Usually I am.” Her clothes had bits of straw sticking to them.
Harding pointed to people getting into two SUVs. “That group is from Oregon State. They’ve been here all summer doing research. They’re finished Monday and go back to Corvallis for start of semester.”
Saleha said, “Perhaps I could show Shana some of the animals we have staying here with us.”
“Cool.” Shana bounced up like the infatuated, caffeine-filled fourteen-year-old she was. “Can I?”
She nodded and watched Saleha, Barbara, Shana and Caesar go off together. Caesar hugged close to Shana’s right leg.
“He loves making new friends. If he had a Facebook account, I’m sure he’d have more friends than anyone else.”
“And now she’s smitten. I’ll never get her back into the car.”
“We have a few empty enclosures right now.”
“Some days I’m tempted.”
“Come with me, I’ll give you the other tour.”
He took her through every building they had. They passed Saleha showing Shana a black bear named Fred and a pair of wolf brothers in their prime who didn’t appear to have names.
“Traps again?”
“Fred was caught going through garbage in Dominion. He’s here to be treated for malnutrition before he’s relocated on the other side of the mountains. The brothers are the only survivors of their pack. It was slaughtered by a bunch of assholes who were supposed to be trophy hunting bighorn sheep.”
“Colter’s people?”
“I would have thought you’d learned not to get me started.”
“Does Harry think it could be Colter?”
“He has an open mind about who the poachers might be, though he’s never explained why.” There could have been some irritation in his voice.
“You served twice in Afghanistan, right?”
They paused at the paddock holding the wounded elk. When it raised its head, its antlers glinted in the morning sun. Regal and proud, it would be easy to revere such an animal. They stayed to watch it for a while.
“Yes, I did.”
“Then you went back there.”
“You’ve been researching me. I’m flattered.”
“I’ve been researching everyone. It’s what I do.”
“I had some unfinished business back there.”
The elk, his head held high, chewed away at his food, indifferent to their presence.
“Was Saleha part of that unfinished business?”
“Let’s just say everyone has a past.”
“And no one in Dominion wants to talk about theirs. They’ll talk about everyone else’s, especially mine, but not their own.”
“You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”
; “Why do I have to go first?”
“You’re the new kid on the block.”
“That’s Sheriff and I was born here.”
“So, how was your first week back in Dominion?”
They started walking again.
“Shana’s been wonderful. I can’t believe how much she’s done in the house. By the way, I’ve officially bought the place.”
“That is good news. What about your first week as sheriff?”
“Other than a trio of jerks Monday night, it’s gone smoothly.” There wasn’t any point complaining to Harding about the workforce report. “Do you know Stanford Wiley or Albert Nguyen?”
“Not Wiley, but Al came around here a few times to make some special-order deliveries. Has Harry found out anything yet?”
“If he has, he hasn’t told me.” There might have been some irritation in her voice.
They arrived back at the Suburban.
“How’s it going now?”
“You do a lot of fascinating work here.”
“For a bunch of antisocial, environmental radicals, that is.”
“I didn’t say that. I will say I get a more positive vibe here than I did at the Colter farm.”
“Then I’m even happier you came.”
Saleha brought Shana back to them. Caesar was still at her side. A man with similar features to Saleha but about eight inches taller came with them.
Saleha said, “Sheriff McGowan, I would like to introduce my brother, Zemar Khan Marwat.”
They shook hands.
“Are you a student here, too?”
“I am their IT guy.”
“That’s what you guys look like?”
“Most are better looking,” Saleha said.
“If they’re better looking than you, I’m going to start calling for help more often.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”
She blushed. “Please do.”
“He’s more than that,” Harding said. “He’s also the coordinator of our official begging for funds operations and he’s in charge of getting animals in and out of here.”
“All that and darkly handsome, too,” Shana said. “It’s this wild-woman gene from the Kirkpatrick side of the family. We’re all very bold when we see something, or someone, we like.”
“That,” Saleha said, “you can take as a compliment.”
Zemar bowed to both bold, wild-woman gene carriers.
“Can I work here?” Shana’s right hand rested on Caesar’s head so she could scratch behind his ear. “Saleha told me she could use some help.”
“We’re dealing with a lot on our plates right now: a new city, a new job, a new home that needs lots of work. You’ll be starting at a new school.”
Caesar flopped down at Shana’s feet and started playing with her laces with paws bigger than her shoes. He gnawed playfully at her ankle, which made Joan’s heart flutter, while purring loud enough to almost drown out what they were saying.
“She’s got his vote,” Harding said.
“Mom, I can handle it. I’ll keep my grades up, even math, I promise.”
Harding said, “She’s right about that. Every student who works here, high school or university, has to be honor roll or they can’t stay.” He said to Shana, “You are a bit young.”
“But I’m tall. You have to admit I’m tall, almost as tall as you.” She tried to get up on her toes, but Caesar grabbed her by the ankles.
“Working here is more than just playing with Caesar.”
“I could use the help,” Saleha said. “And you can be sure I will work her very hard.”
Caesar was resting his head on Shana’s foot. He had fallen asleep with his mouth open, his tongue out and drool all over Shana’s shoe.
She said, “He looks so content.”
“It’s hard to argue with that,” he said.
“Maybe a couple of days a week would be all right.”
Shana squealed and bounced up and down.
Caesar jumped to his feet and growled.
Shana hugged everyone. “When?”
Caesar pranced about until Shana quit moving so he could sit beside her and get scratched again.
Harding said, “Is tomorrow too soon? With Oregon State leaving Monday, it would give you a day to learn the routine before the heavy lifting starts.” He looked at Joan.
“You’re the boss.”
“Be here at nine.”
Shana said, “I’ll be here at eight. She bent over, kissed the top of Caesar’s head and scratched him hard behind his ears.
He rubbed his cheek against her, almost knocking her over.
Once she finally got Shana separated from Caesar, who didn’t want to leave her side any more than she wanted to leave his, she said to Harding, “Thank you. This is the second best time I’ve had since coming back to Dominion.”
He squinted in disappointed. “What was your best time?”
She got into the Suburban, lowered the window and looked into those grey-blues. “Wednesday night was pretty good.”
They sparkled. “I love your genes, you look great in them.”
She groaned and shook her head. “Dr. Harding, you are more than just a notch or two removed. You sound like a reject from eHarmony. That was corny and far too obvious.”
“I’m ashamed of myself for having said it.”
She blushed. “Liar.”