The bad news came with a call to his bedroom just after sunrise.
“The elk’s dead,” Barbara said.
“What happened?”
“Come to the paddock.”
He dressed quickly and ran to the paddock to find everyone else already there standing around in shock.
Ben spotted him first. “They’ve gone too far this time.”
Saleha, Zemar and Barbara were inside the paddock.
He ran through the gate but stopped before getting to them.
They stood in a circle around the elk’s body. Its head was gone. It had been skinned.
His legs felt numb and wobbly as he walk the last few feet.
Zemar said, “It was shot with a high-powered rifle. They hung the hide over there.” He pointed to the barn. The elk’s pelt had been stretched out and fastened to the door.
Craig looked down at the elk. His stomach pinched.
“They knew what they were doing,” Barbara said.
“I know what you’re going to say next.”
“Like a taxidermist.”
“They shot it again once it was down.” Saleha pointed out new wounds in the left shoulder.
Zemar pointed out the larger wound in the chest. “That was from a distance. Someone with skills as a sniper did that. The second ones were from a handgun. They shot it three times.”
“Why would they do that?”
“They had to have used a silencer or someone would have heard something.” Zemar took him aside. “They’ve declared war on us. They’re telling us they can come in here anytime and kill anything or anyone.”
“I told you, this is not Afghanistan.”
“It just got a lot closer, my friend. We need to prepare ourselves. I can sneak in there tonight and—”
“No.”
Zemar was developing the siege mentality he’d witnessed—and been a part of—in Afghanistan. Small groups banded together, armed themselves and saw everyone who wasn’t one of them as the enemy. A number of killings attributed to the Taliban while he was there had in fact nothing to do with them.
“We got you and Saleha out to prevent you from going down this path. You’re not to do anything.”
Barbara and Saleha came to them.
Barbara said, “I just took a quick look, but I think they retrieved the bullets again.”
Zemar said, “No ballistics check. They know how to clean up after themselves.”
“Craig, you have to tell Joan; it is obvious Colter’s people did this.”
“We still have no proof. She’ll believe us, but she can’t do a thing until we can give her some evidence.”
“She could tell Colter what we have, let him know he’s her main suspect. She could at least do that.”
“Shana! She’ll be here at eight. I don’t want her to see this.”
“Too late for that.” Zemar pointed out Shana coming up the drive on her mountain bike.
“She’s early,” Saleha said. “I’m not surprised.”
“We can’t let her see this.”
Barbara blocked him. “Yes, we can. We have to.”
“She’s only fourteen.”
“She’s going to see animals die here.”
“But not like this.”
“She has to know what is going on. She would find out sooner or later.”
Shana waved to everyone as she arrived and came straight to the paddock.
He and Barbara went to the gate to intercept her. He blocked her view of the body, but she spotted the hide on the barn door as soon as she got off her bike.
“What happened?” She started crying.
“Come on,” he said, “I’ll call your mother.”
“No. I work here now.”
“Shana. . . .”
She wiped away her tears. “Please, just tell me what happened.”
Barbara said, “We believe whoever wounded it came back to finish the job and leave us a message.”
Zemar and Saleha came over. The Oregon State group came over.
Saleha hugged Shana. “This is not a good start for you.”
“What happens now?”
Barbara took a deep breath and said, “We will perform a necropsy to confirm how it died. Once that is done, its remains will be fed to our carnivores.”
Shana gasped.
He said, “You have to understand that as much as we love animals, as friendly as Caesar is, this is not Disneyland. We cannot make mountain lions, foxes and wolves vegetarians.”
Shana nodded. “Mom and I talked about that last night. She warned me that I might see things that would upset me.”
“I’m glad you two talked. In the wild, your best friend here would prey on elk. That’s nature’s way.” And that was about as trite as he could get.
“I do understand. They are what they are.”
“Maybe I better still take you home.”
“No.” She looked at everyone. “I know you can’t possibly save every animal that comes here, but I also know you will always do everything you can for them. That’s what I want to do. Everyone else has a job to do here and they aren’t going home because of what happened. Please don’t send me away. I have to deal with this like anyone else here does.”
Those wild-woman genes were something to behold. “Saleha will show you what you need to do.”
“Can I help here?”
“Not this time. Caesar will be eager to see you. I don’t want him to smell . . . elk on you.”
She nodded and went with Saleha to start her shift.
The technicians proceeded to gather up the elk’s remains. The Oregon State group went about preparing for their last day in the mountains.
Zemar said, “I need to show you something. I found it last night.”
“Is it something we can use?”
“Right now, I would just say it’s something curious.”