Chapter Eighteen
We talk with Lilith as we return to Haven’s Rock. Or I talk to her, while Dalton follows with the canines. We keep our voices down, but I want her story before we reach town, where others can overhear.
“Nero was out last night,” she says. “He’s not a pet, and he usually prefers to stay outside at night.
Sometimes he hangs around, but other times he’s off hunting or wandering or whatever wolves do.
After you told me what was happening, I’d have liked him inside with me, and I would have insisted on it, but when I went to ask him to come inside, he was gone.
I heard him a little while later, howling to other wolves, and I knew he was out for the night, so I battened down the hatches. ”
She looks at me. “There’s an interior latch on the door, but no lock. I just closed everything up and made sure my rifle was out, while telling myself I was overreacting.”
“Which you weren’t.”
“Apparently not. I wasn’t worried enough to sit up all night with the rifle on my knees, though.
I read by candlelight and then fell asleep around midnight.
An hour later, a noise outside woke me, which proves I was calm enough to fall asleep, but not soundly.
Still, I figured it was Nero, and I was going to try to entice him inside with a bone.
Half asleep, I opened the door, completely forgetting what you’d said until I looked out and there was no sign of Nero.
Then a twig cracked, and I got my ass back inside fast.”
She’s quiet as we turn a corner with care, making sure it’s empty ahead.
Then she continues, “I still told myself I was overreacting. It definitely wasn’t Nero—he’d have come out when the door opened.
But a cracking twig could be anything. I was jumpy because Nero wasn’t around, and I’m also not accustomed to hearing noises at night because Nero usually is around. ”
“He keeps any critters from getting close.”
“You’ve seen that firsthand. Whether I’m home or not, he guards the cabin, and nothing is coming near it. So I tried to settle. I sure as hell wasn’t sleeping—and I didn’t feel comfortable lighting a candle to read—but I tried to just lie down and relax, with the gun beside my bed.”
She glances back, as if checking on Nero. He’s padding along behind Storm, bringing up the rear.
“I kept hearing noises,” she says. “Rustles, snaps, all the little indications that something was out there. Honestly, my biggest fear was a bear, especially that one you mentioned. You said it looked a little thin, and I’m hypervigilant in autumn.
During my first fall here alone, an old bear stalked me.
At first, I wasn’t concerned—I had Nero and he was nearly full-grown.
What animal is going to mess with a healthy young wolf? ”
“A desperate bear.”
“Yep. It stalked us almost back to the cabin, and then it charged. Luckily, I had my spray ready. It went after Nero, and I hit it with the spray, and it didn’t give a shit until it couldn’t see.
Then I shot it. Took more shots than I care to admit to—my hands were shaking and I’d never killed anything that big.
I learned my lesson, though. Whatever I think I know about bears, it doesn’t apply when they’re desperate. ”
“It really doesn’t.”
“That was my fear, then. That a hungry bear—maybe the one you dealt with—was outside the cabin, and my door isn’t meant to stop a grizzly.
So I got out of bed and shifted into full hillbilly-grandma mode, on a chair facing the door with a gun over my lap.
I also had bear spray. If it came at me, I’d do what I did the last time. Spray first, shoot later.”
“Good plan,” I say.
“I thought so. I’m sitting there, listening, and I swear the motherfucker is circling the cabin.
There’s a crack in front of me, a rustle beside me, another crack to the rear …
But then I realize what I’m not hearing.
Animal noises. No snuffling. No grunts. A grizzly is never going to be that quiet for that long.
If it was circling, it’d be looking for a way in, sniffing at the cabin, pushing at it, trying to figure out how to get the tasty treat inside. ”
“There was none of that.”
“None. And after a while, the noises stopped. So I breathed a sigh of relief. I overreacted. It was a curious critter, maybe another wolf or a fox. Whatever it was, though, it was gone.”
She rubs the back of her neck. “And then someone tried the door.”
“Shit.”
She nods. “Again, my first reaction was that I was imagining it. You’ve seen my door.
It’s a simple construction. You turn the exterior handle, and if I haven’t put the inside latch on, it opens.
I’d latched it, so the handle won’t turn.
All you get is a jiggle. That’s what I heard—a jiggle of the doorknob.
I walked toward it, but everything was quiet.
Then it moved. I was looking right at the handle, and it moved very slowly up and down. ”
“Someone trying it again, but carefully.”
“I pressed up against the door, and I could hear someone breathing. I don’t know how long we were both standing there, on either side of that door. I kept wishing that I had a peephole.” She gives a humorless chuckle. “Not something you ever imagine you needing in the wilderness.”
“Did they try the door again?”
“A few times,” she says. “The handle would move or the door would groan, as if someone was testing it.”
“Did they know you were right on the other side?”
“I don’t think so. I wasn’t making any noise. They seemed to be trying to figure out how to get in without alerting me that they were there. They must have been at that door for at least fifteen minutes.”
“And then?”
“And then they started circling again.” She shivers. “I could hear them, just enough to know they were still there. At the front, the side, the back.”
“Trying to find a way in.”
“Trying, but not too hard. Maybe they only wanted to see who was inside. I thought about what you said, that woman who’s missing. I was wondering if it could be her, figuring out who was in there, looking for help.”
“Or looking to see if she could overpower you and steal whatever isn’t nailed down.”
She sighs. “That was the problem. I know she might have murdered her partner, but I couldn’t help worrying that I was ignoring someone in need again. I kept thinking back to when that happened with the kid.”
When Max escaped his kidnapper, he’d found Lilith’s cabin. Unfortunately, he also found Nero, who ran him off.
“You didn’t ignore him. He got spooked and ran.”
“Still, I felt terrible. What if I was doing that again? This woman saw her husband murdered, and she doesn’t have a sat phone or any way of calling for help, and she’s been running through the woods trying to find help because she knows you guys are here somewhere.
She finds my cabin, but she’s not sure it’s you, and I’m inside with a gun, ready to blow her head off. ”
I shake my head. “You couldn’t take a chance. So what happened?”
“Nero came home.”
“Ah. That must have been a shock for whoever was there.”
A tight laugh. “I think someone needs a clean pair of underwear, that’s for sure.
You know how he is. Being a wolf, he’s not going to bark a warning.
He seems to have smelled an intruder and come charging from the woods.
I heard a yelp and a flurry of activity, as if the person was running.
I called Nero back. I couldn’t tell whether that yelp was a man or a woman, and if it could be a woman in trouble, maybe hearing another woman’s voice would bring her back.
But whoever it was, they just kept going.
I called Nero inside and waited until after breakfast. Then I packed a bag and here we are. ”
“Did your visitor leave anything behind?”
“Honestly, I was too spooked to check.” Her jaw sets. “I’m done here. That really was the last straw. I know you guys don’t pose any threat, and I’ve been telling myself I’m still safe, but I’m not. I’m really not.”
Back in Haven’s Rock, I get Lilith settled at our place for now.
She’ll have a room in the family quarters tonight—we have plenty of space there.
But I really want to get a look at her cabin, and that means we don’t have time to properly introduce her to everyone.
Considering that we’re on lockdown, people are going to freak out if they see a stranger in their midst, even if it’s a pleasant-looking woman.
Well, pleasant-looking woman with a wolf.
Yeah, that’s going to take some explaining.
So for now, she can rest in our chalet. While I show her around, Dalton goes into town to tell Anders and a few others that she’s here. He’ll also pop in to check on Rory, so I’ll resist the urge to do that myself. Otherwise, it’ll be an hour before I’m ready to go.
We need to get to Lilith’s place, and then, if we have time, we need to spy on the miners. My baby must wait. For now, I use a few minutes to pump-and-dump and change the leak pads in my bra.
Twenty minutes after we arrived, we’re off again. This time, we’re moving faster, aware of both lost time and added tasks. We head straight for Lilith’s little cabin.
I start by popping my head inside. I want to see whether anyone came by after she left. There’s some signs of disturbance, but on closer inspection, it’s just the chaos caused by a speedy packing. Her food stores are all neatly stacked, and that’s the first thing an intruder would go for.
I join Dalton outside. He’s pacing around the perimeter.
Storm is doing the same, with her nose to the ground.
We hadn’t asked her to find a trail, but she can tell Dalton is in search mode, so she is, too.
She seems to be following something, but she’s calm and only casually focused, which I could interpret to mean it’s not Gretchen—her former target.
I start my own search. When I see a footprint, I am pleased by the fact that I recognize it as my own.
I’ve been distracted enough in the past year that it can sometimes take a minute to figure that out.
I also find three more that seem as if they came from a woman’s boot, but I had the foresight to take a photo of Lilith’s tread, and this matches.
And then I find another print. It’s in the woods, maybe ten feet from the side of her cabin. A wide boot tread a couple of inches longer than my own. I call Dalton over, and he sets his boot beside it. The mark is about a size larger.
“Likely male,” I say. “When I saw Gretchen, she was wearing women’s hikers. Average size. We’ve also seen what seems to be her footprints, and that’s not it.”
I hunker down. Dalton watches silently, letting me work it through.
“Not Haven’s Rock standard issue.” I pull out my phone and search for two photos.
Then I compare them to the one on the ground.
“It doesn’t match the footwear from the miners or the guards.
Of course, we’ve seen that they can sometimes bring their own, so that’s not proof positive this isn’t one of their guys. ”
Dalton grumbles under his breath.
I straighten. “Yep, I don’t like that answer either. We know Gretchen might be out here. We know the miners and guards definitely are. What we don’t need is an unknown third party.”
I look around. “I’m considering the usefulness of having someone—well, a couple of someones—stake out the cabin tonight.”
He nods slowly, taking a moment to think. “In case our stalker comes back. Maybe Will and Kendra?”
“That’d be a good team.”
“I’d say Will and me, and but with everything that’s going on, I don’t think you want me leaving you alone with Rory.”
I shrug. “I might lose a little sleep, but I’d bounce back. My bigger concern would be having you awake all night, when I have a feeling we aren’t resolving this today. Better to put Kendra on it. They can sleep here in shifts. We have enough militia to fill in for the lockdown.”
“That’s what we’ll do then. Anything else you need to see here?”
I shake my head. “We still have time to get a look at the mining operation.”