Chapter 9 #2
She frowned, scrolling through the list of names.
Finding Daisy O’Leary, she stopped. This must be Robby’s current girlfriend.
Daisy worked at the grocery store too. No wonder Cassie had mentioned it.
“I think Daisy is his new girlfriend. Or maybe soon to be ex-girlfriend,” she amended.
“Daisy works at the grocery store, same as Cassie Krueger. They were both a year behind me in school.”
“Okay, thanks.” He wrote Daisy’s name down too. “I don’t know what he sees in her, though. You’re prettier by far.”
She felt her cheeks grow warm and knew her fair skin was betraying her again. “Thanks, but even back in school, Daisy was known to be—well, easy.” She avoided his gaze, hoping he didn’t pursue the subject. “Oh, and here’s Jake Rolland. He’s another friend of Robby’s.”
After writing that name down, Joel asked, “Would Dean or Jake give Robby a place to stay if needed?”
“Absolutely.” She didn’t hesitate. “They’ve been friends since high school. Although I still think Robby was probably at his own apartment and just didn’t bother to answer the door when Griff showed up.”
“You could be right, but if Robby is involved in these incidents, he’s likely staying away from his place.
Especially since he called off sick from work.
” He stared at the screen for a long moment.
“These names are a good place to start. Give me time to update Griff.” Joel rose to his feet and reached for his phone.
“When I’m finished here, we should head outside.
I keep forgetting it gets darker a little earlier now. ”
“Sounds good.” She glanced outside to see he was right about dusk beginning to fall. She closed her laptop, made sure it was plugged in to recharge the battery, then headed to the living room. “Time’s up, Ben. We’re going to head outside for a bit.”
“No,” he protested. “I wanna play.”
“You’ll have time to play again tomorrow.” Her tone was firm. “Put it away.”
Ben finally looked up at her, clearly annoyed. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Yes, I can.” She suppressed a sigh. “If you want time to play tomorrow, you’ll put it away now. Otherwise, I’ll just take it away for the next day or two.”
For a moment, he looked as if he might burst into tears. Then he threw the game aside, narrowly missing Royal.
She quickly grabbed the game. “You almost hit Royal.”
Now his eyes filled with tears. He turned and buried his face against Royal’s dark fur. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s going on?” Joel frowned as he crossed the room.
“Nothing, other than Ben has lost his video game privileges until tomorrow evening.” She forced a smile. “Give me a minute to put this away and we’ll be ready to go.”
Joel nodded, and she quickly went into her room. She opened the bathroom drawer and tucked the video game inside.
Would parenting Ben get easier? Somehow she doubted it.
Maybe she needed to pray for God to grant her patience because she was clearly going to need it.
Joel waited for Ben to lift his head, tears smudging the boy’s cheeks. He wasn’t sure why the kid was crying, but it was time for a distraction. “We’re going outside to learn about wildlife before it gets too dark.”
Ben sniffled loudly. “Okay.”
A few minutes later, Trina entered the room. “I’m ready.” Her smile was not reflected in her deep brown eyes. Whatever had transpired over the video game still bothered her.
“Great. Let’s go then. Come, Royal.” His K9 didn’t have to be asked twice. The dog eagerly jumped off the sofa, coming straight to his side. After a moment’s hesitation, Ben came too.
He held the door for them, then led the way around to the clearing behind the cabin. “First thing, I’m going to show you what bear scat looks like.”
“I can hardly wait,” Trina muttered dryly.
He chuckled. “Exciting stuff, I know. But keep in mind, this is good information to learn.”
“If you say so.” This time, her cheeky smile was genuine.
He headed toward the opening between two trees that Ben and Royal had taken earlier. The path had clearly been used by other patrons of the cabin. The woods grew dense, but the late western sunlight filtered through just enough to enable them to see.
He smelled the scat before he saw it, although the scent had diminished over time. Pushing aside the brush, he gestured to the pile. “This is bear scat.”
“Lemme see.” Ben pushed forward to peer at the mound. He frowned. “That looks like poop.”
“Exactly. This is where the baby bear must have gone to the bathroom. And that’s why mama grizzly grunted when you and Royal got too close.”
Trina looked at the pile dubiously. “Wow, that’s huge. How can you tell it’s from the cub?”
“It would be much bigger if it wasn’t.” He shrugged. “Bear cubs grow pretty fast. A year from now, you wouldn’t be able to tell whether this is from a mama or a cub.”
“How do you know it’s fresh?” Trina asked.
“Mostly by the smell and texture.” He went on to explain what to look for. “You can tell by the dryness that this has been out for a while.”
“Again, if you say so.” Her tone was dubious. “For me, if I see bear scat, I’m heading back inside my house, the cabin, or any other place with walls to keep the bear far away.”
“That’s a good point. Ben, if you see anything resembling bear scat, you’ll need to head back inside too.” He held the boy’s gaze. “More importantly, you need to pay attention to Royal. See how the dog isn’t barking now? He was barking earlier when you came across the mama bear, right?”
Ben slowly nodded. “He was barking a lot. I didn’t know why.”
“Next time Royal starts to bark, pay attention. He’ll always try to protect you,” he explained. “And you can see he only barks for a reason.”
“Okay.” Ben gave a nod. “I understand.”
He wanted to mention the bear’s grunting sounds but decided that may be too much information at one time. “Okay, let’s go a little farther. I doubt the bear is nearby, and I saw some elk droppings earlier.”
“Do we need to be wary of elk too?” Trina asked as they continued along their path. “Are they protective of their young?”
“They can be, but I haven’t heard of an elk attacking a human.” Not that there couldn’t be a first , he thought. “Moose are generally more likely to charge a human if the animal perceives a threat.”
“Great,” Trina said on a sigh. “What about bobcats?”
“They generally hunt at dusk.” He pushed forward with Royal at his side until he located the elk droppings. He stopped and drew Ben closer. “What do you see there?”
“Small round poop!” Ben grinned.
“We call them elk droppings.” What was it about kids who liked to say the word poop? “Deer droppings are round just like this, only slightly smaller. And as you can guess, moose droppings are bigger. Not like a bear scat, though. They’re the biggest of them all.”
“Big and small,” Ben repeated, then he frowned. “But I only have to worry about the big smelly bear scat.”
“That’s right.” He decided there was no point in instilling any more fear in the boy now.
He hadn’t come across any moose droppings on his trek around the cabin, so he felt certain they were safe from that threat source for the moment.
“Okay, that’s enough for one day. But you’ll make sure to pay attention next time Royal barks, right?
You’ll know he’s trying to warn you of possible danger. ”
“Right.” Ben hopped from one foot to the other. “Because Royal is the smartest dog ever.”
“Yep, he sure is.” All the Sullivan K9s were smart and well trained. It was rare for any of their dogs to give a false alert. He hoped the SAR calls had slowed down a bit. He hated being out of the rotation for so long.
“Thanks for the lesson.” Trina swatted at a mosquito. “Can we head back now?”
“Sure.” She was so not a nature girl, and for some reason, he found that cute. As he turned on the path, Royal suddenly went still, lifting his snout to the air and sniffing intently. He recognized that look. Something had caught the dog’s attention.
He glanced around but didn’t see anything alarming. “What is it, boy?”
The wind shifted just a bit. Royal sniffed for another moment, then began moving farther along the trail, his nose alternating between sniffing along the ground and scenting the air. Royal quickened his pace, another indication he was on the scent.
“What’s he doing?” Trina asked in alarm. “Please tell me he’s not tracking the grizzly.”
“I don’t think so. He’s never done that before.
” Joel was torn between sending Trina and Ben back to the relative safety of the cabin and keeping them close.
The latter won out. “Royal doesn’t normally track wild game, so let’s follow him for a few minutes to see what might have caught his attention. ”
“Okay.” Trina’s brown eyes were full of concern. “It can’t be the gunman, though, right? He would have no way of knowing our location.”
He hesitated, his gaze following Royal’s progress. It seemed impossible for anyone to know where they were. Even though he didn’t really think Royal was on the scent of the bear, he had never been in this sort of situation before. “I’m honestly not sure.”
“That’s not reassuring,” Trina muttered.
He grimaced, understanding her concern. But he didn’t want to lie to her about the threat level either. Royal kept moving along the path until they reached a creek. Then the dog sat and barked.
His alert? What did that mean?
“What are you telling me, Royal?” He scanned the terrain but didn’t see anything remotely alarming. “Why did you bark?”
Royal simply sat there, staring up at him intently. No doubt, waiting to be rewarded with his stuffed beaver, which was back in the cabin.
After a moment, Joel slowly moved along the edge of the creek. Royal had scented something. But there wasn’t a single footprint or animal print to indicate a threat.
Was he wrong about Royal tracking the bear? Maybe Royal wanted to let him know where the bear had gone since it had come so close to attacking them.
Anything was possible, although he wished there was some way to know for sure.
“What is it?” Trina asked.
“I don’t know.” He scanned their surroundings yet again. There hadn’t been any fresh bear scat or any other animal droppings. This didn’t make any sense. Royal tracked people, so maybe he should take the dog a little farther. “Let’s keep going.”
Trina frowned. “For how long? Ben was up early and needs to get some sleep.”
“I understand, but we won’t be that much longer.” He bent to stroke Royal. “You’re a good boy. Good boy!”
Royal jumped up, practically wiggling with joy. Then the dog put his nose to the ground and sniffed along the edge of the creek.
He didn’t alert, though, which made him wonder if Royal had in fact simply tracked the bear.
“Okay, boy, heel!” He waited for Royal to wheel around, returning to his side. “Good boy.” He bent to pet the dog for a moment, then straightened to look at Trina. “I’m not sure what to think. There’s nothing to indicate why Royal alerted.”
“What if the gunman was here?” Trina’s voice was low and full of concern. “Are we safe at the cabin?”
“I’m sure we are.” He spoke with a confidence he didn’t entirely feel. “I’m armed, remember? And I don’t think Royal alerted on the gunman. If so, he’d continue following the scent. Maybe he had scented the bear and knew the animal posed a danger to us.”
“Okay.” She didn’t look reassured. Hard to blame her.
“Let’s go, Royal.” He didn’t reward his K9 for the alert, mostly because he had no idea what Royal was trying to tell him. Times like this he really wished Royal could talk.
“Come, Ben,” Trina called. “Time to head back.”
Ben didn’t argue but kept his stick in hand as they followed the path back to the cabin. As they walked, Joel’s mind whirled.
Why had Royal alerted? Were they really safe at the cabin?
He honestly didn’t know.