Chapter 27
Tean must have slept. He wasn’t sure how long the human body could go without sleep, but he knew that the effects—short- and long-term—were devastating.
So, after a few hours of wandering the freezing dark, picturing all the terrible things that might have happened—might be happening—to Daniel, he had gone home.
Jem had been on the sofa, with Scipio curled up next to him.
The Lab had opened his eyes. Jem hadn’t.
Tean had gone back into his room—their room.
And he had undressed and lain in bed and waited for his alarm to go off. And at some point, he must have slept.
But in the Uber on the way to work, eyes itching, he didn’t remember sleeping. What he remembered was Jem’s face. That first, almost invisible flicker of hurt. And the anger that had followed.
The DWR building was still quiet when Tean let himself inside.
In his office, he brewed his nettle tea, and he opened up his email, and he began catching up on what he’d missed.
He’d only been away from work for a day, but it felt like so much longer.
The number of emails waiting for him was shocking.
None of them was from Ammon.
He signed into his Offender Connect account and sent another. And when he was done, he was sweating.
He tried to focus on the messages that were waiting for him.
Many of them were ones that he could ignore or delete.
Others he could save for later. He was sipping his tea when he came to the one from Ed.
The message was a reply to the final report Tean had submitted for the depredation investigation.
Let’s talk about this.
That was it. That was all he’d written.
Tean checked the clock. It was barely eight, which meant technically, Ed should be in the building. He went in search of his boss.
The door to Ed’s office was open. Tean rapped and stepped inside. Ed was in the process of removing his jacket. He twisted at the waist, gave Tean one of his cheery smiles, and said, “Hey, you shouldn’t be in here—not after the day you just had.”
“This is my job,” Tean said. “Where else would I be?”
“At home,” Ed said as he hung the jacket on the back of his chair. “Or out enjoying another beautiful day. Have you seen Timp lately? Now’s the time to get up there, while the color is still good. I might have to play hooky myself—hey-o, don’t tell anybody I said that.”
“Ed, I’m not changing my report.”
Ed blinked, as though the change of subject had caught him by surprise—which, to be fair, it may have. “Oh. Well, all right. I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I investigated the alleged depredation.
Evidence at the scene, including observations of the carcass, gave no sign of wolf depredation.
That bogus necropsy confirmed it. I’m a professional, and I expect to be treated as a professional.
When I write a report giving my professional judgment, there’s no need to have a conversation about it. ”
Throughout the speech, Ed nodded along. Then he said, “Why don’t you shut my door?”
“As I said, there’s no need. I apologize if I gave you the impression that this was somehow an issue that was subject to debate or interpretation or—” Tean tried to think of a word that wasn’t quite as blunt as bribery and settled for “—diverse opinions. If you’d like me to communicate this in writing, I will, but I expect my report to be passed along to Fish and Wildlife so that the investigation can be closed. ”
“Well, see, Dr. Leon, it’s a little more complicated than that—”
“It’s really not. Excuse me, Ed. I have a lot of work to catch up on.”
Back in his office, Tean sat and pressed his hands against his thighs until they stopped trembling. When he felt better—no, not better, but at least functional—he turned his attention back to the computer. There had been a report of an outbreak of Chronic Wasting Disease—
The tap at his door made Tean tense. Then he called, “Yes?”
Instead of Ed, though, Karli stepped inside.
The new—relatively new—executive director at the Division of Wildlife Resources was a petite woman: White, fifties, with blond hair the exact color of a Golden Retriever.
Today, she wore a lacy top with a polka-dot skirt and calf-high cowboy boots, and in general, her clothing choices made it hard to tell if she was playing the part of someone from Dolly’s Christmas Stampede or that show Jem watched about those people in Wyoming.
“Good morning, Dr. Leon. Do you have a minute?”
“Actually, I’m—”
“This won’t take long,” she said and closed the door. Her boots clicked against the linoleum, and then she perched on the edge of a chair. “I am so, so sorry to hear about what you went through yesterday. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.”
“And your partner?” She said the word like she thought it was cute.
“Jem’s fine too. Can I help you with something, Karli?”
“I’m so glad you’re both all right. My whole family was praying for you last night; I want you to know that.”
And at that point, she reached across the desk and laid her hand on top of his.
Tean tried to count to five before pulling away. He made it to three. To cover the movement, he said, “Thank you. I’m sorry, Karli, but I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on—”
“Don’t worry about that,” she said, waving a hand at the computer. “We’re going to take care of that. We’ll get it all sorted out.”
Something tightened in Tean’s chest. “What do you mean?”
“Dr. Leon—” A winsome smile that would have made the Dixie stampede proud. “Tean, I had no idea you’d been under so much pressure. It explains so much. I wish you would have said something, sweetheart.”
This time, a full second passed, and then another, as Tean tried to work out her meaning. “If you’re referring to the depredation investigation—”
Karli shushed him and waved the words away. You could wave anything away, it seemed, if you were Karli Walker. “Don’t worry about that, honey. We’ll handle all of that.”
A high-pitched noise started at the edge of Tean’s hearing. He wanted a sip of tea, but he didn’t trust himself not to spill. “What do you mean?” he asked again.
“Dr. Leon, you are a valued member of this organization. You’re a hard worker, and I love hard workers. You’re an expert in your field, respected by your colleagues. You are what makes the Utah DWR so great.”
Tean couldn’t say anything.
“And I know,” Karli said gently, “you understand the mission of the Division of Wildlife Resources. We have a sacred stewardship, Dr. Leon. It’s our responsibility to care for all of God’s creatures.
That’s what He said to Adam and Eve, to care for the animals, and that’s what we’re doing here.
That’s God’s work. That’s why it’s so important for the Division of Wildlife Resources to be above reproach. Do you know what I mean?”
“No,” Tean said.
But a part of him did know. And knew what was coming.
“What I mean is,” Karli said with a tiny frown—not enough to wrinkle her forehead—“if people don’t trust us, don’t trust our judgment, then they won’t trust us to make the decisions that are best for everyone.
When that happens—when people think we’re playing favorites, or we’re not being fair, or that we have a political agenda, well, that’s when we can’t do this important work. ”
It was like hearing Jem’s voice, the smartassery of it, because he knew what Jem would say. And Tean was only half-surprised when it came out of his mouth: “The Lord’s work.”
“Exactly!” She brightened. She straightened in her seat. She even gave a little clap of her hands to show how pleased she was. “I knew you’d understand.”
“This is about Joe Neff.”
“Oh, Dr. Leon.” Disappointment. A hint of hurt. “Not at all.”
“He wants to kill that wolf because he likes killing things, and wolves are on the endangered species list, and now he’s finally got an excuse to kill one.”
“That seems awfully harsh. And I don’t think you’re considering the impact to the local ecosystem.” She said the words like she was reading them off a page. “Did you know that when a pack of wolves move into an area, coyotes are displaced?”
“They’re displaced because mesopredator populations were too high to begin with. It’s a good thing, Karli. Other species, the ones that those mesopredators prey on, actually recover. The whole ecosystem is stronger.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Karli said with a laugh. He remembered high school, and embarrassing himself with some nerdy fact while other, cooler classmates stared at him.
When silence came again, Tean simply waited.
“So,” Karli said, “I’m sure you can understand how complicated this situation is.”
“I’m sorry,” Tean said. “I’m exhausted. I had a horrible fight with Jem. And I actually can’t do this right now. So, whatever you’re trying to say, just say it.”
Karli blinked liquid eyes at him. She shifted, as though she might pat his hand again. “Oh honey. I’m so sorry. I thought you knew. You’re being investigated for murder.”
Somewhere down the hall, a door shut.
“No,” Tean said.
“I’m sure it’s all a great big old misunderstanding, but you’ve got to understand how it looks.”
“No,” Tean said again, more strongly this time. “That was a misunderstanding. They have a real suspect now.”
Karli made a distressed noise. She fluttered her fingers.
Her nails were orange with black cats on them.
For Halloween. “I’m sorry, honey, but there wasn’t any mistake about it.
They talked to Ed. And Ed was shocked—shocked—and so he wanted them to talk to me.
And they were plain as day: they think you killed this man in South Jordan.
” And then, as though Tean might simply have a bad memory, and she was trying to jog him, she prompted, “To help your friend.”