Part 9 (1/2)
”What do you mean, didn't belong?”
”Well, there's a lot of scents in there. We were looking for a strange one.” He squirmed a little under Vicki's frown and continued in a less condescending tone. ”Anyway, after Uncle Jason was shot, Uncle Stuart wouldn't let anyone go into the woods except Colin.”Good way to lose Colin,Vicki thought, amazed as she often was at the stupid things otherwise intelligent people could do, but all she said aloud was, ”And what did Colin discover?”
”Well, not Barry's scent, and I think that was mostly what he was looking for.”
Cloud was making tight circles, nose to the ground, in roughly the center of the field.
”Is that where it happened?”
”Uhhuh.”
Teeth clenched, Vicki waited for the howl. It didn't come. When she asked Peter why, he shrugged and said, ”It happened weeks ago.”
”Don't you miss her?”
”Of course we do, but ...” He shrugged again, unable to explain. Everyone but Aunt Nadine had finished howling for Silver.
Cloud had found the bullet by the time they reached her and had dug it clear with more enthusiasm than efficiency. Her muzzle and paws had acquired a brown patina and the rest of her pelt was peppered with dirt.
”Good nose!” Vicki exclaimed, bending to pick up the slug.And a good thing there wasn't anything else to learn from the scene, she added silently, surveying the excavation. A quick wipe on her shorts and she held the prize up in the sunlight. It certainly wasn't lead.
Peter squinted at the metal. ”So it's just one guy?”Vicki nodded, dropping the bullet into her bag. ”Odds are good.” One marksman. Who killed at night with a single shot to the head. One executioner.
”And you can find him now?”
”I can start looking.”
”We should've found the dirtbag,” Peter growled, savagely ripped up a handful of gra.s.s. ”I mean, we're hunters!”
”Hunting for people is a specialized sort of a skill,” Vicki pointed out levelly. The last thing she wanted to do was inspire heroics. ”You have to train for it, just like everything else. Now, then,” she squinted at the woods then looked back at the two young wer, ”I want the both of you to return to the house. I'm going to go in there and have a look around.”
”Uh, Ms. Nelson, you don't have much experience in woods, do you?” Rose asked tentatively.
”No. Not especially,” Vicki admitted, ”but ... Rose, what the h.e.l.l do you think you're doing?”
”It's just that, you're from the city and. ...”
”That's not what I meant!” She positioned herself between the woods and the girl. ”Youknow someone is watching your family from those trees. Why are you changing? Why take such a stupid risk?”
Rose rubbed at the dirt on her face. ”But there's no one there now.”
”You can't know that!” Why the whole d.a.m.ned county wasn't in on the family secret, Vicki had no idea.”Yes, I can.”
”How?”
”It's upwind.”
”Upwind? The woods are upwind? You can smell that there's no one there?”
”That's right.”
Vicki reminded herself once again not to judge by human standards and decided to drop it. ”I think you two should get home.”
”Maybe we should stay with you.”
”No.” Vicki shook her head. ”If you're with me, you'll influence what I see.” She raised a hand to cut off Peter's protest and added, ”Even if you don't intend to. Besides, it's too dangerous.”
Peter shrugged. ”It's been safe enough since Ebon died.”
It took her a moment to understand. ”You mean that two members of your family were shot out here and you're still coming in range of the woods? At night?”
”We've been in pairs like Henry said,” he protested. ”And we've had the wind.”
/don't believe this. ... ”From now on, until weknow what's going on,no one comes out to these fields.””But we have to keep on eye on the sheep.”
”Why?” Vicki snapped, waving a hand toward the flock. ”Do they do something?”
”Besides eat and sleep? No, not really. But the reason there's so few commercial sheep operations in Canada is a problem with predators.” Peter's lips drew back off his teeth and under his hair, his ears went back. ”We don'thave problems with predators.”
”But you've gotta keep a pretty constant eye out,” Rose continued, ”so someone's got to come out here.”
”Can't you move the sheep closer to the house?”
”We rotate the pastures,” Peter explained. ”It doesn't quite work like that.”
”b.u.g.g.e.r the pastures and b.u.g.g.e.r the sheep,” Vicki said, her tone, in direct contrast to her words, reminiscent of a lecture on basic street safety to a kindergarten cla.s.s. ”Your lives are more important.
Either leave these sheep alone for a while or move them closer to the house.”
Rose and Peter exchanged worried glances.
”It's not just the sheep ...” Rose began.
”Then what?”
”Well, this is the border of our family's territory. It has to be marked.”
”What do you mean, marked?” Vicki asked even though she had a pretty good idea.Rose waved her hands, her palms were filthy. ”You know, marked. Scent marked.”
”I would have thought that had been done already.”
”Well, yeah, but you've got to keep doing it.”
Vicki sighed. ”So you're willing to risk your life in order to pee on a post?”
”It's not quite that simple.” Rose sighed as well. ”But I guess not.”
”I guess we could talk to Uncle Stuart...” Peter offered.