Not hard. Alex closed her eyes. “I wish it had been that easy for me.”
Julie squeezed her arm. “We Ojibwe are like anyone else. We don’t all think the same, or believe the same either. But some of us don’t necessarily find these things as hard to believe as chimookamon do.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Alex said faintly.
“I grew up on Grandma’s stories,” Julie continued. “One of my favorites was the one about how the wolves taught Winabojo how to hunt. How he took the form of the wolves and followed their example. There are other stories like that, too. The idea isn’t strange to us.”
Incongruous, helpless laughter insisted on forcing its way past the tightness in Alex’s chest. She choked it back. “Kieran should have gone to you for help instead of me.”
Julie gazed at her intently. “Why did he need help, Alex?” she asked. “Why did he come to you?”
In for a penny, in for a pound, Alex thought. “I never told you about his loss of memory.”
“So that’s what it was,” Julie interrupted. “The problem Grandma sensed.”
“You mean besides his being a werewolf?” Alex quipped.
Julie took the question seriously. “What he is was not our worry. We knew you were helping him, but not how. You’ve been trying to help him get his memory back.”
“And not succeeding,” Alex said. “He remembers very little of his past. When he first came to me, he had been a wolf for five years.”
“Five years.” Julie’s eyes grew distant. “You study wolves. Maybe he sensed that you’d accept him better than most…”
Alex tuned out the rest of Julie’s words. Accept. She’d done as poor a job of that as everything else.
“But then you said you’d known each other as children, didn’t you?”
“That’s another very long story, Julie.”
There was silence as they studied each other, each occupied with her own thoughts.
“However you came together, it’s more than just helping him now, isn’t it?” Julie asked.
“I made a promise.”
“Yeah. But he needs more than just staying clear of the cops and getting his memory back.”
Alex looked up. “What do you mean?”
“You know, or you wouldn’t be ready to risk everything to go with him.”
Once again Julie saw far too much. She’d assumed from the very first that Alex would be going with Kieran. Alex wiped her face of all expression. “Why are you so sure Kieran didn’t kill Peter?” she asked abruptly.
Julie touched the region of her heart. “I know it here. The same way you do.”
Alex found it difficult to meet Julie’s gaze. “Yesterday I wanted to talk to you. I came to town to find you, but you weren’t at the garage. Maybe if I’d told you about Peter, and Kieran…”
“I know enough,” Julie’s eyes were almost sad. “About your father dying and why Peter Schaeffer was up here.” She hesitated. “I know you and Schaeffer had a past. Are you going to be all right, Alex? If you need to talk…”
Alex worked to keep the lump in her throat from expanding all the way through her body. If she opened her mouth she wouldn’t be able to stop. If she took the comfort Julie offered, she wouldn’t be worth a damn to Kieran or herself.
She had to be strong. It was all she had left. Chaos waited to claim her the moment she let go.
“How did you know Kieran would never let himself be taken in for questioning?” she asked.
“Because of what he is. You can’t cage a wolf. They need freedom to survive.” She held Alex’s gaze. “Just like they need to belong. They’re like people that way.”
Alex looked toward the cottage. “So what happens now?”
Julie switched topics without blinking an eye. “Around the other side of the house is a truck, an old rusted heap that I finally got running but never had a reason to drive anywhere.” Her grin had a feral edge. “Noone’s going to think to watch out for it for some time. I have a few more ideas to throw the cops off the scent. Which way are you planning to go?”