“Take Howie, for instance.” Julie slouched down and thrust out her lower jaw in a parody of the man. ” ‘It’s unnatural, the thing that woman has for wolves,’ ” she growled. ” ‘God knows what she’s really up to out there.’ ” She snorted.
Deanna giggled, and Alex felt suddenly ashamed. They—the Ojibwe—had endured far more than she had, and they could still laugh about it—laugh at people who held them in contempt and feared them for their differences. Alex had never learned that trick.
She flexed her hand on the cold metal of her truck. If you knew about my father and Peter, would you tell me the problems were with them and not me? But she could never tell Julie about those things. Julie was the only real friend she had in Merritt, and even that wasn’t enough.
“What was the problem with the truck?” she asked quickly.
Julie nipped back her dark hair and grinned. “Just the fan belt. This old Blazer of yours is a good deal. You ever want to sell it—”
“I’ll let you know,” Alex finished, falling into the familiar routine. It was the closest she ever got to casual banter, but it released the knot of tension in her stomach.
Julie’s mouth twisted ruefully. “I got more cars than I know what to do with, anyway.” Her smile faded. “You’re worried about your wolves, aren’t you?”
Alex looked up. There was no danger in this subject.
“Yes.” She let her control slip a little. “I think Howie meant business.”
“Yeah, I know.” Julie pushed her hands into the pockets of her oil-stained coat. “Howie’s not above poaching to take care of his problems. Not the patient son, our Howie.” She arched a thick dark brow. “You know, you can report him.”
“Not when I’ve finally gotten settled in here, when I’m so close to really beginning my research. I can’t afford to make enemies in Merritt, Julie.”
Which was nothing but the truth, when the wolves needed all the support she could win for them. Despite the fact that she wasn’t much of an ambassador for anything. Despite the notion she’d briefly entertained of planting her fist in Howie’s face—and Olsen’s for good measure.
“One of the men was talking about a black wolf five years ago. Does that mean anything to you?”
For a moment Julie’s face lost all expression, and then she blinked. “Five years ago,” she muttered. “They must have been talking about the lone wolf that did a lot of damage not far from here—killed five calves and quite a number of sheep and chickens. Everyone was up in arms, but the wolf was gone before anyone could hunt it down.” She hesitated. “It happens sometimes.”
“Yes.” Alex studied her gloved fingers intently and clasped them together. “Not often, but it happens.”
A black wolf. She’d seen a black wolf on her land several times during the past two weeks. A wolf that wasn’t overly wary of human beings. Yet black wolves were hardly rare, if not as common as gray. “This wolf—could it be the same one as before?”
“You’d know better than I would. Don’t wolves live only a few years in the wild?”
Alex hardly heard the question. Her thoughts had fled into the past. Shadow had been black with a white blaze on his chest. She could see him clearly in her mind, as if she could walk right out into the woods and find him waiting.
But he would be long dead now.
“Alex?”
She shivered out of her reverie and focused on Julie again. “No, it probably wouldn’t be the same wolf.” She began to rummage in her backpack for her checkbook. “The men also said something about a girl from the reservation being killed around the same time,” she said carefully. “About some people thinking the wolf had done it.”
Julie was silent a long time, and when Alex looked up the other woman’s back was turned. “We didn’t believe it was a wolf. But the cops never found a suspect.” She shook her dark head, walling off any further discussion of that subject. “That isn’t the issue now. What are you going to do?”