Page 86 of Three-Inch Teeth

She put on her readers, as if they would help her see more clearly, then said, “You’re looking at all of this from the perspective of the grizzly bear. You and Jennie as well. You’re trying to establish a behavior pattern based on what you know about bears and what motivates them to attack or run away. You’re looking at times and distances—logistics. And you’re trying to guess what the bear will do next based on what it’s already done.”

Joe encouraged her. “Go on.”

“What maybe you haven’t done is look at the pattern of attacks based on the victims instead of the bear.”

“I don’t follow.”

“And I’m not sure this even makes any sense once I really think about it,” she said. “But isn’t it just bizarre that we know three of the victims personally? Clay Junior, of course. Then Dulcie—and now Judge Hewitt? How do you square that, since I know you don’t believe in coincidences?”

“I don’t, usually,” he said. “But maybe this time I do. We don’t have much population in Wyoming, and the longer we live here the more people we know. It isn’t crazy to think that we’re acquainted with the victims in some way. Tell me: When is the last time someone in this county or the area died and we didn’t know them, or at least know of them?”

“I’ll grant you that,” she said. “But still …”

“We didn’t know that prison guard, whoever he was,” Joe said. “Right?”

She agreed.

“So how do we square that? It breaks the pattern, right?”

“It does,” she said. “But maybe we need to learn a little more about that prison guard. Who knows? We may find something that links him to the others in the same way.”

Joe thought about it.

“You’re not buying it, right?” she asked.

“I’m not rejecting it entirely. But like my theories, it may not hold up. Why would someone target people we know? Do you think a bear keeps a list of our friends and acquaintances? And where does that corrections officer from Rawlins fit in?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I can do some digging into him. I know who I can call who might be able to shed some insight into him.”

“Who?”

“Dick Weber,” Marybeth said. “He’s the deputy warden at the prison. He’s been there a bunch of years and he probably knows all of the COs.”

Joe rubbed his jaw. “How do you know him?” It always took him off guard when Marybeth brought up names in conversation he’d never heard before, because he doubted there was a single person on earth Joe knew that his wife wasn’t aware of.

“I met him through his wife, who runs the food bank in Carbon County,” she said. “I met him last year when we did an event down there.”

Marybeth was on the executive board of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative, which had been formed prior to the pandemic to feed children, but had grown in dollars and influence to become a primary source of nutrition for poor families throughout the state.

“Ah, gotcha,” Joe said.

“Dick seemed like a very solid guy. Old-school, military type. I think he could help us out here with Officer Winner.”

“I suppose it can’t hurt,” he said. “Meanwhile, I’ve got to gather up Gary Norwood and get back to the Eagle Mountain Club as soon as he can shake free. We still have to process the crime scene and find out if we can learn anything about that mystery vehicle and who might have been driving it around the golf course this morning.”

“What if it turns out to be a white SUV with California plates?” she asked with arched eyebrows.

He chuckled and said, “Well, that might make things easier. But I doubt it.”

“So do I.”

*

JOE ROSE FROM his chair and retrieved his hat. He realized that Marybeth was observing him more closely than usual.

“I’m okay about the Katy Cotton thing,” he said.

“Really?” she asked.

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