Page 91 of Three-Inch Teeth

“Now I’m confused,” she said. “The message I left was to ask if you could provide some background on the CO who was killed by the grizzly bear. His name was Ryan Winner, I believe.”

“Yes, Ryan,” Weber said with a note of sadness. “He’d been here as long as I’ve been around. It’s a real shame, and a terrible thing to have happen. I didn’t even know about it because I go radio silent when we’re in the elk camp. For two wonderful weeks, I’m away from the phone. And look what happened.”

“It was a tragedy,” she said.

“I mean, these guys face threats all the time,” Weber said. “They deal with some of the nastiest men in this state, and anything can happen if they let their guard down even for a second. In fact, Ryan worked in E pod, which is the worst of the worst. He was there for seven years, I think. But what happens to him? He doesn’t get shanked by an inmate or rushed by a gang. He gets attacked by a grizzly bear as he gets ready to come to work. It’s just insane.”

“It is,” she said.

“There aren’t supposed to be any grizzly bears in Rawlins. How did that happen?”

“A lot of people would like to find out,” she said. “Including Joe, my husband. He’s a game warden up here. I think I told you about him.”

Weber chortled. “Yes, I’ve heard of Joe Pickett. Everybody has by now, I think. All of us in state government get memos about him. He’s kind of the poster boy for what not to do with state property. Doesn’t he hold the record for the most damage done to state vehicles?”

“That’s him,” Marybeth said with a roll of her eyes.

“Winner will be a tough one to replace,” Weber said. “We’re chronically short-staffed down here as it is. I’m afraid that until we can get the legislature to offer significant pay raises, it’ll continue to be tough for us to hire new COs.

“I’m sorry,” Weber said. “I got off track completely. What was it you wanted to know about Ryan?”

“How well did you know him?” she asked.

Weber took a few seconds to reply. “Well, we got along pretty well, I’d say. I can’t think of any serious disciplinary issues, although a few inmates complained that he was too much of a hard-ass. But they say that about all the COs. In fact, if an inmate says nice things about a CO, I get suspicious, if you know what I mean. Yeah, Winner could be a little petty and vindictive and he had some feuds with a couple of guys, but nothing that was so serious that a disciplinary hearing was held. And I know a lot of the younger guys looked up to him.”

“Did you know him well outside of work?”

“Not really. I went to a barbecue out at his house once to celebrate his divorce, which I thought was kind of weird. This would be the house outside of town where the bear attacked him, by the way. For the barbecue he only invited prison staff. No neighbors or friends. He didn’t have any kids that I know of. I can’t say I knew very much about the man outside of his job. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” Marybeth said as she cleared Saddlestring and turned onto the state highway toward her home, “Joe’s investigating these bear attacks and I’m trying to assist him. There was another attack just this morning around here.”

“Another one?” Weber said. “Jesus. They’re happening all over the damned state.”

“Yes, they are, and no one can figure out why, how, or who might be next. And frankly, we’re grasping at straws at the moment. We’re wondering if there is any connection between the victims other than the fact that Joe and I knew three of them. But we didn’t know Ryan Winner at all. I guess I was hoping that you might know if he was connected in any way to the other people who were attacked. Specifically, I mean Clay Hutmacher Jr., from here, Dulcie Schalk from Laramie, or Judge Hewitt?”

“I really doubt that,” Weber said. “Winner came here straight from the pen in New Mexico, where his people are from. I don’t think he knew his way around this state and, like I said, he didn’t seem to have many friends. If he knew them, he never mentioned it to me, but I can ask around. It’s possible he might have said something to a couple of his coworkers, especially when those other attacks were in the news.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that,” Marybeth said. “I knew this was likely to be a shot in the dark, but I appreciate your time.”

“Are you saying this bear has a hit list?” Weber asked with a chuckle.

“I don’t know what I’m saying. I was just following up on a line of thought that I think we can now dismiss. So again, thanks for your time.”

“Of course,” he said. Then: “So you’re not upset with us?”

For the second time during the conversation, Marybeth was puzzled. “Why would I be upset with you?”

“Because we didn’t call you when Dallas Cates was released.”

“What?”

“It’s in the file that you were to be notified, but like I said, that ball got dropped while I was away.”

Marybeth pressed hard on the brake pedal and pulled her van to the side of the road. She was instantly furious and she couldn’t see straight. The road ahead of her seemed to tilt in her headlights.

“When did this happen?” she said through gritted teeth.

“Um,” he said, while audibly tapping at a keyboard. “It looks like October 15. I went hunting on the twelfth and—”

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