Page 31 of Wind Valley

She thought about it, then said, “An adventure?” The word filled her with excitement, like life welling inside her. A green shoot of curiosity rising from the scorched earth of her post-SS emotional shutdown.

Lachlan’s face lit up. “That’s one of my favorite words, adventure.”

“Really? Scientists like adventure?”

“I can only speak for myself, but of course I like adventure. Scientists are always venturing into the unknown. I could have chosen other fields of research, but to study jökulhlaup, you have to be where jökulhlaups happen.”

“Near glaciers?”

“Near glaciers. Which are usually hard to get to.”

“To adventures,” she said. They clicked their mugs together again. “And also to surviving them.”

The burning logs in the woodstove chose that moment to collapse, sending sparks soaring into the smokestack. Maura shivered, paralyzed by a sudden sense of ominous dread.

Lachlan set down his mug and crouched next to the woodstove, poker in hand, and adjusted the fire until it was burning steadily again. In the process, a bit of ash floated from the stove and landed lightly on his hair.

This time, she didn’t stop herself from flicking it off once he’d returned to the table.

17

For the next two weeks, the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was the mysterious offer of free cell service for life.

Kathy at the general store posted a petition that demanded an official inquiry into the potential deception of the offer. By the end of the first week, she’d collected exactly twelve signatures, which, as she pointed out, was at least one tenth of the population.

“No one even knows who’s offering this amazing deal,” she fretted to Lachlan the next time he stopped in to use the Wi-Fi. “They don’t care. It’s like Santa Claus to them. They hear the word ‘free’ and their brains turn off. There’s something fishy about it. Not good, very fishy. Do you want to start a tab?”

“I thought you didn’t do tabs.”

“Do you want it or not?”

“Sure. That would be convenient.”

“Thirty dollars to start.”

He counted out the bills. “Maybe you should relax your prices a little, considering you might have competition,” he suggested in a murmur.

She slapped her palm on the counter. “The price is the price. No negotiating.” Then she cocked her head to one side with an enticing smile. “Unless you sign my petition.”

“Who’s this petition going to?”

“Who? It’s to whom it may concern. Don’t ask silly questions.”

He passed on signing the petition to no one. Even though he was curious about the cell service offer, it didn’t seem like the most important mystery on his plate. He was still mostly concerned about the strange wildlife behavior he’d observed.

When he was settled onto the Wi-Fi bench with his iPad, he clicked first on his email. After he’d first heard about the wolf attack, he’d sent an email to Roger Jones, the gray wolf expert he’d known in graduate school. He’d received an out-of-office reply with the note that he’d be back from vacation yesterday. Now he was hoping to find a response in his inbox.

There was much more than that. Roger had emailed him several articles about wolf behavior, including an unpublished extract that was scheduled to come out in the next North American Wolf journal. Along with that, he’d included an email peppered with punctuation marks, as was his style.

Lachlan scanned it quickly.

How fascinating!! Will wolves never stop surprising us? For many years, we thought wolf packs were organized with a so-called alpha at the top. But now we’re learning that they have a family structure much like ours, with the parents in charge!! They will defend their families against all threats, but they give humans a wide berth. We know this from studies using collars to monitor their movements. A lone wolf going on the attack against a human on a snowmobile is very unusual behavior! Even a hungry wolf would be unlikely to take on a machine. A truly starving wolf wouldn’t have the reserves for a fight like that. They’d be more likely to attack an injured animal who was already at a disadvantage. As for the territorial explanation offered by your young friend, I’m not sure I buy it. Wolves are territorial, but only between packs. In other words, they fight other wolf packs, not humans. At this point, I think the most likely scenario is that the wolf is suffering from some kind of viral or bacterial infection that’s affecting its cognitive function. Has there been any new activity in the area that would bring in new microbes?

Interesting question. A so-called “zombie virus” had made its way into Firelight Ridge this past year. Quick action had gotten it under control before it spread too far, and the damage had been limited. But what if it had affected the wildlife? They drank from the same water sources, after all, and breathed the same air. Maybe they too were suffering from an outbreak.

But in that case, wouldn’t the symptoms be more widespread? Wouldn’t pets—mostly dogs—also be affected? He should ask Molly and Sam if Buttercup was acting strangely. Bear and Lila had a cat, Jack Daniels, but he never went outside. Lila also had a pair of goldfish, come to think of it. Were Goldilocks and Gingerbread dancing around the tank like little drunkards with fins?

As far as he knew, Lasse Ulstrom’s dogs weren’t displaying any odd behavior. He’d run into the man and his team the other day outside The Fang, and all appeared normal. Same for Pinky’s little menagerie.

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