“The cockleburs? Something I said about the cockleburs?”
Nod. Pause. Nod.
Liz thought back. “Badly kept farm earth and livestock and poorly drained water?”
He gave three distinct nods.
“Okay. But something else too?”
Brute stared at her, his crystalline eyes penetrating. She felt he was willing her to ask him something.
“Were there any other people there?”
Head shake.
“Were there any animals there?”
He gave a slow nod, but didn’t relax.
Her questions came faster. “Cattle?” Shake. “Pigs?” Shake. “Chickens?” Shake. “Goats?” Partial shake.
“Half goats?” Shake. “What else is there except forest animals?”
Softly, he, “Whuff.”
“Really? What kind? Wait. Wrong question. Penned?” Shake. “How do you keep forest animals unless you pen them?”
Brute rolled over lay belly up. When she didn’t say anything he sat up and rolled over again. And then did it again.
“Are you playing dead?”
Brute rolled up to a sit and nodded.
“Dead forest animals?”
Nod. “Dead Goats?” Nod. “Buried?” Head shake.
“So we have cockleburs and dead animals, but not buried? Soooo. Like in a pit partially filled with water?”
Slow head nod. His right paw patted the ground.
Liz frowned, not sure what he might mean.
From somewhere away, Chewy said, “More than one. Fuck.”
Brute whuffed again and nodded.
“Oh. Well. That’s not good. Do you know how many?”
Brute shook his head.
Eli reappeared around the narrow path ahead. “We’ve got a hike ahead of us. What did you learn?”
“The creature, maybe a Dwayyo, maybe not, with something like rabies but not just rabies. Maybe like rabies and mad cow disease. There’s more than one, and no humans are nearby. The location is close to a pit filled with water and the dead bodies of its dinners. Forest animals. Maybe a goat.”
“There’s a deer version of mad cow working through the deer population,” Eli said. “If the creature ate a diseased deer brain, got its blood in a cut, something like that, he could have contracted the disease. I haven’t heard of it passing to predators, though.”
“Come to think of it, Hoss, I ain’t seen no scat. No sign of deer rubbing on trees or eating small shoots. No sign of animals picking at dead trees. Raccoons and bear dig for grubs in trees, this time of year. Bear and boar eat nuts. We’ve passed trees everywhere with nuts beneath. The ground was undisturbed. This time of year that ain’t normal.”
