“Kyle Cartwright,” Valentina said. She narrowed her eyes at Green, but let him continue.
“Right. Kyle Cartwright. He was found on the roadside.”
“Who’s that?” Cheng asked.
“My new apprentice. Are you familiar with the death he mentioned?”
“We are. We’re reexamining it, but nothing conclusive. It’s on our radar though.”
“Alright, Mr. Cheng. I’ll begin investigating.”
“Thanks, Val. Let us know what you find. We’re standing by to help with whatever you need.”
She clicked off the box and shut the lid. Her face smoothed to the sort of neutrality that looks like a wound.
Green shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It had new angles courtesy of the wolf attack. Dread, bare and stark as a snowfield, placed a cold hand between his shoulder blades.
“Mr. Green, you seem fated to experience too much too quickly.”
“First, Kyle Cartwright. Now, three others dead? Tell me this isn’t a common part of your job?”
“No. Thankfully, not common at all. I haven’t had a call like that from the rangers in more than a decade.”
“God. What did he mean by targeted?”
Valentina pursed her lips.
“Do you recall what I told you about how we find rag moth corpses? The mummified remains? A deadly misunderstanding between species. An accident of place and time and instinct.”
“Yes, hard to forget.”
“Well, in the opinion of the rangers, this was not that. When Ranger Cheng says targeted, he means they believe that whatever killed those people sought them out with lethal intent.”
Green felt cold. In a deep, still pool of his mind, a skeletal wolf was surfacing from the dark water, an ivory island rising from the blackness.
I told you. The wolf is different.
“It means, Mr. Green, that whatever hunted and killed those people will likely do it again.”
The busted Prius felt veryillegal to drive, but Green drove it anyway.
Valentina rode in the passenger seat with all the composure of a wet cat.
“I offered to travel your way,” Green said.
“You aren’t ready for the ways I typically travel.”
He leaned toward the console, looking out the sagging hole in the windshield, blinking against the cold wind numbing his face and stinging his eyes.
“We’re absolutely going to get pulled over.”
Valentina shook her head.
“The police are busy.”
They pulled into the Count and Countess gas station without incident and parked along the side. Alf paused in tying off a trash bag by the dumpster to stare.
Green climbed out and waved.
