Page 24 of A Dash of Wolf

The first of the construction workers arrived around seven-thirty. Three men in hard hats climbed out of a truck, took one look at the sit-in, and stopped.

“Morning, boys,” Artie called out. “Pull up a chair.”

The foreman sighed and pulled out his phone. “Sorry, guys. But I have to call Ivan.”

“Tell him we said hello,” Princess Muffin Top called from the bulldozer.

The other workers stood around while they waited, and to Adeline’s delight, a couple of them actually wandered closer and started listening to Emory play. One of the younger guys was even tapping his foot. Another one crouched down near the water and watched the squish-squids play.

“They’re kind of cool,” the young worker said.

“They’re essential,” Adeline corrected.

Ten minutes later, Ivan’s truck came barreling down the gravel road. Adeline recognized it...what she hadn’t expected to see was all the glitter. The entire driver’s side of Ivan’s truck had been spray-painted in shimmering, pink glitter. Big, looping letters spelled out SAVE THE SQUISH-SQUIDS.

Ivan threw his door open and jumped out. Behind him, Chief Wolfe’s Tahoe pulled up, and Officer Casswell stepped out of the passenger side as well.

“You think this is funny?” Ivan screamed, jabbing a finger at the crowd. “You think this is some kind of joke? Well, this time you’ve gone too far. Someone went onto my property and spray-painted my truck!”

“To be fair,” Princess Muffin Top said, “it’s an improvement.”

“I’ve had it!” Ivan stomped toward Adeline, fists clenched. “You and your weirdo friends think you can just do whatever you want? I’m the laughingstock of this town because of you!”

“Now, now,” Mrs. Abernathy said, not looking up from her knitting. “You’re making yourself the laughingstock, Ivan. Nobody’s doing that to you.”

“You’re just a bunch of amateur thugs,” Ivan insisted.

Mrs. Abernathy scoffed. “Those new-model Cats have the battery tucked up behind the hydraulic reservoir. That’s not something an amateur would think to look for, Ivan.”

“All right,” Chief Wolfe said, stepping between Ivan and the protesters. “Everyone needs to calm down.”

“I am calm!” Ivan shouted.

Chief Wolfe ignored him and looked at Adeline. “Ms. Beaumont.”

“Chief Wolfe,” she said sweetly. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“You can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what? Sitting peacefully in a marsh with my friends and a guitar?”

He looked at the blankets, the folding chairs, the knitting, the guitar. He then looked at Princess Muffin Top grooming herself on top of Ivan’s bulldozer and shook his head. “This is a construction site.”

“This is a marsh,” Adeline corrected. “It was a marsh before it was a construction site.”

She saw his lips twitch, and she was sure he was trying not to smile. And that made her stomach flip-flop.

“Obviously Ivan’s truck was vandalized last night,” he said. “Same glitter paint as the bulldozer.”

“I was home all night,” she said. “You can ask Princess Muffin Top.”

“I’m not asking the cat,” Chief Wolfe said dryly.

“She’s very credible,” Adeline countered.

“She’s currently sitting on evidence,” he said, pointing toward the bulldozer.

Adeline laughed. “You have me there.”