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"I know. "
"You don't have to stay," she said.
She was right, but where would I go? Back to Atlanta?
I suppressed a shudder. Never.
"Balthazar would be happy to take over for you," Grace continued.
"Not in this lifetime. "
The jerk had aroused my competitive nature. I hadn't wanted the job when I'd taken it, had been trying to avoid becoming the mayor all of my life. But now I suddenly didn't want him to have it, even if it meant I was stuck here. Somehow being stuck here didn't seem so bad anymore.
"That's what I like to hear in a mayor. " Grace slapped her palms against the knees of her tan slacks and stood. "Now, we need to take a ride to the lake. "
"What did they do now?" I asked, even as my heart lurched in completely inappropriate anticipation.
"I didn't say we were going to talk to the Gypsies. You just jumped to that hopeful conclusion. "
"Then what are we going there for? And why do I have to tag along?"
"A tourist was hiking the lake trail at dusk last night and ran into a wolf. "
"That's impossible," I said, even as I heard again the long, low howl streaming toward the moon.
"I know that, and you know that, but tell the guy from Topeka. He doesn't believe me. Can't say I blame him, considering the mess that was made of his throat. "
I pushed back from my desk so fast my rolling chair kept rolling and slammed into the wall. "He was attacked?"
"Wolf. " She held up one finger. "Tourist. " She held up another, then smacked them together. "Not a good combo. "
"Where is he?"
"In the hospital. Where do you think? He's been stitched and bandaged and given antibiotics, but we're going to have to find that wolf or he'll need rabies shots, too. "
"How are we going to find a wolf in the Blue Ridge Mountains? They aren't exactly contained. "
The range began as a narrow strip in Pennsylvania and extended all the way through Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas to Georgia. Though only a few miles across in their northern region, once the Blue Ridge hit our state they widened to sixty miles in certain areas.
"The tourist wasn't a complete moron. He had a gun. Said he shot the thing. I should be able to track it without too much trouble. "
I had no doubt she would. Grace had learned that skill before she entered kindergarten; she'd only gotten better since then.
"I still don't understand why you need me. " Not that I'd let her go without me, but I was curious.
"We neglected to read past the first page of our contract with the Gypsies. The second page gives them temporary ownership of the lake while they're here. "
My eyes narrowed. "Joyce!" I bellowed.
"Save your breath. She left. "
The woman was never around when I needed her. I was going to have to find out why.
"What the hell does temporary ownership mean?"
"They have the rights of owners during the duration of their performances. In other words, we'd be trespassing if we went searching for the wolf. I don't have the time or the inclination to screw with a warrant. And they made a particular point that they wanted outsiders nowhere near 'their land'" - she made quotation marks in the air with her forefingers - "until opening night. "
"Fishy," I observed.
