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Bouncing down the ruts and dips in the road, the number of cars parked to one side of the drive surprised him. Just how many grad students did the environmental team need? Pulling in to park in front of the long line of cars, his gut sank at the sight of the Fish and Game truck. Hadn’t the new guy told both him and Kate he didn’t have time for this project? What the heck was he doing here?
On the other side of the vehicle, he spotted Kate’s car. He hadn’t expected her to beat him here. Holding his hand over his brows, shading his eyes from the morning sun and not seeing Kate or anyone in sight, it suddenly occurred to him, what if the fish guy wasn’t the new guy but Ted? What if he’d found time for the project, and for Kate? Those thoughts had him picking up his pace, marching to the other side of the barn where Ted had first mentioned finding the yellow striped whatchamacallit.
As he turned the corner, he almost tripped over his own tongue. An army of ants couldn’t have outnumbered or outmaneuvered the number of people slowly moving about the open field. It took another moment of observation to process how carefully the crowd was moving. They really were like a well-formed army of something.
“They’ve been here since the crack of dawn.” A tall gentleman in jeans and a college sweatshirt tapped at his phone, slipped it into his pocket and extended his hand. “I’m Bob Stanwyck.”
“Nice to meet you.” As casually as he could, Craig glanced over the man’s shoulder for any sign of Kate.
“If you’re looking for your friend, she and the agency guy are at the original nest site.”
It took a few seconds to realize he meant the hibernating bats, not the owl. “I see.”
“I stepped away to take a call. I suspect they’re still over there…discussing the situation.”
Oh, he didn’t like the sound of that. Falling into step beside the professor, he resisted the urge to push past the guy and find Kate quickly. It had taken another few minutes before he recognized the woman in the distance. Standing beside an area sectioned off with yellow tape that reminded Craig of a television crime scene, her hands on her hips, her elbows flaring like chicken wings, any fool could see Kate was not happy.
“That’s absurd,” she groused.
The man in uniform who Craig was delighted to see was not the smitten Ted, shook his head. “Ma’am, I’m only following rules.”
“Guidelines are meant to be just that, guides. Not hard-and-fast rules without flexibility.”
Still shaking his head, the man who looked to be younger than some of the grad students combing the property showed no sign of caring what she said, never mind actually listening.
Something deep in Craig’s gut told him that he did not want to know what they were arguing about, and yet, here he was closing in on the two of them. “Did I miss something?”
Kate spun about, teeth clenched, and blowing out a sigh, closed the short distance between them. “So far the team has only found one active site. They’ve also found two abandoned nests. No bats.”
“That’s good.” Craig nodded, wondering what was he missing. No man or woman alive got prickly over good news.
“It would be.” Standing only inches away from him, she blew out another deep long breath. “Alan here wants to shut everything down.” Her eyes narrowed in the guy’s direction. “And I mean everything. No cars, no contractors, no owners, nothing.”
Something wasn’t computing.Wait. “Owners? As in me?”
Her head bobbed forcefully as she slapped the tip of her finger on her nose. “Give the man a prize. It might be time to have another chat with your grandfather. I’m heading back to my car to call Ted.”
Tablet in hand, the government guy straightened his shoulders and stared daggers at Kate.
Craig wasn’t so sure he liked that any better than Ted’s starry eyes.
“If by his grandfather, you mean the former Governor Baron…”
Nothing in the man’s tone said that he had a fondness for the family name. As a matter of fact, the word that came to mind was disdain.
Alan shook his head. “Theformergovernor is not my boss.”
Kate stopped in her tracks, looked to him, then Alan, and then back to him again. For a moment he thought for sure when he saw her mouth fall slightly open that fire would spew forth. Instead, she snapped her mouth shut, shook her head, and stormed back toward the barn until the squawking above had her stopping to look up.
Craig pulled out his phone. Tapping away, he ignored Alan and hurried after Kate. One thing he’d mastered in his time is of the essence career was the art of walking, talking, chewing gum, and texting at the same time.
Pausing to stare upward, Kate shook her head, then started walking again. “One of the owls seems a bit talkative this morning. Odd.”
“A talking bird?” he chuckled. “Yeah. Odd’s a good word.”
Not bothering to look at him, she simply shook her head and continued toward the barn door.
Craig glanced over his shoulder, unexpectedly pleased that Alan had stayed where he was, barking at the grad students working. Looking back to Kate, he wondered why she kept looking up at the owl soaring over the barn. What was the big deal? When her pace picked up, a prickling sensation shot up his spine. He hadn’t a clue what was up, but he quickened his step nonetheless.
