“You’re Catherine Ling,” she said as she reached her. She reached out to shake her hand. “I’m Margaret. You’ll want to talk to me.”
“I will? How do you know?”
“I saw you going up to the cottage to talk to Kendra, and I asked Jane who you were.” A smile lit her face. “I’m glad you came, Catherine. Jane said you’re very tough, very clever, and that you owe Eve a debt for helping to save your son. A debt like that is great motivation.” She looked around her. “Want to go for a walk with me in the woods? There are too many people around.”
Catherine fell into step with her. “How did you know that I’d come looking for you after I talked to Kendra?” she asked again. “What do you know that she doesn’t?”
“Nothing. But she doesn’t like to talk about me.” She chuckled. “It’s part loyalty because she likes me. And it’s part discomfort because I’m kinda hard to explain.”
“That’s what she told me.” They were deep in the woods now, and Catherine stopped and turned to face her. “I don’t give a damn about discomfort, but I don’t like lies. She said something about your not being a phony. What was that supposed to mean?”
“Did she say that? That was nice. It’s particularly hard for her to defend me when I offend her sense of logic. That’s a primary sin for Kendra.” She reached down and took off one of her high heels. “I have to get these off for a minute. I’m not used to anything but my flip-flops or tennis shoes.” She flexed her bare feet. “That’s better. I knew I had to look somber and dressed up, but I can’t stand these heels. I bought them at Payless at the mall, but they don’t—” She broke off. “You’re looking impatient. Sorry. You’re worried about Eve like the rest of us, and you’re in the dark. How can I help?”
“By shining some light,” she said curtly. “You’re right, I’m worried about Eve, and I’m not going to let that bastard kill her if there’s a chance of saving her. I have to know everything, dammit. Kendra said that you were the trigger that made her realize that perhaps Eve hadn’t been killed. How did you know that was possible?”
“Oh, it was more than possible,” Margaret said. “It was fact. I told Jane and Kendra that the night of the explosion, but they’re both cautious. They wanted to believe me, but they couldn’t bring themselves to raise their hopes until they had proof.” She beamed. “So I sent Kendra to use all that logic and deductive reasoning that she does so well to gather their proof. Didn’t she do a fine job?”
“Excellent. Now tell me how you knew that Eve’s being alive was a fact.”
She sighed. “Okay, here it comes.” She made a face. “There’s a wolf pack in those mountains, and wolves are usually easy for me to deal with. Not like a dog, but close enough.”
“What?”
“The pack is always on the hunt for food. Naturally, since they’re in the wild, they would have to be. When the wolves noticed Doane and Eve in the mountains, they were considering them for their next meal.”
“Where is this going?” Catherine was frowning. “I don’t want a nature lesson, Margaret.”
“But you want an answer from me. That’s what I’m giving you. For some reason, the wolves became intrigued by Doane.” Margaret tilted her head. “Peculiar. But you can never tell what a wolf will do. Anyway, they started tracking, shadowing him … and Eve. I asked if it was because of the food factor. But that wasn’t the reason, it was something else. Doane had to go away. It was important for him to go away.”
“Go away?”
“Die. Doane had to die. It was important to the wolves that he die.”
Catherine couldn’t take any more of this. “Stop spinning fairy tales. I want answers, Margaret.”
“You’re getting them.” She added simply, “The wolves didn’t like Doane, but there was something else. They felt he had to die. It was something to do with the natural order. I couldn’t get it clear. It had some connection with death and silence and a little red-haired kid.”
“Margaret.”
“You want to know how I know.”
“I want to know why you’re bullshitting me.”
“I know because the night of the fire, I tracked down one of the males who was staking out the ghost town. I heard him howling, and I thought maybe…” She smiled. “And I struck it rich, like they say in the gold towns. Pure gold, Catherine. Karak was pure gold.”
“Karak?”
“The wolf. That’s the closest I can translate his name.”
“Wolves have names?”
“Yes, not all animals identify themselves in that way even mentally, of course. But wolves are on a higher plane.” She drew a deep breath. “I’d better get this over with quickly. You’re getting impatient and angry and ready to call the local booby hatch. Look, I have a certain ability to communicate with animals. I’ve had it since I was a kid. No, I’m not some kind of Dr. Doolittle. I just get impressions and can sometimes tap into memories. It can help on occasion. I was working as a tech at a canine experimental facility down in the Caribbean on Summer Island when I was drawn into all this. They thought I was damn valuable.” She grimaced. “Weird, but valuable. And they eventually got used to me. Does it make you feel better to know that those vets actually believed in me?”
“No, I make my own opinions.”
“Then make it now.”
Catherine looked her directly in the eye. Margaret never flinched but held her gaze with boldness and shining clarity.
Truth. Catherine couldn’t know whatever else comprised the person who was Margaret Douglas, but she recognized honesty.
Catherine shrugged. “Kendra says you’re not a phony. That’s all that’s really important. As for the rest, I’ve run into stranger things. Voodoo, snake charmers … ghosts. I grew up on the streets of Hong Kong, and I’ve traveled all over the world. It’s hard to cling strictly to reality when you’ve gone face-to-face with some of the things I have.” She added, “So bring on your wolf if he can help me find out anything about Eve.”
“I didn’t expect that.” Margaret’s face glowed with delight. “It’s not often I run into someone who is easy. Joe was a little skeptical, but he gave me a chance. Kendra was very difficult. It’s hard for her to accept anything that’s not black-and-white, and I’m definitely on the gray side.”
“So are wolves. Can we get back to your story now?”
“Oh, yes. Karak. After I tracked him down, it took hours before I was able to find out anything other than that it was necessary that Doane die or go away as he termed it. But when he began to trust me, he let me see more.” She paused. “It was the stream. He saw Doane and Eve go down the stream in a raft and go ashore miles away from the town. Eve didn’t move, probably unconscious. Doane deflated the raft and tossed it in a vehicle and took off.”
“Where?”
“Out of the forest, headed south. They lost his scent after that and came back to the mountains.”
“Damn.”
Margaret chuckled. “You can’t expect anything more. They did the best they could. Anyway, Kendra believed me when I showed her where the vehicle had been parked, and she found the tire prints. After that, she started investigating on her own. She didn’t tell anyone what she was doing until she’d gathered all the information, then she went to Joe and Jane to decide what to do.”
“And they decided on this charade.”
“Yes, a chance to take Doane off guard.” Margaret nodded. “It might or might not work, but if he doesn’t expect anyone to know he’s alive, it gives us a little edge. At this point, we’ll take any advantage we can get.” She added soberly, “We have to find her, Catherine. In those hours after we thought she was dead, it almost broke Jane … and Joe. Eve is too important to too many people to let her go. All of those people who came to this memorial service … The stories I’ve heard today. Every life is important, but Eve is special.”
“Yes, she is,” Catherine said. For an instant, memories flooded back to her of moments in her own life when Eve had stepped in and given her time and risked her life to help bring her boy home to her. She cleared her throat. “Of course we’ll get her back. Do you know anything else that could help me?”