Not that she was being paranoid or anything.

Nah.

As she headed out to reception, she felt like there were shadows everywhere in the building, even though there were lights on all around. And as she glanced out the windows across the waiting area, the motion-activated security lights that glowed should have been reassuring. But weren’t.

She couldn’t see who was out there. And there were no lights in the parking lot.

If it was Candy coming back because she’d forgotten something or if Peter had decided to show up, they’d have keys. And Rick would have entered from the rear if he’d returned to check on the wolf who was still barely alive.

Closing in on the front door, she debated pretending she wasn’t inside, but how was that going to work with her car right there?

“Ms. Susi?” came a deep voice from the outside.

Lydia jumped forward and opened things. “Sheriff?”

Eastwind took his hat off and gave her a little bow. In his uniform, and with his serious expression, she had a thought that he was going to handcuff her and put her in the back of his SUV. After that? Orange Is the New Black. For like, ten years. Or more?

“I ran into Candy at the diner,” he said, “and she told me you’d probably still be here. Mind if I come in?”

“Please.” She made room by stepping back. “How are you?”

More importantly, how am I? A felon or … ?

“Good, thanks. You’re working late.”

“There are only five of us at the WSP.” Well, four who showed up for work. “So some days go into the evening.”

“I know all about that.” He glanced over to Candy’s desk. Looked down the hall to Lydia’s office. Checked out the waiting area. “So I’d like to ask you for some help. And just so we’re clear, I’m not coming with a warrant or anything.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

“Your preserve has cameras mounted in places, correct?”

Bingo, she thought. “We do, yes.”

“And how long do you keep the feeds?”

“Forever.” As he seemed surprised, she nodded. “It’s not like surveillance video for businesses or public places. We need the data for our research purposes. Everything’s kept on the cloud.”

Eastwind shook his head. “Where I come from, clouds rain. Block the sun. Block the moon. I am not meant for this era.”

She smiled, even though her heart rate was high. “There are advantages to technology. And this is about the hiker, right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“I’d be happy to give you a copy of the coverage we have for North Granite Ridge. You want me to go back, like, three days? Four?”

“Four would be good. We’re not exactly sure when the attack happened.”

“It may not be a wolf, you know.” When he made a noncommittal murmur, she tried to shrug casually. “I’ll send you the files right away. All I need is an email address, and I’ll get you a Dropbox.”

“Drop box?”

“It’s a way of sharing big files.”

“Oh. That’d be great.”

Out on the mountain, the man was in charge. Here indoors? He was awkward in a way that would have seemed endearing—if it weren’t for the fact they were talking about footage she’d obstructively justice’d.

“I will warn you,” she said. “Our cameras are limited. They can only scan part of any location, and they move through a system of positions. It’s possible we have nothing on video.”

“It’s still more than we have to go on now.”

“Okay, well, I’m just here printing address labels so I can grab the footage before I leave.” She got a pad and took a pen out of Candy’s holder. “What’s your email?”

“Here, take this card.” He reached into his back pocket. “It’s on the bottom.”

Lydia took what he offered. “So … have you ID’d the hiker yet?”

“No, not yet. We will, though.”

“And you didn’t find a car? At the trailheads, or something?”

“Not yet, no.”

“So how’d he get on the property? Hikers have to start somewhere on the trails. Unless he walked across the valley from another site—like the hotel’s.”

“This is an active investigation so I cannot comment.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Did you ask the hotel about his picture? What did they say?”

“Come on, Ms. Susi, you know what my response is going to be to that—”

“What was in his pack.”

“Excuse me?” Those dark eyes narrowed.

Shit. Maybe she’d given herself away.

“Well, if he’s a hiker, he probably had a pack, right? Any chance there were hunks of poisoned meat in it?” When the sheriff just stared at her, she shook her head. “That hotel chain is not part of our community. Why are you protecting them? And please don’t active-investigation me again. I’m not buying it.”

The sheriff inclined his head. Then he put his hat back on. “Thank you for your help. I look forward to receiving the files.”

As the man turned away, Lydia said, “How far is it going to go. How far are you going to let it go.”

The sheriff left in silence, and he closed the door quietly.

“Goddamn it,” Lydia muttered.

Turning around, she went back through the facility, passing by Peter’s office. Out in the clinic section, she pushed open the door to the exam room. As her breath stopped, she hugged herself.

The wolf was on his side, an oxygen mask at the end of his muzzle, his flank rising and falling.

She lingered in the doorway, feeling raw rage.

When she stepped back out, she was careful to make sure that the door didn’t make a sound as it closed. And then she marched back to her office and went to her cell phone. Looking up what she needed on the web, she put a call in and waited as the ringing started—

“WNDK news desk. How can I help you,” a terse male voice said.

12th Avenue and Market Street

Downtown Caldwell

AH, THE GOD-AWFUL overhang of a bad day’s sleep, Xhex thought as she stood, back-flatted and headachy, against the far wall of the club.

Fuck that, it was more like a number of days.

All around her, humans were deliberately cutting their ties to reality, using drugs, alcohol, and orgasms with strangers, to extinguish the burn of their regular lives. Whether they were working shit jobs or for people they hated … or in relationships that sucked … or worried about a sick parent … or whatever it was they were bitched about, here, they could surf free of all that weighed them down.

As a symphath, she knew the particulars of what they were avoiding. Okay, fine, not names and birth-dates, but the emotions were all there for her consumption, the evil side of her feeding off the toxic feelings that drove the humans, defined them … and ultimately threatened to destroy them.

Although, hey, maybe there were people here celebrating something, a graduation, a promotion, a new apartment or coupledom. But the good feelings were no nourishment for her so she self-selected out the happy-joy-joys.

And went for the traffic accidents.