Scat

  "Hey, you guys got any Diet Snapple?"

  "I don't think so."

  "Green tea?" she asked, plugging the iPod buds into her ears. "Tofu burgers? Spring rolls?"

  "I'll check the fridge," said Nick, smiling to himself.

  Peyton Lynch would never notice that Duane Scrod Jr. was staying at the house as long as he didn't park his motorcycle in the kitchen.

  Drake McBride was extremely annoyed.

  With a groan, he pushed himself out of bed and hobbled after Jimmy Lee Bayliss to the sitting room, where the dog handler waited somberly.

  "What happened?" Drake McBride demanded, with no trace of sympathy.

  The dog handler said, "You owe me two thousand dollars."

  "Because your dumbass dog got lost? You outta your mind?"

  "Horace didn't get lost," the man said flatly. "I ain't leavin' here till I get my money."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss bit his lip. He'd strongly urged his boss to pay the man and be done with it, but Drake McBride said no way, pardner, not one red cent.

  "Here's what I think," Drake McBride said, buttoning his purple pajama top. "I think you tried to scam us with a defective hound dog. I think ol' Horace couldn't find his own butt in a breadbox."

  The handler wasn't as tall as Drake McBride, but he was wiry and tough. Jimmy Lee Bayliss knew the type.

  "Look, whatever happened out there, the man's dog is gone," Jimmy Lee Bayliss said to his boss, "and we need to reach some sort of agreement."

  "Horace was a champion tracker," the handler stated proudly. "Horace was the best."

  "Horace was a dud!" Drake McBride cackled. "Whoever heard of a champion bloodhound gettin' lost?"

  At that point Jimmy Lee Bayliss realized that nothing could be done to save Drake McBride from his own big mouth. The president of the Red Diamond Energy Corporation was now pinned against the wall of the hotel room, his face turning the same color as his ridiculous pajamas.

  "Horace did not get hisself lost. He got kilt!" the dog handler said, squeezing. "And he got et!"

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss attempted to pry the man's hands from Drake McBride's neck, but the handler was very strong and very angry. Drake McBride's eyeballs were bulging and his arms were flapping, and mousy little squeaks were leaking out of his lungs.

  "Let go of him, please!" Jimmy Lee Bayliss implored. "He'll pay you the two grand."

  "And 'pologize for what he said about Horace?"

  "He'll take out an ad in the paper, if you want."

  The dog handler released his hold on Drake McBride, who crumpled to his knees on the carpet. After five solid minutes of hacking and wheezing, he finally recaptured his breath and said he was sorry.

  "Gimme my money," the handler said.

  "You say your dog was eaten?"

  "Bet on it."

  "Eaten by what, if I might ask?"

  "Like you don't know," the man said coldly.

  Drake McBride looked quizzically at Jimmy Lee Bayliss. "What's he talkin' about now?"

  To himself, Jimmy Lee Bayliss thought: I'm employed by a total moron.

  "He's talking about a panther, sir."

  "Ha! Ain't no panthers out there!" Drake McBride declared, but it was all bluster. His face was a pale mask of anxiety.

  The dog handler said, "I saw the scat myself."

  "You're mistaken, pal. It was most likely a bobcat."

  "Yeah?" The man yanked Drake McBride to his feet and then shoved him into an armchair. "I know bobcat scat from panther scat, and what I saw didn't come from no puny bobcat."

  In fear of another throttling, Drake McBride gave up the argument. "Whatever you say; you're the expert."

  "That I am," the handler said.

  To bring the conversation to a peaceful end, Jimmy Lee Bayliss explained to Drake McBride that the handler would never have allowed Horace to track a scent through the Black Vine Swamp if he'd known a panther was lurking in the area.

  "The dog's purely a human hunter, not a cat hunter," Jimmy Lee Bayliss said. "I believe we've got an obligation to compensate this man for his loss."

  "All right, all right," Drake McBride mumbled, and limped to the bedroom to get his checkbook.

  The handler said, "Out west they use special cat hounds for huntin' cougars. But Horace, he wasn't schooled for that. He probably just run up on that ol' panther without even barkin' and got hisself kilt and et. Thing is, I had a fondness for that ol' fella."

  "We're very sorry this happened. Deeply sorry," Jimmy Lee Bayliss said in his most sincere-sounding voice.

  "You oughta be," said the handler.

  "Mr. McBride and I had no idea there was a dangerous panther on our land."

  "Know what? I think you're both fulla crap."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss didn't dispute the point. His boss returned and slumped into the armchair, a ballpoint pen in one hand and a checkbook open on his lap.

  With forced politeness he said, "Two thousand even, right?"

  The dog handler rubbed his leathery chin in a pondering way that caused Jimmy Lee Bayliss to grope for his Tums.

  "Right 'fore Horace disappeared, he struck a red-hot trail," the handler recalled. "It led us off your company's land all the way over to the next section, where you can't believe what I found-or maybe you can."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss swallowed a sour burp. Drake McBride's shoulders drooped.

  "There was a big ol' stack of pipes and boxes of drillin' gear," the dog handler went on, "like somebody was fixin' to sink an oil well on state property! You can't never guess what name was on the labels of them crates-or maybe you can. It was 'Red Diamond Energy,' same as your outfit. Ain't that odd?"

  Drake McBride looked up and croaked, "What exactly do you want from me, mister?"

  The handler gave a long, phony sigh. "I sure do miss my hound dog."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss said, "Let's cut to the chase-how does five thousand bucks sound?"

  "Real fine is how it sounds to me."

  "But if anyone ever asks, you never set foot in Section 22, did you? You didn't see no mud pit or drillin' equipment or nuthin'."

  "No, sir," the handler said. "The only one who knows different is Horace, and he ain't here to spill the beans, God rest his soul."

  Drake McBride scowled. "Stop. You're gonna make me cry."

  He scribbled a check for five thousand dollars and handed it to the handler. "Here, go buy yourself another mutt," he said, and staggered back to bed.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Nick felt himself being shaken roughly. He hoped it was a dream, because he wasn't ready to wake up.

  "Move it!" a hushed voice commanded.

  Nick opened one eye and saw Duane Scrod Jr. standing over him, dressed in hunting camo. "Twilly just called," said the kid, holding up his cell phone. "We gotta go."

  "Where?"

  "There."

  "But what about school?" Nick asked. Smoke grabbed his ankles and hauled him out of the sheets. "Go write a note to your babysitter."

  "She's not my babysitter!"

  "Whatever. Put a note in the kitchen-tell her you caught a ride to Truman with one of the seniors."

  "But it's still nighttime," Nick said.

  "No, dude, that's fog."

  Nick dressed in his regular school outfit, including a necktie and blazer, in case Peyton Lynch woke up and saw him leaving. He didn't know that she was in a deep, bear-like sleep, having been up until 3 a.m. texting back and forth with girlfriends who were on a trip to Hong Kong.

  Together, Nick and Smoke slipped out the front door.

  "Are we taking the motorcycle?" Nick asked, wondering if he'd dressed warmly enough for an open ride.

  "Twilly said no, the muffler's too noisy," Smoke said. "Today we need to be quiet."

  At the end of the block they came upon the blue Prius, parked with its headlights on. Although the windshield was glossy with dew, Nick could make out two upright shapes inside the car. He assumed it was Twilly and Mrs. Starch, and he was half right.

>   The driver's window rolled down, and Twilly told Nick and Smoke to get in the backseat. Once they were buckled in, Twilly pointed at his four-legged passenger.

  "Say hello to Horace."

  With droopy eyelids the bloodhound turned toward the boys, a string of pearly drool unspooling from its lower lip.

  Smoke crowed delightedly. "Is that the same one that was chasing us?"

  "All is forgiven," Twilly said from behind his black sunglasses.

  Nick stroked the dog's silky ears. "Don't tell me he fell for the old raw-hamburger trick."

  "Naw, it was steak," Twilly said. "One sniff and Horace decided I was his new best friend. Turns out he's pretty good company. Doesn't ask lots of nosy questions."

  "How do you know his name's Horace?"

  "Because that's what his boss man was hollering all over the woods after he lost him. By the way," Twilly said, eyeing

  Nick in the rearview, "why are you dressed like an usher? Or is that what you usually wear on a hike through the swamp?"

  "Uh, no. I had to look like I was on my way to school," Nick said, reddening. He shed his Truman blazer and yanked off his tie. "So, why are you wearing shades?" he said sharply to Twilly. "It's practically dark out."

  "Not to me."

  Smoke asked, "Did you find some more you-know-what?"

  "Yup," Twilly said.

  "How fresh?"

  "Two hours, tops."

  Nick sat forward excitedly. "Panther scat?"

  "Right," said Twilly.

  Smoke looked out the window of the car. "Awesome," he murmured.

  Nick borrowed Smoke's cell phone to call Marta, who begged to come along. At first Twilly balked, but Smoke spoke up and said it couldn't hurt to have an extra set of eyes and ears on the hunt. Nick instructed Marta to meet them at the mailbox near the bus stop, and she was waiting in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt when the car pulled up.

  She was so excited that she practically hurled herself into the backseat. It took a few moments before she noticed the large, slobbering dog in the front. "What's the deal with him?" she said.

  "That's just Horace," said Nick.

  "He's a bloodhound," Smoke added. "A good one."

  Horace yawned at the compliment.

  Marta said, "Oh, I get it. He's gonna help track down the momma panther."

  Twilly made a noise like a game-show buzzer. "Wrong," he said. "Horace will soon be tied under a tree, snoring like a train. He doesn't do cats."

  "He's a trained manhunter," Smoke explained.

  "Where'd he come from?" Marta asked.

  Nick said, "Twilly dognapped him."

  "Not true. I bribed him with a T-bone, that's all," said Twilly.

  He drove slower than normal because of the soupy fog, so it took a while to reach the dirt road leading to the Black Vine Swamp. Along the way he pulled over briefly to snug the seat belt around Horace, which Nick thought was a good idea. A bouncy ride could cause unpleasant problems for a big dog with a full stomach, and also for the other passengers.

  They concealed Mrs. Starch's car in the same place as before, beneath the same strangler fig, and set out on foot. Twilly led Horace on a rope leash, and Smoke followed next. Nick and Marta stayed close so that they wouldn't get left behind in the fog, which hung like a wet woolen shroud over the marsh and tree islands.

  A small fire was burning at Twilly's camp. Smoke joined Marta and Nick as they stood beside it, the heat feeling glorious on their cheeks. Twilly tied the hound to a cabbage palm and set out a bowl of water, which was loudly slurped up.

  Afterward Twilly made a pot of coffee and everybody had a cup. Twilly told them to drink up quickly. Nick wasn't crazy about the taste, but he was grateful for the warm rush.

  Mrs. Starch came out of her tent holding the straw hat. The baby panther popped its head up and cried plaintively.

  "Patience, dear Squirt," Mrs. Starch said to the kitten.

  The three kids gathered around to look. As adorable as it was, the cat was restless and squirmy and not very huggable. Nick noticed long, nasty scratch marks on Mrs. Starch's arms. Meanwhile, Horace the bloodhound had already dozed off under the palm tree.

  Twilly stood away from the fire, pressing buttons on his handheld GPS. He said, "The good news is, they won't be using helicopters to hunt for us-not in this weather. The bad news is, it's gonna be twice as hard for us to find this little guy's mother."

  Mrs. Starch fixed an iron gaze on Nick and Marta. "Silence on the trail is absolutely essential," she told them. "One tiny human sneeze could scare the momma cat away for good. That would be a death sentence for Squirt, do you understand? He can't live on zoo milk forever."

  Marta and Nick nodded soberly. Both were thinking of the other panther cub, the one that had died.

  "Time to go," Smoke said.

  Twilly ducked into his tent and emerged with a rifle.

  "What's that for?" Marta asked nervously.

  "Peace of mind." Twilly checked his ammo belt to make lure that the bullet sleeves were full. "Everybody ready?"

  The miniature panther growled impatiently inside the straw hat, and even Twilly laughed. They filed out of the clearing and into the misted woods, Twilly leading the way, followed by Duane Scrod Jr., Nick, Marta, and lastly Mrs. Starch, pressing a bottle of formula to the hungry cub's mouth.

  For almost half an hour they hiked briskly yet quietly through cypress woods, flatlands, hammocks, and then more pines and palmetto scrub. The fog only seemed to get thicker, wetter, colder.

  Twilly was using the GPS unit to retrace his earlier steps; without it, Nick knew, they'd never find what they were looking for. Not a word was spoken, even by Marta when she briefly lost a sneaker in the muck. Likewise, Mrs. Starch didn't utter the faintest cry when the panther kitten, miffed because the milk had run out, swatted her nose with an oversized paw, drawing blood.

  At last Twilly motioned for the search party to halt and gather around him. He bent down and carefully lifted a palmetto frond, revealing on the ground a dark greenish pile of unmistakable origin, containing tufts of deer hair, bits of bones, and wisps of white egret feathers.

  Marta pointed at the smelly lump and silently mouthed the words "Panther poop?"

  Twilly made a thumbs-up sign. Duane Scrod Jr. dropped to one knee and began examining the scat. The only extraordinary sound in the swamp was that of the baby panther, rumbling inside Mrs. Starch's straw hat. Nick felt Marta gently take hold of his shirttail.

  After a few moments, Smoke rose and began to move stealthily in small, weightless steps along a tangled trail that he alone could detect.

  The others followed, their hearts hammering with anticipation.

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss thought it would be best if he spoke to the game warden alone, but Drake McBride insisted on coming along. Jimmy Lee Bayliss had already told Melton and the rest of the crew to take the morning off, in order to avert any risk of the federal officer overhearing Red Diamond's machinery at work in Section 22.

  The jostling drive to the Black Vine Swamp was murder on Drake McBride's fractured ribs, and he groaned and cussed the whole time. Jimmy Lee Bayliss stopped the company truck near the entrance to the public boardwalk; he'd never seen fog so thick. It was like a cold, clinging smoke.

  Drake McBride got out, rubbing his bandaged midsection. He was still mad about the five thousand dollars he'd given to the owner of the missing bloodhound.

  "You think a panther really snacked on that dog? No way, pardner."

  "Doesn't matter," Jimmy Lee Bayliss said. "We had no choice but to pay the man off."

  Drake McBride snorted scornfully. "He's nuthin' but a scammer."

  "Whatever. He found the well pit in Section 22," Jimmy tee Bayliss reminded his boss for the tenth time. "He would've ratted us out if we didn't give him some money."

  "Man, I hate scammers," Drake McBride said.

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss laughed. He couldn't help it. He completely understood why Drake McBride's father thought his s
on was a boob.

  A green pickup rolled out of the haze and stopped. On the side of the truck was the logo of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

  Drake McBride said, "Let me deal with this punk, Jimmy Lee."

  The "punk" turned out to be a good bit older than Drake McBride, though much more physically fit. He wore a badge and carried a gun on his hip, and he introduced himself as Special Agent Conway.

  "'Special agent'?" Drake McBride smirked. "So you're, like, James Bond of the boonies?"

  "And who would you be?" Conway said.

  "Drake McBride. I'm the president of Red Diamond Energy."

  "Right." Conway looked at Jimmy Lee Bayliss. "And you?"

  "He's my project manager," Drake McBride said. "Mr. Bayliss is his name. Lemme save all of us from wastin' one more second of our precious time-there's no panthers out here, okay? Nada. Somebody made a big mistake."

  Conway smiled politely. "We received a report from a citizen who was quite certain he saw one in this area, so we're required to check it out. But not today, gentleman. Not in this heavy fog."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss quietly exhaled in relief. Drake McBride simmered.

  "Where does the boundary of your oil lease start?" Conway asked.

  "Three-quarter mile down the road," Jimmy Lee Bayliss said, pointing. "There's a sign and a metal gate."

  "Leave it unlocked tomorrow morning," the Fish and Wildlife agent advised. "If there's no weather, I'll be back with a couple of other officers and a tracking dog."

  "Oh, great," muttered Drake McBride under his breath. "Another mutt."

  "Excuse me?"

  "Nuthin'."

  Jimmy Lee Bayliss quickly cut in. "We'll cooperate totally, Agent Conway. Whatever you need us to do, consider it done."

  "Good." The officer took off his wire-rimmed eyeglasses and wiped the condensation from the lenses. "Hardly any animal on earth is more endangered than the Florida panther-are you aware of that? There's somewhere between sixty and a hundred left, that's all, and our job is to try and save 'em from extinction. That's why we follow up on possible sightings."

  "But I told you, there can't possibly be a sighting out here, because there ain't no damn panthers!" Drake McBride protested.

  The officer said, "They're really quite beautiful. Ever seen a picture?"