the blood circulating again, Nancy turned to George
and said, “I have a sneaky feeling you're hiding
information from me, Fayne—like, who alerted the
police?”
George grinned. “Remember the man who showed
up to buy the puppy? I told him that Rainbow and her
litter were stolen property and to call the police
immediately Luckily, he was a good guy, and he be-
lieved me.”
“Luckily is right,” Nancy breathed. “If it hadn't been
for him, we would have been bear food.”
“Yeah,” George said. “I love animals, but I sure don't
want to cater to them.”
Nancy rolled her eyes at George's joke before bor-
rowing a police cell phone to telephone the Marshall
with the good news.
Later that evening everyone staying at Elk River
Ranch had gathered around Rainbow, Grover, and
their puppies in John and Alice's suite after Paul and
Jenny had fetched the animals home.
“I'd be one hundred percent happy if I weren't so
upset about Grandma,” Paul said soberly. “I had no
clue about her plan, or that she was even capable of it.
Yes, she is spoiled and selfish, but stealing wolves and
attacking people?” He shook his head glumly, unable to
say anything more.
Bess broke the silence. “There's one thing that I still
don't get. Who wrote the note on the elk's antler?”
Dody Warriner cleared his throat, looking horribly
embarrassed as he blurted, “I have a confession. My
good friend Bill Ehret asked me to put the note on the
elk's antler. If I'd known it was a threatening note, I
never would have done him that favor.”
“Why did he want to threaten us like that?” Alice
asked, her face clouding over.
“It's complicated,” Dody explained. “See, when I
scolded Bill later about the note, he told me he was just
trying to get Paul on his side about the wolf issue. Bill's
worried sick about his livestock's safety with the new
wolf packs roaming around, and he's especially
concerned about having a wolf sanctuary so close to his
ranch. I think he feels desperate. But I'm sorry if I
caused any of you pain. I really didn't know what the
note said.”
Alice smiled. “Don't worry, Dody. We believe you.”
With a sigh of exasperation, Dexter said, “You trust
everyone too much, Dad. You should have read his
note first.”
Paul said, “Well, I'm hoping Bill Ehret won't feel
desperate for much longer. The moment I learned that
he hadn't taken Rainbow, I called him to arrange a
friendly meeting. Tomorrow we're going to sit down
together at Thunderbird Ranch to try to hash out a
compromise between the Montrose ranchers and the
needs of my wolf sanctuary. Bill's eager to talk. I have a
feeling we can work something out.”
“That's great news,” Jenny said, elated.
Paul smiled at Jenny, then looked back at Alice and
John. “But the best news of all is that Jenny and I have
set a wedding date. How does June fourth sound?”
“Lovely,” Alice said, beaming.
“What a romantic day it's been,” Bess gushed, with a
sideways glance at Dexter. “First, Rainbow and Grover
are reunited, and now Jenny and Paul have a wedding
date.”
“Speaking of Rainbow,” Alice said, “let's all give
three cheers to Nancy for her brilliant detective work.
Thank you so much, Nancy. Rainbow and the puppies
wouldn't be here now if it hadn't been for you.”
Nancy smiled, shooting a glance at Rainbow, who
was staring at her placidly with her mysterious golden
eyes. On a whim, Nancy reached down cautiously to
pat her for the first time, and Rainbow didn't flinch.
Gently removing one of the puppies from the pen,
Nancy lifted it to her lap. As she stroked its soft baby
fur, Nancy said, “I love it that Rainbow trusts me with
her puppy. It's as if she's thanking me, in her own
wolflike way.”
“Now you're an official part of her pack,” Bess said,
and grinned.
Carolyn Keene, The Mystery of the Mother Wolf
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