Wanted: Sharpshooter

CHAPTER 11

  That night, with Carlos asleep upstairs and Max and I in the middle of an argument over whether I should go to sleep and leave him to watch the place alone because the cougar was most likely miles away or stick around because it might be nearby, another scream sent all thought from my mind. It was worse than that first scream, worse than those of the previous night because this scream was close. Too close. Mere yards away but it was impossible to tell exactly because the forest warps sound and fools listeners.

  Our argument stopped in mid-sentence, we ran to the door, expecting to see a tawny body in the yard but all we that met our eyes was day-bright moonlight and stars littering the sky thicker than the pine needles on the forest floor. "Stay here, I'm going to circle the stable. He's close, I want to know where."

  When he returned, shaking his head, that awesome scream came again, stopping us both in our tracks. But it was somewhat fainter. “It’s going away.” Max couldn’t believe it. “It's farther away. Not much farther but it’s actually leaving.”

  He looked at the horizon. It wasn’t deep night yet but the extreme blackness that is beneath the trees at night had settled in and turned the wilderness darker than could be imagined. “Okay, I give up. Two people are better than one. Why don’t we keep each other company while we wait to see if he comes back?”

  "Do you think he might return?"

  "No, it's just until we know for sure he's gone."

  As the hours passed, we heard no more cries and the horses settled down the way they’d only do if they felt no imminent danger, but instead of finding a place to sit and watch, we circled the stable over and over again, at first searching the blackness beneath the trees for the shine of eyes and, when we found none, simply walking through the silver shine of the moonlight. With no puma nearby, my thoughts wandered. Or perhaps the night was so similar to the previous night, when we'd kissed, that I simply had to say something even if it had nothing to do with that kiss.

  "Will your aunt and uncle be glad you no longer need to stay with them? Or will they miss you?"

  "They offered me a job at the lumberyard but understood when I said I didn't want that kind of life. They were glad I found a job I like."

  The horizon became visible, black becoming gray as the dark changed, lessened, a reminder that morning would come. Somehow the hours had passed and we'd spent the night on watch and now the cougar was nowhere around. Everything would be better once day came and morning was close. I felt strangely restless, undone because there was unfinished business between us, but I sagged in relief at the thought of another night without incident. Max noticed and touched my shoulder. “Get some sleep."

  I didn't want to sleep. I wanted to keep walking around the stable with Max's capable profile between me and the danger the forest represented. To feel dawn coming as had happened yesterday. But Max had gone an entire night and day with no sleep. I took his hand. Wanted to pull him towards me but knew I shouldn't. "You need sleep more than I do.”

  "I'll sleep while you're in town. It'll be broad daylight and Carlos will be here to keep watch. In any case, I think the cougar is gone, at least for now. But you should still talk to the warden."

  I turned reluctantly to head for the stairs but before I took a full step Max reached casually and turned me back towards him. “One thing.”

  I let him pull me closer. Gladly. “What’s that?”

  “For want of a better term, I'll call it unfinished business.”

  So he felt the same way. I let him pull me across the remaining distance between us until we were touching, body to body lightly, standing easily, breathing the moist air with its special fragrance. Mint with an earthy undertone and he said, "I apologize for last night."

  "No apology necessary." I pulled away, vaguely disappointed. “And you’re right, I am tired.”

  He let me go. Stared at me a moment with an unreadable expression. “Get some rest, Maggie.”

  I moved away, feeling the distance between us and hating it, and headed for my room above the office. The night had been long, I'd sleep well. But even as I prepared for bed and closed my eyes, I knew that when I woke, I'd have to face the fact that an apology didn't change what had happened between us. Nor would it change the fact that I had no idea what our relationship was. Or what I wanted it to be.

  It was afternoon before I went to town. Noon before I awoke. Daylight when I fell asleep, with fingers of dawn sliding across the ceiling. I heard Carlos stirring in the next room when consciousness finally left me. I heard no sound at all when I awoke, hours later.

  I flew out of bed, looked for something to eat and, failing to find anything I could fix in less than a half hour decided against breakfast… or, more honestly, lunch… and ran to the truck, guilty about sleeping while Max and Carlos worked the horses.

  I reached Montrose with my stomach rumbling and decided a couple minutes in the café would remedy the situation. There, I ended up at a table between the game warden I wanted to see and a family of tourists with three small boys who were involved in a bragging contest. “If I see a bear, I won’t chicken out. I’ll let that bear know who’s boss.”

  "I’ll walk up to any bear and call it names.”

  “I’ll punch it in the nose.”

  As I digested the boasts, the warden leaned close to me and whispered, “I don’t think any of them have seen a real, live bear.”

  I nodded my head. “I agree." I didn't let him return to his lunch. "I’d like to talk to you.”

  “I’m on my way to tag a deer a tourist hit on the highway north of town.”

  “Probably tell everyone he shot it.”

  “Then I have to give a talk to a group of Girl Scouts out at the campground.”

  “A cougar is after our horses.”

  He didn't act surprised. Instead he indicated the empty seat beside him. "Big cat?"

  I sat. "We haven't seen it but Carlos says it's big."

  “Damn. I hoped the SOB had left the area.”

  "You know about it?"

  “If it's the one we've been following, yes I do. Through sightings and reports such as yours. This is the third state that cat has been sighted in so far.”

  “Does that mean it'll keep going?”

  “Not necessarily." He doodled with his napkin. "This particular cat is dangerous.”

  “More so than most?”

  “It was first sighted by a pair of hikers. Then, later, a hunter took a shot at it when it threatened him. It was on a ledge, about to pounce and the hunter happened to glance up and saw it before it leaped. He wounded it, there was blood, but the cat took off for parts unknown so we don't know the extent of its injuries."

  "Much blood?"

  "Enough. The thing is, a wounded mountain lion is a dangerous one." Carlos had said this cougar was different from most. Because it was shot? "And we're pretty sure this guy was seriously wounded."

  "How do you know this is the same cougar?"

  “According to the description those people gave, it’s a male in its prime." He looked a question at me.

  "That's what Carlos and Max think."

  "It's going to keep hunting until it finds a place with lots of potential food. And it seems to attack mostly at night.”

  "The horses are restless at night..”

  “Horses are easy food, as are other domestic animals. A farmer lost a heifer to it and a sheep rancher saw it kill one of his sheep. Said it dragged the sheep away, then returned and killed a second one. But the farmer shot at it and chased it away." He leaned back in his chair land considered me. “He killed that second sheep just for the sheer joy of killing. Or out of anger and pain.”

  I sucked in my breath. "What can we do to keep the horses safe?”

  “First off, I’d find someone to help. Carlos is too slow with that broken leg.”

  “We already have someone.” I told him about Max. “He was in the Army. The R
angers.”

  The warden nodded. “Excellent. But don’t get cocky. It could be lying in wait, cougars do that. Lulls its prey into being careless, then it pounces.”

  I shuddered. “We already stand watch at night. Because that's when we hear it."

  “Keep it up.” He rose.

  "We have guns."

  "Good." He smiled thinly. "But don't let anyone know I said so. Killing cougars is a gray area legally." He picked up his check. "But this cat is dangerous." And he left.

  I barely heard what the clerk said as I ordered horse treats at the feed store, so distracted that he looked at me oddly. “Maggie, have you heard anything I've said?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, Brad.” He was local, too, like me, though we hadn’t gone to school at the same time. “I had something on my mind.”

  A grin broke out from ear to ear. “Like a guy? Max Abarams?”

  “How’d you know about Max?”

  “This is a small town.”

  Oh Lord!”

  "His aunt and uncle own the lumber yard. They were hoping he'd take over but you changed that. So of course I know. Everyone knows." His grin grew. "You must have woven magic around the guy, according to his aunt and uncle. He's never wanted to put down roots before." He leaned across the counter and leaned on his elbows. "So when's the wedding?"

  "Don't be ridiculous."

  His eyebrows cocked. "When Maggie Squires actually breaks down and hires an employee and then keeps that employee more than a day, there's something going on, and don't try to say there's not."

  I smothered a reply, grabbed the horse treats, and got out of there as fast as possible. Until I left town two hours later, I felt like I had a target painted on my back that every gossip in the area could zero in on. And probably did.