A moment later, Peder looked up. “It is too late for that. But I will tell you what he meant about the victims.”
Peder straightened his back, as if finally telling some of the story would lighten whatever weighed on him. Rook waited.
“Stanislav, three people have been killed by the beast. First was Trond Hagen, a young man who came to this town only about a decade ago. Second was Steinar Dahlberg. And finally, Greta.”
“So three people were killed. What’s the point, Peder?”
“The point is that all three people were scientists. And all three currently or formerly worked for Eirek Fossen.”
Peder’s revelation did not surprise Rook. It made sense that the creature’s motive would somehow tie into Fossen, the man who controlled the town. Nevertheless, Rook remained silent as he digested the new information.
He was glad he did, because Peder continued. “There is something else. Those three victims were not the only ones who worked for Eirek. My Ilsa did also.”
Rook asked, “Who is Ilsa?”
Peder sighed, and his eyes watered. “Ilsa was the most beautiful woman in the world. For fifty years, I was lucky enough to be married to her. Ilsa was my wife.”
Rook phrased the next question in as gentle a tone as he could manage, though he imagined he already knew the answer. “What happened to her?”
Peder’s voice cracked. “She died two years ago. Brain cancer. By the time we took her to see a doctor in the city, it was too late.”
Rook put a hand on the old man’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
Peder nodded, then kept talking. “If the creature is killing those who worked for Eirek, maybe that is why it is targeting my animals. It won’t kill me, since I didn’t actually work for him.”
Rook thought Peder could be right, but he also though the Norwegian was being too hard on himself. “Or maybe the damn thing is just hungry. Don’t worry about the reasons, just focus on how we stop it.”
Peder stared at him, and might have dipped his chin, Rook couldn’t tell. Then he lifted himself off the couch and went through the door into his bedroom without a word. Rook let out a breath before he got up and headed out to the barn. That old man is seriously hurting.
He turned his thoughts to killing the creature. Rook and Fossen had agreed not to start their next round of stalking until midnight, when Fossen would contact Rook via walkie-talkie to let him know where the wolves were. Nothing had happened before that time on previous evenings, so they didn’t see the need to waste a lot of time wandering.
Rook, however, had no intention of sitting in Peder’s barn until that time. Leaving the tracking chip behind, at eight o’clock he made his way down to the area where the creature had disappeared the night before. Specifically, Rook went to the tree he’d climbed, which had enough upper branches to conceal him. He climbed the tree again and settled in the elbow of a branch near the top of it, a spot from which he had a clear view of the top of the embankment.
Night vision goggles would have really helped on this mission. If he could have enlisted Deep Blue and the satellites at his disposal, they could have scanned the area for heat signatures and possibly discovered how the monster had escaped. He had none of those options, instead relying on the AR-15, the Desert Eagle and his five senses.
On this clear night, the moon provided enough light that he would be able to see the creature if it came up the embankment. Rook didn’t like to wait, and he’d likely spend three hours staking the place out with nothing to show for it. But he couldn’t think of any better alternatives.
His mind wandered as he watched. He wondered again if this was what he wanted, wasting time cut off from the world instead of returning to his teammates. This kind of withdrawal wasn’t like him, but he’d never failed so utterly at a mission as he had in Russia. The fact that it wasn’t his fault didn’t ease the bitterness about the outcome. He still didn’t feel ready to go home.
Returning his mind to the matter at hand, he considered the victims, as Thorsen had suggested. If he were a detective or a mystery writer, the fact that all three victims worked for Fossen would provide motive. But how intelligent was the thing? How much would motive even be relevant?
Rook didn’t know. He did suspect that Greta’s death had caused Fossen to change his tune about having Rook in town. With that killing, Fossen had surely figured out that his scientists were targets, and the town’s leader would suspect that he might be the next in line. Rook would bet money that Fossen didn’t know the creature’s origin or where it had disappeared—otherwise Fossen wouldn’t need him.