“Not me personally. But we’ve had reports.”
And here I’d thought I was the only one who’d seen her. I guess that was because I’d thought I was the only one who could see her.
“Her eyes?” Deb pressed.
“They’re green.”
“Which is weird, right? Most wolves have brown eyes.”
“Most,” I agreed. “Some might be a lighter shade, yellowish or hazel, which could appear green in certain light.”
But none would ever be the green-green of Pru’s eyes. Even hybrids—part dog, part wolf—would be more likely to have blue eyes than green. Pru being a hybrid would explain why she felt comfortable hanging around town, walking into apartments. It did not explain why I could suddenly hear her now when I hadn’t before. But that was more my weirdness than Pru’s.
I made a soft sound of amusement. The chief glanced at me, but I shook my head. I wasn’t going to tell her the wolf’s name was Pru. That would just add more weird to the weird, and how was I going to explain how I knew her name? I couldn’t. Wouldn’t. Definitely shouldn’t.
“I need to send a report to the Department of Natural Resources,” she said.
“What? Why?”
Deb jumped. I guess I had shouted.
“It’s what we do when wild animals misbehave.”
“She hasn’t misbehaved. She saved my life.”
“By walking into an apartment. Wolves don’t do that. They also don’t hang around towns or follow people when they’re jogging. You know that.”
I did.
“She seemed harmless.” At least to me. She hadn’t been harmless for the intruder.
“I doubt she’s harmless. She’s also the only wolf that’s been seen, which makes her a lone wolf and they’re unpredictable at best.”
Pru was definitely unpredictable. Still …
“What will the DNR do?”
“Send a wolf expert.”
“What will he do?”
“Decide if she needs to be relocated or shot.”
“I don’t think you should call them.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Sarcasm?”
“You think?” I narrowed my eyes, but Deb moved on. “How did the wolf stop the masked intruder from smothering you?”
“Yanked him away by his shirt. Once the pillow was off my face, and I could breathe, I was a little harder to kill and he ran.”
I’d left out how the guy had flown through the air and smacked against the wall. I was funny that way.
“If you had a pillow over your face you couldn’t see exactly what happened,” Deb pointed out.
“No. But I can add. The guy stopped. The wolf had a piece of his shirt in her mouth.” I searched for it amid the debris. “There.” I pointed to the bit of brown material peeking out from beneath the leg of what was left of my end table.
“Anything else?”
“He dropped his ring.” I shifted my pointer finger to where it still lay on the floor.
Deb walked over, bent, squinted. “What is that on the face?”
“I think it’s a snarling wolf.”
“Weird, considering.”
“Mmm,” I agreed. What wasn’t?
She straightened. “How did that happen?”
For a minute I thought she could tell that the ring hadn’t actually fallen where it now rested. But that didn’t mean she knew it had gotten there thanks to the powers of Henry, the telekinetic ghost.
I was losing my mind.
“I mean, how could his ring fall off if he was wearing gloves?”
“You think I lied about his wearing gloves?”
Her eyebrows flew up. “Did you?”
“Why would I?”
“Why would you lie about anything?” she asked. “Don’t you want this guy caught before he tries it again?”
“Again?” I echoed.
“You’re not dead. As he apparently wanted you that way badly enough to try it in broad daylight in the middle of town, he seems pretty motivated.”
“He didn’t just try to rob me, see me here, and—”
“Decide to kill you? No.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Thieves and murderers are two different types of criminals. If a thief had been inside when you got here, he would have run out instead of engaging you, especially since you were asleep. If he came in after you got here, he would have left as soon as he saw you.”
She indicated the sight line from the door; my bed lay dead ahead. He couldn’t have missed me. Still …
“You don’t know that.”
“You’re right. I don’t. So, what did you lie about?”
“Nothing.” Everything I’d said was the truth. It was what I hadn’t said that was the problem.
A chill wind seemed to ruffle my hair. I should probably shut the door, but I’d just have to open it again when Ross arrived. I hugged myself.
Chief Deb’s gaze fell, narrowed. I glanced down. My fingernails were bloody.
“I scratched him!” I held out my hands as if admiring my new manicure. “You’ll be able to find him now.”
She reached into her pocket. “Maybe.”
“You can check people’s forearms.”