“Then I’m going to find him,” Brenda said defiantly, and turned and strode towards the door.
“No, wait!” Ginger pleaded. “The professor went on their property, and disappeared. What do you think they’ll do to you?”
“I don’t care.” Brenda’s chin quivered and her eyes swam with tears. Her eyes were bloodshot and ringed with runny streaks of mascara and eyeliner. “None of you even care. None of you are doing anything to help him.”
That wasn’t true, but Ginger knew it was pointless to argue.
“Listen,” she said, “Let me go to the Panther Nation’s souvenir shop and talk to Tommy Deerkiller. Maybe he’ll listen to reason, or have some ideas on how to talk to Montgomery. He’s the one who stands to lose the most from this, because the disappearance is going to hurt the tourist industry.
“You promise you’ll talk to him today?” Brenda sniffled, wiping at her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“I’ll go right after breakfast.”
After she ate, Ginger got the keys to the pickup truck and headed over to Tommy Deerkiller’s. She had an uneasy feeling that this wouldn’t sit well with the sheriff, but she was trying to avoid him at the moment.
After the phone call from her father the day before, she’d told him that she needed to go back to New York right away. He’d begged and pleaded, and finally she’d told him that she’d give it a couple more days and think about it, but she’d asked for the day off from work to clear her head.
The truth was, she was trying to build up her resolve to leave town, but she couldn’t do that if she was working twenty feet away from Loch’s office. Her heart melted and her shirt wanted to unbutton itself every time she looked at him.
The souvenir shop was located on Rural Route 220, right near the entrance to the Panther Nation property. It was a weather-beaten, one story wooden structure with a picture of a snarling panther on the billboard sign out front. “Authentic Panther Nation Souveneers!!!” the misspelled but enthusiastic sign advertised.
There were necklaces of fangs and claws, painted pottery, handmade leather and wood drums, moccasins, packages of venison jerky, and thousands of other knick-knacks and odds and ends cluttering the shelves inside. Tommy Deerkiller was stocking the shelves when she walked in. He lit up at the sight of her.
“Well, if it isn’t the beautiful red wolf,” he said. “How may I serve you today?”
“Actually, I came to talk to you about Montgomery,” she said. “I’m worried about what’s going to happen if he continues to refuse to allow us to investigate the professor’s disappearance.”
“I agree,” Tommy nodded, frustration creasing his forehead. “People will be afraid to do business with us. Our sales are already down, because of it.”
“Is there any way that you could persuade him to reconsider? Sheriff Armstrong has always been very respectful of the panthers, from what I understand. Maybe if Sheriff Armstrong went on the property by himself?”
Tommy frowned. “Normally, I’d say yes. The problem is, ever since the professor’s disappeared, Montgomery has been acting…different. Not himself. There’s no talking to him or reasoning with him. Frankly, a number of us are concerned.”
“What’s he doing that has you concerned?” Ginger felt a ripple of unease shudder through her.
“A lot of things,” Tommy said vaguely. Clearly he was uncomfortable discussing it.
“So what could you do about it?”
“We’re debating that. But don’t say anything to anybody; challenging Montgomery or going over his head isn’t something that can be done lightly,” Tommy said, lowering his voice and glancing around fearfully. “If you could tell the sheriff that we’re working out how to address the matter, and ask him to be patient?”
“I could try.” If Loch was speaking to her.
At the sound of a truck pulling up outside, they both glanced out the window. It was Montgomery’s pickup truck, and he had two young women in the front seat with him.
“I better go,” Ginger said. Tommy nodded, looking worried. “Not a word,” he said to her anxiously.
“Of course.”
As she walked out, Montgomery saw her and waved at her from the truck window.
She paused, waiting as he climbed out and walked over to speak to her.
“How are you doing, Ginger? Come to buy some souvenirs?” he asked cheerfully. It was as if he had no idea there was a potential war brewing and he was the cause of it.
“I’m fine, thank you. How are things with you?”
“Can’t complain. So what brings you to our territory?”
She took a deep breath and thought fast. “I was looking for you, actually.”
“Really?” he looked delighted at the prospect. “Would you care to join me in a drink? We could go to the Panther Lodge, if you like.”
“On Panther territory?” she asked, startled.