Her Wolf

The sound of her shuffling against the carpeted floor could be heard from Catherine’s office.

“Yes, Miss Goldberry?” She replied, standing in the doorway of Catherine’s office with a notepad and pen.

“Were there any messages this morning?” Catherine side-stepped around her desk and took a seat in the large awaiting chair, ridding herself of her heels in the process. “I’m expecting a few messages and calls.”

Jess’s brows furrowed in confusion as she flipped through her notebook as if she were reading over notes she had taken the past few days in a row.

“No messages have come in,” Jess answered hesitantly, taking a step into Catherine’s office. “Is there something scheduled that I forgot to put on your calendar? Or something I’m missing?”

Catherine’s line of eye sight turned towards one of the many bay windows that lined the back wall of her office and her expression shifted to disappointment. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but there was a small part of her that held some hope Ryan would have left a message with the office giving her a reason. She didn’t realize how much she wanted that to happen until it didn’t.

“No, you haven’t missed anything Jess,” Catherine replied, turning in her chair to face the window completely. “That’s all, you can close the door on your way out.”

The morning turned to afternoon, the afternoon turned to night and a bottle of wine, three caramel macchiato’s and an order of moo shu pork and chow mein later, Catherine still hadn’t heard anything from Ryan or the foundation. Her gut was telling her she should call him, just to alleviate some of her nerves and eliminate the possibility of anything bad having happened to him, but her pride was overpowering.

“If something bad happened, I would have heard about it by now,” she thought to herself, side-eyeing her freshly poured glass of wine. “He’s not exactly unknown in the community. It would be on the news and given my participation and working one on one with him, I would be one of the first to find out.”

Catherine drummed her fingers against her desk for a few moments as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth and allowed thoughts to course through her mind. It was possible Ryan was out trying to gather all of the information they needed for their project without her. He had been adamant on her allowing him to do things his way and pushed with the fact that he would handle Alan.

“Is that what you’re doing, Ryan?” Catherine asked out loud. “Handling Alan?”

There was an air of determination in the room as Catherine focused intently on the large iMac screen in front of her. She didn’t spend a lot of time on the computer, that wasn’t part of her job in her opinion and she didn’t want it to be. She had the piece brought in more for appearances than anything else. She hated the idea of coming across an article about her in some gossip magazine like before. She’d been accused of being the woman who sold beauty, but couldn’t keep enough for herself to attract a decent man.

People could be harsh.

The sound of Catherine typing away on her keyboard seemed to break up the tense determination in the room. The bridge of her nose crinkled and her lip stayed tucked between her teeth as she scoured the internet for any information she could find on the elusive ‘Alan’. He had to exist.

Catherine thought back to the multiple conversations she had with Ryan and what he had told her. Ryan said that Alan used to work alongside him with the foundation and that they knew each other quite well. He also told her that it seemed like Alan was doing everything he could to stop Ryan from saving the Park because he felt the casino and the resort would be beneficial—but it made no sense.

“Why would someone who used to work for a wildlife foundation, suddenly change their minds and want to do something that ultimately damages wildlife habitat?” Catherine asked to herself, her lower lip now replaced with her nails as she chewed in thought. “Something isn’t right.”

The page for Google came up on Catherine’s computer screen and her fingers twitched.

“Let’s try searching Alan + Colorado Conservation of Endangered and Rare Wildlife,” she thought as she simultaneously typed the words into the search engine, hitting enter as she finished.

“Nothing,” she mused. “How is that possible?”

Catherine found herself becoming more confused as each search came up with no results. Even in her searches she was hitting dead ends just like she and Ryan were doing with their meetings. Catherine pressed the button on her intercom, directing a question towards Jess who was still at her desk even though she should have been gone for the day.

“Jess, if I want to find out the names of people who have been a part of a certain foundation, how would I search that on Google?”

The sound of Jess’ voice echoing from the intercom caused Catherine to jump slightly. “You simply search for a list of foundation members. Just make sure that you include the name of the foundation you’re searching for. Did you want me to do it for you?”

“No, thanks,” Catherine replied, immediately going back to her search.

With Jess’ instructions fresh in her mind, Catherine searched out a public list of all those involved with the Colorado Conservation of Endangered and Rare Wildlife in the past ten years. She was pleasantly surprised to find a document located on the actual website for the foundation itself.

“Why didn’t I think about checking there first?” Catherine asked herself incredulously. “That’s the logical thing to do.”

The list of those who had either worked for the organization or helped with fundraisers and other events to support the charity was extensive and listed in alphabetical order, by last name. Ryan had never given Catherine anything but Alan’s first name, and she knew it would take a while for her to peruse the list and jot down everyone’s name that started with Alan.