The Wolf Code

Chapter 9

The Sheriff’s phone rang as he sat in his vehicle outside the nursing home.   Smiling when he saw that it was his Deputy, Keith, calling, he answered it, elated.  It was about time that things started going right and his town got back to normal.  He had product to move, and he was falling behind.

“This is Dale,” he said, the air conditioning blowing so hard on his face that it pushed the hair off his forehead.  “Did you get them?”

The silence stretched between them.

“What the hell happened?” Dale asked, trying to keep his temper under control. 

A woman walked out of the nursing home, noticing the Sheriff’s vehicle and waving.  He forced a smile and waved back, still waiting for Keith to explain what had happened.

“We went after them like you said, but we couldn’t catch up.”

“How is that possible?” Dale said through his plastered smile.  “The rain would have made the cliff impassable, so they had to go all the way around to get to the river.  That should have taken them at least an hour, and you were on four-wheelers.”  He stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “You had one job, and you had the upper hand.”

“He shifted,” Keith said.

“How can you be sure?  Were you close enough to see him do it?  Was he on our side of the territory line when it happened?”

“I didn’t see him do it, but I’m sure he was on our side.  There’s nothing like a werewolf print, and they went all the way to the river.  And we found his clothes.”

“Are you sure they were his?  Did you pick them up?”

“I’m sure that they were his, but I didn’t see them until one of the other Deputies ran them over.”

Dale held his anger in and managed to whisper the curse when he wanted to scream.  Ty was becoming a thorn in his side, and he was tempted to take him out, treaties be damned.  Ty had been a problem for as long as Dale could remember, and he was done playing by the rules.  There had to be a way to get rid of him and the girl so he could go back to running his business and his town the way he saw fit.

“What about the footprints?” Dale asked as he let a long, slow breath of air out.

“Those were run over, too.”

“Any reason you didn’t take a picture?”

“I didn’t have my phone on me.  I had to wait until I got back to the car to even call you and let you know that they slipped away.”

The more Keith talked, the angrier Dale was getting.  Was there anything that his men could do right without his help? 

“Why would you leave your phone in the car?” he asked, then thought better of it.  “You know what? Never mind.  I’m assuming that they’re in the preserve now and untouchable?”

“They are.”

“That’s fine.  We’ll deal with them later.  As long as they are there, at least I can get things running again.  I’m falling behind, and the man in charge is getting antsy.  If this goes on much longer, I’ll have to tell him that we’re having issues, and he’s not going to like that.”

“Of course not,” Keith said, and Dale could hear the weak man cowering on the other side of the phone.

Dale sneered, disgusted by Keith’s complete lack of backbone.  Maybe he would kill the little weasel for fun, just for being the biggest pansy he’d ever met.  The thought made Dale smile.  He imagined Keith on the ground, begging for his life in a puddle of his own vomit, and he almost laughed outright.  He bit back his good humor, then noticed that someone was standing outside the door of the nursing home, trying to get his attention.  He waved back, then drove around to the side of the building while he waited for Keith to get ahold of himself.

He parked in the little carport, tucked away behind the building and between the trees that were planted close together to grant a measure of privacy at the back door.  This was the door that was used to remove those residents who died in-house, and every bit of care was taken to make sure that the transfer of the body from the facility to the waiting vehicle went completely unnoticed.  It made people feel better, and it kept the residents from having to accept that they were on the downswing on their long lives and on the way to meeting their Maker much sooner than anyone wanted to.

He stepped out of the heavily tinted SUV and through the door that was held open by the man who had waved him in earlier.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said to Keith.

He hung up before the man could say another word.  It was just as well.  He was beyond irritated with Keith and the rest of the men, and he was having a tough time being rational about how he should deal with their failures.  He couldn’t really afford to kill everyone who pissed him off, and despite his flaws, Keith was one of his best and most loyal men.  They were in deep.  Together.  And Dale couldn’t just kill Keith because the man had a bad day.  He needed Keith.

He sighed.

“Long day?” Mark said lightly.

“The longest,” Dale said.

“Well, it’s about to get better.”

“That’s what I heard.”

They rounded the corner and walked into a quiet room at the end of a long hall.  The lights were off, and a slender woman with long blonde hair sat beside the bed, crying softly in the darkness.

“Hannah?” Dale said as he gently touched her shoulder, then walked around to crouch in front of her.

“Hi, Sheriff,” she said, swiping at her tears and smiling. 

“I understand that you need a ride to the hospital so you can make a tough decision, and I’d like to take you if that’s okay.”

Hannah nodded.

“Thanks.  I just got my license, and my dad was all I had left.  I don’t think I can drive all the way to Fort Worth right now.  I’m just really-” Her face crumpled, and she burst into fresh tears.  “Am I even old enough to decide to pull the plug?  Do they know that I’m only sixteen?”

“They know,” Dale said softly.  “They’re expecting you.”

“I just wish I had someone to go through this with me.  I can’t make this decision alone.”

“You have us, Hannah.  We’re family in this town, and we take care of our own.”

“Thanks, Sheriff,” Hannah said, taking his outstretched hand and standing from the chair.  “I didn’t know if I would like it here when Daddy moved us here two years ago, but now I can’t imagine my life anywhere else.  I’m just glad that we were here when Daddy had his accident and not in Dallas.  Y’all have been like family, and I can’t thank you enough.”