Chris’s father was Nadine’s cousin and the owner of Fallacaro Lock & Key—and a member of the Humans First and Last movement. Chris’s refusal to join the HFL was the reason he was currently staying with Nadine. Monty wondered whether Fallacaro knew or cared that the HFL had targeted members of his family.

“He thinks one of them might have a broken arm,” Nadine continued.

“He’s lucky they didn’t jump him,” Kowalski said.

Nadine gave Kowalski a bitter smile. “They belong to the right kind of human. They didn’t expect the likes of us to object to anything they chose to do, so they weren’t prepared for someone to fight back.”

Not this time, Monty thought. But if there’s a next time? “I’ll explain the situation to Tess. I think she, and Mr. Wolfgard, will understand why you can’t provide—”

“You’ll do no such thing.” Nadine sniffed. “If I give in, then the next demand will be to join the HFL. You think I didn’t notice how many stores are sporting that decal this morning? No, Lieutenant. I’m not closing my café, I’m not letting fools with an agenda tell me who can buy my baked goods and other foods, and by all the gods, I am not putting an HFL decal in my window.” She sniffed again and squared her shoulders. “Besides, anyone who wants to defy the HFL in this neighborhood needs to buy food somewhere.”

Monty extracted one of his business cards, turned it over, and wrote his mobile phone number on the back. “If you or Chris have any more trouble, you call me.” He held out the card. “You call me.”

“You going to the Courtyard?” Nadine asked.

“I am.”

“Could you take a delivery?”

“I can.” Monty turned to Kowalski. “Officer, why don’t you drive the car around to the delivery door.”

“Yes, sir.” Kowalski walked out.

“Discretion, Lieutenant?”

“Practicality.”

Nadine rubbed her hands over her arms, as if trying to warm herself. “You tell Tess that I’ll have the extras she asked for next week.”

“I’ll tell her.” A ringing sound startled him.

“Have to take those cookies out of the oven. Come around to the door over there.”

She opened the Employees Only door for him, and he followed her as she hurried to the back of her shop to pull out the cookies.

Looking at the food she’d already made that morning, Monty figured she’d been up since the wee hours, cleaning up the glass and sealing up the broken window. And then cooking, baking, doing whatever she could with her hands, to ease the hurt in her heart.

“I wasn’t the only one who was targeted last night,” Nadine said as she boxed up the food. “Why do those people think anything will be better if we start fighting among ourselves?”

“I don’t know,” Monty said gently. Then he looked around. “Where is Chris?”

“He’s been trying to find some glass to replace the window. If we can’t get new glass, he’s going to the hardware store to figure out a way to seal up that opening a little better than just using plywood.”

After receiving Nadine’s assurances that she and Chris had things under control, Monty and Kowalski loaded the food in the back of the patrol car and drove away.

“We’re not a delivery service, and we shouldn’t be doing this,” Monty said since Karl wasn’t saying anything quite loudly.

“I don’t think she’s expecting many customers today,” Kowalski said. “She unloaded a lot of what she’d made.”

“I know.”

Kowalski glanced at him. “What’s on your mind, Lieutenant?”

Monty sighed. “If things are starting to unravel like this in Lakeside, how bad is it in other parts of Thaisia?”

• • •

The computer finished downloading the first picture from Jackson. Simon put two sheets of the special glossy paper into the office printer and printed two copies. Then he went on to the next e-mail from Jackson and gave the commands to download the second picture.

He took a copy of the first picture out of the printer as Vlad, Blair, Henry, and Tess walked into the office. He held up the picture for all of them to see as the printer spit out the second copy.

“A mound of bison,” Henry said grimly.

“Hope is good,” Vlad said. “I’ve never seen a real bison, but part of me believes that if I touched the paper, I could feel the shaggy fur, the horns.”

“Smell the blood,” Simon said. “Well, Jackson certainly smells blood on the original drawing.”

Tess stared at the picture. “Bloody footprints—Wolf prints—all over the bodies piled up. Why?”

“We wouldn’t hunt that way,” Simon said. “We don’t hunt that way.”

Vlad shook his head. “We’re missing something—or misunderstanding something. Are you going to show this to Meg?”

A terrible picture. Wanton killing. Not for food or defense.

“Is that a huge paw print?” Vlad pointed at the bottom of the picture, at a shape that looked like it had been created in blood and absorbed until it was a faint impression in the grass near the bison mound.

“Could be a print in the foreground,” Tess said.

Simon looked at Henry. “The Hope pup couldn’t have seen any of them.”

“Who?” Blair asked. “Are you saying there are giant Wolves in the Midwest or Northwest?” He looked at Simon, then at Henry. “Not Wolves.”