Over a small fire, he made coffee and heated up some freeze-dried food. The forest sounds changed at night, and he loved the contrast. The wind kicked up a bit, rustling through nearby trees and carrying a wolf howl from a long way away.
The migration of a wolf pack down from Yellowstone still tickled him, although it was over two decades now, and it did create some trouble with surrounding ranchers. The Thunder Mountain pack, however, stayed small, and if it had split, the new pack had evidently migrated elsewhere. So eight wolves prowled this forest, on average, and right now they had some pups they were taking care of.
Moose, elk, bear and pronghorns all thrived here, and were doing better since the wolves’ arrival. Forage had increased for all of them, and even the birds had multiplied since they got to pick over wolf leavings. By and large, this had become a healthy, thriving forest despite past scars left by men’s gold mining and lumbering, and occasional holdovers like Buddy Jackson.
Which brought him back to Skylar Jamison and Buddy’s strange reaction to her. The camera, he had already decided, had to be at the root of Buddy’s concern. But why would Buddy be bothered if someone took a few photos? Why would he use the word spy? In short, why was Buddy acting like a man with something to hide?
How had he even known Sky was there and taking photos? Was he watching the area through some kind of telescope himself?
None of this made Craig feel particularly easy. Buddy had always been the independent and slightly quirky kind of cuss you’d expect to want to live in the middle of nowhere with his family. No problem there. Some folks were just built that way. But clearly something had changed since last summer, and it was something he needed to look into.
Spying? The word rang serious alarm bells.
Well, he’d do what he could to deal with that in the morning. Meantime he could indulge in more pleasant thoughts, like that cute little artist.
All right, she wasn’t little. She was a bit taller than average, and she moved and walked with the ease of someone whose body was in tip-top shape. From what little he could see of her under that baggy, ugly sweater and paint-stained jeans, she seemed to have a nice figure. But her face, even smeared with a daub or two of oil paint, had been winning. Blue eyes, curly brown hair escaping from a ponytail, a face that immediately made him think of a Madonna. Which was something he didn’t often think about.
Apart from everything that had been going on, he’d sensed an aura of sorrow around her. A feeling that life hadn’t been treating her well recently. Not that he should care. He would do his bit by keeping Buddy out of her hair and in a few days she’d be gone. The way everyone else left.
Lucy had chided him once. “You really need to marry a forester.”
“Are you offering?”
That had sent her off into gales of laughter, the more so because Lucy didn’t run to men.
The thing was, though, Craig didn’t feel lonely. At least not often. Overall he was pretty content with the way things were. He’d long ago figured out the average woman needed far more year-round attention than he could provide, but he loved his life and wasn’t about to give it up. The thought of a picket fence made him shudder. So he settled for a few good friends and the companionship of the wilderness. He didn’t have a whole lot to complain about either.
The night didn’t promise to grow too cold, so he doused the fire with his leftover coffee and climbed into his sleeping bag, pillowing his head on his saddle. Nearby his mount, Dusty, stirred occasionally in the horse version of sleep.
He stared up at the infinite stars and thought of all the people before him who had lived just such a life, from shepherds to cowboys to hunters, and knew he was in good company. It was a great life, and yes, it was missing a thing or two, but they didn’t fit. Que será, and all that.
He drifted into sleep with visions of Sky dancing around the edges of his thoughts. Simple thoughts, for the most part, because his life was largely a simple one, mostly untethered and unconfined except for the dictate to protect this forest and all its inhabitants.
The next thing he knew, his eyes were popping open to a flaming sunrise sky. Yawning, he sat up and debated whether to try to start another fire and make some coffee. He liked starting his days with coffee, but he’d pretty well put paid to that by dousing his fire pit last night. It was still wet, and an unusual dew clung to everything.
Rising, he made his way to a nearby stream, washing up with special soap that wouldn’t pollute the water, then donned a fresh shirt and underwear. While he didn’t exactly look perfectly creased, that was to be expected when he didn’t touch base overnight. Good enough for what he had to do, anyway.
He saddled Dusty, fed him a handful of oats and promised him better grazing in just a little while. He kept his promise as soon as he reached the spot where Sky had been painting. While Dusty ate his fill of the tenderest shoots of green, he surveyed the valley and across it, Buddy’s place.
It sure was a long distance, he thought again. So what the devil had bothered Buddy?
Pulling out his binoculars, he scanned the area around Buddy’s place. Even with their aid, he couldn’t see a whole lot of detail at this distance, certainly nothing to ring alarm bells.
So what had bugged Buddy? That telephoto lens and the resolution it could probably provide? If so, Buddy was up to no good. And how had Buddy become aware of it anyway? Just seeing someone return to the same hilltop a few days running shouldn’t have been enough to bother him, not at this distance.
Smothering another yawn, he capped the binoculars, let them dangle from the strap around his neck and urged Dusty toward the trail he knew was in those woods. Maybe Buddy would be neighborly enough to offer coffee. Somehow he doubted it.
Before long, he sighted a few hoofprints that told him someone had ridden up this path recently. Probably Buddy yesterday. At least he was keeping his ATVs to his own property. They’d had a discussion about that just the year before last. ATVs did a lot of damage to the ecosystem, and weren’t allowed in this forest except in a few places. One or two ATVs wouldn’t have been a problem. The problems began when you got a lot of people with them, which seemed to happen nearly everywhere they were allowed.
By the time Craig reached the valley, the sun had fully risen over the eastern foothills and had begun reflecting off the top of the mountains ahead of him. He’d approached Buddy’s place from this direction any number of times, and figured by now they saw him coming.
When he reached the creek that tumbled through the valley, though, he frowned. As far as he knew, they’d had a normal snowpack this past winter despite its being warmer, so why the hell did the water seem slower and not as deep as it had only a few weeks ago? He’d have to check that out. If a beaver dam or a deadfall cut the water to the valley by too much, a lot of life would suffer.
Given the warmer winter, they were apt to lose a whole lot of moose and elk to ticks as it was. They didn’t need to be going thirsty on top of it.
Dusty picked his way carefully among the wet rocks, reaching the other side without having even wetted his knees. Not good.
Craig could feel that he was being watched. The certainty settled over him but it wasn’t a comfortable feeling. In the past he knew his approach had been watched, but it hadn’t made him uncomfortable. For some reason this time it did, and his guard went up although he kept his posture relaxed.
Something sure as hell was going on. The question was what. His instincts insisted on kicking into high gear.
Keeping his pace slow and lazy, he began to wind his way up the narrow track that led to Buddy’s place from the valley. The man had a wider road that connected to a county road, but it was out of the way for right now, and not the way he wanted to approach. He wanted this to appear like just another of his friendly visits, visits he made in a neighborly fashion a handful of times every summer.
But as Dusty