Black Hills

finger of her left hand was bare.
    Her eyes shining with distress, Tansy threw her arms around Lil and hugged hard.
    Lil said, “Um.”
    “I started to call you last night. I was so upset. But then I thought you had enough to do and didn’t need me adding to it.”
    “Upset? Oh, Tans.” As the plummet became a dive, all Lil could do was return Tansy’s crushing hug. “I know you can only feel what you feel, and you have to follow those feelings, but I hate that it upset you.”
    “Of course it upset me.” Tansy pulled back, gave Lil a little shake. “Upset isn’t even close to the mark when my best friend’s being threatened. We’re going to start screening your e-mail as of now. In fact, we screen all e-mails.”
    “E-mails?”
    “Honey, did you take drugs this morning?”
    “What? No! E-mails. The e-mail. Sorry, I saw you just drive up, so I didn’t think you knew about it yet.”
    “Then what the hell did you think I was talking about?”
    “Ah . . .” Flustered, Lil managed a weak laugh. “Got me there. I’m a little turned-around yet this morning. How did you find out so fast?”
    “Farley and I ran into the sheriff last night after you called him about it. He—Willy—knew you were concerned about your parents, and wanted Farley to know what was going on. He went right home.”
    “ Farley went right home?”
    “Of course, Farley. Lil, maybe you should lie down awhile.”
    He didn’t ask her, Lil realized as Tansy checked her brow for fever. Never had the chance to ask her. “No, I’m okay. Just a lot on my mind, and I’m trying to stick to routine. I think it’ll help.”
    “What did it say? No.” Tansy shook her head. “I’ll read it for myself. I should’ve told you right away everyone’s fine at your parents’. Farley called before I left this morning just to let me know.”
    “I’ve talked to them, but thanks. It’s nice, you and Farley.”
    “It’s weird, me and Farley. Nice and weird, I guess.” She watched as Lil picked up the bright blue ball and winged it high over the fence, into the enclosure. Baby and his companions screamed in happy competition as they gave chase. “They’re going to find him, Lil. They’ll find him soon, and this will be over.”
    “I’m counting on it. Tansy, he mentioned Carolyn in the e-mail.”
    “Oh.” Tansy’s dark eyes sheened. “Oh, God.”
    “It sticks, right here, when I think about it.” Lil fisted a hand at her sternum. “So, routine.” She looked over to where Baby and his friends rolled and wrestled for the ball. “And comfort.”
    “There’s always plenty of routine.”
    “You know what I’d like, Tansy? You know what would bring that comfort?”
    “A hot fudge sundae?”
    “That’s a never-fail, but no. I’d like to be up there, hunting him down. I’d be comforted if I could be in the hills, tracking him.”
    “No.”
    “Can’t do it.” Lil shrugged, but her gaze stayed on the hills. “It would put others at risk. But it’s something else that sticks right here. That I have to wait, just wait while others go after the person responsible for all this.” She heaved out a breath. “I’m going around to check on Delilah and Boris.”
    “Lil,” Tansy called after her. “You won’t do anything stupid?”
    “Me? And risk losing my smart-girl status? No. Routine,” she repeated. “Just routine.”
     
     
     
    HE HAD A PLAN, and it was sweet. He believed it had come to him in a trance vision, and convinced himself his great ancestor in the form of a cougar guided him. He’d claimed Crazy Horse as his own for so long that the connection had become truth to him. The longer he remained in the hills, the truer it became.
    This plan would take care and precision, but he was not a careless hunter.
    He knew his ground, had his stand. He would lay the trail. He would gather the bait.
    And when the time was right, spring the trap.
    He scouted first, considering and rejecting several sites before settling on the shallow cave. It would do for his purposes, for the short term. Its location worked well, a kind of crossroads for his two main points.
    It would serve as a holding cage.
    Satisfied, he took a snaking route back toward park territory until he could ease onto a popular trail. He wore one of the jackets he’d stolen along the way, along with a pair of aviator sunglasses and a Chance Wildlife Refuge cap. A nice touch, he thought. Those and the beard he’d grown wouldn’t fool any sharp-eyed