“At least it’s not a skunk this time,” Kay encouraged as I chanted, “Don’t bite. Don’t bite. Don’t bite,” sliding across the floor.

  “Okay, I’m cracking the door,” Kay said. “I have a hand on Bella’s collar.”

  I lifted the curtain that my hair was making, and the squirrel saw freedom. He wisely took off out the door.

  The door shut.

  I stood up.

  Bella leaped gracefully down from my back.

  Rex struggled not to fall out of his chair, he was laughing so hard. His face red, gasping for air.

  The wild-running squirrel rescuer was sobbing and staring out into the night. “But he’s hurt! He needs help.”

  The vet tech was clutching her head as she surveyed the destruction.

  And that’s what my dad saw when he and his fellow paramedic, Bill Watkins, walked into the lobby. “Bobbi Jax,” Dad said, not at all surprised to find me in the middle of yet another disaster.

  7

  Wednesday, Wolf Time

  The wild woman plopped limply to the ground.

  Dad reached down and squeezed her jaw. “We have another licker,” he called over his shoulder to Bill.

  Bill lifted his radio to his mouth.

  I leaned over to see what Dad was seeing.

  Her tongue was black and purple.

  Dad turned to me. “Bobbi Jax, did she have a purse or phone? Some identification?”

  “She came in barehanded. Well, squirrel handed. I can go out and check her car.”

  “Hey,” the vet tech said to Rex from the center of the food pile, “can you take your cat out with you, too, until I can get this cleared up and the paramedics are done?”

  “You too, Kay,” Dad said. “How about you go out and give us some space to work.”

  Outside, Dad’s fire truck that carried the paramedics sat side by side with an ambulance ready to transport the new licker. The EMTs were unloading a stretcher.

  Another licker?

  Certainly, this woman had a very different description from the licker who had licked Delight.

  Rex had Bella tucked into his arms. “I’ll put her in the car,” he said as I pushed through the door.

  “You don’t think she’ll tear it up?” Kay asked.

  “Not unless a squirrel gets in. She’s pretty well behaved.”

  “Did your dad say that woman was another licker?” Kay sidled along beside us.

  “Her tongue was black and purple. I’m guessing Dick didn’t give us the full scoop on what’s going on. I’ll have to ask my—huh, that must be her car down there at the bottom of the hill. She left her door open and the engine running.”

  “It was a squirrel emergency,” Kay said.

  Rex fobbed his car open.

  “You know, last time I flew on a plane, I tried to take four dead squirrels with me,” Kay said.

  “Inappropriate,” I said.

  Rex turned to look at her.

  “Apparently, we were only allowed to travel with one carrion.”

  Rex blinked then crouched to snag the handle and open the door.

  “Why did the squirrel teach at the drag queen school?”

  “Really, really inappropriate,” I said.

  Bella looked relieved when Rex set her on the front seat. She climbed down to the floor and curled up. He shut the door, and we started over toward the car with the running engine.

  “I give up,” Rex said. “Why?”

  I swatted at him for encouraging her.

  “He was an expert at hiding nuts.”

  At the bottom of the hill, I pointed toward the bumper. It was crushed in on the right-hand side. I was surprised she was able to drive it. “A squirrel couldn’t do that. Do you think that’s new? Do you think she hit something tonight?”

  Rex moved toward the damage and squatted to inspect, using the flashlight on his phone.

  I rounded to the driver’s side. Touching as little as possible—in case whatever magic hallucinatory substance was lurking ready to be absorbed into my system—I reached in and turned off the engine, pulling the keys from the ignition. The woman’s phone was there in the console cubby. I flipped open the case and saw her driver’s license was in one of the credit card slots.

  “Good?” Rex asked.

  “I have her I.D.”

  Then came the commotion by the vet’s office. In the light of the door, I watched squirrel woman shoot out into the early dawn.

  Tumbling after her came the first responders. My dad stood there with his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

  The stretcher that the EMT pushed into her path, momentarily disoriented her, giving the first responders two steps to get to her. But before they were successful, she rerouted and pelted toward the woods.

  They stalled, watching her go.

  “What now?” Bill asked, turning toward my dad.

  “Now, it’s a police case.”

  Headlights and the crunch of gravel under tires had me spinning around.

  I recognized the car as soon as it pulled into a parking space. Dick. He must have been sent over by the 911 folks. Why? I wasn’t sure. Probably it had something to do with my dad identifying the woman as another licker.

  Another one?

  How many lickers could there possibly be in Jamesburg?

  Why were they licking?

  It must be some kind of amazing hallucinogenic. Wolves chasing, and squirrels dying, and not even turning off her car…

  Dick strode over to join our klatch.

  “You didn’t tell us that the licker was high as the moon,” I said facing Dick with my hands on my hips. “What if whatever substance was on the licker’s tongue was actually absorbed into Delight’s skin, and she had a reaction?”

  “I watched her, she seemed like her normal self. And she got the alcohol wipe on her pretty fast. We’re trying not to cause a public panic. If I thought Delight was in trouble, BJ, I would have acted immediately.”

  I knew that about Dick. I was appeased.

  “What’s the substance?” Rex asked.

  “That I can’t tell you. It’s nothing we’ve ever seen before. Where did she go?” Dick scanned toward the woods.

  Rex held out his arm, his fingers pointed to the place where we last saw her. “We should go after her. She’s in medical distress.”

  “I’ll call for a K-9 unit,” Dick said. “I’m going to grab a flashlight.”

  Dad had come over for that last bit. “We need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. My team isn’t authorized to chase her into the woods.”

  Bill shouted from the side of the fire truck. “We have a call. Motorcycle accident three miles up the road.”

  Dad clapped Dick on the shoulder. “We’ll be back if you find her,” and took off at a jog.

  The vet tech stuck her head through the door. “All clear, you can bring the cat in now.”

  “I can track,” I said, glad that I had on my tennis shoes and jeans from the bar despite the summer heat.

  “So can I,” Rex said.

  Kay wrung her hands. “There’s a crazed licker in the woods.”

  Rex turned to Kay. “Would you mind staying here and taking care of Bella, please? BJ and I can help Dick for a bit. Sooner we get on her trail the better.”

  Kay heaved out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll stay here and take care of Bella.”

  8

  Wednesday, Wolf Time

  Rex and I checked our phone batteries. We were good to go. Flicking on our flashlights, we moved in the same direction that the licker had headed.

  Her foot had hit a patch of clay as she entered the woods, leaving a beautiful print behind. Rex stopped to take a picture.

  “Boot with a pronounced heel, chevron treads,” he said. “See it?”

  “Got it.”

  Dick was up to us now. He squatted to look, too, his Mag light shining a bright beam.

  As soon as he crouched, a scream echoed through the woods. The eerie reverberations raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

  “That came from the south,” Rex said, looking down at his compass app. “But she went into the woods running west.” He turned his face in the same direction as the footprint.

  “Let’s split up.” Dick stood. “I’ll take the howl. You take the track.” He looked down at Rex’s phone. “What app do you have open?”

  “Hiking. It’ll track our direction, and we can follow it back to the car.”

  “The last thing we need is three people lost in the woods.”

  “Four,” I said, pointing out he could get lost, too.

  “Yup,” Dick said as another yowl, slightly farther away rode the wind.

  “That sounds like an animal. Actually, it sounds like Bella did when Kay ran over her lead,” I said. “I don’t think it’s the licker.”

  “Still,” Dick took a step toward the south, “you two stay together and stay in touch with me by phone.” He deliberately placed his tread away from the footprint as he wove his way into the woods. “K-9’s on its way,” he called over his shoulder.

  “The sun will be up soon, another hour or so, and we’ll be able to see better,” Rex said as we bent over to pace alongside the scrub of leaves that the licker’s feet had churned as she ran.

  I hoped we weren’t out here long enough to see the sunrise. What were the chances that she just tuckered out and sat down under a tree? Rex could do one of the firefighters’ carry thingies to get her out to an ambulance, and everyone could go home and get some sleep.

  We hit a good pace as we stalked forward, almost a jog, not quite the mad scramble of licker-lady.

  Boy, I hoped she’d run out of steam soon.

  “She wasn’t trying to be sneaky about this, that’ll make things quicker,” Rex said in his alpha-male voice. The kind used by police and operators so that their words wouldn’t carry in the wind. Also, the kind that made me strain to be able to hear.

  “She couldn’t see where she was going. That’ll slow her down,” I added, pointing at the broken branch that shifted her farther right.

  The nerve-jangling scream went up a third time. Still off to the left.

  “You have cougars in this area?” Rex asked.

  “Bobcats, I’m told. I’ve never heard one before. Is that what you think it is?” I broke out in a sweat—part exertion, part freak-out from the thought of a bobcat dropping out of a tree on top of us.

  “I’d say wild cat over human. It sounds like the cougars up in the Texas mountains. But when the mind’s gone,” he painted a hand over his face, glowing in the light of my phone flashlight, “a human can make some unearthly noises.” Rex would know. He’d been in the war. If there were unearthly noises for a human to make, I’d guess that would be the place to hear them.

  I stepped over a log and ducked for a branch. “Could it be Bella?”

  “If she ran fast enough. Call Kay and see if Bella got loose again.”

  I dialed, but it went straight to voice mail. Who would she be talking to at this time of day?

  We jogged on.

  The last time I’d been in the woods on a chase, I’d been looking for Twinkles. It had been freezing cold out, and I was in a pair of yoga pants and bedroom slippers. Now, it was the other range of the thermostat. I was hot, but at least my tennis shoes were better for the job.

  I tried not to let it bubble up, but I couldn’t quash the thought down, the last time I had been in the woods on the chase, Twinkles had found a body.

  Twinkles wasn’t here. That could be a good thing. It could just as well be bad.

  Most of the times I’d found dead bodies, Twinkles was involved.

  Yeah, Twinkles not being here was probably good.

  I’d never found a dead body when Rex was with me.

  Yes, indeed, I encouraged myself. It was probably better that it was Rex running through the creepy dawn woods with me.

  It wasn’t like the brambles were trying to scratch me.

  The tree limbs weren’t really reaching out to grab at my clothes.

  No.

  It was just dark.

  And the vet and the vet’s lights—I swiveled to look behind me—were back there.

  We could leave just as easily as we came in here.

  We had the app.

  And plenty of battery.

  The woods were fine.

  My breath was coming more labored. I’d practically grown up in the woods, I reminded myself. Darkness in the woods had never been a scary thing for me before. After all, Dad and his friends had brought me along for hunting and fishing, tracking and hiking since I was a baby.

  The woods were like being at home.

  Safe and sound.

  This was fine.

  This was all fine.

  When Rex reached out and put his hand on my shoulder, I jumped and screamed at the top of my lungs.

  “Woah there, Slick. It’s me.”

  “Yeah, ha ha ha. Sorry.” I slammed a fist into my chest. “I got myself into a creeped-out loop, and you scared the bejesus out of me.”

  Rex’s phone rang. “Hello?” He had his phone to his ear and a steadying hand on my shoulder. “That was BJ. She’s fine. We haven’t found anything yet.” He paused. “Yeah, I startled her. She’s fine… Will do.” He tapped the phone off. “Dick wanted to know if you tripped over a dead body.”

  I wrinkled my nose.

  “I think he’s expecting it.” Rex chuckled. “I’d even wager that’s why he sent me in this direction with you, and he picked the other one.” Rex’s chuckle turned to a guffaw like it was a great big joke.

  “Glad you’re having fun,” I deadpanned as we took off at a jog.

  Rex didn’t know me as well as Dick did.

  The last time I was in the woods when I was out in my furry rabbit bedroom slippers with the googly eyes, and Twinkles had found a body, Dick was the one that had to find me and handle the mess.

  But this was fine.

  The licker was fine.

  She had elevated vitals, Dad had said.

  That wasn’t life-threatening.

  Well… it could be life-threatening.

  But we were on her trail, and we’d catch up to her soon, before it became life-threatening.

  Rex raised his hand to show me a scuff on the log to the right. “She changed directions. That’s what I wanted to tell you. I was trying to be a little stealthy in case we were getting close.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered. So much for stealth mode.

  Another scream rang through the night.

  I stood frozen in space.

  That one wasn’t a bobcat. That one was definitely human.

  The scream had started, then it immediately cut off. No scream tail. That couldn’t be good.

  We stopped when Rex’s phone rang. “Nope. That one wasn’t BJ… Will do.”

  “Dick,” I said.

  “He wanted to know—”

  “If I found a dead body.”

  “I think he’s just sitting on a log somewhere, waiting for you to call it in.”

  “She’s not dead.”

  “Nope. It’s hard to scream when you’re dead.”

  I nodded and fell in behind him as he made his way in the direction of the last shriek.

  We were silent.

  Our ears straining.

  The first light made the sky glow. Black branches stood silhouetted against a violet sky. The birds were rousing.

  Rex pointed me down the path. “I’m just going to take a peek around the other side of that boulder,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you.”

  With a nod, I kept going in the direction his finger had pointed.

  A few moments later, I heard Rex call, “BJ!”

  I turned around to see him standing on top of the rocks. “Stop!” he called with his hands cupped around his mouth.

  My foot was curved over a root, I stepped back out of the way to stand flat, but I tripped. The log that had been in front of me on the path turned out to be soft and squishy. I reached my fingers down to what was under my knees and found cloth. I shined my flashlight over on the wide-eyed face of the licker—a puddle of blood pooling in her blond hair. A sharp rock stuck out of the ground.

  I opened my mouth with a scream of horror.

  I heard Rex’s phone ring. He was there beside me. His hand was stretched out. He grabbed my arm and hefted me off the body.

  “Hey,” Rex said. “Yeah, that was BJ, again… Yes. BJ found her.” Rex squatted and put his fingers to the licker’s carotid. He knelt and put his cheek to her nose. “Yeah,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “BJ found another dead body. I’ll text you the GPS coordinates.”

  Rex tapped into his phone, shoved it into his pocket, and pulled me into a hug.

  I swatted his back. “This is all your fault,” I yelled into his chest. “You jinxed us in the car when you said that we’d almost been through a whole visit dead body free.”

  “You’re right,” he said as he dropped a kiss into my hair. “I’m sorry.”

  9

  Wednesday, Two P.M.

  I hadn’t slept.

  My nerves jangled. My head ached.

  Rex and I had stood by the woman’s body and waited for Dick to arrive, the paramedics, my dad…

  “Bobbi Jax, we need to have a sit down you and I,” Dad said with a very parental look in his eye.

  That’ll be a fun talk.

  I was there to help fill out the police report and to watch as the paramedics packaged the woman up and carried her out of the woods.

  I was there for the vet to finish up the stitches on Bella’s leg and for her to tell us that Bella didn’t have a microchip. Apparently, there were no lost messages out for a cat of her description on the vet boards. So Bella came home with us.

  Besides all that, the caffeine that I had drunk while we were waiting at the gas station—from the largest cup available for purchase—was still dancing through my system. I was pretty sure it would sustain me in the wake position for another three days.