Yes, his tiger hissed. If he’d been shifted, his tail would’ve been lashing. No one hurts our cubs.
We’re making sure of that, Carlos thought. As they stepped out into the sunlight, he took out his phone. Grabbing Pauline’s hand, he squeezed it as he dialed.
“Carlos!” came Ty’s startled voice on the other hand. “What’s up, man?”
“I had a professional question for you,” Carlos said.
“Professional? What do you need to know about troubled kids?” Ty sounded skeptical.
Carlos grinned. “A thing or two. I have a situation...”
As briefly as possible, he explained. The result was a minute or so of stunned silence.
“What is in the water up there at Glacier Park?” Ty finally said. “You know, I was there for the wedding, too, am I going to zombie my way up north next week?”
“I don’t know,” Carlos said, “are you looking to settle down? Because this seems to be the place to do it.”
“No way,” Ty said. “So let’s focus on your problem instead.”
“Let’s,” Carlos said. “I want this to go as fast as possible. I am happy to throw money at anything that’ll expedite the process. The sheriff wouldn’t respond well to that, but if there’s anyone at CPS...”
Ty made a noise in his throat. “Bribes are probably not the way to go unless you know the lay of the land better than this. But I know a guy who transferred up north when he was over and done with all the big-city stuff. He’ll have a better idea of what the regional scene is like, and I’ll do my level best to get some help for you from that. Can I get back to you?”
“Please,” Carlos said. “And tell me if you buy any plane tickets up here yourself.”
“Yeah, right,” Ty said, and hung up.
Carlos shook his head, pocketed his phone, and turned back to
Pauline. “He’s going to make some calls.”
“I heard,” Pauline said, and of course she would have, with her owl’s ears. “Do you really think he can help?”
“I really do,” Carlos said. “Ty is one of the most dependable, reliable, loyal men I have ever met. If he says he’ll do his best to help us, then we can expect some help.”
“Okay.” Pauline bit her lip. “I hope so.”
Carlos took her other hand. He liked holding both of her hands in his, he was finding—they were small but strong, and it meant that they created a little pocket of space between them, where their eyes met and their voices were low, and it was like he could feel her presence pressed up against his.
“We have to wait, now,” he told her. “Maybe for a while. Ty’s got to do whatever calling around he needs, the sheriff has her whole process to go through. Will you come back home with me?”
Home, he realized with a shiver, was what he’d automatically called Pauline’s house. Without a thought; it had just come out of his mouth.
Good, he thought fiercely.
Pauline nodded, squeezing his hands with hers. “Home,” she said.
She would need some distraction, he thought as they got in the car. Hell, he needed some distraction, so that he didn’t sit there with his tiger’s tail lashing for all of the hours that it would take for the sheriff to be done.
Well. He had an idea or two.
***
Pauline
Pauline was looking forward at a long, bleak afternoon.
Should they go back over to Stella and Nate’s, she wondered? Take Troy and Val back, spend time with them? But Troy at least would want to know what was going on, and she didn’t have any good answers for him.