“You have any kids?” Hannah asked suddenly.
“No.”
Hannah watched more insects shoot out of their way. “Mom wants me to be an engineer and scientist.” She shrugged. “I’m good at math. She says I’m a prodigy. I don’t know. Maybe. But I solve a calculus problem, and it’s right and I’m like, okay, so? What I really really like’s writing—poetry, mostly—and taking pictures.” She was frowning. “I’d do a series here except Mom took my phone. I did something stupid.”
“The picture of the water tower you posted.”
“Yeah.”
Shaw said, “Look at it this way: you hadn’t posted it, I might not’ve found you.”
“I guess.”
“What would you do a selfie of here?”
She looked around. “Most of it’s boring. Nature? Ugh.” She squinted. “I know, I’d take one of you. You’d be in the background. Looking at the lake or the forest—checking for a place where there could be somebody dangerous. It’d be just your back. Dark, a silhouette.”
As they walked through the grass, she was looking at the lake. “Timber wolf? Are they around here?”
“Could be. They’re rare.”
“Are they dangerous?”
“Usually they avoid humans.”
“But not always.”
“No.”
“You have your guns. If we’re attacked, you can shoot it.”
Shaw shook his head. “Don’t want to do that.”
“Why?”
“We’re initsterritory.We’rethe interlopers.”
“The what?”
“We’re the ones trespassing. If they see you, you don’t need to shoot. Just stand as tall as you can, open your jacket to make yourself look bigger. Don’t turn your back, just keep eye contact. Never run. If his tail goes up and his hackles rise...”
“What’s hackles?”
“The hairs on the back of its coat. If they go up and he’s growling, you growl back. Show him that you’re too much trouble to attack.”
“Have you ever done that?”
“A couple of times.”
“No shit.”
They were nearly to the cabin.
“Just one more alarm and we’re good.”
61
FPD had a bomb squad. Of sorts.