Nerd Gone Wild (21 page)

“You don’t want Mitchell to go, too?”

“To tell you the truth, I’d rather go by myself. He’s not really into it, and I’ve been dying to get out and roam around ever since yesterday.”

Betsy glanced at an antique Regulator clock on the wall. “It’s almost lunchtime. I thought we’d stop by the Top Hat for something to eat. You could go after that.”

“I could, but I’d rather go now, while Mitchell’s involved in something else. Tell you what. I’ll meet you two at the Top Hat in an hour or so.”

Betsy gave her a woman-to-woman glance. “Girl, I know what you mean about doing some things on your own. Sometimes we need a little time to ourselves, don’t we?”

“Yes, we do. I’ll meet you guys at the Top Hat.” She headed for the door. But before she reached it, Mitchell turned, the nude in both hands. “Ally?”

She paused. “What?” She noticed that the tractor motor had been turned oft”, as if Dave had parked the thing right outside. She hoped she wouldn’t have to deal with him once she slipped out the door.

“These sculptures are made from cedar,” Mitchell said. “They smell really great.”

“Interesting.” She wondered if she’d just lost her chance to escape. And something was definitely going on outside with Dave. She could hear loud voices.

Mitchell seemed to be totally involved in this sculpture decision, though. He looked at the three-foot nude he now held by the waist. “So I was thinking that maybe—”

Whatever he’d been about to say was cut short as the door flew open and Dave hurtled through it, followed by a short man who was hollering and waving his arms.

“I never said you could use my tractor!” the little guy yelled. “You stole it! You’re using up my gas! I bought that gas! I’m gonna have you arrested!”

Dave glanced frantically around and spotted Ally. “There you are! I thought I saw you come in here. Tell this lunatic that all I wanted to do was
borrow
his tractor. That’s what I told you this morning, right?”

“Right. But—”

“Right! Hear that, Ernie? The word is
borrow
, not
steal
.”

“But you didn’t even ask me!” Ernie bellowed. “I get up from my nap, look out the window, and my tractor is
gone
! Is that stealing? You bet your sweet bippy!”

“You were passed out! How could I ask if you were comatose?”

“I was not!” Ernie advanced on him, face contorted. “Forget the police. We’re snowed in, so nobody could get here to arrest you, anyway! I’ll take care of it myself.” With that he launched himself at Dave.

“You idiot!” Dave tried to fight him off. “That’s why I had to plow, so we could have the roads open for an emergency!”

“We’re about to have one!” screeched the little guy, going for Dave’s throat.

“Stop, stop!” Serena started toward them. “There’s no fighting allowed in Heavenly Provisions!”

“That’s enough!” Mitchell put down the nude. Grabbing hold of Ernie, he pulled him, kicking and screaming, off Dave. “You are not going to trash this woman’s place of business.”

Ally was torn. On the one hand, she would love to see how Mitchell handled this matter. On the other, Dave and Ernie had given her the perfect cover for skedaddling out of the store. After all, she’d told Betsy where she was going and Mitchell seemed to be in control of the situation. Edging toward the door, she slipped outside.

Freedom.

* * *

Mitch hadn’t wanted in on this altercation, but he couldn’t stand by while one man assaulted another, especially in a store where damage could be done to the merchandise. He was touched by Serena’s devotion to her place and its contents, and he didn’t want Dave and Ernie making a mess.

So he grabbed Ernie in a bear hug and pinned his arms to his body. “Get his legs, Dave.”

“Will do.” Dave latched on to his legs and helped wrestle him to the floor.

“I’ll sue the lot of you!” Ernie struggled to get up. “Can’t steal a man’s tractor and then act like it’s nothing! I don’t care if this is Alaska. We have laws here, too, you know!”

“I have a suggestion,” Betsy said, pitching her voice loud enough to be heard over Ernie’s caterwauling.

Mitch glanced up at her. “What’s that?”

“Try the hair of the dog. Carry him over to the Top Hat and get some beer into him. I guarantee he’ll settle down.”

“I don’t want no beer!” Ernie said. “Let me up so I can teach this yahoo a lesson!”

“Beer would probably work,” Serena said. “Mitchell, before you go, would you like to have me wrap this sculpture for you?”

“Uh, well…” Now that Mitch had some distance from her sales pitch, he realized he’d been about to buy the sculpture because he’d felt sorry for Serena, who so obviously believed in the value of those hideous things. He’d justified it because at least they smelled nice, but that was sort of dumb, even if Serena had brought the price down to ten bucks. He could get a can of Glade for a lot less.

“You’re going to buy one of my sculptures?” Dave’s face lit up. “Wow, that’s awesome! I’ve never—” He stopped speaking and coughed. “I’ve never sold one in February. It’s a slow time of the year.”

Mitch guessed that Dave had never sold one, period. That wouldn’t be surprising. They were incredibly ugly. But now he was caught, hooked in by Dave’s excitement over making his first-ever sale.

He didn’t even like the guy, but dousing that glow of joy on Dave’s face seemed like intolerable cruelty. And the wood did smell terrific. Having it in his room, or Ally’s room if she wanted it, might be kind of nice.

Ernie kept raving. “I don’t give a good goddamn whether you sell one of your precious sculptures, you tractor thief! They’re not good for nothin’ except if I can use one to whap you upside the head.”

“Sure, wrap it up,” Mitch said. “I’ll come back for it later.” That way, he could buy condoms when he picked up the sculpture.

“That’s okay,” Betsy said. “I’ll carry it over to the lodge for you. I have to take my staff back home, anyway. I’ll meet you all at the Top Hat.”

“Wait, wait,” Dave said. “Serena, how about if you closed for lunch and took it over to the Top Hat unwrapped? I want to show Clyde which one I sold.”

Serena nodded, smiling at him. “I can do that, David.”

Mitch wasn’t crazy about everyone at the Top Hat knowing he’d been sucker enough to buy one of these monstrosities, but he couldn’t think of a good reason to object. “Then let’s go. Dave, we’ll pick him up on three. One, two,
three
.”

“Did you
ask
me if I wanted a beer?” Ernie railed. “No, you did not. Just like you didn’t ask if you could use my tractor! Put me down!”

Mitch ignored him, but as they started out the door, he realized that Ally wasn’t with them. Maybe she’d gone to the back of the store to look at something. He glanced over his shoulder. “Ally? We’re leaving!”

“She’s not here, Mitch,” Betsy said, walking behind him out the door.

He nearly dropped his half of Ernie. “What do you mean, she’s not here?”

“She told me a while ago she wanted to spend some time alone taking pictures, so I guess when all this started, she decided to cut out and get that done.”

“Take pictures where?” By now they were out the door and headed across the street, with Dave leading with Ernie’s feet. Mitch scanned to his left and right. He tried not to panic. “You mean right around here?”

“She said she wanted to wander a bit,” Betsy said. “Don’t look so worried, Mitchell. It’s still daylight and Porcupine is perfectly safe.”

“Is not!” Ernie yelled. “The place is full of bullies and tractor thieves!”

Mitch kept checking the area for signs of Ally while navigating a street that had been only partly plowed. “You don’t happen to see her, do you, Betsy?”

“Mitchell, the way you’re acting, it’s no wonder that girl took off. Women need some breathing room. You’ll get nowhere if you crowd her. Lighten up.”

“Um, yeah, I’m sure you’re right, Betsy.” Dammit. No doubt Ally had slipped away from him on purpose, to demonstrate that she was her own person. She probably thought she was perfectly justified in sneaking out to do her thing. She didn’t know yet that it could be dangerous. And he didn’t know how to warn her.

* * *

Ally took a deep breath of the cold air. Now this was what she was talking about, following a trail of animal tracks through the snowy woods, her camera out and ready to go. How she’d dreamed of this. She’d taken pictures at the zoo and at San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. She’d brought her best shots with her, to show Uncle Kurt, but she knew they wouldn’t compare with what she could take here. This was wilderness.

She’d found the trail in back of Heavenly Provisions, but now the trees blocked any view of civilization. Her heart pounded faster as she went deeper into the woods, following a little groove in the snow that had been made by four-footed creatures. Overhead a branch rustled, sending snow cascading down.

She jumped out of the way and tucked her camera under her arm. Damn, she’d made too much noise doing that. She looked up to see what had caused the branch to rustle and thought she saw the flash of a squirrel’s tail, but she couldn’t be sure of it.

Setting her feet down carefully as she continued following the path, she tried not to crunch the snow under her boots. The woods were so quiet, and if she was close to something wild, she didn’t want to scare it away with her footsteps. Once in a while she saw a clear paw print in the snow.

From the shape of the print, she could be following a large dog, somebody’s pet out for some exploration in the woods. A town like Porcupine didn’t seem like a leash-law kind of place. But instinct told her the paw print hadn’t been made by a dog.

Every once in a while she’d pause to listen, but she heard nothing except the soft sighing of the wind through the trees and the plop of snow as it dropped from the branches to the ground. The wind was to her back, and that probably wasn’t ideal. It would carry her scent toward an animal ahead of her, maybe scaring it away.

Oh, well. She’d figure everything out eventually. For now, she was experimenting. The large pines cut out most of the sunlight, so it was dim there under the trees. She searched the spaces between the trunks, hoping for a glimpse of movement. Nothing.

She shouldn’t expect much, considering she didn’t know what she was doing. Besides, a wildlife photographer had to learn patience. Once she understood where to go, where to set up blinds, what equipment to take, she’d be far more effective. At Uncle Kurt’s advice, she’d held off buying anything until after she’d talked to his contacts.

Bless his heart, he’d been working so hard trying to find a wildlife photographer in Anchorage who would be interested in mentoring a rank beginner like Ally. She’d given him permission to offer them decent compensation for their time. She had the funds, so she might as well use them for private tutoring.

Meanwhile, she’d have some fun with her digital camera. She might even get lucky. Sometimes a good shot was a matter of luck—even Tanya Mandell had admitted that in the foreword to the book Ally had brought with her.

She glanced to her left, once more scanning between the trees for something, anything, that didn’t quite fit the pattern. Wait a minute. There. No, maybe not. Yes! A dog? She began to tremble. That was no dog.

Through the trees, nearly camouflaged in the shadows, stood a wolf, staring at her. He was light gray, almost white, which helped him blend into the snow, as well. She was shaking so much the camera wobbled in her hands as she brought it up. The woods were completely silent except for her heartbeat and her quick breaths.

She wanted to use the telephoto, but was afraid the whine as it extended would scare the wolf away. Instead she’d take the first one without, and if the wolf stayed there, she’d chance using the telephoto. But she had to stop quivering or the whole thing would be a blurred disaster.

She averted her gaze slightly, watching the wolf from the corner of her eye. A direct gaze was supposed to make most animals nervous. She’d read that, too. Then she took a long, slow breath. In… and out. The wolf stayed put.

Steadier now, she raised the camera until the wolf appeared in the center of the digital screen. The click of the shutter seemed to echo in the forest. She thought for sure the wolf would bolt, but only a slight movement of one ear indicated any response.

No doubt the wolf had picked up her scent and had decided to circle back and check her out. If she remained right where she was, they might stand there watching each other for a long time. She should take a chance on the telephoto.

Holding her breath, she pushed the button that extended the lens. The high-pitched hum seemed way too loud, certainly enough noise to spook her subject. And yet the wolf didn’t move.

She’d heard that meeting an animal in its native habitat was a completely different experience from seeing one in a zoo, and now she knew how true that was. This wolf had such presence, such dignity. From the size, she’d guess it was a male, and his winter coat was thick and luxurious.

She put her finger on the shutter button and was about to squeeze off the shot when footsteps crunched through the snow behind her, coming fast.

“Ally! Don’t be afraid! Don’t make any sudden moves! I’ll be right there!”

The wolf melted into the shadows and was gone.

She gritted her teeth and turned to see Mitchell running toward her. Good thing she had her precious camera in her hands. If she’d had her hands free, she might have strangled him.