John watched the böxenwolves’ fight and the stand-off with morbid fascination. Wayne filmed it on a camcorder, and when Olsen asked him to stop, Kevin defended him. Olsen searched them and confiscated Wayne’s revolver.
Olsen and the human half of the K9 team helped Corey onto a stretcher and brought her to the befuddled EMTs. Kevin rode with her to the hospital. John hoped she survived regardless of her innocence or guilt.
As flustered EMTs loaded the böxenwolf into the ambulance, Sheriff Jordan told Wayne and John not to mention anything about the scene to the wolf response or authorities in Wolftown. John considered it vaguely suspicious.
Sheriff Jordan left Chief Deputy Swan in charge of the Happy Howlers crime scene. They insisted every deputy reported exactly what they witnessed, whether or not they observed crazy things. Through his tenure as sheriff, Jordan said that their observations would not affect their careers negatively unless the deputies were incompetent, and he knew they were competent.
The wolves quieted once the ambulance departed. The deputies calmed, and the K9 dog stopped barking.
The deputies questioned John and Wayne.
Soon, the deputies removed the sharp implements from the wolf pen and let Wayne move the wolves into it, and also, he and John cared for the wolves. Wayne positively identified all wolves as residents of Happy Howlers, and none resembled Abel, Barker, or Charlie, the three wolves that roamed Wolftown.
The deputies allowed Wayne to collect evidence for the wolf response once they finished working in a particular area. He thought the paw prints matched Abel and Barker’s.
Most deputies left, but Olsen remained until Nancy, Wayne’s wife, picked up Wayne and John. Sheriff Jordan worried the third man might attack them.
John said, “You’ll probably have to say böxenwolves exist now.”
Wayne sighed. “I know. I already had to say they weren’t wolves.”
“They legitimately look like wolves, or, at least, Corey Brown does. I guess the böxenwolf did.”
“I’m fine with misidentifying things if I have to.” Wayne sighed. “They will find out sooner or later. Data that böxenwolves exist will attract cryptozoologists, plus other people who make cryptozoologists look like real scientists.”
“Cryptozoologists find real animals once in a while, like platypuses and coelacanths.”
“The other people think intelligent alien life visits Earth. If I say böxenwolves exist, cryptozoologists and other people will want to talk to me, and I don’t want to talk to them.”
“Would you consider hanging up a sign saying that Happy Howlers employees cannot discuss the subject?” Olsen asked.
“That will bring conspiracy theorists. I won’t let Happy Howlers be a shrine for weirdos.”
“Why conspiracy theorists?” John asked.
“Cryptozoology, other people’s hypotheses, and conspiracy theories overlap anyway. It’s so annoying.”
“You might attract fairy tale people instead,” the deputy said.
“That’s as bad. Maybe it’s worse because it reduces science to fairy tales. I don’t think we can even call this scientific evidence because who would want to be in an experiment to replicate it?”
“Not me. It was very uncomfortable,” John said.
“Nancy hates the paranormal.”
Wayne also called the University of Wisconsin Health University Hospital ICU to ask Adam Giese about Suzanne’s condition. She lost some of her intestines and one kidney, and her damaged liver had begun to fail, and she had septicemia. Suzanne felt well enough to say hello to Wayne, and she asked if anybody had caught the wolves yet.
“Maybe we’re getting close,” Wayne said.
John left a message for Paula: “Wolves haven’t been attacking people. Criminals have been looking like wolves and attacking people, but their method requires killing wolves. Maybe the criminals committed an environmental crime.”
Sheriff Jordan and Schuster sped to the Oneida Community Hospital, the closest one, but in a different county. Wilde County law enforcement regularly took patients to it, and the Oneida sheriff always allowed Wilde County law enforcement to guard violent patients.
“Well, that was a gross arrest, but at least there weren’t maggots,” Sheriff Jordan said.
Schuster dozed off for a few seconds.
“Maggots,” Schuster said, and yawned.
“How much have you slept?”
“I had a nap yesterday.”
“What about at night?”
“I’ve been on duty since Friday night.”
“Take a nap.”
Schuster did.
“Wake up.” Sheriff Jordan shook Schuster, who jerked.
“I’m awake. I’m listening,” Schuster said.
“Come on. We’re at the hospital.”
As they walked across the parking lot, Sheriff Jordan asked if Schuster had been drinking enough water (yes), had eaten at least one meal that day (in Sheriff Jordan’s opinion, the granola bar he always kept in his pocket and a thermos of hot chocolate did not qualify as food), and how much blood he lost the day before (approximately a pint to a pint-and-a-half, probably closer to the latter).
“After we get the wolf strap situation in hand, you’re going home,” Sheriff Jordan said.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“The road and bridge are still flooded.”
“How did you get out?”
“In a canoe.”
“There was a county-wide flash flood warning all night. There was a flash flood at 11:20 this morning.”
“It was too far to walk. I told Ms. Brown I wouldn’t leave until the suspect was in custody. Her aunt reported her as a missing person, so I want to tell her how Ms. Brown is. And if the suspect is Dennis Laufenberg, I want to tell my fiancé she doesn’t need to worry about him. He scares her.”
“Intentionally?”
“Not more than we told you earlier. I will tell Stephanie that he won’t be released from police custody, but she might not believe it unless I see it.”
“All right, after the böxenwolf becomes human, you can observe but not participate. However reliable and competent you seem, a brain can’t function properly under your conditions. You might make a mistake that hurts somebody or gives a judge or jury a reason to release the böxenwolf. You’ve been overusing your arms, rolling around in the mud, guarding your shoulder, and bleeding again, so have your arms looked at, too.”
“Okey-dokey.”
In four minutes, Sheriff Jordan and Schuster told the staff on duty to expect a deformed patient who, after the surgeon removed the wolf strap, would turn into a patient with normal anatomy. He warned that even major trauma healed quickly, and ketamine had little effect.
Sheriff Jordan, Schuster, and Deputy Murphy, who had accompanied the böxenwolf, watched the staff muddle through their disgust and anxiety. They each wrote down everything they heard the böxenwolf say, including that he complained about an invasion of privacy, and that he felt threatened by Schuster; he had said he intended to kill the böxenwolf.
The nurse bustled them out and drew a curtain.
“You were the one biting and threatening people, asshole,” Schuster said, accidentally aloud.
“Didn’t I say we were trying to de-escalate the situation?” Sheriff Jordan asked.
“Sorry, sir,” Schuster said.
“Were you trained not to argue with criminals?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I’m assuming you’re sleep-deprived this time. Did you intend to kill him?” Sheriff Jordan asked.
“I told him if he moved towards us, I would kill him,” Schuster said. “It was a warning because I thought he was going to attack us. I actually shot him. He started cooperating, and he started acting threatening again, so I told him if he moved towards us again, I’d kill him. I think he believed me because he started cooperating again.”
“Are you going to kill him now?”
“No, he’s cooperating. I’m not even holding my weapon.” Schuster wanted to, but Sheriff Jordan wanted law enforcement to de-escalate the situation.
“Any other times?”
“If he was the wolf that attacked me and Officer Foster, while he was attacking us, I was trying to kill him. But if he was, I thought he was a wolf at the time.”
“Any other times?”
“No. I don’t have a reason now or other times.”
“Get your arms looked at. Everybody who survived the wolf attacks have gotten infections.”
Schuster realized how hungry, thirsty, and tired he was, and he went to the restroom and drank from a water fountain. He showed his arms to the triage nurse, and she asked him to wait, and so he leaned against the wall to stay awake. A few minutes later, a nurse called him. Waiting, he fell asleep on the table.
The doctor woke him to briefly examine his arms, vaccination status, and antibiotic prescription. He told the nurse to wash and re-bandage his bite wounds and give him a sling and told Schuster to eat a large, beef-based meal in the cafeteria.
While Schuster waited for the elevator to the first floor, the böxenwolf roared on the third floor, faintly. Schuster rode the elevator up and, by listening to the böxenwolf and following a security guard, he found the correct operating room. A nurse stopped the security guard, but Schuster barged past her.
A surgical tray had been knocked over. Sheriff Jordan, Murphy, the anesthesiologist, and two nurses held the böxenwolf down.
“The anesthesia, laughing gas, and painkillers aren’t working,” Sheriff Jordan said.
The böxenwolf told the surgeon, “Cut out the wolf strap!” Then glared at Schuster. “Not him!”
“Switch with the security guard and the surgical nurse,” Sheriff Jordan said, which annoyed the surgeon.
Schuster watched through the window. A nurse blocked the böxenwolf’s view. A minute later, a nurse left and returned with two orderlies, who replaced Sheriff Jordan, Murphy, and the security guard.
“He told them to cut the wolf strap off without drugs,” Sheriff Jordan said. “If this doesn’t work, I’m calling a priest.”
Everybody unnecessary for the operation filed out a few minutes later, with one orderly jogging to the elevator. Another, mumbling orderly shoved a basin and tweezers into Sheriff Jordan’s hands and bolted for the elevator.
The nurse said, “They cut that off. He told them to. The nurses had to hold the incisions open because he healed so fast. He healed around their fingers. Can I go?”
“Yeah. Thanks for your cooperation,” Sheriff Jordan said, and the nurse hustled before he finished speaking.
With tweezers, Sheriff Jordan picked up a small, roughly circular piece of wolf strap, human skin, and fat. “The leather part got fused to his skin. It looks like the fused part is about as big as a 9mm bullet. Did anybody shoot the böxenwolf where he wore the strap?”
“Maybe I did, but I’m not positive where I hit him,” Schuster said. “So, the leather healed with his skin, and he was stuck halfway between transfigurations?”
“No idea, but investigate your theory if you want, but not today.”
“Can I ask why you believed it was a böxenwolf?” And why did the surgery bother you more than seeing the böxenwolf?
“My church supports a missionary to Zaire, and he says he has observed magic. I don’t see why Americans couldn’t use it, too, maybe in a different way,” Sheriff Jordan said.
Schuster suggested he tell Sheriff Jordan everything that Corey Brown told him and what he remembered from the wolf hunt. From the back of his shirt, between his shirt and undershirt, Schuster extracted a crinkled, yellow legal pad waterproofed inside an evidence bag labeled, NOT EVIDENCE. Kevin had torn out the top, used pages, and given him the remainder. He filled it with erratically organized notes, supplemented by his pocket-sized Dennis Laufenberg notebook and his normal police notebook. Also, Schuster had recorded some of his conversations with Corey Brown on cassette tapes.
Since Schuster had nowhere to sleep, and spoke from notes instead of memory, Sheriff Jordan listened, but only after Schuster ate and after Sheriff Jordan called a few people. He exchanged or repaid a handful of quarters from Schuster, Murphy, and Kevin.
Sheriff Jordan called the University of Wisconsin Health University Hospital’s ICU ward and asked Adam Giese for Suzanne’s medical records. He agreed to send them.
Stephanie and Foster’s wife, Megan, had said they would remain at the University of Wisconsin Health University Hospital’s morgue until a medical examiner autopsied Foster’s body—Schuster, Foster, Stephanie, and Megan worried the Wolftown Police Department could interfere with autopsies conducted in Wilde County. Because none of them had a cellphone, from a payphone, Schuster called the morgue, then asked Stephanie to find a payphone and call back.
“Okay. Why are you calling from Oneida?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you later. I’ll probably be at my parents’ farm,” Schuster said. “Sheriff Jordan has questions for you, but he thought a phone call from him first would make you worry.”
“I’m already worried.”
Schuster tried to reassure her.
“What does he have questions about?” Stephanie asked.
“Who missed work during the wolf attacks?”
“A lot of the information is in the office, but I can try.”
“He has a question for Megan, too.”
“Wait, Megan asked if we can be godparents.”
“Foster asked me, too, on the way to Dr. Groves. I told him I would if you agreed to it.”
“We should be, especially since it’s a boy.”
“Are you sure?”
Stephanie and Megan liked each other, but each had other best friends.
“Yeah,” Stephanie said.
“Okey-dokey,” Schuster said.
“I’ll get Megan.”
Megan agreed to send Foster’s autopsy results to Sheriff Jordan.
Schuster found Kevin in the cafeteria, and they ate together. Schuster caffeinated himself, but he almost fell asleep.
Kevin said, “Regarding Dennis Laufenberg, you will need a new lawyer. Ms. Brown needs one familiar with böxenwolves, and it’s a conflict of interest. Try my partner, though.”
“Okay,” Schuster said. “Can the male böxenwolf be charged with murder?”
“It would require very solid evidence that does not rely upon böxenwolves existing. If he is tried once for murder and found not guilty, he cannot be tried again. The evidence must be very strong.”
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