Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr Read Free Book Online

Roads and Trails foreman drove parked along the fence just inside the park boundary. He and Manny were standing near the fenceline with binoculars.
    There wasn't a dead fawn in the bed of the truck, so she pulled over.
    "Hey, Manny, Harland," she greeted them as she climbed out of the Rambler.
    Manny just nodded and kept looking out across the mesquite toward the escarpment.

    Harland let his glasses fall down around his neck on their strap. They weren't government issue. They were finely crafted, expensive, birding binoculars. Many things about Harland Roberts were a little classier than the run-of-the-mill. In his early fifties, he had Stewart Granger gray streaks at his temples and aquiline good looks.
    Anna'd worked for him on a couple of projects. Harland got things done.
    In government service that was saying something.
    "I didn't recognize you with your hair down," Harland said as he leaned against her car and folded his arms.
    Anna pushed the cloud of hair back from her face. Thinking of Zach, feeling sorry for herself, she'd blown it dry and curled it, wearing it as she had when she was younger.
    "It looks good," Harland said.
    The compliment both pleased and made her feel self-conscious. "What's happening?" She jerked her chin to where Manny still surveyed the countryside.
    "This is where the injured fawn was reported," Roberts said. "There's hair and blood on the barbed wire, but it looks like the little guy got himself untangled and crawled off somewhere. We've walked this area for a quarter of a mile in every direction but no luck."
    "Maybe he's okay," Anna said.
    "Let's hope so."
    They stood a moment watching Manny watching the brush.
    "I don't see how you can do it, Harland. I wouldn't have your job for all the tea in China," Anna said suddenly.
    He looked at her, mild reproach in his eyes. "I don't like destroying an animal. But I'd rather that than have them suffer."
    Anna was sorry but she didn't say so. Letting her eyes wander, she hoped to fix on a new topic. In the rack across the six pac's rear window was a seven millimeter Browning hunting rifle. "That your own?" she asked.
    "Yes."
    "I figured. A bit too fine for government work. Do you hunt big game?"
    "I used to," Harland answered and Anna could tell he was uncomfortable with the subject. "I bought that line about it being a 'challenge.' When I found out a bull elk had an intelligence level equivalent to that of an eighteen-month-old toddler, I kind of lost my taste for it."
    Anna smiled. Then remembered. "How's the hunt for the lion going?" she asked.
    "No luck. We'll go up again today. I called old Jerimiah D. and he said he will lend us his dogs."
    "Jerimiah D.?"
    "Paulsen," Harland said. "He keeps hunting dogs."
    "I bet," Anna said bitterly. "What does he get? The head? The pelt? Or just to be in on the kill?" Paulsen owned twenty-five thousand acres that bordered the park's northern boundary. He'd fought against every environmental issue in New Mexico and North Texas for thirty years.
    Usually he won.
    "The animal will be salvaged for the display in the new Visitors Center,"
    Harland said, overlooking her rudeness. "They can freeze-dry them so they look life-like now. They're going to use it in an educational display.
    Corinne was glad to get it, in a way. That VC's her baby. If people are better informed, maybe this won't happen next time."

    Anna doubted they could freeze-dry a "specimen" that large but she didn't say so. Instead, wanting suddenly to escape Harland and the conversation, she excused herself: "I better leave you to it."
    "Wait." Harland laid a hand on her arm. "You didn't hear the big news."
    He was smiling, a boyish smile with a lot of charm. Making amends for her churlishness, it seemed. Letting her know there were no hard feelings.
    Anna waited.
    "We've got exotics on the West Side."
    Resource Management spent countless hours and dollars eradicating exotic plant species that endangered native vegetation. "What?" Anna