Seven Ways to Die (19 page)

“Oh, your pal Dave called. He’ll be calling you on your cell.”

“Thanks. I’m going off the monitor now. You need me, call the cell. I’ve got it on the hummer.”

“Gotcha.”

Cody turned off the car, got out and locked the doors. The wolf bayed again as he walked toward the front door and dialed Amelie Cluett. It was very dark. The lights over the doorway were off.

“Hello?”

“It’s Cody. Want to buzz me in?”

“Wow, that was quick.”

The door buzzed and popped open and he entered the hallway. He looked to his left, noticed a light switch and clicked it. The lights outside flicked on.

Huh,
he thought. Then he heard her door open and he looked up, and sucked in his breath.

She was standing at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a madras skirt cut four inches above the knee, a white frilly blouse and a red vest. He looked her over as he came up the stairs.

“Not working tonight?”

“I took the day off,” she said, leading him into the living room. The smell of strong coffee greeted him.

“I started to go to the gym this morning but I changed my mind and came home, canceled my appointments and cried for a while. Then I decided to clean the place. That’s what women do when they’re upset, they sanitize the nest and take a shower.”

“And make coffee?”

“I put on a fresh pot after I talked to you.”

He started to take off his jacket as she went into the kitchen but she whirled around and said, “I mislead you.”

“That’s not easy to do.”

“I mean, when I said I had some new ideas. That was just a big, fat lie.”

He laughed. “Well, I admire your honesty. I guess I’ll have to give you that ticket.”

She started to pour the coffee but her hand was shaking so hard she spilled some on the counter.

“Oh, damn!”

“Hey, easy.”

He took the pot from her and poured the two cups and she started babbling as she cleaned the counter with a sponge.

“All of a sudden I was alone here, nobody in the building but me and I saw that yellow police tape on Raymond’s door and I, uh, I got scared to death and I’ve been scared to death all day and then it started getting dark and then there are these wolves over in the Park zoo and they started howling—I guess at the full moon, they do that you know—and I, uh, I just grabbed your card and…”

Who the hell put that tape there?
he thought.
Probably one of McKeown’s boys.
He put a forefinger against her lips and stopped her.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Incidentally, that’s an old wives’ tale, about wolves and the full moon.”

“It’s really eerie.”

“I suppose it can be. Particularly if someone you know has just been killed across the hall and you’re alone.”

Tears welled up in her eyes and she turned her head. He stepped forward and put his arms around her, held her close to him and gently rubbed her back.

“It’s okay, let it out. You have a right.”

“I thought I was all cried out.”

“It’ll come and go for awhile.”

He stepped back and she dried her eyes with a dish towel. “God, I must be a mess.”

He thought for a moment then asked: “Have you eaten anything today?”

“No.”

“Well, neither have I and I’m starved. So how about we turn on all the lights in your apartment and I’ll go over and pull down the tape on Raymond’s door. And then we can go grab a bite somewhere. Or am I being too forward?”

“Oh yeah, you’re just all forward and a mile wide. Look, you don’t have to…”

“I don’t
have
to do anything. I’d love to take you to dinner.”

His cell hummed against his side.

“I’m gonna have to take this. Excuse me for a minute.” He looked at the call window, pressed the button and said, “Hey, Dave.”

“
Ahoki
, brother. I hope this isn’t an inconvenient time.”

“Not at all.”

“Your friends miss you.”

“Yeah, I heard the alpha. I’m right up the street.”

“I picked up a couple of nice venison bones this afternoon at the market on Amsterdam.”

“Terrific. Give me fifteen. Oh, I’ll have a friend with me.”

“That’s cool.”

He rang off and turned back to Amelie. “Why don’t you go do whatever you have to do and I’ll turn on the lights,” he said.

“Everything okay?” she asked tentatively.

“Sure. I have to stop for a few minutes on the way to dinner and see a couple of friends. I think you’ll like them.”

She rushed off to the bathroom and he walked around the apartment clicking on lamps. He stopped for a moment at the window overlooking the street.
A nice street
, he thought
, but it will never be the same for her
. Then he went across the hall and tore down the yellow crime ribbons, balled them up and stuffed them in his jacket pocket, and went back to her apartment, doctored his coffee and sipped it until she came back.

He noticed, for the first time, that she wore very little makeup. Her skin was flawless and her eyes, cleared by tears, sparkled behind pale eyeliner. She had exchanged the blouse and vest for a red cashmere turtle neck sweater.

She was something. A guilty pleasure in his world of violence, death and paranoia. Perhaps in fairness to her…

“Let’s go,” he said.

He drove west to Fifth Avenue and turned left with the park drifting past them on the right. He turned into the park at 65
^th
Street, drove to a discreet entrance behind the Wildlife Center and turned in.

She was surprised but said nothing.
I’m with a cop working a murder case and we’re going to a closed zoo in the dark and I feel wonderfully secure,
she thought.
I have no idea what we’re doing here and I don’t care. It’s a giddy experience after a day filled with fear and it feels good.

And she laughed, secretly, inside herself.

He parked, got out and hurried around the front of the car and opened the door for her. As she got out she heard the wolf howl again only this time it was very close by and seemed less mournful. It startled her and Cody took her hand as she got out of the car and smiled.

“Not to worry,” he said and led her toward an open door at the rear of the wildlife complex. A man was leaning against the door jamb awaiting them, his hands in the pockets of his jeans and a large package stuffed under one armpit. He was a little taller than Cody and was wearing a black sweater, its sleeves pushed up to the elbows. He was deeply tanned like Cody and his short, black hair appeared wind-ruffled. He saw Amelie and looked surprised.

“Hi, pal,” Cody said and they gave each other a friendly hug. Cody turned to Amelie and said, “Meet Dave Fox, the best veterinarian on the planet. Dave, Amelie Cluett.”

Fox smiled and shook her hand. “Miss Cluett. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “It’s Amelie.”

“Good. I’m Dave.”

“We grew up together,” Cody said as the vet led them through the Center.

Fox led them to a rear door marked: “Private. No admittance.” Inside there was a dimly lit glass corridor with another door leading to a large, secluded compound, thick with foliage, with a stream coursing through it and a man-made den at its midpoint. It was enclosed by a ten foot chain link fence surrounded by trees, which hid the isolated enclosure from Central Park’s East Drive. As she peered through the glass into the compound, she saw a large gray wolf exit the den about fifty feet away and walk back and forth, staring at them.

“They’ve been restless all day,” Fox said. “Done some roughhousing but mostly he’s been stalking around like that. Very vocal. Y’know, growling and whining the way he does. Then they started yelling about forty-five minutes ago.”

“Yeah, Charley heard them all the way downtown.”

Amelie, who did not fully understand their conversation, stared mesmerized at the big gray who was watching them through golden eyes, his raised nose sensing the air.

Fox handed Cody the brown paper package. “Good shank bones,” he said. “Lots of meat on the shoulder.”

“Good. Thanks.” Cody turned to Amelie. “Wait here with Dave, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna have a chat with old loudmouth there.”

“The gate’s unlocked,” Fox said.

“Okay.”

He went outside the corridor, closing the door behind him, and walked toward the gate to the enclosure.

“Where’s he going?”

“Just watch,” Fox said and then, out of curiosity, “How long have you known Micah?”

She looked at her watch. “About twelve hours. Since this morning. I started out as a suspect, then I became a witness and now? I don’t know what the hell I am now.”

“You ought to be flattered. He’s never brought a guest with him before.”

Inside, Cody opened the gate and entered the big cage.

“Is he going in there with that wolf?”

“Keep watching. That’s the alpha. He was the leader of the pack. His mate is shy. Wary of strangers. She smells you but she’ll be out in a minute.”

“I don’t believe this,” Amelie said half-aloud.

She watched as Cody closed the gate behind him and walked toward the wolves. He jumped the small stream then squatted down and opened the package, taking out two large bones and laying them beside him. He appeared to be talking to the animal. She could see his mouth moving, then he held out his hand, palm up. The alpha wolf crouched, then stood up and approached Cody slowly, leaning forward, and licked his hand. Cody began to stroke his neck between his ears with his other hand. She could hear the wolf, half growling, half whining—a strange, happy sound. The wolf hunkered down and Cody gave him one of the big bones.

A moment later the female slipped out of the den and came forward slowly, zigzagging her way to Cody who held his hand out and spoke softly to her. She finally crouched down too and, bending her head, took the other bone he offered and backed away a few feet before settling down to her feast.

“You look good, son,” Cody told the alpha. “You must be up to a hundred and twenty pounds and no fat. They’re feeding you good here, aren’t they?”

The wolf grunted as though he understood.

Δ

The shooting had occurred two months ago, when Cody was back on the reservation for a visit.

And now the alpha and his mate were good as new, thanks to Dave Runningfox, who had healed them and built the pen in which they had grown strong.

“Three weeks, old boy, and I’ll take you home,” Cody said to the alpha. “That juvenile that’s looking to take over your pack will take one look at you and back off with his tail between his legs. And you two can have more pups and life will go on.”

Back inside, Amelie and Dave were sitting on a bench watching Cody and the wolves.

“Are they tame?” she asked Dave.

“No, not at all,” Dave answered shaking his head. “They’re wild as grizzlies.”

“Then…?”

“They were shot.”

“Where? Not around here.”

“Out in Idaho, on the reservation. Micah tracked the hunter and gave him the beating of his life.” He paused, watched questions forming in her eyes, on her brow. “How much time have you spent with Micah?”

“I told you, I met him twelve hours ago. He questioned me about a man who was killed. Probably thirty, forty minutes.”

“That’s Micah, alright. He doesn’t answer questions, he asks them.”

“I called him a little while ago. I’ve been scared all day. He came out, calmed me down, then asked me to dinner. The wolves were howling and here we are.”

“Well, wolves howl differently for different reasons. They howl one way when they’re lost, another when they’re looking for their mate, another when they’re sad. If they spot a prey they howl to the rest of the pack to come bring it down.” He laughed and added, “And sometimes when they’re feeling full of themselves, they just howl for the hell of it.”

She laughed and asked, “How about tonight?”

“That was a lonely howl. The alpha was calling Micah.”

Amelie said, skeptically, “Specifically Micah?”

He nodded. “Look, I’m sure he would’ve gotten around to this. We’re Nez Perce Indians. Ours was the tribe that befriended Lewis and Clark and led them through the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean.”

Her eyes were wide with wonder. She slowly nodded her head. “I remember that from history lessons. There was an Indian girl with them.”

“Sacagawea. She was Shoshone but she interpreted for them with the Nez Perce.”

“And the reservation is in Idaho?”

“Yep. It’s gorgeous. Near the Washington border. That’s where we grew up. Been best friends since we were toddlers.”

“Does he still have a home there?”

“No. But he goes back three times a year, ten days at a time. His father was Nez Perce.
Nimiipu
in the language. His mother was white. She was our school teacher when we were in grammar school. His born name is Micah Cody Wildpony. My full name’s David Runningfox. I shortened it when I went to college.”

“You’re not kidding me?”

“Of course not. But I am talking too much. I should let him tell you all this.”

“Not on your life.” She looked back at Cody, and then added, “You started, you can’t quit now.”

“Well, when Cody was about three, the Elders of the
Nimiipu
recognized something special about Micah. They call him
Ka’wan
, which means Little Wolf. The wolf is the most sacred of all creatures. They pronounced he was
weyekin
, a prophet, someone unique. Cody is incredibly intuitive. He inherited great instincts from his dad who was a true warrior, special ops. The Nez Perce have no written language and Micah was selected as one who passes on the legends and language of the
Nimiipu
: the myths of nature, the wisdom of the culture, the religion of The Dreamer. He takes that responsibility seriously. So, he lives in two worlds. His spirit follows the wisdom of the
Nimiipu
but he chooses to live in this culture.”

“Why did he leave the reservation?”

“Micah was thirteen when his father died. His mom moved them back to her home in Columbia, Missouri. He went to the University there.”