“Come on,” Monty said as he opened his door. “Let’s find out what ruffled Wolfgard’s fur.”
They used the back door at Howling Good Reads. Nothing unusual in the stock room, except a noticeable lack of stock. But there was a crowd at the archway leading into A Little Bite.
Simon, Nathan, and Blair turned to look at him. Simon handed a pencil and pad of paper to Nathan, then moved away from the door, tipping his head to indicate Monty should follow.
“Something of interest?” Monty asked.
“The Lizzy,” Simon replied.
He must have heard wrong. “Lizzy and her mother are here? My Lizzy?”
“No, the Lizzy and Boo Bear are here.”
He felt the blood drain out of his head. “What about her mother? Where is Elayne?”
“That’s a good question, Lieutenant.” Simon studied him. “Is it usual for a pup that young to travel alone? We wouldn’t do it, but . . .”
“Of course it isn’t usual,” Monty snapped. He heard a soft growl and wasn’t sure if the warning came from Nathan or Blair. “No,” he said, struggling to bring his voice back to calm courtesy while his heart pounded. Lizzy here alone? How? Why? “She’s only seven years old. A girl that age wouldn’t be, shouldn’t be, traveling alone. Did she say anything about her mother?”
Simon looked grim. “No. But there’s some blood on Boo Bear, and it doesn’t smell like the Lizzy.”
Gods above and below. “Where . . . ?”
“She’s in A Little Bite having a snack with Sam and Meg.”
“She’s not hurt?”
“No.” Something in Wolfgard’s eyes. “No” wasn’t a lie, but it didn’t fill in the whole truth.
“Can I ask?” Kowalski stepped up to join them. “How did Lizzy end up here in the Courtyard?”
“Nathan was on the same train. When he realized there weren’t any adults with her, he . . . guarded . . . her and brought her here.”
His little girl had needed a guard. Would he have received a different kind of phone call if a Wolf hadn’t been on the train? How life circled around. He’d been transferred to Lakeside because he had killed a man in order to protect a girl who was a Wolf. And now a Wolf had come to the aid of his own little girl.
He would make a special visit to the Universal Temple and light an extra candle for Mikhos, the guardian spirit who watched over policemen, firefighters, and medical personnel. And, it seemed, watched over their families too.
“I want to see her,” Monty said.
“Go ahead.”
Bland words that made him stop and consider. He wanted to see Lizzy and needed the reassurance that she was all right, but he wondered why three grown Wolves were crowding around an archway instead of going into the coffee shop and taking a seat at another table.
“Are you standing at the archway to avoid scaring Lizzy?” Monty asked.
Nathan and Blair snorted a laugh.
Simon stared at Monty. “We’re standing there because, for a small human, the Lizzy is territorial. She’s already whacked Skippy for coming over to take a sniff, and we can hear everything just fine from the archway.” He paused. “Besides, Boo Bear really stinks.”
Kowalski coughed.
The Wolves made room for Monty to stand in the archway and observe his daughter. She seemed fine, chatting away with Sam and Meg, pausing every so often to relay a comment from that silly bear.