Wayne accepted John’s help because he had more wild animal handling experience than Kevin and Schuster. He warned John he risked being bitten, but John claimed he did not mind, which flummoxed Schuster.

Schuster would quite willingly move to a state that had eradicated wolves, but instead, he stood guard over Wayne and John. They identified the wolves in the pen and moved them into a secure area. The three of them worried that, as the lady flung sharp objects into the pen, one had injured a wolf. The sharp objects were part of the crime scene, and nobody should examine a crime scene full of wolves. Wayne and John refused to wait for police back-up before dashing outside to save them.

So, Schuster turned slow circles, trying to see everywhere at once.

Probably he and Foster injured the böxenwolf beyond a body’s natural healing. In wolf form, the bleeding might stop quickly, but the other damage affected the böxenwolf. A böxenwolf in human form reacted to injuries like a human.

The böxenwolf in human form had hands with opposable thumbs and, according to the lady, access to firearms. He might sneak to his house and arm himself. While Schuster suspected the böxenwolf killed people and hid their bodies, he doubted that a lone böxenwolf could kill him, Wayne, John, Kevin, and the lady in a developed area and successfully hide their bodies.

The lady said that one accomplice had died, and she did not know what happened to the other accomplice. To protect him from the suspect, she refused to name or describe the other accomplice.

Unless the böxenwolf in humanform immediately surrendered, preferably at a distance and before Schuster ordered him to, he intended to shoot the böxenwolf, whichever form he took. He generally gave people more opportunity to cooperate, but, allegedly, the böxenwolf was the most violent criminal in Wilde County history. Also, if Wayne shot the böxenwolf, Wayne might receive a harsher sentence than Schuster. Everybody else seemed defenseless.

If the lady correctly identified the böxenwolf as Police Chief Dennis Laufenberg, Schuster suspected he could detain him in human form. Dennis Laufenberg last took a police fitness exam in 1993, and most of his human-form exercise consisted of walking from the gas pump to the beer cooler, pushing a full shopping cart, and taking an elevator one floor up. The lady claimed he ran well in wolf form, and Wayne said that the wolves attacking Wolftown often galloped between thirty-five- to forty-miles per hour. From experience, Schuster knew three things: first, he could not kill a galloping wolf before it bit a person; second, when arresting an aggressive human individual twice his bodyweight, tear gas and backup helped; third, tear gas hardly intimidated the wolf which attacked him and Foster.

Wayne and John found an injured wolf, Moqwaio, and moved him into the animal hospital. The other wolves remained in the secure area, though Wayne worried about leaving them unsupervised.

Schuster watched them from the wolf hospital’s doorway. “Are all of them yours?”

“Yeah. I have to call Jodi because she cut his side and his—”

“Jodi did?”

“No. The woman who broke Suzanne’s mug. She cut his side and his hip, and he can’t walk well. Luckily, he stopped bleeding on his own.”

“We’ll get him to the vet as soon as possible. Do you notice anything unusual about it?”

“It probably came from a sharp implement being thrown over the fence,” Wayne said.

“What was the lady doing anyway?” John asked.

“She thought if the potential weapons were surrounded by wolves, the suspect wouldn’t get at them, and he would have a lot more trouble killing her,” Schuster said.

“Why wouldn’t he bring a weapon along?” Wayne asked.

He doesn’t have any pockets, Schuster thought, but he said, “I don’t know. How long can the wolves be in the secure area?”

“It’s better to let them back into the pen as soon as possible.”

“Can you move them into an empty pen without mixing their paw prints with the others?”

Wayne thought. “If I have to. Why?”

“You can’t clean the pens until Sheriff Jordan says so, and you didn’t want them in the secure area.”

“There had to be a better place to put the sharp objects,” John said.

“Harming a wolf is illegal, so she will be charged for it.”

When Moqwaio woke up, Wayne, John, and Schuster returned to Happy Howlers, but the fire door had locked behind them.

Wayne and John banged on the door, and Schuster waited at a window to tell Kevin to let them inside. Kevin rushed to the fire door, worried about an emergency.

Then Wayne called the vet, Schuster checked on Kevin and the lady, and from the back door, John watched the secure area through binoculars.

Every time Schuster checked on the lady, she revealed more details about the wolf attacks. She attempted to be an anonymous witness, but, finally, Kevin convinced her she lost anonymity hours ago. The lady told Schuster her name, Corey Brown. Schuster recognized her from her aunt’s unofficial missing persons report, and he had correctly guessed her name.

“Do I have to turn into a böxenwolf again?” Corey asked.

“I said you wouldn’t have to,” Schuster said.

“Did whatshisface fall over, pee himself and stuff when he turned into one?”

“You mean John Dalton? He didn’t lose complete control.”

“And if that’s what people see, nobody will believe that a first-time böxenwolf can kill anybody.”

“The point of that was to prove to Wayne that transfiguring into a wolf was possible.”

“The evidence has to be as clear and understandable as possible, and Corey can give it,” Kevin said. “Some experienced person has to turn into a böxenwolf, and the jury has to believe the defendant can. And someone has to prove the wolves were using human reasoning. Wayne could, but he won’t want to. Before that, the judge has to allow transfiguration to be given as evidence.”

“Dennis is going to jail or an insane asylum, right?” Corey asked.

“I’d say yeah, but the legal system isn’t used to böxenwolves,” Schuster said.

“He could be sent to jail for other crimes,” Kevin said. “Isn’t it better than nothing?”

The wolves tolerated the cramped secure area, and a few still gnawed on part of a deer killed in a car accident. Local people often reported roadkill to Wayne. One lay by the gate, expecting it to open soon. Over several seconds, the wolves’ ears rose or flattened, and their tails raised or tucked. Completely unconcerned with each other, the wolves barked, growled, howled, and whined.

John propped the fire exit door open with his foot and leaned outside to look around.

“What are they doing?” Wayne asked.

“Vocalizing about something not in the pen,” John said.

“Switch with me. Look out the window.”

John did.

“Whatever it is, the birds and squirrels don’t like it, either.”

“Wouldn’t the wolves scare them away?” John asked.

“No, they know if they stay out of the wolf pens, the wolves can’t hurt them.”

Schuster yanked Wayne inside, closed the door slowly, and held it shut.

“It locks from the outside,” Wayne said.

“Oh yeah.”

Wayne moved to the window, asking, “Statistically, it’s probably a wild animal. We get bears, coyotes, and wolves. Why can’t we look outside?”

“Because the lady says the wolves sounded like that when she got here,” Schuster said. “Stay away from the windows. Whisper. What did they look like?”

John and Wayne described the wolves.

Schuster unlocked the restroom door and repeated the description, which Ms. Brown said matched the wolves’ reaction to her. She also said that the birds and squirrels ran away from her.

Kevin and Schuster barricaded the front door. Kevin, John, and Wayne tied twine and paracord between the doorknobs. Wayne waited with his gun drawn outside the breakroom and Schuster outside the doorway to the communal office, in which the lady had broken a window. Because she ran out of rope and furniture, and the breakroom and communal offices were the easiest entry points. The communal office’s broken window would be obvious.

Reasonably, the böxenwolf already knew people were inside Happy Howlers. He could track their footprints or consider the wolves’ locations abnormal. The lady said that in wolf form, a böxenwolf’s sense of smell increased, but interpreting the scents required quite a bit of practice. She considered enhanced hearing more important.

The phone rang, and everybody jumped. Kevin almost answered it, but Schuster gestured for him to stop. If they answered, and the subject was outside, he would know they were inside.

Kevin ducked and took the phone to Schuster anyway. Schuster called back and whispered.

“Are you getting bitten by a wolf again?” Sheriff Jordan asked.

“No, sir, they’re the Happy Howlers howling at something else.” Schuster reminded himself, “They aren’t the problem right now. We don’t know what they are howling at. Wayne, is it an animal?”

Wayne shrugged. “They scare off animals by now.”

Something howled oddly, provoking the wolves. Schuster hoped it was a regular wolf howl he had not heard before. John turned on his tape recorder.

Schuster said, “It might be an animal. It might be about the suspect I told you about in the message. “Please don’t involve the Wolftown Police Department.”

“I won’t until we figure out if it is actually involved in the wolf attacks or not. What’s the animal or whatever doing?”

“Maybe he is looking for the lady here, but if he is, he won’t get her.”

“He shouldn’t.” Sheriff Jordan paused. “A deputy will be there pretty quick.”

Schuster worried that the dispatcher had already revealed the location. Although he warned Sheriff Jordan in his message, Schuster said, “He might be listening to police radio.”

“We’re calling it a breaking-and-entering, nothing to do with the wolf response or corruption. Do you know why else he might be there?”

“Maybe he thinks he can rest here. The lady I told you about said there was another accomplice, and I don’t know if he is with the suspect or not. We haven’t seen a person yet, but we’re having trouble looking outside.

“Do you think it is an animal or a person?”

“A person, but I don’t know why. We might be overreacting.”

“You will have back-up, and law enforcement has to respond. They are using extreme caution. What else do you know?”

The roar repeated, but in the same general direction, and probably out-of-human-sight.

“Is that an animal?” Schuster asked.

Wayne and John shook their heads.

“Wayne and John say the roar isn’t an animal. Something else is roaring. It isn’t just the wolves. Sometimes the suspect tries to intimidate people by looking like an animal.”

“Is the wolf response chasing a person?”

Schuster said that the roar sounded near the parking lot and, therefore, closer.

“Yes, sir, but we didn’t know. If it is the suspect, lights and sirens and any police presence will make him disappear or it will make him hostile. He might have guns, but he mauls victims. He is very good at hiding from authorities, and he finds unusual places to hide that are very hard to access. He is very likely to kill witnesses or people he thinks can catch him, and he thinks killing is fine and a good idea. He’s justified it to himself.”

“Just a second.”

Schuster waited.

Sheriff Jordan said, “It sounds like I’m going to the scene, too, but I’ll stay on the phone for now. All the deputies will be there in a while.” He told Schuster the frequency that the sheriff’s department would only use while investigating the suspect. “Anything else about the suspect?”

“If he gets much closer, the lady says he will definitely be able to hear us. We’re inside with the doors shut, but he has better hearing than most people,” Schuster said.

“Stop talking if you have to,” Sheriff Jordan said.

“Kevin Miller knows as much as I do, so if I can’t talk, he can. He's the lawyer Judge Malcom hates. No offense, Kevin.”

“I don't want to be liked by people like him,” Kevin said, while Sheriff Jordan said, “Okay. Can you move somewhere else?”

“The others can, kind of.”

“How can he hear you? Like surveillance equipment or something?”

“The lady says he is better prepared than it looks like he should be. The lady barricaded herself in Happy Howlers, so we set up the barricades again just in case. Arresting him without a clear, very planned, coordinated plan will be very hard or luck. But I don’t know as much as you.”

“So far, you know more about him than me. I’ll try to get a SWAT team. What’s the layout?”

Schuster passed the phone to Wayne and told Kevin to take both sets of keys. “If I give you the phone, lock him, you, and her in, turn off the light, be quiet, and don’t open the door. Get ready for it.”

Kevin unlocked the door, turned off the light, and gestured for John to enter. He and Kevin stood in the doorway. The lady whispered, “He’s looking for me and yelling for help.”

“Go tell Officer Schuster,” Kevin whispered to John.

During another roar, further away and to the museum side of Happy Howlers, Wayne held the phone out, but Sheriff Jordan could barely hear it.

“The lady says the bad guy is looking for her and yelling for help,” John whispered, and Schuster repeated it to Wayne, who told Sheriff Jordan.

Wayne gave the phone to Schuster as the roar came from the back of Happy Howlers, the side with the broken window and the fire door. The boxenwolf seemed far away.

“How does he behave?” Sheriff Jordan asked.

“He tries to use wolf tactics, and the wolf response hasn’t been able to catch him. There is evidence that he caused people to be bitten by wolf teeth. It’s a weird situation here.”

“I was asking Wayne, does the suspect have wolves with him?”

“Maybe, but I haven’t actually seen him.” If Schuster said, He is a böxenwolf, Sheriff Jordan might ignore everything else he said. In wolf form, even Wayne identified the böxenwolves as ordinary wolves.

The böxenwolf’s roar came from the back of Happy Howlers and too close.

“Please talk to Kevin.” Schuster handed Kevin the phone, the evidence bag containing the wolf belt, and the box cutter, whispering, “Wayne, go with them.”

“No,” Wayne whispered.

Part 18 coming June 6, 2025.

In less than thirty seconds, John transfigured into a wolf.

“But it’s not supposed to work!” Wayne said.

John had never had an out-of-body experience, but he thought his current experience was not one—he had one set of wolf bones and organs and one set of human bones and organs. Some seemed to overlap, such as seeing with two eyeballs instead of four and having one heartbeat—but the overlapped ones doubled their abilities. The location of his joints perplexed him; he wondered exactly where his spine ended. The breakroom smelled stronger. John’s color vision had become yellower and bluer.

“How did you do that?” Wayne asked loudly.

“Are you okay?” Schuster asked, also loudly.

The lady and Kevin murmured in the restroom, too far away for human ears to hear.

John said, “I don’t know,” but it sounded like an unclear wolfish noise.

“Okay, I’m going to take the wolf strap off you,” Schuster said. “Hold still until we figure out if you hurt yourself.”

“I don’t feel hurt, but it’s weird,” John said.

“Hurry up. He sounds bad,” Wayne said.

As John transfigured into a human, his voice changed similar to the lady’s: “I don’t think I got hurt, but I wish I hadn’t licked the floor. I couldn’t close my mouth.”

“Say again?” Schuster asked.

John repeated himself and moved into a more comfortable position. Schuster stuffed the wolf strap into the evidence bag and the bag into his pocket.

“How did you do that?” Wayne asked.

“I put the wolf strap on.” John’s knees wobbled too much to stand.

“Did it require effort or something?”

“It’s automatic.”

Wayne and Schuster hoisted John into a chair.

“Apparently, turning into a böxenwolf is possible, but we still don’t know how it is done. So, nothing has been explained, and we don’t know what causes it,” Wayne said. “What did it feel like?”

“Weird,” John said.

“So, when I call Sheriff Jordan, will you two back me up about the böxenwolves?” Schuster asked.

Immediately, Wayne said, “No!”

John guessed why Wayne said no. “Are you going to tell him there are werewolves in the sewers?”

“Okay, I’m going to get the lady to be the first one to tell him what happened,” Schuster said.

“I’m not criticizing. I’m just asking if the theory is that werewolves are killing people and using the sewers to get there and escape?”

“It isn’t being ruled out.”

“I’ll turn into a böxenwolf again if it will help the lady get somewhere safe,” John said.

“Thanks for your cooperation and assistance. Wayne, why did you say no?”

“I’m not even going to risk explaining my reasons,” Wayne said.

“Why not?”

“I don’t have to answer.”

“I’m guessing, and maybe I’m wrong. No offense intended. But maybe because he thought people in the sewers was a dumb idea, and böxenwolves are worse. So, no offense to anybody, he already thinks he will look like an idiot? And the new development is worse?” John asked.

“What would you think if somebody explained it to you?” Wayne asked.

“Obviously, he would investigate it,” John said.

“Okey-dokey. I’m going to call the Sheriff, then talk to the lady. Stay here. Don’t wander around. Don’t touch anything.”

“We have to call people and tell them we are fine,” Wayne said.

“Do that first.”

Schuster, Wayne, and John had told Pastor Mickelson, Rebecca Austin, and Paula that if they had not called by 12:00 PM Sunday, March 12, they should consider Schuster, Wayne, and John missing. Because the storm knocked out the Wolftown phone lines, once they were restored, Pastor Mickelson would call Rebecca and ask if he should worry.

Wayne called Rebecca, who said the wolf attack caused Suzanne’s kidneys to fail.

John told Paula, “We’re fine, and in Happy Howlers. The lady might be more accurate than we thought.”

“What kind of wolves are they, anyway?” Paula asked.

“Someone got an idea from an obscure fairy tale,” John said. “I don’t think anyone thought someone would have used the fairy tale, so no one noticed at first.” John thought that the idea embarrassed Wayne to such a degree that if he had suspected it, he would have warned John in advance.

Schuster left a message at Sheriff Jordan’s house. If he called the office, the suspect might hear something important a deputy ignorantly radioed to Sheriff Jordan.

Schuster continued questioning the lady.

With everybody warm enough again, Wayne turned down the heat.

Under Schuster’s instructions, Wayne called every Jordan in the phone book. Based on circumstantial evidence, Schuster thought Sheriff Jordan might be at church or a restaurant, but it seemed unlikely in the post-flood conditions. He discouraged Wayne from telling anybody he called on wolf business—gossip spread quickly.

“Are you sure somebody would tell a stranger where a police officer is off duty?” John asked.

“It’s a small county,” Wayne said.

A relative told Wayne that Sheriff Jordan had checked on her early in the morning and gone to church to check on the flood-prone basement. She gave the phone number.

The church phone rang while Schuster and Kevin returned to the break room.

Wayne hung up. “Nobody answered.”

“Okey-dokey. Thanks for trying. The lady thinks that the subject couldn’t attack as violently as he does if he was in human shape.”

“Because he doesn’t have sharp teeth?” Wayne asked.

“Being a wolf makes him more comfortable with killing people. I don’t understand how or why anybody would think that, but she says he does.”

“It is as if something about being in a wolf shape separates him from the fact, he is a person killing another person,” Kevin said.

“Nobody is going outside alone or unarmed, including me. And I can’t ask a civilian to go outside, so we are stuck in here.”

“I still need to check on the wolves,” Wayne said.

“Why wouldn’t he come inside?” John asked.

“The lady set up barricades and an alarm system. Before Sheriff Jordan gets here, I should be able to describe the scene. We can’t go outside, so we have to be ready to go outside when he gets here. I kind of know what the wolf signs were outside, but I can’t compare them to the ones in Wolftown. So, will you, Wayne?”

Wayne sighed. “Do I have to?”

“No,” Kevin said.

“You would be of assistance. You’d be doing the same things you were doing before.”

“Do I have to talk about böxenwolves?”

“My client hasn’t agreed to discuss being a böxenwolf more than she already has,” Kevin said.

“All I’m asking is you look at the scene like it’s any other part of the wolf response,” Schuster said.

“But now I know böxenwolves are real, I’ll interpret the data differently,” Wayne said.

“How much interpreting have you done?” Schuster asked.

“I can identify the wolves by their paw prints, and I noticed weird things. I didn’t identify humans at the scenes, but if she was transforming here, there would be weird things or human and wolf signs together. I would have to document them.”

“If you are going to press charges for breaking and entering, you have to know the condition of the scene,” Schuster said.

“Will it matter to Suzanne?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will it be more expensive than just repairing a broken window?”

“Ask a lawyer,” Schuster said.

“Ask your insurance provider,” Kevin said.

“The Nature Protection Society might be able to offer financial assistance if the lady was trying to interfere with conservation,” John said.

“She wasn’t helping it,” Wayne said. “What about the wolf she killed?”

“If she has killed a wolf, she will be charged for it. Looking around is part of the wolf response, and you’re a volunteer wolf responder.”

“Will it help her get away?”

“It might protect her from the suspect, and there is reason to believe he might kill her,” Schuster said.

“And she is willing to face the consequences for her alleged activities,” Kevin said.

“Excuse me. The more evidence there is, the more likely she will be sent to jail, right? You want him to help you send your client to jail?” John asked.

“She turned herself in,” Schuster said.

Kevin said, “My client claims she didn’t attack people, but she claims the suspect did and that she helped him do it. She wants to give evidence that he attacked people, and she understands that when she does, it may connect her to the attacks. She understands that she might have left evidence here that connects her to the Wolftown attacks. And she is willing to face the consequences, but she intends not to do anything stupid that results in further charges.”

“What about you?” Schuster asked.

“Who? Me?” John asked after a couple seconds of expectant silence.

“Yeah. You’re a biologist.”

“I don’t know enough about the evidence or enough about wolves,” John said. “I’m mostly referring to the lady. If the other guy actually has killed people, he should be arrested. I’m not comfortable helping a person go to jail, but maybe I would if it would catch the guy trying to hurt her.” John felt like he held the minority opinion.

Kevin said, “Wisconsin abolished the death penalty in 1853, if it helps.”

“Maybe, but I still don’t know if I would or not,” John said.

Wayne sighed. “Fine. I’ll look around as part of the wolf response, but I’m not theorizing or saying that böxenwolves are the culprits.”

“Okey-dokey. Thanks for your cooperation,” Schuster said.

“Will the bad guy come inside?”

“Maybe I can shoot him before he turns into a wolf.”

“Why does the shape matter?” Wayne asked.

“Böxenwolves heal faster,” Kevin said.

“Why?” Wayne asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe the bullet goes through two sets of organs?” John asked.

“I have six full magazines, so as long as I get a chance to reload, it should be fine,” Schuster said. “But guns won’t make you feel better. Sorry.”

“How am I supposed to examine the scene if we can’t go outside?” Wayne asked.

“We’ll start in here and hope Sheriff Jordan will call back before we’re done,” Schuster said.

Wayne and Schuster walked through Happy Howlers methodically and left Kevin and John in the break room.

When Wayne and Schuster went down the hall, Kevin asked John, “You see why people thought Satan possessed böxenwolves?”

“Yeah,” John said. “It sucks. No offense. I can imagine why you only did it once.”

“A lot of people find it uncomfortable and dislike it. Maybe wolf straps were useful once, like for hunting during long periods of starvation. Dennis Laufenberg must be very panicky or revengeful.”

John believed people were fundamentally good, but he also acknowledged that people committed murder. He remained skeptical about somebody slaughtering people with his teeth, however revengeful or panicked the killer felt—it was completely unnatural behavior for people. In wolf form, he did not feel animal-like or any change in himself.

“Does she want to go to jail?” John asked.

“I’m not sure anybody wants to,” Kevin said.

Eventually, Schuster returned and said, “Kevin, I have to ask the lady a question.”

“About what?” Kevin asked.

“Wayne says there are a lot of missing sharp implements.”

“All right.” Kevin followed him.

Schuster unlocked the door, and Wayne waited a few steps away.

“Do you know anything about the sharp implements, like the kitchen knife and the part of the paper cutter that does the cutting?” Schuster asked.

The lady said, “I can’t beat him in a human fight, so I got rid of the weapons for him to use. And I have a better chance in a wolf fight.”

“Where did you put them?”

“I tossed them in the wolf pen.”

“Why?”

“Dennis Laufenberg can’t fight a whole pack of wolves by himself.”

Wayne’s wolves would die in the wild, but they retained some instincts.

“Are they booby-trapped?” Schuster asked, though Wayne said, “Ask her if she hurt a wolf.”

“I’m not stupid enough to go into a wolf pen.”

“Did you injure a wolf?”

“How should I know?”

Wayne ran towards the breakroom.

“You have eyes,” Schuster said.

“It was the middle of the night and raining,” she said.

“Shall I stop his questions?” Kevin asked.

“Nah. And I wasn’t going to hang around outside.”

“Why did you keep the box-cutter?” Schuster asked.

“Because I changed my mind about needing a real weapon, but I’d already gotten rid of the good ones.”

A barricade scooted and crashed away from the emergency door.

“I think Wayne and John are going outside,” Kevin said.

The emergency exit door slammed.

Schuster locked the restroom door, saying, “Kevin, answer the phone if it rings.” He pelted outside.

John had slipped in the mud, but he and Wayne slowly walked along the pens, following dainty bare footprints.

“What did I just say not an hour ago about staying inside?” Schuster whispered.

“Did she say what pen she threw them in?” Wayne asked.

“Whisper and go inside.”

“Why?”

“If the subject is transfigured into a wolf, he has a wolf’s hearing range. Go inside.”

“Wolves bleed to death like people do.”

“Harming a wolf is illegal, so I’ll charge her with it. But we can’t be outside.”

“Apparently, we can be because we are.”

“I’m outside because I don’t think a wolf should die because of people,” John whispered, hands up.

“It’s private property.”

“Go inside.”

“You could probably make John go inside, but not me—”

“Checking on the wolves will be easier with two people.” John backed towards the main facility’s emergency exit.

As he spoke, Wayne said, “—because you would rip your stitches again.”

“The next time I say go inside, it’s because there is a highly dangerous suspect here,” Schuster said. “If I say go inside, do it. Stop arguing about it.”

“Fine, if Dennis Laufenberg comes here, we will go inside,” Wayne said.

“John, look for the wolves. Wayne, draw your gun. You look that way and say if you see the highly dangerous suspect. If he charges and you think it’s necessary to shoot him, go ahead.”

They rearranged themselves, and Wayne gave John his binoculars. He looked over the empty field toward the road and Schuster toward the buildings, which stood closer to the woods and in the general direction of the suspect’s campsite.

“What makes it worse than a normal wolf?”

“And he can run as fast as a wolf, and he has a wolf’s vision and sense of smell.”

“I’m around wolves all the time,” Wayne whispered.

“Yeah, but this one isn’t scared of humans. He might have a grudge against you or Happy Howlers specifically.”

“Is that why he attacked Suzanne?” Wayne asked in his normal tone.

“I haven’t asked him. Shh! Listen.”

“If the suspect comes here, we have to be in a good position to use necessary force. We’re separated now, so two-fifths of us are defenseless,” Schuster said. “And the rest of us are exposed.”

“You two go inside, and I’ll take care of the wolves by myself,” Wayne said.

“No. And don’t step on the evidence or disturb the scene.”

“How are we supposed to take care of the wolves, walk in mud, and not disturb the scene? How do you know he is in wolf form instead of human form?”

“Do your best. And stop talking, please.”

They squelched past the damp wolf information boards.

The lady had claimed she was the wolf which Glenn found inexplicably in a locked wolf pen, and he said the wolf disappeared from the pen. Schuster tended to believe Glenn, but he had procrastinated checking the wolf pens—the lady could have placed the suspect in one after Glenn left. Or the suspect hid somewhere on the premises.

Throwing sharp objects into wolf pens, hoping they hit the wolves, seemed less strategic than the suspect’s other plans, but it seemed a reasonable idea from his perspective. The threat of an injured animal would lure conservationists outside, and the lady said the suspect knew Schuster and Foster responded to vulnerable people.

Still, the lady could have considered a pen full of wolves the best place to secure weapons.

If the suspect came to Happy Howlers of his own accord, he would sense Schuster, Wayne, John, Kevin, and the lady long before anybody noticed him. It would be almost impossible to determine if the lady planned it or correctly predicted his actions.

John tapped Schuster on the back, and he jumped and turned around. He pointed at the wolf pen, inside of which a pair of pruning shears, another metallic object, and a shovel glinted.

“Look,” Schuster whispered.”

Wayne did. “I have to move the wolves into a secure area.”

“Can it wait?”

“A wolf might be dying.”

Schuster would quite happily move to a continent that harbored neither endemic wolves nor zoo wolves. “Can John do it?”

“He can help, but by himself, he would make a mistake and get eaten.” Although Wayne taught that wolves attacked humans when provoked and preferred to avoid humans, he often told people he fed his wolves well, and they could eat much more if given the opportunity.

“Sorry,” John mouthed.

“Hurry up.”

“We have to talk during it.”

Great, Schuster thought. “Whisper. Count the wolves and make a positive identification of each one. Don’t step on anything important. And don’t move the sharp implements.”

Part 17 coming May 2, 2025.

Schuster, Kevin, Wayne, and John collided in the Happy Howlers’ hallway.

“Nothing to worry about,” Kevin said to Wayne and John.

“What are you two doing outside the door?” Schuster locked the böxenwolf in the restroom.

“Why are you talking to her like she is a böxenwolf?” Wayne asked while John said: “Listening to a lady scream about being held at gunpoint by a police officer.”

Thinking before speaking, Schuster said, “She has indicated, or she claims that she is a böxenwolf and I’m collecting evidence about it. Maybe cooperating with her will lead to useful information.”

“Does she have an animal with her?” Wayne asked.

“Everything is under control. Wait somewhere else. It’s police business and whatever she says to Kevin is confidential. Move along, please.”

“What happened?” Wayne asked.

“It’s police business. Get warmed up.”

“Everything is fine,” Kevin said.

“I’ll get a wolf towel from the shed,” Wayne said.

“A what towel?” Schuster asked.

“A towel used to dry wolves.”

“Is it outside?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m coming, too.”

“Why?” Wayne asked.

“The suspect might come here in a wolfish manner, so watch out,” Schuster said.

“How much like a wolf?” Wayne asked.

“Very wolf-like and being around people and buildings doesn’t matter. I’m going to stay with you, just in case.”

“You left us outside before,” John said.

If I knew böxenwolves were real, I wouldn’t have, Schuster thought.

“You think she is less dangerous than the suspect you haven’t seen?” Wayne asked.

“She is pretty well secured, and he isn’t,” Schuster said.

“Kevin and John, stay in the break room.”

“I was going to change in the bathroom,” John said.

“Okay. Just don’t wander off and don’t talk to the lady. Wait, Wayne. I’ve got to handcuff her in a minute.”

“Why? What’s she doing?” Wayne asked.

“What do you think?” Kevin asked.

Schuster ignored Wayne’s questions about the strange animal noises. “Give me my magazine and round.”

“Will you threaten to shoot my client again?” Kevin asked.

“Not until she behaves aggressively.”

Kevin handed the ammunition to him.

Schuster handcuffed the lady and apologized for scaring her, he and followed Wayne outside.

John asked Kevin, “Was she a werew—or a böxenwolf?”

“Anything that happened is confidential,” Kevin said.

Wayne will love that more than murders in the sewers, John thought. How am I supposed to explain it to Paula?

Schuster convinced Wayne and John to wait in the breakroom, and he and Kevin whispered in the lobby. Schuster constantly watched the restroom door. He thought he could reach it before the lady broke down the door or ripped it off the hinges if böxenwolves behaved like stereotypical werewolves.

“I thought böxenwolves were people who thought they could turn into wolves, but they are actual, real werewolves, right?” Schuster asked.

“Böxenwolves are people. They own wolf straps that transfigure them into wolves,” Kevin said. “Werewolf is a synonym.”

“You’ve seen it before?”

“I haven’t seen a half-human half-wolf transfiguration before, but I was aware of the possibility. We don’t discuss it with the uninformed. It might scare people.”

“You should have told me.”

“Well, I think the monstrous böxenwolf explanation should come after the ordinary böxenwolf explanation—”

“It isn’t ordinary!”

“—which I intended to give you once I knew whether the belt worked or not. You didn’t give me a chance. Should I now?”

“Okay.”

“The wolf strap is a piece of wolf fur tanned with a specific alchemy recipe. Whoever puts on the wolf strap transfigures into a wolf to some degree, depending on how the belt is positioned. The lady won’t attack you just because she can transfigure into a wolf. A böxenwolf is as violent or non-violent as a person. It doesn’t change her behavior.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.”

“How do you know?”

“I had worn my family’s belt and felt nothing evil or monstrous. I didn’t like it, for no particular reason. During the wolf attacks, böxenwolves went to City Hall because if we don’t cooperate with authorities or the mob, historically bad things happen.”

“I thought you were there as a lawyer.”

“And that.”

“She said that Dennis Laufenberg tried to blame the attacks on böxenwolves. How can he do that when the böxenwolves are at City Hall?”

“He didn’t want us there, remember? You must have heard him and Mayor Dwyer.”

“So, is it passed down information or does it have to be in one family, like a hereditary thing?”

“It is possible for people to make wolf straps without being in a family that traditionally makes them.”

“Could the suspect have killed a wolf, and no one noticed?”

“You might be too young to remember the Wolf Panic of 1982, or maybe your parents kept the details from you.”

“I wasn’t allowed to play outside because a wolf would’ve eaten me.” His parents omitted the dog from wolfdog because they worried all dogs would scare him and his mother thought the wolf part overwhelmed the domesticated part.

Kevin said, “Böxenwolves turned in their wolf straps to the police. My family did, but we knew the wolf strap wouldn’t cause trouble. The police gave the wolf straps to the museum. The museum hasn’t put all of them on display and I don’t remember hearing about a theft. Are you going to call Sheriff Jordan for backup?”

“Yeah,” Schuster said.

“You might want people other than me, her, and you to believe you. In retrospect, I think Dennis Laufenberg believed us, but I can’t imagine another high-ranking law enforcement agent believing it.”

“Do böxenwolves have some kind of special ability or something?” Schuster asked.

“A böxenwolf needs to relearn things like walking because humans and wolves walk differently. Automatic biological processes seem to be the same, but voluntary movement takes effort. The rest might be legendary, and it might be accurate, but I’m not completely sure.”

“Like what?”

“It is all theoretical. A böxenwolf heals faster than a human or a wolf. Iron and silver can injure a wolf too badly for it to heal. Iron and silver can make it transfigure into a human against its will or bring it under enough control for someone to untie the wolf strap. The last one seems contradictory to the strap’s lack of effect on a person’s mind.”

“Are they stronger than a wolf or a human?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m sure a person would be able to take advantage of a wolf’s natural abilities.”

“What about the full moon?”

“I’m not aware of a particular advantage, except maybe better night vision, like wolves.”

When the wolf attacked him and Foster, he saw the wolf’s jawbone in the dark and rain, but after Foster shot through it. He assumed Foster caused the exit wound because nobody reported a wolf with a facial injury. Schuster saw blood gush from a wound he inflicted, and the next minute, it scabbed. He hoped the rain washed away the blood instead, but even when he saw it, he doubted the idea. Now he worried his wolf bites might transfigure him into a werewolf.

“Do they heal fast enough to see it happening?” Schuster asked.

“Don’t people when scabs form?” Kevin asked.

“Faster than that with stuff that shouldn’t be healing,” Schuster said.

“I’m not sure. People say the longer you are a böxenwolf, the easier it is. I’m not sure if they mean the time must be consecutive or if it is accumulative, or if they mean being a böxenwolf is a skill or if it is a natural process.”

“What about claws?” Schuster asked.

“I didn’t pay much attention to mine,” Kevin said. “Being bitten by a böxenwolf won’t turn you into a werewolf.”

“But people don’t like biting people. They do it for self-defense, but it’s gross and desperate. That’s why horror shows people biting people. Scratching is fine. And people don’t like touching guts wearing gloves, let alone biting living ones with bare teeth. A person wouldn’t bite intestines. I mean intestines that haven’t become sausages, and not human. That’s all serial killer behavior, and Dennis Laufenberg doesn’t show a serial killer level of behavior. I think. Does he?”

“Maybe he snapped, but we know he was violent.”

“And some serial killers seem fine until you look under the crawl space. Was he actually like that and Foster and me didn’t notice? Does he have dead bodies in the woods or something?”

“If you are worried about it, you should check. Maybe he is just beginning,” Kevin said.

“I guess he could have hidden it, but the violence level is much higher. And he is about your age,” Schuster said.

“Does it matter?”

“He’s kinda old to begin serial killing, but I guess it could happen.”

“He had a good childhood, and I’m not aware of unusual behavior. You only know what witnesses and victims willingly told you. He could have used greater violence or threatened people, and, obviously, the people wouldn’t tell you.”

“I’ll put up with böxenwolves existing, but I’m not going to assume he is the most aggressive one yet. If a hostile böxenwolf finds us, I’m going to arrest him, and I’m considering him violent and dangerous,” Schuster said.

“You could heal your arm with the wolf strap,” Kevin said.

“It’s evidence.”

“You would still have scars.”

“They would look too old to be from yesterday.”

“May I speak with my client now?”

“Okay. I’m going to figure out what to do. I’m not going to ask her to put on the wolf strap again.”

“If I wear it, people might think it requires an ability.”

John shivered, sitting under a heating vent, and waited for Rebecca’s tea kettle to whistle. Wayne replayed John’s tape recorder and attempted to imitate her, repeatedly. His wolf vocalizations occasionally confused wolves.

“Your voice is too low,” John said.

“Even if it was higher, I couldn’t make sounds like that,” Wayne said. “She didn’t sound like a person.”

Searching the wolf pens alone for storm debris and conducting normal cleaning would last hours.

“Do you need help with the wolves?” John asked.

“I’ll see how cranky they are,” Wayne said.

Before Wayne or another employee entered the wolf pens, they cornered the wolves in a secure area. The secure area had one fence, and if somebody reached through the wire fence, the wolves could nip. Volunteers required extra training to enter the wolf pens. John had worked at a rehabilitation facility for exotic pets and lab animals, but Wayne would not consider it adequate training. If he accepted John’s offer, the previous days’ wolf hunts exhausted him.

Schuster entered the break room a few minutes later. “Are you two warming up okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” John said.

“Are you?” Wayne asked.

“I’m fine, thanks. The lady calls herself a böxenwolf,” Schuster said.

“Like an identity?” John asked.

“She changes into a wolf when she has the wolf strap on.”

“It’s impossible,” Wayne said.

“Does her attitude change or something?” John asked.

“No, and it isn’t a costume.”

“Does she have schizophrenia?” Wayne asked.

“Her personality stays the same like she has one. You won’t believe me, but I know what I saw. She looked like a wolf.”

“Maybe you should lie down for a while,” Wayne said.

“You’ll believe it if you saw it, but she won’t wear the wolf strap again, and letting other people wear it might contaminate police evidence. You heard her through the door.”

“People sound weird under stress,” Wayne said. “And when you’re stressed, it sounds weirder.”

“You said some of it didn’t sound like a wolf,” John said to Wayne.

Schuster said, “Arguing won’t settle the problem, but if one of you two try on the wolf belt and nothing happens, you would have just wasted a minute and can disprove me to your heart’s content.”

“Why don’t you do it?” Wayne asked.

“Because if I turn into a wolf, I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my duties as a policeman,” Schuster said.

“But then you would be the one tampering with evidence, instead of us,” John said.

“It’s a last resort, and I’ll write down it was for research purposes,” Schuster said. “I’ll do my best to be the one who gets in trouble for it.”

“Did it turn her into a male or a female wolf?” Wayne asked.

“I didn’t find out. Why?”

“I’m not saying that it could possibly work, but if it does, I don’t want to be a female wolf,” Wayne said.

“I don’t care which gender,” John said.

Schuster gave John the instructions, in the same tone as administering a drunk driving test, and emphasized skin-to-hide contact, though John had no idea why.

John untucked his shirts and wrapped the wolf strap twice around his waist, hardly overlapping. Within seconds, he felt another body grow or half-split from his. Disorientated, he flopped hard onto the floor, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. A minute-old wolf pup controlled its body better than he controlled his.

Part 16 coming April 11, 2025.

For some reason, the wolf was not attacking the lady, but she might be unable to defend herself. If it was her trained wolf, it might attack him. He hoped that the only unusual thing was a wolf inside the lady’s restroom, with a lady. He assumed she was the one in distress because the distressed lady had indicated she hid alone in Happy Howlers.

Schuster crashed into a furniture barricade and fell on his wolf-bitten arm and the plastic bag tied to his belt. He regretted choosing the police force over dairy farming. The plastic bag held Kevin’s wife’s dress, her sweater, and a pair of socks and shoes.

Reluctantly, Schuster walked to the employee’s restroom door and knocked on it. He doubted he saw a wolf, but he asked, “Have you tied up your wolf?”

“I don’t have any rope,” the lady said.

You can improvise a chokepoint with office furniture but can’t find an appropriate wolf restraint inside a wolf sanctuary? Schuster thought.

“Did you bring Kevin?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Where is he?”

“Outside.”

“What about Dennis?”

“We’re aware of the situation.”

“Yeah, right,” she said.

Waiting, Schuster thought, well, we would be if you said everything you knew, like “I have a functional wolf strap.” If she said, I’m a werewolf, Schuster would have asked if she joked, believed it without other signs of mental illness, or either took or should take medication, but he would have considered the statement important information.

“I’m going to show you what is going on.”

Schuster placed his finger on the trigger. “Okay.”

“I’m opening the door,” she said.

“Do it slowly.”

Schuster pushed the door further open. As her wolf face and head turned into a human’s, she had four ears and eyes. The transfiguration required less than thirty seconds (longer from Schuster’s perspective), quick enough for his brain to register a distressed female subject rather than a wolf within mauling distance.

He asked the only realistic question: “Where’s the wolf?”

“Don’t shoot me!” she said.

“Where’s the wolf?”

The two other transformations were too detailed for CGI, and he did not see mirrors or projections. When turning from wolf to human, the wolf’s head split and faded, and the lady’s head seemed to slide out of his mouth. The wolf bit its own side and tugged a strip of skin free, but bloodlessly. A transformation from human to wolf showed the opposite, like the wolf swallowed her whole.

“What are you doing it with?” Schuster asked.

“A wolf strap,” she said.

“Throw it over here.”

“I’m not going to reach under a blanket and throw something at a policeman pointing a gun at me.”

“A wolf strap looks like a big piece of fur, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Just do it slowly, like a person. I’ll see the difference and won’t shoot you.”

The wolf strap flopped at his feet, and he picked it up.

“Kevin’s wife said to borrow these.” He tossed her the plastic bag. “Holler when you’re dressed. Don’t go anywhere. And don’t turn into anything.”

“I can’t now,” she said.

The transformation distracted him from identifying the lady, but now he could think for several seconds, he believed he had seen her before. He wondered if he saw a tattoo; the sprouting and receding wolf fur overwhelmed most observations, and the lady had attempted to wrap herself in the blanket.

“You can open the door,” she said.

“Keep your hands up,” Schuster said. “I’m going to search you and handcuff you, but you aren’t under arrest.”

Holding the lady at gunpoint, Schuster patted the lady down. He holstered the gun barely long enough to handcuff her hands behind her back. Matted, muddy, brown, and light brown or blonde hair hung down her back and over her eyes. Peeled-off scabs, large dry skin flakes, and long chewed fingernails and toenails littered the floor.

Meanwhile, they talked:

“Are you the lady I’ve been talking to?”

“Yeah. Is Kevin standing outside or in a boat or what? Because if he can walk around on dry ground, it’ll be a lot easier for Dennis to find him.”

“I’ll get Mr. Miller in here as soon as I can. You are really familiar.”

“You’ve arrested me before.”

“What for?”

“Nothing related to this. You said I could be an anonymous tip.”

“I guess you don’t have ID with you.”

“No.”

“Is anyone or anything here with you?”

“You and whoever you brought.”

“No one else?”

“No.”

“Show me your teeth.”

“Are you going to shoot me?”

“I don’t want to. Show me your teeth.”

A police hood meant nothing to wolf teeth, but it deterred humans. Her teeth were blunt. She also had an empty nose piercing.

“Thanks. Why didn’t you tell me about the wolf strap over the phone?” Schuster asked.

“You would’ve hung up,” she said.

“As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t be the first to call in a böxenwolf.”

“Yeah, you’d come right over.”

“It may be a delayed response, but we would get there sooner or later. Go over to the sink. Is the floor cold?”

“What do you think?”

“Okey-dokey, hang on.”

Schuster had the lady sit down, and because she could not reach the sink’s pipe, he re-handcuffed her with her hands in front.

“Is the floor cold?” Schuster asked.

“What do you think?”

Schuster spread out the blanket and she sat on it. “Stay here. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t do whatever you did before.”

“I can’t,” she said.

“Why?”

“You have the wolf strap.”

“Will it make me do something?”

“If you put it on.”

“Okay.” Schuster carefully unwrapped it from his hand and felt slightly better.

He searched the restroom for a good wolf hiding place, to no avail, and told the lady he would bring Mr. Miller.

The lady reminded Schuster of Corey Brown, whom he arrested once for drug use, knew Dennis Laufenberg to some extent, and worried her aunt by disappearing during the floods.

Schuster locked the lady in the bathroom and looked at the strip of animal fur, which resembled wolf straps in the Wolftown museum. It smelled like Stephanie’s laundry after inspecting sewers and like the wolf that attacked him and Foster. He placed it in an evidence bag and set it on a chair.

Then Schuster searched the communal office and breakroom. Somebody had broken a window in a communal office, and there was blood on the glass. A dainty person had tracked muddy bare footprints onto the carpet. In the break room, somebody had foraged, smearing mud on the fridge handle and leaving a cabinet door open.

Schuster went outside, locked the front door, and looked through the windows. He thought somebody had entered the rooms from inside, pushed some furniture into the hall, barricaded the doors from the inside with additional furniture, crawled out the windows, shut them behind herself, and barricaded the doors from the hallway.

Instead of leaving the lady on the floor, Schuster could bring a chair into the restroom. Wayne’s desk’s drawers nearly reached the floor, but legcuffs could be handcuffed to the desk’s stubby legs.

The storage shed and the wolf hospital’s entrance had two locks and a locking interior door. The storage shed and wolf hospital were unlocked, but from building a wolf pen as an Eagle Scout project, Schuster clearly remembered Wayne’s persnicketiness about locking doors and fences. A calendar marked 183 days elapsed since the last unlocked door or fence. Muddy footprints indicated the dainty person had entered it and Schuster thought he or she probably found the blanket and utility knife inside them.

The lady seemed like the most likely “somebody,” but he needed to question her further.

He hurried past the wolf pens. At the moment, the wolves tended to sit on the higher ground and irritate each other, without showing any interest in Schuster. “You’d better be wolves. Real wolves,” he said.

Wondering how to explain the lady to Kevin, Schuster returned to the Happy Howlers facility. He swiveled a thermostat to maximum heat. Severe hypothermia caused hallucinations, but he felt mentally competent.

Experimentally wearing a wolf strap seemed as stupid as taste-testing drugs for purity. Giving the lady the wolf strap was as stupid and risky, assuming the strap transfigured her. Either her demonstrations did not clearly show the wolf strap or the fur growth overwhelmed the other details.

Wayne stocked leashes and muzzles for the rare occasions a wolf left the facilities or people approached them within biting distance, but Schuster could not restrain the lady like an animal. Also, the restraints would either fall off in wolf form or not fit in human form.

“Ma’am, I need to know I saw what I thought I saw, so put the wolf strap on again.”

“I did it three times,” she said. “Weren’t you watching?”

“I’m having trouble understanding it.”

“And I don’t want to be shot.”

“If I wanted to shoot people, I would’ve joined the Army. So, I won’t shoot you if you don’t attack me. Do you lose control or something if you turn into a werewolf?”

“No. And I don’t want to transfigure again.”

“It may help me understand what’s been going on.”

“You do it, then.”

“It’s against police procedure,” Schuster guessed—he had absolutely no idea.

“I’ll transfigure one more time if Kevin is here,” the lady said.

“Okay. I’ll get him.”

Schuster locked the restroom door, then the employees-only door, then the lobby door, and walked down the driveway in a drizzle, where Wayne, John, and Kevin waited for him.

“We were about to check on you,” Wayne said. “What’s wrong?”

“I had to search the premises. And the lady seems to be under the impression she is a böxenwolf,” Schuster said.

“Great,” Wayne said.

“How far under the impression?” Kevin asked.

“She had this wolf belt on.” He held up the evidence bag. “She wouldn’t tell us over the phone because it sounded crazy.”

“Another one?” John asked.

“What was she doing when she wore it?” Kevin asked.

“What were the other ones doing?” Wayne asked John.

“Let’s go. No one mess with anything inside. If it looks out of place, leave it alone. I have to document it. She was hiding in the lady’s employee restroom.”

“When she was wearing the wolf strap, was it functional?” Kevin asked.

“What?” Schuster and Wayne asked.

“Did the wolf strap have an effect on her? What condition was she in?” Kevin asked, as if asking, When you found her in the coffin, decapitated and with a stake in her heart, was she dead?

“I’m not positively sure how wolf straps work,” Schuster said.

“We were talking about it for a couple hours,” Wayne said.

“You were theorizing.”

“And it wouldn’t have an effect anyway.”

“Maybe sometimes the belts work and maybe they don’t always. Making one requires some attention.”

Tired of listening to them argue, Schuster said, “No one talk to her, except for Kevin. He has to.”

Schuster warned them about the defenses inside of Happy Howlers. He gave them permission to make a hot drink and change into dry clothes, but to restrict their movements.

Opening the door, Schuster said, “Watch out for the broken mug.”

“That was Suzanne’s mug,” Wayne snapped. “She broke in, ate our snacks, and broke Suzanne’s mug?”

“I broke her mug opening the door. Sorry about that. I’ll get her a new one.”

“Come on,” Wayne said to John. “You’re blue, and you need to dry your feet.”

“Thanks,” John said.

Schuster locked the doors and let himself and Kevin into the employee’s restroom.

“Finally,” the lady said.

Schuster interrupted Kevin, “Okay, you have a lawyer, so you’re going to put on the belt again, like you said.”

“Do I have to?” she asked.

“No, you don’t have to,” Kevin said.

“We don’t have a female officer or another lady here. I’m not sure who I could get,” Schuster said.

“I couldn’t care less right now,” she said.

“Okay, that helps for a while. I have to see the belt clearly while it is being used to determine if it does something, so I’m going to tie it on over your clothes.

“It works different over clothes. You won’t like it,” she said.

Kevin objected, which Schuster considered a normal reaction.

“I’ll get it off you as soon as I can. I’m going to unhandcuff you so no one can say you escaped.”

“It’s a bad idea,” the lady said.

Fairly certain a wolf could not easily keep its front paws up, Schuster said, “Don’t make sudden movements.”

He tied the wolf strap around her waist, although the lady warned him she would look much different than the previous times she transfigured, and she worried he would shoot her.

Slower than before, fur sprouted on the lady’s hands and feet, which shortened almost into paws and her thin wrists shrank. Her face elongated and she said something unintelligible. The baggy clothes hung oddly.

Schuster drew his gun and stepped in front of Kevin, saying, “That’s not what I saw.”

“This happens when the belt is worn over clothes. She warned you. It’s nothing to worry about. Don’t worry about it,” Kevin said.

Schuster knelt as far from the lady as possible and yanked the rawhide bow. As the belt unwrapped, the lady transfigured into a human form again.

Kevin said, “If she intended to attack you, she would have.”

The lady was telling Kevin to tell Schuster to stop aiming at her; Kevin continued defending her while Schuster roughly handcuffed her.

Wayne knocked on the door, startling everybody. “Everything okay in there?”

“No,” Schuster said, but Kevin said, “Yes, it’s fine.”

“It’s under control,” Schuster said, aiming at her again. “That wasn’t what I saw.”

“I told you!” she said.

“I saw a wolf the first time. Does the wolf strap work differently over clothes than over skin?”

“I told you so,” she said.

Kevin said, “She is being very cooperative and unaggressive. You’re threatening her.”

“It’s self-defense,” Schuster said.

“Has she done anything aggressive?”

“No.”

“And she has cooperated with you.”

“The way she looked before looked pretty threatening, and she could do it again.”

“You are worried because of what she looks like?”

“She looks like some kind of monster. She’s the same thing, but she looks different now.”

“You were raised better than that. You haven’t seen her do anything wrong,” Kevin said.

“It isn’t normal.”

“Looking non-human isn’t illegal. And I won’t let her cooperate with you if you continue threatening her.”

Schuster unloaded his gun and handed the magazine and round to Kevin, who flickered an alarmed expression.

To the lady, he said, “Turn into a werewolf like you did when I got here. Turn into the kind that looks like a real wolf.”

“I’m not doing it again,” the lady said.

“It might help him understand your case,” Kevin said.

“I showed you already.”

“I wasn’t paying enough attention.”

“Why not? Since when don’t you pay attention?”

“Someone will ask me to explain what I saw, and I have to process it before I can explain it,” Schuster said. “I have to compare it. And I have to see the belt being tied on over your skin. Can it be your arm or something?”

“No.”

“Sorry, ma’am. Do you want to wait for another lady?”

“Whatever. I’ll transfigure one more time, but that’s all.”

“It isn’t decent,” Kevin said.

“So, stand in the corner,” the lady said.

Kevin did.

Schuster unhandcuffed the lady again. Quickly and hunched, she undressed and tied on the wolf strap again, complaining under her breath. The complaints turned into huffs and growls.

In wolf form, she glared at Schuster. She did not have eyebrows and was not staring like a wolf would, but she had the same expression people adopted when cooperating with the police against their will.

“I don’t need to see you transform back because I get that the wolf strap does it,” Schuster said. And it is the creepiest part, he thought.

Wishing he did not need to bend over or crouch, and that he had a howitzer or a flame-thrower, Schuster held up the dress.

The wolf slid backward under the dress, keeping her front paws visible at all times. He dropped it over her and the lumps began shifting. A few seconds later, the huffing and growling developed into muttered complaints, and Schuster dropped the dress over her. A human arm poked through the neck hole, and she retracted it.

“Are you happy now?” The lady’s human head emerged from the dress’ neck hole.

No, he thought. “I got what I needed. Thanks for your cooperation, ma’am. I’m going to handcuff you again.”

“I have to pee.”

“Okey-dokey. Knock on the door when you’re done.”

Schuster pushed Kevin through the door first and he bumped into Wayne. John held a running tape recorder.

Part 14 coming March 21, 2025.

The wolf response divided Wolftown into sectors secured with metal walls and fences that neither a wolf nor a person could bypass without permission. Unlike Schuster, Wayne had a key. Schuster relied on his badge, and he refused to explain his backup plan, especially to John.

Outside Holy Trinity through an emergency exit, Wayne and John formed one pair and Schuster and Kevin the other. The rain had slowed. With the flashlights, they could see much further than they expected. When the floodwater flowed too deeply or quickly, they tied safety lines to doors or lamp posts and each other.

John wished he wore the fishing waders, but the cold rain convinced him Wayne needed them. Three-foot-deep rushing water worried him more than the wolves. While water and things in it did not scare him, he disliked aquatic adventures. Cold, wet, and hungry, he waded behind cold, wet, sleep-deprived, stressed Wayne. They said little.

Everybody else in the wolf response sheltered inside people’s homes, businesses, or Holy Trinity. Somebody supposedly watched the fence constantly from a window, but when Wayne and John dragged the fence closed against the current, either nobody noticed, or nobody cared.

Wayne, Schuster, Kevin, and John thought an expedition to Happy Howlers in the current weather conditions was a terrible, dangerous idea for those untrained in wilderness search-and-rescue. Schuster and Kevin thought they had good reasons to not alert other authorities about the lady.

The emergency radio and their weather observations indicated that the thunderstorms had passed, but the flooding and flash flood warnings continued. The severe weather would steadily clear through the morning. Wayne and Kevin said that the 1993 Wisconsin floodwaters flowed deeper than the current flood in Wolftown, but they could not predict the conditions.

The lady could have hiked from Wolftown to Happy Howlers in several hours and good conditions, but Schuster and Wayne doubted she could walk from Wolftown to the campsite to Happy Howlers or navigate without a map in a dark storm and flood conditions.

The lady claimed that she walked alone despite lacking things even totally unprepared tourists brought, such as a t-shirt. It even alarmed Wayne, who tended to feel unsympathetic towards her. (Her clothing washed away after she undressed, but why she undressed remained a mystery to Schuster and Kevin.)

The weather might prevent the male perpetrator from finding the lady or prevent Schuster from hiding the lady somewhere safer. If Schuster, apparently the only police officer she felt remotely comfortable speaking with, and Kevin, her lawyer, remained in Wolftown until the weather conditions improved, the lady might think of somewhere safer and run away or decide to return to the male perpetrator and lie about contacting the authorities.

Sandbags protected the Motorer’s Motel. Wayne and John surprised the desk clerk and squelched to John’s room. Before packing, Wayne made John dry his feet.

“I’m just going to put on wet boots again,” John said.

“You’ll get trench foot, but you can slow it down.” Wayne turned up the radiator. “Thanks for making me borrow your fishing waders.”

“No problem,” John lied.

Eating a container of cold bean salad, John stuffed the waterproof cooler with the one change of dry clothes, tea bags, and shelf-stable vegan food.

“Dennis Laufenberg volunteered at Happy Howlers for a few weeks in the ’80s,” Wayne said.

“Really?”

“He was going to get bitten, so I made him quit.”

“You’ve been bitten. I saw the scars.”

“Yeah, but except for that, it wasn’t serious. They nip me sometimes. A wolf was going to maul him to death if he was lucky and eat him if he wasn’t. He wouldn’t listen to me, so I stopped letting him volunteer. He is not allowed to do anything except be a tourist.”

“Why?”

“He didn’t respect the wolves or try to understand them. He pretended to. Volunteers can’t be alone with the wolves, but sometimes they hang out near the pens. I let some volunteers interact with the wolves. His attitude was weird. Are you warming up?”

“Yeah. If he is attacking people, why would he hunt the wolves, too?”

“To pretend it isn’t him. I don’t think he is looking for the wolf-like the rest of us are, and he doesn’t make our jobs easier. He hasn’t been very involved with the wolf response for a couple days. Anyway, training wolves to attack people would be full-time work. Maybe somebody else trained them, but he was in charge.”

“I thought you said the trained wolf hypothesis was a dumb idea.”

“It is. You have to be smart to make it work, though. I have to compare the lady’s coordinates, the Vasquez’s coordinates, and the wolf packs’ territories. If the wolves were in the woods, the wolf packs would know. I’d say we could go look, but the rain probably washed away the evidence. Who knows where the trained wolves are now.”

“So, they could have been set loose or gotten loose?”

“If the lady and the kid in the sewer didn’t pass the wolves off to somebody else, yeah. But if the wolves were habituated to people in the woods, they couldn’t be used to a town. If somebody brought them into a town, people would have seen them. Around here, somebody would have known the difference between a wolf and a dog. They would have to be wolf-dogs, but people might recognize them or think the big dogs looked weird.”

Wayne fell asleep again.

Schuster knocked on the door, automatically saying, “Wolftown Police Department.”

“Going rogue,” Kevin said.

John woke up Wayne and opened the door.

“Did you get it?” Wayne yawned.

“We could’ve bought the damn canoe for what he charged,” Schuster said, shivering and bluish.

“Did he rent it?” Wayne asked.

“It’s a business expense,” Kevin said.

“But did you get it?”

“Yeah,” Schuster said. “Come on.”

“You don’t look well,” John said.

“Maybe you should warm up first,” Wayne said.

“I’m fine. Let’s go.”

Following Schuster, Wayne asked, “Why don’t you think Dennis Laufenberg is involved with the attacks?”

“I don’t have any physical evidence yet. As far as I know, there is only one person who says she saw him and named him. So, I have to think of the guy as a suspect. Chief Laufenberg goes into the woods for hours, and Zach and me couldn’t follow him. But a lot of people do that.”

“He was interested in wolves and böxenwolves,” Wayne said. “I got a weird feeling about him when he was near the wolves.”

“There is evidence of public exposure, and the lady says she witnessed it. But I don’t have physical evidence that the public exposure is connected to assaulting people with a wolf, and I don’t have physical evidence that Dennis Laufenberg was involved in the attacks. I haven’t had time to look for much evidence, but I will look for evidence in general. And if the evidence indicates he is the suspect, I’ll arrest him again.”

“You already arrested him?” John asked.

“A couple years ago. If he was involved in the attacks or connected to them, whatever he did was in the woods. Not even the private detective could get that close. Zach and me looked in the woods, but we didn’t see anything suspicious. Maybe we didn’t know what we were looking for. Maybe we were in the wrong place.”

“If he was at work full-time, he wouldn’t have time to train wolves,” Wayne said.

“So could the lady or Mr. Wilson be the trainers?” Schuster asked.

“Maybe. But someone needs to be with the wolves pretty much all the time. And training wolves to do things dogs do is very difficult. Sometimes it works, but it is a lot harder than dogs.”

Schuster failed to reassure the desk clerk about their safety while they left.

The water depth in Wolftown made walking and rowing equally problematic. However, Schuster, Kevin, Wayne, and John reached Kevin’s house, where they gathered things they and the lady would need. John filled his own thermos with hot tea and Schuster filled Kevin’s with hot chocolate.

Schuster explained why he arrested the chief of police: “He was driving under the influence and going to the police station for his shift. No charges were filed, and I was put on unpaid administrative leave for a week. It got hushed up, but I have a witness.”

In the canoe, Wayne, John, and Kevin insisted that Schuster rest, and Schuster, John, and Kevin insisted Wayne rest. Wayne dozed, while Schuster drank the thermos of hot chocolate filled at Kevin’s house. Between navigating, he periodically called Happy Howlers. He asked the lady if her situation developed and then hung up to conserve the spare battery.

The current carried them downriver. John and Kevin rowed and scraped in approximately the right direction, sometimes turning in circles, or lugging the grounded canoe into the river. Kevin barely knew the difference between a frigate and a kayak, and John and the canoe mutually detested each other.

Wearing a life jacket, John fell into the river. He clutched a rock until the other men caught up with him. But to everybody’s relief, nobody quite capsized the canoe.

Finally, Schuster estimated they reached a stretch of river close to Happy Howlers.

Kevin stepped onto the bank and sank knee-deep in mud. The others pulled him out, but he lost a shoe. They canoed several hundred feet downriver and cautiously stepped on the mud. Then they walked in the general direction of the highway, finding it a mile south of Happy Howlers. They trudged up the left side of the highway.

Throughout the walking, Wayne and Kevin argued happily about böxenwolves, including sidetracking into an argument about the proper pronunciation and pluralization.

Until John heard Kevin say, “I’m a böxenwolf,” John would not mention it.

Kevin and Wayne did not believe in magic and thought saying, It’s magic failed to explain anything. They thought scientists continued to discover new things and explain phenomena.

Kevin said that making a wolf strap, which transfigured a person into wolf form, required alchemy and tanning. Wayne considered werewolves scientifically impossible, alchemy almost chemistry, and Medieval tanners unknowing practical chemists. If somebody could make a human look like a wolf, it would require gene editing, biochemistry, surgery, and the like, and time. He did not want to cite pseudoscience (and sometimes the studies fell below the pseudoscientific level) or rely on science predating the scientific method, but none of the böxenwolf experts identified what in the ingredients made matter change its form or that the ingredients had any form-changing properties beyond chemical reactions. If the materials to make a wolf strap contained properties that turned a person into a wolf, they required refinement and special combinations beyond a Medieval tanner’s capabilities.

“And the wolf straps date to the 1300s, so the process would be from a more highly advanced society. I don’t know much about history, but they didn’t get close to the right technology. I don’t believe in aliens, either,” Wayne said.

“Neither do I,” Kevin said.

Kevin argued that a wolf strap could be a natural phenomenon that Medieval people called magic.

“Like the idea that very advanced technology looks like magic?” Wayne asked. “We wouldn’t recognize it if we saw it?”

“Advanced technology wouldn’t look like herbs and Medieval tools and be something you can do in your backyard. Making a wolf strap is primitive technology that does something amazing we can’t explain,” Kevin said.

“Like dreamwalking or a hallucinogen?”

“I’m thinking that the böxenwolf physically changes from a human to a wolf, and it feels like it and looks like it, to someone who is not also using a wolf strap. A group of people taking a hallucinogen might think they saw a böxenwolf, but I’m thinking of uninvolved people looking at somebody using a wolf strap and seeing the person turn from a human form to a wolf form.”

“You think that happens without advanced technology, but I think it happens with advanced technology, right?” Wayne said.

“Yeah,” Kevin said.

“And you think that happens with primitive technology, right?”

“Yeah. Or someone could argue it looks more primitive than it is. Hasn’t it happened before?”

Wayne thought that a natural phenomenon powerful enough to change one thing into a completely different thing would be obvious and verifiable, but confirmed werewolves were rare. Kevin said the witnesses formed a legend.

“Okay, we’re getting close, so start paying attention to the surroundings,” Schuster said. “Get out the weapons and deterrents.”

Schuster and Wayne drew their guns and Kevin John’s air horn. John loaded the tranquilizer gun, wishing they took effect faster than bullets.

“Kevin and John, walk backward,” Schuster said. “And look in opposite directions, away from each other. One of you looks left and one of you looks right. Kevin, look left and John, look right.”

“Do you feel okay?” Wayne asked.

“Isn’t that how to look for a wolf or a suspicious individual?”

“Yeah, but it took you a little while to say.”

“Let’s go.”

Wayne could probably identify every sanctuary wolf by a single loose hair on his pants, but John worried Schuster would see wolves, panic, forget about the wolf-proof fences, and shoot the wolves. Their pens sheltered them, or Wayne evacuated them, and wolves naturally coped with cold and sopping fur, but few loved wet, muddy conditions. Their tetchy behavior might scare Schuster.

At the edge of the parking lot, Schuster said, “If you see evidence of something weird, don’t touch it. If you see the wolf, tranquilize it, and do whatever Wayne says. If you hear shooting or notice an emergency I can’t deal with on my own, get to Thurber and give Sherrif Jordan my report and whatever information you have. If I hear gunshots, I’ll come back and stop the shooting. Just don’t shoot in the general direction of the facility, please.”

“Or the wolf pens,” Wayne said, but John said, “Does that include the wolf pens?”

“And try not to shoot any of Wayne’s wolves. Is it okay if I go inside Happy Howlers?” Schuster asked.

“Here are the keys. Don’t do anything with the wolf enclosure’s fences or gates.”

“I won’t.”

“When you get inside, turn up the heat to maximum.”

“Okey-dokey, I appreciate it.”

“And get into dry clothes and dry your feet,” Wayne called. Quietly, he said, “And if I hear shooting, I’m going to check on him. Everybody else, do what he said.”

With a creepy feeling, Schuster knocked on the wooden front door and said, “Wolftown Pol—Officer Schuster.” He unlocked the door, pushed it, and shoved it open.

Somebody had pushed a bench in front of the door and stacked it precariously with lightweight, clattery, breakable things, like a full pen organizer and an empty coffee mug.

“There was a call about a lady in distress. Is anyone inside?” he asked.

It’s just a big empty dark building, Schuster thought. Mostly empty.

He searched the lobby and museum, warning himself about Wayne’s great-uncle’s awful taxidermy wolf, which startled him anyway.

Then he unlocked the Employees Only door in the museum, but something immovable prevented opening the door. So, he went past the front desk and swung open the Employees Only door behind it.

A chair or other furniture barricaded four of the eight doors in the U-shaped hallway, leaving the employee restrooms, communal office, and break room unbarricaded. But the other side of the doors were barricaded; Schuster tried each one in order and also locked or unlocked them.

The women’s restroom door opened, and a utility knife skittered across the floor. The door slammed and locked before Schuster reached it. He kicked the knife further down the hall.

“It’s Office Schuster. Who’s in there?” He knocked on the door. “There was a call about a female in distress somewhere in this facility.”

The door unbolted.

“Back away from the door.” Reluctantly, Schuster slowly swung it open.

A bedraggled wolf huddled at one end, covered in a damp threadbare blanket, but he thought he also saw a lady. He darted forward to pull the door shut, yelling, “Tie up your wolf!”

Schuster held the door shut and repeated himself, scratching the metal with the key.

Wishing he had been placed on medical leave, Schuster unlocked the door, flung it open, and aimed at the wolf, but instead of a wolf, a bedraggled lady huddled in the blanket with her hands up. The door bounced off the doorstopper without a wolf whimpering behind it.

“Where’s the wolf?” Schuster asked, seeing no wolf.

When he looked at the lady again, fur was spreading over her body from head to feet.

Swearing, Schuster shut the door again. Holding it closed, though nothing pulled it open, he locked it again. Then he began running backward into the lobby.

(Sorry for the delay. Part 14 coming February 28, 2025.)

Kevin Miller woke John in a dim classroom. He was John’s lawyer when the police questioned John about his wolf encounter, and he had joined Officers Schuster and Foster’s investigation of police corruption in Wolftown.

“Billy told me to wake you up,” Kevin said.

“Huh?” John asked.

“He, Wayne, and I might go to Happy Howlers. Since you are allowed to observe the wolf situation with Wayne, he thought you should be woken up.”

“Another attack?” John asked.

“We hope not,” Kevin said.

John followed Kevin to the principal’s office, where he and Schuster had spent most of the night speaking with an anonymous distressed woman or discussing her between themselves or with Wayne. Since Kevin accepted her as a client, he could not tell John anything else.

“Did Glenn and Rebecca get home safely?” John asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Wayne said.

“Everybody was okay. Deputy Peterson didn’t find a wolf or signs of nefarious activity. I appreciate letting the lady and me talk on the satellite phone. The battery is running low. Sorry.”

“Is she in danger?” John asked.

“Yeah.”

“Use the spare if she needs.” John remained skeptical of police in general, but he worried about the lady’s safety, and he wondered if another emergency happened while he slept.

“I hope we won’t need to,” Schuster said.

Wayne grumbled, “She broke into Happy Howlers, ate our snacks, and might have been involved in attacking Suzanne. And the other victims.”

“She says she broke in and ate for survival,” Schuster said.

“I can’t complain about that, but why didn’t she go somewhere else?”

“How would she get there in the storm? Isn’t Happy Howlers and one house between Wolftown and Thurber?”

Thurber was the Wilde County capital.

“She says she was in the woods,” Schuster said. “The lady gives a lot of details. Some of it can be verified, and some of the verifiable details haven’t been released to the public, so I’m considering her a reliable source. She says she and three men were conducting the wolf attacks. She says she doesn’t want to be in cahoots. The lady’s description of the leader matches the naked man, and—”

“Dennis Laufenberg,” Wayne asked.

“We haven’t confirmed his identity yet. I have to compare his timeline with hers. She hasn’t said why the individual doesn’t wear clothes. Her description of the other guy matches the missing person found dead. He hasn’t officially been identified yet, but I think he is Tyler Wilson. I’m going to call him that. I have no idea who the third man is. When the attacks escalated, he ran away. The lady thinks the leader might be willing to kill him. The lady sounds familiar, but I don’t know who she is.

The leader is making the attacks, she says, ‘look like wolf attacks and like someone is using a wolf strap. If there were signs it was a guy, it’d be too crazy to pay attention to.’ She hasn’t talked much about the wolf straps.”

“Kevin, are you going to say anything about them?” Wayne asked.

“Not again, please,” Schuster said. “Her and Wayne are thinking about talking about the wolf attacks, but she doesn’t trust anyone.”

“And I’ll probably yell at her,” Wayne said.

“And that wouldn’t assist the investigation,” Schuster said.

“When they weren’t attacking people and animals, her and the two identifiable men went into the woods. I’m not sure where the third man went. They’ve got some kind of camp in the woods, and it sounds like she is familiar with the area. The search parties were looking in the same direction as her coordinates.”

“And it’s in easy hiking distance of the Vasquez’s campsite,” Wayne said. “The sites are pretty deep in the woods.”

“The lady says that they were using the sewer system to get around town and evade the authorities,” Schuster said.

“As bad as the dumb wolf hypotheses,” Wayne muttered.

“The third man lifted up the manhole covers for the others to climb out. They conducted the attacks, and he stayed in the sewers. It’s tough to lift up a manhole cover without a tool. Stephanie says that sewer work is dangerous, even if you have the right safety equipment and stuff. The individuals stopped hiding in the sewers because of the rain. It sounds like the lady and the other two men knew each other much longer than they knew the third man. If they were using the sewers, it explains why there were wolf sightings in completely fenced-in sectors that had been thoroughly searched. Wayne, have you thought about the wolf in the sewer question?”

Wayne sighed. “At least muzzle the wolf, but it probably wouldn’t let you put him in a sewer unless you sedated it. A wolf is pretty heavy, so you would need to lower it on a rope or carry it. I’m not going to experiment because I don’t want to get mauled and I’m too tired to make a dummy wolf.”

“Do you have an opinion, John?”

John thought. “It would be a very unhappy, scared wolf. And unhappy, scared animals tend to be uncooperative, even if they have been domesticated and trained. If you got the wolf into the sewer, it might turn on you.”

“And if you sedated it, you would have to wait for the sedation to wear off before attacking.”

“Do they get loopy like people?” John asked.

“Yeah, so that is another problem,” Wayne said. “If they were making it look like wolf attacks, they were using real wolves.”

“Okey-dokey,” Schuster said. “I need to check sewer abnormalities. The lady says that the leader prevented the sewer workers from cleaning out the sewers before the rainstorm, and Stephanie told me the same thing a few days ago.

“The lady says she called in an anonymous tip that Mr. Wilson drowned in the sewers and that he was in a sewer outlet. She told me she knew he had a wolf strap, and she made sure it was found with his body. She didn’t say so in the anonymous tip she originally made. The officer she spoke to told me that the caller had a female voice.

“The wolf responders almost caught the wolves this morning. The lady knows that a wolf responder fell into an open manhole, when, where, his name, and where the current carried him to. Wayne confirmed the details. They were in a residential area, so it’s possible someone overheard, but she was very specific.

“The lady says that she gave an anonymous tip to the police that Suzanne Giese would be attacked, and it would be in a couple minutes. Corporal Henry says that the caller was female. She says that when the leader found out she called a tip, he attacked her the same way he had attacked other people.”

“Shouldn’t she be in a hospital?” John asked.

“She says it is going away on its own. If the leader is violent towards her, she could have been injured much worse before. Or it was a non-life-threatening assault.”

“Or it was what you call attempted assault by a wolf,” Wayne said. “I bet you could train a dog to do it on command, and maybe a wolf. She hasn’t said that they trained the wolves.”

“I can confirm the details about the attack on me and Zach. She knows that Zach shot a hole through the wolf’s snout and that the exit wound was big enough to stick fingers through. She knows the direction the wolf went and approximately where the wolf responders lost track of it. She wants it to be dead but doesn’t think it died from the gunshot wounds.”

“Why not?” John asked.

“Because she says she saw it alive later in the morning. I don’t believe that because she says the same wolf attempted an attack on John and Barbara Lubens. Nobody reported a big hole in the wolf’s face. Am I very detail-orientated or is that something witnesses would remember?”

“Yeah,” John said.

“You are and it is,” Kevin said.

“Was there a scar or something?” Wayne asked.

“No, the wolf looked healthy.”

“I believe that she knows about the attacks, though. She doesn’t know where the wolf went, but she listed hiding places in Wolftown. The wolf responders are looking for wolves, not people, so it’s possible someone missed him.

“She says the wolves weren’t in her control, but I don’t know why. After Mr. Wilson died, she had an altercation with the leader. He threatened to kill her, so she ran away into the woods. She hasn’t said how she ended up at Happy Howlers. She won’t say whether she brought a wolf with her and she won’t talk about anything to do with the wolf in the empty pen.”

“And we don’t know where they put the wolves between attacks,” Wayne said.

“She doesn’t talk much about the wolves,” Schuster said.

“After breaking into Happy Howlers, she saw John’s phone number on the desk and decided to call it. She hasn’t said why, but it sounds like a significant risk to her safety. She feels like it is the best place for her to be.

Wayne asked, “Why would she attack employees, go to their workplace, and ask the owner to help her?”

“People’s decisions in a crisis don’t always make sense to observers,” Schuster said.

“If she wants to tell me and thinks I will tell her to forget about it, she’s wrong.”

“My client hasn’t confessed,” Kevin said.

“Maybe the lady is being coerced into giving the information or it’s part of the plan. I might be gullible, but I wouldn’t say some things the way she said it about someone I willingly aided and abetted. I definitely wouldn’t say it in front of him. She sounds like she is worried about saying it in a situation where he could find out what she said.

“She says the leader will attack her if she asks for help from anyone. She says the leader can stop authorities from responding to her, but she hasn’t gone into much detail. It sounds like he will use threats and wolf attacks. She says he tracks the police movements and the walkie-talkie frequency, so he knows if the police respond to her call. I think if he can do that, he can listen to the sheriff’s department and state police. I told her that the county sheriff’s department had already been there about the wolf Glenn found in a pen, but she won’t discuss it.

“The lady is very scared of the authorities. I’m guessing if the leader can stop the authorities from doing their jobs, he can make them do something to her or he can keep them from investigating whatever he might do to her.”

“Like a chief of police,” Wayne said.

“The suspects are anyone who can be definitely connected to the lady, like in a police line-up. Happy Howlers is not a good place for her to be long-term, but she says she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“If she is scared of the authorities, why did she go there?” John asked.

Wayne led part of the wolf response, but voluntarily and unconnected to the civil services. Happy Howlers was a private non-profit.

“Maybe I don’t count,” Wayne said.

Schuster said, “I’m worried the lady or the leader might try to attack Wayne. She knows who he is and where he works, but I don’t know if she found that out before or after going to Happy Howlers. She probably knows Wayne wants to stop the wolf attacks. She might know he thinks they will continue until someone stops them.”

“Maybe they would have stopped naturally if they were just wolves, but people might not let them. I still think attacking people with wolves is a stupid idea. Apparently, the lady thinks it would work, but I don’t have any data about her. If I do, I didn’t recognize it.”

“It sounds like she intends to stop attacking people. The lady won’t or can’t move herself to a secondary location. She says the storm washed away the place in the woods. She says she literally has nothing with her. So, I can’t tell her to walk to Thurber. No one should hitchhike, but especially her. Wolftown wouldn’t be a safe location. Wayne is letting her stay there.”

“And it makes it easier for you to detain her or whatever,” Wayne said.

“I’d normally say she would be safer in police protection or at least sitting inside a police station. If there is police corruption regarding a homicide, her, Kevin, and me have to be careful.”

“Were homicide investigations corrupt before?” John asked.

“Not as far as I know. Fortunately, we have a very low homicide rate. A few Wolftown officers know I’ve been speaking with a witness. They don’t know much, and we haven’t communicated about her over the radio. The other officers have not always been helpful. Some officers would notice if I asked a couple of officers or former officers for backup. And some officers are unavailable. The lady won’t talk without Kevin present, so they need to be in the same place.”

“In person is better, not just because of the telephone lines,” Kevin said.

“So, Kevin and I are going to take her to the sheriff’s department office. It will be the first time they hear about it. I’m assuming she will let us or I can detain her and transport her with the resources available. It could be tricky and put Kevin in danger.”

“And you,” Kevin said.

“But I’m a police officer. Going to Happy Howlers could be a trap or a trick. Going by myself is stupid, and bringing any civilian is a really bad idea. It probably won’t end well.”

“We should stay sheltered from the storm, but she needs assistance,” Kevin said.

“I was thinking of potential criminal activity, but the weather will suck at best,” Schuster said. “Wayne is part of the wolf response and has a gun. He owns the property, and I need his permission to enter.”

“You have it,” Wayne said.

“Can Kevin write it in legalese—I mean, legal verbiage—and you sign it?”

“I’ll write it.” Kevin turned to a fresh sheet of his yellow legal pad. “It is not a legal document, but it will sound authoritative.”

“I’d prefer a warrant, but getting one would be difficult. John is welcome to come if Wayne does. But, Wayne, you’re a bit upset about the wolf attacks and the lady.”

“I’ll behave. I have to go, but I can’t keep up with you young guys.”

“Who are you calling young?” Kevin asked.

“It depends on how old you think you are,” Wayne said.

“Why are you going, Wayne?” Schuster asked.

“Why ask?”

“It’s important.”

“The wolves or whoever keeps getting away, but it needs to stop. I bet she was involved in the attacks. She still needs emergency aid on my property, so I have to be involved. I’m annoyed, but I’ll put up with her.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll go if Wayne is,” John said.

“Any chance you have a gun license?”

“I have one so I can legally operate a tranquilizer gun, but I can’t carry guns,” John said.

“I’d feel better if you had some form of self-defense other than an air-horn.”

“He won’t,” Wayne said.

“Bow hunting? Fencing lessons?” Schuster looked desperate enough to ask, Rodney King riots?

“No,” John said. “Do you want me to carry the tranquilizer gun?”

“It’s better than nothing,” Schuster said.

Wayne began to explain the complete lack of evidence that tranquilizer darts were effective against the wolves attacking Wolftown, but interrupted himself with: “You brought fancy technology, but did you remember food?”

“Yeah,” John said.

“With you? Here? Did you at least eat plain noodles or something at supper?”

“No, I left it in my hotel room because the attacks were in town. And I didn’t think I would be stuck in an emergency shelter. But I’ll be fine, assuming we don’t get stranded in the woods.”

“Why are you assuming that?” Wayne asked.

“I’m an optimist.”

“We have to get some stuff from Kevin’s house and convince Luke to lend us his personal canoe. Kevin and I can do that and you and Wayne get whatever from your hotel room.”

“Will it slow you down?” John asked.

“The hotel is in the same direction as Luke’s house, so we can pick you two up before going to Kevin’s house and going back in the direction of the river.”

“And we must stop by my house,” Kevin said.

Schuster, Wayne, Kevin, and John planned the trip to Happy Howlers.

Because an elderly person sleeping in rain-soaked jeans in 34-degree weather risked hypothermia, John and Schuster argued Wayne should wear John’s fishing waders. Kevin would be active and awake.

“What about you?” Wayne asked Schuster. “You lost a lot of blood.”

“It’s been about nineteen hours, though. I’m fine. Sir, don’t make me put them on you.”

“You’d rip your stitches,” Wayne muttered but stepped into the fishing waders.

Schuster wrote Pastor Mickelson a note detailing where he, Kevin, and John went, including a rough map of their route. He slid it under the office door instead of waking him. Also, he told the lady that he, Kevin, and two other trustworthy people would attempt to reach Happy Howlers as soon as possible.

John left Paula a message, but due to a low battery, told her to call Pastor Mickelson for more information. As John packed his briefcase and stowed it under the table, Wayne called Rebecca. If he had not called again by noon, she should call the sheriff’s department’s non-emergency line.

They left quick messages, worried that the floodwater would wash them away or turn them back to Holy Trinity before they reached the spare satellite phone battery in John’s hotel room.

Part Thirteen coming January 31, 2025.

John asked, “Which wolf was it? Can you guess?”

“At the time, I thought it was Abel, but I thought Abel made an attempted attack on you,” Schuster said.

“He was attacking me, but I can’t blame him for being a wolf,” John said.

“That’s what Wayne says.”

Somebody knocked on the door and Schuster said, “Come in.”

“Someone woke me up because your briefcase keeps ringing,” Wayne grumbled and handed the satellite phone to John.

“Sorry,” John said. “Why?”

“Answer it and find out. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Thanks. Have a good nap.”

John called back—Rebecca Austin, the Happy Howlers secretary, answered. She asked, “Is Wayne there?”

“Just a second.”

John chased Wayne and returned to Holy Trinity’s principal’s office, then Wayne caught up. To Schuster, Wayne said, “Rebecca says Glenn found a wolf in the empty pen, and all the other wolves are where they are supposed to be. A wolf can’t get inside a pen by itself.”

“Can I talk to her?” Schuster asked.

Wayne handed him the phone.

Schuster listened to Rebecca. “Have you seen anyone around? Okay. Both of you stay inside, lock the doors, and lock the windows, and stay away from the windows. John, the phones are out, so is it okay if we use the satellite phone?”

“Sure,” John said.

“We appreciate it.”

Waiting, Wayne said, “Rebecca couldn’t get through, but she knew we would be together.”

“How did it get inside?” John asked.

“Breaking in is pretty easy if you have opposable thumbs, but no one has before. Being an idiot helps.”

“How?”

“You have to be an idiot to break into a carnivore’s enclosure.”

Hoisting a wolf over a wolf-proof fence required equipment and sedation, plus and an extremely good reason unimaginable to John.

“Can animal control take the wolf to the shelter or is the best place in Happy Howlers?” Schuster asked.

“It’s where animal control was going to put the wolf. The shelter could hold a wolf if it had to, but it isn’t as secure.”

“How deep does the road flood out there?”

“Too deep to drive and it has a strong current, so we shouldn’t walk. Do we need to go through a thunderstorm?”

“Is it deep enough for a canoe? Can we even find one, though?”

“I’ll start looking.”

“Is there anything I can do?” John asked.

“Just let me use the phone, please.”

“Sure.”

Schuster called Sheriff Jordan’s office and asked if anyone could respond to Happy Howlers. Wayne built the wolf sanctuary well outside the city limits, between Wolftown and a spread-out unincorporated community. Snowmelt and heavy rain placed Wilde County under a flood watch at minimum, and a flash flood detoured John during his drive to Wolftown. Consequently, John thought accessibility was not the only reason Schuster called the sheriff.

Then Schuster called Rebecca again.

John waited in the hallway, and hungry and tired, he wondered about wading to his hotel room. Before he and Wayne paddled a boat and hiked to Happy Howlers, he should eat, but he missed the opportunity to ask about the animal product content in Holy Trinity’s food.

Schuster said, “A sheriff’s deputy is there. We appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Are they okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Was there somebody there?”

“They didn’t see anybody. Anyway, I finished telling you about the wolf attack. Do you have any questions?”

“Just one. Why did you say the wolf attacked you and Foster an attack and the wolf attempted an attack on others?” John asked.

“Because the law says harming someone is one thing and trying to harm someone and not succeeding is another thing. Basically, we didn’t want to shoot the wolf for doing something if we wouldn’t shoot a person for doing the same thing. Chief Laufenberg said it. I think it’s a good idea.”

John involuntarily raised his eyebrows.

“He didn’t become the Chief of Police by being completely wrong about everything,” Schuster said as if convincing himself.

“Thanks for your time.”

“You, too. Do you know your way back?”

“More-or-less, but at least it isn’t a huge building. Oh, wait, Wayne said that Chief Laufenberg shot at a wolf. Did the wolf attack someone Wayne doesn’t know?” John asked as he and Schuster walked down the hallway.

“I’m not really supposed to know what happened, but I know he discharged his weapon, and no one got hurt by anything. And sometimes he’s a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ kind of leader. But maybe the wolf scared him. He likes them.” Schuster developed a thinking expression like John saw when Schuster decided to respond to the wolf attack and leave John with the patrollers, Debby and Frank. “He’s not a trophy hunter,” Schuster said.

A sopping wet woman squelched and ran down the hallway. “Good, Martha said you were here. The police won’t file a missing person report for twenty-four hours. But they asked us to say if somebody went missing in the flood. And nobody listened.”

“Who’s missing?” Schuster asked, getting his notebook.

“My niece, Corey Brown. She has issues.”

“Does she have dyed brown and blonde hair, a nose ring, and a tattoo on her lower back?”

“Yeah, but she’s trying to get her life together. Or she was. She’s a little erratic, but she’s trying.”

“I checked a lot of places today and didn’t see her, but a lot of people wouldn’t answer the door. Maybe something can be done.”

“Hopefully you’ll find her.” John found his way to the gymnasium again.

Excluded from the end-of-day wolf response meeting, John borrowed a wolf responder’s two-page special edition paper.

John left a message with Paula, his boss at the Nature Protection Society, explaining that he thought the wolf attacked normally and the police investigated murders that involved a wolfish canine. He still felt like observing a disconcerting event but attributed it to general stress and confusion. Possibly empathetically, the wolf gave him a weird, creepy feeling, too.

In a second message, John warned Paula that Schuster borrowed the satellite phone. The Nature Protection Society provided them for emergencies, and based on the wolf’s past behavior, Glenn and Rebecca could have been in a developing emergency. In more polite words, he said, If Wayne told me how aggressive the wolf was, I would’ve ridden in Schuster’s police car. Thanks for the warning, Wayne. “It isn’t anything to worry about. You won’t find anything weird here.” Yeah, right. Great.

Then John settled down to read the newspaper.

The paper said that Schuster and Foster alleged Chief Laufenberg accepted bribes, used drugs sporadically, and engaged in sexual misconduct, never very much, Schuster and Foster thought it was unacceptable in any amount. When Foster arrested him for drunk driving, the charges disappeared.

Chief Laufenberg’s corrupt behavior on duty alarmed them. The officers had reason to believe that, as a patrol officer, Laufenberg made stops and conducted searches without probable cause. As a detective, he arrested a burglary suspect without good evidence that the suspect committed the crime and there was good evidence that the suspect could not have committed the crime.

He allowed other officers to commit offenses; officers who objected tended to remain patrol officers and bounce from department to department or quit. Foster said, “A couple officers stayed on the force for decades because Wolftown needs good cops. They should have been promoted, but weren’t because they wouldn’t take part in unethical behavior, or they spoke out against it.”

To afford a private investigator, Stephanie’s wastewater treatment plant salary supported Schuster and herself, Megan worked part-time, and Foster and Schuster worked overtime as much as possible. Conducting legal searches and questioning limited Schuster and Foster’s investigative abilities, and many officers who learned about their investigation refused to provide information. The consequences of requesting warrants delayed their investigations; they were rarely issued a warrant. Schuster and Foster suffered the most severe, hampering consequences Dennis Laufenberg felt he could risk without drawing undue public attention to them. He and other corrupt officers harassed them, hoping they would resign, and to no avail.

Somebody broke into Schuster’s house and stole their evidence, and somehow determined that Foster’s basement held copies. Chief Laufenberg visited Megan at home, during Schuster and Foster’s patrol. According to her statement and the recorded tape, he asked to pick up important police evidence that Schuster and Foster brought home. Then he attempted to enter the house. Suspicious, Megan prepared to shoot Chief Laufenberg, who threatened to arrest her but ultimately left. He could not press charges because Megan, Foster, Schuster, and Stephanie knew too much about his corruption and would reveal it. The incident simply motivated them.

Kevin Miller, the local lawyer, gave Schuster and Foster legal advice and guidance.

A few wolf responders trickled into Holy Trinity’s gymnasium.

“Wayne is looking for a boat,” Schuster said.

“Wouldn’t it be easy?” John asked.

“The problem is the flood responders need all boats that can float in a couple feet of water. So far, most people decided to stay in flooded houses instead of leaving and running into a wolf, but it will be in the upper 30s tonight. So, flood responders decided to evacuate houses. Wayne says the wolf probably won’t attack in the conditions, but some wolf responders are going with them, just in case.”

“Maybe it will be all right,” John said, surprised Schuster remained behind.

Schuster said that Officer Danny Lang volunteered him to investigate accumulated odds and ends since nobody assigned him anything or accepted his volunteering. Utterly unphased or upset by the wording, but too worried for visible happiness, Schuster said that Lang said his idea would keep Schuster “out of the way” and “too busy to meddle in real crimes.”

With his new assignment, Schuster could give some authorized information, and, also, John’s permission to observe the investigation clearly included Schuster asking Wayne questions.

“And telling you about the wolf attack on Foster and me was iffy until now. If you get in trouble, I’ll take responsibility,” he said.

“I decided to risk it,” John said.

“Wayne is good at investigating the wolves who attack because they are wolves and have wolf problems,” Schuster said. “I’m investigating a person or persons causing the wolves to attack. I can’t track down the wolf with the intent of killing it.”

It relieved John, but he asked, “Can I ask why?”

“I’m no forensic scientist, but I’m pretty sure killing the evidence isn’t preserving it. Police preserve evidence. And live animals have been used in court.”

“Really?”

“Kevin Miller says so. I don’t have any police resources, but Wayne gave permission to use his. You probably won’t want to, but can I question you about the attempted wolf attack on you?”

“What kind of questions?”

“If you noticed anything that a human would do and a wolf couldn’t.”

Schuster seemed trustworthy, so John said, “When I saw the wolf, the door behind it shut. I didn’t see anybody inside, but I was trying to stay in eye contact with the wolf. The door was diagonally across the street. I think it was a gift shop. The wolf was behind a mailbox and stuff in front of it.”

“Did you see the door open while you were walking?”

“If it did, I wasn’t looking at it.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“If you think of something, please let me know.”

“Sure. Do you know anything about the police attempt to catch the wolves this morning?”

“Just in case a person was involved, the police can’t release information about it. If we find a suspect, we have to know he didn’t just pick up the information from someone else. You’d need special authorization for it.”

Stalking to the table, Wayne spoke over Schuster, “We can’t even rent a boat from Lucky Luke’s because the phones are out. Can you claim one for an emergency?”

John waited quietly.

“No,” Schuster said.

“Maybe we can wake up Luke and rent one.”

“Anyway, wouldn’t Nancy be upset about boating in a thunderstorm?”

“She would get over it. And where was Dennis Laufenberg?”

“If Deputy Chief Phelps wouldn’t give you an answer, I couldn’t.”

“I figured it was worth a try. I bet he is running away or something. Did you have wolf questions?”

“Any chance I can your notes to see if I have the right questions first?” Schuster asked.

“Yeah. Do you want me to tell you about Barbara Lubens?” Wayne asked John, calming down a little. “It was this morning about when you got here.”

“Sure,” John said.

Barbara Lubens suffered from mild dementia and probably forgot about the wolf attacks, hence the power walk while her husband, Dale, showered.

People sighted the wolf several times and the patrollers chased him. Escaping them, he ran down the same block Barbara Lubens walked on. The patrollers’ warnings confused her. The wolf barreled into her, and she fell face-down in an overflowing gutter.

The satellite phone rang again, and John inwardly groaned. He spent the last several hours constantly around acquaintances and strangers, plus he disliked telephone calls under the best circumstances. Confused, John answered politely.

“Is Officer Schuster there?” The lady whispered through a crunchy mouthful. She sounded concerned.

“Just a second.” He passed the phone to Schuster. “She asked for you.”

“Okey-dokey,” Schuster said.

“Anyway, by the time Barbara got to the ambulance, she had died,” Wayne said. “She wasn’t bitten, but she died of something.”

Like he had said throughout the day, John said, “Condolences.”

“The wolf bit one of the patrollers near the spine.”

“Oh no,” John said.

“It didn’t bite the spinal cord, just near it, and most of it was raincoat. He should be fine in a few weeks. The wolf ran away and ended up on Main Street. He charged you. So, you know everything I can tell you.”

“Thanks,” John said.

Schuster said, “John, I don’t know exactly what’s wrong yet, but she’s in really bad trouble. The phones are still out, and she’s out of walkie-talkie range, so do you mind if I keep talking to her?”

“Sure.” If Paula complained about the bill, he could pay it.

“She won’t talk to me unless Kevin Miller is present, and she won’t let me go to the police station, so I have to bring him here.”

“I’ll leave my briefcase here. Just stick it in when you’re done.”

“We appreciate it.”

Due to the holidays, there will be no post in December. Regular, every-three-weeks posting will resume on January 10, 2025.

“There’s a wolf!” Mr. Marshal yelled. He shone his flashlight in a direction, different to the one Foster pointed.

Schuster gingerly let go of Foster, who swayed for a moment. Drawing his gun, Schuster slowed Foster’s topple into the mud. “Sorry, buddy. Take it easy.”

The wolf hunt for two wolves continued a couple of blocks away; the police and wolf hunters expected to kill or capture at least one soon. Wayne thought the wolf that attacked Foster would die or become incapacitated, leading Schuster to believe somebody would catch up to the wolf Mr. Marshal sighted. He worried about shooting a person.

“Anyone there?” Schuster yelled. “If there are people back there, holler.”

“It went to your left,” Mr. Marshal said.

“Okay,” Schuster said.

“Do you want me to get Officer Foster indoors?”

“No, stay put. Okay, Zach, this is going to be unsafe gun handling.” Schuster took his finger off the trigger and put the safety on and wrapped his arms around Foster’s chest to drag him towards the Marshal’s house. “Well…I’d say yes if a person was attacking us.”

“I can call the ambulance again,” Mr. Marshal said.

“The situation is under control,” Schuster said.

“Why isn’t anybody coming for you?”

“They’re doing their jobs.”

“They have to catch the wolf,” Foster mumbled.

“There’s a wolf! On your right side! It’s going to get you!” Mr. Marshal yelled as the wolf collided with Schuster and bit his upper arm.

Schuster’s head clanged off the Marshal’s swing set, and he caught himself on it. He felt that if the wolf pulled him to the ground, he would never stand up again; Wayne had advised officers to make themselves look bigger. The wolf dodged the kick, and the kick unsteadied Schuster.

Foster told Schuster to hide in the Marshal’s house, but Schuster thought separating was impossible.

The wolf wrenched Schuster’s arm behind him, and he let him. If resisting a K-9 dog’s bite-and-hold technique caused further injury, resisting a wolf would cause greater damage. His clenched Beretta 92 pointed away from the wolf. He fired the tranquilizer gun at the wolf, intending to pry the wolf’s mouth open after it dozed off. Although the wolf bit shallowly, and whimpered like his mouth hurt, he seemed unwilling to release Schuster soon.

Sloppily, Foster stabbed the wolf’s hindquarters.

The wolf released Schuster’s arm to snap at Foster, so Schuster shot the wolf’s torso. Yelping, the wolf jumped and lunged to his left side. He jerked his left arm over his head, tearing his sleeve. Schuster fired again. Then the wolf latched onto his right forearm, and bounded backward, pulling Schuster face-down into the mud.

The wolf drew Schuster’s arm out from his side, a position that prevented transferring the handgun to his other hand. Schuster knelt on his knees and other hand, but the wolf jumped on top of him. Schuster groped for his flashlight. The wolf was scrabbling his arms and leaning its weight on Schuster’s lower back. When a paw slid off, the wolf regained his footing. His nails dug into Schuster’s skin. Hoping to scare the wolf, Schuster fired twice. He worried about harming somebody behind him or inside a house.

Mr. Marshal said during the attack: “I’m calling the police.”

“Okey-dokey, just stay inside,” Schuster called. “The situation will be controllable sometime, so don’t worry.”

When Schuster told John about the attack, he expected officers to swarm the Marshal’s backyard. Schuster refused to explain why he and Foster fought the wolf alone. During the attacks, Schuster heard the police and other wolf responders attempting to capture the other two wolves.

Then Foster did something to the wolf, but neither Schuster nor Mr. Marshal saw what. Again, the wolf attacked Foster.

With Schuster’s left arm, he blocked its attempt to bite his head or neck, and he shot the wolf between its chest and neck.

Whimpering, the wolf darted behind the Parkers’ garbage; Schuster was still shooting. Doubting he would hit the wolf, he fired through the plastic cans.

Schuster worried about low ammunition because he had left his other magazine in the police car’s trunk. One magazine seemed sufficient at the time, but since the attack on Foster and Schuster, the Wolftown Police Department required all patrol officers to carry at least two magazines on their persons. He considered borrowing Mr. Marshal’s shotgun despite the impracticality; Wisconsin law allowed it.

Earlier, Foster had suggested somebody watched them; Schuster thought he noticed ordinary civilians peeking through the windows and the like. Now, as Schuster told John, he “felt like a subject was hiding and watching us. Maybe he wasn’t a bad guy, but he wasn’t just watching like people do at crime scenes. I’m not 100% positive there was somebody there and maybe I was just worried Mr. Lyons would take one more potshot at the wolf.”

He tried to drag Foster one-armed to Mr. Marshal’s house and point his gun simultaneously.

Seeing Schuster struggle to drag Foster one-armed to Mr. Marshal’s house and aim his gun, Mr. Marshal asked, “Are the things you accused the police chief of true?”

“You’re asking now? I mean, yeah, we have a lot of evidence, but why ask now?”

“I can get Officer Foster indoors,” Mr. Marshal said.

“Okay, but if the wolf comes back, drop him and go inside,” Schuster said.

“I’ll keep an eye out for the wolf.”

A savage wolf mauling a civilian whom Foster intended to protect but was instead protected by would disturb him forever.

“Why ask about Chief Laufenberg?” Schuster asked.

“Maybe my wife won’t yell as loudly if I tell her you two need to give evidence or something. Where’s your backup?” Mr. Marshal dragged Foster to the back porch steps.

“The police are doing their jobs,” Schuster said. “They have to catch the wolves.”

“What about the ambulance?”

“EMTs can’t put themselves in danger because if they were bitten, they couldn’t treat us. They’re doing their jobs, too. The situation is controllable, but we appreciate your assistance. Take it easy.”

(John privately suspected half of Schuster’s reassuring sentences lied.)

The wolf ripped Schuster’s ballistic vest and skin, and he collided with a Little Tikes push-and-ride car. Sliding, Schuster ordered Mr. Marshal to drop Foster and run indoors.

Unusually, compared to Schuster’s previous encounters with him, Mr. Marshal did not comply. Foster spluttered along the lines of, “Mr. Marshal, go inside.” Schuster repeated himself until Mr. Marshal said he had shut the back door behind himself.

The wolf had bitten through Foster’s cheek. Mr. Marshal turned gurgling Foster on his side, hoping the blood would pour onto the floor instead of into his mouth.

Meanwhile, Schuster managed to sit up, still under woozy attack by the wolf, who tended to stay behind him, jump, or yank his arms. The wolf still latched onto Schuster’s left arm, but weaklier. Then when he transferred the gun to his right hand, the wolf snapped at his right arm. He fired blindly once, the wolf hid, and Schuster fired again.

Radioing dispatch, Schuster bolted for the door, but, again, the wolf attacked his ballistic vest. Outside, Schuster slammed the back door and drew his pepper spray.

Mr. Marshal said through the kitchen window, “Do you want my shotgun? I can shoot it, but what if the buckshot hits you, too?”

The wolf charged the window, and Schuster followed, yelling, “Shut the window!” Mr. Marshal thought of the same idea.

The wolf’s front claws screeched down the glass. Schuster yanked the wolf’s tail; Mr. Marshal locked the window.

As the wolf drunkenly turned, Schuster tripped it. He pepper-sprayed the wolf; relatively little blew into his face because of the height difference.

The wolf and Schuster toppled off the concrete back step, Schuster losing his grip on the wolf’s tail on the way down. Though the wolf did not bite Schuster, it bowled him over and aimed for his head and neck. He pistol-whipped the wolf’s snout, thinking a broken jaw would deter biting and attacking the eyes might equalize the two species’ night vision. It felt like hammering the teeth deeper into his forearm.

Thinking the wolf had bitten Schuster, Mr. Marshal opened the window just enough to yell, “I’m worried about missing, but do you want me to shoot the wolf?”

Lacking a safe way to reach the shotgun himself, Schuster said, “Okay. Just don’t shoot the glass out.”

The wolf careened between the houses. Mr. Marshal fired his shotgun once, Wayne his .44 Magnum six times, and Officer Lang his Beretta seven times. Schuster had heard Wayne and Lang in the distance but assumed they were discussing the other two wolves.

Wayne followed the wolf and Lang remained in the backyard. Schuster called, “Wayne, don’t go alone!”

“I’m with him,” Lang said. “Where is Zach?”

“I bet it crawled off to die in a hole,” Wayne yelled, sounding full of adrenaline and matter of fact, while Schuster said, “In the Marshal’s kitchen.”

“Check on him. We’re fine here,” Lang said.

Mrs. Marshal was comforting the children in another room.

“Well, maybe the rain just makes it look worse than it is,” Mr. Marshal said. “For you, anyway. Not Officer Foster.”

Schuster opened Foster’s mouth. He worried Foster died from Schuster forgetting to check his airway, breathing, and circulation after the first attack, but Megan said that he died of massive blood loss.

“The dispatcher walked me through first aid. Maybe I’d better use it on you.”

Foster spluttered.

“Take it easy, buddy,” Schuster said.

Lang and Wayne crashed through the door. “The wolf isn’t moving fast or well, but it’s out there,” Wayne said.

“He can’t wait for an ambulance,” Schuster said.

“Neither can you,” Lang said. “Wayne and I will get him to the police car, and I’ll drive.”

“Then I’ll hunt the wolf. It’s weakest now, so all of us probably won’t be attacked getting Foster to the police car,” Wayne said.

“I’ll drive,” Schuster said. He felt like the time between donating blood and eating the orange juice and the cookie.

“Wayne, you need to apply pressure,” Lang said.

“I’ll do it,” Schuster said.

“Who will do it to you?”

Mr. Marshal asked, “Will you get Dennis Laufenberg sentenced for something?”

“What? Yeah, probably,” Schuster said.

“I’ll go with Officer Foster,” Mr. Marshal said.

In retrospect, Schuster believed Lang tourniqueted his arms with Schuster's and his tourniquet. He remembers he, Wayne, and Mr. Marshal providing first aid to Foster, which required all hands constantly, and nobody else had the opportunity.

“I’m good to drive,” Schuster said.

“Fine. Foster doesn’t have time for an argument,” Lang said.

They discussed how to transport Foster to the police car. When the police began chasing wolves, they asked Dr. Groves to wait for casualties in the Wolftown Medical Clinic. Wolftown’s two ambulances took two other officers to the clinic, but Schuster could not tell John why.

Mr. Marshal and Wayne carried Foster and, Lang and Schuster guarded them against the wolf. Schuster borrowed Mr. Marshal’s shotgun and Wayne had reloaded his revolver.

“What are you doing here?” Schuster asked.

“Wayne stopped cooperating. I said I was chasing him to bring him back,” Lang said.

“So, he stopped cooperating, too,” Wayne said.

Nobody saw the wolf, including Lang and Wayne, who continued hunting the wolf.

Schuster had asked Lang to check on the Parkers and Mr. Lyons, and later in the morning, Lang told him they reached a friend’s house safely.

Stephanie and Megan overheard the wolf attack on the radio and waited for Schuster and Foster at the Wolftown Medical Clinic. Schuster told Stephanie that Foster told him to tell her to tell Megan to stay away from him because, regarding other wolf attack victims, Dr. Groves had not ruled out rabies. Apparently, Mr. Marshal promised Foster he would give Schuster a couple of personal messages for Megan. They did.

The medical clinic already typed all policemen’s blood and, with type AB+ blood, Foster could receive any type. Dr. Groves could not collect blood from pregnant Megan and Schuster lost over one pint, and so Stephanie donated.

Because Foster worried about losing his wedding ring and infecting Megan, Schuster asked a nurse for a specimen container.

Dr. Groves called an air ambulance.

Worried that the Wolftown emergency services could not transport Foster to the landing site, and they might request county resources too late, Schuster called Sheriff Jordan’s home. The Sheriff immediately coordinated with the air ambulance, then notified the Wolftown Police Department. Sheriff Jordan thought if the Wilde County Sheriff’s Department appeared, the local police might not disperse them.

The country police escorted the ambulance crew and Foster safely to the air ambulance, but Dr. Groves and Stephanie forced Schuster to remain in the Wolftown Medical Clinic. Nobody saw a wolf. Stephanie and Megan drove to the University of Washington Health University Hospital.

Foster died in surgery before Stephanie and Megan arrived. Transfusions and IVs pumped more blood and fluids than a human body normally held, but Foster bled too rapidly. His heart stopped and he could not be resuscitated.

Schuster convinced Dr. Groves he could continue working, and they hid some injuries from the police. Schuster showed John his bite wounds and the claw marks on his back. The wolf sprained or tore his shoulder’s muscles. Dr. Groves had no idea how the wolf’s teeth caused serious but not severe damage.

Dr. Groves asked Schuster if he or Mr. Marshal should receive the last rabies vaccine. Schuster told him to vaccinate Mr. Marshal. On Monday or Tuesday, Dr. Groves expected the shipment, and he and Schuster relied on the incubation period. Although the first victims’ rabies test results were negative, he would vaccinate Schuster anyway.

Because the Marshals had one bathroom and Mr. Marshal worried about infecting a friend, Schuster let him shower at his house.

He washed the blood out of the police car’s front seats, but some soaked the upholstery. Dr. Groves said the rabies virus died when the blood or other fluids dried, so Schuster borrowed Stephanie’s hairdryer.

Schuster disinfected Foster’s wedding ring and left it to dry on his dresser. He washed off the mud and blood, changed his uniform, and wrote a note for Stephanie, warning her he would disinfect the bathroom later.

Dropping off Mr. Marshal, Schuster noticed Mrs. Marshal scolding him, but it did not seem to be a domestic altercation.

Then Schuster returned to work because the Wolftown Police Department lacked enough officers. He offered to wash out the back of the police car, but Karl Henry volunteered, saying he needed to protect the sutures. They talked while he cleaned.

Deputy Chief Phelps assigned Schuster to routine patrols instead of unpaid administrative leave, but only for the duration of the wolf emergency.

Schuster had asked Lang to check on the Parkers and Mr. Lyons, and later in the morning, Lang told him they reached a friend’s house safely.

Due to the holidays, the next post will be on November 29, and there will be no post in December. Regular, every-three-weeks posting will resume on January 3, 2025.