"Oh. Okay, well, if there's anything... else we can do for you. Hopefully he's sending a positive report back to his investors?"
    "We're finding many interesting things," I said truthfully.
    After a hesitation he added, "The wolves aren't really that much of a problem. As you said, shy woodland creatures."
    
    "Can I help you?" the man at the counter inquired.
    "Yes, I need to send a telegraph."
    "I see." Pause. "Come back Monday."
    "Telegraph office isn't open?"
    "Wires are out."
    "What happened? Storm?"
    "I think so. Wasn't a storm at the time. But it's been windy. Couple of days ago. You could ask Edgar. He'd fly down for you. If it's real important."
    No sense doing that. He bought an envelope, slipped some money into it and left it at the hotel's front counter, to cover at least part of the damage to the car. Mr. Vanderberg was happy to see it.
    "I trust you found everything you're looking for in town so far?"
    "So far."
    "Anything I can help you with?"
    "Depends. Ever work in a sawmill?"
    "Few people around here haven't."
    He fished the bark out of his coat pocket. "You know what this is?"
    He glanced at it, glanced up, glanced down again in a doubletake. "I... honestly don't know," he admitted, clearly surprised by that fact. "You might want to ask Carrie and Molly at the library. Carrie's been in town forever."
    "Didn't recognize the wood." He took the piece back.
    "Neither do I, but if it's any sort of tree that grows around here, like I said, Carrie's been in town forever and she'd certainly be able to recognize it."
    "Thank you kindly."
    That was plenty for one day. He went up to his room to catch up on some sleep until the sun went down.
    
    

November 17

Following our wolf adventure I decided to do some more poking around town, preparatory to a planned return to Ambajejus for a more thorough investigation. My inquiries into "funny stuff" produced rumors and surface thoughts about, well, us. Jules has apparently done some talking, and people are now quite curious about my "marriage," companions, night terrors.... How splendid. I hope we don't have to spend too long here. Several people have seen the "ball lightning," as the scholar in her big house on the hill firmly claims that it is.
    As for the midnight quarter-shift at the mill, the people are puzzled but happy to have the work. Apparently it had begun three weeks before we arrived, coincident with the "lightning."
    Well.
    I had a thought mid-morning and returned to the library to see if the loose pattern of deaths that had been the hallmark of Ambajejus had spread to other towns since the population departed, but that did not seem to be the case. What lives there has not gone hunting farther afield.
    I also found, looking through the birth and death records, that our pilot Edgar is a Jenkins. In fact, all of the people who still live in the town are members of the Jenkins family.
    Well, again.
    The Millinocket mill has passed through a number of families and finally landed in the hands of a consortium of townsfolk back in '30. Miss Rajid is a part owner, and indeed appears to have been behind the idea in the first place. Mr. Jenkins, Sr. is another.
    From there I went to the diner to ponder and see what else I could dig up. I was the only customer in the place, of course, and quickly established a bond with the woman working there through my own experience as a waitress. "Before you met your husband? And his friend? He's a very large man."
    "Well... yes."
    "My husband's working up at the third shift," she told me. "It's a blessing for us, we were trying to get by on just my money, and I'm indebted to Mr. Jenkins for saying we should push forward on that."
    "Oh really? He's done a lot for this area, as I understand it."
    "Well, not this area per se, but I think they've finally given up on the idea of their own town," her voice sank to a whisper at the end. "They were always a little...."
    "Well, when you have a family tradition, it's very important," I said innocently.
    "Hopefully, they'll move back to town, and it'll bring more money in, and they'll start going to church again. Can I get you anything else, honey?"
    "Some more of this excellent coffee?"
    Her hand brushed mine on the cup as she steadied it to pour, and I had an immediate, thankfully brief vision and knew that her husband was going to die very soon. I saw him in his casket, her crying, How could this accident have happened, what was anyone doing on the lake in weather like this anyway?
    "You okay honey? You just looked white as a sheet there."
    "I'm fine... just a chill," I told her. "Not used to the weather up here."
    She nodded sagely. "Plus that driving at night. Enjoy the coffee."
    "Thank you."
    The new moon is Saturday.
    I returned to the hotel to find that Adam had unpacked his smoking jacket and gone down to the hotel parlor for afternoon tea and perhaps a pleasant pipe. He did this not because such things help the humans around him to relax and see him as one of us, but because as far as he is concerned this is the way things ought to be done.
    Back in the suite, I told them about my vision. "There's something... something about him being out on the lake, but I can't imagine anyone actually doing that, so I assume they're just going to throw the body in there...."
    Kane looked suddenly perky. "Hey."
    "What?"
    "What can you tell me about this?"
    

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