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I stumbled over e that I could have sworn had been as eer

"Mary likes to rest at the back of the enclosure," Cartwright said "I&039;, sleek,the bars She didn&039;t seear?" Grace snapped "Are you fucking nuts?"

"Not lately," Cartwright ly uninsulted by Grace&039;s question or her language

The animal enclosures were built differently from any I&039;d seen before - with two sets of bars set far enough apart so that no one could stick a hand inside and lose it, yet visitors could see the aniht not have seen Mary the ons that had been eht and headed for the next enclosure

A grizzly bear waddled forward, flat, dark eyes fixed on my face He stretched his neck, tilted his head, and roared Grace appeared at un drawn

She stared at the bear for several seconds before turning to Cartwright "You have got to be kidding me"

"We perform with animals, Sheriff" He spread his hands and his towel dipped lower I waited for it to fall off altogether, but it didn&039;t "That oat, erous"

"We raised therizzly "They are our faet hiht flicked one long finger at the weapon "He doesn&039;t like theotten she held the thing, then holstered it with an impatient shove However, she didn&039;t secure the strap of leather over the butt

"I hear you don&039;t keep a wolf in your ht scowled in

"Was that a secret?" I asked

He ignored me "As I told the mayor, wolves are troublesoe, which was eht

Logically I knew the cougar and the bear couldn&039;t have been running around the woods with the Gypsies, then ons just before we came to see them But I was also pretty sure I couldn&039;t have overlooked an anilanced in that second cage The conflict of what had to be true and what couldn&039;t be made me a little bit dizzy

"Explain hoolves are troublesome" Grace continued to stare into the empty space

"They spook the horses," I volunteered

"And a cougar doesn&039;t?"

"We keep the predatory animals away from them," Malachi said

"Neat trick" Grace tilted her head "But they have to run into each other sometime"

"There can be incidents But my horses are very well trained"

"If they&039;re well trained enough to tolerate the scent of a wild cat and a grizzly, ould a wolf be any different?"

"Wolves are pack aniues, and then they&039;re dangerous"

"More dangerous than a cougar?" Grace asked

"Depends on the wolf"

She cursed beneath her breath, kicked at the dirt, then stalked down the line of cage wagons, peering into each and every one

Cartwright watched her go "What did I say?"

I wasn&039;t sure if I was supposed to mention the hiker who&039;d been mauled by the wolf I suspected not, since we&039;d coht hadn&039;t asked yet ere doing on his temporary property

"Grace is prickly," I said, then headed after her, checking out the occupants of the wagons as she had

Brass plates identified theht find in any phone book What happened to na animals after their animal-like attributes - Fluffy, Blackie, and Spot for instance? I guess Teeth, Claws, and Horrific Bloody Death aren&039;t exactly good for business

"Three monkeys, two zebras, a camel," Grace tallied as I joined her

"Five crows, an owl, an eagle, and a hawk," I added "You h the birdseed"

Grace spun toward Cartwright "What was in the e That is what makes it empty"

Grace smacked herself in the forehead with the flat of her hand "I meant," she said between her teeth, "as in there before it beca," he repeated "We need to have at least one ee for an animal to be put into while their enclosure is cleaned"

Why was I disappointed that his explanation made sense? What could he possibly be up to?

I had no idea about the latter; unfortunately, I had a very good idea on the forood reason to avoid him and the attraction I felt

I had wanted hio," I blurted

Grace glanced at ht" She nodded and disappeared into the darkness

I flippedbye-bye and followed

I was both surprised and disheartened when he let ht I was crazy However, I didn&039;t keep wild animals within yards of where I slept

To be fair, he didn&039;t kiss so, then panic and run away But I doubted Malachi Cartwright had been betrayed by so?" I asked as soon as we pulled onto the highway that led back to town

"I found you with your tongue down the guy&039;s throat"

"Did not," I returned When she gave me a bland look, I muttered, "You ca for a while before I intervened?"

I narrowed hed "Relax, Claire, I wasn&039;t, but it doesn&039;t take a detective to figure out what you&039;d been up to"

I guess Cartwright&039;s erection gave us away Or maybe it had been my swollen lips, my tousled hair, even my crumpled top

"You told me to stall him"

Grace snorted "I meant talk to him about his work"