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A life spent fulfilling a vow to a dead man is really no life at all, but I’d loved Simon Malone, and I’d proist by trade, a cryptozoologist by choice If I’d followed iraffes and pygoats
Instead, I trace rumors ofexercise There’s a reason no one’s captured a Bigfoot They don’t want to be found, and they’re a lot better at hiding than anyone on earth is at seeking Or at least that’sto it
Most cryptozoologists attempt to find undiscovered species or evolutionary wonders - real ani paranormal about them - but not me Nope I’d made that vow
Foolish, but when a woman loves a s, especially when he’s dying in her arend, every folk tale, every scrap of infor h I’ve never believed inI’ve ever believed in was hi very little luck withat 3:00 AM Inso account made me answer it despite the hour
"Hello?"
"Dr Malone?" The voice was male, a bit shaky, old or perhaps ill
"Not yet"
I needed to find a cryptid - translation: unknown animal - prove its existence, write a thesis Then I could attach those lovely letters - PhD - at the end of my name But since the whole vow incident, I’d been too busy chasing lakea new breed of anything
"Is this Diana Malone?"
"Yes Who’s this?"
"Frank Tallient"
The naure out why "Have we ot your nuuy who’d said those immortal words, "You’re fired"
Rick was a laho’d gone on a fishing trip with a bunch of other lawyers near Lake of the Woods, Minnesota In thein the lake So a lawyer, he was sh to know he shouldn’t tell the others he’d lost his one ho to find someone to help hiined He’d found ht you’d be free to help ht Uneood at looking for things, not so good at actually finding the to travel on a whim for cash
I wasn’t associated with a university - not any both his reputation and ers - hell, let’s be honest and just call theht, I’d been fresh out of both
"Since you didn’t locate Nessie - " Tallient began
"Nessie’s the Loch Ness Monster I was searching for Woody"
Which was the nainality when na for some variation of the body of water they supposedly resided in
Typically, the moment I’d arrived at Lake of the Woods with one poof If it had ever been there in the first place
In e muskie was responsible for the tales, not a supernatural lake monster, but I hadn’t been able to prove that, either
"I have a job for you," Tallient continued
’I’h ht I was nuts and had stopped speaking to me the instant I married Simon
After all, what could a handsoist frorad student unless it was her parents’ reen card That Simon had told them exactly what they could do with their money had only made me love him more
In truth, I fit into Simon’s world better than I’d ever fit in ood day I weighed a hundred and seventy I liked the out-of-doors - didn’t mind dirt or sun, wind or rain I’d joined the Girl Scouts just so I could ca I could think of to emphasize my differences from the never-too-rich, never-too-thin lifestyle of my mother
"Can you access the Internet?" Tallient asked
"Hold on" I tappedfrom asleep to awake much quicker than I ever did "OK"
Tallient recited a -dot address An instant later, a newspaper article spilled across my screen
" ’Man Found Dead in a Swamp,’" I read "Not unusual"
Swarounds for bodies If the ators would
"Keep going"
"Throat torn Feral dogs Huh" I accessed the next page "Child htforward"
"Not really"
Tallient recited a second address, and I read sos"
My heart increased in tempo Wolves had been Simon’s specialty; they’d turned into his obsession Now they were mine
"Where is this?" I demanded
"New Orleans"
If possible, my heart beat even faster Once red wolves had roamed the Southeast from the Atlantic to the Gulf and west to Texas They’d been sighted as far norm as Missouri and Pennsylvania But in 1980 the red wolf had been declared extinct in the wild In 1987 they’d been reintroduced, but only in North Carolina So
"There aren’t any wolves in Louisiana," I said
"Precisely"
"There’s a legend, though" I struggled to remember it "Honey Island Swafoot-like footprints found thirty years ago have any relationship to death, disappearance, and wolves where they aren’t supposed to be"
He had a point