Free Lost by Christina Draper Page A

through the house to the back door. I washed my hands and put my hair
back up. It had started to fall out of the ponytail I threw it in as we worked.
When I was done, I ran downstairs to see what was going on.
    I saw Sam
standing on the patio with a man and a woman from animal control. The female
officer was inspecting the area where the cat was found, and Sam was pointing
to the far back corner of the yard, while the other officer listened.
    I opened the
door and stepped out. “Sorry about that. We were upstairs putting some things
away. Is everything okay?”
    Sam turned to
look at me, confusion evident on his face.
    “Ma’am, my name
is Jack Bryant, with county animal control enforcement. Thank you for not
letting anyone back here until we had a chance to come back out.”
    I shook the
hand he held out to me. “Not a problem. Thank you for waiting until noon to
come out! Last night was...”
    I just let that
hang. I wasn’t sure what last night was.
    “I can imagine.
Well, your son showed me where the body was found, and I’m going to take a look
up by your fence, just to see where it could have come in.”
    “It? So you are saying this is an animal?” I wanted to be sure. I swear, I felt as if a
murder had taken place in my backyard, all this talk of bodies.
    “Well, I’m not
saying anything for sure, but the prints that were found do seem to indicate a
large dog.”
    “Ma’am?”
    I turned around
when the other officer addressed me.
    “Yes. I’m
sorry. Julie Klevan.” I stuck my hand out, and she took it.
    “Penny Barnes.
I know this is confusing, but we just had to be sure that it wasn’t something
else that came into your yard. We’ve gotten calls on people with exotic pets.”
    “Exotic pets?
Like what? Tigers? Monkeys? That kind of thing?” Sam asked.
    “That kind of
thing and more. People smuggle all kinds of things into the country to keep as
pets.”
    “Penny?”
Officer Bryant called out. “Come look at this.”
    Officer Barnes
trotted over to wear her partner was kneeling. The two of them studied whatever
was on the ground, and then stood up. They walked over to us with concern
etched all over their faces.
    “Mrs. Klevan,
do any of your neighbors have large dogs?” Officer Barnes asked.
    “Umm... Sam,
don’t the Pratles have a German Shepherd?”
    Sam nodded.
“They do. Do you think that’s what did this?”
    Officer Bryant
shook his head. “No. Bigger than that. Maybe a Great Dane, something that
size.”
    “Oh, you mean that big...” I was stumped. “I really don’t think anyone in the neighborhood has
anything bigger than a Shepherd or maybe a Golden Retriever.”
    The two animal
control officers looked at one another, and then Officer Bryant ran his hand
over his face. “I hate to say this, but those don’t even look like dog tracks.”
    “Wait, what?” I
was taken aback—and worried. All I needed was some freak with a pet lion to get
lax. “What kind of tracks do you think they are then?”
    “Honestly?” He
answered. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say wolf tracks.”
    “Wolf tracks?
Do we even have wolves in Virginia?” My skepticism made me snicker, but I had
to wonder, Do I have wolves in my backyard?
    “Well, I doubt
it was a wolf,” Officer Barnes chimed in. “The tracks are just large—definitely
larger than a coyote and your average dog. But I will say that there’ve been
animals caught with wolf DNA in them.”
    “What does that
mean?” I was getting more confused and frightened by the minute.
    “Some
researchers believe that coyotes may have mated with wolves—most likely up in
the New England area. So now there is some sort of coyote-wolf hybrid. And they
seem to be moving further south—even into Virginia,” she explained.
    “And that’s
what came into our yard last night?” I wanted an answer.
    “Ma’am, we just
don’t know. Without some more testing, I can’t say for sure. On the other hand,
it isn’t unreasonable to assume