and six men sitting around a fire. A fire in the tinder-dry autumn woods. Idiots. One spark on some dead pine needles and this place would go up fast.
Desi approached them, no longer moving quietly, with her rifle slung casually over her arm and pointing to the ground.
“Evening, gentlemen,” she called out. “Game warden.”
The men who’d already turned their heads her way and started to rise immediately sat back down on their folding camp chairs. “Howdy, Warden,” one of them answered.
“You guys out here hunting?” she asked pleasantly.
“In the morning,” the same man answered. “Half hour before dawn, right?”
“Right. Appreciate you paying attention to that.” She switched on her own flashlight. “Mind if I see your licenses?”
This caused all the men to stand to pull wallets out of their pockets. Kel felt uneasy as six men nearly surrounded Desi, but so far nobody was acting hostile. As each handed over his license, she studied it. “A moose permit?” she asked one of them. “You’re lucky.”
The guy laughed. “Been trying for ten years.”
“I hope you bag a nice one. And if you do, I guess you’ll be glad your buddies can help you carry it out.”
“You bet. That’s one of the reasons they’re here.”
“Just remember, gut it where you kill it, and tag it for transport. Wouldn’t want you to lose it.”
“Me neither,” the guy answered.
“Well,” said Desi, “you’re all square. Just a couple of things.”
“Yeah?”
Her voice tightened a shade. “Bright lights were seen here from below. You aren’t hunting with them, are you?”
“Hell no,” came a chorus of answers.
“Then don’t turn them on again tonight or I’ll have to come back and cite you. And I am going to have to cite you for that fire. You know you’re not allowed to have one out here. But first let’s put it out.”
“Just trying to stay warm,” someone grumbled.
“I understand that, sir, but it’s against the law. You wanna put it out right now, I could let you off with a warning. If you do it right.”
Still grumbling, but quietly, the men doused the fire with water.
“Guess we’ll have to go get more water tomorrow,” one said. “Dang.”
Desi squatted and felt the wet fire pit. “Turn it over, would you?”
One of the men got a small shovel and turned the ground over. Desi felt again. “A little more water to be safe. It’s still warm.”
A few minutes later, she stood, brushing her hand on her jeans. “Okay. No fire, no bright lights. What were you using them for anyway?”
“Setting up camp.”
Her voice turned a little sarcastic. “Really? I’m not saying you’re lying, but we both know you were probably doing more than that. Too bright and on too long. Don’t let me see them again. And if I get another call from down below about them, you won’t be hunting here for a while, okay?”
One of the men raised his arm. Kel acted instinctively and in a few strides was standing next to Desi. Jos had the same reaction, and he was on her other side just as fast.
“What?” said the guy who’d raised his arm. “I was just frustrated.”
“No reason to get frustrated,” Desi said mildly. “If you took your hunting classes, you don’t need me to explain the law. What’s more, we fly a plane over here at night sometimes, so you could get caught again. Since you already have a warning, nobody’s going to give you a second chance. Clear?”
Desi pulled out her book, and taking each hunter’s license and ID, wrote him a warning, then passed him a copy. When she was done, she wished the man well with his moose hunt, reminding the group that the national forest was closed to hunting this year.
A half hour later, they were hiking back through the woods to the road, this time with the aid of two flashlights.
“I’m thinking,” said Jos, “that they were pushing the law.”
“It occurred to me,” Desi said drily. “I hope they got the message. But when you wait ten years for a moose permit, maybe it’s a little harder to follow the rules.”
Kel thought that was pretty generous considering the men had been committing two serious violations. If he had the time and opportunity, he hoped he could figure this woman out a little better. In some ways she appeared to be a bundle of contradictions.
Lugging the big can of water and the shovel, he studied what he could see of the back of her head, and decided this was a good view, too.
Back at the trucks, they all shook hands, then Jos took off into the night. Kel helped Desi load the water can and shovel into the bed of her truck, and stood by while she removed the ammo from her gun and put it in the rack in the back.
“This place will be crowded before dawn tomorrow,” she remarked as they jolted down the road. “Well, as crowded as can be in the middle of nowhere.”
“Will you come back then?”
“Depends on how the rest of this night goes.”
He waited a moment, then asked, “What did you mean about me staying in the bunkhouse?”
“I’ve got a couple of cots upstairs off my apartment. They mostly get used by wardens staying overnight, but you’re welcome to one if you want it. Didn’t I just announce you were visiting me? Like that won’t get around.” She laughed quietly. “I don’t date. Everyone’s going to hear. Anyway, if it won’t interfere with your plans, help yourself.”
“But won’t I get in your way?”
“Not likely. This is the time of year when having a flexible schedule often means I have trouble finding time to put my head on a pillow.”
In his end of the business, as an investigator, he never really got into the ins and outs of a warden’s life. He supposed with so many people hunting in the fall, she probably had a full plate between patrolling for violations and the calls she received from people reporting them. He wondered about other times of the year, but didn’t ask.
He did know how much the wardens relied on people to inform them of possible violations. Some ninety wardens couldn’t be everywhere in a state this size. For every square mile of public land, there must be a helluva lot more private lands where game caused problems, where hunters went even when they shouldn’t. Impossible to keep an eye on everything.
“I’m going to introduce you to some people,” she said unexpectedly. “Some of the ranchers who border the public lands. They can be eyes and ears, if you want.”
“You
