"You think I want to be grounded for the rest of my life? Dad will shout the house down if he ever finds out. I know where to go and that's where you'll be tomorrow night while your dad is out with your mom on the full moon." Sali's smugness washed over Ashe. Sali had not only fooled the Pack twice but had kept the secret from Ashe for who knew how long. Ashe blinked at Sali in surprise, listening while Sali explained how and where.
"That's where they meet? In that clearing?" Ashe recognized the spot Sali meant as he described it. A small stand of trees stood a quarter mile behind the DeLuca home. There weren't many patches of trees in that portion of Oklahoma; most of it was farmland or prairie. Marcus had chosen the property with trees and the Pack hunted on his land during the full moon.
"Yeah. But you have to get in that old oak tree on the eastern edge. You won't be able to see much but you'll be able to hear. Probably better than I can. I want to know what they're saying, Ashe. About James and Randy Smith."
"Dude, if you get caught doing something like that, you'll get grounded. There's no telling what they'd do to me if I got nabbed." Just the idea of being caught by angry werewolves frightened Ashe.
"Dude, it's the only way we'll know," Sali shot back. "I think Cori still wants to know, too."
"And what if I say no?"
"Then we may never know what's going on."
"Dang."
"Yeah."
"What time do I need to be there? I'll have to wait until Mom and Dad are out of the house," Ashe pointed out.
"The wolves won't be there until nearly ten. You should have plenty of time to sneak away and get back."
"This sounds like imminent disaster," Ashe grumped, gathering paper wrappers and napkins to dump on his way out of the restaurant.
* * *
Ashe and Sali spent the afternoon cleaning up the back room of the store before unloading onion sets and the rest of the plant deliveries, and then unloading a shipment of seeds, gardening supplies and bags of chicken feed. Ashe was tired and ready to go when six o'clock rolled around.
"Sali, do you want to be dropped off first?" Adele smiled at him as he climbed into the old Ford.
"Yeah. I think I can grow plants from the dirt on my jeans."
"And you smell like onions, dude." Ashe grinned and poked Sali in the ribs.
"And I smell like onions," Sali admitted. "But I'll be at your house again tomorrow morning."
"Glutton for punishment, Sali?" Adele laughed.
"I guess." Sali ducked his head to hide the grin.
"We'll clean the store and put those new seed packet displays together tomorrow," Adele started the truck and put it in gear. Ashe sat quietly next to Sali on the way home. The work had taken his mind off James's death, and James's death had taken his mind off his own problems. Those problems now seemed insignificant next to the other things.
* * *
Sali studied the diagram for the cardboard display the following morning while Ashe helped a customer at the register. Adele had gone to the back to inspect another shipment of plants and gardening tools before signing off on it. "These good gloves?" the old man placed a pair of leather gloves on the counter. Ashe knew he was one of his mother's regular customers. Stooped slightly, the man had thinning gray hair, plenty of wrinkles and twinkling blue eyes.
"Yeah. Mom wears this brand all the time," Ashe said.
"I'll take 'em, then." The man drew his wallet out of a back pocket slowly and deliberately. Ashe wondered if the older ones pondered things before expending the effort. At the moment, it made sense to him, somehow. And then James came to mind. James, whose life was over after seventeen years. Most werewolves lived two hundred years or more. That life might be cut short if you were a Packmaster and didn't survive a challenge.
Ashe stole a glance at Sali, whose face was set in concentration as he folded the cardboard seed packet display and slipped tabs into slots. Shapeshifters lived the same number of years a werewolf might, but vampires lived forever unless they were killed somehow, or walked into the sun. Ashe took the old man's twenty, rang up the sale and gave change back, then handed him the bag containing the gloves.
"Thank you," Ashe said. The old man grinned and nodded before shuffling toward the door.
"Hey, I actually got it together." Sali set the assembled display in the floor.
"There's hope for you yet, you've mastered cardboard," Ashe smacked Sali on the arm.
"Yep. Cardboard today, string theory tomorrow," Sali laughed.
"Dude, you're into string theory?" Ashe teased, grabbing the box of seed packets that came with the display and stuffing the small envelopes into empty slots.
"Yeah. I think Dori plays with a ball of yarn when she turns to ocelot," Sali grinned.
"That looks great," Adele said, admiring their work on the display when she returned. "I can fix lunch here or take you by the Burger Hut or Taco Palace," she offered.
"Taco Palace," Sali said immediately.
"All right. Come on, then." Adele flipped the closed sign in the window, setting the little clock on it so customers would know she'd be back in fifteen minutes.
"What's going on?" Sali and Ashe stared at three highway patrol cars sitting in the Taco Palace parking lot as the old Ford bounced through the entrance.
"They probably wanted to have lunch together," Adele said. "Here's money. Try to bring some of it back." She handed Ashe a twenty.
"I'll try to keep the taco vacuum turned on low," Ashe elbowed Sali and slid out of the truck behind his friend.
"I'll be back in an hour," his mother promised before driving away, the truck creaking a little as it pulled out of the parking lot.
Ashe blinked when he walked up to the counter—the county sheriff was also there with one of his deputies, their wide backs blocking the counter from Ashe and Sali's view. The sheriff and his deputy carried their trays of food to a table shoved against the same one the highway patrol officers were using. "What's going on?" Ashe asked the woman behind the counter as he and Sali came forward to place their orders. They recognized her; her family owned Taco Palace.
"They found a body south of town," the woman replied. She looked to be in her late forties, but her red hair was still red, no gray, and she had a nice smile.
"Wow. Anyone from Cordell?" Sali asked.
"No. Not that I know of," she said. "It'll probably be on the news tonight." Both boys turned in their order, grabbed a table and Sali offered to pick up the tray when their names were called.