“That’s your good news. You’d have more to worry about if you had two shooters.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way. Well, whoopee.”

“You need better security.”

“I’m working on it. More cameras, lights, alarms. The health and safety of my animals is priority, but I can’t just reach in my pocket and pull out the money to pay for all that.”

He hitched up, reached in his pocket, and took out a check. “Donation.”

She smiled a little. Damn it, he was being considerate and kind-and she was being nothing but bitchy. “And all are gratefully accepted, but I priced some of the equipment and systems today so…”

She glanced at the check. Her brain simply froze. She blinked, blinked again, but the number of zeros remained the same. “What the hell is this?”

“I thought we’d established it’s a donation. Are you going to heat up that food your mother sent?”

“Where the hell did you get this kind of money? And you can’t just give it away like this. Is this a real check?”

“It’s family money. Trust fund. My father’s kept it locked down as much as he could, but it’s been trickling in every five years or so.”

“Trickle.” She whispered the word. “In my world this is a lot more than a trickle.”

“He’ll have to let loose of another payment when I hit thirty-five. He can hold the rest back until I’m forty, and he will. It pisses him off he can’t break the trust altogether and stiff me. I’m a big disappointment to him, on every level. But since that’s mutual, we deal with it.”

The gleam the donation put in her eyes dulled into sympathy. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry things never got any better between you and your father. I haven’t even asked about that, or your mother.”

“She’s married again. Third time. This one seems solid. He’s a decent guy, and from the outside, anyway, it looks like she’s happy.”

“I know they came out to visit. I was doing fieldwork so I wasn’t here. I know it meant a lot to Sam and Lucy.”

“She flew out when he got hurt. Surprised me,” Coop admitted. “I think it surprised everyone, including her.”

“I didn’t know. So much has been going on since I got back from Peru. I’ve missed a lot of details. It’s better, then? You and your mother?”

“It’s never going to be Norman Rockwell, but we deal with each other when we see each other.”

“That’s good.” She looked back at the check. “I want this. We could really use this. But it’s a lot. More than I was going to pry out of the jaguar lady, and that was going to give me happy dreams tonight.”

“Jaguar lady?”

Lil just shook her head. “This is a major contribution. The sort I usually have to go begging for.”

“I have a lot of money. More than I need. You’re a tax write-off, which’ll make my accountant happy.”

“Well, if it makes your accountant happy. Thank you, more than I can say.” She gave his boot, still resting on her table, a friendly pat. “You’re entitled to a number of fabulous prizes. A stuffed cougar, an official Chance Wildlife Refuge T-shirt, and mug. A subscription to our newslet ter, and free admission to the refuge, the education center, and all facilities for… with this amount the rest of your natural life.”

“Wrap ’ em up. You can use the strings attached to the check.”

“Uh-oh.”

“They’re simple. You use it for security. I’ll help you pick the system. It’s something I know. If there’s anything left after that, go crazy. But you use that to secure the compound, and as much of the refuge as possible.”

“Since I didn’t have this in my hand five minutes ago, I can live with those strings. I do need a new habitat. A home for the panther. Melanistic jaguar from Butte.”

“What the hell is ‘melanistic,’ and when did they get jaguars, unless you’re talking about ones with engines, in Montana?”

“‘Melanistic’means black or nearly black pigmentation, though black jaguars can produce spotted young. And there are no jaguars in the wild in Montana anymore. They may be making a comeback, but in the U.S. jaguars are bred in captivity. I have a woman in Butte who wants us to adopt her cat because it ate the dog.”

Coop studied Lil’s face for a long moment. “I think I need another beer.”

She sighed. “I’ll heat up dinner and explain.” She pushed to her feet, then stopped herself. She waved the check in the air. “See? I’m heating up dinner.”

“No, you’re just standing there talking about it.”

“You give me a big, fat donation and I’m heating up dinner, forgetting to be annoyed that you’re squatting like a homesteader in my living room.”

“There aren’t those kinds of strings on that check, Lil. I told you clearly the ones that were.”

“You don’t have to put strings on it for them to be there. Damn it.”

“Here, give it back. I’ll tear it up.”

“No way in hell.” She stuffed it in her back pocket. “But we do have to set boundaries, Coop. Ground rules. I can’t live like this. It’s too unsettled and stressful.”

“Write them up. We’ll negotiate.”

“Here’s one. If you’re going to eat here, whoever makes the food or heats up the food or whatever, the other cleans up after. That’s basic roommate dynamic.”

“Fine.”

“Did you ever have one? After college and the academy, I mean.”

“You want to know if I ever lived with a woman. No. Not officially.”

Because he’d seen through her very thin smoke screen, she said nothing else, but went back to heat up her mother’s care package.

Since it made for easy conversation, she told him about Cleo while they ate.

“She’s lucky it ate a dog and not a toddler.”

“Actually, that’s true enough. Cleo may-and probably did-start out playing. Then instinct took over. Wild can be trained, and they can learn, but they can’t and won’t be tamed. Rhinestone collars and satin pillows don’t make a pet out of the wild, even when they’re born and raised in captivity. We’ll bring her in, give her a big splash on the website. A new animal always generates more hits, more donations.”