Tears filled Ruth’s eyes. “My mom told me all the stuff I’d stored at her house was going out on trash day unless I picked it up before then. It was already at the curb when Karl and I got to the house. My mom stood in the doorway and watched us. Didn’t come out to talk to us. And you know what she yelled to my father when Karl and I finished putting my things in the car? ‘The trash picked up the boxes.’” A sob escaped Ruth before she regained control.

“Problem?” Tess stood in the doorway leading to the back room, her hair completely red and coiling.

“No,” Meg said. “No problem.” How much had Tess heard?

They made room for her when she walked up to the sorting room table and set down the carry sack. “Fresh muffins,” Tess said. “Have a snack. Then it’s time you all got to work.” She walked out.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Ruth wiped her eyes. “Muffin. Work.”

“Where did you put your stuff?” Meg asked Ruth.

“My aunt and uncle are holding on to it until Ruth is ready for it,” Theral said. “They want to help. They haven’t forgotten that Mr. Wolfgard is letting them have Lawrence’s share of the produce from the Green Complex’s garden. He didn’t have to do that.”

“Muffin. Work,” Merri Lee said, opening the sack and taking a muffin. “The Courtyard’s guests are arriving this afternoon, and we all need to set a good example.” She eyed Meg. “You okay?”

“I’m sad for all of you, but I’m okay.” The pins-and-needles feeling was gone, leaving no indication that a cut would reveal anything of use to her friends or the Courtyard.

Without a question that needed an answer, without some kind of justification, she couldn’t make a cut without upsetting her friends, not to mention Simon.

They ate the muffins and went to their jobs. Meg opened the Private door and ignored the stare she received from Nathan. “You can sulk about being left out, or you can have one of the fresh Wolf cookies Jerry Sledgeman brought from Eamer’s Bakery.”

Sulking as a sport could not compete with fresh, beef-flavored cookies. Since Meg had a feeling Simon was going to be a little sulky too, she set aside two of the beef-flavored cookies for him.

• • •

Walking back to A Little Bite, Tess stopped when she saw Henry looking at her over the wooden gate that opened onto his yard. She glanced at the Liaison’s Office and the sorting room’s open window. <You heard?>

<I heard,> he growled. <Nothing to be done about that sow.>

<Nothing to be done,> she agreed, then silently added, Yet.

<Kowalski asked to borrow a van or the pickup from the Utilities Complex tomorrow to move the possessions he stored at his family’s den. I will go with him and discourage any more talk of trash.>

The coils in her hair relaxed. The Grizzly’s presence would discourage many things, but it wouldn’t hurt to suggest to Simon that the Hawks keep an aerial watch while one of their own was in enemy territory.

CHAPTER 16

Windsday, Juin 13

“Pull into the customer parking lot,” Monty told Officer Debany. Kowalski was taking a couple of personal days to move into the two-family house across from the Courtyard, so Debany was standing in as Monty’s driver and partner.

Many police officers in the Chestnut Street station supported the idea of cooperating with the Others, of keeping things peaceful with the beings who controlled most of the world and had the final say in what happened to humans living in Lakeside. But being supportive wasn’t the same as being willing to stand on the front line and interact with the terra indigene on a daily basis—especially when family members could be ostracized by their friends and neighbors because of the officer’s decision. That was a real possibility—as Louis Gresh and his family well knew. So far no one had stepped forward to be Michael Debany’s new partner and the fourth member of the team assigned to deal with the Lakeside Courtyard.

Monty didn’t know what to do about that. Apparently, neither did Captain Burke. Or maybe Burke, understanding that the assignment wasn’t just about another officer in the patrol car, didn’t want another personality added to the mix right now because in the back of the minds of the officers who were already closely involved with the Others was a single word: extinction.

The other concern about assigning a new officer left a bad taste in Monty’s mouth, but he had to acknowledge the truth: they couldn’t afford to have an officer who belonged to the Humans First and Last movement infiltrating the Courtyard and spying on the Others so that the HFL leaders could plan effective attacks.

As he and Debany walked to Howling Good Reads, Monty paused and studied the two-family house. “How is the move going? Wasn’t Karl picking up his furniture and possessions yesterday?” He’d heard what happened with Ruth; he wondered if things had been that bad for Karl.

Debany hesitated. “Karl’s parents aren’t bad people. Lawrence and I and a few other officers were at a cookout at their house last summer, and it was great. But now they’re blaming Karl’s assignment for everything from the butcher selling the last pot roast before Mrs. K. got to the shop to the price of gasoline. His brother, Tim, was halfway drunk when Karl got to the house yesterday morning, and abusive because of it. Karl wasn’t getting any help loading the furniture—and some of that stuff you really couldn’t lift alone. Then Henry and Blair drove up in the pickup. Didn’t say anything; just loaded furniture in the back of the pickup while Karl packed the van with boxes. Then they drove off.”