“I’m getting that a lot today. Is Arlo home? I’m not here to hassle him or you. I’ve got a few questions about a cold case.”

“Not that professor again.”

“It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.”

“That’s what you guys always say,” she said, showing bleached teeth. “Arlo’s got to leave for work soon, but he might have time to answer your questions. I don’t know why you guys keep wasting your time with him. Seems a misuse of our state tax dollars.”

As I got out of the Jeep, Shadow moaned in his sleep. In his dreams he returned often to the mountains where he’d roamed loose for several years. Sometimes he seemed to be chasing deer again through the landscape of his mind.

The pale woman heard him. “What the fuck do you got in there?”

“A wolf.”

“Be serious.”

I winked at her. There was no reason that she should be the only one keeping secrets.

She watched me get out of the vehicle, giving special attention, it seemed, to my right side. Everyone took an interest in my handgun.

There was a bite to the air that I hadn’t felt down in the river valley. The sun had grown pale in the windy sky.

I towered over her by almost a foot. “Are you going to tell me your name or are you in witness protection?”

“Tori.”

“Tori what?”

Her response was another snort.

I followed her thin hips up the stairs and through the outer stained-glass door. The decorated panel showed a naked woman holding an apple while a snake, wrapped around a tree, whispered enticements in her ear. There was a second door beyond the glass one, but it was made of steel and four inches thick. The barrier would easily have stopped small-caliber bullets and maybe even bigger rounds. Security doors like this one cost thousands and weren’t readily available at your local Home Depot.

Inside the trailer, the thermostat had been turned up to Amazon rain forest. Even the light had a greenish tint. The color, I quickly realized, was on account of the terrariums.

There were three coffin-sized glass boxes arrayed around the living room, each with a heat lamp shining down into its steamed-over interior. Every one of the glass chambers, I was fairly certain, held a very large snake.

“Arlo’s in the shower,” said Tori. “Have a seat, and I’ll go get him.”

Instead of sitting, I took a tour of the terrariums, making sure not to turn my back to any doorway.

I thought again of texting Dani, but I was too eager to see the snakes.