“Oh, I’m so happy to be home,” Gala groaned as she settled into bed. “Not that I wasn’t happy in England. It was the change I needed. I’m going to finish my screenplay in a couple of days, and then I can relax.”

“Great,” Stone said. She fell asleep immediately, but he could not relax until he and Bob had patrolled the perimeter of the property and made sure all the doors and windows were secured and the alarm turned on.

Stone read for a while, but it was nearly two AM before his mind relaxed enough for sleep.

Bob was way ahead of him.

—

Stone was awakened by a low growl from Bob, which quickly became a series of loud barks.

Gala stirred. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, go back to sleep.” He found Gala’s pistol in the night table drawer, slipped on a robe and slippers, and let Bob lead the way. The dog trotted to the kitchen and stood by the back door. Stone put him on a leash and held it in his left hand, the pistol ready in the other. As soon as the door was open Bob practically dragged him outside and along the rear of the house. Then he stopped and sniffed the ground. There was enough light for Stone to see a large pile of animal scat, which Bob found fascinating.

They continued around the whole perimeter of the house and returned to the kitchen door from which they had gone out.

They went into the kitchen, where Stone gave Bob his breakfast, then poured a glass of orange juice for himself. He drank it at the kitchen table and let his heartbeat return to normal.

Finally, as dawn broke, Stone went back to bed and tried to get in another hour of sleep before Gala woke up. He managed half that before she turned up with scrambled eggs and bacon and set them on his belly.

“How did you sleep?” she asked.

“Got to sleep late, woke early, then got a few minutes more. I’m tired.”

She took his tray away. “You go back to sleep,” she said.

41

Stone slept soundly until mid-morning, when Bob stuck a cold nose in his ear.

“What have you got against sleep?” he asked the dog, and got his answer from a floor-thumping tail. “You want to go out?”

Bob’s response was affirmative.

“Go see Gala.”

Bob did as he was told.

—

Stone was showered and shaved in time for lunch, then he made a call to the ranger who had investigated the bear earlier.

“I thought you were going to remove the bear,” he said to the man.

“We did. We anesthetized her, drove her up into the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and left her there to regain consciousness. She was already stirring when we left her.”

“How about her cubs?”

“We never spotted them.”