“The boys frightened him. Why?” she wondered.

“He attacked in anger, because he was hit,” said Marini.

Teresa didn’t agree. From the account the boys had given, it sounded like the stranger had stood with his arms outstretched, as if to stop the vehicle. He had wanted to protect something.

“No. He did it to defend himself. He felt threatened,” she replied.

“Do you think he lives in the woods?”

“Do you reckon that would be possible?”

“No—at least not in total isolation.”

“I want to see the survey maps of all the mountain shelters in this area. He might be using them as bases.”

Someone from the team cried out in surprise as a herd of roe deer crossed the path right in front of them in lithe, powerful leaps. It was a spectacle of sinister allure; this was not normal behavior for those animals.

“Something’s scared them and driven them down to the valley,” said Knauss, voicing what everyone was thinking.

Teresa eyed the gloom among the trees.

“He’s here,” she muttered. “He’s watching us. Again.”

The darkness and the forest were protecting him once more and there was no question of going in to look for him.

“And who knows where he will be tomorrow.”

-40-

-40-

The Sleeping Bear was Travenì’s only pub. It took up the basement of a building that dated back to the Middle Ages and faced out onto the main square. A short flight of stairs carved into stone led down to the bar; its walls were as thick as an outstretched arm, and the vaulted ceiling was coated in dense, uneven plaster. The relics of a rustic, sylvan past were ensconced among the protruding stone slabs of its interior walls. The only windows were tall, narrow rectangles decorated with lead-beamed, vividly polychromatic glass. From the air bubbles in the panes of glass, Teresa deduced that they must either be antiques, or meticulously accurate replicas. She didn’t think any natural sunlight could filter all the way down there, even in the middle of the day, if not in the form of a dazzling rainbow of colors. A collection of beer tankards of various shapes and sizes hung over the pinewood bar. A carved devil’s head with enormous curving horns and yellow, malevolent eyes observed the patrons from a wall in a corner of the room. It had a mane of black hair and pointed teeth.