“Most of that started in the ’70s—before that, dogs didn’t really specialize. If you had a convict on the loose, you sent for a bloodhound; if you had a body to find, you sent for a bloodhound. It was sort of a ‘one dog fits all’ approach—but Alena’s dad helped change all that. He thought dogs should specialize—he thought they could be more effective if they concentrated on detecting only one thing. That’s what he did at the CETC: He developed methods for training dogs to perform specialized tasks. They say he taught them to do some amazing things.”

“Is that where Alena learned to train dogs? From her father?”

“That’s where she got her start—but to tell you the truth, I think she’s done things her father never dreamed of.”

“I’ve seen a sample of what she can do,” Nick said. “Those guard dogs of hers—and that three-legged cadaver dog—I’ve never seen anything like them. She never says a word to those dogs, but they seem to know exactly what she wants them to do.”

“People around here say she can talk to animals. She can’t, of course— she just knows how they think. It’s a gift, in a way. I suppose it’s what happens when you withdraw from people and pour your life into dogs; you learn to think like a dog instead.”

“What happened to her father?”

“He was quite a celebrity around here for a while. The newspapers picked up on what he was doing, and pretty soon people started coming to see him. Then one day he disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Vanished without a trace—Alena was about ten at the time. There was a big storm one night. Her dad heard a noise in the woods and went to check on it. He never came back.”

“What happened to Alena? What did she do?”

“She stayed up there.”

“Alone? She was only ten years old.”

“I know—talk about impressive stuff. Alena practically raised herself, with a lot of help from people like me and my wife—Rose is her name. We heard what happened to her father and we went up to see her. We tried to get her to come down to Endor, but she just wouldn’t do it.”

“Don’t you have Child and Family Services out here?”