Officer Howard took me all the way home, right up the end of the driveway that lead up to Bandhavgarh Cabin. There were a few lights still on, which indicated that Molly was indeed still up and likely worrying. I gave a heavy sigh from the back seat and waited for Officer Howard to open the door.
"At least the worst of our problems are finally over," I thought to myself as Officer Howard opened the rear door to his car.
I calmly got out and stretched out my back after the car ride.
"Thank you for the ride, sir," I told him as I stood up.
"Not a problem," Officer Howard answered, "although, I'd urge you to be more professional in the future. I can't have you going wobbly because some crook had some moment of success. In cases like this, I'm willing to make an exception, as such violence isn't that common in this neck of the woods... at least not against people."
"Did the game wardens arrive?" I wondered, "see if he had been poaching wolves?"
"The arrived, and found several traps with wolf fur on them," Officer Howard nodded, "but they will need more chronological testing as to see when the fur was left there. Which would be the best determining factor as to when they were placed. Those results will likely take a week to be done."
I slowly nodded. I would have preferred a poaching charge being added, since Beauregard had repeatedly claimed that exterminating the reintroduced wolves was a good thing. But, considering the days events, I decided that it wouldn't be necessary to fight for those charges being made. And at the moment, I knew I couldn't dwell on that. Molly was likely worried and didn't truly know what had happened.
"Does Molly now?" I asked as I began to head toward the cabin.
"I never got to calling her," Officer Howard answered, "after you left with Officer Barnes in the ambulance, I and the rest of the officers that arrived were responsible for finishing up the investigation of the scene, reading Beauregard his Miranda Rights, and interviewing his ranch hands."
"I see," I sighed, "Can I tell her?"
"Do what you think is right," Officer Howard answered and returned to his car and began to turn around. I quietly watched him as he drove out of sight down the dirt driveway, and then made my way inside.
++++++++++++++++++++++
"GEORGE!" Molly's greeting as I came in was partially excited, partially relieved, and partially exuberant all at once.
"Hi, Molly," I began to answer her, "sorry I'm... ooouuuuuff!"
Before I could even apologize for being late, Molly hit me with a flying tackle that knocked me on my back. She then crouched and lay on top of me, nuzzling me fiercely with her muzzle. It actually tickled a little bit to have my whiskers rub against hers.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Molly said before nuzzling me again.
I took this as friendly excitement and nuzzled her back.
"I got this terrible feeling this afternoon," Molly spoke, "this terrible feeling... like something bad happened. I heard sirens... lots of sirens... they went through town... got fainter as they went outside of town... came back, growing loader as they did, and then faded away again... I thought something happened to you!"
"I fine, Molly," I told her as I managed to sit up.
Molly ended up rolling off of me to sit on the floor beside me. She straightened her dress while I turned back to shut the cabin's front door behind me. Once that was done, the two of us sat quietly on the floor for a few moments. I was still trying to put together how I was going to tell her about what happened.
"I'm sorry I'm late," I said after a few moments, still trying to figure out how to tell her about what happened.
"What happened, George?" Molly responded, "the terrible feeling I got sent shivers downy my spine. All the way down to the end of my tail. I don't know how I felt it... but I did. Something seemed to tell me you were in trouble."
"I wasn't in trouble," I sighed, "and not everything that happened was bad."
"What is it? What happened?" Molly asked.
"We managed to question the three Pit Bull gang members," I said slowly, deciding to start from the beginning, "one of them agreed to cooperate and told us about how the gang was hired as a hit squad, the attack in Peoria from their point of view, the leader taking Leona's serum and then spreading it around his gang through interconnected sexual pairings with two women who were either in the gang or officially dating two of the gang's members. He couldn't identify the name of who hired them, but he could remember the man's face."
"Who was it?" Molly asked.
"Beauregard," I answered, "the face the gang member described was Beauregard's."
Molly only growled in response.
"It was enough to get a search warrant to see if Beauregard had any evidence that would implicate him in what happened in Peoria," I continued, "and we did find something that would imply that he and R.A.M. were involved."
"Good," Molly growled, "I hope he goes away for life."
"He probably will, but this is where the "bad" part of today's events came in," I said slowly.
The look of hope on Molly's face that had appeared at the mention of Beauregard being in trouble faded immediately.
"What happened?" Molly asked nervously.
"Beauregard didn't take kindly to being investigated and when Barnes and I came out with the evidence that we had found to arrest him, he caught us unprepared and shot Barnes in the stomach with a shotgun," I said slowly.
"Oh my..." Molly gasped, "Is he okay... he didn't... did he?"
"He'll be fine eventually," I sighed, "he's in the Kalispell hospital right now recovering from major surgery to repair the damage done and remove the shot from his abdomen."
"And Beauregard?"
"In jail," I answered, "the move on his part didn't save him, though he did nearly get me..."
"Oh, George," Molly gasped pulled me into a hug again.
"I'm alright," I answered, "I made it out alright, as you can see."
"How did you do it?" Molly wondered, "How did you escape?"
"Your Uncle actually helped me out," I answered, "He caught Beauregard from behind and knocked the shotgun out of his hands. That's what allowed me to take him into custody."
"Uncle Frank helped you?" Molly asked.
I nodded, "Maybe we got it wrong when we first learned R.A.M. existed. Maybe he did in fact know nothing."
"Maybe," Molly answered and hugged me tightly, nuzzling the side of my head with hers, "he really helped you?"
"Yes," I repeated.
"I suppose we should apologize and bury the hatchet between us," Molly finished.
"We can, and I'll support you, no matter what your decision is," I told her, "but it's late. Right now, all I want to do is go to bed. We can deal with burying the hatchet tomorrow."
"Do you want anything to eat?" Molly asked.
"No, I'll be fine," I answered, "I have tomorrow off, so I can have a big breakfast."
"I still have work tomorrow," Molly reminded me.
"I can meet you at the school and walk with you to your Uncle's place," I answered, "Right now, I'm exhausted."
Molly was up in an instant and began shutting off the lights that were on. Once they were out, she helped me up and we made our way up the stairs.
"I hope Barnes gets better, George," Molly told me.
"Me too," I nodded, "me too."