11.2. Escape Artist

Chapter Eleven, Part 2

Wolfie, Number Two

Skelemere, Lupine County

Wolfie writhed in pain. His body scraped against the cold hard floor. It was dark but Wolfie had his eyes squeezed shut, protecting them from view without the aid of his sunglasses. He could hear the man on duty snoring away. Wolfie called this one Sleepy. He always worked the night shift every time Wolfie was caught in Morticfield. He always turned down the lights and he always fell asleep.

Wolfie had a reputation for many things, being an escape artist was one of those.

But now, Wolfie could barely move through the pain. He grunted and cracked an eye open. He felt his pupil expand to pull in all the light it could.

Sleepy was still out and no one else was around. There was another officer in the station but he always left Sleepy to watch the cell. The only thing standing between Wolfie and the meeting was a flimsy set of bars, an inconsequential lock, and a doughy police officer. Wolfie scraped his hand against the cell floor as he forced himself into a sitting position.

The scent of blood clung to the ripped jeans of Wolfie so he took a moment to finger the wound. It was not deep and the blood had clotted naturally. It was on the outside edge of the thigh of Wolfie so it would have been difficult to nurse himself. Wolfie was thankful that he did not have to bother. He knew that he could not make any sudden movements, though, as that would likely agitate the wound.

Wolfie stood and slunk over to the cell door. He maintained one open eye and the other squeezed tight shut as he pulled a slim bone out of the pocket of his jean. The end was sharpened from where Wolfie had ground his pointed teeth against it. Leaning his face down to the locking mechanism of the cell, Wolfie wondered why the Morticfield police station would not have upgraded to something that he could not pick with a chicken bone. Then, he had to suppose that Morticfield did not arrest him often enough for it to matter. If he was in the station back in the city that was now his home—Skelemere—it would be a different story.

But Wolfie knew better than to antagonize the Skelemere department for no reason.

After checking that Sleepy was indeed still sleeping, Wolfie poked the chicken bone into the locking mechanism. After a few heartbeats of twisting it around, the device clicked home and the lock released. Wolfie stepped out into the station proper, sticking the chicken bone between his teeth. He switched his open eye to the other one before bending over Sleepy and searching the pockets of the man.

Sleepy grunted but did not wake up as Wolfie extracted a set of car keys from the pockets of his uniform. Wolfie paused at the opening to the back room of the station, listening for any signs of the presence of the other officer. When he heard none, Wolfie excused himself from the station. He clicked the key fob to locate which car it belonged to before climbing into the cruiser. It would not serve him well to drive the cruiser to Orchard County, so he would have to bring it back to the parking lot to pick up his own car. And his sunglasses while he was at it.

The moon was at the highest point in the sky then, so Wolfie knew the Numbers meeting had begun. His best hope at that point was to make it to the barn before dawn.