Updated Mar 23, 2026 • ~5 min read
Chapter 25: The investigation team
RUBY
The call came from the regional office on the twenty-third of December.
She was at the lodge reviewing the wolverine denning site data with Erik when her satellite phone rang and the number came up as the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife’s regional office in Missoula.
She stepped outside.
Her supervisor, a man named Garrett Ellison who was thorough and methodical and was good at his job, said: *Ruby. Good. I’ve been reviewing the data you submitted at the sixty-day mark.*
She said: *Yes.*
He said: *The anomalous track series in the eastern ridge section. The thermal captures.* A pause. *These are significant findings.*
She said: *They’re interesting data.*
He said: *Interesting.* His voice had the quality of a scientist who had found the word inadequate. *Ruby, the thermal profiles are unlike anything in the literature. And the track measurements — I’ve been running them against every database we have access to. There’s no match.*
She said: *I know.*
He said: *I’m sending a team up in January. I want a full field assessment with specialist support.* He paused. *This could be a significant discovery.*
She said: *I understand.*
He said: *How confident are you in the data.*
She said: *The data is accurate. The methodology is sound.* She paused. *I want to say something about the data’s interpretation before the team comes.*
He said: *Go ahead.*
She said: *The anomalous signatures — the tracks and the thermal — I’ve been running the analysis for two months and I’ve developed a working hypothesis about the source.* She paused. *The hypothesis doesn’t fit any standard framework, and I’m not confident that a specialist team arriving in January with standard frameworks is going to produce a useful interpretation.*
He said: *What’s your hypothesis.*
She said: *I’d rather show you in person than explain it on the phone.* She paused. *Can I come to Missoula before Christmas. Before the team is assembled.*
A pause.
He said: *You’re coming in anyway for the transfer paperwork.*
She said: *Yes. Can we meet while I’m there.*
He said: *Yes. Twenty-third. My office.*
She said: *Thank you.*
She went back inside.
She told Cade.
He was at the territory log, which she’d noticed he worked on in the evenings at the lodge when the clan gathered — not a separate ritual, just the way the record got kept. He looked up and she told him about Ellison’s call, the team in January, the meeting in Missoula.
He was quiet.
She said: *The data I submitted at the sixty-day mark was genuine. It’s anomalous and it doesn’t match anything in the database.* She paused. *I submitted it because not submitting it would have been falsifying the record.*
He said: *I know.*
She said: *There are two ways to handle the investigation team.* She sat down across from him. *I can go to Missoula and tell Ellison the data is inconclusive — equipment anomalies, methodology questions, insufficient replication. That’s defensible. The data has gaps that would support a qualified null result.* She paused. *Or I can give him the genuine interpretation.*
He said: *What’s the genuine interpretation.*
She said: *That the eastern ridge territory is maintained by a community whose members have biological characteristics significantly outside standard mammal taxonomy.* She paused. *That’s accurate. It’s what the data shows.*
He was quiet.
She said: *I’m not going to make this decision for you.* She held his gaze. *The data is accurate and what it shows is real. What we do with it is your choice.* She paused. *Both options are defensible. The null result doesn’t require me to lie — it requires me to decline to interpret.* She paused. *The honest interpretation tells Ellison what the data actually shows.*
He said: *What would the honest interpretation lead to.*
She said: *A team in January who finds what I found.* She paused. *If they find it with me here, I can manage the context. If they find it without me—*
He said: *What does managing the context look like.*
She said: *It looks like what you’ve been doing with every researcher who comes through the eastern ridge. Strategic visibility. You show them what serves the territory’s protection and you don’t show them what doesn’t.* She paused. *I know how to do that.* She paused again. *I’d be doing it from the inside.*
He was quiet for a long time.
He said: *The clan needs to decide.*
She said: *I know.* She stood. *I’m going to leave you to that conversation. I’m going to Missoula on the twenty-third regardless. I need to decide before I get there what I’m going to say.*
He said: *Ruby.*
She said: *You have until the twenty-third. Whatever the clan decides, I’ll make it work.*
He said: *It’s your career.*
She said: *I know.* She looked at him. *I’ve been thinking about that. My career is built on accurate data. An inconclusive report is not false data — it’s incomplete interpretation.* She paused. *I’m at peace with that.* She paused again. *What I’m not prepared to do is make the decision about your community’s safety without your input. That’s not my decision.*
He said: *You said that in the cabin. You said it has to be my choice.*
She said: *Our choice. That’s what you said.* She looked at him. *I remember.*
He looked at her.
She said: *Twenty-third.* She picked up her jacket. *I’ll let you talk.*
She went back to the outpost.
She sat at the outpost table and thought about two months on this mountain and what she’d built here and the specific honesty required of a person who kept records that were accurate.
She thought: *the record should show what actually happened.*
She thought: *what actually happened is real.*
She thought: *what we do with it is the question.*
She thought: *I can make either version work.*
She thought: *I want the clan to know they chose.*
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