The Winter Road

by Caron Todd

  “Uncle Will!”

  “What I’m trying to say is, if you like this guy…single men are thin on the ground around here these days, Emily, and he was more than neighborly last night.”

  It was true. Matthew had been wonderful. Strong and capable. Not to mention a little frightening. “I’m not going to grasp onto a man just because he’s around for a few days and I’ve turned thirty.” She had actually crept a couple of years past that.

  “Thirty,” Will said disbelievingly. “Imagine that. Little Emily.” The thought only distracted him for a moment. “Exactly. Thirty.” He swished the remaining tea around the bottom of the glass. “We can keep an eye on your mom. Should have told you that a long time ago. Don’t ignore your own chances like you did with John. You go where you want, sweetie.”

  She took his empty glass and gave him a hug. “This is where I want to be, Uncle Will.”

  ONE THING WAS SURE, that clueless kid wasn’t working alone. Matthew had searched the woods close to the Moore house last night and again, more thoroughly, after the sun came up. Not finding an abandoned bicycle in acres of bush wasn’t conclusive. More convincing was the kid’s demeanor when he was pressed about it. He didn’t get angry or frustrated. He got scared.

  If Emily’s radar was as good as she claimed the man in the black Mustang and the honeymooners Mrs. Marsh had mentioned were the only strangers around. Since he hadn’t managed to get the Mustang’s license number, he could only check out the happy couple.

  He was delayed by a visit from Corporal Reed, wandering around the house and asking questions about Daniel and the neighbors and the Robb family. He forced himself to relax and answer helpfully. When Reed left, Matthew began to search for a field that doubled as a honeymoon hotel.

  He soon found a tent behind a grove of willows past the Three Creeks exit. A canoe was turned over beside it, but he didn’t see a vehicle. He drove past the site, parked behind another strip of trees, then walked back. He made himself comfortable in the willows and waited.

  Finally, an old Toyota Tercel came bumping across the field. A man and a woman, both thirtyish, got out. No cuddles or playful touches. They hardly looked at each other. Before they went into the tent he zoomed in and got close-ups. One of him, one of her, one of the license plate.

  CORPORAL REED ACCEPTED a cup of tea and sat with Julia and Emily at the kitchen table. He’d already told them that Jason Willis had been released to his parents’ custody, as expected. His first court date would be on Tuesday.

  “You’ve checked your belongings?” he asked. “You’re sure nothing is missing?”

  “Not that we could see,” Emily said. “Jason didn’t even mess up the desk. That’s what happened everywhere else, didn’t it?”

  The corporal tried to make eye contact with Julia. “The books are yours, ma’am, not your daughter’s?”

  Julia looked a little alarmed at being singled out.

  “Do you keep a list of titles? Would you know if one or two were missing?”

  “I’d know.”

  “I assume they’re insured.”

  “Insured?”

  “It’s an extensive collection. You must have insured it against theft or fire.”

  Julia blinked at the table.

  Emily said, “I don’t think it occurred to either of us to insure the books.”

  Reed turned back to her. “Have you noticed anything unusual going on—out here in the country or in town? Vehicles parked where they shouldn’t be, strangers loitering, even people you know who suddenly have a large amount of money to spend?”

  She had been worried about Daniel, but his absence had been explained. The only people she knew who had been throwing money around were Liz and Jack. “People come in off the highway to get gas or snacks, especially in the summer. There’s a lot of traffic up to the lakes.”

  Reed took his first sip of tea. “The hotels in Pine Point were full of Robb friends and family last week. For a wedding, I’m told. Any of those folks still in town?”

  Emily stared, for a moment too surprised to answer. “Most of them are gone. Are you suggesting…”

  “I’m trying to get all the facts, Ms. Moore. The man who was with you last night—” The corporal consulted his notebook. “Matthew Rutherford. He’s not local?”

  “He’s visiting, taking care of his uncle’s house. Daniel Rutherford.”

  “I know Daniel. Taking care of the house, why?”

  “Daniel’s spending time with a sick relative.”

  “And he’s been away how long?”

  “I’m not sure. A couple of weeks.”

  “How long have you known his nephew?”

  “About a week. Since he arrived in town.”

  “Any impressions?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Of what sort of person he is.”

  Emily looked at her teacup, wondering what to say. “Jason was caught in my house. He doesn’t deny breaking in. Why are you asking about my relatives and friends?”

  “It’s routine, Ms. Moore. I’m trying to get the whole picture.” The words were reassuring, but his tone wasn’t.

  “Matthew’s a lot like his uncle.” She was surprised to see her mother nodding in agreement. “He’s a smart, capable, helpful person.”

  “Okay. That’s all I need for now.” Reed closed his book and stood up. His tone became less formal. “And how did you ladies sleep last night?”

  “Not that well.”

  “People really feel uneasy when someone’s managed to get into their home.” He stood with one hand on the doorknob. “I see you’ve got a new lock. That’s good. The old one wasn’t accomplishing much, was it?”

  Emily was beginning to feel as guilty as Jason. She decided to ask a few questions of her own. “Jason said he came by bicycle. All the way from Miller’s Crossing.”

  “Right.”

  “If that’s true it’s hard to believe he’s responsible for all the break-ins, isn’t it? Because of the distance and because of how little he could expect to take away with him.”

  “That’s still to be determined.”

  “But if he didn’t break into the other houses, who did, and are they still around? And if he didn’t ride his bike, how did he get here? He didn’t have a driver’s license in his wallet. And why was he reading a book? Standing in the middle of the room, taking his time. What did he want?”

  The corporal’s professional expression was back. “Those are good questions. You can be sure we’re asking them as well, Ms. Moore.”

  He didn’t tell her she worried too much. Just this once it would have been nice to hear.

  ALMOST EVERY MEMBER of the family turned up that afternoon. Before catching his flight, Uncle Winston came, wanting to reassure his sister. Aunt Edith wanted to compare break-ins and Eleanor wanted to know Julia and Emily weren’t still frightened. The cousins wanted to have coffee and talk about the crime rate and the children wanted to take turns being the thief and Matthew Rutherford and tackle each other in the living room. Julia soon took to her room.

  After dinner, Matthew came. Emily was so pleased to see him she forgot to invite him in. The questions that had been flying around her mind all day quieted.

  “How do you do that?” she asked.

  “What am I doing?”

  “You’re making me feel safe.”

  His voice cooled. “I’m sorry if you haven’t been feeling safe. Any reason, besides the obvious?”

  She felt pushed away, the way she had the day they met.

  “Emily?”

  “I already mentioned it to Corporal Reed.”

  There was a flicker of a smile. “Mention it to me, too.”

  “Okay.” She sat on the step so she wouldn’t have to keep looking at the distant expression on his face. “I don’t believe a kid on a bicycle rode ten miles several times to mess up some desks and look at a book. It’s odd.”

  “People do odd things.”

  “I feel a
s if there’s…somebody else.” She shrugged. “Out there.” The feeling was strong, but as soon as she put it into words it sounded irrational.

  “Have you been cooped up all day? How about a walk?”

  “If Mom will come. She’s beside herself.”

  Matthew went into the kitchen. Emily heard him ask her mother if she was all right on her own. After a murmured response he was back, pulling the door shut behind him. The lock clicked into place.

  “Road or meadow?” he asked.

  “At this time of evening, road. We’ll have a fighting chance with the bugs.”

  They walked along, swatting mosquitoes every few steps.

  “Matthew, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. The safety thing, I mean.”

  “Not uncomfortable—”

  “You don’t need to explain,” she said quickly. “I didn’t get enough sleep, and now I’m sounding clingy.”

  “You’re sounding scared. A reasonable response to finding a stranger in your house.”

  She didn’t understand him. First a don’t-dare-need-me face, then kindness that invited more needing? It wasn’t that she needed him, anyway. A few days didn’t cancel out thirty-two years of not needing him. It was just that being with him felt good.

  She gave him a coffee-party smile. “You know what surprised me almost as much as seeing Jason in the living room? Hearing that you work for an insurance company!”

  The small-talk tone seemed to puzzle him. He glanced at her, frowning a little, then looked back at the road.

  “I hope you’re not the kind of insurance man who gives people trouble about their oil furnaces.” Before he could answer she added, “No, I suppose not. You wouldn’t be interested unless it was a really valuable furnace.”

  He ignored her attempt at a joke. “Is someone giving you trouble about your oil furnace?”

  “All the time.”

  “Well, I’m not that kind of insurance man.”

  Emily turned and started back to the house. “Corporal Reed asked me about you today.”

  “Did he? He asked me about you, too.”

  “About me!”

  “That’s what the police do when they’re investigating a crime. Ask around about everything.”

  “He mentioned insurance for Mom’s books. I wondered…I know you’re busy with your family history—”

  “I have lots of time. And I offered.”

  “Once Mom has a chance to think it over she might be glad to have the books evaluated. Not right away. She’s still rubbing Jason’s fingerprints off everything.”

  Making stilted conversation was so uncomfortable. Talking without touching, wishing for comfort when he only wanted to give advice. It was a relief to reach the driveway. She offered him a cold drink and was glad when he said he couldn’t stay.

  AS DUSK APPROACHED Emily and Julia’s uneasiness grew. Knowing someone had been in their house touching their things was unsettling. Their home wasn’t their castle—it was a thin barrier of wood and glass that anyone could knock down if they had half a mind to do it.

  Emily double checked the new dead bolts. They didn’t have much choice but to leave most of the windows open with fans in front of them, even the ones at ground-floor level. She made sure they were all set low enough that no one could squeeze through, then fit them with broomsticks and pieces of wood cut to size so they couldn’t be forced open any wider. It wasn’t foolproof. She paced from room to room knowing that sounds from outside would frighten her and wondering what on earth she would do if she actually found someone cutting through a screen.

  Finally she stretched out on the sofa with her pile of library books. She read until her eyes stung, then wished her mother good-night and went up to her room.

  Even past midnight the day’s heat was concentrated under the eaves. A small fan resting on the windowsill brought in air that was a few degrees cooler, and full of good smells, roses and willow and the summer’s first cut hay.

  A nightgown felt too vulnerable. She kept her clothes on and turned off the light, then lay down on top of the covers. In the kitchen, the kettle whistled. The cat, who had followed her upstairs, jumped from the dresser to the floor and padded away, going where the action was.

  Emily didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until a sound woke her. A faint thud. She lay still, listening, until the sound came again. From beneath her, from the living room.

  Heart pounding, she eased to the side of the bed. Light came through the floor grill. Robbers didn’t strike the same place twice, did they? She crouched by the grill. She could see the living room carpet, part of the sofa, and her mother’s hand, holding a book.

  No longer frightened, she hurried downstairs.

  “Mom? Everything all right?”

  A quick frown and a flurry of blinking. Julia was deep in concentration. Emily sat on the edge of an armchair in the corner of the room. One lamp shone a warm beam of light onto the floor in front of her mother. She was sorting books again.

  Not just a few, either. 3:00 a.m. and she’d started a major reorganization. There was no point trying to help. Whatever had dissatisfied Julia about her collection, the solution was lined up in her brain and any distraction would send her back to the beginning of the never-ending task.

  Emily eased further back into the chair. The movement brought another frown to her mother’s face but her hands, shuffling books, didn’t pause. She made a sound, a little slap of the tongue against the roof of her mouth. What had irritated her? She spread out some books again. It reminded Emily of a child’s game of Go Fish. Give me all your…

  Give me your what? Her mother’s continual sorting and organizing suggested wanting something, looking for something. Was a book lost? A borrowed book kept too long? Julia was always reluctant to lend one out and mar her collection, however briefly. Or maybe it was about the books she could never have, like the ones on papyrus.

  Emily nearly asked again what was wrong, but managed to keep quiet. She let her eyes close. Soon the sound of hard covers rasping over each other and the soft thump of books hitting the floor faded.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “WAKE UP, lazy bones.”

  Emily smiled before her eyes could open. “Sue?” She stretched. She wasn’t in bed, she was curled into the armchair in the living room. Susannah stood in front of her.

  “We’ve come for breakfast.”

  “Made it yet?”

  “Grandma’s checking your cupboards.”

  “We can’t have that.” Emily yawned and sat up straight. In spite of the chair she had slept deeply. She checked the floor. The books were put away.

  In the kitchen she found her grandmother searching the fridge while Aunt Edith held open the door and chatted.

  “They could stay,” Edith was saying. “If they really wanted to, they could. The Science Museum in Winnipeg has skeletons of things dug up in Manitoba, doesn’t it? A plesiosaur. A giant sloth. Now, I realize a sloth isn’t a dinosaur, but it’s very old and very big.”

  Julia sat at the table, ignoring the visitors, a cup of milky tea in hand. Like Emily, she was dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the night before. “I made tea. It’s still hot.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Emily touched the pot, then peered inside. There was just enough for a cup, more warm than hot. She filled the kettle. “Grandma, Aunt Edith, why don’t you sit by the fan?” She glanced at Susannah. “You, too. Keep those feet up.”

  She took a bowl of raspberries from the fridge and a bag of summer scones from the breadbox. “Can we call this breakfast?”

  “We certainly can,” Eleanor said.

  Aunt Edith spooned berries into a dessert bowl and handed it to her mother-in-law. “It may be that we did too much for our children and it’s made them selfish. Not you, Emily.”

  Emily winked at Susannah.

  Although they’d already heard the details of the break-in and arrest, Eleanor and Edith wanted to hear about it again. Emily waited until the tea was ready,
then told them about every thudding heartbeat, every glance and every tone of voice. When she was done they sat back, satisfied.

  “Good in a pinch, like his uncle,” Eleanor said. “Just as I thought.”

  “A very useful man,” Edith agreed.

  They went on about the useful Rutherford men for at least ten minutes. Emily began to feel as if she was being handed an assignment. She picked up the teapot and made the rounds, starting with her mother who sat looking at a catalog, hands over her ears, then her grandmother, her aunt and her cousin.

  Susannah hadn’t touched her cup. “I’m waiting for it to be iced tea.”

  “Poor girl,” Edith said. “This heat is hard to take at nearly eight months! Every morning I’m sure there’s going to be a huge thunderstorm and every afternoon the clouds simply don’t build. If it doesn’t rain soon there won’t be much of a crop left.”

  “Or much of a me,” Susannah said.

  “We should go to the lake. Would you like that? You could wade in up to your chin and stand there all afternoon. With a hat, of course, or your poor face will never recover! We should all go. Julia, you’d come, wouldn’t you?”

  Julia picked up her catalog and left the room.

  “Oh, dear. Did I get between her and her plans?”

  There was a short, stiff silence.

  “Aunt Edith, try to remember it’s not personal.” Emily softened her words by dripping more tea into her aunt’s already full cup. “I’d love to go to the lake.” Much better than waiting inside a locked house for a thief to come along and test their dead bolts. “Does anyone mind if I invite Matthew? The other day going into town he was envious of people headed in that direction.”

  “Of course he should come,” Edith said. “We’d all love to see him.”

  “Don’t wait, though. If he wants to go, we’ll join you later.” It was a moment before Emily noticed what she’d said. She’d made it sound as if she would only go if Matthew did. He wouldn’t like that at all.