by Celia Roman
Or maybe instinct took over back then. Maybe I missed something that night I found my sweet boy’s blood. Maybe that pooka weren’t to blame and I murdered an innocent creature instead of ridding the land of a killer.
Stone cold, coon crazy. Like mother, like daughter.
Damn Libby Squirrel for planting doubts in my head.
Riley crossed the room and brushed a kiss across my forehead. “Sleep on it, baby. You’ll know what to do come morning.”
His words startled me good. Such implicit faith in a woman what held none.
I caught his hand as he was turning away. “You’re too good to me, Riley Treadwell.”
A faint smile stretched his mouth, erasing the last line of temper etched into his face. “Don’t you forget it, Sunshine Walkingstick.”
I grinned around the echo of heartache lingering inside me. That was one thing I’d try my darnedest to do, from now ‘til he got tired of me and my ornery ways.
Chapter Ten
Early the next morning, I begged a ride home from Riley. Sleeping in his bed weren’t so bad. Now, I can’t pretend he stayed on his side and kept to himself. That’d be an out and out lie. But the worst he did was curl himself around me after the lights went off and hold me safe and sound ‘til the rooster crowed dawn awake.
I needed him.
The notion had me squirming in the passenger’s seat. Been a long time since I needed somebody other’n family, and even then, it was hit or miss.
Riley was…Riley. Stalwart and kind and endlessly patient, or near enough. And I needed that, craved it my whole life long. What’d it be like to have somebody steady in my life, somebody what wouldn’t run off or forget me, the way Daddy and Mama done? Somebody like Fame, ‘cept a friend and a lover and a rallying point all in one?
Speaking of, I had a thing or two to say to my uncle, God bless him. I sure loved him with all my heart, but it was long past time he answered my questions about my family straight like.
Riley eased his SUV into its spot by the IROC and shut the engine off. I rested a hand on the door, waited for him to speak or get out. When he didn’t, I glanced over at him. He was staring off into the tree line beyond the trailer. His hands was loose on the steering wheel, but his mouth was set in a thin slash across his face.
“I gotta go up and see Fame for a minute.” I clamped my mouth shut and searched for a way to let Riley know everything was ok. Well, it weren’t right then, but it was gonna be. “You want, you can wait inside. Shouldn’t take long up the hill.”
He shook his head once, hard, and opened his door. “You’re not facing him alone.”
I knowed that voice. It was fresh in my head, being newly introduced last night. That was his we’re doing things my way tone. I was too tired to argue with it, drained thin from ever thing what’d happened in the past day.
“C’mon, then,” I said, and I got out and led him up the hill, both of us quieter’n the wood. When we got there, I banged a fist into the front door of Fame’s trailer.
Missy answered wearing a worn flannel shirt and an old pair of cutoffs with her sable curls piled willy-nilly on top of her head. Her eyes darted past me, and even I could read the curiosity resting there. “Hello, Sunshine.”
I jabbed a thumb at Riley, suddenly nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. Was the first time I brung a man to meet my family since Terry Whitehead, and ever body in God’s creation knowed how that turned out. “Missy, this is Riley Treadwell. Riley, this is my aunt Melissa Duggins.”
Missy held out a hand and smiled her best hospitality smile at Riley. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Riley.”
Riley nodded and grasped her hand. “Ma’am.”
“Call me Missy. Everyone does.” She stepped back and waved us in, then closed the door behind us. “Fame’s in his shop.”
“Best get him,” I said.
Missy’s violet eyes shifted from friendly to concerned faster’n spit. “Is everything ok, darling?”
“Will be when Fame answers a few questions I got.”
She glanced between me and Riley again, then pivoted on the ball of one bare foot and exited through the back door.
I fidgeted for about twenty seconds before I landed on something to do while she fetched Fame. “You want the nickel tour?”
“I’ve been here before,” Riley said.
I eyed the hard set of his jaw over one shoulder. “No, you ain’t.”
“Just once.”
I was about to ask the details when the trailer’s backdoor opened. Fame slipped into the main room a minute later, silent and deadly as a coiled up rattlesnake, followed by a frowning Missy. Them wild blue eyes of his fell on Riley and his step hesitated the slightest fraction.
What was going on between them two?
Fame nodded to Riley, seeming not the least bit concerned that the son of his age old enemy was standing in his home blocking one of the exits. “Hey, Sunny girl. Missy said you needed to talk.”
“I got some questions,” I agreed easy enough. “Saw Libby Squirrel in the Wal-Mart last night. She said a thing or two about Henry.”
Fame never blinked, but something slid into them eyes of his, something knowing and deep and hidden. “Family business is for family.”
That steamed me up good. I said, “Riley stays,” and at the same time, Riley’s deeper voice echoed mine and he said, “I’m staying.”
Missy sank into a chair at the kitchen table, her expression a mite too blank for belief. “I’m staying, too, unless anyone objects.”
I shot her an exasperated glare, and her eyes went round and mock innocent.
“Sunny’s concerned the pooka she tracked down might not’ve been what killed Henry.”
I swung around and eyed Riley. His arms was crossed over his chest and his feet was planted wide, rooted in the carpet like a great, giant oak.
He shrugged one shoulder. “It wasn’t hard to figure out what was wrong last night.”
A million questions jumbled into my noggin, all pressing to be heard, chief amongst ‘em, when had he learned about that pooka?
Now weren’t the time for them questions, though. I sniffed and turned back around, and speared my uncle with the toughest look in my arsenal. “Libby asked if I was sure a pooka killed my boy.”
“You tracked it,” Fame said, even as a level. “You forget how to hunt down a wild animal that night?”
Not likely. My mind was sharp and clear the night Henry was killed, God rest him. Don’t mean I couldn’t err. I was a mere mortal, after all, and we was known to make mistakes. “Weren’t no sign of nothing else.”
“But that’s not what’s worrying you, is it, Sunny girl?”
He was right on the mark there. I stuck my fingers into my jeans pockets, the ones I wore yesterday since I hightailed it up here without taking the time to change. “Libby mentioned as how me and her was related through our grandmas.”
Fame grunted. “Yeah, that’s right.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. Sure enough, he knowed more’n he was saying. I just hadn’t found the key to unlock the words yet.
And right then, it hit me. Maybe I did have the right key. Maybe it’d been sitting in front of me the whole time.
“Johnny Walkingstick,” I said, and Fame paled a shade. No idea why that shot satisfaction through me, but I’d stated it. Now all I had to do was run with it. “He come by the trailer a while back wanting to reconcile.”
Fame was shaking his head before I got the last word out. “You stay away from that ol’ fool, Sunny.”
“Why should I?”
“Because he’s messed up in something you don’t need no part of.”
“I got a right to know what.” And because I was as foolhardy as the next Carson by blood, I added, “I got a right to know my own kin.”
“That man,” Fame said, nigh on spitting out the words, “ain’t no kin of yourn.”
My fingers tightened into fists inside my pockets. “That’s the first time
you ever lied to me.”
“His wife disowned your daddy.”
“Blood is blood.”
“Yeah, it is, Sunny. You really wanna know what’s in yourn?”
That startled me good. I knowed what was in my blood, knowed it inside and out. Lived with it ever day I hunted another monster and relived the kill in my dreams. Fame knowed it, too, so why was he asking me like that?
Riley stepped up beside me, his hands loose at his sides. “Be careful what you say to her, Fame.”
Fame’s lean body tensed like a wire strung taut. “I done told you to mind your own, Treadwell. Ain’t a-tellin’ you again.”
“She’s a good woman,” Riley continued, like Fame never spoke word one. “I won’t have you running her down.”
Fame huffed out a scoffing laugh, though his eyes was near feral behind the blue. “I take care of my own.”
“Yeah? Me, too.” Riley placed a warm hand along my back, down low near the waistband of my jeans. “You hear what you need, baby?”
I near about laughed. Sure, I heard enough. Interpreting it was the problem. Danged if I could make heads nor tails of what was going on in this room. “I heard enough. For now.”
Missy stood so sudden, her chair near about tipped over. “Tell her, Fame.”
“I ain’t—” Fame started out, and calm, sweet-tempered Missy slapped a palm to the kitchen table and scowled at him. “You tell her or I will, and you may not like the way I tell it.”
I glanced between the two of ‘em, sure I landed in the Twilight Zone. Missy never stood up to Fame, never, ‘specially not in front of us kids. Reckon she found my gumption or maybe she just hid hers well.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
Fame’s lips tightened the barest bit. “Your daddy’s family, his parents. They’re involved in a feud.”
“Well, I don’t know what that’s like a’tall,” I said, and the words was scorching hot and bitter. “Having been on the wrong side of one my whole life long.”
“Not détente, Sunny. A feud.” Fame’s gaze slipped off of me and landed on Riley. “Best stay out of it ‘til it’s settled.”
“How long?” Riley asked.
“No idea.”
“Hey, now,” I said, but Riley squeezed my elbow and said, “C’mon, baby. You can fuss at me later.”
That was a promise I intended to hold him to. I twisted my elbow out of his grip and crossed the room. Fame was still my best family. I weren’t leaving without reminding him of that, nor myself of how much I owed him. I threw my arms around his shoulders, stood on tiptoe, and whispered, “I love you, you ol’ coot.”
His arms come around me, hugging hard, and he whispered back, “I love you, too, Sunny girl.”
And I remembered something right then what shoulda occurred to me a mite sooner. Fame hardly ever forbid me from something. Riley’d never been off limits in spite of his lawman heritage, but painters and my daddy’s family was, and both of ‘em here of late. What was it about them two things what scared Fame enough to warn me off? And if it worried Fame, should it do more’n worry me?
We ended on a somewhat awkward note. I promised to call later with an invite for supper, and me and Riley left, not much the wiser as to what was going on.
I shooed Riley off to church soon as we got back to my trailer. Lordy, I was fond of him, but I needed a breather from ever thing and ever body. I watched him drive away, waving the whole time, then changed into old clothes and throwed myself into cleaning the trailer good.
Folks could accuse me of a lot of things, but keeping an untidy roost weren’t one of ‘em.
The expulsion of restless energy done me good. By the time noon rolled around, I was wore out, but my noggin was clearer than it been in days. I weren’t ready to challenge it with anything emotional, though, so I plopped down in the chair behind my makeshift desk and sorted through recent cases.
Still hadn’t figured out what was getting into old Aunt Sadie’s garden. Seeing as how the fall crops was all about in, that weren’t too urgent a matter. Didn’t excuse neglecting it. I writ down a reminder in block letters in tomorrow’s section of my organizer.
I went down the list of clients, crossing off what’d been dealt with, and tapped a finger next to the entry for the Kildares. Ol’ Blue was still missing along with his lady friend, ‘less Billy’s mom forgot to call me with an update. I sighed and sat back in my chair. Weren’t like the coon dog to stay gone this long, but what could I do to find him what ain’t already been done?
I pulled out my cellphone, about to dial the Kildares’ number, and happened to catch the time. Lunchtime on a Sunday. They was likely still eating, and I weren’t about to disturb family time. Ol’ Blue could wait another hour ‘til the Kildares was good and settled into their afternoon.
Nothing else needed doing, so I propped my bare heels on the wooden plank topping my desk and picked up where I left off in a brand new book about Internet marketing. Hey, word of mouth weren’t the only way to grow a business. A website might come in handy. If nothing else, it’d have my number on it or another way to contact me. Might bring in new business and might not, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?
My cellphone jiggled, interrupting my musings. I thumbed it on. The Kildares’ number ran across the screen. That’d be young Billy’s mother, probably wanting an update. I answered with a cheery, “Howdy, Dori.”
A muffled sob drifted across the line. “Sunny, thank God you’re there. You won’t believe what’s happened.”
I swung my legs down and leaned forward in the chair. “What’s wrong, hon?”
“It’s Ol’ Blue. They found him.” She cleared her throat, sniffled. “A forest ranger found him out on Patterson Gap Road.”
That deep uneasiness seized me, stealing my breath, and my heart flipped over behind my sternum. “What happened?”
“They don’t know. Oh, Sunny.” Another sob escaped, and when Dori spoke again, her voice was muffled. “There’s not a scratch on him.”
And Ol’ Blue weren’t old enough for old age to get him. It was just a name Billy give him after watching Old Yellow. He raised Ol’ Blue from a pup, got him not more’n three years back.
I dropped my head into my free hand, scrubbed it over my stick straight hair, fighting déjà vu with ever motion. A painter dead without a scratch and now Ol’ Blue, and both of ‘em found on Patterson Gap Road. It was a long stretch of dirt and gravel, but were it really a coincidence?
“You know the name of the ranger?” I asked.
She told me and I writ it down. Name didn’t ring a bell, but that didn’t mean nothing. I could hardly remember my own name at times. “You pick up the body yet?”
“They’re holding it for a few days. Running tests or something. I don’t know.”
“It’s probably nothing,” I said, gentle as I could. “What can I do?”
A low wail erupted from her and was cut off just as quick. “Billy don’t know yet. I’m telling him when he gets home from the church’s youth group.”
The same one Henry woulda been in if he lived.
Memory flashed on Libby Squirrel’s concerned parting words and fatigue swept over me, nibbling away at my energy. I had to sort that out soon. Just not right now.
I offered to drop by and be there when Dori told Billy about Ol’ Blue, and she thanked me and said as how that weren’t necessary. I hung up feeling like the lowest form of pond scum. Ol’ Blue was dead. I let him down same as Henry, same as I let down so many other folks, but old regrets didn’t bring back the dead no matter how hard I beat myself up with ‘em.
Chapter Eleven
That night, sleep visited in fits and starts between haunting dreams. I remembered not a one when I woke, but an uneasy ache seeped into me, lingering long after the day begun.
Soon as I got some coffee into me, I called the forest ranger Dori told me about and scheduled an appointment for that afternoon. After, I could run out to Patterson Gap Road and pinpo
int where Ol’ Blue was found against where me and David found that painter. And in between, I could do what I shoulda done in the first place and scout out local legends about painters. Riley distracted me from it Saturday when we was in the library, but he was back at work now, giving me nary an excuse to shun duty.
I made a bologna sandwich, wrapped it up tight, and stuck it, an apple, and a pint of water in a sack along with a spare change of clothes and an old towel. I double checked my knife and on impulse pulled out my 1911 and its holster. Never hurt to be prepared.
My to do list for the day was pretty long. First stop was at the Kildares’ neighbor. The missus greeted me at the door and confirmed that Lady was still missing. We chatted for a bit about her and Ol’ Blue, reminiscing about both dogs, then I volunteered to print up and post some missing dog posters, no charge.
A website sure would come in handy for such as that.
The missus dug up a recent picture of Lady, and I promised to return it soon as I was done making posters.
I dropped by the Kildares’ next in the hopes of checking on Billy’s state of mind via Dori. The driveway and garage was empty. Like as not, Dori was out running errands and whatnot. I made a mental note to stop by Ingles and get a card for Billy, what good it’d do to cheer him up. Hallmark weren’t no substitute for a boy’s favorite companion.
Time was on my side, so I went a bit outta my way and run out to Warwoman to visit with ol’ Aunt Sadie. She was in her front yard raking leaves with a wood-tined rake. Soon as the IROC’s engine caught her attention (she was nigh on deaf as a doorknob, was Aunt Sadie), she looked up and grinned a toothless grin at me and waved me in. Before I hardly parked the car and got out, she’d tottered toward me, mischief cackling out of her plain as day.
“Sunny, Sunny,” she said. “Lookee what I got.”
I slammed the driver’s side door shut. “What you been up to, Aunt Sadie?”
“Set out some bait and caught me a critter.”
Uh-oh. If she was happy to see me, no telling what kinda critter she nabbed. Nothing natural, was my guess, but with Aunt Sadie, who could tell?