Софи Келли - Paws Аnd Effect

Meanwhile the two women had found their pumpkin at last. Bella Lawrence—Lawrence because she wasn’t married to her boy’s father, the old man’s son—came up quietly behind me.

“Hello, Ms. Paulson,” she said in her soft voice. Then she pointed at a basket of apples. “Haralson are good if you looking to make pie,” she added in a slightly louder voice. “So are Honeycrisp.”

“What about these?” I asked, moving over to the end of the makeshift table as far away from Hope and the old man as I could get.

Bella shook her head. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a braid, and her face, devoid of any makeup, made her look like a teenager—too young to be the mother of a six-year-old. “Those are SnowSweet. Good for eating, not for pie.”

She lowered her voice again. “The old man is lying to your friend,” she said. “I know she’s a police officer. She talked to Duncan’s class when they toured the fire station.”

Neither one of us was any good at undercover work it seemed.

“Please don’t tell him,” I whispered.

She smiled. “What he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him. Anyway, I owe you. You should hear Duncan read now that he’s in your Reading Buddies. He isn’t going to be stuck here, that’s for sure.”

I picked an apple from the top of one of the baskets and pretended to be considering it just in case the old man was looking our way. “So he does have some off-road vehicles?” I said.

“A truck and an old Jeep.”

“Has anyone used either one of them lately?”

Bella picked up the basket of apples directly in front of me. “Good choice,” she said. She led me around behind the mound of pumpkins. “You know that thing planned for the lake? The resort?”

I nodded. “He doesn’t want it to happen. He figures the county’ll make him fix this place up and come after him for tax on all the stuff he’s selling. This guy came looking for something off-road.” Her eyes met mine. “I listen because it’s good to know things. He said he could stop the development from happening but he didn’t want anyone to know he’s been over on that land.”

I described John.

“That’s him,” she said. She took a pumpkin from the pile. “Is that everything?” she asked.

“It is,” I said. “Thank you.”

Bella dumped the apples into a paper bag and I paid her for everything. As she handed the bag of apples to me she bent her head close to mine. “If you want to look at that Jeep it’s parked in a lean-to out to the back of here. Head that way.” She pointed down the road. “Watch for a peeling green post and some yellow tape around a tree. That’s the road you want.” She straightened up and gave me a practiced smile. “Thanks for coming. Stop by again.”

I set the apples and the pumpkin on the backseat. Hercules immediately stuck his nose in the bag.

Hope slid behind the wheel with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Turn right,” I said.

She glanced at me, eyes narrowed, but put on the right-turn blinker. “That was a waste of time,” she said once we were on the road. “And why did you want to go this way?”

“Because John did rent an off-road vehicle from Gerald Hollister and I know where it is.”

“How do you do that?” Hope asked, shaking her head, a smile starting to spread across her face.

“Do what?” I said, keeping my eyes glued to the side of the road. I was watching for a post with peeling green paint and a piece of yellow flagging tape tied around a tree.

“Get people to tell you things.”

“Bella Lawrence is living with Gerald’s son. Her little guy is in Reading Buddies and she doesn’t like the old man very much.”

“In other words she was happy to help you.”

“And throw a bit of a monkey wrench into in his plans as well.” I caught sight of the green post. “Up there,” I said, gesturing at the road ahead. “There’s a gravel road. Turn off.”

We pulled off the main road onto an unpaved track. Hope stopped and put the car in park. “Okay, where are we going?” she asked, turning toward me.

“Bella told me that Gerald rented a cut-down Jeep to John so he could get around the property out by the lake. He agreed to keep it quiet because it’s to his advantage.” I explained what Bella had told me about her almost father-in law’s position on the development.

“So why are we on a dirt road in the woods?” Hope asked.

“Because the Jeep is at a lean-to at the back end of Hollister’s land, according to Bella.”

I pointed at the road ahead through the windshield. “If you follow this it turns and runs behind Hollister’s land and Wisteria Hill. I came out here this summer to pick blueberries with Roma.”

“If we could get a look at that Jeep and there’s damage—”

“It shouldn’t be that hard to link the vehicle back to John,” I said.

She nodded slowly. “I don’t imagine the old man will be so tight-lipped when there are murder charges involved.” An impatient meow came from the backseat. Hope grinned. “I think that means ‘Get moving.’”

“I think you’re right,” I said.

We drove by the back of Hollister’s property the first time and had to double back. I remembered Roma pointing out where his property and hers met, noting the remnants of a ramshackle fence in the scrub and bushes close to the road.

“Watch for a broken-down fence,” I said. Hercules moved to the driver’s side of the car and looked up at the window. But it was Hope who spotted the weathered wood and sagging barbed wire.

“There!” she said, pointing through the windshield. She pulled the car off the road as far as she could onto the narrow shoulder then turned in her seat and looked at me. “I think you should stay here.”

“Not a chance,” I said, unfastening my seat belt. “I’m going to get out of the car, climb over what’s left of that fence and trespass on Gerald Hollister’s property. Being an officer of the law, you’re going to come after me, because I’m breaking the law. And as an officer of the law, if you happen to find evidence of one crime while you’re trying to stop another—” I held up my hands. “Who can find fault with that?”

She gave me a wry smile. “A lot of people can, Kathleen. Your scenario has more holes than my old rain boots.”

It was raining now, a steady drizzle that made me wish I had my own rain boots.

“I know,” I said. I took a deep breath and let it out. “Just stay here, Hope. I’ll go look for the Jeep, I’ll take photos with my phone and bring them back for you to look at.”

She was shaking her head before I finished speaking. “No way.”

“Then I guess we’re both going,” I said. I looked over my shoulder at Hercules sitting in the middle of the backseat. “Guard the car,” I told him.

“Mrr,” he said as if he’d understood, which I knew was a definite possibility.

Hope and I got out and walked across the dirt road. There was a narrow shoulder that dropped down steeply to a wide, muddy ditch. The fence began on the other side. There were bushes and spindly trees growing up, through and around it.

We made our way down the bank and through the mud, which sucked at our shoes. Up close the fence was taller than I’d expected. The wire was barbed. I couldn’t see any way to get a handhold or foothold over.

“We’re not getting over this, are we?” Hope said.

“No,” I said. “That barbed wire may be old but that doesn’t mean it won’t tear your skin apart.” I walked alongside the fence, hoping I’d find a break in it somewhere, but it just continued around the corner and into the dark, damp woods. I turned and headed back to where Hope was standing. “This isn’t going to work. The fence continues into the woods. We could spend hours walking and not find a way to get over safely.”