Софи Келли - Paws Аnd Effect

Rain was dripping off the edge of her hood onto her face and she swiped at it impatiently with the heel of her hand. “Then you’re just going to have to give me a boost over and I’ll take my chances with that barbed wire, because I’m not leaving without finding that Jeep.”

“I have an idea that might work better,” I said.

“You’re not going to suggest we send Hercules in with the camera, are you?” she asked.

I shook my head and water sprayed off my jacket. “Nah, he wouldn’t go. Hercules hates getting his feet wet. I think we might be able to get to this piece of land through Roma’s. I don’t think this fence goes all the way around on the section where the properties abut. I know those woods a lot better, too.”

“All right,” Hope said. “Let’s go.”

We went back to the car and Hope drove slowly down the woods road and turned back onto the main road toward Wisteria Hill.

“What are we going to tell Roma we’re doing out here?” Hope asked.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hercules’s head swing around toward me when he heard Roma’s name.

“She’s not here,” I said. “She’s over in Red Wing helping the vet there with a surgery. She won’t be back until later tonight.”

Hope glanced at me as the car reached the top of the driveway. “Seems like we got lucky.”

“Let’s hope it keeps up,” I said.

Hope and I got out. Once again I’d told Hercules to guard the car. He’d climbed into the front and was sitting on the passenger side, watching us through the side window. It was still raining and I had no worries about him leaving the vehicle.

Hope looked around. “Okay, which way?”

I pointed at the carriage house. “There’s a path around the side that leads across a field and into the woods. If we stay close to the brook there’s a place where the water is low that we can cross and then we should be on Hollister’s land. If we keep heading back that way we should come on the lean-to.”

“Let’s do this,” Hope said.

We made our way around the weathered old carriage house and across the overgrown field behind it. The embankment had been graded and reinforced with a rock wall and it was fairly easy to climb up to the top. I pointed through the trees that stretched ahead of us. “Can you hear that?” I asked.

Hope pushed back the hood of her jacket. “That’s water, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “That’s the brook. If we follow it back about half a mile there’s a place I’m pretty sure we can get across.”

The trees provided some cover from the rain as we walked. “How did you get to know all this area so well?” Hope asked.

“Mostly Roma, a little bit Maggie and Rebecca,” I said. “Roma convinced me to join her group of volunteers who take care of the feral cat colony back before she even owned Wisteria Hill. I started spending more time out here and I just started exploring. Then Rebecca began teaching Maggie about the uses for different plants and when they came out here to look for some of them I’d usually come with them.” I smiled at the memory of walking through these woods with Rebecca, who would point out tiny plants I’d never noticed before. “Rebecca grew up out here. Her mother worked for the Hendersons.”

“I like her,” Hope said. “Rebecca, I mean.”

I nodded. “I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t. Owen and Hercules are crazy about her. She buys Owen those catnip chickens. It’s like she’s his catnip chicken dealer.”

Hope smiled. “Sorry. I don’t think that’s a crime.” She put out a hand to steady herself as the ground began to slope downward. “Can I ask you how you picked their names? Is there some literary connection?”

“There is for Owen,” I said. “His name comes from A Prayer for Owen Meany . I was reading it when I first got the cats and he kept sitting on the book. Now I realize it was probably to get my attention.”

“What about Hercules? That’s Roman mythology, not Greek, right? Hercules is named for the guy who did the twelve labors.”

“Right,” I said.

“Okay, that was a lie,” she said.

I looked over at her. “No, it wasn’t. Hercules is the son of the god Zeus and a mortal woman.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, I don’t doubt that. What I meant was you’re lying about naming your cat after him.”

“How did you know?” I said.

“You answered too quickly.”

I laughed. “I’ll remember that next time I want to fudge the truth. No, Hercules isn’t exactly named for the son of Zeus. He’s actually named for Kevin Sorbo. He played Hercules in a TV series back in the nineties.”

“So why didn’t you name Hercules Kevin?” I could see she was trying not to laugh.

“So I could avoid having conversations like this one.”

Hope did laugh then. “How’s that working out?”

Just then we came level with an area where the brook widened and the water was much shallower. Several large rocks made a bridge of sorts to the other side. “I’m pretty sure this is the spot,” I said.

The rocks were wet and slippery but we both made it across safely.

My shoes were oozing water. So were Hope’s. “Are they your new running shoes?” I asked, pointing to her neon-yellow-and-green footwear. Hope was training for another triathlon. Marcus had convinced her to buy new shoes with fancy inserts that had been custom made in Minneapolis.

Hope looked down at her feet. “I knew spending all that money on these things was a bad idea.” She looked around. “Which way do we go?”

“That way,” I said with a confidence I didn’t completely feel. I pointed more or less northwest. If Hope thought I was lying again she kept that to herself.

We walked for another twenty minutes or so. Hope was the first to spot the lean-to up ahead of us in a small clearing. A rough road curved away from it off to the far left side. The lean-to looked more like a section of an old barn left after the other half had collapsed. I had my fingers crossed as we made our way closer, and then I spotted it.

“The Jeep is there,” I said to Hope.

“Stay here,” she said, holding up one hand.

I stopped where I was while she made her way carefully closer, bending low to study the front end of the vehicle. Finally she turned and looked at me. “There’s front-end damage, Kathleen,” she said, and I could hear the excitement in her voice. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to take a couple of pictures and we can get out of here.”

“I don’t think so,” a voice said, and John Keller stepped into the clearing.

15

Hope’s hand moved almost imperceptibly.

“Don’t even think about it,” John said, gesturing with the gun in his right hand. “I can shoot your gun right out of your hand. In fact, I can shoot you in the hand before you can even get the gun out, and then shoot Kathleen in the hand just because she really irritates me.”

Hope held up both hands, palms facing John. “Okay. No gun. But you know this isn’t going to work.”

“Do they teach you to say that the first day of cop school? Because I have to say it’s pretty lame.”

“Gerald Hollister may be willing to lie about renting you that Jeep,” I said. “But when they find our bodies out here, shot to death, he won’t keep covering for you.”

John smiled at me like he was a teacher and I was his star pupil. “Very good, Kathleen. However, you missed two key points. One, your bodies aren’t going to be out here and two, I’m not going to shoot you, as tempting as that might be.”

“So what are you going to do?” I asked.

His wet hair dripped onto his face but he didn’t seem to notice. “Right now I’m going to get Detective Lind’s gun.” He looked at her. “Pull it out nice and slow. Two fingers. Try anything funny and I’ll shoot Kathleen.”