Chapter 19
Her father had been a hoarder. He kept everything, no matter how worthless.
Every day in the Reynolds household had been a struggle for Cassie and Leah. They’d had to beg him for money for food, clothing, or school supplies. Bastard. But he’d always had money for what he wanted, which was usually nothing anyone needed, and would end up in one of his barns, unused.
The third barn held a rusty tractor, a pile of hay, and plenty of old furniture, but still no doghouse. A few things, with some refurbishing, she could use in the house or sell. Shutting that door, Leah moved on to the last barn.
This lock seemed sturdier and newer. The effort to break it was harder, but she managed it. Dropping the cutters, Leah slid the bolt open and then the doors. Entering the barn, she thought it felt different from the others. Less messy. There was still some clutter, but it was mostly empty.
She found pallets placed in a square on the floor. What had her father used those for? Two wooden crates were neatly stacked in one corner full of sacks of grain.
“Does grain go off, dog? I have so many questions and no answers.”
His little head tilted, and he gave her a soulful look.
“Hudson is going to love you, so prepare yourself for lots of cuddles and stick throwing, bud.”
She moved to the long benches. More tools and tarps, plus other farm-like stuff, but in here it was all folded neatly or stacked, unlike in the other barns. Looking up, she noted the rafters held wood and joinery.
Leah saw the shape then, under a cover. Moving closer, she raised an edge.
It was her father’s old pickup, one of the few things he’d ever treasured.
It had rust marks and dents all over it but had always run because he’d made sure of it.
However, she doubted it would now, after seven years without being used.
Unlike his daughters, who’d fended for themselves because he hadn’t cared for them, this had been looked after meticulously. Begrudgingly, her father had also taught Leah and Cassie to drive in this after they’d begged him multiple times.
Tugging the cover off completely, she felt tears sting her eyes.
“More memories,” she whispered, bending to stroke the dog’s head. It felt good to have him there, even if he was a dog. Good to have the comfort of not feeling alone in that moment as she walked down memory lane.
It was red-and-rust-colored and old. He’d once told her that one day it would be worth a lot of money, but that didn’t matter to him, as he wasn’t selling it.
Reaching the driver’s door of the pickup, Leah opened it and then climbed inside. The dog leaped in, too, and landed in her lap.
“You need to take the passenger’s seat, bud, if I’m going to get this thing started.” She nudged him onto it.
Bending, Leah ran her hand under the seat.
Her father had always kept a spare key there.
Only she and Cassie knew about it because he told them, but she was never sure why, as he had forbidden them to drive his truck alone.
Her fingers touched the cold metal of the set of keys.
She pulled them out and fitted one into the ignition.
“The battery is probably dead,” Leah said as she turned the key. Sure enough, it didn’t fire to life. “Which makes sense,” she said to her little passenger.
She got back out and wandered around the space, and under a bench hidden behind some more crates, Leah found several batteries. Two of them were brand-new. She picked up one of them, put it on the bench, and then plugged the charger in.
“Right, dog, let’s go. We need to get Hudson, and then later we’ll come back and drive that pickup because it’s now my pickup.” That made her smile. A small rebellion that her father would never know about, but she did.
They drove into Lyntacky with the windows down, letting in the afternoon breeze.
Stopping outside the school gates, she watched her nephew run toward the car. Opening the door, he stopped when he saw the dog.
“What’s that?”
“A dog. More importantly your dog. A friend needed a home for him, so I thought you’d like him. What do you think?”
Hudson’s eyes were wide as he looked at her. “Really?”
“Really. Now get in, and we’ll head home.”
He climbed in and lifted the dog onto his lap. The pup instantly licked him.
“I’ve never had a dog,” Hudson whispered.
“Well, now you do,” Leah said. “Right now he’s called dog, so maybe you can come up with a better name for him?”
“What if he doesn’t like it?” Hudson asked, stroking the dog’s head.
“He’ll like it better than dog, believe me. So, let’s think about this,” Leah suggested. “He’s rust-colored, so there’s Rusty. Or you could go with a food you like?”
Hudson tried the name out. “Rusty.”
They discussed names thoroughly until they arrived home.
Hudson then sprinted inside with the dog following him.
Clearly, Leah had been ditched by her nephew in favor of the dog.
She heard the thunder of feet on the stairs as he took his bag up.
Then he was back, jumping the last few steps and running into the kitchen with the dog on his heels.
“More good news,” Leah said. “Your tree house is finished. So you need to thank Deputy Dan when you next see him.”
Hudson pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Leah asked, dropping down before him.
“I’m so happy,” he whispered. “I know Mom’s gone, but these things—”
“It’s okay, buddy. You’re allowed to be happy, and your mom would want that for you.”
He removed his hands and looked at her. “Really?”
“Really.” Leah hugged him. “We’re both allowed to be happy here together, okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, you got a name for your new friend yet?”
Hudson opened his hand, and in it was his favorite Lego man. “Benny.”
Leah looked at the dog. “I think that’s the perfect name for him. Don’t you, Benny?”
The dog gave a little yap.
“Perfect,” Leah said, getting to her feet again, and right then, it was just that. Small steps, she reminded herself.
“Is that for me?” Hudson asked, looking at the half muffin on the plate she handed him.
“Well, I got the other half, but yes, it’s for you.” She laughed at his excitement.
Money had been tough for Cassie too. Leah knew this because she’d helped her out as much as she could.
“Also, we have chocolate for after dinner. Ryder gave me some more to test. Libby has created another new flavor.”
“So we get to try it before anyone else!” He ran at her then and threw his arms around her waist like he used to when she brought him treats. “Thank you for everything.”
“You are welcome.” She hugged him back because, in a parenting book she’d read, hugging was important. It wasn’t something she’d grown up with, but he wasn’t having a childhood like she’d had, so to ensure that, she had to step out of her comfort zone and do things like hug Hudson.
He ate, they talked about his day, and then he took Benny outside to do his business and to see the tree house. She looked outside ten minutes later, and they were running around on the grass together.
“He’s happy, Cassie,” Leah whispered, feeling a wave of sadness her sister wasn’t here to see this.
Grief, she’d realized, snuck up on you when you weren’t expecting it.
Needing a distraction, Leah went outside.
“I’m going to look in one of the sheds. You come over if you need me,” she called to Hudson.
“Okay” was his response from up in the tree house. Benny was with him.
“How’d you get him up there?”
“I carried him under one arm. We’re gonna read some books!”
“Good work.”
Leah reached the fourth barn and got the charged battery. She’d drive the pickup out of here, and it would be Hudson’s last surprise in a day full of them. Maybe they could have a quick drive around the roads before bed.
After raising the hood, she put the battery in and connected it. Then she climbed back into the driver’s seat, turned the key, and it fired to life straight away. When she pressed down on the gas, the throaty engine roared.
Selecting a gear, she took her foot off the brake and eased forward. It didn’t move.
“Weird.” Leah got back out and checked underneath. There were blocks of wood under the wheels, but that wasn’t all. Someone had looped a chain around the axle, then through a handle in the floor.
“That’s odd,” she muttered. After getting the bolt cutters, she got under the pickup and cut the chain.
It wasn’t easy maneuvering with little room, and she needed all her strength, but eventually she broke it.
Leah pulled the chain free, then got back in the pickup and drove it forward before stopping again. She got out once more.
Had her father put that handle there to keep his pickup safe? Had he been the one to lock this barn, and no one had entered since? But surely the feds had looked in here?
Bending to inspect it, Leah saw the shape of an opening. The handle was in the middle. No one would have seen this with the pickup on top.
Grabbing it, she tugged, and the door opened.
“What the hell is this, Dad?” Leah whispered, looking at the stairs now below her.
Leah pulled out her cellphone, turned on the flashlight app, and shone it down the stairs below. Why the hair on the back of her neck was suddenly standing up and she felt tense, she had no idea. It was just her in here because this time Benny was with Hudson.
Had this room always been down here? In truth, it could have been, as she and Cassie had never entered this shed. They’d had no need to. Plus, their father had told them to stay out of it.
Leah didn’t like small, dark spaces and didn’t know many people who did. But going down into one that’d been shut up for seven years didn’t rank high on her things-to-do list.
“But you can do this,” she whispered. She needed to see what was in here in case there was something she could sell. Money was important right now; she had to think of Hudson.
Taking the stairs down, Leah looked around her for any lights and found a switch on a wall. Fluorescent lights flickered on above.
“What the hell is this place?”
She saw a single long table and a safe under it. There was nothing else. No papers or things stored in here. Bending to look at the safe, she tried the door, but it was locked.
Why don’t I have a good feeling about this? Leah wondered, walking around the empty room. Maybe because if it has to do with Chuck Reynolds, none of it can be good.
“What went on in here, Dad?” Better yet, what is in that safe?
Shivering because the place felt cold and, to her, dangerous, which made no sense, Leah ran back up the stairs. After shutting the door, she then drove the pickup back onto it and covered it. She exited the barn, threw the bolt home, and went back to the house.
Tomorrow she’d deal with that. Did the federal agents who had searched this place, know that was down there? She would ring the Lyntacky Sheriff Dept and speak to Sheriff Dans in the morning. He’d know what to do about that safe.
Feeling better about making that decision, Leah headed for the tree house. “Ready for dinner, Hudson?” she called up to him.
“Okay. Can we have it out here?”
“How about we have pizza tomorrow and eat it up there?”
She managed to coax him down with the lure of chocolate for dessert. After dinner, and a bath, Leah finally had Hudson in his bed.
“I like Lyntacky,” he said after she had read him a story.
“Me too.”
“Where will Benny sleep, Aunt Leah?”
“Not sure. Where do you think he should sleep?”
His eyes went to the end of the bed, then to the dog sitting beside it, watching them talk.
“Let me find a blanket that can be especially for him, and we’ll put it on the end of your bed and see if he likes that,” Leah said.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Leah had no idea if the dog should sleep on the bottom of Hudson’s bed or not. Was that good parenting? Would the dog keep him awake? Right now, she was too tired to care, but tomorrow, she’d do some research on the subject.
“He could sleep on my blanket,” Hudson said.
“But then you can’t sleep with it,” Leah said, looking at the blanket Cassie had bought Hudson when he was a baby. “Let me take a look in the cupboard.”
Digging through the linens, she found two blankets she’d thought were long burnt or tossed out in the trash.
After a few deep breaths, she forced her mouth into a smile and went back to Hudson’s room.
“So, how about this?” She held out a baby-blue blanket that had pink elephants on it. The tassels had worn off, and it was faded. “It was your mom’s when she was little.”
Leah laid it on the bottom of the bed. She then patted it for Benny to jump up. The dog did, took a couple of turns, then settled down with a sigh, like he’d cooked dinner, put two loads of laundry on, and then walked to town and back.
“He likes it,” Hudson whispered.
“Okay, sleep time for you, bud.” She leaned down to kiss him, and his little arms snaked around her neck, which they hadn’t done since his mom’s death.
“Thank you for Benny, Aunt Leah.”
“Love you,” she said, kissing his cheeks. “Sweet dreams.”
She turned on the nightlight and let herself out the door. She pulled it, too, but not all the way, as he didn’t like it shut. Hudson had been having a few nightmares lately, which had come on since Cassie died.
Leah staggered into the bathroom, washed, and pulled on her pj’s.
She then watched an hour of mindless TV until she couldn’t keep her eyes open a second longer.
This parenting stuff was tiring. After checking on Hudson, who was sleeping, and Benny, who was doing the same on Cassie’s blanket, Leah climbed into bed.
The light on her phone flashed, and she picked it up.
Sleep well.
Leah stared at the message from Dan, then lowered her phone back onto the nightstand and closed her eyes, smiling.