Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Aiden
“H arve, it's Aiden ... Oh, yeah, just fine. You?...Listen, you know the Gallagher place off Old Farm Road?...Yeah, that’s it. When we moved Nellie out, we didn’t check windows.
..Exactly. They’ve made it their home. Her granddaughter is trying to live there.
..I don’t know the story, but she’s living there.
..Raccoon, opossums, martens, mice...I haven’t seen one of those yet.
..Well, that gives me something to look forward to, doesn’t it? ...
“That’s why I’m calling. How much would you charge to come take a look and give an estimate?...Free, she can afford. Tomorrow afternoon?...I’ll run up and talk to her, see if she agrees. Plan on coming. I’ll call you if for some reason tomorrow isn’t good for her...Yeah, I appreciate it.”
She was sleeping in a chair or in her car, afraid to be in her own house.
It wasn’t right. I was just upholding my duties as an officer of the law.
Serve and protect. It was no different than when Mrs. Jameson ran out to the sidewalk and pulled me in to get a heavy box off the top shelf in her shop’s storage room, or when Cecil asked if I’d be on the planning committee for the new retirement home. No different.
As for the cupcakes, I bought too many. She’s skinny as hell already. She could use the fat and sugar. I was doing this for Nellie. I loved Nellie, and Nellie had loved Katie. Civic duty was all it was.
Standing, I grabbed my hat, walked out of my office and through the station. “Heather, I’m going to be out for an hour or so. Call if you need me.”
“Sure, Chief,” she said, resuming her typing.
I checked to make sure the bakery boxes were still on the back seat and then took off. She was going to need furniture, too. She might not be able to find much in the Harbor. South Harbor had a secondhand shop. She might need to get off the island, though, hit Trenton.
Then again, she may end up reconciling with her husband and all of this will have just been an adventure story. I rubbed my chest.
I was dropping off some food and trying to get her an exterminator. Nothing more. You can dislike and mistrust someone without wishing her ill. I didn’t have to care about her to make sure she and her moose hadn’t been attacked by wolves.
The image of her at her kitchen table, head down, upset with herself for hurting a baby raccoon came unbidden. Again. Still, this didn’t mean anything.
Kate
Driving home , I watched russet leaves swirling in the wake of the cars speeding up Main toward the Old Farm Road that led to Gran’s. When I pulled up to the house, I was overwhelmed by a sense of home.
I opened the front door and Chaucer bounded out, sniffing every inch of me. “Today was an adventure. I’ll tell you that much.” I walked through the entrance, my wariness returning immediately. “Did you scare off any critters while I was gone?”
Chaucer whined from the front porch, not following me in. Shit.
“What is it? What did you see?” I whispered. Please don’t be a bat. Please don’t be a bat .
He pranced on the porch, wanting to be right next to me but not wanting to enter the house again.
Double shit. Okay, enough of this crap. I was announcing my presence with authority.
I hung the clothing bag on the doorknob, not wanting to leave it on the ground where rodents or snakes could take up residence.
Snakes! How had I not thought of those before?
“Please tell me you didn’t see a snake. I’m begging you, Chaucer.
Tell me it was one of those heckling marmosets. ”
He just stared at me, shying away from the doorway and whining.
“Mommy’s got this!” I ran into the kitchen, flung open the back door, grabbed two pots from the cupboard, and proceeded to race around the house, screaming and banging the pots.
No more, you little bastards! I tried not to think about the quick, skittering movement I saw all around me.
Chaucer howled, but I was exorcising this joint, once and for all.
As I raced back down the stairs, I saw a huge man standing silhouetted in the door. I stopped screaming and tried to back up, forgetting where I was. I ended up on my ass, sliding down the stairs before falling in a heap at the bottom. He moved toward me and I held up my pots in defense.
He wrenched the pots out of my hands and crouched down next to me. Aiden. Of course. “Have you lost it, Katie?”
“Ha, ha.” I tried to get up but lost my balance. My ass was killing me. Damn, that really freaking hurt.
He pulled me up with one hand. The other was holding bakery boxes. Weird. Maybe I’d hit my head again. I reached out and poked his chest. Seemed real enough.
“Will you please stop poking me?”
I snatched my hand away and gave him my squinty, suspicious look. “Why are you here, and what is in those boxes?”
He angled his body, keeping the boxes out of my reach. “You first. Why are you racing around like a crazy person?”
I stamped a foot, frustration getting the better of me. “I’m trying to scare off whatever is in here that has Chaucer whining and unwilling to come back inside!”
He looked me up and down. “Maybe you’re what’s freaking him out.”
“P’fft. He adores me. Don’tcha, baby?” I picked up the pots and glanced through the empty open door. “Chaucer?”
My dog stepped into the doorway, watched me warily for a moment, and then ducked out of sight again.
“Well, sure, now I’m the one scaring him, but before, it was something in here.” I stomped and banged my way back to the kitchen. Leaving the pots on the counter, I shut the back door. Turning around, I found Aiden leaning against the doorframe. “Tell me you don’t have snakes around these parts.”
He shrugged. “Some.”
I walked over and smacked his arm. Hard. “What is the matter with you? The answer is always ‘No. No snakes around here. Not for hundreds of miles.’ Is that really so hard?”
“But that would be a lie.” He shoved a finger in my face, backing me up. “And if you push, poke, or smack me again, I will put you in cuffs.”
“Jeez. You cops are such babies. Delicate, dainty flowers, each and every one of you.” I ducked around the pissy cop and jogged to the front door. “Chaucer, baby! All clear. You can come in now.”
He stepped in, looking around, his nose twitching. I went down on my knees to rub and hug him. “Mommy totally scared it off.” He licked my ear and then placed himself in front of me, growling down the hall toward the laundry room.
Aiden dropped the boxes on the dining table and went down the hall to investigate.
I whispered to Chaucer, “He’s handy to have around. Shh, though. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“Can you go out to the cruiser and get the duffel bag in the back seat?” Aiden called down the hall.
My stomach twisted. More fricking animals.
I didn’t consider myself fainthearted, but holy crap!
There was only so much a person could take.
I stomped down the front steps toward the cruiser.
The back door was locked. How was I supposed to get the bag?
There was a metal gate between the front and back seats, so I couldn’t go that way.
I jogged back to the house and tiptoed down the hall to Aiden. He was blocking my view of the laundry room, but that was okay. I didn’t want to see whatever he was looking at.
“Got it?”
“Nope. Door’s locked,” I whispered. No idea why, as he wasn’t doing the same.
“Keys are on my belt.”
He wasn’t moving an inch, which was freaking me the hell out. What did he have pinned in there? My hand crept around his waist, not wanting to call attention to myself. I went into his front pocket, trying to find the keys. Empty.
“Well, groping is better than poking and slapping, but I said the keys were on my belt, not in my pocket.” He pulled my paralyzed hand out of what I’d just realized was very close proximity to his personal business. He snapped the keys off his belt and put them in my hand. “Bag.”
I hopped back and scampered out of the house to retrieve the bag. A moment later, I was reaching around to hand it to him.
He took the bag slowly and said, “Why don’t you and Chaucer wait out on the porch?” When I paused, he said, “Go on, now.”
He found us on the porch. I was sitting on the rail, wanting my feet up. “As long as I’m here, I’ll check the traps again.” He pulled one of the almost-forgotten boxes from behind his back. “Here. Take your mind off what I’m doing.”
A moment later, I heard a loud squeal. I jumped off the porch and ran straight to his car.
Chaucer jumped in first, sitting in the passenger seat, while I sat on the driver’s side.
I closed and locked the doors, staring intently through the windshield, willing him to catch whatever in the heck had just made that sound.
An eternity later, he stepped out the front door, scanning the yard. Spotting me leaning over the steering wheel, he stopped, picked up the pink box I’d dropped on the porch, and strode to the car.
“You can come out now.”
I glanced at him, but my attention was fixed on the front door. I’d been thinking of every animal that could have possibly made that squeal. It was a long and horrifying list.
“Katie, you can come out now.”
I shook my head. No way was I going out there, where squealing animals roamed.
He knocked on the window. The box was open, and two banged-up but amazing cupcakes were pointed at me. “If you come out, you can have the cupcakes.”
I might die a horrible death, but I’d get cupcakes first. Seemed like a good deal to me.
I opened the door slowly, looking around before I stepped out.
Chaucer bounded out after me. I reached for the cupcakes, but he pulled them away from me.
My brows slammed down and I readied my finger for poking.
“Trade. Give me my keys and you can have the cupcakes.” He was moving toward the porch, and I reluctantly followed the retreating sweets.
“Do I want to know what made that horrible noise?”