by Helen Conrad
"Ah, man," Blake said, and he leaped to the other side of the table to cut the duck off at the pass. It was airborne by then, its feet just grazed by the tips of Blake's fingers. "He's cheating! He's got wings!"
The door slammed open again and Kate was rushing through. She tried to pull the same trick as the duck by leaping over Blake, but met with limited success. She kicked him in the gut and smashed against his chest once again and it was like hitting a brick wall, knocking her flat on the ground.
"Ow!" the two humans said in unison as the duck burglar quacked his valediction and made for the open window. The two of them sprawled across the linoleum looked like the end of a particularly successful party. For his part, Blake had been knocked around enough to feel a little drunk.
"Come on, we've got to hurry," Blake said, making his way to his feet. They were wobbly beneath him, but if he moved with deliberation he wasn't going to fall. He reached down to help Kate, but she was already up and heading towards the door.
"We've got to get that locket," she said, hitting the door jam.
"Okay," Blake said. He leaned against the wall to catch up his strength. "Just give me a minute."
"I can't even see him anymore. He's gone out into those woods. How many ducks are there around here anyway?"
"Counting him? One, that I've seen. They've probably got a headquarters out there somewhere, though."
Kate gave Blake a funny look. "I think they'd call it a nest."
"Whatever. How did he get the locket?”
“He knocked it onto the floor when he ran into a side table where it was sitting. I reached down to pick it up and he bashed right into me and ended up with it in his beak.”
“Bill,” he reminded her.
“Oh, is that his name? How do you know?”
He glared at her. “Come on. Let’s go after him." He started for the door, but Kate blocked his way.
"Wait - he's not on the run. He keeps showing up so he must be from around here. Let me grab some things before we head out there. We don't want to get lost. We’ll find him.”
***
"I understand the compass. I understand the chicken salad, sort of. But why did you pack us up a blanket?"
Kate just smiled as she strode past Blake into the woods. She had decided that they were going to be out there for more than an hour, and it would be dinner time before they’d be back. They used to have picnics out in the woods all the time. It seemed a better time than any to revive the childhood tradition.
She'd also packed up some matches for a fire. They loved making little campfires out there when they were kids. Everything she had planned would be like they did when they were kids. Everything but the duck hunt, of course.
"Have you ever hunted a duck before?" Blake asked.
Kate shook her head. Didn't seem to be a lot to it, though.
"Elmer Fudd always shot Daffy Duck, but never Bugs Bunny."
"That's very true.” He gave her a look of pure exasperation. “But what the hell does it have to do with anything?"
Kate tilted her head to one side and looked at Blake from the corner of her eyes, giving him an "it's obvious" look. "Because, silly, if Elmer Fudd could accidentally catch a duck when he was intent on doing something else, then catching a duck on purpose must be that much easier. It's all scientific."
"Yeah, right."
They marched right off the path, like they always did as kids. The path had been cut into the woods to reach the river a good mile or two into its run. The byways they'd discovered as kids always got them there faster, and reached parts of the woods that were rarely seen by the average hiker. It gave them the level of autonomy that kids loved to pretend they wanted, but was never far enough away from the road that they could get really lost.
"Kate, did you know that some of those cartoons were based on fiction?" Blake said. He was straggling behind, getting his backpack caught on the branch of a dead tree. Kate shook her head and waited for him.
"Not the good ones. The good ones are true as anything can be. Blake, have you not walked in the woods ever?" Kate said.
Blake had freed himself from the first entanglement, but in doing that his boot had wedged itself between a root and a rock. He tugged two good times, and fell backwards into Kate, who had rushed up to him to give him a hand. She maintained her balance and did not fall over.
"You're pretty strong, aren't you?" Blake said.
"Where do you think all the weight comes from? A big tub like me isn't just all..."
"Kate, oh God. I'm sorry I said you were heavy."
Kate had a tentative look on her face, like she wasn't sure if she'd accept the apology. "Well, that's all well and good to say that, but I had at least three more defensive jokes lined up and you just went and threw them on the ash-heap."
Blake stood up straight and readjusted his backpack. He glanced back at her, and his expression looked grim.
"Well, I'm sure you'll get a chance to use them. Got a direction for us to go, Fudd?"
"Ducks like water. We go towards water," Kate said. She started to trudge through the overgrowth, hopping over roots and sidling underneath branches, moving just as fast as when she was a kid.
It was invigorating. Gnats and mosquitoes started their assault as soon as they'd made their way towards the marshier parts of the woods, but they were infinitely preferable to the city bugs - there were some roaches Kate had seen in San Francisco that could qualify for boat loans.
At least they were doing something. She’d spent most of the day cleaning the old house, but earlier in the morning she’d made a run by Allison’s house to see if she could shake her lose from her usual alibis. No such luck. The woman wouldn’t answer the door. So she’d stopped in at Jason Ruddhammer’s and talked to him for a few minutes, but he hadn’t come up with anything much on the internet.
“So far, everyone who has responded last saw Susan about a month ago. Two of them said they did know she was heading here, but they never heard from her again.”
Kate nodded, biting her lip. That feeling of doom was getting heavier in her heart. “Keep trying, okay? I really appreciate it, Jason.”
But now, tramping through the woods, she didn’t want to think about all the horrible things that might have happened to Susan. It was nice to be hiking with Blake this way. Took her mind off ugly things.
Of course, he had a few subjects he wouldn’t let go of either.
"You know, you haven't ever really told me the whole story on why you left San Francisco. Or at least I don't believe any of things you've said," Blake called out to Kate.
He was about a dozen yards behind. She waited for him to catch up.
"Maybe I determined it was none of your business," she pointed out.
"Come on.” He gave her a penetrating look. “Why would you want to live here? You're a big city girl, and once you get that house fixed up you're going to get bored. You’ll be off like a shot."
"And once again, Blake Spanner demonstrates his amazing power of precognition. You know so much, maybe you could use your powers to locate a wayward duck."
"Boy, never mind." Blake stopped when he reached the muddier ground, and kicked at it. He had a look of distaste on his face. "Your pants look ridiculous," he said, totally out of left field.
"What don't you like about them?" Kate asked. She did a little model-turn, stopping just short of pirouetting into a tree. They were cargo pants with half a dozen pockets, just what the doctor ordered for a trip like this.
"All your pockets are open. It looks goofy."
"That's just for easy access. Are you going to spend this whole trip complaining about my wardrobe and prying into my past?"
Blake's brow furrowed, like he was deep in thought. "Yes, I suppose I am."
Kate shook her head. Typical - he was just as good at smarting off as she was, though he liked to pretend it was just her trick. Kate walked slower so he could keep up with her. Blake looked ready to complain with every step in the mud. At
least he wasn't acting inward and sullen, like he ended up last night.
Making one mistake, even a terrible one like that, shouldn't be a reason to give in. Kate had gone into court to defend some terrible people herself. It did not fill her with the deep warmth of personal achievement, but it was her job, and she knew she had to do it well.
And that's why you've run away from it? she thought. Kate sighed and leaned against a tree.
"What is it now?" Blake said. He didn't sound annoyed, but he did sound wary.
"I was just thinking about how stupid everything is," she said.
"'Bout time we could agree on a topic."
Something snapped in a nearby tree - it sounded louder than a few twigs. Kate looked left and right, but couldn't determine just where the sound had come from. She turned to stop Blake, but he was already still and quiet, in deep concentration.
"Maybe too loud to be the duck," he whispered.
"But it was something. We have to be careful. And quiet," Kate whispered back.
"I bet that duck has gathered reinforcements and is going to launch an offensive any moment now."
"We're tough. We'll make duck soup out of them!"
************
Joe Bob hunkered down amongst branches and fallen leaves, his 30.06 balanced on a tree stump. A pair of squirrels were congregating right in sight, crisscrossing in front of his gun. Once one of them stopped, as he was sure it would, he'd take it right out of this world. It was the only thing that offered him any respite from the pressures of the day. Taking care of another human being, keeping her alive and secret, was hard work. He hadn’t realized how much harder it would be than the animals he usually kept in his basement.
His thoughts were on her, and on old Gladys's house just a mile away, and on all the land that lay between it and Mr. Sticha's property that should be his, when Kate Becker and the cop walked right into his line of fire. He almost gasped, but held himself in check. He kept his body stock still, even missing the chance to get his squirrel.
Kate stopped, and looked around. Joe was sure that for a moment she caught a look at him, but just didn't see. That was fortunate. He really didn’t want to talk to them right now. He had things to do. He waited for the two to pass, bantering nonsensically as they did. He would keep this in mind, though. They were getting too close for comfort.
Chapter Nine
Kate turned to Blake and said, with an expression that made clear her absolute seriousness, "That duck is toying with us."
"Kate, it's a duck."
"No, this is something more. Look out there - he knows we're watching."
Either Kate was taking this time to relive their childhood after some bizarre fashion, or she was really losing it. They were hidden behind a row of bushes right next to a thick marsh. They’d spread out their blanket and had their lunch and talked for an hour, and then, suddenly, the duck showed up. The river fed right through the little canyon, catching enough into a basin to make a pond of sorts, and there sat the duck, on top of the mucky little swamp, floating in place with a content look on its bill.
Blake was tired of the whole experience. Since he'd moved back to Whispering Pines, he'd been out in the woods twice to assist search and rescue times, and he'd discovered that his childhood fascination with the place really did belong back in childhood. Right now all it represented was mosquito bites, ruined shoes and a strange funk everywhere, where plants and animals were always dying.
It wasn't all like that, though - just the places a lawman was likely to go, and the places that Kate seemed to enjoy. The two of them were crouching right now at the base of a tiny hill, the top of which was green and largely devoid of the muck and filth that washed up at the banks of the little swamp. Naturally, Kate wanted no part of it.
"Look, Kate, I'm heading up there. Maybe we can come up with some method of snaring the duck. Or luring him. Do you know how to look like a lady duck?"
"I think it is a lady duck. Anyway, suit yourself. I just wanted you along for your looks. Y'know, to keep the journey from being boring."
Blake didn't return Kate's smile, but instead he started up the steep incline to the top of the hill. Kate pulled off her backpack and put it down, then she went out from behind the bushes.
"Kate, what are you doing?" Blake asked. Kate walked up to the bank of the marsh and pulled off her shoes and socks. "Oh, come on!" Blake said.
"Somebody has to show that duck he can't steal from humans with impunity. That duck is not above the law. We have to demonstrate species dominance here, Blake. Besides, I loved to do this when we were kids."
"There'll be leeches in there."
"Nonsense. And anyway, I'm keeping my clothes on."
"That doesn't make sense either," Blake said.
Kate gave him a dispassionate look. Looking around, she noticed no sign of the duck.
“He’s gone!”
“You scared him off.”
“Hey, how am I going to catch a duck who isn’t there?” she said mournfully.
“It won’t be easy,” Blake said, sounding just a bit caustic. “But I’m sure you’ll manage.”
“Shall I go in?”
“No.”
“Spoil sport.”
“Okay, go in. But take your clothes off first unless you want to walk back all soggy and dripping with river weeds and pollywogs.”
"If you're not going to help, I'm certainly not going to turn into a walking peep show to entice you. Get up that hill, grandpa, you're slowing me down." Kate cracked her knuckles, looked at Blake with a superior expression, and put a couple of toes into the water.
"Wow that's cold!" she called, jumping back. Blake stifled a laugh - Kate could have a sense of humor about a lot of things, but he knew that when she was really trying to do something she wasn't going to appreciate any humor at her expense.
"Hey, what's this?"
"What?" Blake said. He wasn't going to come near her - she would push him in without giving it a second thought, he was sure. Kate bent over and picked something out of the mud and tossed it to Blake. He caught it and took a close look. "Spark plug."
"Litterers," she said. "Looks like somebody dragged something through here, too." She pointed at the ground, and even from where Blake was standing he could see the grooves dug into the ground. "I bet they dumped it in the swamp. Maybe I'll try and clean things up while I'm in there."
"You have to go into the swamp before you can do any of that," Blake said. “Will you get away from the edge? You’re going to…”
“There he is! There’s the duck!”
Those were the last words she spoke before taking a header into the cold, clammy swamp. Blake yelled and came running and she bobbed up in the water and cried out, then went down again. By the time he got her back up on the bank and took off his own shirt in order to dry her off, the duck was long gone.
************
“We have to go back.”
Blake turned and glared at Kate. She was sitting on his couch, wrapped in his thickest robe, and still shivering even after the warm shower.
“Not today,” he said.
She frowned. “I’ve been thinking. That duck knows what he’s doing. He was trying to lead us to….” She stopped. She couldn’t say Susan’s name all of a sudden.
“To what?”
She looked up at him and tried to smile, but tears were filling her eyes. She knew now what had been bothering her ever since she’d come back to this valley. Susan had come back. The locket proved it. But she wasn’t anywhere now, and no one had seen her. That meant something bad had happened to her. Something very bad. She was the big sister. She was supposed to protect Susan, make sure she didn’t get into trouble. Somehow, somewhere, that goal had been lost. She hadn’t been taking care of business. It was all her fault. She knew Susan was weak, that she couldn’t withstand temptations or promises of excitement, that she reached for shiny things. And where was Kate? Why hadn’t she protected her?
/> “Hey.” Blake saw how miserable she looked and he dropped down to sit beside her. “Cheer up. Always remember what Scarlett O’Hara said.”
She frowned. “What did she say?”
“I’ll cry tomorrow.”
“Oh, right.” She sighed. “Tomorrow is another day.”
“Exactly.”
“Wow Blake. That did it. Cheered me right up. Now I can go on with my worthless life with a smile on my face.”
He looked at her for a moment, then took her head in his hands, staring down into her eyes, his empathy for her suddenly surging in his chest. “You’re life isn’t worthless, Kate,” he told her softly. “In fact, just the reality that you are here has changed my life for the better. That’s got to be worth something.”
She stared up at him. For once, he seemed to be sincere, but she was afraid to take it as such. What if she answered in kind and it turned out he was just kidding? What if she told him about how she really felt about him and he laughed at her? It would be little Debbie Do Right all over again.
She opened her mouth to say something smart-alecky, but once he saw what she was about to do, he kissed her quick. He’d begun to realize that really was the best way to shut her up.
“Blake,” she began when he drew back, and he kissed her again. He wasn’t going to let her ruin everything.
“Oh,” she said, a little sound deep in her throat, and this time she let herself sink into it. His mouth was hot and getting sort of urgent and her pulse was beginning to race.
She should stop him. She needed to stop him. But it felt so good. Was this what it felt like to be loved? At least for the moment. She stopped thinking about how she was going to stop him and began to kiss him back.
“Are you going to start talking again?”
“Of course, but…”
He kissed her again, but just long enough to make her blink and forget what she’d meant to say.
“I want you to be quiet,” he told her. “I want to have a little space so that I can say something for a change. Okay?”
