by Patricia Fry
“Oh?” Holly exclaimed, wincing.
“Yeah,” Gladys said, “we finally got Rags to come out of the car, but he caught us off guard and Cassie and I got tangled in his leash. Michael’s right. I was going down and he grabbed hold of me and steadied me just in the nick of time.”
Before Gladys could finish telling her story, Cassie began giggling uncontrollably.
“It wasn’t funny,” Gladys insisted good-naturedly.
“I’m not laughing about you almost falling down, Grammy,” the child said between chortles, “it’s what happened next.”
“Oh no,” Keith said, shaking his head and wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, “what happened?” When Keith glanced at Savannah and saw the look of apprehension on her face, he asked, “There’s more?”
“Yeah,” Savannah said, sounding weary. “I’m afraid he took something from the police car.”
“This is just too much,” Holly said, easing into a chair because she was laughing so hard.
This made Savannah double over laughing.
“What’s funny, Mommy?” Lily asked.
Bethany looked at her mother. “Don’t laugh, Mommy. No laughing.”
“So what was it?” Holly asked, failing miserably at her attempt to control her laughter.
“The officer’s notepad,” Savannah managed.
“You mean his ticket book?” Keith asked. “I’ll bet Rags could get five years for confiscating that sort of evidence—especially if it interfered with the cop’s ticket quota.”
“No, I think it was a notebook,” Michael said, “where the officer logs information he collects from witnesses and so forth throughout his day.” He grinned at Keith. “Stealing that’s gotta be a capital offense.”
“So how long will Rags have to serve?” Keith teased. When he saw the confused look on Cassie’s face, he said to her, “…in jail. They arrested him, didn’t they?”
“No, Dad,” Cassie insisted. “He’s not in jail.” She pointed toward the Iveys’ car. “He’s right there.”
“Oh good,” Keith said. He grimaced. “So this is the cat who’ll be sharing our vacation home? Should one of us stand guard at night to keep Rags from going astray or awry?” he joked.
Michael, pretending to ignore his brother’s remarks, addressed the others, “Hey, let’s go see where we’ll be living for at least the next few days, shall we?” When he started to lift Teddy from the car seat, Savannah suggested, “Just bring the whole thing in, Michael. He should sleep for a while. Don’t want to disturb his sweet dreams.”
“What about Rags and Lexie?” Cassie asked, hanging back a little.
Savannah glanced at their car. “I’ll come back and get them in a few minutes. It’s cool out there under those trees.” Once the group had stepped inside, she said, “This is big.” She gazed at the fireplace. “Probably hard to heat.”
“But look at the size of that fireplace,” Holly said. “You could burn a couple of those tall pines in there all at once. That would make one hot fire.” She motioned with her hands. “So this is the area guests would enjoy if the rooms were rented to individuals? It’s sort of the lobby, right?”
“Yes,” Keith said. “There’s the check-in desk—such as it is. Informal, isn’t it?”
“Rustic,” Holly noticed. She turned around taking in the expanse of the room. “This can be our withdrawing room.”
“Withdrawing room?” Savannah questioned.
“Yeah, the wealthy used to have a drawing room for entertaining and a withdrawing room for more casual family activities,” Holly explained. When she saw the others looking at her, she admitted, “I love historical novels—especially those set in England.”
“Okay, the withdrawing room it is!” Savannah agreed. She glanced around, then pointed.
“Let’s go check out the kitchen.”
“There’s room for a whole crew of chefs in here,” Gladys remarked.
“Well, we have a whole crew,” Savannah reminded her. “We can all work in here without getting in each other’s way.” She opened a couple of cupboards and asked, “Can we use the flour, spices, and things? Is that part of the deal?”
Michael looked at Keith. “Why didn’t we think to ask that?”
Just then they heard another voice. “Well, you can ask now.”
Everyone turned and Michael said, “Oh, hello, Mr. Brody.”
“Getting the lay of the land, are you?” he asked, smiling.
“Yes.” When Michael saw the man gazing at the women, he said, “Oh, Quinton Brody, this is my wife, Savannah; my mother-in-law, Gladys; and Keith’s wife, Holly.” He motioned toward the little girls, who were all running around the room together. “These are our children.”
Brody nodded politely. “Nice to meet you all.” He then focused on Gladys, walked up to her, and took her hand. “I once had a girlfriend named Gladys. You didn’t happen to attend Colorado State back in the seventies, did you?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”
“Oh that’s a shame,” he lamented. “I thought maybe we could get reacquainted.”
“Aren’t you going out of town?” Michael reminded him.
Brody grinned widely at Gladys. “Well, I might cancel my plans for the right reasons.”
Obviously a little flustered, Gladys pulled her hand from Brody’s grip, looked down, and smiled shyly.
“Mom, you’re blushing,” Savannah whispered.
Brody winked at Gladys, then said in a more boisterous voice, “About your question. Yes, use whatever you want. If you empty a container, just replace it, that’s all.”
“Great,” Savannah said. “Thank you.”
“So you’ll be staying here with the fellas?” Brody asked, glancing from one to the other of the women.
“Maybe,” Savannah said. “We haven’t seen the sleeping quarters yet.”
“Well, follow me,” Brody invited. He stepped into a short hallway, then entered a fairly large room. “Here’s the downstairs suite. You have two connecting rooms and a restroom.”
“Nice,” Holly said, turning in place to take it all in.
“Yes, it is,” Brody said. After a few moments, he headed out the door toward the staircase, saying, “Let’s visit the rooms above, shall we?” He turned and suggested, “Hold the little ones’ hands up the stairs.” When they approached the staircase, he dropped back and took Gladys’s elbow. “I’ll make sure you get to the top safely.”
“Well, thank you. How gallant,” she murmured.
Michael and Savannah grinned at each other.
“How pretty,” Holly said upon entering the first room at the top of the stairs. “Nicely decorated.” She asked Brody. “Did you do this or do you leave the decorating to your wife?”
“No wife,” he insisted. “I haven’t been married for a long time. Tried it, didn’t like it. Gave it up before I turned fifty.” He softened. “But I did have help of the feminine kind. You’re right there. A local woman needed a place to stay and had no money to pay. She’s an artist. She suggested that I’d attract a better class of people if I’d pretty things up a bit.” He confided. “I was getting a little tired of seeing ugly, smelly fishermen all the time. Now I pretty much rent out the cabins to the sportsmen and reserve the lodge for the more refined, cultured people who come up here to ski or to impress a mistress.” When he saw the startled look on Gladys’s face, he cleared his throat and said to Holly, “I’m glad you like the… um… décor.” He motioned with one arm. “Come see the rest of the rooms; they’re all different. That was Natalia’s suggestion—to make each room different.”
“Well, Natalia did a lovely job,” Gladys said after seeing all six rooms upstairs.
“Now for the disclosure,” Brody said. “There are only three bathrooms upstairs, like a bed-and-breakfast.”
As if she hadn’t heard him, Holly said, “I love the view from the windows up here. It’s like a bird’s-ey
e view into the treetops. Come see, girls,” she invited. “From here, you can watch little birds make their nests and take care of their babies.”
“I see baby birdies,” Lily whined.
Savannah picked her up. “Sure, you can see the baby birdies. Come on, let’s look for some birdies, shall we?”
At the same time, something caught Michael’s eye. He leaned closer to the window. “Hey, who’s that guy?”
“Who?” Keith and Brody asked, both straining to see below.
“He just disappeared around the side of the building.”
“What was he doing?” Keith asked.
“Well, it looked like he was interested in something in the trailer behind your Jeep. But I guess he couldn’t see what was in there with that tarp tied over it. I don’t think he took anything.” Michael removed his ball cap and scratched his head. “Actually, it appeared that he was looking at the back of the car—at the trailer hitch, maybe.”
Brody shook his head. “Dang city slickers. Some of them come up here to cause trouble and trouble is what we don’t need. Help is dang hard to get, most ’specially when you direly need it. What few rangers we have are spread out all over kingdom come.” He patted Michael on the back. “Boys, you’d better unload your stuff and put it out of temptation’s way.”
Savannah frowned. “Mr. Brody, do you get much theft up here?”
“Some,” he said. “Just make sure you keep your stuff locked up and out of sight. You’ll be fine.”
Keith took a deep breath. “Well, let’s get unloaded.” He turned to Brody. “Is there someplace I can park the trailer and leave it while we’re here—you know, out of the way?”
“Sure.” He pointed. “Right there next to the woodpile.” He glanced at the others, then took a deep breath. “Well, I’d better leave you folks to your chores. I hope you enjoy your stay. I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning. Here’s my cell number if you absolutely have to bother me. But you can call on Mark at the café if you have any questions about something I forgot to cover.”
Michael shook Brody’s hand, then Keith did so. Once the proprietor had left, Michael put his arm around Savannah and asked, “So which room’s ours?”
“Well, I was thinking maybe we’d better stay upstairs with Mom and the small children. We can take that larger room up front for us, Teddy, and his stuff. Lily and Mom can have one or two of the rooms across the hall.”
“I’ll take one close to a powder room,” Gladys said.
Savannah chuckled. “I thought so. And we’re next to one of the other bathrooms.” She looked at Holly and Keith. “Will you and the girls be comfortable in the suite?”
“What about the stairs?” Holly asked. “Is Lily okay with stairs?”
“Oh, I brought a baby gate, just in case. I don’t leave home without a baby gate for Lily and a pen for Rags. Two absolutes.”
“Okay, then. I love the downstairs suite,” Holly said. “It’s perfect for us.”
“Good,” Savannah said, patting her arm. “Let’s start moving in, shall we? And I’d better go release Rags and Lexie so they can start getting accustomed to our new digs.”
Chapter 4
The following morning as Holly and Savannah prepared a pancake breakfast, Gladys set the large oak table in the main room, with a little help from the three girls. Keith and Michael sat at one end of the table discussing their plans for the day.
“I’d like to go back down to the Ridgecrest and ask a few questions,” Keith said. “Maybe Scott has stopped in since our last visit. Do you think the gals would like to go there for lunch?”
“Yeah, we could meet them there.” Michael grinned and added, “Then Holly won’t have to ride in your bouncy Jeep.”
Keith nodded. “And we’ll have time to do some scouting north of there. I have a hunch about that area.” He winced. “Plus, I’d like to give Wanda that $10 Scott owes her.”
“But we don’t know for sure that’s Scott’s debt,” Michael reminded him. “We could actually be chasing after some other society dropout.” He grinned. “In case it is Scott, though, we could catch a fish and take it to her instead.”
The men were still enjoying the humor in Michael’s comment when the women walked into the room with a platter of pancakes and trays of beverages and condiments.
“You two sure do a lot of laughing,” Holly noticed.
“Yeah, the honeymoon phase isn’t over yet,” Savannah said. “They’re still laughing at each other’s jokes.”
“Funny,” Keith snarked playfully.
While setting a glass of orange juice at each place, Holly asked, “Have you noticed how they even finish each other’s sentences?”
Savannah laughed. “I sure have. That cracks me up. They’re like an old married couple.”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Holly agreed, “an old married couple.”
Savannah glanced at the men while she prepared a plate of food for Lily. “I’ll bet if those two had grown up together they would have played some of those typical twin tricks on people.”
“Like what?” Michael challenged.
“Like, Michael, you might take a test for Keith or…”
Holly interrupted, “Or Keith might show up on a date when the girl’s expecting Michael.”
Michael pointed a finger at the two women. “Talk about finishing other people’s sentences. You gals just did it.”
Holly and Savannah looked at each other and Savannah grinned. “Well, we can’t help it; we’re married to twins,”
“Yeah,” Holly interjected, “what can we tell you? It rubs off.”
Everyone laughed and Michael stabbed three pancakes with his fork and put them on his plate, handing the platter to Keith.
After taking a few bites of his breakfast, Keith asked, “How’d the animals do last night?”
Savannah glanced at Michael, then responded. “Pretty good.”
Michael pulled back and looked at her curiously. “Pretty good?” he challenged.
“What?” she asked. “I’m not aware of any problems with them, are you?”
“I guess you must have passed out last night in this high altitude.”
Savannah looked alarmed. “Why? What happened?”
Michael turned to Gladys. “You heard the stampede last night, didn’t you?”
She grinned. “Yeah, I heard something. I thought it was one of those rolling mountain storms.” She giggled. “Or maybe a bear family frolicking in the hallway.”
“Yes!” Michael said, pointing at Gladys. He looked at the others. “Did anyone else hear it?”
“A bear frolicking upstairs?” Keith repeated. He laughed. “No. I missed that. What about you, Holly?”
“Well, I didn’t want to say anything, but yeah, I heard something.” She peered impishly at Michael. “I thought you and Savannah…”
“No,” Michael insisted, “it wasn’t us.” He pointed at Rags as he lay sprawled across one of Buffy’s pink canopy cat beds. “It was him and maybe Lexie too. They might have invited all the neighborhood raccoons and squirrels in, for all I know.”
Still laughing, Savannah said, “He was probably just getting his exercise like he does most nights. Guess I’m used to it.” She tightened her lips and gazed at Holly and Keith. “I’m glad we left Buffy at your place. I don’t think she would have done well here. She’s such a delicate thing.”
Holly smiled. “Aunt Fay will take good care of her. She used to raise Himalayans.”
“No kidding?” Savannah said. “I really appreciate that your two kitties were so cordial to our Buffy.”
“Yes, I’m sure they’ll all get along nicely.”
“Wish we’d left Rags there,” Michael said under his breath. “A guy should be able to get a good night’s sleep on his vacation.”
Savannah patted his arm. “Oh, he’ll settle down. We’ll just have to make sure he’s active during the day.”
Once a
lmost everyone had finished eating, Keith stood. He looked at Savannah, then Holly. “Would you ladies and the children like to meet us for lunch back down the road today?”
“Sure, how about a late lunch?” Savannah suggested. “This was a big breakfast.”
Holly agreed. “Good idea. Tell us where and we’ll be there around one or one thirty?”
Keith picked up a pen and paper from the large coffee table and made a few notes, explaining, “It should take you about forty minutes to get there.” He looked at Holly, then Savannah. “Be sure to veer right at the fork, otherwise you’ll wind up where even the buffalo don’t roam.” He grabbed his windbreaker. “Okay. See you later, then. We’re going out hunting.” He kissed Holly.
“Good luck, babe,” she said. “I hope you learn something today.”
“Do you feel like you’re getting any closer?” Gladys asked quietly.
“It’s hard to tell,” Keith said. “I guess I’d have to say no. We’ve certainly had no solid clues. So far, we haven’t actually hit on anything you could hang a hat on, have we, Michael?”
“Nope. It doesn’t seem as though the journal has helped much. We’re following the leads, but getting no results.” He ran his hand through his hair. “But we have some new information that might help us track him.”
“Yeah,” Keith added, “if only we can find evidence showing where, in this vast forest, he’s been recently—you know, narrow it down some.”
Michael nodded. “That would definitely make our job easier.”
Holly tilted her head. “Like what kind of new information do you have?”
Michael raised his eyebrows. “Well, we think we know what he’s wearing and the sole pattern of his boots. At least now we sort of, kind of, know what we’re looking for.”
