"Well, he looks like he's having fun," I said.
"He does at that."
"So, what do we do now?"
"We have a large cave system not too far away. I think we go there. Unless..." Gran looked out over the lawn.
"Should we go now?" I asked.
Gran didn't reply. Looking more closely, I could see she had a slightly dazed look and her eyes weren't focused on anything, which wasn’t exactly true, I guess. They were focused on the future.
After a few moments of stillness, where even Dwayne went silent and watched, Gran shook her head and sighed. "Looks like we have company on the way."
"Mom?" I asked.
"We'd be better off if it was her. I believe these are the gentlemen that you met last night."
My heart began to thud loudly in my chest. "The agents?"
"Those would be the ones. My word. This is not going to go well. Nothin’ that can be done about it now, though."
"What do we do with Dwayne?" My voice pitched an octave higher than I would care to admit.
Gran went over to the hose and turned off the water. "I'm sorry to do this, Dwayne, but I'm going to have to ask you to hide."
I really didn't want to deal with the government again. "How do we hide a man made of rock?"
"We make sure he looks like a rock," Gran said. "Rose let him know that if I gave the signal, he'd hide until one of us came and got him."
"I guess that works. Do you think it will look odd to have a large rock in the yard?"
"Darlin', that's my landscaping you're talkin about." Gran winked. "Go inside and get the tea ready."
From inside, I watched Gran lead Dwayne to a spot next to the patio and gestured for him to turn into a rock. As he shrank down and rearranged himself, I hurriedly gathered some glasses of tea and checked Gran's cookie jar. As expected, I didn't find it empty. When I looked back out, Gran was standing next to a rock. It had the same color and lines as Dwayne, and looked to be the same mass as Dwayne, but there was no indication that the rock was living.
When Gran came in, she went straight across the kitchen. "I'll get it. We should see them in the family room, I think."
"Sure thing," I said.
The doorbell rang and it was immediately answered by Gran, who had probably reached it at the same moment it had sounded. I wondered if Gran's psychic abilities would throw them off. Once I had the drinks on the tray with the cookies, I brought them to our ‘guests’ just as Gran ushered them in.
"This is my granddaughter, Cassie. I think you two met her yesterday," Gran said. "Please, have a seat."
I nodded, but didn't say anything. Agent Peterson didn't look overly pleased to see me again.
"Thank you, ma'am, but that's not necessary," Peterson said. "Though we'd like to ask you a few questions. This is an official inquiry."
"Oh," Gran said, feigning being impressed. "That sounds serious. Maybe we had better take a seat for this."
Peterson sat and I don't think he realized that Gran had changed his mind about sitting in one sentence.
She's good.
On Agent Seale, however, I saw a flash of a grin before he sat down.
I handed out drinks and joined the group. Gran could take care of herself, I knew that, but I didn't want to see Peterson try to bully her.
On the other hand, maybe I wanted to see Peterson tormented a little more. Yesterday didn't appear to be a fluke in his attitude. He still sounded like a pretentious ass.
Gran appeared to take more notice of Seale than she did Peterson.
"This is good tea," Seale said. "Thank you for the refreshments."
Peterson took a tentative sip and for a moment, I thought he would spit it back out. "It's quite...sweet," he said after he managed to swallow.
"Nothin' like a good glass of sweet tea to tell you summer is around the corner," Gran said while smiling at Agent Seale. "Take a cookie. I'm sure you all have had a long day, and it's good to let your ears down."
Seale froze as though spooked.
"Excuse me," Peterson said. He was eying Gran with deep suspicion. "Did you say...I think I must have misheard you."
"It's good to let your hair down. After a long day, that is. It's the accent." Gran leaned deeply into her southern drawl. "Sorry 'bout that."
Peterson nodded slowly and glanced around the room.
Gran winked at Seale and after a few minutes, his tension seemed to leak away.
"We'll make this as short as possible," Seale said.
"Right," Peterson agreed. "You went for a drive yesterday with your granddaughter. We need to know exactly what you saw." He took out a small notebook and had a pen poised, ready to write.
"I thought my granddaughter gave you that information yesterday," Gran said.
"We'd like to hear it in your own words," Peterson said.
"There's not really anything I can add," Gran said.
"That's okay," Peterson said, sounding condescending. Seeing him nod at Gran as he spoke, I think he actually thought he was being encouraging. "Anything you remember will be good. Unless, of course, you need to hear what Miss Heidrich already told us."
"Why on earth would I need that?" Gran asked, frowning at Peterson.
"Well, I'm sure at your age-"
"What age would that be?" Gran asked, still sounding amicable, but there was a hint of warning in her voice.
"I didn't mean to imply that...Um," Peterson, who seemed distressed, looked over at Agent Seale.
Agent Seale, on the other hand, was taking in his surroundings, appearing to have not heard any of the conversation.
"Young man," Gran said, dropping the nice southern lady bit. "You don't come into someone's home and imply they are too slow of mind to remember the events of the previous day."
Agent Seale hummed. His concentration was on an old picture that Gran had displayed on a table. We all watched him, lost in his own little world for a few moments. It sounded like an old song from a movie. Maybe from Guys and Dolls? Shaking my head, I turned back to Peterson, who had a death grip on his pen and his face turned crimson.
"You are a bundle of nerves," Gran told him. She put on her best smile. "Why don't we start this interview over?"
"Yesterday," Peterson said. "Tell me what you saw yesterday."
"You'll have to be more specific."
"Yesterday," Peterson snapped, "during your car ride with your granddaughter."
He had barely allowed Gran to get the words out of his mouth, which aggravated me to no end.
"Yesterday. Well…" Gran spoke slowly, dragging out each word. Not stretching it out long enough that you could say she sounded strange, but slow all the same. "Let's see here. Saw some farms, cows, and crops, and the sort. There were-"
"I was thinking something out of the ordinary," Peterson said. I'm not sure if he caught my dirty looks or Seale's noticeable eye-raise in his direction, but his tone was nicer this time.
"Oh yeah," Gran said. "There were some sort of noisy vehicles with flashing lights, but not emergency vehicles."
Peterson's grin looked more like a grimace. "Anything else?"
"Not that I can think of," Gran said.
"Thank you," Peterson said. "Do you mind if I excuse myself for a moment to use, uh, your restroom?"
"What you mean is, can I look around your house, " Gran said, smiling like a sweet old lady all the while.
"No," Peterson said, "I mean, I wouldn't..."
Gran shook her head. "Young man, you are foolin' no one but yourself. I'd like to say stay out of my bedroom, but I know you won't. The washroom is down the hall to your right."
Peterson looked like he wanted to argue, but slunk away instead.
Gran watched him leave and then her eyes became unfocused for a short time. "That man," she muttered before she turned to me, “he'll be in the backyard shortly. After that, I've got nothin'."
"Should we meet him out there?" I glanced sideways at Seale who looked bemused by the whole ordeal. Crossing
my arms, I glared at him. "What are you all even doing here?"
"We haven't found what we need, so we're following up on everything we can." Seale focused on Gran. "It is important that we find what we're looking for."
"You mean no one has fallen over themselves to give your partner information?" I asked. "I can't imagine why."
"I apologize for my partner-"
"Which must be a full-time job," I snapped.
Gran raised her eyebrow, and in response, I rolled my eyes but held my tongue.
"He's usually not like this," Seale said, "and he's gone outside."
"I didn't hear anything," I said.
"I'm certain Agent Seale has exceptional hearin’." Gran chuckled.
The amusement was lost on me, but Seale appeared to get the joke. Not wanting to feel stupid, I didn't say anything or ask any other questions.
"You are an interesting woman, Mrs. Leone," Seale said. "And I think there's something you want to discuss with me."
"If I had any real idea of who you are or what your plans are, I might," Gran said. "But we've got nothin’ to say."
"He's back in." Seale lowered his voice. "Would you mind if I stop back around later? Off the clock."
It looked like Gran was sizing the man up. "We don't know anythin'. But, if you're here on your own, you're probably eatin' sugar out of the bag. Around seven-thirty, I'll have a pie ready. We can have a little chat without your partner."
Seale nodded and leaned back. His humming began again as Peterson walked into the room.
"If anything's out of place, you best fix it now," Gran said.
Peterson held up his hands in mock surrender. "I only used the facilities. We’ll get out of your way now."
Gran and I rose, with Seale a beat behind.
"Thank you for your time and we won't intrude upon it any longer." Agent Peterson sounded jovial.
Did he really think he had pulled one over on us? Well, I could see that with me, but never Gran.
"Be sure to avoid the interstate," Gran said.
Both agents gave her an odd look. Seale's was more searching while Peterson merely looked confused.
Gran stood at the door until the men drove away. "Agent Peterson is going round halfcocked the whole time. It’s not going to be pretty when that trigger is pulled. Did you see anything from him?"
"No." I could feel my face redden. "I, uh, I'm tired from earlier." It was a lie, but one I could live with and one that even Gran could believe. The truth is, I never even thought about trying to read their Paths.
Chapter 7
"I don't get it," I told Gran. "Why is Agent Seale coming back tonight?"
"Mostly for the pie, I think." Gran tittered as though she told an inside joke.
"Are you going to tell him about Dwayne?" I asked.
"It's too early to tell for sure. I think it's going to depend on who Agent Seale really is, what he wants from Dwayne, and what's he going to do with him if he finds him."
"So, what do we do now?" I asked.
"We get Agent Seale to talk when he comes back, and tonight you need to take Dwayne to find his friend," Gran said.
"They don't have anyone watching the place, do they? Or watching us?" I asked.
"I think I've got the partner convinced that we don't know anything. I'm hopin’ that Agent Seale will give us some information that we like tonight. He might even help."
"Until then?"
Gran sighed. "You're going to have to deal with your mother."
"Really? What does she know?" I let my head fall back to stare at the ceiling. What on earth was I going to tell my mother?
"She's about to find out you walked out on work today," Gran said.
"Ugh. Why do I have a job that calls my mother when I do something wrong?"
"You took a job that your mother set up for you."
"Right," I said. "What was I thinking?"
"I'm pretty sure you were letting someone else do the thinkin' for you."
I was quiet for a minute, but not because I disagreed. Gran was right. I had been letting someone else make decisions for me. Now was the time to stand up and change things. It would be so much easier to continue what I had been doing, but sometimes you have to jump in and do the hard stuff.
"I'll talk to her," I said. "It would be easier if I had any idea what I should be doing right now. With my life, I mean."
Gran chuckled. "No one can tell you that, despite what your mother thinks. But you're pretty good at finding the right path."
A part of me wanted to remind her that my Path was always hidden, but I squashed that knee-jerk reaction and shook my head at the corniness of her joke, though I grinned at her all the same. "Do you know what's in store for me?"
"Sorry, Hun, can't help you there," Gran said. "I think I must be tired because I'm only getting fits and starts about what’s comin’ our way. I'm going to get Dwayne up and then rest for a while."
It worried me that she wanted to get some rest. Gran was almost always on the go. It had been a long day, though, and even I wanted to take a nap. Unfortunately, I still had my mother to face.
"I'll get out of your hair," I said. "I'll be back in a few hours, though. Do you need anything?"
"No, I'll see you this evenin."
Once I was out the door, I thought about everything that had happened that day. There was still some unease about the fact that Agent Seale would be returning that evening, but Gran seemed to think everything would turn out okay. It seemed to me that she was putting far too much trust in someone that she didn't know.
When my phone rang, I was barely out of Gran's driveway. I grimaced and thought about waiting to take the call until I got home. Instead, I checked the caller ID and braced myself for a long conversation.
"Hi, Mom," I said, forcing cheerfulness into my voice. It was supposed to catch her off guard, but I had no such luck.
"You walked out on work?" Mom asked.
"That's a little dramatic," I said. "It's not like I stormed out and quit my job or anything."
"Were you ill?" The accusation in her tone screamed volumes.
"No, I had some things to do, and they couldn't wait."
Mom began prattling on about being responsible and about how to behave at work. My mind went on autopilot. It wasn’t until I had parked behind my apartment building when her words finally broke through again.
"Are you even listening to me?" Mom asked.
"Mostly," I lied. Going inside would mean a break in my cell reception on the stairs, so I waited it out in the car. I had a feeling that Mom would only start the conversation over again if she were forced to call back.
She let out a harsh, exasperated noise. "What am I supposed to say about this? How does this look?"
"I'm an adult. You don't have to say anything. As my mother, you have the option of saying whatever you want to me."
"I mean, what am I supposed to say to the partners at your firm?"
"Oh. Why should you say anything?" I played with the keys in my hand and laid my head back on my car seat, staring up. I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to like any answer she could give.
"It's the way things work, Cassandra."
"Fine, tell them I was sorry for leaving, but it was important."
"What did you do?" She sounded like she was trying to grasp onto that idea.
Thinking about what I actually did all day, I played it up as best I could. "Gran needed me to help a friend of hers. It was something that couldn't wait."
"What was so urgent?"
I tried to rein in the frustration I was feeling. "All of Gran's friends are getting on in years, so everything is urgent."
"You can't walk out like that again. You have to give your employer more notice. As you said, you are an adult now. This is one of those things that adults do."
My teeth gritted together. "I'll give them notice." It wasn't going to be the kind of notice that she was going to be happy with. Seriously, though, what kind of a job calls your
mother and tells on you when you leave work early?
"I'm going to call your grandmother and remind her not to bother you while you're at work."
"Don't call her now," I said. "She told me she was going to rest. I think she's taking a nap or something."
"Nap? My mother doesn't nap in the afternoon. What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. She had a long day, and she said she was going to rest for a while."
"We really need to talk to her about moving out of that big old house. Maybe I should stop by on the way home and check on her.”
"Don't stop by tonight." I could have said that a little less forcefully, but it was too late to take it back.
"Why shouldn't I stop to see my mother?"
"She's having company tonight."
Mom sighed, trying to sound as put upon as possible. "Bob and I have plans tomorrow night, but this weekend she and I are getting together. It's time she thought about her future. And you'll be joining us."
"I'm not sure-"
"My next meeting is about to start. I'll see you this weekend."
She hung up the phone without waiting for a reply. Looking at my phone, I wondered who started a meeting at a quarter after the hour.
Wait, why did I care about her meetings? I didn't even care about my own meetings.
The sky was clouding over, so I decided to get inside before it began to rain. The idea of going back to work tomorrow wasn't appealing, not in the least. Calling in sick wasn't an option either. Although, maybe faking sick could get me out of work and I could draw it out through the weekend as an excuse to skip dinner.
But I couldn't do that to Gran. Leaving her to fend for herself with Mom wouldn't be a very nice thing to do, especially since she was hiding a rock man in her backyard.
Inside, I flopped down on my bed. No, tomorrow I would face work, and this weekend it would be dinner. Hopefully, there wouldn't be furniture stores on top of that, though.
I wasn't sure how long I stared at the ceiling before I fell asleep. Unfortunately, sleep didn't last long. Someone knocking on the door woke me up. With so much strangeness surrounding my life, I made sure to check the peephole to see who was knocking.
Two men in black suits with crisp white shirts stood in the hallway. I groaned. They even had earpieces in their ears. It wasn't Seale or Peterson, but it didn't really matter. They couldn't keep doing this to people. It was an intrusion and an inconvenience.
AIR Series Box Set Page 5
