Lost & Found - Jacqueline Sheehan [65]
“I won’t be long,” she said. She was positive that he watched her butt as she walked out of the kitchen.
She went into the small dining room and living room, the bathroom, toilet and sink only, and she felt the brakes go on in her head. She looked again in the dining room with the six-over-six wood casement windows. Out in the backyard were bales of hay stacked with the archer’s target. Of course there was a target, no secret there. But something was familiar, something pulled at her and she used the edge of her jacket to wipe at the dirt on the windowpane. Sawdust and explosions of dust had been created by days of demolition. She peered out, trying to understand what it was she saw.
“Jesus Christ!” yelled the carpenter from the kitchen. Over his voice a clatter of claws burst from the kitchen when the carpenter had dropped his crowbar. Rocky tore her face from the window. She heard the man scuffle more and curse as she headed for the commotion.
“Hey, hold up there. Is this your dog?” he asked.
Cooper careened into the dining room and when he saw Rocky he pulled his lips back in an anxious smile, lowered his head slightly, and wagged his entire back end furiously.
“Lloyd, Cooper, how did you find me?”
The dog whined in discomfort, as if his bad leg had suddenly gotten worse. But Rocky knew it was the house filled with smells of Liz and the terrible smell of death that would be exploding in his nostrils like fireworks. More footsteps, heavy breathing, and another blast of cold air. Tess entered, breathless from running. She quickly put her hands on her knees and bent over to take in as much air as she could.
“I’m too old for this,” she said as she nodded to the man in the kitchen. “I took him over to the college and as soon as I let him out, he bolted. I knew where he was going.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but we now have a small crowd, which is never a good thing with demolition work,” he said. He looked at Rocky. “Are you done?”
“Done,” she said. “Come on. Cooper.” The three of them headed back out the door. When they reached the sidewalk, the dog stopped and did an about-face. Before Rocky could grab his collar, he ran to the backyard and quickly rounded the corner, barking an alarm. Tess put her hand on Rocky’s arm. He circled again
“Let him go. He’s getting something out of his system.”
After his third time circling the house, Cooper stopped at the cross of the sidewalk and the path to the house. He looked expectantly at the two women.
“We’re coming,” said Tess.
He led them back to Tess’s car. When he got in the backseat, he put his head on his paws that were folded in front of him and closed his eyes.
The first snowflakes began to fall. By the time they arrived back in Portland, they had driven six hours through a blizzard, which had turned to icy cold rain as they neared the coast. They took the 8:30 ferry back to the island. When Rocky collapsed in bed, the last thing she heard was the deep sigh of Cooper.
Chapter 22
Isaiah’s truck pulled up to the cottage midmorning. He was closely followed by a beige sedan. Rocky watched from her kitchen window. A man and a woman, both fiftyish, climbed stiffly out of their car. They were heavy, solidly shaped and did not look like physical movement was easy. These people would never walk him; they didn’t walk themselves. Rocky suddenly realized that she should have kept driving to Canada with Cooper. They could be happy in a small border town or perhaps outside Quebec City. The threesome climbed the few steps to her deck. Before they could knock, Rocky opened the door. She had told Tess to stay home and sleep; the older woman had looked unusually exhausted when they returned, and she was leaving later in the day to spend the holidays with her family.
She locked eyes with Isaiah in desperation. It was possible that she could appeal to a wild streak in him and he would use his authority to