The Widow - Carla Neggers [27]
“What about tonight? Do you think our partier realized you were out here? Were you trying to be quiet and sneak up on him?”
“We were trying, but it didn’t work.”
Sean was calmer, Abigail’s steady, pragmatic questions having what Owen suspected was their intended effect—to get information and, at the same time, to help the boys to see the scene from her point of view.
“Maybe whoever it was just didn’t want to be seen,” Abigail continued. “Even if it was someone you know.”
“Like who?” Sean asked.
“Talk to your dad. See what he says.” She brushed at a mosquito in front of her face. “This is a beautiful spot, but I’d bring my bug spray next time.”
“The mosquitoes are bothering me, too,” Ian said.
“I’m finished here. You guys need me to walk you back? You can borrow my flashlight—”
“I have one,” Owen said, producing a small flashlight from his back pocket.
She grinned at him. “Always prepared.”
“Let us walk you back. You’re the one out here alone.”
“That’s not necessary.” But she tilted her head back, studying him in the near-darkness. “All right. You guys can all walk me home. Let’s get moving before I lose another pint of blood to these mosquitoes.”
Since she was the one with the gun, Owen wasn’t sure who was escorting whom, but his flashlight was more efficient than hers, and he knew the rocks better than she did.
She let them take her as far as the pine trees where she’d caught Sean and Ian hiding.
“We’re sorry, Mrs. Browning,” Sean mumbled, not waiting to be asked.
“Sorry for what? I like having company. Next time you’ll definitely have to come in for hot chocolate. And it’s Abigail. Not Ab, either. Or Abbie. Just Abigail.” She winked at both boys, adding in a conspiratorial whisper, “But you might want to apologize to Owen about the bedsheet thing.”
They’d all but forgotten that one and turned to him, wide-eyed. “Are you going to tell Dad?” Ian asked.
Owen grinned. “Depends how much work I can get out of you two before he shows up. Of course, you could always read those books—”
“We’ll read,” Sean said.
His brother nodded. “We’ll read all night!”
Abigail laughed, and as she started into the trees, Owen called to her, “If you need us, give a yell.”
“I will.” She glanced back at him. “And the same here. If you need me, give a yell.”
They were, after all, neighbors.
On the way back across the rocks to his place, Sean and Ian peppered Owen with questions about Abigail and what she was doing out here by herself, and why wasn’t she married—and why was she a detective?
“Sorry, guys,” Owen said. “I don’t know all that much about Abigail.”
A true statement, as far as it went. And as long as he was being honest with himself, he admitted he’d like to change that.
The boys ran up onto the deck and back into the house.
Owen lingered out in the cool night air. He did want to know his neighbor across the rocks better.
He had for a long time.
CHAPTER 10
Mattie Young jammed his shovel into a two-foot hole he’d dug and hit rock. He laid the shovel next to him and got down on his hands and knees, digging into the hole with one hand, but he couldn’t find the edges of whatever he’d just struck.
“It’s ledge,” he said.
Ellis Cooper peered into the hole. “That’s not ledge. That’s just a rock. Dig it up. The hole’s not deep enough.”
Mattie wanted to take the shovel to Ellis’s head, except Ellis had always treated him well. Mattie knew his nerves were frayed, and he hadn’t been sleeping well. Drinking too much, smoking too much. And Linc. The money. The tension of whether the kid would crumple under the pressure and tell someone about the blackmail.
I should have demanded the ten grand all at once.
For the Coopers, ten thousand dollars was a minuscule amount. Even Linc could manage to scare up that much without drawing too much attention to himself—if he tried. He just needed the right motivation.
For Mattie, ten thousand dollars was a fresh start.
A new life.
“We need at least another eight inches,” Ellis said, pulling on his doeskin work gloves, not that