wasn’t home when Andy dropped me off. I decided to try and get back into her good graces by taking my Jeep and fetching the groceries myself. I walked down through the orchard to the carriage house, pausing on my way to examine the young buds on the peach and pear trees. From the looks of the abundant blossoms, we would have a bumper fruit crop by late summer. The plum trees were already in full bloom, and the honeybees were making merry on the first nectar of the season. I smiled. The orchard had been my grandfather’s pride and joy. Every spring a little bit of him came back to life as each tree awakened and was reborn.
I could hear Aggie barking inside the house. If she recognized me, I couldn’t tell. She wasn’t the most astute watchdog in the world. I daydreamed for a moment about the new puppy I would get when Cassie took her away. Maybe a friendly, happy-go-lucky Lab, or a little Jack Russell with all the smarts Aggie was missing. Big or small, the new canine would have to be a lot easier to get along with. I was tired of being a pincushion.
Since Mother had taken possession of her new car, I hadn’t driven my Jeep Cherokee very much. At least for the next couple of weeks I would get to be the chauffeur again. I opened the garage door and admired the big hunky fenders and the bilious green body. I loved Watson. Cassie had named him when I first came home with him two years ago. I thought at the time that we would be bouncing over hill and dale in search of evil-doers for my stories and have need of a four wheel drive. So far I had been disappointed. All the villains we had encountered were either city dwellers or hidden so deeply in the forest that they could only be tracked on foot.
The big engine started up on cue and hummed merrily as I backed out of the garage and circled the carriage house to make sure everything was in working order. The late afternoon sun was courting the western horizon, but it was still strong enough to make the air above the fields shimmer with heat. I looked up and noticed that the lone buzzard I had seen earlier was now in the company of almost a dozen of his predatory fellows. They were spiraling over the end of our farm just beyond the airport runway— right where I thought I had seen something fall from the airplane earlier.
“Hey, wha’cha’ say, Watson! How about a little adventure?”
I barreled down the lane toward the field with little more thought about what I was doing than if I had a cabbage for a head. If I had ruminated a bit, I might have realized that my dog with no brains and I had more in common than I knew.
Billy, our farm manager, had cleaned out the lane last fall. The overgrowth of blackberry and honeysuckle had been cut back and pruned so that the snaking vines no longer grasped wickedly for arms and hair.
I cut across the field at the little pond, but not before seeing two turtles and several big bullfrogs jump for their lives into the cool depths. From a distance, the field looked smooth and even, a carpet of green velvet, but the ride was rough. I had a grand old time.
The circling buzzards created something of an optical illusion. The closer I got, the farther away they appeared. Seeds from the tops of the tall growth of fescue splattered across the windshield and gathered in little rivulets above the wiper blades. I made the mistake of trying to wash them away. Even Watson’s mighty wipers couldn’t clear off the mess of dried hulls and fine, chocolate-colored dust. I pulled up on the highest point in the middle of the field and rummaged around in the backseat hoping to find some glass cleaner and paper towels. What I found instead was a half-empty plastic bottle of Evian and three used paper napkins from the Dairy Queen.
I opened the car door and stepped gingerly down into the waist-high grass. Visions of copperheads and giant ticks with ghoulish appetites crossed my mind and encouraged me to hop up on the fender and crawl up on the hood.
I cleaned off the windshield as best I could and sat back on the top of the car. The squadron of buzzards was now off somewhat to my right. The fading light of the setting sun cast confusing shadows, and it was hard to tell if they were over the airport or still flying over the edge of our field. The tall grass danced and swayed to the whispering tune of the evening breeze and hid the perimeter fence from view. I finally gave up the search with a disappointed sigh and stood up to brush off my jeans.
The bullet whizzed past my shoulder like an angry hornet. I dropped like a rock and flattened my body on Watson’s hood. I didn’t hear a report, and for a moment I doubted my first impression that someone was trying to kill me. When a second bullet whizzed overhead, I slid off the hood and climbed back in the driver’s seat as fast as I could. Out here in the middle of the field I was too good a target. I turned on the engine and headed toward the protection of the trees at flank speed.
I bounced madly up and down in the seat as I cut across the furrows, tasting the hot salty rush of blood as my head came up against the roof and I bit my tongue. I was well aware that if I lived to see the next day my nether parts would be black and blue.
By the time I reached the trees, darkness had fallen, and it was difficult to see the entrance to the lane. Turning on the headlights would make me a sitting duck. Instead, I slowed down and inched my way forward. I almost drove into the pond, but I saw the dark outline of flat, still water just in time.
I circled the narrow shore until I found what I was looking for. The dark tunnel of trees seemed overwhelmingly foreboding, but it was my best chance, unless someone was waiting inside. With some difficulty, I shut off my imagination and headed blindly for home.
The moon came up over the treetops as I drove up to the garage. The sprawling silhouette of the house was dark against the moonlit sky, and I knew Mother wasn’t home yet. For a moment I considered heading straight into town and Andy Joiner’s office. I wanted to tell him what had happened as soon as possible, but I was afraid to leave and have Mother arrive alone. I decided to park the car and go inside to call Andy.
Just as I ran across the driveway, two headlights appeared at the bottom of the hill. With a pounding heart, I threw myself behind a lilac bush and waited to see who was coming. When I heard the expensive hum of Horatio Raleigh’s Bentley, I relaxed and crawled out from my hiding place.
“Paisley Sterling! What in the world are you doing? Don’t you think you’re a bit old to be playing cat and mouse in the dark?” asked Mother as her old friend helped her gallantly out of the car. It was obvious that she hadn’t forgiven me for laughing at her earlier that afternoon.
Horatio, who was much more astute, divined immediately that something was amiss, and ushered us politely but quickly into the house.
“Anna, my dear,” he said. “Our Paisley looks to be in need of a small libation, and perhaps some of that wonderful tomato bisque you prepared last night. If you have any left, that is?”
Mother was instantly contrite. “Oh, dear! Paisley, darling, are you all right?”
“Of course, Mother,” I lied. “But I would like some soup.”
“Bisque, dear. Tomato bisque. And you have a leaf in your hair.”
“Yeah, soup. Hot. With crackers.”
Horatio led the way into the library and turned on the small Chinese porcelain lamps on each of the sofa tables. I crossed over to the French doors, and after a cursory look at the empty backyard, pulled the new red-and -yellow -striped silk draperies over both doors.
“Someone chasing you again, my dear?” asked Horatio with a lift of one elegant eyebrow.
Horatio Raleigh had been a friend of our family for years. And while he had always been in love with my beautiful mother, he didn’t make it known until after my father’s death over a decade ago. Since then, he had been Anna Howard Sterling’s constant and ever-admiring companion.
Horatio
