of raw earth. “And that was before I came home to that.”
“And what was that?”
As she gave him a brief summary, his expression grew rueful. “Boys,” he muttered. “I was hoping for a little more training time before we faced boys.”
“She’s a pretty girl. But she’s got the attention span of a flea, Mike. I’m sorry, but she’ll dump this poor Derek next week, and then he’ll be out a valuable crucifix.”
“Then next week we’ll mail it back to him.”
She swatted him, chuckling. “Coward. There’s an important principle at work here, which I think Hannah should learn.”
“When I was a kid, I hated to be told I was wrong.”
“What do you mean, when you were a kid?”
It was his turn to chuckle. “Touché. The point is, I usually knew. And if people gave me enough space...”
“What’s enough space?”
“Till tomorrow?”
In fact, an hour was all that was needed. Hannah didn’t emerge from her bedroom for dinner, but when Green tapped on her door afterwards, he was greeted not by silence or cursing but by a surprisingly subdued “Come in”. He found her sitting on her bed, writing. She didn’t smile, didn’t even glance up, but at least she was calm.
“So where is this crucifix?”
She flicked her black nails at the dresser. “I think she put it up there.”
Green picked up the delicate chain and turned it over in his hands. The gold was ornately carved, and the inscription on the back was in old-fashioned Gothic script. Sharon was right; there was no way this was a proper gift for a girl. He remembered his own first clumsy attempt at impressing a girl. He’d stolen his mother’s Queen Elizabeth coronation spoon, the only silver finery in his parent’s humble home, and given it to blonde, untouchable Susan Fielding in his Grade Five class. Susan and her friends had all laughed at him.
“I guess this guy Derek really likes you.”
She snorted. “You’re both as bad as Mom was. Always jumping to conclusions, thinking there’s got to be sex at the bottom of everything.”
“So he doesn’t like you?”
“I don’t even know who the fuck Derek is! A kid I know found it and gave it to me.”
Green liked the sound of that even less. “Found it?”
Hannah cast him a sidelong glance. “Spoken like a true cop. That’s right, Mike. He rolled poor Derek on his way home from church and ripped it right off his neck.”
“What are you planning to do with it?”
“Nothing. I can hardly give it back to the kid. It would hurt his feelings.”
As opposed to Derek, who is probably in deep mourning, Green thought, but wisely refrained from comment while he considered the situation. It was a strange choice of words Hannah had used. What boy would give a girl someone else’s crucifix and expect her to say nothing? Slowly the answer came to him.
“This is one of your special needs kids, isn’t it?”
“The detective strikes again,” she muttered. When he didn’t rise to the bait, she nodded slightly. “He’s a nice kid. I know he’d never steal it.”
“But if Derek lost it, he’s probably looking all over for it.”
“Kyle was so proud when he gave it to me.”
“Hannah, there must be a way. We’ll enlist his parents’ help if we have to. Do you know where he lives?”
“Some two-bit town called Ashford Landing.”
For a moment, Green was struck dumb. Until today, he’d barely heard of the two-bit town. To have two unrelated events occur in that same place on the same day seemed an impossible coincidence. He tried to hide his excitement as he closed the crucifix in his palm.
“Come on, let’s look up Kyle’s address. I feel like a drive in the country.”
She suddenly came alive, leaping off the bed and snatching the chain from his grasp. “No way I’m turning up there with my father!”
“I’ll let you do the talking if you like.”
But she was backing away, shaking her head. “I see Kyle tomorrow. I’ll give it back to him.”
“But we need to make sure it’s returned to Derek. We need Kyle’s parents.”
“He’s not stupid, you know.”
“He’s a child.”
She rolled her eyes. Sensing her resistance had more form than substance, he turned towards the door. “I’ll even let you listen to your own music in the car.”
* * *
He had occasion to regret that gesture as they barrelled down Highway 416 with Nine Inch Nails cranked up to top volume. Even Green’s spunky new Subaru seemed to shudder. Any conversation was out of the question, which perhaps was the reason for the volume in the first place. Hannah sat rigidly in the passenger seat, staring out the side window.
The blackness was absolute once they turned onto the back road towards Ashford Landing. They passed the Pettigrew farm on the left, and a kilometre further south, Hannah suddenly pointed to a blue number sign as they flew by.
“That was it.”
Green pulled on the handbrake and executed a emergency skid turn that had Hannah hanging onto her seat. He grinned at her. “Cop school. Never have much chance to use it.”
As he nosed the car down the narrow lane towards a farmhouse twinkling in the distance, he felt that peculiar excitement that came with being on the scent. He didn’t know the connection yet, but this boy’s farm was right next door to the Pettigrew’s.
When they approached the house, they were greeted by a pair of shaggy black dogs of dubious lineage, whose loud barking brought a middle-aged man to the door. Green shouted an introduction and waited until the man had banished his dogs back inside before getting out of the car. The man’s wary scowl broke into a smile as he turned his attention to Hannah. He had that sun-burnt, grizzled look that Green associated with the Texas desert, but when he opened his mouth, he was pure Ottawa Valley.
“You’re Ky’s teacher! He talks about you all the time, loves school for the first time ever.” He ushered them inside through a narrow, slanting hallway that smelled of pumpkins and into an old-fashioned living room. Lace mats covered the heavy wooden tables and quilts protected all the chairs. A modest needlepoint picture with the words “Bless this house” hung framed over the dining table, and the only adornment in the living room was a large wooden cross hanging in the centre of the main wall.
“Mother!” the man shouted. “Ky! Look who’s here.”
