“Bacon,” Landon coughed into his hand.
“You’re on my list too,” Aunt Tillie fired back.
“What did I do?” Landon protested. “I was just minding my own business.”
“Exactly.” Aunt Tillie bobbed her head. “You could have taken my side. You know as well as anybody that I was being railroaded. You’re ‘The Man.’” She cast a disdainful look to Spencer and Steve. “You can’t be a complete idiot and have your job.”
“You say the sweetest things,” Landon cooed at her. “I’ll take your side when Winnie comes out here if you make Bay smell like bacon.”
“Hey,” I protested.
Landon ignored me. “It’s a good deal,” he insisted.
“Too late,” Aunt Tillie countered.
“It’s never too late. I’ll be very convincing.”
“Am I missing something?” Steve asked, confusion wrinkling his forehead. “What does bacon have to do with anything?”
“It’s not important,” Landon assured him. “It’s a family thing between Aunt Tillie and me.”
Aunt Tillie snorted. “He likes when I hex Bay to smell like bacon as punishment. He’s a greasy little pervert, and he spends the entire week with a?—”
Landon slapped a slice of toast in Aunt Tillie’s mouth before she could finish. The smile he shot at his boss was sheepish. “Ignore her.”
Aunt Tillie kept talking around the toast, but nobody could make out her words.
“What do you plan to do today?” Steve asked me when the silence stretched too long. “You don’t answer to me, but I would like us to share information. This is a whole … thing that we’re going to have to wrap our heads around and kind of figure out as we go along. I … um…”
That’s when I realized that he was trying to keep me from shutting him out. He wanted to use me as part of the team. Landon had likely warned him about pushing me too far and too fast. Steve’s discomfort made me feel a little better.
“After breakfast, the cabin should be first,” I replied, glancing at Landon for support.
He nodded.
“We need to see what they were doing out there,” I continued. “You haven’t let anybody in the cabin, have you?”
Steve shook his head. “We haven’t been out there yet. No one has.”
“Okay, well, we’ll do that after breakfast. We can all go together.” I was including Chief Terry in that, even if he wanted to cede the investigation to the Feds at this point. I needed him. “You’re okay with that?” I asked him.
Chief Terry nodded. “That’s the smart move.” He hesitated, then continued. “We might need to see if the state police can bring dogs in to search the woods, too.” He didn’t look keen on the idea, but if Steve wanted a balanced approach, even if he wanted to look at humans to start, we were going to have to play the game.
“Tell them to be careful,” I replied. “They can’t stay out there too close to dark, and it’s best they don’t go too far into the woods.”
“What do you think it is?” Steve asked. “You obviously have an idea.”
“Actually, I don’t. I only know that there’s something dark and dangerous stalking the woods.”
7
SEVEN
We took separate vehicles. It didn’t even seem to be a consideration for us all to go in the same one. I was relieved because I could vent to Landon and Chief Terry.
“You don’t find this strange?” I demanded from the back seat, flapping my hands like my mother. “Because I find it strange.”
“What part do you find strange?” Landon asked blandly. He didn’t seem all that keen to encourage the rant. He also knew better than to cut me off.
