He glanced over at Cain.The man was staringout the front window as if he were the one driving the car, but heturned slightly when he felt Mark’s gaze.His eyes were the sameclear green they’d always been, but now Mark felt as if he wereseeing beyond the irises and seeing more of the real person.Andthe man he saw was every bit as confused by all of this as Markwas.
Part Two
Chapter Seventeen
The squirrel was knocking on Lucas’s window.At first he thought he was still asleep and dreaming, but he took amoment to collect himself and realized that he was, in fact, awake,and had, in fact, been awakened by the rodent’s tiny paws tappingat the glass.It was just after dawn, and Lucas had been planningto sleep for another hour or so, but the squirrel obviously hadother ideas.
“I’m not going to feed you,” Lucas said tothe little gray face.“I don’t have any food in the room.Andbesides, you’re getting fat.”
It was true.In the two months that Lucas hadbeen living at the halfway house, the squirrel had developed from ascrawny, scruffy creature to a sleek and sturdy fellow.Partly itwas the change of season, Lucas reasoned, but the daily treats hadprobably contributed as well.
“Do you like carrots?Or cucumbers?Somethingthat’s a little less fattening, that’s what you need.”
The squirrel cocked its head, then tapped theglass again.
“You’re not coming inside,” Lucas saidfirmly, but he swung his feet out of the warm bed and stumbled thehalf-step to the window.“There’s no food.You’re a wild animal.You can’t be trusted.”
The squirrel stepped back from the window inclear anticipation of having it opened, and Lucas sighed as hecomplied.As soon as the glass slid up, the squirrel skitteredforward, jumped quickly to the top of the battered wood dresser andpeered around curiously at the room.As the animal sat on itshaunches, Lucas noticed its belly, where the fur seemed to bemissing, or strangely tufted around…
“Oh, no.No, I looked it up.Squirrels havebabies in early spring.This islatespring.Not baby time.I thought you were a dude!”The squirrel didn’t seem impressed byLucas’s arguments, so he decided to try a simpler approach.“Nobabies in the room, squirrel.That’s house rules.”
He moved toward the squirrel, trying to lookslow and gentle, hoping to herd the animal back toward the window.Why the hell had he opened it in the first place?What had hethought was going to happen?“I thought you liked living outside.Sunshine, and…it’s freedom, squirrel.”
He dropped heavily to sit on the bed.“Oh.Isthat it?Is it scary out there?You’re…okay, I still think it’swrong, but I guess you’re about to have some babies?And you wantsomewhere safe for them?I was going to give you a lecture, butyeah, it’s different with babies, isn’t it.I don’t know…”
The knock at his door was gentle, but itstill startled him to his feet.The squirrel jumped across the bedin one great leap and scuttled down between the mattress and thewall.Lucas thought about trying to dig her out, thought aboutburrowing back under the covers, and briefly considered climbingout the window himself.Instead, he crossed slowly to the door andpulled it open.
“Father Groban.Hi.You’re up early.”
“Late, actually.”The priest kept his eyes onLucas, but there was something about the way he held himself thatmade it clear he really wanted to peer inside the room.“I was upall night with an ill parishioner, and I just wanted to pick somepaperwork up from here before I headed home for some sleep.”
“Oh.I hope the person’s going to be okay.The parishioner.”
The priest shrugged.“She’s almost onehundred and she’s had a full life.She’s ready for the next one.Ithink she’s mostly just holding on because she’s worried about herdaughter.Elise is in her seventies, but she’s still Caroline’slittle girl.”
There wasn’t much to say to that, so Lucasjust stood there.Finally, Father Groban gave in to temptation andtook a quick look over Lucas’s shoulder.“I was out in thedriveway,” he said in a conversational tone, “and I looked uptoward the house and I could have sworn that I saw someone open awindow and let a squirrel inside.And now here we are, and I seethat your window is open.It’s not a question I thought I’d everask, but, Lucas…is there a squirrel in your room?”
“Is that against the rules?”Lucas wasn’targuing, he just wanted to know how much trouble he was in.“Imean, there’s the ‘no pets’ rule.I get that.But this isn’t a pet,exactly…and I didn’t think she’d come in.”He tried to read FatherGroban’s expression.“I think she’s about to have babies, eventhough it’s too late in the year.Or too early.I don’t think she’svery good at being a squirrel.”He needed to stop talking about thesquirrel, so he wrapped up with an apologetic, “Maybe she’s lookingfor a safe place.”
“And you think that your bedroom is suitablefor that?”The priest sighed.“She’ll probably go back out on herown.If she doesn’t…I don’t know anything about squirrels.Do theycarry disease?Are they destructive?”
“They’re bossy,” Lucas said, since he reallycouldn’t answer any of the other questions.“At least this oneis.”
“This is the squirrel you’ve been feeding?”Father Groban stopped as if he’d suddenly been distracted by one ofhis own thoughts, then paused for a moment’s reflection beforesmiling.“Lucas, how’s the job hunt coming?”
Not something Lucas really wanted to thinkabout that early in the morning.“I finished the training courselast week.I’ve been filling out applications, but nothing yet.”Nothing for months.Even after his bruises had faded, his historywas still a black mark.
“The training was in custodial work, right?Cleaning, light repairs?”
“Yeah.I don’t think I really needed thecourse in terms of getting new skills, but I guess it’s anotherline to put on the resume, and it gave me something to do.”
Father Groban nodded.“But no interest fromemployers yet.”
Lucas just raised an eyebrow, and the priestseemed to get the message.“What about a bit of a twist on theidea?”the priest asked.“Would you be interested in being a sortof caretaker, helping a lady who’s getting on in years look afterher property and her animals?”
“You think somebody’s going to hire a felonto work with an old lady?Seriously?”
“I think someone might.”The priest smiled.“Elise, the daughter of my parishioner?She lives on a big placeout in the country, and her husband made good money, enough thatshe never worked and is comfortable now that he’s gone.She’s spentmost of her life looking after injured or orphaned animals.Nowthat she’s getting older she needs some help, but she’s being a bitstubborn about it.I think I might be able to sell her on the ideaof hiring someone if she thought she was helping you as much as theother way around.”
