Cassie caught up with him at the door. “Hey, wait a sec,” she said, and he went to the porch, then turned around to face her. “Thanks for doing this. They’re starting to get scared, but they’d never admit it. The live-in nurse would be a great idea, but I think it would have to be a special person.” She beamed at him in a way that made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
“At least it’s a possibility now. An idea they can figure out.” Mark looked at the front yard which was covered in snow except for where there had been parking spaces left. “They don’t have a car, right?”
“No, they sold it when Charles lost his license a few years ago. Henrietta had never really driven anyway, so it wasn’t such an issue.”
“How do they get groceries?”
“They have a deal with someone in Mercer, a service. And apparently the Millers can make someone deliver if there’s an urgent need between grocery days.”
“Damn. Well, I think they would also save money if they had a live-in nurse who did the grocery stuff too. How are they, really? I mean you probably shouldn’t say anything, but….” Mark frowned. It was confidential, but he kind of wanted to know what he was stepping into.
“Her worst issue is heart failure which makes her fatigued. She’s gotten really thin, because of loss of appetite, and that doesn’t help with the energy levels, either. He’s diabetic with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and everything that comes from those. So they’re hanging in there. But either or both of their conditions might get drastically worse suddenly. It’s not unusual. Of course, you can get more details from them. But that’s the gist of it. It’s good to have you guys coming over too.” She smiled and Mark turned away, nodding.
He didn’t want the attention he sometimes got from women, and she was definitelylookingat him.
“Well, I better go. Stuff to do at the station,” he said and gave her a brief smile. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too, Deputy Forrest.” She seemed to get that he wasn’t interested and let it be. He felt so relieved it wasn’t even funny.
* * * *
On his way to the station, he got a call from Erin about checking the campgrounds just because he would drive by anyway.
Mark frowned. “Has there been activity there?”
“No, but Jason said he’s seen tire tracks leading there when he’s driven through the crossroads, and he’s going to his own place tonight, so he won’t be driving there today.”
“Okay, sure. I’ll check it. Thanks.” He ended the call and sighed. He really hoped there wouldn’t be fresh tracks to the campground and trailer park. The place was closed for the winter and for sale, so nobody was paying that close attention to it. The old trailers, the handful there were, weren’t inhabited, but sometimes people squatted in them.
Jason had been keeping an eye on the place since he spent so much time at his girlfriend Lotte’s place. Lotte, who Mark had insulted deeply during The Incident. He’d questioned her parenting skills, because she let her child express their gender identity in a way that had made Mark feel…. He didn’t have a word for that feeling. Lashing out was one thing, but what he’d said, even though Lotte or little Joie hadn’t been there, had been cruel and he still felt ashamed.
The whole thing had made him feel like the worst heel, and it had affected his relationship with the whole town. Slowly, in the last almost six months, he’d started to make progress in gaining back Acker’s trust.
Sure, there had been a handful of people who had come to him to praise the hatred he’d spewed about the LGBTQ community. He’d felt even worse then, and he’d also made mental notes to keep an eye on those people. If he ever had the strength to come out—who was he kidding, he wasn’t going to come out.
He was almost to the campground’s intersection, so he slowed down to take a proper look. There were no new tire tracks, but he could see old faint ones under the latest snowfall.
He radioed the station. “Erin? Can you ask Jason when he last saw the tracks? There’s none now, but I’m not sure when it last snowed and I can see old ones, just barely.”
“He says they’re probably the same tracks he saw the day before yesterday. So probably nobody there now.”
“Okay, copy that.” That had been his worry. If someone was squatting there right at that moment, then they had bunch of supplies hoarded. Otherwise they would’ve needed to go get some already. He made a mental note to drive by after the next snowfall, whenever that would be.
* * * *
Soon after, he passed the road to Lotte and Joie’s house, and once he rounded the lake, he passed Makai and Emil’s place. The two men were on a walk, it seemed. They were ambling along their long driveway.
On a reflex, Mark lifted his hand in greeting, and blushed when he realized what he’d done and how stunned Emil looked.Shit.Why had he done that?
Sighing, he continued the drive toward town. He should apologize to Makai for what he’d done on his property. How nasty he’d sounded as he spewed hatred all over the place. Maybe one day he’d be brave enough to talk to the man who had done nothing to deserve his vitriol.
* * * *
Mark didn’t forget about Francis. How could he? But he knew he had to figure some things out in his head before he could use that number.
Eventually, he realized that he really,reallyneeded to call Evy. The final decision was made for him, on a Wednesday couple of weeks after Francis had left town. He sat in his patrol car in the diner parking lot, shaking with anger and shame and a host of other emotions coursing through his whole being.
His first thought was to call Francis, but as soon as he saw the number in his phone, he felt he couldn’t. Instead, he went inside the diner, had his lunch, calmed himself down as always, and once he was done, he went back to work.
