My gosh, I’ve become a horny teenager looking for any opportunity to get down with my man. I hope these feelings never wear off. I skim the yard again, the stump where he cuts the logs. The axe is lying on the ground. My stomach knots as Rake’s rules repeat in my head.
Safety rule one of wood chopping, never walk up and surprise someone chopping wood. Call out a good ten feet away and make eye contact before going closer.
Rule two of wood chopping, never leave an axe on the ground. Unseen, someone could get hurt and it’s bad for the blade. Seat the axe in the stump.
Pulling my phone I text Patch.
Help. Rake is missing.
He responds immediately.
On way. Stay in cabin. Lock up. We’re on it.
I put the phone on silent. Make sure I have the whistle around my neck and go to the door. Shiva is already there pacing back and forth.
“Okay girl, you know something is wrong, but we need to be smart. We just need to stall till back up arrives. Heel.”
We slip out the front door and Shiva darts into the woods. Vader stays at my side. We walk past the wood stump where I grab Rake’s discarded shirt and continue as if taking a walk in the woods. I don’t see anyone. Shiva joins us. I have her smell the shirt. “Find Rake.”
She immediately takes off into the woods and up the trail. I follow and Vader brings up the rear. When we hit a patch of loose dirt, even I can see plodding boot prints the size of Rake’s,but what surprises me is the smaller women’s prints beside him. Should I call out? Did someone come for help?
Checking my phone for messages, I discover there are none. If he was going to leave to help someone he would have told me. Wouldn’t he?
I text Patch again.
Following trail up the mountain. Women’s footprints with his.
As we move higher, I wonder if this is the trail he told me about. Where they found the excavation going on. It’s too far to the west to be the tribal burial grounds. I went there often with Nana to visit Grampa’s grave. Rake is right, she must have heard something to make her investigate.
The women’s shoe prints with Rake’s don’t make sense. Another fifty feet and I hear a woman’s strident voice along with another. My anger threatens to explode. Mother and Faron.
She and Faron were behind all of this from the beginning. I should be shocked, but I’m not. Pulling my phone, I text Patch telling him whose here and hoping he’s getting my messages. I try to give him a rough idea of how far the dogs and I have hiked. Giving the dogs the stay command, I turn on my phone’s recorder and make sure I have the whistle in the palm of my hand.
Reinforcing the stay, I step into the clearing.
“What are you up to this time, Mother?”
Faron stands off to the left, a handgun stuck in the front of his jeans like he’s some bad ass dude. Rake sits on a stump, hands tied in his lap. Obviously, they have no idea what he’s capable of or how insignificant Faron the weasel is compared to Rake’s training. Why did he even go along with them?
He scowls at me, obviously annoyed. “Norah, what are you doing here now?”
Now? Oops! I may have made a mistake.
Stay put. We’ve got this. Patch already knew. This was planned.
Shit. I glare back at Rake.Next time keep me in the loop, I silently snap.
He rolls his eyes as if he heard me.
“This is a pleasant surprise,” Mother continues. “Now Faron doesn’t have to go get you and we can get off this damn bug infested mountain that much sooner.”
“Why are you here in the first place? You hate the woods and never could be bothered to visit your mother unless you wanted money.”
“That’s the issue. The bitch. She took us off the bank accounts. Then she caught the amendment we added to the will and had them correct it on the spot, signed it and waited for the clerk to come back from taking it to the courthouse. She cut me out completely and left everything to you!
“That isn’t happening. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
She lifts her Gucci tote, pulls out a blonde wig that looks like my hair and tosses it to the ground. It’s then I notice what she’s wearing. “What are you doing in my dress? I’ve been looking all over for it for over a month.”
