I leaned in to see what caught his notice, and I saw Brooks, the grandson I’d met during my plumbing repair, wandering in the forest to the south of the property, with his brother, who I hadn’t officially met, doing the same several yards away.
Hutch and I pulled out of the door, he shut it, and we turned to Mrs.Matthews.
“Of course I don’t require a pet deposit,” she decreed when she got our attention.“Pets are family.I wouldn’t require a deposit fora child.”She said those last two words like doing such a thing should be added as the eighth deadly sin.“And you paid a deposit.They do damage, you don’t get your deposit back.”
“Right,” I whispered, attempting not to laugh, because this woman was one hilarious trip.
“Brooks and Ellis are checking to see if those Waco whackos are usingmyland to do their peeping Tom routine,” Mrs.Matthews announced.
Seemed Hutch had been more forthcoming than perhaps he needed to be.
Therefore, I screwed up my face and aimed it at Hutch.
He didn’t even look at me.
He told Mrs.Matthews, “They are.”
“Well!”Mrs.Matthews exclaimed, like they were peeping on her.She turned her focus to me.“I’ve approved David coming tomorrow to install the lights.I’ve spoken to him directly, and he’s also installing one of those doorbell camera doohickeys.One at the front and one in the car port.”
Before I could say anything, Hutch said, “Great idea.”
She squinted at him.“You that former SEAL who trains dogs?”
Wait.
He’d mentioned special forces.
But…
He was a SEAL?
“Yup,” he answered.
She wagged a black kid leather glove-encased finger between us.“You two an item?”
“No,” I said swiftly, at the same time Hutch said, “Nope.”
She brazenly looked Hutch up and down.She then did the same to me.
After that, she noted, “I don’t know which one of you to ask if you’re blind.”
“He’s training Tonks,” I told her, and as if Tonks’s name being said gave her permission to let loose—and in Tonks’s mind, it did—she trilled a woof and added a short howl.
Mrs.Matthews glanced at Tonks, stating, “If you say so.”
“He is,” I asserted.
She fluttered a hand in a line in front of her.“Whatever.”Her hand dropped to her side.“Now, those Waco whackos mess with you again, I want you to call me.I’ll send Mark, Brooks, Ellis, or all three of ’em out here to make a statement.This cabin went unrented for a full eight months.Unacceptable!”
She said the last word loudly, and Tonks agreed with her by releasing a yodel.
“Everyone local knows all about them,” she carried on.“It took an out-of-towner who didn’t know those nutjobs were living over there to find a tenant.”
“You should have told Mabel,” Hutch said.
She gave him narrowed eyes.“This isn’t a required disclosure.”
“You still should have told her,” Hutch pushed.
