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They talked about Theo’s reverse ghost story then, sharing the stash of chocolates while they discussed the possibilities. Mac recounted tales of apparitions in Great Falls, most of which were more funny than haunting, and Colonel Eldridge, whose spirit apparently resided not only in the hotel he’d built in Lawrence but the ones that replaced it. She told him about Min Min lights and George Grover, the brutal flagellator, reportedly killed by his convict charges, who appeared from time to time around the Richmond Bridge.
Gus called at about ten. He sounded tired.
“Difficult clients with more money than ethics,” he said when she asked. “We only got back to the hotel five minutes ago. Everything okay at home?”
“Yes, fine.” Theo decided not to bother him with the details of Horse’s escape. That could wait.
“Mac there?” he asked.
“How did you know that?”
“You sound even less Aussie when there are Yanks in earshot. When it’s just me, you sound vaguely like a girl from Tassie should.”
“Oh.” Theo hadn’t been aware of any change in her inflection.
He laughed. “Put Mac on, will you?”
She handed her phone to Mac, who jotted a few notes as he spoke to Gus. She could hear only Mac’s side of the conversation. “Now?…Can it wait till morning?…All right—leave it with me…mate.”
Theo smiled. Gus used the word mate to invoke some kind of blokey Australian law that rendered the request that accompanied it unrefusable. “What does he want you to do?” she asked when Mac had hung up.
“He needs me to track down some information tonight. Apparently, the client is busting his chops.” He frowned. “It should only take an hour or so.”
She smiled. “I’ll be fine, Mac. I don’t know how Horse got out, but I suspect it was just one of those things.” She ruffled the hound’s ears. “The ratbag probably talked some kid into setting him free. You really don’t have to babysit me.”
He hesitated.
“Go. And for pity’s sake, take your car while you can still get it out of the driveway without a shovel!”
He laughed. “Yes, ma’am!” He pulled on his jacket and draped his scarf around the back of his neck. “If there’s anything, you have my number.”
Theo got back to the plot on the kitchen table. But she couldn’t concentrate, her mind instead on what might have been in the envelope. Perhaps Dan had taken it out himself before sealing the envelope…but if he hadn’t, then Burt Winslow must have taken it. It didn’t make any sense. If Winslow was a mail thief, why deliver anything to her at all? She would never have known. God, she’d invited him into the house.
She picked up the letter and read it again. Mac was right. The last line did sound like something more than just assistance finding an agent, but what could Dan possibly have wanted to send her?
Horse got up from under the table and walked to the back door and whined.
“Do you need to go out, Horsey?” Theo placed the letter back on the bookshelf under her old copy of Airborne and opened the back door. Horse ran out barking furiously. It was snowing lightly, and the hound’s paws left imprints in the fresh powder.
The footprints caught her eye immediately. From the gate to the window, to the back door, and then out again. The gate had once more been left open.
Theo called Horse back, running out to the gate in socks to shut it before the dog got out again. There was a figure across the road, walking briskly. The red plaid was distinct against the snowfall. Theo slammed the gate shut and dropped the latch into place before running for the back door. Her wet socks slipped on the floorboards, but she didn’t pause to notice. She banged around the kitchen until she found where she’d left second bag that Mac had brought with him and pulled out a heavy-gauge chain and padlock. She went back out immediately and chained the gate shut, clicking the padlock into place with a force that was both angry and panicked.
Many men wore plaid lumberjack jackets in Lawrence, but she was sure it was Burt Winslow across the road. Shivering now, she called Horse into the house, locked the back door, and removed her sodden socks. She couldn’t feel her feet, and the shivering became quite violent. Theo picked up the phone and called the police.
CHAPTER 14
Where is Primus’s book… the word he promised us? Did whoever killed him take it?”
Frodo 14
What would it be worth?
ThinBlue
You buying or selling?
Wayward Son
