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“What? What’s wrong?”
“There’s a dead fucking deer in here.”
“A what?”
“A dead deer. It’s been half-eaten and left to rot.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“I wish I were,” he replied, pulling Maeve away from the ghastly sight. “No wonder it feckin smells so bad in here. I’m going to open up some windows and get this place cleaned up. Find out what happened to the caretakers, will you? When are you guys coming up?”
“It won’t be until late tomorrow. We have some unfinished business up at the warehouse and then we’ll be along. You okay there? Maybe you should go get a room somewhere.”
“We’ll be fine. If you find those bastards who were supposed to be tending the place, send them out here. They can help me clean up this shit before I kick their asses back home.”
“Will do. I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”
“Aye. Ta.”
Ronan ended the call and looked at Maeve. He was furious but trying to remain calm. What he really wanted was to find out where the caretakers lived and take the deer to their house and dump it in their living room. Obviously, someone had been squatting, and only a shifter would haul a dead deer inside for dinner by the fire.
“I’m sorry, Maeve. This place is usually spotless and in much better shape.”
“So the dear isn’t like some variation of pillow mints at a hotel?” she teased.
“I’m glad one of us has a sense of humor about this. I would suggest we go to a hotel, but there aren’t any decent ones for miles, and this will still be waiting for us when we get back.”
“I’ll help you clean it up.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to do that.”
“Sooner it gets clean, the sooner we can relax. Other than the dead deer, it looks like it just needs a good cleaning and some yard work.”
“All right. Well, how about we split up? I’ll get rid of this thing and let you work on the house while I get the yard cleaned up a bit before it starts to get dark.”
“Are you saying cleaning up the house is women’s work?”
“Would you rather cut the yard?”
“No.”
“Well, I suppose I could do it all. It’s not like it’s your fault.”
“I’m just teasing. It’ll go faster if we both knock it out. How about you go ahead and get rid of that thing first, though? It really stinks.”
“Yeah, it does,” he laughed.
Ronan walked to the kitchen and pulled some gloves and trash bags out of the cabinet beneath the sink. He left the door open for her to retrieve cleaning supplies and pointed her toward the small pantry where she’d find anything else she needed.
“There’s some additional storage beneath the cabin. I’ll show you that when I come in from outside. Should be plenty of food and drinks down there, mostly dry and canned goods, but we can get out and get some fresh stuff later tonight or tomorrow if we don’t feel up to it today,” he told her as he began removing the remains of the deer and closed them up.
He scowled at the black spot left behind on the hardwood floors from where fluids had stained the grain below it. That would have to be replaced. For now, all they could do was clean it as best they could.
“Don’t worry about damaging the wood with whatever you have to do to kill the smell there,” he told her. “It’s going to have to be pulled up and replaced anyway, so you can’t do any harm.”
“I’ll dose it with some bleach and let it sit,” she told him.
“Sounds good. I’m going to get these bags out and start a fire. It’ll be better to burn them to keep away pests. I’m surprised this place isn’t crawling with rats with his mess,” he groaned, heading for the front door.
Outside, he piled some loose brush from the nearby trees onto the fire pit and added a few logs to get it going. Once he had a strong blaze on the go, he put the bags on top and left it to burn off while he went to the workshop and retrieved the lawnmower. He got to work cutting the grass around the house.
There would be a lot of work to do past just cutting the tall weeds, but that could wait until his brothers arrived to help finish up. For now, he just wanted to get the place in good enough shape that they didn’t need to worry about getting bitten by a snake hidden in the blades beneath their feet.
The sun was still bright overhead as he made his way around the property, eager to get it done and get back in the house to help Maeve. He felt bad that she had to clean up in there as soon as they arrived, but it was going to take both of them to get things in shape.
