A sob escaped and she bit it back. Penny came over to her and gave her a fierce hug, then dropped her arms. “Go see Lyla,” she said. “She’s still in the barn. I’ll fix Margery something.”
“Where’s Mateo?”
“He’s still at the Pritchards’ place. He called when he got there, said their generator needs repairs and they are having trouble getting their cows into the barn, so he’s going to be a while.” She shook her head. “They’re nice folks, but they don’t know much of anything about raising dairy cows or mechanics. They think having a farm is like gardening.”
“Abigail has a green thumb,” Ellen said with a small smile. “I’ve never been able to grow tomatoes like hers.”
She was glad Mateo was able to help them. Even though she would have preferred that he was here, helping Jake with Bobby, or Lyla with the barn, or just being here with her because she couldn’t stop thinking about where Avery was and if she was going to be safe.
“And earlier? Millie called. Said they were visiting their youngest down in Frisco. Something about an indoor soccer match or carproblems, I don’t really know. But they asked Jake to care for their bulls and chickens tomorrow. With all this going on!”
“They didn’t say anything to me this morning about a trip,” Ellen said. “When Mateo calls, ask him to take care of the Coulters’ place in the morning before he comes here. Jake might not be able to get over there if the fields or roads are flooded.”
Mateo lived on the other side of Privett, on a small parcel that the McKennas had owned for generations, used primarily for grazing before the winter wheat came in. It was a straight shot to the Coulters’ place, as long as Privett was passable.
“If the rain stops by then,” Ellen said, looking out the window. It wasn’t even five and it was near dark. The rain fell without letting up, a steady, constant thrum on the roof. Was Avery out in this? Was Jake driving Bobby home?
She needed to do something. “You’re okay checking on Margery?” she asked as she put on her jacket, hood, and a fresh pair of boots, since the pair she’d worn earlier was still wet.
“I’ll feed her, sit with her, keep her calm. You check on Lyla. Make her come in and eat.”
“I will,” Ellen said and reached for the door. Whiskey jumped up from his bed in the corner of the kitchen and Ellen said, “Stay.”
He sat down and watched her with sad eyes.
The wind pushed Ellen from behind as she walked through the muddy yard to the barn. Jake had laid out plywood across the worst of the yard so they could more easily walk to and from the barn.
The lights were on inside and when Ellen stepped in through the side door, she called out, “Lyla?”
“Mom! You’re back.”
Lyla left one of the stalls and came over to her. She looked tired, her dark hair pulled back and her big green eyes bloodshot.
“Grandma said you haven’t eaten.”
“There’s water coming in from the foundation and I don’t knowwhy.” Lyla motioned for her to follow to the side of the barn under the loft. “Jake fixed the holes up above, cut off the drainpipes, but there’s water coming in here.”
Lyla turned on a brighter work light on the wall and pointed to the floor where the wall met the cement foundation. She had sandbags all around, but pulled one aside and showed Ellen what she meant. “What can cause this?”
“I don’t know,” Ellen said as she squatted and touched the pooling water. She could practically see it spread. She pushed on the wall; it was soft and rotting. It was going to have to be replaced.
She put the sandbag back. They had the entire barn surrounded by sandbags not so much to keep it from flooding—the water wouldn’t rise higher than an inch in their immediate yard because they were on a slight rise—but because standing water could seep into the foundation, causing dry rot and structural problems.
The barn had been standing on the same foundation for generations. It had been repaired, updated, modernized, but it was the same basic structure. Maybe there was something seriously wrong with the foundation, or it had cracked. But wouldn’t they have seen signs of leakage over the years? Cracks that had gotten worse over time?
“I’ll have to hire a structural engineer or contractor to take a look,” Ellen said.
“Do you think—” Lyla began, then stopped.
“Go on, what were you going to say?”
“The loft was sabotaged,” she said bluntly. “Jake said it was, that someone had cut holes in the wall, right next to the gutter so the water would get into the loft when the gutters were clogged. Maybe someone did something like that near the foundation and we haven’t found it yet.”
Ellen was still having a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that a stranger—or, worse, someone she knew—had come onto her property for the purposes of damaging her barn. But Jakewouldn’t jump to that conclusion without evidence, and it was clear that something was going on.
“I hope you’re wrong,” Ellen said, “but we can’t discount the possibility.”
“Do you think the animals are okay in here?”
