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Not that what she’d done thus far was the least bit obvious. During the past week she’d gone for a daily run through town, ending at the southeast corner, where she ran around the perimeter of the Sanderson Company plant. If anyone asked, she could say she was getting into shape for long-distance competitions.
Now she knew the layout of the facility better and had a fair idea of traffic flow. The original two-story brick building housed just the offices but was connected by a new, fully enclosed walkway to the manufacturing area. Attached to that was an even newer warehouse.
According to the reports she’d seen, the warehouse had been added two years ago when the company began producing its Aunt Maisie Ellen’s Soaps and Scents—a venture that now eclipsed the line of home-cleaning chemicals it had produced for more than forty years.
Today she was going up into the hills above the plant to check out a small outcropping of rock overlooking the entrances and parking areas. It looked like a perfect place to start doing nightly surveillance. A person alone might look suspicious. A woman out to gaze at the stars with a friendly old dog would seem harmless.
She’d barely finished tying her second shoe when Josh rushed back up the stairs and knocked on her screen door. “Come in,” she called.
He stepped inside, his freckled cheeks pink, his carrot-orange hair windblown. “Mom says yes, but she wants to talk to you first,” he blurted. “Then I can go. Where are we going? Can I hold the leash?”
“I think I’d better hold on to Harold. At least for now.” At the boy’s crestfallen expression, she reached out and ruffled his hair. “Sometimes he gets a little excited.”
“Next time?”
Sara laughed. “We’ll see.” She tapped her thigh with her hand. “C’mon, boy. Time to go.”
Harold rose from his warm place at the base of the refrigerator and came to her side, where he obediently sat while she snapped a lead onto his collar.
“He is sooo cool,” Josh marveled. “The neighbor’s dog mostly goes the other way when you call him. Did you know that we can’t have a dog on account of dad? He’s allergic.”
“He is?” Sara looked down at Josh in surprise. There hadn’t been any hesitation in Bob’s voice when he’d handed her the key. “And still, he let me rent this apartment?”
Josh shrugged. “Mom said you needed somewhere to stay, ’cause you need a break. ’Cause maybe no one would...” He stopped, his cheeks reddening.
Rent a place to the daughter of the town’s most infamous criminal?
Sara remembered Josh’s mother from childhood. Zoe, several years older, had been a quiet girl who’d endured a lot of teasing because of the dark port-wine stain on her face. Now Zoe had a left-side weakness—from a stroke at such a young age? Life had been unfair to her, but apparently she’d grown up to be a braver, more fair-minded adult than some of the others in town.
Sara smiled. “I suppose a lot of people wouldn’t want tenants with a dog. They don’t know, though, what a well-mannered old guy Harold is.”
Josh looked uncomfortable. “Well—”
“Let’s go, okay? I’d like to follow the trail in the woods east of town. Have you ever been up there?”
“With my dad once.”
“Good, then. You can be my guide.”
Down at the Shuellers’ house, Zoe met them at the back door with a baby on one hip and a cell phone in her hand. “Sure you don’t mind having Josh tag along?” she asked with a smile.
“Not at all. It’s a perfect weekend to be outside, isn’t it? Maybe you’d like to come with us. We aren’t going to be moving very fast.”
“Not a chance with this little guy.” Zoe blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Timmy needs to go down for a nap, and he’s too cranky to put up with a stroller. Otherwise, I might have come along.” She gave a rueful glance at her baggy shirt and sweatpants. “I sure could use the exercise. Where are you two going?”
“Down Oak, then up the trails into the woods,” Sara murmured. “We’ll be back in an hour, if that’s okay.”
The baby, initially entranced at the sight of Harold’s plume of a tail waving to and fro, threw back his head and howled.
“I know, Timmy. You’re teething and you’re tired. Guess we’d better get you ready for that nap.” Zoe reached down and rested a hand on Josh’s shoulder. “Be good. No wandering off—stay right with Sara. And try not to talk her ear off, promise?”
“Promise.” Josh darted off, then paused at the corner of the house, dancing from foot to foot.
“It’s nice of you to let him come along,” Zoe said, her voice low enough that only Sara could hear. “He’s been bursting with excitement over that dog ever since he learned you were moving in.”
“No problem.” Sara lifted a hand in farewell and headed after Josh.
They walked east on Third, then turned south on Oak. In a few minutes, they’d left the residential area behind.
