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She looked at him slightly surprised that he had asked. "I love Wolfgang." She responded, looking Pat in the eyes. "I've never been with somebody where I lose time so easily, he makes me feel like I could be myself. He makes me laugh, he's gentle but protective. I love Marilyn as well, and given the opportunity under horrible circumstances, I would never leave him. If I could have half the man he's been to me, I would be happy and I will forever love all of him."
"Well alright then." He stood and headed to the kitchen. "Seems he's pretty serious about you too." Repeating himself, grabbed a can of soda from the fridge and turned, lifting his head to see a black and white vehicle outside spinning up dirt on the dry county road. "June you better come here." She sat frozen seeing the vehicle, thinking how Wolfgang had just left, wondering if he had been discovered and they were coming to get her as well, until her body led her to the pantry behind him, and watched as he pushed a stack of crates out to reveal a crawl space door.
He lifted it with the sound of expanded wood rubbing against itself and dirt crumbling from the cracks "Get down and don't make a noise, I'll take care of it." She followed his lead, trembling.
Her bare feet dropped onto the dirt below and crouched over as the door closed over her, the glow of the small mesh ventilation square’s on all sides was left for light. The stack of crates dragged back over the door.
Pounding came from inside her chest and the front screen door, announcing the sheriff department. She heard Pat’s footsteps leave the pantry and thud towards the front door, “Hello?”
“Hello sir, I hate to bother you but I got an anonymous tip that the two suspects from the Sacramento murder have been seen in these parts.”
“Well, I got my nephew up here, I’ve been visiting with him. But he’s not even from North California. I had my daughters and their families up here over the weekend, they’re not from Sacramento either. I don’t want to be harassed for hanging out with family, but if you want to come in and look you’re more than welcome.”
June stayed squatted below, listening with one hand over her mouth and the other gripping a floor joist above. Her hearing went sharp and was praying Wolfie wouldn’t come back right now as she listened for motorcycles, she had realized Patrick knew. He knew what had happened and that they were to blame. He wouldn’t have jumped to hide her like this if he didn’t know.
“No sir, I’ll let you get back to your family. Have a good day.”
The screen door bounced on its frame before latching and Zeppelin’s nails ticked on the floor above, doing circles around the thuds of boots in the living room. She exhaled, sweating in the hundred degree summer, creating a heat box under the house. She could hear the car door open and close and the law enforcement vehicle sat for a moment until the tires slowly ground the gravel under them. A few minutes had passed until Patrick continued to walk towards the pantry.
The stack scraped against the floor and the door opened. The few grains of dirt fell on her face, sticking to the beads of sweat as she looked up at him. “Come on.” He reached out a hand.
“Thank you.” She hopped, propping her bottom on the floor. Stepping away from the door as he rearranged his hiding spot, she wiped her face off with the bottom of her tee shirt. “How did you know?”
“Know what?” He faced her towards the exit of the pantry.
“The reason I had to be hidden?”
“I don’t know anything.” He gruffed avoiding eye contact exiting the pantry.
She looked outside seeing no dust and no police vehicle. A black and metallic shine peaked in and out of the trees up the road, catching her eye. Wolfgang. The air in her body left in relief almost to tears, a thin trail of dust followed behind him as he got closer.
The motor of the engine grew loud and steadied as he dropped the kick stand, killing the noise right after. Patrick and June stood in the kitchen watching Wolfgang as he came to the door, clueless. “Hey.” He looked at both of them, taking in their expressions. “What’s going on?” He pulled the grocery bag out of his backpack.
“We had a visitor.” Pat shuffled his feet back to his soda can to exchange it for a beer.
“What do you mean?” He set the bag on the counter, brows furrowed.
Pat cracked his can open, “Someone is sending cops up here, saying the people from the Sacramento murder are here.” Wolfie stood, not knowing how to take it, not knowing how June handled it. He pulled his lips away from the can, “She knows I know. I hid her in the crawl space, but I have an idea who has been giving out these little tips.”
Wolfie looked at Juniper, who was still confused how Pat knew and didn’t care. “Who?”
“That damn neighbor. He’s nosey enough to tell me there’s people on my property, probably nosey enough to call the cops because two people look like murder suspects.”
“We did see him twice looking straight at us, not including any of the times wedidn’tsee him.” June hugged Wolfgang thankful to see him and stepped back, “Can someone update me on what is going on with you two?”
“He knows.” Wolfie crumpled the bag letting one hand consume it.
“What does he know?”
“June, I told him everything.” He tossed the garbage into the can and looked at her.
“What? When?” She looked betrayed.
“I’ll let you two talk.” Pat grabbed his beer and an unopened one.
Wolfie put up his hand, “You’re fine.”
“I wanted to go outside anyway.” He turned and exited the sliding door.
