It was my day for visitors. People don’t drive all the way out to my farm often, but suddenly there were two in one day. I was in the barn, working on an alarm system. I needed to keep my hands busy and my thoughts off those kids. The crazy Russian’s trip wires and traps had given me an idea.
Aunt Penny’s truck has needed a valve job for months, so I knew it was her coming up the lane. I watched as she climbed out and squinted all around, like she was looking for something. Most likely the kids.
“They’re not here,” I called, coming out of the barn.
She zipped her jacket tight and blew on her hands. “It’s cold as Judgment Day today. Snow in the air.”
I played along. “I better get your snow tires on. Are they in the truck?”
She shook her head. “Next time. I just came for the eggs.”
Like hell, I thought. And before I could stop her, she was inside the house. For an old lady, she could move fast when she wanted to. She peered into my fridge, probably checking how many eggs I had. Which was none. Robin must have sneaked into the chicken coop before I got up.
She turned to me with a scowl. “I hope you’re not doing anything foolish, Ricky. You’re a long way from help out here.”
The detachment was just three miles up the highway, but I knew that wasn’t what she meant. “They’re just scared kids, Aunt Penny. Even if they were here, which they’re not.”
“Jessica Swan been out to see you?”
I nodded.
“Then you know what the cops found.”
“I know what I found too. They lived with a crazy man. He had traps and trip wires and Keep Out signs all over the place.”
She looked around my kitchen at all the sticky labels I’d put up. Her expression softened. “Ricky, I know they’re scared kids, but that boy may also be a killer. We don’t know what they’ve been through, but they may be dangerous. Especially if they’re desperate. It was on the radio this morning that you found the body. You don’t want to get caught in the middle.”
There had been one nosy reporter outside the Ossington detachment when the cops had finally let me go. They must have told him who I was. Somehow, I had to convince Aunt Penny that Robin and Marian were gone. Robin obviously trusted that I wouldn’t betray them. “I won’t be, Aunt Penny. They know better than to hang around here with all the cops snooping around.”
“Jessica Swan is no fool,” she said. “You don’t want to be caught helping fugitives either. That could land you in jail.”
She was looking in the sink now. Maybe checking for extra dishes. My cheeks grew hot, but I held my temper.
She must have noticed. Not much gets by her. When she headed back out to her truck, she glanced up at the sky. “I’m just doing you a favor, Ricky. The cops can use the satellites to spy on people now. And don’t forget that bullet hole in the girl. Robin might have put it there.”
I hadn’t forgotten. I also hadn’t forgotten my missing shotgun. I didn’t tell her about it, of course, but after she left, I started worrying. I wasn’t scared of Robin or Marian. I knew those kids. I knew they wouldn’t hurt me. But I did worry about what they’d do if the cops cornered them.
I didn’t know where they were. I had checked their hiding places and found no trace of them. But I knew they were out there somewhere, close enough to sneak back to the farm for food. But they were all alone in the bush, maybe with nothing but a lean-to of cedar boughs to protect them.
Aunt Penny was right about one thing. Snow was coming. Winter, with its cold that gets into your bones. Robin and Marian might be afraid to light a fire in case the smoke tipped off the cops. Marian was still very weak. Even if Aunt Penny’s antibiotics worked, it would be a long time before she recovered her strength. Living rough in the cold and damp could kill her yet.
And then there was the mysterious American. Who was he? What had he been up to? Was he the one lying dead in the woods? Was the crazy Russian on the loose, searching for his kids? No matter who was dead and who was still alive, it spelled danger for the kids. And I was the one who might have led that danger back here. Because of that nosy reporter, it might soon be all over the news that Cedric Elvis O’Toole had found the body. Not too many with that name in the phone book.
I went back into the barn to work on my trip wires. I’d never even needed locks on my front door, let alone an alarm system. I didn’t have time now to get fancy. A few bicycle horns and floodlights would have to do. I strung wires and switches to the gate and across the lane. I put another for good measure by the front door. By the end of the day, I was pretty proud of the system. It would work even if an intruder got out of his car and sneaked around my gate.
Next, I went inside and heated up a big pot of stew. It wouldn’t keep Marian and Robin warm all night, but it would get them started. I filled some old thermoses with stew and hot tea, wrapped them in more blankets and left them down by the vegetable garden.
In the morning they were gone. I made more stew and tea the next night. That also disappeared, replaced by the empty thermoses. I never saw the kids. Never looked for them either. I was afraid that if they knew I was looking, they’d run away for good.
We were just getting into a rhythm, and I was beginning to relax, when a few nights later a blast of noise woke me from a dead sleep. Chevy leaped off the bed, barking.
My bicycle horn! I rushed to the window. The yard was lit up like high noon. A truck was racing back down the lane, fishtailing wildly. In the floodlights, it was easy to see the tailgate plastered with bumper stickers. I couldn’t make out any words, but I recognized the Confederate flag.