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I was glad Cassie led the way. She had to worry about following the directions. I just followed her tail lights. It was dark, and I hadn't seen a car heading the other direction since we were just a few miles from the grocery. Mr. Smith was right. Renee seemed to want her privacy. I wondered how she ended up living out here. I know Arkansas has a healthy dose of cryptid lore. Maybe she wanted to hunt cryptids in her back yard.
Cassie slowed and turned onto a much narrower and rougher but still paved-thank God-road with me following. With each subsequent turn, the roads shrank and were less well maintained. With no street lights or houses, it was very dark and kind of creepy. I was starting to think this wasn't a good idea after all. Wilderness survival is one thing, but creepy cabin in the woods is another.
The headlights from Cassie car lit up a small, modern log cabin. I pulled in beside her, adding my lights to hers. I turned the car off but left the lights on. "Wow, this is really remote," I said. "Do you think we'll be safe out here?"
"Dr. Bellamy must have thought it was safe if she built or bought this place," Cassie said. "As far as I know, she was always single, so she must have thought she'd be safe living out here on her own. We should be cautious though. I'm armed. How about you?"
"Yeah, since I was supposed to be on a hunt with Chance this week, Glenda's in my bag?"
"I'm sorry," she said. "Glenda?"
"Sorry. Glenda is my Glock G20. She's my weapon BFF."
"Good to know," she said. I gathered from her look, that she didn't get personally involved with her weapons. She probably thought of them as tools. To each his own, I guess.
We left the car lights shining on the front of the cabin, while we unloaded our luggage and food onto the front porch. I went back to the car, got my keys out of the ignition, and locked it up while Cassie stood by her car door waiting for me to unlock the cabin's front door and turn on the lights. I was pleased to find a switch right inside the door that turned on the outside lights.
Cassie locked up her car, and we moved our stuff into the cabin. It was small, but very nicely furnished. The door opened into a large room that served as living room, dining room, and kitchen. There was a bedroom, bathroom, and office off to one side. Upstairs was a loft, that looked like Renee used it for storage.
"I'm starving," I said. "Let’s unload the groceries and make dinner, we can explore more after we eat."
When I took off my coat, I realized how cold it was inside. I found the thermostat and cranked up the heat. "I hope you don't mind, but I think it's cold in here," I said. "I wonder if she turned the heat down because she was going to be gone for a while?"
"Makes sense," Cassie said. "The fridge is mostly empty. It looks like she hadn't been home for a while before her accident."
I made a salad while Cassie fixed spaghetti and meat sauce. I opened the white wine we bought and poured us each a glass. When we sat down to dinner, I said, "This just feels really strange."
"It does. I know there's no logical reason for it, but it seems kind of creepy."
"Good. I thought it was just me," I said. As we ate, we talked about a plan for how to sort through things.
"I don't assume you have any interest in moving here, so are you planning to just prep for an estate sale of the contents and then put the cabin up for sale?"
"I guess. I'm not sure how they'd have an estate sale all the way out here. We'll have to look around outside tomorrow when it's daylight and warmer. I think there's a car or truck here somewhere. I guess she was driving a rental when she had the accident."
That reminded us both of what had happened to Renee. A somber mood smothered our conversation as if someone had thrown a blanket over us. We cleaned up the dishes, poured ourselves another glass of wine, and roamed around Renee's kitchen and living room. It reminded me so much of what I went through at Harry's.
"We need a solid approach here," I said, leaning back against the counter. "We're facing the same problem I had with Uncle Harry's lab. There's a lot of stuff here to sort through before we'll know if there's anything important."