Chapter Fifteen

The next day they arrived at Faith Briar a bit earlier than usual so Kate could show Bonnie around and introduce her to some of the parishioners. Bonnie oohed and aahed over every charming detail in the small church. She admired the cozy entryway with its stained maple floors and the simple wooden oak pews and pulpit. She complimented Kate’s skills when she saw the stained-glass window of an oak tree that Kate had made for the church when it had been rebuilt after a devastating fire. But nothing compared to her reaction when she looked out the windows, which had a breathtaking view of the Smoky Mountains.

The members of the church all welcomed Bonnie with open arms. Livvy Jenner and her husband, Danny, made a special point to make Bonnie feel at home. Kate and Bonnie spoke briefly with Livvy about how their efforts to find the cause of the missing birds had been going, and Kate let her know that she’d be in on Monday to do some research. Kate looked for Charlene and Dud, but they’d obviously been unable to make it to the service that morning.

Although Bonnie had told Kate that she was taking the day off from birding for the sake of her hair, she seemed open to a compromise on that matter after Paul’s sermon.

“Wonderful sermon, Paul,” Bonnie said as the last of the congregation waved good-bye, and they’d started walking toward the car. “I want you to know that it has me open to the notion that I’ve overreacted to the birds not behaving according to my plans.”

“Thank you, Bonnie. But I don’t want you to give up on something you believe in because of what I said. I was only presenting another view.” He opened the back door of Kate’s Honda Accord for Bonnie. “Just as we shouldn’t decide we know the answers, but we should stay open to God so that we can be ready when he shows his answers to us.”

Paul took the driver’s seat to allow the ladies to chat as he drove.

“Now,” Bonnie said as she put her hand on the back of the seat, “I don’t know what your usual routine is on Sunday, but if it includes a lunch someplace out of the way, I’d so love for it to be my treat.”

Kate folded her arms and tipped her head to one side. “Were I to analyze that sentence for theme and motivation, Mrs. Mulgrew, I’d have to wonder if by the phrase ‘out of the way,’ you meant out of Copper Mill.”

“Ever the A-plus student.” Bonnie laughed. “I confess I was thinking we might take the short trip over to Pine Ridge to have our meal.”

Paul chimed in, “How about making that short trip slightly longer than usual, maybe meandering a ways down Best Acres Line Road?”

“Extra credit!” Bonnie pretended to hold a pencil and make a check mark in the air. “But you only have yourself to blame for this. You’re the one who believes the birds will show up in their own time. So the only way I can know if that happens is to spend as much time as I can in the places where the birds might turn up.”

On the way to lunch, they took the direct route after Bonnie pointed out that they would be better bird-watchers on full stomachs. Paul heartily concurred, and they all enjoyed their time together at a Chinese buffet. By three o’clock, they were on the meandering back road home.

The occupants of the car fell silent for a moment, until Kate remembered a game she’d played with her three children on car trips. “I spy with my little eye...something black.”

“A crow!” Bonnie called out. “I see it on that fence. Now let me try.”

Before long, Paul had slowed the car to a crawl, and they were scanning around them and finding all sorts of things, paying special attention to birds, though as they passed the land nearest Best Acres, the bird sightings slowed to almost none.

The weather seemed to reflect the light mood as the sun shone down to highlight the loveliness of the world around them. And all the while, the game helped them keep sharp and focused on things they might otherwise have missed.

Paul saw a lady cardinal. Bonnie saw what she at first thought was an indigo bunting but turned out to be a candy wrapper. Upon that realization, Bonnie had promptly insisted they stop the car so that she could collect the trash and throw it away.

“All right, now it’s my turn again.” Kate shifted in her seat. “I spy with my little eye, something...”

She froze, then craned her neck to get a better look into the sunlit field to her right. She squinted, shook her head, then held up her hands in a sign of surrender and concluded, “I spy something very strange!”

“What?” Paul pulled to the side of the road and stopped. “What do you see, Kate?”

“Dot Bagley creeping around in that field wearing oven mitts.” Kate tried to imagine any scenario where that would be needed and simply couldn’t. Then she thought of how strangely Dot had acted in the diner and decided the whole thing deserved further investigation. “Let’s see if she needs any help with...whatever it is she’s up to.”

Paul unlocked the doors, and Kate was the first one out, followed by Bonnie. Both women picked their way through the rustling weeds and brush, then hurried across the field, helping each other negotiate the terrain in their dress shoes.

Paul stayed back, leaning on the car.

Kate and Bonnie crossed the field without drawing the chubby, gray-haired woman out of her intense state of concentration.

“Dot?” Kate kept her voice soft so as not to startle her. “Is everything all right?”

“Kate!” Dot threw up her hands, then seemed to suddenly remember the oven mitts. She tugged them off and tucked them behind her back in one hand. “What are y’all doing out here?”

“Paul and Bonnie and I were just taking a drive, looking for birds. You remember my former teacher, Bonnie Mulgrew, from the diner the other day, don’t you?”

Dot acknowledged Bonnie with a smile and a nod.

“We saw you out here and wondered if you needed any help,” Kate said.

“Help?” Dot seemed totally taken aback by the idea, then a rustling in the grass drew her attention away, and she brought the padded gloves out again. “Well, since you’re here, I guess you can help me. If you’re not allergic to cats, that is.”

“Cats?” Kate looked more closely in the direction that Dot had dipped her head. There, in the tall grass, she spotted two black ears and the tip of a gray and black tail twitching.

“Just one cat,” Dot said quickly. “Just one. That one. Right there. I need to get it. So I can take it home. With me. Just that one cat.”

The halting way she spoke made Kate feel she was improvising as she went along, trying to say just enough to alleviate curiosity but not enough to actually tell them anything.

“Glad to help,” Bonnie said, as she began to step lightly around to the far side of the waiting kitty.

Kate followed her cue and did the same, moving in the opposite direction.

Dot crouched low, whispering loud enough to make herself heard above the swish of the grass as it brushed against Kate’s and Bonnie’s ankles and shoes. “Approach with caution. We don’t want to spook the little guy more than he already is.”

The cat flinched, then lurched forward, saw Kate with her hands out, and zigzagged away.

Acting more swiftly than one would expect of a woman her age, Dot rushed in the direction of the cat.

It was headed right at Bonnie. She grabbed the edges of the scarf protecting her hair and stood straight up. “I just remembered I am allergic to cats. I’m allergic to having crazed ones sink their claws into me.”

Kate completely understood her friend’s sentiment. This cat clearly wasn’t some sweet domestic house cat who wanted to be caught and coddled. What Dot wanted with this one, she couldn’t imagine. And Dot didn’t seem the least bit inclined to come right out and share. Still, the animal was simply reacting to their actions, darting here and there, not hissing or growling or showing any overtly aggressive behavior. Kate hurried in Bonnie’s direction, cutting off the cat’s escape route, laughing as she imagined what Paul must be thinking.

The animal jerked at her movement, then turned so fast, it practically flipped in the air. When it got its footing again, it darted off toward the open space between the women.

Kate watched as Dot put those thickly padded oven mitts to work. The older woman swooped in and scooped up the cat. The animal let out a plaintive meow. It twisted and pushed at her with all four paws but didn’t bite, lash out, or yowl.

Paul waved from where he stood at the side of the road and yelled, “Do you ladies need any help?”

“No. Any more people out here will only scare this cat more, thank you.” Dot shushed and cooed, then looked up, her round cheeks flushed and her expression exuberant. “Thank you, ladies, so much. I’ve been trying to get this one for days now.”

“This one?” Kate walked toward Dot and the cat.

Dot cradled the animal close and marched forward, right past Kate and then Bonnie. “I better get this sweetie to the car. I have a carrier there. Thank you for stopping.”

Dot’s abruptness might have startled Kate, but something about it all told her not to take it personally. Dot, practically a main branch on the Copper Mill grapevine in her own right, had a ‘pet project,’ as she had called it. So far Kate knew it involved cream, a cat, being outside in places that messed up her hair, and in an area near where birds were disappearing. That put Dot’s behavior on the list of things Kate needed to take into account as she tried to unravel the mystery of the missing birds.