Chapter Twenty-One

Dud!” Kate turned just as the light from the door flashed across the man’s face. “I didn’t realize you were here.” The light also lit up the barn enough for Kate to see the last of some mourning doves scattering away from a pile of spilled feed on the ground.

“We just drove up and saw the car in the drive. Shoulda recognized it was yours from the other day, Mrs. Hanlon.” He turned his shoulders stiffly toward Kate. The play of light and dark made his expression appear almost menacing in contrast to the quiet curiosity in his tone as he asked, “Did you have an appointment to see Artie?”

“No, I decided to pay a friendly call on my way to Pine Ridge to bring Bonnie home from the hospital.”

“I see. Yeah. Like a church thing, huh?” Without giving Kate a chance to respond to his question, he volunteered, “We had an appointment. But looks like Artie’s not here. So, like I said, we see a car in the drive, and no Artie, and—”

“No one’s in the house,” Charlene shouted as she came striding across the drive toward the open barn door. “And the parrots are going wild. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll be able to—”

The instant she spotted Kate, her pace slowed.

“Artie has company,” Dud called over his back.

“I see that.” She reached them and smiled woodenly. “Hey, Mrs. Hanlon. Have you seen Artie?”

“I came by to talk to him about the trap we found and tell him about Bonnie being hurt.” Kate stood with Dud’s help. She pulled her light jacket around her, even as she noted that today the couple was dressed more like they’d been at the diner, casual but not countrified. “Then when I drove up and found the gate and the barn door wide open, I thought I’d check around. When I called for him, it caused a commotion at the other end of the barn, and I went in to investigate. I was worried that Artie might be hurt, like Bonnie was.”

“Commotion?” That got Dud’s attention. “What kind of commotion?”

“Turns out it was just some mourning doves helping themselves to some of Artie’s birdseed supply. He’s got pallets of the stuff stacked this high.” She put her hand just above waist level.

Kate tried to make sense out of that. Artie had told her that he had so much seed stored as a precaution against a harsh winter. But it hadn’t been cold enough yet that fall to even light a fire for ambiance, much less for warmth.

“So nobody knows where Artie is?” Charlene drew them back to the question at hand. “We stopped by to—”

“I already told Mrs. Hanlon about us havin’ an appointment.” Dud draped his arm around his wife.

“Oh...oh yeah. And now there’s no sign of him. Funny, huh?”

It was interesting, at least. But Kate wasn’t smiling. If Charlene and Dud were telling the truth, then why wasn’t Artie there? She had no reason to think the couple would lie about having an appointment, but they were acting a bit strange today. Plus, why did they keep popping up all the time? She supposed she could chalk it up to the smallness of the town and the fact that they were there to do some bird-watching in a very confined region. Besides, they only really knew Artie and, in a fringe way, Kate, Paul, and Bonnie, so no wonder they kept crossing paths.

But so far, Kate had never seen them doing any actual bird-watching, or even looking as if they’d done any or were going to do any.

“After discovering the trap near Artie’s land, Charlene and I just couldn’t believe that he’d be behind it. Artie’s such a great guy.” Dud looked around as he spoke, seeming more distracted than nervous. Finally he looked at Charlene, then at Kate, and said, “That’s why we wanted to talk to him about the traps and all, just like you wanted to.”

Charlene butted in without giving Kate a chance to reply. “It seemed like a good idea, what with all the birders expected to be in town in a couple of days. If someone is setting him up, poor Artie deserves to know, don’t you think?” Charlene asked, then rolled her eyes and answered her own question. “Of course you’d think that! We should have assumed you’d come to him, it being the right way to handle things.”

Kate accepted the compliment with a gracious nod, but it wasn’t lost on her that Charlene, who had once made a very pointed effort to cast doubt on Artie’s character, was now talking about someone setting him up.

Charlene sighed and looked up at her husband, making Kate wonder if Dud knew that Charlene had been talking to her about Artie. “We probably shouldn’t even have gotten involved.”

“Which is what I’ve been sayin’ all along,” Dud interjected. “We’ll let you handle this, Mrs. Hanlon, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Kate said. In fact, she preferred it that way. When she spoke with Artie, she didn’t want to do it in front of other people.

“’Course none of us can talk to the man if he’s not around.” Dud frowned and looked down the length of the drive toward the tree-lined fields in the distance. “Mighty strange him not showin’ up for an appointment, don’t you think?”

“Well, if you ask me, he’s a mighty strange little fellow.” Charlene planted her hands on her hips and looked as if she didn’t intend to hold her peace about her opinions any longer. “He makes friends online, asks us to come by if we’re around during Sparrowpalooza, then puts up signs saying people have to make appointments. He doesn’t have another job besides caring for birds right here, and yet he seems to disappear for stretches during the day. And then there are those traps...”

“Charlene, that’s enough.” Dud put his hand on her back and gently guided her toward their van.

“Dud, if Mrs. Hanlon is going to confront Artie, then she needs to know everything.” She dug in her heels, actually leaving a scrape mark in the soft dirt path that led from the barn to the driveway, where their van was parked.

“Everything?” Kate took a step toward them, her brow furrowed.

Charlene’s usually cheerful expression turned practically grim. “After you left yesterday, Dud and I went back to bird-watching.”

Dud gave a smile that didn’t quite seem to settle on his lips. “We came all the way from, uh, South Carolina for that, so we thought we should make the most of the day.”

Kate noted with interest his hesitation before saying his home state. Meanwhile, Charlene hurried on talking.

“And if you really did lay eyes on an umbie yesterday, well, we had to stick around to see if we could have the same luck.” Charlene’s smile came more readily than her husband’s, but it didn’t last long as she returned to her story. “Anyway, we stayed out a while longer, and ’long about dusk, we saw a figure in Artie’s field.”

“We think it was Artie’s field, anyway, but it might have been a neighboring field.” Dud spoke to Charlene, not directly to Kate.

“We can’t be sure of that, but we sure do know that we saw a figure skulking around,” Charlene added.

Kate spoke up. “A figure? A man or woman? Do you think it was Artie?”

“Couldn’t tell who it was or if it was man or woman, to be honest.” Charlene looked back at Dud. “But the way they were creeping around in the grass, all low to the ground, I’d be ready to bet they were up to something. If it wasn’t Artie, then it might just have been the one who set the trap, and maybe the one with answers about those missing birds.”

With that description, an image of Dot and oven mitts popped into Kate’s mind. “That’s an interesting thought, Charlene. If it wasn’t Artie, then I have an idea who it might have been,” Kate said as she picked her way along the uneven ground, heading toward her car. “A local lady, Dot Bagley, who doesn’t live too far from here. We saw her out in a field a few days ago, trying to catch a cat. She was hunched over in the position you described. She’s harmless, I’m sure.” Harmless, yes, but the woman’s actions still had Kate puzzled. Though now Kate wasn’t completely ready to rule out a possible link between Dot’s pet project and the missing birds.

“Friend of yours?” Dud asked in his low, droning accent.

“We’re not close, but I do know her, yes,” Kate replied over her shoulder.

“You better tell her to watch herself,” Dud said.

Kate pulled up short. A chill ran down her spine. “What?”

Dud’s face was unreadable. “On account of them traps and us not knowin’ what’s going on out here and all. We like Artie, Mrs. Hanlon, but he clearly ain’t happy about all the bird-watchers about to converge in the fields. Now there’s a lady skulkin’ about at dusk.” Dud smiled at Kate politely. “I sure would hate for anyone to get hurt.”

“You mean, anyone else to get hurt,” Charlene said softly.

“Yeah. Right. Anyone else to get hurt.” Dud put his arm around Charlene and gave her a quick sideways hug that looked like a mixture of comfort and gratitude. He seemed truly troubled at the reminder of Bonnie’s injury.

“Maybe this...Dot Bagley, did you say?” Charlene looked to Kate for confirmation, and when Kate nodded, she went on. “Her sneaking around at dusk like that makes me wonder if she’s behind the birds going missing...and the traps. But if she’s not...well, then we don’t know what might happen or who might get hurt next.”