Detour by Lorena McCourtney

Author:Lorena McCourtney [McCourtney, Lorena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rogue Ridge Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

MAC

It was getting late by then, and we decided to wait until the following day to go to the sheriff’s office about the cap. I kept wondering, if a gun is unregistered, how do you prove it isn’t yours? And if it was the gun that killed Renée . . .

We met Brian at the dinosaur park gate at 10:00 the next morning, Tuesday. I had my camera, of course. Ivy had a notebook and a couple of pens. We were both wearing old jeans, hoodies, gloves, and rubber boots.

“It’s a pretty good climb,” Brian said. He carried a new-looking shovel and was wearing jeans too, as if he were prepared for digging. But I was apparently mistaken about his doing any digging because he handed the shovel to me before he unlocked the gate.

“Kathy thought you should have this in case you want to dig up treasure or bodies or anything. It’s never been used. She bought it thinking I was going to dig up a garden space for her.” His smile said, Think again, Kathy.

The long-handled shovel looked big enough to disinter a dinosaur. I told Brian to thank Kathy for her thoughtfulness in sending it along.

We followed the winding path upward through the park, Brian puffing before we’d gone far. At the Tex the Rex figure, which was quite imposing even with a few teeth missing, he climbed over the picket fence. I followed and then helped Ivy over too. We climbed farther up the hill, struggling through brush and blackberry vines.

Brian couldn’t immediately lead us to the old hole Duke had dug. We went up and down and back and forth on the hillside, and he had to stop and rest several times, once putting a hand on his heart. I remembered Ivy saying she’d seen a lineup of pill bottles on their kitchen counter, and I guessed now that they were Brian’s. She picked up a few interesting rocks along the way. Our movements stirred up forest debris underfoot, and twice she went into sneezing spells.

Once, while he was resting, Ivy and I climbed higher and reached the top of the hill where the far side ended in a cliff. Not really a high cliff, maybe eighteen or twenty feet, but below lay a wicked jumble of sharp rocks. We could also see the burned remains of Kate’s Kabins and the swamp off to the south. Going back down the hill, we caught up with Brian again and then the old saber-toothed tiger Duke had told us about, a rather formidable encounter when you’re not expecting it. I heard something in the brush. I paused and spotted a flicker of movement between heavy branches.

“What is it?” Ivy whispered.

Ghost goat? Live goat? Cougar? The shovel wasn’t much defense, but I held it out in front of me and stepped between the noise and Ivy. Silence followed, but not exactly a comforting silence. More like a waiting-to-pounce silence. After a long moment, I whacked the shovel against

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