Goldenseal by Gill McKnight

Author:Gill McKnight [Gill McKnight]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery & Detective, Fiction, Women Sleuths, Lesbian, Romance, General, BSB; lesbian; romance; fiction; bold; strokes; ebooks; e-books
ISBN: 9781602821156
Google: zyKYx0-u8tsC
Amazon: 1602821151
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2009-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

The wind had died away by the time Amy arrived at the compound. She rounded the corner of Claude’s cabin and came to an abrupt halt. Before her on a huge A-frame an adult deer hung by its hind legs. Its body cavity was opened and gutted. The carcass was headless and the stump of a neck was totally mangled, as if the head had literally been ripped off. A fly-infested bucket sat to the side. She assumed it held the entrails.

“Hi, Amy.”

The soft voice came from behind her. Spinning around she saw Paulie approach, an impressively wicked knife dangled from his hand. He smiled at her before blushing fiercely. Amy wondered if he had perhaps developed a little crush on her. He seemed very awkward around her.

“Hi, Paulie. Is this the deer Claude and Leone hit with the truck last night?”

Paulie blinked before burning an even brighter shade of red. “Um, they brought it in last night. Claude dressed it, but left the rest for me to practice skinning on. Do you want to watch?” he asked eagerly.

“Mmm. Sure.”

Amy wasn’t at all sure if she wanted to watch, but she didn’t want to dilute his obvious enthusiasm for the chore left to him. He moved to the carcass, and with great concentration drew the blade around the tethered hooves before slitting the inside of each leg down toward the pelvis. Slowly, he began to peel back the hide from the fetlocks, scrubbing at stubborn patches with the blade. Amy winced.

“You’ve got to make sure the hide doesn’t touch the meat,” he said. “No one wants a hairy steak, do they?”

His casual words broke Amy out of her horrified trance.

“Yeah, that would be yuck,” she said, vowing herself back to vegetarianism. “Paulie, why’s the head missing and the neck so mashed up? Is that where the truck hit it?”

“Maybe,” he said, concentrating on the job in hand. But even with his back to her she could see his ears glow. He was finding her questions difficult, and she wasn’t sure why. “The head’s in Claude’s freezer. He’s taking it to a friend who’s a taxidermist. He wants to get it mounted as a gift for Leone’s birthday. Don’t tell her. It’s a surprise,” he added hastily.

“Nope. The secret’s safe with me. Hey, thanks for the demo, but I need to go find Marie. I’ll catch you later.”

“Okay, I’ll save you a couple of loin steaks.” Again he blushed furiously, and again Amy was uncertain what it was that made him so awkward around her.

“Amy,” he called after her. “There’s no one over at Aunt Marie’s. They’ve all headed out.”

It had occurred to Amy that the compound was very quiet for the time of day.

“Who’s they? And where have they gone?”

“Most everyone. Claude told me to stay here and finish skinning the buck. I’m not sure where they went. They took off very sudden. Elicia just left a minute or two ago. She looked upset. I called but she just kept walking.

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