No Safe Winterport by Judy K. Walker

Author:Judy K. Walker [Walker, Judy K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Judy K. Walker

13

Under normal conditions, with the protected courtyard adjacent and another floor above, Lisa’s kitchen was well insulated from outdoor sounds. (I hadn’t heard the thump of bass from a single passing car, but maybe none of the males in the neighborhood were of prime sexual display age.) These were not normal conditions. The winds weren’t quite howling yet, but they were heading in that direction. A pair of wind chimes we’d missed in the courtyard were about to explode, and the rhythmic tapping of something against an upper story window needed investigation. A big branch landed on the back overhang with a bang, and we all jumped. We were running out of time.

Ray’s list had seven possible locations. We’d spread out a map on the kitchen table to get oriented and see the sites in relation to each other. After a little Q & A about the properties with Ray, I’d put on my Goldilocks hat and felt confident eliminating three possibilities because they weren’t just right. Now we were prioritizing the remaining four.

“So there’s no structure on this one?” I asked.

“There’s a structure, just no house. It’s a storage shed, maybe five hundred square feet. The lot is less than five acres, and kinda long and narrow. Vegetation along the main road and at the entrance make a visual buffer, but it’s pretty bare once you get past that. The shed is toward the back, maybe a quarter of a mile in. A gravel driveway gets you there, but it’s not in the best shape.”

“Electricity?” I asked.

“Nope. No lines of any kind going into the property.”

“Cell signal?”

Ray leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “Well, I was only out there twice, and not for long either time. I believe it was hit and miss, but I wouldn’t swear to it.”

I leaned over the map. Again. I could almost feel the barometric pressure falling. Or maybe it was my blood pressure rising.

“Okay,” I said, pointing to the piece of property we were just discussing. “I’m about eighty-five percent sure this is where he is. But it’s the farthest one from here, so I think we should hit these two on the way. If we don’t find Graeme at any of those three, we’ll hit the fourth one on the way back. Does that seem reasonable?”

Ray nodded. I was really talking to him, but Lisa was hovering, so I looked at her, too. For the first time since we’d spoken outside.

“Yes, it does,” she said, and left the room.

I left Ray to fold the map and ran upstairs. We’d squeezed my rental car into the garage with Lisa’s SUV, but I didn’t think I needed anything from it. I was traveling even lighter than usual. I jammed my card case into a back pocket and my cell phone and Lisa’s spare key in the opposite front pocket, tucking them diagonally to avoid a back ache and a pronounced lurch. Then I looked around the room to see if I was forgetting anything.

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