Town in a Maple Madness by B. B. Haywood

Author:B. B. Haywood [Haywood, B. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Goodreads: 31159235
Publisher: Berkley Books
Published: 2017-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-NINE

A commotion woke her—and the feeling that she was slowly being suffocated. She tried to move her legs but couldn’t. It felt as if a bear had her pinned down, lying heavily across her lower body and part of her chest.

She struggled to turn over but couldn’t. She tried to pull the blankets up closer around her neck and shoulders but they wouldn’t budge. Something was on top of them, holding them down.

Groaning, sleepy eyed, she struggled to lift her head and tried to pry open her eyes to see what was going on.

A heavy, furry something scooched up on her, thick paws pressing gently on her upper arm and shoulder. A big wet tongue appeared out of nowhere and licked her chin and neck.

She pulled her head back instinctively, under the covers, as she realized who it was.

“Random,” she breathed, and settled her head back down on the pillow. The dog had fallen asleep last night at the foot of her bed, but sometime during the night he had climbed up onto the bed with her. She’d been so far gone she’d never noticed his presence.

She tried to pull the blankets up around her again. “You have to give me a little breathing room, buddy,” she muttered as she closed her eyes again. “I just need . . . to sleep . . . a little longer.”

She closed her eyes and tried to settle back down, but the dog snuggled up closer to her, nudging at her through the blankets and sheets with his nose.

“What?” she asked, her mouth working dryly. “Don’t tell me you have to go out.”

She wondered what time it was, and was just about to poke her head over the covers to check the bedside clock, when she heard footsteps outside her bedroom door and a quick rapping sound. “Candy? You up?”

It was her father. He knocked again, more urgently. “It’s me. Are you decent?”

She could feel Random’s head jerk up, suddenly alert, and his body tense, but he didn’t move—for the moment.

The knob turned and the door pushed open a crack. “Hello?”

Candy wrenched her head up and turned it vaguely toward the door. “Dad?”

Her mind was still groggy. After her restless, uncomfortable doze at the hospital and the nearly hour-long drive back to the cape, she’d fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep once back home and in her own bed. She’d lost all track of time. It felt as if she’d been out for days. “What time is it?”

Her father opened the door a little farther and poked his head around the corner. “Just after eight thirty. Saturday morning, to be specific. I came up to see if Random wants to go out. And you have a visitor.”

At the sound of his name, Random ruffed softly in the back of his throat. A moment later he was on his feet, taking a shaky stance on the soft, unstable mattress before making a lumbering and not altogether graceful leap off the bed. He landed heavily, his big paws thumping into the wood floorboards.

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