Chase by Jessie Haas

Author:Jessie Haas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

ERRRRRR!

Phin leaped up. Pale light, gray-gold mounds of hay. On the beam in front of him a rooster swelled its chest, threw its head back, and bellowed a challenge to the dawn.

Phin sank down, nerves twanging. Hens dropped off the beams around him. Some flapped to the floor below. Others strolled across the hay, clucking and pecking and seeking secluded corners.

No sound from the house yet. Phin put his eye to a crack between the barn boards. All he could see was treetops, gold and green and scarlet, sloping downhill under a pearly sky.

Apparently he hadn’t made a plan last night. Apparently he’d fallen asleep instead.

Now what? He rubbed his face hard with both hands, trying to wake up all the way.

Off in a corner, one hen began a raucous squawking. A few minutes later another joined in. With a last yawn and vigorous headshake, Phin got his mind to work.

Eggs. They were laying eggs.

He went to where the first hen was singing her own praises, boosted her gently out of the way, and palmed the warm egg into his pocket. He waited for the next announcement, and the next, and nestled the eggs in the coils of rope—four in all.

Now grab a bird and go, while the house was quiet. One hen still sat on her nest near the front of the mow. He started toward her, steeling himself and trying to quiet his conscience, troubled by the idea of interrupting the poor creature. He could wait, but he might wait too long, and it was a strange quibble. After all, he did plan to murder her.

The house door opened.

No time to get out of sight. Quick footsteps approached the barn doorway, and Abby came in.

Her hair was rough and uncombed, her eyes puffy with sleep. She reached for the coat without looking. For a long moment her hand stretched and felt for what it knew was there.

Her head turned. She stared at the empty peg and the floor below it. Then she looked up, and met Phin’s eyes.

His heart didn’t stop; he could hear his own pulse thunder in his ears. It was the world that seemed to stop, while the face below him paled, the eyes widened and darkened.

She whirled, with a swish of skirts. “Mum, the gun! There’s someone in the barn!”

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