Текст книги "Grantville Gazette 45"

Автор книги: Paula Goodlett

Соавторы: Kerryn Offord,Enrico Toro,Terry Howard,David Carrico,Griffin Barber,Rainer Prem,Caroline Palmer
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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Paulus smiled. "I don't think it will be a problem as long as you're sure it will be profitable."

"If he pays cash for the supplies and we take his shoes on consignment I don't know why it wouldn't be."

"Well, my father is making a lady's high-heeled dress shoe that is selling well in a dress shop in Grantville. Do you think your retail store would be interested in taking some on consignment?" If they were and his father decided to do it, then, he would have to take on an apprentice or hire help. He might try insisting that Ebert do it and that could cause all kind of problems. Maybe he shouldn't even bring it up. It would mean more money but sometimes there are other things, like domestic tranquility, that need to be considered.

The manager smiled. "Considering who's asking. "

"Yes, I see your point," Paulus said. "Just one more thing, well, two actually. First, would this Adolf be good for her? And by that I mean good to her."

"Yes. Adolf is a fine young man. He takes good care of his mother and his sister."

"Well, I guess the real question in my mind is whether or not this Adolf is up to it."

"If I had the money I'd loan it to him. He's a hard worker, he's level-headed, I have absolutely no doubt he'd make it work."

But still, Anna was his! The relief shifted back into anger and the anger became resolve. He found his answer in a favorite phrase he'd picked up off a Grantviller who bought so many of their fresh mushrooms, The answer isn't no, it's hell no!Dammit, Anna was his!

By quitting time Paulus had calmed down and was prepared to admit that he had no claim on Anna and that he would let her go her own way if that was what she wanted. Still, he was waiting for Anna outside the employee door at quitting time. She was nearly the last to leave. When she came out she was with three other people. The girl, about his own age, was pretty, and was clearly the younger model of the older woman. The male was presumably Adolf. The four of them stood together in a way that somehow said "family." Even in the light of his resolve to let things alone, Paulus found this, for some reason, to be disconcertingly annoying and sighed.

"Anna? Over here." Paulus called. The four of them stopped and spoke briefly. The mother gave Anna a peck on the cheek before sending her off. It was obvious to Paulus that she was concerned. Adolf started to follow Anna. But he stopped when his mother laid a hand on his arm.

"Where would you like to eat?" Paulus asked Anna.

"I've heard a lot about Grantville Ribs with french-fried potatoes and coleslaw," Anna said.

"You've never tried them?"

"We get our meals with the rent. Sometimes it's not very good. More than once dinner has been a big tub of apple peels she'd bought out the back door of some eatery that was making apple pies or something. She just sets the tub down in the middle of the table and everybody digs in. We eat a lot of dumplings, but the meals come with the rent so we don't eat out."

"Well, let's go find ourselves some ribs then." Paulus led her into the office.

"Hey, Herr Wiesel, who has the best ribs in town?" Paulus asked.

"Carry out or eat in?" Wiesel asked.

"Eat in I think. It's a little too cold for a picnic."

"Cheap or fancy?" Wiesel asked.

This left Paulus in a bit of a dilemma. He wanted to say "the cheapest," but he didn't want to look chintzy in front of Anna. He settled on saying, "The best ribs. I'll happily eat at some place cheaper if the food is better."

Herr Wiesel gave him directions and they headed out into the cold.

Anna didn't say anything until they were seated and Paulus had placed the order. They had been shown to a table back by the kitchen and Anna was very conscious of her shabby clothes. Paulus' coat was new, but he had the only coat she could see in the restaurant that had plain leather buttons.

Finally she asked, "Paulus, do you really own part of the shoe mill?"

"Well, I own a quarter of the McAdams Mining Company. And it owns twenty percent of the mill you worked in, along with twenty percent of several other things."

"How did you end up owning part of a mining company?"

"It took a lot of hard work, and then we had some very good luck that landed us with a nest egg. After that it took a lot of common sense, and even more hard work and yes, it is true, even more good luck."

A very anxious Anna didn't press him for a better answer. Instead she asked, "You said the mill I worked in? Are you really going to have me fired?"

"No, but, unless you tell me to take a hike, you really are going to have to quit. I think you should go to Grantville and enroll in school where my parents can keep an eye on you, and then we will get married if you want to when you're old enough. So you'll have some time to make up your mind. I don't think you should stay in Magdeburg alone."

"I'm not alone. And besides, I don't want to stay in Magdeburg and I don't want to go to Grantville. I want to go back to Wolmirstedt," Anna said almost in tears.

He knew for certain what her answer would be but he was, somehow, still, hoping he was wrong so he said, "But there's no one to run the shop and the shop can't make a living."

"Adolf can."

"Adolf Braun?" Paulus asked.

"Yes. Adolf thinks he can make it work if he can get a loan for the sewing machines. He's a journeyman, almost one, anyway. If he can't get a loan, we're saving up to buy one," Anna whispered.

"We?" Paulus asked.

"His family and I. They've been good to me since I got to Magdeburg. Adolf's mother looks after me.

"Momma died four years ago and Poppa took to drinking when things got bad and that made it worse of course. At first when he got drunk he'd beat me. Later, when he was drunk almost all the time he-" Anna had tears running down her face and didn't finish saying what it was her father did when he was drunk.

"So you feel like you're part of a family and you want to take them back to Wolmirstedt and try running the shop."

"Yes, but Adolf can't get a loan. The Wolmirstedt town council won't or can't help. It would be easier if Adolf had his master's papers but he doesn't. If he had them, the machine sellers would sell to us on installments since we have a shop. But their guild-lines require the buyer to be a master, if you want to buy on time."

"Okay, Anna." Paulus found himself, once again angry. At Wolmirstedt for not taking care of her, at Anna's mother for dying and her father for being a jerk, at Adolf and his family for stealing Anna's affections which he thought should be his, at Tilly for turning the world upside down and at the world for letting it happen. He found himself wanting to tell her that what she wanted did not matter, she was coming to Grantville. But it was plain that wouldn't work. "If you want to go back to Wolmirstedt, then I guess it's time we talked to Adolf and see about making it happen."

"Do you think you can?"

"Probably, but I need to talk to Adolf.

"The ribs are here. You rip them off the rack and gnaw them off the bone. The only thing you need the fork for is the coleslaw."

A bit later Paulus asked, "How are the ribs?"

"Good," Anna answered.

"Do you remember the time when-" Paulus wandered off into happier times and kept up the chatter all the way through supper, including a rather fancy desert.

As he helped her on with her coat he said, "Let's get you home and I'll talk to Adolf."

"Can you get him a loan?"

"Probably not. But the mining company should be willing to go into a partnership with you and front the startup cost. I'll have to go back to Grantville and talk to my brother and our partners, but I don't think there will be a problem. It's just another start-up company and it has a good business plan with what should be a better than average return as long as Adolf is willing to work it."

"Oh, Adolf is a good worker. He figures with the sewing machines he can keep ahead of his sister and me cutting out the uppers. Then his mother can take care of the house. Eventually we'll get married, I'll take over running the house from his mother and maybe he can get an apprentice or two."

They never got to the apartment. Adolf was waiting for them in the street outside the restaurant. Despite his mother's wishes, he'd followed them there and waited for them through the meal.

"Anna, is everything alright?" Adolf demanded as soon as he saw her.

Paulus read the hostility and worry written plainly on the man's face. But mostly he took note of the club the man had managed to come up with somewhere along the way. It was in the fellow's hand, hanging against his leg, half-concealed.

"Adolf, this is Paulus. I told you he used to be my father's apprentice and he owns part of the mill. He's going to help us get set-up in business."

"Why?" Adolf barked belligerently, locking eyes with Paulus.

"Because Anna is an old friend. Because my father feels our family has an obligation toward her and I agree." He didn't say, Because it is the first step in a plan to get Anna away from you.

"Paulus can get us the sewing machines," Anna said.

"You can?" a conflicted Adolf replied.

"Yes," Paulus said, "but understand. We're not talking about a loan. We're going to want fifty-one percent of the business. You will run it, we'll help with set up and marketing. You can pay yourself, your sister and Anna the same wages you're making now but we're going to take half the profits."

"Is that fair?" Anna asked.

"I think it is." Paulus nodded. "You're living on wages now, aren't you? This way, you get your living and a nice incentive program, half of the profits. If you don't make it work you can come to Grantville and he can go back to the mill and we can sell the machines."

A surprised Adolf spoke up, "Half of a business is better than none, Anna. At the rate we're going it could take us years to save up the money. If your friend will help us get the loan then I guess we will do it on his terms."

"Adolf? What's that?" she meant the club. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Nothing! Not anymore. But with his telling you that you had to quit and if you didn't he'd get you fired, well, I wanted to talk some sense into him and I thought I might need it to help get him to see things our way."

The next day Paulus returned to the office of the shoe mill. "Herr Wiesel? You said you would loan Adolf Braun the money if you had it. Will you stand by that?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you can get the money, will you loan it to him?"

"Where would I get that kind of money?

"Borrow it and lend it to him at a higher rate of interest, or buy a percentage of the business. If you're sure he can make it work it should be safe enough."

"Who would loan me that kind of money?"

"I think it could be arranged."

Back in Grantville, Paulus and Peter had a chat with the other two partners at lunch time at the high school.

"Look," Paulus said. "Yes, it's too far away for us to keep an eye on it. And I still agree that normally we shouldn't invest more than five percent in anything we can't keep an eye on. But, this is different and it's got a better than average business plan. Yes, we're buying a twenty-six percent share instead of the usual twenty percent share or fifty-one percent share, and we're making a loan to the shop manager in Magdeburg so he can buy a twenty-five percent share, but he's putting his money where his mouth is and is willing to sign for an unsecured loan. Which, really, it isn't. With his job, he's good for it if the business fails. The main expense will be the sewing machines and they're durable goods with a good resale value. The mill is getting new machines and the shop is buying used ones. So the risk isn't that high and it's spread three ways."

"So this is just business?" Ebert asked, "Nothing personal?"

"We do owe her something, Ebert. At least, Papa thinks we do. This way she's not just a dead expense to our family."

"And that's all?" Ebert asked.

"What else would it be?" Paulus asked.

Ebert smirked.

"Shut up, Ebert," Paulus responded.

"Sounds good to me." Peter said.

Ludwig nodded. "It's not that much money and it's not that big of a gamble and Paulus really wants it, so I figure if we go along with it he owes us one, especially if it goes bust."

At this last thought Paulus' countenance darkened.

"It's settled," Peter said. "Let's go get the ball rolling."

"I didn't say I agreed," Paulus said.

"Well?" Peter asked.

"Are you sure this is just business?" Ebert asked his brother.

Paulus just glared at him.

"Actually, it is a good business plan," Ebert said. "I can see us doing a lot of these partnerships between the mill and struggling shops. I've only got one thing to say."

"What?" Ludwig asked.

Ebert got a shit-eating grin on his face and in a singsong voice associated with a grade school playground he said, "Paulus has a girlfriend. Paulus has a girlfr-"

"Shut up Ebert!" a flushing Paulus demanded rather more adamantly than usual.

That night over dinner, Paulus' father asked, "Where's Anna? Did you leave her in Wolmirstedt?"

"No. She wasn't there. But she found me in Magdeburg. She is working in one of the shoe factories."

"And you left her there?"

"I offered to bring her to Grantville but she'd rather go home. She's found a journeyman who thinks he can make the shop in Wolmirstedt work if he can get a couple of sewing machines. The plant manager thought he could too."

"And you think he can get someone to give a loan to a journeyman?"

Paulus, not wanting to admit that he and his partners had the money to make it happen, lied by telling a half-truth. "The plant manager is going to arrange things. They will get the machines and their supplies through the mill and sell their finished product in the mill's outlet store."

Herr Meier wanted to know, "Is she going to marry this journeyman?"

"Maybe, in time. She's still too young to get married. But, he's taking his mother and his sister to Wolmirstedt with him to help make the shop work, so it's all right. And I promised that if they sent Anna to enroll in the accounting program at the high school here in Grantville next fall so she can learn how to run the business, we'd look after her and find her a part-time job and a place to stay she could afford."

"Yeah, right," Ebert said. "She's coming to Grantville to learn to run the business."

Paulus blushed a very deep red and pushed an elbow, rather harder than usual, into his brother's ribs.

"Ouch! Hey, that hurt," Ebert objected.

"Shut up, Ebert!"

Accidental Heroes

Kerryn Offord

Sunday, March 2, 1636

Boom! Crack! Crack!

Dina Frost froze where she was. It wasn't the deer hunting season, so nobody should be shooting in this area-that meant the shooters were probably poachers. Maybe that was what the policemen from the cruiser she and her companion had walked past earlier were looking for. She and Bruno didn't have much to fear from poachers, other than maybe being mistaken for deer. That was one of the reasons both she and Bruno were wearing high-visibility jackets.

"Two guns," Bruno said.

Bruno's comment might have surprised a lot of people who thought he was, to put it politely, mentally challenged, but Dina wasn't one of them. He might have the mental age of an eight-year-old, as the various tests he'd been given indicated, but Dina, as a nine-year-old, felt confident that Bruno was smarter than a lot of kids her age. "Yes, two guns. At least one of them is a modern rifle."

"Repeater," Bruno said before mimicking firing a lever-action carbine with full sound effects.

"Yes, a repeater," Dina agreed. The boom had come from a black powder weapon. The two supersonic cracks had to have come from a modern rifle firing modern ammunition. That meant two, maybe three poachers. Well, she thought, if they'd killed their deer, then they'd be more interested in carrying it out before anybody caught them, meaning they wouldn't be hunting in the valley she and Bruno were heading for. Sure that they'd be safe from carelessly discharged firearms she waved for Bruno to follow and they continued on their way.

They walked on in silence for a quarter of an hour, until Bruno tapped Dina on the shoulder and pointed towards a tree. "Amerikanischer Rotvogel."

Dina knew better than to try and distract Bruno when he was birdwatching. Birds fascinated him, and he could watch them for hours. She pulled a book from her rucksack and settled down to wait until he got bored, or more likely, the birds flew off.

Marcus Acton rammed the barrel of his rifle into the gut of Ned Harris. "Why the hell did you have to snoop around, kid?" He glared at the body at his feet for a few seconds. He hadn't enjoyed having to kill the silly fool. Now he had to find out how much the snoopers knew about his operation. He dug out Ned's notebook, but there was nothing in there to suggest why he was in Marcus' valley. He walked over to the next body. It was another uniformed police officer. An examination of his notebook also came up empty. That left the female. She wasn't in uniform, so she probably wasn't a cop. Wilhelm, one of his two down-timer partners, passed him an official looking identification folder he'd lifted from her body. Marcus felt a sense of foreboding. Flipping it open the badge confirmed his worst fears. "A fucking Treasury agent."

Herman and Wilhelm gathered close to read over his shoulder. "They're onto us," Herman said.

Marcus almost agreed, but a moment's thought had him shaking his head. "I don't think so. If they were, the hills would be alive with Treasury agents." He took a really good look at the female. She'd been a good looking down-timer, but her hands were soft and ink stained. He felt around for the notebook he was sure she would be carrying. He found it easily, and whereas the notebooks of the two policemen had shed no light on why they were here, hers was full of details.

The details were distressingly accurate, but the side comments threaded through the notebook reassured Marcus. "I think we might be in the clear. The dame's obviously a frustrated wannabe field agent who was conducting her own investigation with a little help from the boyfriend."

"But if she was on to us. " Herman said.

"Don't worry, Herman. She'll have kept everything to herself. I'm sure she would have wanted to present the case against us to her boss all tied up in ribbons."

"So what do we do now? We can't leave them here. It's too close to our camp."

That was an understatement. The camp was all of a hundred yards from where they were standing. If he bothered to look, Marcus would have easily seen the shed where their still was quietly bubbling away. "First thing, we need to dump the bodies where they are unlikely to be found, and if they are found, they'd better be nigh on impossible to identify. Start stripping them."

His two companions had no hesitation stripping the dead, but Marcus hesitated over the distasteful task of stripping Ned. It wasn't that he had any real qualms about what he was doing, but the.308 hunting round that had killed Ned had made a real mess of the young police officer. Eventually the task was done. He bundled up the clothes and slid Ned's wallet and identification into a pocket before buckling Ned's issue belt with all its accouterments around his waist. Then he picked the naked body up in a fireman's lift. "Herman, Wilhelm, you ready?"

" Ja!" Herman said as he struggled to lift his man.

Wilhelm, with the woman, had a much easier time lifting her. "Where to?"

"Over the hill. We want the bodies as far away from our camp as possible," Marcus said.

Once they were over the hill and into the next valley Marcus started looking for somewhere to hide the bodies. A mine shaft would have been ideal, but they were few and far between in this particular patch of West Virginia County. So what he was looking for was somewhere where they were unlikely to be discovered for a few years, or at least several months.

"This'll do. Dump them here," he said as he dropped Ned Harris and started pulling leaves and other ground litter over the body. Wilhelm and Herman followed suit. A few minutes later Marcus stood and examined their handiwork. "Okay, that's good enough. Let's go back and see if we can back-track them to where they left their vehicle. That'll be a signpost pointing right to us if we can't move it before it's discovered."

The sound of voices and crashing in the woods interrupted the peace and the cardinals took to the air. Bruno moaned, and Dina had to grab his hand him to stop him running out and confronting the people who'd disturbed his bird watching. Then she distinctly heard someone say "dump them here." There were the thuds of three objects landing on the ground, followed by a period of rustling in the undergrowth, then the voices went away.

Dina was curious. What were they dumping? "Follow me," she told Bruno as she set off towards where she'd heard the objects being dumped.

Bruno spotted the disturbed undergrowth first. He prodded it with his hiking stave, and swept aside some of the undergrowth. His muted squeal of horror had Dina running to see what he'd found.

She immediately wished she hadn't, because Bruno had found a naked body. Dina stared at the body in horror. Those men had dumped a body. Her first instinct was to grab Bruno by the hand and run, but what if the person wasn't dead? She'd never forgive herself if she'd left a man to die. She fell to her knees and brushed aside the ground litter that covered the man, and quickly realized that there was more than one body. She removed more ground litter to reveal three naked bodies.

She was almost sick at the sight of the two men and a woman. The girl and one of the men had enormous exit wounds in their backs. Dina felt for a pulse, but didn't feel anything. Because her hands were shaking so much she checked again by putting her ear to their chests. They were both dead.

The other man, a down-timer she was pretty sure she recognized from when her paternal grandmother called the police after her prized fluffy-white Persian cat had been terrorized by someone spreading nitrogen triiodide crystals around her food bowl, had a much smaller and less gory exit wound, and it was still bleeding. She stared at the trickle of blood for a moment. Surely dead people didn't bleed? She put her ear to his chest, and heard a faint heartbeat. Dina wasn't sure what to do. She had to get help, or the man would surely die. But she couldn't leave him here. Her eyes fell upon her companion. Bruno was strong. He might not have the physique of a bodybuilder, but a lifetime of hard physical labor had given him considerable strength and endurance. "Bruno, can you carry this man back to where we found that police car?"

Bruno nodded. While he lifted the man Dina turned back to the other bodies to make one final check that they were both dead. Confident that they were dead, Dina turned her attention back to Bruno. He could be so single minded once he started something that he would continue doing it until he dropped if someone wasn't there to tell him to stop. She was going to have to keep an eye on him for his own sake.

She'd taken a dozen steps before she realized she'd have to guide the adults back to the other bodies. She broke some twigs and set them in the ground as an arrow pointing to the tree before hurrying to catch up with Bruno.

Bruno started to follow the path along the ridgeline they'd used on the way up, but Dina felt that it was important to get back to the police car they'd passed earlier in the day as quickly as possible. So she led him straight down the steep slope, marking their route as she went.

When they made it back to the police car Dina checked the door. Just as she'd feared, it was locked. She stared through the window at the radio. She needed to get to that to call for help. Bruno could easily to smash a window, but that wouldn't help, as the radio wouldn't work without power, and you needed the key to turn on the power. She stared at the radio, so close, but so far away. Then she remembered her uncle producing a spare key that had been wired to the chassis of his police cruiser after the officer with him had managed to lock the car with the keys inside.

It wasn't the same vehicle, but surely the police wouldn't hide a spare key on just one of their cars. She dropped to the ground and started searching. She found it the hard way, spiking her hand on the wire. She tried to undo the wire, but it was too strong for her small hands. She slid out from under the cruiser. "Bruno, I need you. Put the man down and come here, please."

She directed Bruno to the key and he was able to quickly free it. Moments later she had the door open and the ignition on to power the radio. "Mayday! Mayday! Officers down!"

Mimi Rowland, a police dispatcher, responded almost immediately-asking her to identify herself.

"This is Dina Frost. Me and Bruno heard some shots, and then some men hiding some bodies. I think one of them is Officer Heilmann. He's still alive, but he needs to get to the hospital."

"Whoa, girl. Slow down. Take a deep breath and say that again, slowly."

Dina did as she was told. This time making it clear that she thought Officer Heilmann might be the casualty they'd brought back, and not one of the men dumping the bodies.

"Do you have a badge number for the officer?" Mimi asked.

"He's not wearing a badge, Mrs. Rowland. None of them had any clothes on. They were shot and their bodies hidden." Dina bit down on her knuckles as she remembered seeing the bodies and the bloody wounds.

"Where are you now, Dina?"

"I'm in cruiser four, just off Salt Lick Run, below the cemetery."

A new voice came over the radio. "We're sending a couple of squad cars, Dina. Until they arrive can you get Bruno to carry Officer Heilmann clear of the cruiser, somewhere where you can all hide? Do you understand? I want you to get well clear of the vehicle and hide until we get there."

Dina easily recognized her uncle's voice. "Why do you want me to hide, Uncle Estes?"

"Just do as I say, Dina. I want you to get away from the car and hide until we arrive."

Dina hung up the microphone and stepped out of the car. She saw Officer Heilmann's body lying on the ground at Bruno's feet, and suddenly she knew why Uncle Estes wanted her to hide. She picked out a clump of bushes that might be a good hiding place and directed Bruno to pick up the man and follow her. She wanted to run, but she couldn't, because that would just cause Bruno to panic.

Marcus finally stumbled out onto a road, and there, hidden under a tree, was a police cruiser. He and his companions approached it. Wilhelm grabbed the door handle. Marcus was all ready to tell him not to waste his time when the door opened. That was unexpected. Surely the cops wouldn't have left it unlocked. Then he realized the radio was on, and he heard "Salt Lick Run" being mentioned. He listened a little more in growing horror as he heard various voices announcing they were converging on the place he was standing. "The cops are on to us. Run!"

"How?" Herman asked as he chased after Marcus and Wilhelm.

"I don't know, but the radio is alive with cops saying they're heading this way." Marcus stopped to look around, just in case he could see anyone, He couldn't, but in the distance he could hear the sound of sirens. Normally he wouldn't have worried, as police sirens weren't unknown even this far out of town, but this time he knew they were probably headed his way. "Back to the boat. It's our best bet to get away."

Dina was worried. From their hiding place under a bush more than fifty yards from the police cruiser they'd had a good view of the vehicle. She'd been scared enough when the three men appeared, but Bruno's reaction had terrified her. He'd curled up into a protective ball and was muttering and moaning in fear.

The wail of sirens signaled the approach of two pickups. They skidded to a halt within sight of the cruiser and a dozen armed policemen and a dog emerged. Dina identified her uncle and ran up to him. "Those men scared Bruno, Uncle Estes."

"What men?" Estes asked.

"Three men came out of the trees and looked around the car. One of them opened the door of the cruiser, and then suddenly the three of them ran off."

Estes' fingers dug into Dina's shoulder until she winced and shook his hand off. "Sorry." He turned to the gathering officers. "Erika, take half a dozen men and see if Pluto can track them." He gently pushed Dina to arms length and crouched down to her eye level. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, but I'm really worried about Bruno and the man we found."

"Show me," Estes said.

Dina led him to the bush where Bruno was still huddled into a tight ball beside the naked body of Gottlieb Heilmann.

"That's Gottlieb alright," Estes announced as he crouched over the body checking for signs of life. Moments later he looked up. "Haggerty, Steinfeldt, get over here."

While Blake Haggerty and Heinrich Steinfeldt carried Gottlieb to the load bay of one of the pickups, Estes quickly checked over Bruno before resting a hand on Dina's shoulder. "I need to get back to my men. Will you be all right here with Bruno?"

She nodded numbly and wrapped her arms around the tight ball that was Bruno and bit her lips to keep the tears at bay. She was vaguely aware of her uncle walking off and the sounds of vehicles coming and going. A few minutes later her uncle tapped her gently on the shoulder. She looked up to see an ambulance officer beside her uncle. "Yes?"

"Do you think you can guide us to where the bodies are hidden?" Estes asked.

Dina gently disengaged herself form Bruno and got to her feet. "Bruno needs me, but I left a trail. I can show you where we left the woods." She led her uncle to the point she and Bruno had left the woods. A few feet into the woods the path they'd taken could be easily seen.

"We should be okay from here," Estes said. "You go back and look after Bruno."

She did as she was told, pausing only for a moment to watch the two men from the white van climbing into clean overalls. They were police forensic technicians. "One of them opened the driver's door, and slammed it shut with his hand against the frame before they ran off," she called out helpfully.