The Return. Dinah McCall

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СКАЧАТЬ grassless in the front, but as they passed the side of the cabin, the ground cover changed from sparse to ankle-high grass mixed with wildflowers and plants he didn’t recognize. The fact that it had a cultivated look surprised him. If Annie Fane had been gone all these many years, who’d been taking care of her home? Within seconds of his thought, Catherine made a remark that gave him an answer.

      “You’ve done a fine job taking care of Grannie’s home.”

      “She was kin,” Abram said. “She would have done the same for me.”

      Luke frowned but kept silent. Another bit of information to add to the pot, but one thing kept bothering him. If this place was so special to Annie Fane, why had she left it?

      And then they stopped, bending in unison as the casket was lowered to the ground. The pile of fresh earth and the pit beside it were harsh reminders of why they’d come. He looked up in time to see Catherine reach for a nearby tree to steady herself. The urge to hold her was strong, but without asking, he knew she would not welcome it.

      He took a deep breath, feeling a sense of reverence for what was about to occur. The men gathered a series of ropes with which to lower the casket into the grave, and then time seemed to stand still. Later he would remember it in a series of brief images.

      The scent of freshly dug earth as a shovelful of dirt hit the top of Annie’s casket.

      The soft sound of Catherine’s sobs.

      The trill of a robin’s call from somewhere high.

      The perfect unison with which the Hollis men worked as they fulfilled their kinswoman’s last request.

      The sonorous tone of Abram Hollis’s voice piercing the silence as he recited the Twenty-third Psalm.

      The wilting blooms from the bouquet of wildflowers that Catherine laid upon the grave.

      And then it was over. The fresh pile of dirt lay like a wound upon the landscape. With time, it would settle, and the ivy that lay over Billy Fane’s grave would blanket his Annie’s, as well.

      Catherine stood staring down at the grave. It was done. She looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.

      “There aren’t enough words to thank you men for what you’ve done for me today.”

      The Hollis men took off their hats in unison, slight flushes coloring their faces as Abram nodded.

      “Like I said before, she would have done the same for me.” Then he reset his hat, shifting it slightly from side to side until it fell into some invisible slot. “If you’re of a mind to stay on for a while, you’re welcome to stay with us over in Crocker. It’s in the next county, but I’d be happy to draw you a map.”

      “Thank you, but no,” Catherine said. “I’ll only be here for a few days until I can go through Grannie’s things.”

      Luke had remained silent through most of the proceedings, but the thought of her staying up here alone bothered him.

      “I don’t think that’s wise,” he said abruptly.

      Catherine turned. Her voice took on a sharp, angry edge. “Why? Because the people of Camarune might not like it?”

      He flushed. “No, ma’am. That’s not what I meant at all. There has been a rash of thefts in the area, and this place is too isolated to be safe for a woman alone.”

      “No one is going to bother the witch’s cabin or anyone in it, remember?”

      The sarcastic tone of her voice was impossible to miss, but before Luke could respond, Abram Hollis intervened.

      “She’ll be safe,” he said shortly. “Me and mine will see to it.”

      “I don’t need baby-sitters,” Catherine said, including the Hollis men in her answer. “And just so you understand, city living is far more dangerous than this place is, and I’ve been taking care of myself there just fine. I appreciate your concerns, but I’m staying, and that’s that.”

      Abram accepted her decision far better than Luke. Once again, he touched Catherine’s arm as he had when they met.

      “As you know, we’ve been staying in the house a couple of times a year during hunting season, so it’s not too run-down. But me and the boys touched the place up a bit while we were waiting for you, and my Polly sent you some supper. And I had the power turned on in the cabin, so the necessary is working.”

      Catherine’s smile was bittersweet. The necessary, meaning the bathroom, was a word Grannie had used all her life. Now she knew where it came from.

      “Again, Abram Hollis, I thank you.”

      He nodded. “We’ll be going now. Boys, go get your sacks. We’ve got a ways to go before dark.”

      The three men headed toward the front of the house, returning moments later with large, bulging gunnysacks thrown over their shoulders.

      Again Luke thought of the thefts, and even though it might be bad manners to ask, he had a duty he couldn’t ignore.

      “What’s in the sacks?” Beside him, he heard Catherine take a deep breath.

      Abram Hollis turned, fixing him with a cool, blank stare.

      “That would be our harvest.”

      Luke’s thoughts slipped right into illegal drugs as his hand moved toward the pistol he wore on his hip.

      “What kind of harvest would that be?”

      Abram stiffened as his sons stopped in mid-step. It was Catherine’s intervention that eased the moment.

      “Abram, I’m sure the sheriff isn’t interested in poaching on your territory.”

      Luke frowned. “Poaching?”

      Catherine sighed. This had all been too easy. She should have expected something like this.

      “Grannie was a herbalist,” she said softly. “Not a witch. Abram has been harvesting Grannie’s crops and sharing in the profits for as long as I can remember.”

      “What kind of crops?” Luke asked, still thinking along the lines of illegal drugs.

      Abram took one of the sacks and dropped it at the sheriff’s feet. The top fell open, revealing a jumble of brown, tangled roots. Luke knelt, lifting one out into the light.

      At first glance it looked something like a sweet potato, but then he picked up another, then another, and the humanlike shapes of miniature arms and legs began to dawn.

      Ginseng.

      The crop was worth big money on the Asian markets, even in the raw.

      He dropped the roots back in the sack and then stood and offered his hand to Abram Hollis.

      “Sorry,” he said. “But in my line of work, a man can’t overlook the obvious.”

      Abram hesitated, then shook СКАЧАТЬ