HARRY WAS ON the phone when Nathan walked in.
“Emma, there’s nothing to worry about. I sent Andy out an hour ago. He’ll find her and bring her home. You just keep a look out.”
He set the phone down with a sigh. “There’re a few things up here that try me, Nate. I need Andy to investigate a vandalism incident over at the gas station, but first he has to find old Emma’s favorite cow that somehow wandered off in the rain last night. It sure isn’t your city life.”
“Which you wouldn’t want if it was offered,” Nathan said.
“True, true. So, like the service last night?”
“Not what I expected.”
“Thought we were just a bunch of hicks up here, didn’t you. Well, we might still be, but your big-city prejudice is showing. We’ve been listening to Sela tell us stories for years. We’ve gotten used to sharing our thoughts. Imagine that. We read books, too.”
“Extraordinary.”
“Yeah, maybe we are. Though I wager we could say the same about you. So, what’s the plan? You heading up to Jackson still?”
“It’s all I can see that’s left. Presumably Nora’s boyfriend Norton ends up there after the logging accident, but the hospital has no record. Nora wouldn’t go to his funeral so the family doesn’t know where he’s buried. We have French nosing around about the same time. I figure I can show pictures of all of them in a few places and see if I get any takers.”
“Pretty thin stuff, but I agree. We don’t have much else we can do. If Nora and this Jimmy Norton did decide to elope and then got caught in French’s happy little web, that could be our answer.”
“That photo—Hannah said she was sending down a photo of the boyfriend.”
“Sorry, I forgot. She faxed it,” Harry said, handing over several sheets of paper. “Got mixed up on the machine with a report on a burglary in Jackson, as you can see. I don’t suppose you could check into that, too, while you’re in the neighborhood?”
“You’re the boss,” Nathan said with a smile.
“That I am. It’s all in the fax there. Okay, give it a look after you do the rounds with the photos. If you need to stay up there overnight to cover both cases, that’s fine with me.”
“All expenses paid?”
“Room and board at a cheap motel is.”
Nathan left and walked over to Deidre’s to get coffee and a sandwich for the road. The trip would probably yield a dead end, but he was going somewhere and doing something and he felt good. He didn’t know why and he didn’t care. He caught the sharp scent of pine from the trees near the diner and listened to the snow as it crunched under his feet. The rain hadn’t cleared much of it away downtown. From the distance came the call of a red-tailed hawk.
Deidre wasn’t at the diner this time. He’d hoped to show her the photo of Jimmy Norton, but it would have to wait. He placed his order and ten minutes later he was heading out to the two-lane highway that led to Jackson. The hundred-mile drive would take a couple of hours if he didn’t meet up with bad weather, and none was forecasted.
He sipped the hot coffee and let his mind drift. His thoughts kept returning to Sela.
Halfway to Jackson he turned on the radio, doubting he’d get any signal. He was deep in the forest and hadn’t seen so much as a shack in the last fifty miles. He was right, nothing but static came on. He shut it off. The trees leaned in overhead and blocked the sky, which had grown overcast. It was mid-morning but looked as if it were almost dark. He accelerated as much as he dared. Lonely as the road might be, it was patrolled by air. Speeding was a serious offense in the north country, largely to protect the deer and other animals who crossed the highway giving no heed to cars and trucks.
YOU ARE READING
The Magic Hour
Mystery / Thriller"It was not exactly dark, but a kind of twilight or gloaming. There were neither windows nor candles, and he could not make out where the twilight came from, if not through the walls and roof." -Childe Rowland "T...
