Cry Baby Hollow (28 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Monday morning Aubrey
got to work. She had a lot to do before the stair guy came that afternoon. She checked the load on the M9, fifteen rounds including the one in the chamber, and put in a shoulder holster under her jacket. Then she grabbed an old grocery bag and filled it with three empty dog food cans from the trash. Grabbing the tennis ball, she called Drake and they headed over to Joe’s.

He was wrong when he said Wayne’s wasn’t even halfway. He ha
dn’t taken into account the fact that she was turning and walking back, doubling the distance. When she could get as far as Vina’s, she wouldn’t have to turn, she could walk around the lake to get home. She knew she was only a week or two away from that, if she pushed herself, but today she wasn’t going to.

When she got to Joe’s, she walked out onto the dock and dropped a can at its beginning, middle, and end. Drake stuck his muzzle into one, trying to lick out any leftovers, but she distracted him by throwing the ball and then headed home.

Back at the cabin, she sat down at the computer and pulled up her security system. She disabled all the cameras except hers and Joe’s, since they weren’t helping her anyway, and cranked up the sensitivity on those. Only having three active cameras meant she had the disk space to make it acceptable, though it would still only hold about three night’s worth of footage before it started copying over itself.

She disconnected the security system from the computer, so that it had to be accessed manually by plugging a wire in, inside her house, and then logged onto Amazon and ordered a new iPad with the fastest shipping they had, giving them Lettie’s house as the shipping address. She called Vina while she waited for Lettie to make her daily appearance.

“I’m going to try to rig some exploding pumpkins for the party,” she said, as soon as Vina answered. “Like the mailbox. But I don’t want to hurt anyone so I need to run some tests with the detonators. Can you pass the word along not to worry if they hear any loud bangs from my place for the next couple of days?”

“Sure,” Vina told her. “So I see you and the cute G-man have moved up to sleepovers. You know, Joe ain’t an idiot. You can’t tell him you need time alone on account of your all broken now and then go and have a dirty weekend with some other stud. That don’t work when you live right next door from somebody.”

Aubrey massaged her temple in little circles.

“Only I guess you must be really good in bed on account of he took you back quick enough.”

Aubrey wondered if it was worth explaining and decided against it. Vina would believe what she wanted to regardless of what Aubrey told her.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. “Can you call off my keepers now? I don’t need the food or the people following me when I walk anymore. Tell them I appreciate it, but I’m getting much better.”

“I guess so, two guys in one weekend. Sheesh. You want me to tell Erma to stop the groceries too?”

Erma had been picking up dog food and other essentials for her and delivering them a few times a week. Aubrey thought about it. She could wear a turtleneck or scarf to cover her neck, since the weather was cooler now, but it would still mean hobbling through the Food Lion while everyone tried not to stare at her.

“Ask her if she can keep it up a few more weeks,” she decided. “I can make a list of food and pay her when she drops it off. Do you think that’ll be okay?”

“Sure. You need anything in the meantime? You got enough to eat before her next trip?”

“Emaline already dropped off today’s meals,” Aubrey told her. “And my freezer is full of frozen dinners and leftovers. I’ll be fine.”

“You aren’t gonna go all hermit on us now, are you? You know the last hermit we had around here got lynched,” Vina cautioned.

“Skinner killed his wife and daughters. I’m not planning any rampages any time soon, so I should be safe. I’m just getting a lot more active and I don’t want to keep having to be around to meet people.”

“More active? That ain’t what they called what you’ve been up to in my day, lemme tell you.”

“Don’t forget about the pumpkins,” Aubrey warned and then hung up before Vina could make any more lewd insinuation.

Lettie showed up twenty minutes later, all a twitter about the pumpkins. Aubrey had no idea what system they used for communication. Did Vina call a few people and then let it trickle out from them or did she call everyone individually? Whatever they did, Aubrey thought the government should be studying it as a model for crisis relief. It spread like wildfire.

“Make sure you warn me about which ones they are,” Lettie told her seriously. “It’ll be fun to watch, but I don’t want pumpkin to get all on my party dress.”

Lettie had been a librarian before she retired, and looked every inch the part. She was tiny and erect, with bright white hair that was always tied up in a tight little bun with a pencil stuck through it.

“I don’t know if I have enough time to get them ready for this year’s party,” Aubrey told her. “Since it’s only a few days away, but I’ll be sure to warn you if I do.”

Aubrey took her over to the sofa so they could have a talk. She told her about the iPad she’d ordered for her and how it could connect to the internet just like a cell phone so she wouldn’t have to worry about coming over in person to help out, careful to stress that she wasn’t doing it because she didn’t enjoy Lettie’s visits, just that she was planning on starting to drive again soon and didn’t want to have to keep to a schedule. When she pointed out that now Lettie could surf her forums and chat rooms to her heart’s content, the older woman beamed.

“I also arranged for a paycheck for you to be delivered every two weeks.” She held up her hand to stop the inevitable protest. “The store would have gone under if you hadn’t helped out while I was sick,” Aubrey pointed out. “And now that we’re both working, it’s doing twice as well as it was. You’ve brought in a lot of new business and cut the turnaround time in half. Besides, you’re so much better with the German distributers than I am.”

Lettie accepted the praise and her new position as Aubrey’s official assistant graciously and looked at her watch. “When do you suppose the UPS people will bring it?” She asked sheepishly.

Aubrey laughed. “Tomorrow.” She told Lettie that she’d already handled all the days orders and that she was going to the shed to work on the pumpkins, walking out with her and making sure she was really and truly gone before getting to work.

The builder had
promised to call when he was thirty minutes away, but even if they didn’t, they weren’t due for several hours. Aubrey went into the closet and came back with the M4.

She lowered herself down onto the floor by the back slider and braced her right foot against its frame, crossing her left in front of her. Using her right knee to steady her arm, she pushed the door open a few inches and stuck the barrel out. She checked the load and safety, and then sighted down the barrel. It would have been better, she knew, to practice with the night scope after dark, but she didn’t want whoever was skulking around out there to know she had the big gun, and she could never be sure when they might be watching. The middle of the day, with all the residents of the hollow bustling around, seemed best.

She took aim at the farthest dog food can, careful to control her breathing, and switched the gun from safety to semi-automatic. Half way through her next exhale, she gently squeezed the trigger. Drake barked at the sudden sound and looked around, alarmed. Aubrey told him he was a good boy without taking her eyes off the cans. The bullet missed its mark by less than a foot. Aubrey adjusted the sight and fired again. This time Drake didn’t bark. The can shot into the air, neatly pierced, and clattered away. Aubrey patted the gun.

“And you’re a good boy too,” she told it. She struggled back to her feet and returned the M4 to the closet. She only had twenty-seven rounds left, and had no intention on wasting them on Alpo. The Beretta was a different story though. She could probably get 9 mm rounds at the Gas ‘n Sip. She walked back to the sliding glass door and pulled out the pistol. It was the gun she was most familiar with, and also the easiest to carry concealed. She checked the load again, released the safety, and aimed. She fired, quickly adjusted her aim, and fired again. Both cans clattered away and she smiled darkly. It might be stretching the guns range, but it certainly wasn’t beyond it. At night, firing at a moving target, she would certainly be better off with the M4, but it was nice to know that once the twenty-eight rounds were gone, she still had options.

Aubrey walked laboriously
back to Joe’s and retrieved the cans. She wasn’t exactly laying a trap, she just planned on being ready the next time there was trouble and didn’t like the idea of her enemy, whoever they were, knowing how prepared she was. Let them think the poor cripple was locked behind her security system, scared and alone. It would make them easier targets.

Her first hand to hand combat instructor had been a retired Seal, an inch shorter than she was and not much broader. After the third time Aubrey got beat to a pulp by one of her fellow trainees, he took her aside and explained things to her. “They’re bigger, faster, meaner and maybe smarter,” he told her. “The only way for someone like you or I to win, is to cheat. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” In her next match she had focused exclusively on her opponent’s right knee, which she knew he’d sprained in a volley ball game a few days before. She danced away, making him chase her around and only taking a shot at him if she could get at that knee. It had been an easy win for her, and the first time she left the class without needing an ice pack. Her dirty tactics didn’t exactly win her a lot of friends, but she passed the course.

She hobbled home in time to meet the stair men and watch them tear out the ladder and install the little metal spiral in its place. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but they’d had it in stock and she decided it lent the cabin a certain industrial loft appeal. After they’d left, she didn’t call anyone to come and get the old bed, she just took her favorite pillow out, shoved the rest under the blanket, and pulled the curtains closed around it.

She set the security system to buzz whenever a camera was activated, but for the next two nights, nothing happened. She pushed herself to Wayne’s and back both days, her Beretta in its holster under her arm and Drake by her side.

CHAPTER FORTY

The next day
was October thirtieth and Vina and Betty s
howed up at Aubrey’s house at noon with a huge duffle bag.

“Where’s your pumpkin?” Vina asked.

“I was going to wait and put it out tomorrow night, so it didn’t get smashed on Devil’s Night,” Aubrey told her.

“Devil’s what?”

“Devil’s Night,” Aubrey repeated. “It’s the night before Halloween. Everyone runs around egging houses and smashing their pumpkins.”

“Not around here they don’t. This is Baptist land, honey. They don’t even trick-or-treat anymore. They have We Love Jesus Costume Parades around the church yard instead.”

“You’re joking. They don’t trick-or-treat here? I had Erma get me candy. I was gonna leave out a bowl with a little sign saying I wasn’t home.”

Vina doubled over laughing, slapping her knee and gasping for breath.

“Even if this wasn’t Baptist land and any parent was stupid enough to take a kid trick-or-treating in a place called Cry Baby Hollow, where the houses are a mile apart, that would
still
be the dumbest idea ever on account of you’re just gonna give a whole bowl of candy to the first kid, and nothin’ to the rest.”

“Parents wouldn’t let them do that!” Aubrey insisted.

Vina let out another hoot of laughter. “The pumpkin comes to my place anyway. It’s part of the décor.”

Aubrey limped into the closet glumly and came back with the funkin in her arms.

“If I’d known that, I would have done a circus theme,” she said apologetically.

“Theme’s don’t matter on account of we reuse ‘em every year,” Vina said with a grin. “Turn it around and let me see it.

Aubrey spun the funkin so that the face was pointing to Vina.

“Holy shit!” Vina crowed. “That’s awesome!”

“You really like it?” Aubrey asked, grinning. It felt like the first thing she had to be proud of in forever.

Aubrey had cut a large oval mouth and used the extra material to carve dozens of sharp little teeth. She had glued them in place crookedly and then cut a terrified face into a tiny dried gourd and shoved it into the big pumpkin’s mouth. The large pumpkin’s eyes were squinched tight in pleasure, completing the effect. She set it on the kitchen counter and pulled a glow stick out of the junk drawer.

“It goes in the little one,” she explained, handing the stick to Vina. “So they’ll glow different colors. Otherwise you can’t see his little face from very far away.”

Vina pocketed the stick and clapped Aubrey on the back. “Costume time!” She announced with glee.

“What am I going as?” Aubrey asked warily.

Vina dropped the bag on the floor and began pulling out piles and piles of flesh colored cloth.

“On account of your limp and the fact that you won’t show any skin, we decided to make you the fat lady.” She grabbed two folds of cloth and held up an enormous body suit that might have doubled as a tent for the circus.