“Serves you right for trying to get into trouble all the time.”
“I’m not trying to get into trouble.”
“That’s the problem,” he cried out, as he walked across the small bridge, which even now had water splashing over the top of it. “You get into trouble without having to try.”
“That’s just mean,” she said. “I didn’t get into trouble. Trouble found me.”
He sighed. “But it always finds you,” he muttered. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I mean, I was just trying to say goodbye to a friend at the funeral,” she said. “Who could have seen me there?”
“Anybody who was at the funeral,” he said.
She nodded, considering that. “Did you ask if anybody saw what happened?”
“We’ve got officers right now out checking cameras, looking and questioning anybody who was there earlier today,” he said, “and, so far, nobody saw anything.”
She shook her head. “How is it always that way?” she muttered. “It’s almost like criminals know exactly when nobody is watching.”
“Well, of course,” he said, “it’s not like they’ll do anything wrong while people are watching.”
“Yeah, but they can’t be in the shadows all the time,” she said. “Besides, isn’t it true that a lot of crimes happen in broad daylight, and people just don’t recognize what they’re seeing?”
“Well, it’s possible,” he said, “but an awful lot happens when nobody is looking too. It appears to be innocuous because they are very good at what they do.”
“Well, I just got hit,” she said. “They didn’t kill me, and they didn’t try to move me, so I’m not sure what the whole purpose was.”
“I’m not sure either,” he said, “but not to worry. We’ll get to the bottom of it.”
And she knew he would. If there was one certain thing about Mack, he was nothing if not tenacious. And, if he said he’d do something, he would do it.
At the other side of the little bridge they turned right and headed upriver. Even there it was soggy and wet, and she knew she would have to change out of her pants again when she got home because the cuffs were already wet. Then she noted that Mack had soaked his shoes and socks too.
“You’ll ruin your shoes,” she announced.
“They’re already ruined,” he snapped. “That’s hardly an issue right now.”
“Are you sure though?” she asked worriedly. “Those are expensive shoes.”
He stopped and looked at her, then smiled and said, “Yes, but that’s also an occupational hazard,” he said. “You have to work a budget into your life for clothing and necessities.”
She shrugged. “You can only work a budget if you have an income.”
He pondered that for a moment, as they walked forward, and he nodded. Up ahead, the pathway raised ever-so-slightly, and it was dry all the way. He immediately put Goliath down, and Mugs followed very quickly. When Doreen straightened up again, she looked at Mugs and said, “You’re going on a diet.”
“He’s getting fat,” Mack noted.
Mugs started barking and tore out after Goliath. Thaddeus, who was on her shoulder, readjusting his position after she stood up, said, “Mugs is fat. Mugs is fat.”
She looked at him in shock. “You did not just say that,” she cried out. “That’s so mean.”
“He-he-he.”
She shook her head. “You can’t call Mugs fat,” she told Thaddeus. “That is unkind, and it’ll hurt his feelings.”
At that, Mack turned and looked at her and said, “Did you just say that to a bird?”
She glared up at him. “Mugs has feelings too. You can’t just call him fat.”
Mack didn’t say a word but pivoted and strode forward.
She guessed that meant that he didn’t really believe her. She raced to catch up with him, grabbing his elbow. “Mugs has feelings too. We can’t disregard that.”
“Mugs will be just fine. Keep feeding him, and he’ll be happy.”
“Well, of course,” she said, “but I can’t have him getting fat.” She quickly added, “He isn’t now either.”
“Of course not,” he said.
“Well, he isn’t,” she said. “And I can’t have you saying that he is.”
He just groaned. “This is another stupid conversation.”
“Well, I didn’t start it,” she said.
“Well, if you didn’t, who did?”
She looked at him, thought about it, and said, “Thaddeus did.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Mack said, and he strode away even faster.
Chapter 5
Saturday Late Afternoon …
Doreen kept stomping behind Mack, as they made their way to the first cross street. “I don’t remember it taking this long,” she said, as he turned to look at her.
“It’s not that long. We had to go past the block because it’s partially flooded.”
She nodded. “You’d think, after all this time, they would have put better drainage in here.”
“Mother Nature always wins out when it comes to flooding,” he said. “It’s not bad right now, but, every once in a while, we do get a year where it can be really ugly.”
“I don’t want to see it like that,” she muttered.
“Have you checked your sump pumps lately?”
She stared at him in shock, then shook her head. “I have not.”
“We’ll do it when we get back. That’s why you have them though, for unexpected water surges like this,” he said, as he looked around the area. “I would have thought that this would have calmed down by now.”
“I would have too,” she said.
“But we’ve had an awful lot of rain,” he said, shrugging. “These floods come out of nowhere but go down almost as fast.”
She nodded. “It seems like it’s been a season of everything.”
“You’ve had quite the time since you got here, haven’t you?” he asked, tossing a grin her way.
“Well, it has been that,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure what kind of a season at this rate, but it’s certainly been different.”
“It’s better than what it would have been if you’d stayed with your husband,” he said.
“Well, that goes without saying,” she said, blowing a fluff of hair off her forehead. As they walked forward, she said, “I think the kids were up around here.”
“This far?” he asked. Stopping to look back at her place, it was just barely visible through the trees.
She nodded. “That’s why I didn’t get too good of a look at them.”
He nodded and stopped to survey the area. “Maybe we’ll just walk up a little bit and see what we can find.”
She kept pace with him now, not carrying Mugs any longer, although her wet jeans were getting more uncomfortable to walk in. They passed the Environmental, or ECO center, as the locals called it, and moved toward a residential area. When they reached the corner, she looked at it and noted, “A bunch of houses are in here. Those kids could be from some of these.”