Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

I hit the sheets after my shower and was instantly asleep in that great bed. It had been a long day, and the ability to sleep anytime, anywhere, was something you learned early on when you traveled the world like I had and did the things I'd done. I'd intended to arise a little after midnight and beat feet out of this town where the only people who wanted me here were on the other side of a blue line in a different state.

But the bed was welcoming and when I opened my eyes, I guessed it was at least two, maybe two-ten. When I checked my watch, it said 2:14 so I was on the slow side. One part of my brain wanted me to spring up, shrug on my extra set of clothes, grab the ruck, and go.

But it was a good bed and the comforter felt soft against my skin. I turned my head and Maggs' butt was toward me at the head of the bed, perhaps a not too subtle message?

Rose and Poppy and Pike could take care of Norman. And Pike was already gunning for Junior. There was no reason I should stay. Everyone wanted me gone, everyone outside of this place at least. And staying would just be trouble in the next state across the hall. I was already getting soft, missing my planned departure time and lying here thinking about doing somebody—something—rather than doing it.

I sighed and slid out from under the comforter and sheet and grabbed the clothes I had ready next to the bed. Maggs moaned in her sleep, sensing a disturbance in the force around her. That force being comfort.

I'd already put everything else in the ruck, the way we did in the field, always ready to move at a moment's notice in case the enemy attacked. Unfortunately, there had been no attack.

I'd have to find the laundry room on the way out to get the sleeping bag and my other clothes Rose had snagged from my ruck. I'd seen Poppy dump laundry in a first-floor closet near the kitchen door.

I walked around the bed and knelt, facing my dog. "Come on, you slug," I whispered to Maggs.

She opened her eyes, looking unhappy. Yeah, well, life is tough all over.

"Let's go."

Maggs yawned, then did a big, long stretch while still lying down.

She did not get up. This life was making her soft, too. Another reason to leave.

"Come on ."

She got to her feet, gave me a long soulful look, yawned again to make her point, and then slithered off the bed on her belly, not exactly full of her usual exuberance to be on the trail once more. Civilization ruins the best of us. There was a flight of stairs going down at the side of Oz's workroom, a single nightlight near the top, and I remembered that Rose had said that this place had been two buildings Oz had joined with a hallway in the middle, leaving a stair in each apartment.

I carried my new boots in hand as I eased my feet down the stairs on the Tennessee side. Maggs followed. We made it to the first floor without raising an alarm, although this stair put us in one of the side rooms of the shop, full of things to barge into.

I turned the corner into the front room of the shop and found the washer and dryer where I'd seen Poppy throw towels earlier. I stuffed the clothes hanging there into the ruck and took the bag out of the dryer and started to roll it. It was soft and smelled as nice as the comforter. And Rose had mended the tears.

"See?" I whispered to Maggs, holding it out to her to let her sniff.

She didn't seem impressed. I stuffed the bag into the sack that Rose had conveniently left on top of the dryer and then into the ruck.

It was going like clockwork. Until I was opening the kitchen door and heard the distinct clicks of the hammers on a double-barreled shotgun being pulled back in the darkness.

"Rose?" I said.

"Max?" Rose said.

"Yes."

"Thank God." She was silhouetted by the moonlight behind her through the panes in the kitchen door. She lowered the shotgun. "I heard you out there. What are you doing?"

"Maggs missed her sleeping bag," I lied.

She looked at my rucksack and then me. I was dressed. My boots were in one hand. Yeah. This wasn't good.

"And it was time for us to go." I sat down at the table to pull on my boots in the dark.

"In the middle of the night?"

"Pike made it pretty clear he doesn't want to see me again."

She was quiet for a while, and then she said "Okay," but she didn't smile. "I had some questions, but if you're leaving, never mind. Thank you for all you've done for us."

"I haven't done anything." I stood up and picked up my ruck and called Maggs to me. Then I looked at Rose in the dim light from the street, baggy-eyed with fatigue, that bruise on her cheek, rumpled and sleepy and . . . "Thank you for dinner and the shower and the bed." That didn't seem like enough, so I added, "That was the best lasagna I've ever had."

"You're welcome." Rose finally smiled, a bit bleakly. "So you really weren't working with Junior? I didn't think so, but, you know, I had to be careful."

"No. I had no idea who he was. "

"Good." She hesitated. "And you're not working for . . ."

I waited but she didn't finish even though she was clearly concerned about something. "I'm not working for anybody."

She nodded. "I'll tell Poppy you said goodbye."

That was a one-two punch: She was worried, and I wouldn't be saying goodbye to Poppy, who'd taken care of my dog. The whole thing seemed wrong. I looked down at Maggs, who was also a bit bleak, her tail hanging straight down. She looked back up at me in the darkness, her face framed by the cone. Big brown eyes. And that damn cone was going to be a pain on the trail, hitting branches and whatnot, especially in the dark.

If I left in the morning, I could have breakfast with Rose and maybe find out what was bothering her. Not my problem, of course, but it was Rose. And then there was Poppy, who deserved a proper thank you.

I looked out the window. It was pitch black out there. "Look, it's probably not a good idea for us to be out there wandering around in the dark. And I'd like to thank Poppy for what she's done for Maggs. Is it okay if we stick around until she leaves for school?"

Maggs, traitor that she was turning out to be, wagged her tail hard, thumping my thigh.

"Sure," Rose said. "She leaves early, though. Like about 7:30."

"Great. That's when we'll go," I said.

"Okay," Rose said, and I gave up and we went upstairs, Rose and Maggs ahead of me.

And then I crossed the hall back to Tennessee where I belonged. Sort of.