“It was Jones,” she gasped out. “He turned his flashlight on when he was out of sight of the house so it was easy to follow him. He parked at the Jones family cemetery.” She paused to catch her breath.
“You’re sure it was him?”
Willow nodded. “Yes. I got a good look at him. Besides, I recognized his stench.”
Noah raised his eyebrows. “Really? You can do that, too?”
“No, just kidding.”
Noah showed her the damaged shutter. “It’s too dark to fix it now. We’ll take care of it first thing tomorrow.”
“Okay. I’ll bar the door and then let’s go to the cottage. I need a drink.”
When they reached the cottage, Willow went straight to the water crock and drew herself a tumbler. Noah gazed at her thoughtfully as she guzzled.
Jones can roam at will, and we can’t stop him.
“What are you thinking?” she asked.
“I’m not letting you stay out here alone tonight with Jones on the loose. I want you to pack a bag with some stuff for overnight. I’ll take you to Louie’s. I’m sure he and Catherine would be happy to put you up until we get this sorted out.” Noah spoke forcefully, expecting a protest from his feisty fairy. Instead, she considered this for a few seconds and then spoke in what he thought of as her little voice, the one she used during quiet moments together.
“Okay.”
Really?
She set her glass in the sink and ran upstairs to the loft. He heard her rummage through drawers and the closet. She came down with a canvas bag, went into the bathroom briefly and returned to the main room. “Ready.”
They left without further discussion and locked the door and the gate. Willow left Shadow outdoors with instructions to remain near the cottage.
The threatening dark pressed on Noah as they walked swiftly to the truck. He dug in his pocket for his keys. Empty. He searched all his pockets, pants and coat, but no keys.
“What did I do with my keys?”
Willow watched him check all his pockets a second time.
“I must have left them somewhere at the cottage.” Willow shrugged and took his hand.
They walked back to the cottage. When they reached the door, Noah clicked on his flashlight. Willow put a hand in her pocket. Her expression became quizzical, then bewildered. “What—” she said. She pulled out the cottage keys—and Noah’s keys. He felt embarrassment flood out of her.
“How did you end up with my keys?”
Willow stammered “I don’t … I mean…” A confusion of feelings cascaded from Willow, more than Noah could keep sorted out.
“It’s okay, sweetie, I probably hung them on the peg with yours and you picked them up. Let’s go.”
Willow was quiet as they returned to the truck. They climbed in and bumped along the dark lane to the county road.
Noah followed Willow’s directions to the Miller’s home. He pulled up to the house, killed the engine, and turned toward Willow.
“Why didn’t you argue with me about staying here tonight?” he asked.
Willow smiled. “Two reasons. First, contrary to popular opinion, I don’t like to argue with you. This Willow is turning over a new leaf.”
“Very punny.”
“Thanks. And second, I could tell by your mood that if I argued you’d kick my cute little butt clear across the woods.”
“Hmm. Wrong on both counts. Actually all three, since you gave me three reasons.”
“I did not.”
“See, you’re still arguing.” Noah climbed out lest he end up with a sore shoulder, and hurried to the porch, Willow close behind. She walked past him with a pasted-on frown and knocked on the door.
Within a few seconds, the porch light came on and the door opened. Louie appeared shocked to see them, though Noah wasn’t sure at first if the old man saw him.
“Ms. Brown? What’s wrong?”
“I need a favor, Louie. Can we come in?”
“Of course, of course.” Louie was clearly pleased to see her. He ushered them in as Catherine entered the room, wrapped in a nightgown and robe. They all spoke their greetings before Noah broached the subject.
“I hoped maybe you folks would be kind enough to let Willow stay here tonight. We’ve run into a problem at the property and I don’t want her there by herself.”
Willow seemed pleased that Noah had taken charge.
At least this time.
“Well, of course we will,” Catherine said. “Louie, take her bag.”
Louie took the bag but made no move to leave the room. “What sort of problem?” he asked.
“An intruder,” Noah said. “We were at the Big House and heard someone downstairs on the first floor, but we spooked him and he took off. I’m leery of leaving Willow there alone.”
Louie nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t want her out there by herself either. We’ll take good care of her.”
“Come with me, dear,” Catherine said to Willow. “We’ll put you up in the spare bedroom.” She took Willow’s bag from Louie and the two women disappeared down a hallway.
“By intruder,” Louie said quietly, “ya mean Chester Jones, don’t ya?”
“We don’t know that for a fact,” Noah said. He changed the subject, asking about the boys at Henning’s. Louie brought him up to date on all the old men’s gossip.
“We been missing you in the mornings,” he said. “Suppose you’re keeping busy, what with helpin’ Ms. Brown and all.” Louie eyed him like a wary father of a teenage daughter.
“Yes, we’ve both been staying busy. And I have pictures to shoot, so I’ve been trying to get an early start whenever I can.”
Willow and Catherine returned and spared Noah from further probing. “Folks, thanks again for taking Willow in,” he said. “I’d better go and let you have some peace. Willow, I’ll pick you up about eight.” He turned toward the door.
“Noah, wait,” Willow said. She crossed the room, pulled his face down and kissed him. “Good night, Cowboy.”
From where he stood, Noah saw a wide range of emotions on Louie’s face. Surprise, amusement, envy, and then sorrow flashed across his features. Noah returned his eyes to Willow. “Come outside for a minute.”
He said goodnight to Louie and Catherine, and then led Willow out to the porch. Once the door was closed, Noah turned to her. She crossed her arms, waiting for him to speak, her face pensive.
“Willow, what I said in your parents’ room … maybe the magic made me say it. I don’t know. I don’t care. Either way, I meant every word.”
Willow’s worried look melted into a smile.
Noah turned away and walked to the truck.
Noah flipped on the light and closed the door to Number 13. He sighed and dropped his keys on the table, and then walked to the desk. Willow’s crinkled image stared at him patiently.
“I know I can’t make you love me.” He smiled.
I don’t think anyone could make you do anything.
Did I speak too soon? Were you not ready to hear “I love you?”
My heart says you love me. Why are you so afraid? What’s your secret? What’s your story?
“What’s your whole story?”
He kissed his fingertips and pressed them to the photo.
“Good night, my love.”
Willow came to his dreams again. He woke in the dark with her presence around him; perhaps she dreamed of him. A sweet feeling, as when they shared the most mundane moments: walking in the woods, sharing a bowl of soup, washing her hair.
As he lay in bed, he could feel Willow’s heart: not its patient beating, but its longing for solace.
I will be yours.
Seventeen
Louie was standing on the front porch smoking a cigarette when Noah arrived the next morning. He waved, threw his cigarette into the yard, and then opened the door long enough to speak to someone inside. Willow appeared, carrying her canvas bag. She wore jeans and a red flannel shirt with her blue high tops. S
he gave Louie an enthusiastic hug, which seemed to shock him. He hesitantly hugged her back.
Noah smiled.
What’s the matter, Louie? Afraid you might break something?
Willow shouldered her bag and bounded down the stairs. Louie’s eyes followed her to the truck, and then he waved to Noah again and went into the house. Willow had just made Louie’s day perfect.
Willow climbed in and slid across the seat to the middle. Before speaking, she pulled Noah’s face down and kissed him. She pressed her cheek against his and held it there for several seconds before she released him and sat back.
“Good morning to you, too,” Noah said with a laugh. He put the truck in gear and pulled away. “How was your visit?”
“Fine. First time I wore pajamas in a long time. I usually go—what’s that word Wicca uses for nude—skyclad? Their tub was really small.”
“Did they feed you breakfast?”
“Yes, a huge one, even without the sausage. They’re good people. I’ve been remiss not getting to know people, or staying in touch with the ones I already knew.” She paused. “Have you eaten?”
“Yes, I hit Henning’s to catch up with the boys.”
“So, what’s up for today? Do you need to work?”
“I’m afraid so. But first, I want to go back to the Big House after we drop your stuff at the cottage. I came up with a brilliant idea in the shower this morning. We’ve been trying to find evidence we could use against Jones, other than illegally obtained evidence. I think I have a solution.”
“Great, let’s hear it.”
“You are fortunate to be in the presence of a highly skilled, fully equipped nature photographer.” He paused for effect.
Willow waited for more. “Yeah, and you kiss well, too. So?”
“I happen to have equipment that will allow us to photograph an intruder without his knowledge. I haven’t used it for some time, but I have a super silent camera setup for night photography of wildlife in their habitat. The sound of the shutter and the film advance are undetectable across a room. Plus I have a motion detector and infrared film for shooting in complete darkness.”
“I’m impressed. You have all this with you?”
“Sure. I keep all my stuff in the truck when I travel in case I need it. We’ll set the trap this morning, then we’ll stay away from the house for a while and see if we can catch a rat.”
“Great!” She patted his leg. “You’re a handy guy to have around.”
When they reached the tree across the lane, they unloaded Noah’s equipment and split it between them to carry. Willow called Shadow to walk with them. After a warm and noisy greeting he led the way to the cottage, with Willow following and Noah behind her. Keeping an eye on the rear, he told her, but she knew well which rear he meant, as evidenced by the extra sway as she walked.
At the cottage, they put fresh water and food down for Shadow and dropped off Willow’s bag. She put on her fishing hat.
“Let’s go,’ she said.
“Willow, we need to be more careful about your movements. We can’t let Jones see you fly, or do anything else magical, like vanishing into thin air. We know he can get close without you knowing.”
Willow nodded. “You’re right.”
“Give me the keys and I’ll carry the stuff over. In the meantime, you blink here, inside, and fly over to unbar the door. I’ll unlock it from the outside. It will look like I’m going in alone.”
“Good idea,” Willow said. “Except it’s wink, not blink.”
I always forget that.
She tossed the keys to Noah and began unbuttoning her shirt to prepare for flight. When she noticed Noah watching, her look turned flirty and she slowed her movements, with a subtle change in posture.
Whoa.
When she reached the last button, she winked out of sight.
“Cheater,” Noah said, and turned away in mock disgust. Willow giggled. He opened the door and stepped out, pretending to organize his equipment to allow Willow time to come out.
“I’m out,” she said from behind him. He pulled the door shut and locked it, and then shouldered both camera bags and picked up a large box with a grunt.
“Sorry I can’t help,” Willow said. A quiet buzz followed and faded away overhead.
I’m sorry you can’t help, too.
Noah concentrated on not following her sound with his eyes. He followed the path to the Big House and deposited his load on the porch.
“It’s unbarred,” a voice said in his ear.
Noah jumped. Willow stifled a laugh.
“You brat,” he muttered as he flipped out the keys.
“I am merely the instrument of karma,” a trying-to-be-deep disembodied voice said, followed by another muted laugh. Noah moved the bags and the box inside and then shut and locked the door. When he turned toward the atrium, he jumped again. He stood nose to nose with Willow. He instinctively grabbed her by the upper arms and she shrieked, and then dissolved into giggling.
“You can be a pain sometimes,” Noah said.
A white bra, Noah guessed a training bra, served as today’s flight suit, complete with a tiny pink bow in the front. Her shirt circled her waist. When she felt Noah’s gaze, Willow shyly turned her back and untied the shirt to put it on.
“What’s with the bashful routine? I’ve seen you in a lot less than that.”
“I know, but this is my underwear. It’s different.”
I will never figure out fairies. No, I’ll never figure out women.
She buttoned the shirt but left the tail out with her wingtips sticking out beneath the hem.
“Now you can help move this stuff,” Noah said. They loaded up and moved the equipment to the kitchen. Noah unpacked the cases and boxes and laid their contents on the counter. While he assembled pieces and fiddled with cameras, Willow leaned on the counter and watched, in the same situation as Noah had been the day before in front of the computer—lost. She wandered to the window and picked up something from the floor.
“Here’s the broken glass where he came in.” She held it up for Noah to see. The pane above the window lock was broken at the bottom.
“Leave it. We want him to think we haven’t noticed anything.” She replaced the glass and walked back to Noah.
“So how does this work without any light?” she asked.
“The film I’ll use doesn’t respond to visible light, but to infrared. Heat sources create infrared light to varying degrees. Everything in this room has a slightly different temperature, for example, and each temperature shows on the film as a slightly different shade of grey. Cool things will be almost black. Hot objects read as white. The net result is a picture the camera can register. People’s faces appear due to slight differences in skin temperature across their features. It’s not perfect, but if we’re lucky we’ll get a recognizable image.”
“I bet I would mess up your film, with my high body temperature.”
“Yes, I’m sure. We’ll take a test picture to make sure everything’s working before we leave, of you and me standing together. It should be a good comparison. Something else we should do is turn the boiler down. We want anyone who comes in to be much warmer than the room.”
“I’ll do that now while you’re setting up.” She left for the basement.
Noah placed the wireless motion detector on a shelf and aimed it at the window. He took several minutes adjusting it to cover a wide swath of the kitchen. When Willow returned he was placing the camera in a wood box lined with foam.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“A sound suppression box. The camera goes in like this,” he said as he snapped the lid closed. “And the lens looks out through this port in the side. I didn’t put the film in yet so we can test.” He put the box on the counter and shoved it back as far as possible. “In the dark it should be inconspicuous. Now let’s do a motion check. Go stand still by the window.” Willow did as instructed. Noah switched on the motion detector. “Okay, walk to
me, and listen with your cat ears for any sound.”
Willow crossed the room, keeping her ear trained in the direction of the box. “I don’t think it worked. I didn’t hear anything at all.”
Noah grinned. “Let’s see.” He opened the box and removed the camera, then showed the film counter to Willow.
“Nine shots? I would have never believed it!”
Noah loaded film into the camera and returned it to the box. He aimed the box away from the window and motioned for Willow to walk over. She stood next to him. He pulled a small electronic device from his pocket.
“Say cheese,” he said, and pushed a button. “Manual remote control.”
Noah adjusted the box to point toward the window and they left through the dining room, to avoid crossing the motion detector’s path. When they arrived at the front door Willow winked and Noah went outside. He closed and locked the door and left.
“Are you here?” Noah muttered a few minutes later as he set the camera cases on the ground outside the cottage.
“Right behind you.”
He unlocked the door, swung it open wide, and then went back out to pick up the cases. Once everything was moved inside, he shut the door. He heard rustling and saw some blurry spots in the center of the room. Willow appeared a few seconds later with her back to him, buttoning her shirt.
“Well, I need to get moving.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll try to be back by five. I’ll be here before dark for sure. Are you fixing supper tonight?”
“Yep, I sure will.”
“Good.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention—I can’t stay at the Miller’s tonight. They’re leaving town until Sunday night.”
Noah sighed. “Couldn’t you have asked them for a key?”
“No.” She packed an iceberg into one tiny word.
I won’t leave you here alone. My room has only one bed. I could get you another room at the motel, I suppose.
Willow waited patiently.
“Okay,” he said. “I guess I’ll stay here tonight.”
Willow seemed relieved. “Good. I’m not up for being away from here.”
And you have two places to sleep.
“And you have two places to sleep.”