If Jeff couldn’t find out who owned that dog, she’d never let him keep it. She’d made him give up one dog and he wasn’t going to let her do it again.
Emily came running back down the hill with a plastic bag full of stuff. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go. I didn’t have to tell Dad anything. He’s been clearing some brush and is going to run it to the dump. I just hope he doesn’t notice that he’s down one T-bone steak when he gets back. If he finds out I took it he’ll kill me.”
They headed into the woods, and as the station and his aunt’s pickup truck came into view, Emily said, “What’s that smell?”
“Oh,” Jeff said. “I was on my way to the dump when I found the dog. The truck’s full of garbage.”
She made a face. “Barf City.”
As they entered the old station, Jeff asked Emily what was in her bag, beside a steak.
“Bottled water, some crackers, peanut butter, some cheese and some Rice Krispie squares.”
“Do dogs eat Rice Krispie squares?” he asked.
“They’re for us, bozo,” she said.
Heading up the stairs, he said, “I hope you won’t mind, but I put him in your chair. I couldn’t put him on the flat floor. I wanted him to be comfortable.”
“Fine.”
They hit the top of the stairs and turned to look into the room.
There was Emily’s beanbag chair.
But the dog was gone.
Nineteen
Aunt Flo strode up to Cabin Eight and rapped on the door hard.
“Mr. Green?” she called. “Mr. Green, are you in there?”
She put her face right up to the screen door and peered inside. Harry Green slowly lumbered into view and pushed the door open.
“What is it, Flo? I was just having a little nap.”
“Have you seen that damn fool nephew of mine?” she asked.
“Uh, like I said, I was having a nap before I go back out to catch absolutely nothing. Is there a problem?”
“He went off to the dump a long time ago and he’s not back yet.”
“Haven’t seen him. I’m sure he’s fine.”
“Oh, I’m sure he is. But I’ve got a long list of things that need doing. I took that boy in. I’m giving him a place to stay and feeding him and keeping clothes on his back. Doesn’t seem to be asking too much to have him do a few things in return.”
“He’s been through a lot,” Harry said. “Losing his mother and father. And so tragically, too.”
She softened some. “I suppose.” She decided to change the subject. “You enjoying your first summer here?”
“Oh, yes, very much.”
“How’d you hear about my place?” Flo asked.
Harry Green furrowed his brow. “Someone must have mentioned it at work one time and it just stuck in my head.”
“What sort of work did you do?”
“Oh, a bit of this and that,” Harry said. “Nothing very interesting. What did you say Jeff’s parents did? Worked for some drug company?”
“Something like that,” Flo said. “Heck of a thing, what happened to them. Jet blowing up in mid-air over the water. It was some kind of engine failure. Or something with the electronics. That’s why I don’t fly.”
“Let me ask you this, Flo,” Harry said. “Have there ever been any people coming around here, asking about Jeff, checking up on him?”
“What do you mean?”
Harry shrugged. “Just what I said. People dropping by, maybe people his parents used to work with, asking how he is, whether there is anything they can do to help?”
Flo shook her head. “Nope, nothing like that. Were you thinking there would be?”
“I don’t know,” Harry said. “Just asking.”
“I’d still like to know where he’s gone off to. You sure you’ve got no idea? I see Jeff talking to you now and then.”
Harry gave her a sly smile. “If I were a betting man, I’d say a girl might be involved.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Flo said. “That’s all we need.”
Twenty
“He was right here!” Jeff told Emily, pointing at her beanbag chair. “I left him right here in this chair!”
“Uh, huh,” she said dubiously, holding the bag of food she’d taken from her house.
There wasn’t any place for the dog to have hidden upstairs here, which meant he had to have gone downstairs. But the door was closed when they got here. Jeff went back down to the main floor, ran through what was once the waiting room for passengers, poked his head into the former office, looked behind the counter where, decades ago, people once stood selling tickets.
He even looked in the old bathroom where stained and rusted toilets sat disused in stalls.
Jeff didn’t see the dog anywhere.
But he did discover one busted window over behind the ticket counter. The glass had been shattered at some point, leaving teeth-like shards around the edges. There was an old, broken chair and desk in front of it, so it wouldn’t have been hard for the dog to use them as steps to get up to the window.
There was a wisp of black fur, and blood, on one of the glass shards.
“Oh, no,” Jeff said, pointing.
“Crap,” said Emily.
Once outside, Jeff called out, “Dog! Hey, dog! Come on, boy! We’ve got food for you!”
“Shh!” Emily said. “I hear something.”
Jeff went quiet and held his breath. There were the usual forest sounds. A rustling of leaves, a breeze blowing through the trees.
And something else. A kind of grunting.
“I think it’s coming from the truck,” Emily said.
Jeff turned in the direction of the pickup. “Something’s in the back,” he said. “With the garbage.”
They approached the truck cautiously. Jeff knew there were plenty of other creatures that could be in the truck. Raccoons, foxes, a skunk — even a bear was a possibility. Any one of those animals might be interested in feasting on that trash.
The good news was, Jeff didn’t see any big, black, furry bear’s head sticking up over the sides of the cargo bed.
The bad news was, he saw blood on the side of the top edge of the tailgate.
Emily and Jeff moved around to the back of the truck, heard more rustling and grunting noises. “Stand back,” Jeff said, approaching the tailgate. He slipped his fingers under the handle and got ready to pull as Emily took three steps back.
Jeff dropped the tailgate in one swift motion.
The dog, his butt to them, whirled around suddenly. He’d managed to pull one can over and had had his snout deep into a bag of trash. If a dog could look terrified, well, that was how he looked when he saw them. Eyes wide, jaw open. There was fresh blood matted into the fur of his belly. “It’s okay!” Jeff said. “It’s me!” He pointed to Emily. “That’s Emily! She brought food!”
Chipper looked at Emily and tried to assess whether she was a friend or a foe. Dogs, even dogs without a few million dollars’ worth of software built into them, often had an instant sense of people, and Chipper was no different.
He thought Emily was probably okay, especially when she raised the bag in her hand and smiled.
“So you don’t have to eat this yucky stuff, okay?”
Emily dug into the bag and brought out something wrapped in freezer paper. “Wait’ll you see this,” she said. “It was going to be my dad’s Sunday night dinner.” She ripped through tape and unfolded the paper to reveal the steak. “Bet you’ll like this.”
Chipper’s mouth instantly watered. That steak looked even better than those wieners he’d stolen from the barbecue. Emily tore off a chunk of it and extended it in her hand. Chipper gave it a sniff, then gently took it from her palm, being careful not to bite her.
Two quick bites, a gulp, and it was gone.