There were more important things to worry about now. She felt like the guardian at the gates. Beyond those gates the forces of chaos waited. That’s melodramatic, she told herself, but we’re living in melodramatic times.
After a sleepless night Shay was up at dawn. He wrote out detailed instructions for Paige when she arrived at the clinic, took Jupiter from his stall behind the Delmonico house, saddled him and headed toward Tilbury’s. He kept the horse at a spanking trot the entire way. By the time they reached Tilbury’s mailbox the gelding’s hide was creamy with sweat. Shay dismounted and led Jupiter over the cattle guard and up the lane to the house.
Lila met him at the door, with Edgar Tilbury behind her. At one glance she took in the lathered horse. “You didn’t need to rush, Shay.”
“Your call sounded urgent.”
Tilbury cleared his throat. “What call?”
She turned to face him. “I used your AllCom.”
“But it was in my—”
“I know; I went looking for it. I knew you must have one, you’re so careful about being prepared.”
“All you had to do was ask.”
“I guess I’m a born snoop.”
“But you’re not in any trouble?”
“I don’t know, Shay. Yesterday afternoon when I walked down to the Simpsons’ place to buy eggs for our breakfast I thought someone was following me. They live in the valley,” she explained, “and there are a lot of trees. It seemed like a man was hiding among them.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“Every time I tried he ducked out of sight.”
Tilbury said angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me when you came home?”
“It might have been my imagination and I didn’t want to bother you for nothing. But after supper, when you were down in the tunnel, someone looked in my window.”
“You’re sure now?”
“That’s when I got up and went for your phone, Edgar.”
He clenched his fists. “You should have let me take care of the bastard!”
Shay was white beneath his freckles. “The two of you out here alone, and you not a young man—”
“I’m able to take care of any damned intruder!”
“I’m sure you are,” the vet said hastily.
Bill Burdick looked up when Shay and Lila entered the bar and grill. “I didn’t expect to see you two today. Are you here for a drink, or a meal?”
“A couple of drinks,” Shay told him, “and a little information. Do you know anyone in town who might have a room to rent? Someplace on the south side, maybe.”
“Scarce commodity these days. Who’s it for?”
“Me,” said Lila.
“Unh-hunh. You’re not staying with Edgar anymore?”
“I was, but now I’m here.”
“Did you and he have a falling out?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Unh-hunh. Well. I can ask around… but I suggest you go to Frank over at The Sycamore Seed. He runs a few classified ads in the paper, he might know of something.”
Shay waited while Lila went to the newspaper office alone. “She makes her own decisions,” he said to Burdick.
“Why don’t you put her up at your place?”
“The mood she’s in, I’m afraid she’d slap me down.”
“Unh-hunh. It gets complicated, doesn’t it?”
“You can say that again. Give me a refill, will you?”
Lila returned to Bill’s within the hour. One look at her glowing face told the story. “There’s a nice room with a private bath over on Cleveland Street, available right now. It’s in the home of a friend of Bea’s. And better than that… I have a job!”
“I didn’t know you were looking for a job.”
“Of course I was, Shay; I have to be able to pay my rent, don’t I? Frank Auerbach said my arrival was providential, he’s been looking for a typist to transcribe the news. I didn’t train on the typewriter, but it’s not that different from a computer keyboard. And I can certainly write a simple declarative sentence.”
Another hour was spent getting Lila settled in her new room: a large bedroom and bath on the second floor of a private home overlooking Cutler Park, one block over from Elm Street. There was a Colonial-style double bed, a matching chest of drawers, a mirrored dressing table in an alcove. Clean sheets were on the bed and clean towels in the bathroom. The striped dimity curtains on the windows looked new.
“Everything’s within walking distance,” Lila pointed out to Shay.
“I guess you won’t need me, then.”
“Of course I will. Aren’t you taking me to the next Wednesday Club meeting?”
He was tempted to point out that now she could walk the short distance, but he didn’t.
Before he left her Shay went around the corner to Gold’s Court Florist to buy a flower arrangement to brighten the room. “Is this for someone special?” Martha Frobisher asked coquettishly.
“Yeah.”
“Then you’ll want real flowers and not artificial ones. The artificial ones last longer, but we used to have trouble with them dissolving.”
“Used to?”
“It’s not happening anymore. I sold a lovely arrangement of artificial peonies just last week.”
As Shay returned home he felt a little guilty about Edgar Tilbury. The man had been kind to Lila; she had revealed enough of the story for Shay to understand what had been done on her behalf. Tilbury was probably lonely and his intentions were good.
He wondered how much the old man knew about Lila.
He wondered how much he really knew about her himself.
When Jack arrived on Wednesday evening to take Nell to the bar and grill, she got into the car with a spiral notebook in her hand. “I’ve discovered something fascinating!”
“Fasten your seat belt first. I just had them installed; they didn’t come standard with the car.”
“Wait a minute.” She twisted in her seat. “There. Now can I tell you about this?”
“Aren’t you going to put on your scarf? The top’s down.”
“Jack, you’re becoming a regular fussbudget. Please, listen to me. Since we moved back into the house I’ve been writing down every item that dissolves so my contractor can replace it. I’ve been recording them all by date, and it’s been a month yesterday since I found anything wrong. Here, look at my notebook.”
“I’m driving,” he said patiently.
“A month yesterday! Doesn’t that tell you anything?”
“Only that your contractor’s using better quality materials than the last one did.”
“Oh, you. Do you think it’s possible the Change is stopping?”
“How could it stop without us knowing?”
“It started without us knowing. Just a bit at a time, remember? It took a while for the news to get around, so we don’t know exactly when or where it actually began, but I doubt if it was in Sycamore River. We certainly aren’t the center of the universe.”
“It’s a nice idea, Nell, and I’d like to believe you’re right. But the Change isn’t the catastrophe it used to be, not with actual war looming. We have something worse to worry about now.”
She closed the notebook and put it into the glove compartment. For the rest of the drive into town she watched the scenery go by.
They were almost the first members of the Wednesday Club to arrive. Some of the other tables were occupied and there was a lineup at the bar, including Hooper Watson. He waved but did not get off his stool. That honor was reserved for the arrival of Shay Mulligan, who could be expected to buy the former sheriff a drink before joining the others.