“Do what?” I said, keeping my eyes glued to the side of the road. I was watching for a post with peeling green paint and a piece of yellow flagging tape tied around a tree.
“Get people to tell you things.”
“Bella Lawrence is living with Gerald’s son. Her little guy is in Reading Buddies and she doesn’t like the old man very much.”
“In other words she was happy to help you.”
“And throw a bit of a monkey wrench into in his plans as well.” I caught sight of the green post. “Up there,” I said, gesturing at the road ahead. “There’s a gravel road. Turn off.”
We pulled off the main road onto an unpaved track. Hope stopped and put the car in park. “Okay, where are we going?” she asked, turning toward me.
“Bella told me that Gerald rented a cut-down Jeep to John so he could get around the property out by the lake. He agreed to keep it quiet because it’s to his advantage.” I explained what Bella had told me about her almost father-in law’s position on the development.
“So why are we on a dirt road in the woods?” Hope asked.
“Because the Jeep is at a lean-to at the back end of Hollister’s land, according to Bella.”
I pointed at the road ahead through the windshield. “If you follow this it turns and runs behind Hollister’s land and Wisteria Hill. I came out here this summer to pick blueberries with Roma.”
“If we could get a look at that Jeep and there’s damage—”
“It shouldn’t be that hard to link the vehicle back to John,” I said.
She nodded slowly. “I don’t imagine the old man will be so tight-lipped when there are murder charges involved.” An impatient meow came from the backseat. Hope grinned. “I think that means ‘Get moving.’”
“I think you’re right,” I said.
We drove by the back of Hollister’s property the first time and had to double back. I remembered Roma pointing out where his property and hers met, noting the remnants of a ramshackle fence in the scrub and bushes close to the road.
“Watch for a broken-down fence,” I said. Hercules moved to the driver’s side of the car and looked up at the window. But it was Hope who spotted the weathered wood and sagging barbed wire.
“There!” she said, pointing through the windshield. She pulled the car off the road as far as she could onto the narrow shoulder then turned in her seat and looked at me. “I think you should stay here.”
“Not a chance,” I said, unfastening my seat belt. “I’m going to get out of the car, climb over what’s left of that fence and trespass on Gerald Hollister’s property. Being an officer of the law, you’re going to come after me, because I’m breaking the law. And as an officer of the law, if you happen to find evidence of one crime while you’re trying to stop another—” I held up my hands. “Who can find fault with that?”
She gave me a wry smile. “A lot of people can, Kathleen. Your scenario has more holes than my old rain boots.”
It was raining now, a steady drizzle that made me wish I had my own rain boots.
“I know,” I said. I took a deep breath and let it out. “Just stay here, Hope. I’ll go look for the Jeep, I’ll take photos with my phone and bring them back for you to look at.”
She was shaking her head before I finished speaking. “No way.”
“Then I guess we’re both going,” I said. I looked over my shoulder at Hercules sitting in the middle of the backseat. “Guard the car,” I told him.
“Mrr,” he said as if he’d understood, which I knew was a definite possibility.
Hope and I got out and walked across the dirt road. There was a narrow shoulder that dropped down steeply to a wide, muddy ditch. The fence began on the other side. There were bushes and spindly trees growing up, through and around it.
We made our way down the bank and through the mud, which sucked at our shoes. Up close the fence was taller than I’d expected. The wire was barbed. I couldn’t see any way to get a handhold or foothold over.
“We’re not getting over this, are we?” Hope said.
“No,” I said. “That barbed wire may be old but that doesn’t mean it won’t tear your skin apart.” I walked alongside the fence, hoping I’d find a break in it somewhere, but it just continued around the corner and into the dark, damp woods. I turned and headed back to where Hope was standing. “This isn’t going to work. The fence continues into the woods. We could spend hours walking and not find a way to get over safely.”
Rain was dripping off the edge of her hood onto her face and she swiped at it impatiently with the heel of her hand. “Then you’re just going to have to give me a boost over and I’ll take my chances with that barbed wire, because I’m not leaving without finding that Jeep.”
“I have an idea that might work better,” I said.
“You’re not going to suggest we send Hercules in with the camera, are you?” she asked.
I shook my head and water sprayed off my jacket. “Nah, he wouldn’t go. Hercules hates getting his feet wet. I think we might be able to get to this piece of land through Roma’s. I don’t think this fence goes all the way around on the section where the properties abut. I know those woods a lot better, too.”
“All right,” Hope said. “Let’s go.”
We went back to the car and Hope drove slowly down the woods road and turned back onto the main road toward Wisteria Hill.
“What are we going to tell Roma we’re doing out here?” Hope asked.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hercules’s head swing around toward me when he heard Roma’s name.
“She’s not here,” I said. “She’s over in Red Wing helping the vet there with a surgery. She won’t be back until later tonight.”
Hope glanced at me as the car reached the top of the driveway. “Seems like we got lucky.”
“Let’s hope it keeps up,” I said.
Hope and I got out. Once again I’d told Hercules to guard the car. He’d climbed into the front and was sitting on the passenger side, watching us through the side window. It was still raining and I had no worries about him leaving the vehicle.
Hope looked around. “Okay, which way?”
I pointed at the carriage house. “There’s a path around the side that leads across a field and into the woods. If we stay close to the brook there’s a place where the water is low that we can cross and then we should be on Hollister’s land. If we keep heading back that way we should come on the lean-to.”
“Let’s do this,” Hope said.
We made our way around the weathered old carriage house and across the overgrown field behind it. The embankment had been graded and reinforced with a rock wall and it was fairly easy to climb up to the top. I pointed through the trees that stretched ahead of us. “Can you hear that?” I asked.
Hope pushed back the hood of her jacket. “That’s water, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “That’s the brook. If we follow it back about half a mile there’s a place I’m pretty sure we can get across.”
The trees provided some cover from the rain as we walked. “How did you get to know all this area so well?” Hope asked.
“Mostly Roma, a little bit Maggie and Rebecca,” I said. “Roma convinced me to join her group of volunteers who take care of the feral cat colony back before she even owned Wisteria Hill. I started spending more time out here and I just started exploring. Then Rebecca began teaching Maggie about the uses for different plants and when they came out here to look for some of them I’d usually come with them.” I smiled at the memory of walking through these woods with Rebecca, who would point out tiny plants I’d never noticed before. “Rebecca grew up out here. Her mother worked for the Hendersons.”
“I like her,” Hope said. “Rebecca, I mean.”
I nodded. “I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t. Owen and Hercules are crazy about her. She buys Owen those catnip chickens. It’s like she’s his catnip chicken dealer.”