Cattail Ridge (26 page)

Chapter Thirty-Three

M
uch as Archer had expected, Logan and Sydney hit it off like gangbusters. Within an hour of them meeting, Sydney was clinging to Logan’s hand, taking him under her wing much the way Amelia had done all those years ago with him. He could tell Logan was just as smitten with her.

“Told you that you’d love Sydney. She’s adorable,” Archer said as he drove to the Campbell farm Sunday. It was before noon and Owen’s birthday party was scheduled to start at one.

“Yeah, well. Tell me who all is going to be there again?”

“You should know most of the names by now. Owen, Sarah, their kids, assorted spouses, grandkids. Sarah’s brother Jack, his wife Gilly, and their kids, Rick and Michelle. Eli and Eliza may be there, and Burke probably, too.”

“You don’t sound too upset about that.” Logan was familiar with Burke’s name and his relationship with Emma, having read about him in Archer’s letters.

Archer slanted him a grin. “What, Burke? Nah, we’re cool. After seeing the way he acted around Michelle, I kind of saw him in a different light. He’s a good guy.”

The jitters he had about seeing Emma again in a non-emergency, familial situation were warring with Archer’s gleeful anticipation of Logan’s first meeting with Rachel. He’d tried to be subtle, throwing her name into the conversation at key points. He didn’t think his brother was on to him but it hardly mattered if Logan was.

The first people they ran into once they reached the farm were Ben and Ainsley, who were unloading the trunk of their car.

“Hey, there’s Trouble. I didn’t know if you’d be here or not. Good to see you,” he told Archer. “You’re Logan?”

“I am.”

Archer made the introductions as they shook hands. “And what do you mean, ‘Trouble?’ We’re the two most innocent guys you’ll find.”

Ainsley’s laughter tinkled out. “Why, absolutely you are. I guarantee you two never get into any trouble at all.”

Even Logan smiled. “Well, he did. I was too busy running behind him trying to keep him out of jail or some irate father’s crosshairs.”

“What? That is not true.” Archer held a hand to his chest and pretended to stagger backward. “I was a perfect child.”

Logan shook his head and laid a hand on Archer’s shoulder. “You keep thinking that, sunshine.” He winked at Ainsley and Ben and tightened his hand.

“It wasn’t my fault the girls followed me,” Archer protested as they headed into the house. “And it would have been rude of me to ignore them. And I will have you know that there was only one time where a shotgun ever came close to being pulled on me.” He grimaced when he remembered Candace and the shooting. From Logan’s raised eyebrows, his brother was shocked at his words. Archer didn’t know if the shock was more from the fact that he’d joked about being shot or that he could see Archer had moved past the event.

Before he could find out they’d reached the house and Rachel was holding the door open for them to enter. “Good timing, everyone. We need a few more hands in the kitchen.”

“Slave driver,” Ben teased, hugging her. “Where’s Dad?”

“Relegated to the living room so he doesn’t steal a pie. You must be Logan.” She held her hand out, her smile warm, and Archer watched as closely as he could to see if any sparks flew between them. All he saw was politeness, though.

“Matchmaking?” Ainsley murmured as she passed him.

He cleared his throat, his cheeks flushing. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure. Uh-huh.” She smiled at him and went on into the living room.

“Come on in and I’ll introduce you to everyone,” he told Logan. All the kids and half the adults were in the room off the wide hall that ran the length of the house. Sydney ran to them and Archer carefully picked her up. Once everyone had said hello, Archer turned to Owen.

“Where’s your hat?”

“With Amelia, who is still at her place,” Owen answered. “Rachel, did you all call down there?”

“That’s what I was coming to tell you when I saw these guys pull up. She overslept. Her power’s off. We woke her up when we called. She’ll be up shortly.”

Jack, seated on the loveseat next to Owen, frowned. “Her power’s off? For how long?”

“A while, I guess. She had her clock set to go off at eight. Why?”

“Our power is on. We haven’t even had a flicker.”

Amelia rented a trailer from John and Zanny. It set at the foot of the mountain, just around the curve of the road from Jack and Gilly’s house.

“That’s odd. Think it’s an isolated problem?” Archer sat Sydney down.

Jack rubbed his chin. “Has to be. We drove around instead of walking up, and the lights were on at the store. We should probably go check it out.”

“Logan and I can do it. I wanted to show him a little bit of the land, anyhow,” he told Owen, who nodded.

“Can I come?” Sydney asked. Noah and Eli quickly chimed in with the same request.

“You’d better stay here,” Archer told them. “If there is something wrong with Pip’s power service it could be a dangerous situation.”

“You boys be careful,” Jack admonished. “Call if you need help.”

They started down the mountain using the trail Owen had established decades earlier. The trees all had their fall colors on, though the air was still warm.

“This is nice,” Logan said when they reached the large granite outcropping that overlooked a natural pool. “All this land is Owen and Sarah’s?”

“This is the pool he writes about in his Tobias Hedge books. And yes, they own several hundred acres.”

“I picked up a couple of those books. They’re good. But how does he know so much about shifting?”

“Um.” Archer’s steps slowed as they reached the Campbell-Browning property line. “About that. Did I ever mention that, um, Owen and some of his children are shifters?”

Logan stared at him, his gray-green eyes narrowed a bit behind his glasses. “No. You never did mention that.”

“Huh. Must have slipped my mind.” He started walking again, leaving his brother to follow.

After a long moment Logan did. “Is Emma?”

“No. She’s the only normal child, as a matter of fact.” He explained the abilities each Campbell possessed.

“So that’s one of the reasons you fit in so well with them. Do they know about you?”

“Yeah. They do.”

Logan’s hand on his arm stopped him. “About me?”

Archer met his brother’s concerned gaze. “They do. Lo, they’re good people. Honest people. And they’re very protective of that secret. I would trust any member of the family with my life without even thinking about it.”

His brother was not placated. “I’ve never told another living soul about my abilities. I don’t know how I feel about perfect strangers knowing I can shift into a mountain lion at will. Why didn’t you tell me they knew?”

“Because I knew that until you met them it would worry you.”

Logan scowled. “I have met them and I’m still worried. Come on, let’s go do this. Why do you call her Pip?”

Archer rolled his shoulders and asked God to give him patience. He tried to put himself in Logan’s shoes, and conceded that the revelation had to be pretty disturbing. Catching up to him, Archer explained the nickname. “She’s tiny compared to the rest of the family. Only five foot three or so. She’s also ten years younger than John. Rachel’s closest in age, but she’s even four years older than Amelia. So they started calling her Pipsqueak, and it stuck.”

The trail split a short distance before the woods ended and Jack’s backyard began. Archer led the way down the fork, which was a more direct route to Amelia’s trailer. He could feel Logan’s unhappiness but ignored it. There was nothing Archer could do now about the secret being out. The Campbells had kept it for years, and eventually Logan would forgive him. When they reached her trailer, the cause of the outage was obvious.

“This is odd,” Logan said as they started inspecting the pole where the power service connected to the main line. He winced a little as he stooped down and looked under the box that held the meter. “This has been disconnected.”

Sure enough, the main line coming out from the house was loose. The connection was designed to be a fast one, easy on, easy off.

“Think something could have rubbed against it and knocked it loose?” Archer asked.

“It’s possible.” From the frown on his face though, Logan clearly had the same doubts as Archer. “I mean, why would someone disconnect her power? Are there a lot of kids in the neighborhood who’d maybe want to play a prank on her? It is getting close to Halloween.”

“No. The kids all love Amelia. She’s like the little old granny woman who bakes them cookies and treats. Helps with their homework, listens when they have fights with their boyfriends or girlfriends. They wouldn’t do this.”

Logan’s left eyebrow quirked upward. “Sounds like a regular Sally Homemaker.”

A trilling laugh sounded from behind them and they turned.

“I don’t know whether to be insulted or say thank you,” Amelia teased.

Archer was standing close enough that he heard his brother’s sharp inhalation, and a quick glance told him her appearance had floored Logan. So that’s how things were going to play out. Not with Rachel. He hoped they’d take his grin as a response to her words rather than the situation. He couldn’t think of two people he’d like to see happy more than Logan and Amelia.

“So it’s unhooked?” she asked, edging off the sidewalk and into the grass on her bare feet to look at the contraption. “How would that happen?”

Logan frowned down at her. “An animal could have rubbed against it. Maybe a large dog or a deer.”

“Or a mountain lion?” she asked, her voice casual.

The frown became a full-fledged scowl. “That isn’t funny.”

She looked up at him, puzzled. “I didn’t mean it to be. There are some in these parts, regardless of what the Department of Natural Resources would lead the public to believe. It would make more sense than a dog or a deer. Cats like to rub. Bears do too, but there’s no evidence a bear was here. Shoot, for that matter, there’s no evidence a cat was here. Other than you. You didn’t sneak up here last night and do this, did you?”

Archer rubbed the bridge of his nose. On top of his confession, her gentle teasing was bound to light a fire to Logan’s temper. He stepped in before blood was shed.

“Pip, we’ll get you hooked back up. Why don’t you get your stuff organized and we’ll go back up top together?”

“Okay. I appreciate the help.” She headed back inside.

“Don’t forget the hat,” Archer called after her. Laughter was his answer as she let the screen door on the back of the trailer close behind her.

“If she’s that careless around people she just met, it’s a miracle the whole county doesn’t know about the shifting,” Logan growled as he hunkered down to get a better angle on reconnecting the line.

“Pip isn’t careless. She’s comfortable around me, and she trusts you by extension.”

His brother’s face showed his doubt plainly. “What’s with the hat?”

Archer grinned. “Birthday tradition. We all have one. She makes them, and they’re fairly self-explanatory. You’ll understand when you see it.”

Logan’s expression was more serious than even was normal for him when he stood back up.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s a damned tight fit for that coupling. And like she said, there’s no evidence an animal did this. I guess it could have been loose…”

“But?”

“But my gut is telling me it wasn’t. Does she have any enemies?”

Archer started to laugh, to tell his brother how ridiculous that idea was, but one name stopped him. “I don’t know. Maybe. There might be one person. But if you don’t mind let’s not mention it right away. If it was the person I’m thinking about? It will ruin the day for her.”

“That’s mysterious. But okay.” He followed Archer to the back door.

“Pip, we’re coming in,” Archer hollered.

“Come on. I can’t find my danged shoes. I left them out on the porch last night because I got them wet. They’re gone.”

“I’ve seen your closet. You have at least a dozen more pairs,” Archer teased, despite the way his stomach was clenching. Logan’s theory was looking more plausible. “Get one of those.”

She was already heading toward the bedroom at the back of the trailer. “Smart ass.”

“I’ll look out front in case you missed them.” He stepped onto the front porch and again, Logan followed. The shoes were nowhere to be found.

After a minute, his brother cursed. “What kind of shoes were these?” he asked as Amelia came outside.

“Just sneakers. Why?”

Logan pointed to the power line that ran alongside the road on the opposite side, next to the small creek. “Like those?”

“Son of a…” Hands on her hips, Amelia stood there staring, her mouth open from shock. “Those are my shoes! How’d they get up there?” She hurried down the steps and down the short driveway and after checking for traffic, crossed the road to stand underneath the sneakers. Someone had tied the laces together and tossed them up across the power line, where they dangled.

Archer and Logan joined her.

“Did you hear anything odd last night?” Archer asked.

“No. I worked late, until about two and then I crashed. You think whoever did this also unhooked the power?”

“That would make sense.”

“Son of a bitch. I liked those shoes.” Her voice was tight and her face was about as stony as Archer had ever seen it. Though the words were somewhat light her body radiated her fury. “Guess I’d better get the shotgun out.”

“Make sure you load it with rock salt,” Logan cautioned. “You don’t want to do permanent damage to a prankster.”

“If it’s who I think it is? Yes, I do. Deer slugs would be a better choice for that rat bastard.” She looked at Archer. “I went down and saw Lori yesterday. She had a miscarriage last week. It’s her fourth. Want to guess what caused this one?”

He cursed low. “The same as the other three, I’m betting. Damn, Amelia, I’m sorry. Is she okay?”