Chapter 8

It should have been awkward, two people who’d never even made out undressing in front of each other to make love. But age and maturity added a level of confidence that might have been missing had they been younger.

There was no panic or hasty discarding of clothes, no worry about being caught, no fear of getting pregnant. Just a man and a woman in love, moving to the next step in their relationship.

Peanut pulled back the covers on his bed and then slipped in beside her. Her body held no surprises. She was as she seemed, a beautiful woman in full bloom. His greatest wish was to give her joy, to translate the love he had for her into an ecstasy she’d never known. He wanted to sink into the warmth of her, to make slow, sweet love to her as he went out of his mind from the pleasure, and there was nothing stopping it from happening now.

Propped up on one elbow as he lay beside her, he slowly trailed one hand along the valleys and curves, marking territory, laying trails, watching the changing expressions on her face to remember which places on her body were more sensitive than others.

They didn’t speak. There was no need. They’d been talking for three days now about loving. Now was the moment for making it real.

* * *

Ruby’s gaze was locked on Peanut’s face when he first touched her. She had wondered if the transition from friends to lovers would be hard, and now she knew. To lie down beside this man was the most natural thing she’d ever done. She’d already let him into her heart, and now it was time to let him into her body.

As she watched him stretch out beside her, she wondered why she’d ever thought of him as skinny. The muscle mass on his body was there, well-toned and long and lean, like him.

When he dipped his head and kissed the hollow in her throat, she combed her fingers through his hair and closed her eyes, giving herself up to whatever came next.

As it turned out, it was sex on the grandest scale she’d ever known. Twice, he took her over the edge before he moved between her legs. After that, it was another time for rebuilding just to reach that one little moment when her world went up in a wave of heat.

After it happened, they didn’t move.

Ruby couldn’t, and Peanut didn’t want to, but as time ticked on, it was inevitable that they must.

Ruby’s arms were still around his neck.

Peanut was still deep within her body and looking down into her eyes. The love he saw both awed and humbled him. She was, for him, the right woman to love.

“This was pretty much every dream I’ve ever had about making love to a woman all rolled into one epic event. The fact that I get to do this with you for the rest of our lives is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I loved you, and now I made love with you. Perfect in every way.”

He brushed a very gentle kiss across her mouth.

Ruby was at peace. This was the man meant for her to love, and if she had to, she’d walk the hard path just to find him all over again. Loving him, making love with him, had healed every broken place in her spirit.

“I love you too. Thank you for looking my way.”

He sighed. It was time to move.

“I’m getting up. Just remember to hold my place for the next time,” he said.

Ruby smiled, watching as he got off the bed and then strode into his bathroom. She got up, gathered up her clothes and went across the hall to her room. A few minutes later, they met in the hall and walked to the kitchen with his hand on her shoulder and hers against the middle of his back.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He grinned. “You should have eaten what you left on your plate at noon.”

She swatted his arm. “Don’t make fun of me. Where’s that soup you bought the other day?”

He pointed.

She headed toward the pantry as he began taking out stuff to make sandwiches.

* * *

Outside, the rain that had been threatening Blessings earlier had finally arrived. While it was welcoming to some, it was not to twelve-year-old Charlie Conroy.

The old house they’d moved into three months ago was across the alley from the Blue Ivy Bar. The city had turned off the utilities three days ago for lack of payment, and the roof had a leak right over the kitchen table. Charlie had set a bucket beneath the leak and put his five-year-old sister, Patricia—a.k.a. Pitty-Pat—in bed with his mama to stay warm. Until the rain let up, it was all he could do.

His old bloodhound, Booger, was lying next to an unlit heating stove, almost as if he knew this would be a place of warmth—only it wasn’t.

Charlie counted the money he had in his pocket, and then counted it again, as if by magic the money might have multiplied unobserved. But it had not. Any way he counted, it was still thirty-four dollars—not enough to pay the rent next month. Not enough to get the power back on. Not enough to get Mama some medicine for her cough and still keep them fed. If it hadn’t been for May, the bartender just across the alley, he wouldn’t have been able to distribute his flyers.

He kept Mama’s phone in his pocket now because that was the number on the flyers. Mama didn’t know it was missing from her purse because there was no one left who would be calling, and it was a burner phone. Once the minutes were used up on it, it would be of no use.

From where he was sitting, he could see straight into the bedroom to where Mama and Pitty-Pat were sleeping.

He thought about getting under the covers of his own bed, and then looked away. He was the man of the house now. Someone had to keep them safe.

Along about midnight, someone tried to get in their house, and Booger came up off the floor baying like he had something treed. Charlie was holding his baseball bat as he looked out a window in time to see someone stumbling down the alley. He relaxed, guessing the guy was drunk and looking for a place out of the rain. He glanced down at the bat and then stood it back in the corner. There was a time when he’d been the best batter on his team up in the hills. Now it was the only weapon he had.

He sat down beside Booger, his hand on the folds in the big dog’s face, and scratched him between the eyes. Booger whined.

“Like that, don’t ya, boy?”

Booger licked his hand, and the room got quiet again. Charlie scooted closer to his dog for warmth, and sometime afterward he fell asleep curled up next to old Booger’s back.

The next time he woke up, it was morning and the phone in his pocket was ringing.

* * *

Ruby was stirring oatmeal at the stove. Peanut was running enough bread through the toaster to feed the high school football team, but this morning he could do no wrong in her eyes.

In the past, she had been awakened by noise, alarms, and before she’d lost the baby, by nausea, but she’d never been awakened quite like she had this morning and hoped it was just the start of many mornings in Peanut Butterman’s bed.

“Think this is enough?” Peanut asked, holding up a small platter.

“I’m not even sure I can handle one, so if it looks good to you, then I’d say yes.”

“Good,” he said, and set it on the table. “Now the butter and jam. Is the oatmeal almost ready?”

She gave it a final stir and turned off the flame beneath.

“It is exactly ready,” she said, and poured it up into the bowls next to the stove.

“Sugar and cream,” Peanut muttered, still adding condiments to the table.

Still unsure of the strength of her grip, Ruby carried the bowls to the table one at a time, then scooted into her chair. Peanut was bringing coffee when her cell phone rang. She started to let it go to voicemail, then noticed it was the number from her salon.

“It’s the shop. I’d better take this in case there’s a problem,” she said.

Peanut gave her a thumbs-up as he began buttering toast.

“Hello,” Ruby said.

“Oh, Ruby, this is Vera. We just got news here at the shop that Gertie Lafferty has gone missing from the old folks’ home. They don’t know how long she’s been gone and can’t find her anywhere. Chief Pittman is organizing a search party at the nursing home as we speak.”

“Oh no! That’s terrible,” Ruby said. “I’ll see if there’s anything we can do, and thanks for calling.”

Peanut looked up just as Ruby disconnected. “What’s wrong?”

“Gertie Lafferty is missing from the old folks’ home. They don’t know how long she’s been gone. Chief Pittman is organizing search parties.”

Peanut frowned. “What about that flyer you got yesterday…the one about Charlie and his bloodhound?”

Ruby nodded. “Good call, Peanut. Maybe someone has already thought of that.”

“You eat. It takes you longer to eat around stitches. I can inhale mine in minutes. I’ll call the chief to ask.”

Ruby went about adding sugar and then a splash of cream to her oatmeal. It tasted good, and the warmth was easy on her mouth, but now she was worried about Gertie. The little woman wasn’t quite five feet tall and in her late eighties. Lord only knew what had prompted her to wander off.

Since Peanut had the chief’s private number on his cell, he called it rather than going through the department.

The chief answered on the first ring. “This is Lon. We’re kind of in the middle of something right now, Peanut. Can I call you back?”

“Your something is why I’m calling. There’s a kid named Charlie who put flyers in mailboxes yesterday about hiring out his bloodhound to find what was lost.”

“Oh, Mercy showed me that last night. Do you know who he is?”

“Pretty sure he’s Marty Conroy’s son. There’s a number to call. It’s pretty damn cold out. It might not hurt to add that bloodhound to the search. If he can’t pull it off, it doesn’t change what you’re already doing, but if the dog finds her fast, it might be the difference between life and death for Gertie.”

There was a moment of silence. “Do you have that number handy?” Lon asked.

Peanut got the flyer from the sideboard. “Yes, it’s right here. Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yes, go ahead,” Lon said, and wrote it down. “Thanks. I’ll give him a call right now.”

* * *

Charlie answered on the second ring, thinking to himself that this had to be good.

“Hello. This is Charlie.”

“Charlie, this is Chief Pittman. Someone told me you have a bloodhound for hire.”

Charlie’s heart skipped a beat. “Yes, sir, I sure do. Booger can find anything or anyone.”

“Well, we have an elderly lady from the nursing home who’s gone missing. Would you be available to bring Booger to the police station to help us out?”

“Yes, sir. It’ll take me a bit to get there. We live on the outskirts of town behind the Blue Ivy Bar.”

“Then stay there and I’ll come get you and your hound, okay?”

“We’ll be waiting for you,” Charlie said, then hung up and threw his arms around his dog’s neck. “This is it, Booger! This is our chance!”

* * *

Alice Conroy had been awake for over an hour, staring up at the water-stained ceiling with her daughter tucked close against her. She’d been born into hard times, and her entire life had been more of the same. When she heard the phone ring, she threw back the covers to get up, then heard Charlie answer. She pulled the covers back up over Pitty-Pat and then sat on the side of the bed, frowning as she listened to the one-sided conversation. After he hung up, she got up and went into the kitchen.

“Who were you talking to?” she asked.

Charlie eyed his mother’s pale face and sleep-tumbled hair, then glanced at her nervously as she covered her mouth to cough. She needed medicine, but all he could do was button the top button on her coat, then put a hand on her shoulder.

“It was the police chief. Me and Booger are gonna help find a lost lady from the nursing home, and they’ll pay me twenty-five dollars to do it.”

Alice frowned. “I don’t understand. How would he know to even call you?”

“Because yesterday I put flyers in mailboxes all over town advertising me and Booger’s services for finding stuff that’s lost. The price and everything was on the flyer.”

All of a sudden, Alice panicked.

“Oh, Charlie! How did you pay to make flyers? Did you spend all our money?”

He shook his head. “’Course not. Miss May at the Blue Ivy helped. She took a picture of me and Booger on her phone, then helped me make and print off the flyers from the copier in her office.”

Alice stared at her twelve-year-old son as if she’d never seen him before.

“What made you think to do something like this?”

“Well, Mama, we got ourselves a situation here, and since I’m the man of the family, I figured it’s up to me to get us out of it as fast as I can.”

Her heart sank. He needed to be in school, not out trying to earn a living—and of all things, hiring out that hound. She couldn’t believe he’d even thought to do that.

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I’m so sorry we have fallen on hard times, but now that it’s quit raining, I’m going to see about signing up for food stamps and welfare today. I never thought we’d be struggling like this, but then I never thought your daddy would go and die, neither.”

Charlie frowned. “I don’t want to talk about Daddy. If he hadn’t been making meth, he’d still be alive and this wouldn’t be happening. Wait till I get back, and I’ll walk to town with you and Pitty-Pat.”

Alice nodded.

“There’s still bread and peanut butter, and water in that empty milk jug. I got it from the hydrant at the Blue Ivy,” Charlie said. “No milk for Sissy, though.”

“We’ll manage. You get yourself something to eat before you go.”

“I don’t have time, Mama. The chief will be here any minute.”

He was starting to turn away when Alice grabbed his arm.

“Thank you, Son.”

He nodded.

“It’s okay, Mama. We’ll get back on our feet. You wait and see.”

* * *

Gertie Lafferty’s long, gray braid was as sodden as her nightgown and bathrobe. Wet leaves were caught in her hair, and mud was all over her from the countless times she’d stumbled and fallen.

She’d been dreaming about picking blackberries with Bennie, when all of a sudden he took the berries from her hands and disappeared. His absence was what woke her.

To say she was confused to find herself in the woods was beside the point. She was wet, cold, and hungry. She wanted her morning coffee and someone to help her change clothes, but she wasn’t sure where she was or how she came to be there. She didn’t like being dirty, and tried to get up to wash her hands, but when she tried to stand, her legs were too shaky to hold her.

She needed help. Bennie would help. He’d taken good care of her their whole married life, and she took good care of him. She glanced up through the bare limbs to the sky. It was time for her to get home and start breakfast. Bennie must be wondering where she’d gone.

“Bennie! Bennie! Come help me up!” Gertie called, and then waited. The only thing she heard was water dripping off the leaves onto the forest floor. “Help me, Bennie! I need help!”

The silence scared her. She rolled over on her hands and knees, and as she tried to push herself up, her hands slipped on the wet leaves. She fell headfirst against the trunk of the tree in front of her, then didn’t move.

* * *

Chief Pittman drove through town with lights flashing, then pulled into the alley behind the bar to the small clapboard house.

There was no smoke coming out of the fireplace, no lights on anywhere inside. When he saw the front door open and a tall, gangly boy and a huge bloodhound emerging, Lon jumped out to open the back door of his cruiser.

As he did, a woman followed them out. She was blue from cold and shivering. She coughed, then couldn’t stop. Then the boy approached and held out his hand.

“I’m Charlie Conroy, sir. Thank you for calling.”

Lon wondered how desperate they were and then decided to deal with that later. “You can put your dog in the back and ride up front with me.”

“Yes, sir,” Charlie said. He loaded up Booger, then got into the front seat.

Lon turned around.“Mrs. Conroy, I’m Chief Pittman. Thank you for allowing your boy to help us. I’ll have him back as soon as possible, okay?”

“Yes, it’s okay,” she said.

And then another little voice piped up, and Lon saw a tiny girl standing in the doorway, also wearing her coat over her clothes. She was crying.

“Mommy, Mommy, I’m cold.”

“I have to go,” Alice said. She ran back to the doorway, picked up the little girl, and disappeared into the house, shutting the door behind her as she went.

Lon got in. The boy was already buckled up.

“We’re going straight to the nursing home.”

“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, his heartbeat jumping as the chief drove away.

“So what’s going on at your house? Don’t you have any heat?”

“We don’t have any utilities, sir. We got cut off.”

“When was this?” Lon asked.

“Oh, a few days ago, but I’ll get the money earned to get them back on.”

“Is this why you put out the flyers?” Lon asked.

Charlie nodded.

“That was very industrious. How old are you?” Lon said.

“I’m twelve, but I am the man of the family now,” Charlie said, and then turned his head as they passed the school, looking at it with a mixture of longing and despair.

Another two blocks, and they pulled up in front of the nursing home. One of Lon’s deputies was already there gathering info, while the other one on duty was back at the station. People had begun gathering here as the news had spread, ready to help search.

“Here we go,” Lon said as he parked. “You get your hound and follow me.”

“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, and leaped out, grabbed Booger’s leash, and took off after the chief.

Nathan Rose, the nursing home administrator, was trying not to panic as he explained what he knew to Deputy Ralph.

“We’ve never had this happen before,” Nathan said. “We lock the doors at night and everything. Wanda is the one who discovered Gertie’s absence.”

Ralph eyed the aide in purple scrubs. She looked to be in her late twenties, and she also looked scared to death, like someone was going to lay the blame for this on her.

“So, Wanda, how did you know she was missing?” Ralph asked.

“She wasn’t in her bed when I came on duty at six a.m., so I went looking for her, assuming she’d just fallen asleep somewhere else inside the building. They do that sometimes, but I couldn’t find her. That’s when we all began to search. She’s not here.”

“Were there any unlocked doors?” Ralph asked.

Wanda’s shoulders slumped. “The one from the kitchen leading out into the back alley. There’s an extra lock up high. She’s so little, I don’t know how she reached to open it.”

“Either someone helped her, or it was unintentionally left unlocked,” Nathan said. “It’s the only explanation.”

“Have you notified her next of kin?” the deputy asked.

“She doesn’t have any,” Nathan said. “She brought herself here three years back and hasn’t had a visitor from outside Blessings since.”

At that point, the chief walked up and didn’t waste time explaining.

“Nathan, I need something that belongs to Gertie…something that would have her scent on it…like her shoes…or a piece of her clothing…something that hasn’t been washed yet.”

Nathan saw the boy and the bloodhound and didn’t ask questions.

“Wanda, you heard him. Bring something that will have Gertie’s scent on it.”

Wanda turned and ran into the building as the deputy recognized the boy.

“Hey, that’s the kid from the flyer,” he said, then glanced at Lon. “Good call, Chief.”

“If it works, we can all thank Peanut Butterman. It was his suggestion.”

Charlie had outgrown his coat months ago and had been wearing his daddy’s clothes all winter, but he didn’t have a coat. It had burned up in the explosion. He shivered slightly as he waited, thinking nothing of the discomfort because it had become the norm, but Lon saw it.

“Be right back,” he said, and jogged toward his cruiser, popped the trunk, and then came back with a heavy, fleece-lined flannel jacket. “Put this on,” he said, as he handed it to Charlie.

Charlie’s eyes widened.

“I might get it dirty.”

“Son, it’ll wash,” Lon said. “Put it on.”

Charlie didn’t argue. The warmth that enveloped him was so welcome it brought tears to his eyes.

“I thank you,” Charlie whispered.

Lon patted the boy’s shoulder as Wanda came running back holding a pair of cotton socks.

“Gertie wore these yesterday. They were still in her shoes. Will they work?”

Lon glanced at Charlie, who nodded.

“They’ll do just fine,” Charlie said, then glanced at Lon. “Are you ready, Chief?”

Lon glanced around at the small crowd of people who’d gathered to help search.

“We’re going to try this first before we send everyone out in different directions. If some of you want to go home, you’re welcome. But if there are any who want to follow us and the hound, then fan out in a grid behind him and do your best to keep up.”

A few waved and headed back to their cars, but a good dozen of them stayed.

Lon heard one searcher call out, “That hound won’t track. I reckon the rain has washed out her tracks and scent.”

“We’ll see,” Lon said, and watched as Charlie Conroy got down on one knee and shoved the socks up under Booger’s nose.

As he did, the hound began to whine, as if sensing he’d just been given a task.

“Hunt, Booger! Hunt!” Charlie said.

The massive bloodhound lifted his head, sniffing the air, then put his nose to the ground and moved toward the back of the building with Charlie hanging onto the leash. The moment they reached the back door, Booger bayed.

“He’s on the scent,” Charlie cried, and off they went, through two blocks of housing, across the baseball field, and then up into the woods, with the cops and the searchers behind them.