Page 19 of No Bed Of Roses

“Of course. It’s one of my favourite movies. What does that have to do with your call sign?” Then she held up her hand to stop him from answering. “Wait. Let me think. Farmer from Kansas. Uncle Henry? Your call sign was Uncle Henry?”

Levi heaved a dramatic sigh that had her smiling. “Thankfully, no. Just Oz. But that’s bad enough.”

She patted his arm. “I like it. That movie is all about good defeating evil, being smart and brave, and about possibilities. The power of love and home. It’s a great name.”

That was a better way of looking at it, instead of thinking he’d been stuck with the name from a kid’s book. Levi ignored Arrow’s soft huff of breath and squeezed her hand. “Thanks. They mostly use it because it bugs me, but now I’ll think of it your way.”

Marcus stood up. “I’m going to walk around to see if there are other entrances before I walk over what could be evidence.”

Levi realized he hadn’t told them he’d already toured the building while Isla attacked her garden with a shovel. “I did a walk-about a few minutes before you got here. No other entrances, but there are a few weak spots in the foundation.”

“Big enough for a person to get through?”

“Maybe.”

They all walked back outside with Isla in the middle. Even Hopper seemed to be taking up guard duty, walking along at her side. She was too busy inspecting the stone foundation itself to notice.

Marcus spoke as they walked. “A while back, we had an incident at the sawmill on Tansy’s Midnight Lake property. Someone had used the loose stones in the foundation to sneak into the mill. I wonder if someone did the same thing here.”

The land sloped to the back of the barn, and the stone foundation was taller to keep the floor level. The grass and weeds had no flat spaces to check for footprints, but Levi kept his eyes moving to search for anything that might have been dropped. They could get a metal detector and sweep the area if they found an opening big enough for an adult.

Sure enough, there was a section near the southeast corner of the barn where the stones were loose. With gloves on, Marcus lifted one out and then another.

Isla twisted her hands together. “Be careful. Isn’t that supposed to hold up the barn? I don’t want it to fall on you.”

Marcus smiled but kept checking the stones, leaving Levi to explain. “One small section isn’t going to cause enough weakness. The structure’s weight spreads evenly over all the walls, so this will be fine.”

She nodded but continued to look nervous, and her glance kept going from Marcus to the barn above him.

Levi turned his own attention to the surroundings. Mostly fields that wouldn’t offer any concealment for someone on a stealth mission. However, several stands of trees along both property lines separated Isla’s farm from the land on each side.

The property he was going to use on the south was wide and open, but the one on the north side was narrow, like Isla’s. Beyond it was a forest area with a wide variety of trees. He hadn’t walked to the end of his field, but Sean said there was a decent-sized creek back there. Not big enough to be called a river, but deep and wide enough for a fishing boat. Someone could access the property from there and get through without much risk of detection.

He wondered how far Isla had gone out. She said she hadn’t walked around the barn, but maybe she’d checked out the land and hadn’t paid much attention to the buildings.

Marcus grunted. “Definitely a way in this way, but I can’t tell if anyone has used it recently. I’m going to grab some of the big flashlights from the cruiser. I might be able to tell more once I set those up.”

Isla’s face and body language were set to pensive rather than fear. “Tansy didn’t say anything about anyone else wanting this land. I got the impression it’s been empty for a long while. I’ll call her to see if anyone else was interested in buying it.”

She wandered to the side to make the call, leaving him and Hopper studying the barn. Possibilities ran through his mind. Maybe someone was using the empty barn for a hiding space and had needed time to get rid of his items. A hangout place for teenagers was another possibility, but they wouldn’t be the type to pull that stunt with the ladder. Unless they were pranking friends. But that was a hell of a prank.

He discounted several more possibilities. The sabotage of the ladder had been clearly aimed at the owner of the land. The act was intended to injure whoever climbed the ladder. Was it designed to look like an accident? Who wanted to hurt Isla, and why?

It could be a personal grudge against her. Or was it solely about the land? But that didn’t make sense if it had been sitting empty.

Levi tried to reserve judgment until Marcus found some proof one way or the other, but his gut told him this was about Isla.

He patted the dog. “Come on, Hopper. While we’re waiting for Marcus, we’ll search the area to see if we can find something to help.” Because Isla wasn’t facing this on her own.

CHAPTER 7

Dig Up Some Dirt

Isla watched Marcus disappear beneath her barn. Despite Levi’s reassurances, she wasn’t convinced the barn wouldn’t collapse on him with the stones they’d taken out of the foundation.

Levi was leading Hopper through the grass around the barn. She wasn’t sure if he was simply teaching the dog to follow commands or if he was looking for evidence that someone had snuck into her barn.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have called Tansy. Her questions had led to her explaining the reasons behind them to her friend. Now, Tansy and Sam were on their way.

---