Page 82 of For the Birds

“I think we can eliminate the older woman,” I said as we passed a woman with gray hair who looked to be in her sixties.

“Not necessarily,” Neely Kate said. “Maybe she’s a cougar. You never know these days. Wait here.” Bold as could be, she strode up the aisle and looked over an endcap display of sunscreen. Then she wandered down a few more aisles, checking out the candy selection in the lane of the other cashier we hadn’t identified. A few seconds later, she returned.

“The second woman is her. I say we do a little shoppin’,” Neely Kate said. “Then we can ask Jeanne questions while we checkout.”

“Good idea. I need to stock up on a few things while we’rehere.”

Neely Kate grabbed a cart. “Let’s doit.”

After I picked up some deodorant, I headed to the sporting goods section.

“You plannin’ on going camping?”

“Nope.” I picked up a small pocket knife, two rolls of duct tape, some zip ties, and two five-pound dumbbells.

“Do I want to know what you’re plannin’ on doin’ with all that?” Neely Kate asked.

“A little extra self-defense preparation.” When she looked at me, I added, “I plan on carrying one in my purse to pull out and smack someone in the head if I need to. Then I’ll keep the other one under the driver’s seat of my truck as backup.”

I started to roll the cart away, but she put her hand on my arm to stop me. Muffy leaned over and nuzzled her hand, and Neely Kate absently rubbed herhead.

“None of that would have helped you last night, Rose,” she said in a quiet voice. “You didn’t have your purse with you. Levi hadit.”

I looked her in the eye. “I need to be more prepared. I’m going to start wearing my gun, and I need to figure out a way to wear a pocket knife too.” My anxiety increased. “What if I hadn’t found a pair of scissors to cut myself loose last night?”

Muffy released a small whine and reached out to lick my hand holding the purse strap.

“Then Buck Reynolds’ guys would have freed you,” Neely Katesaid.

“What if they hadn’t shown up? I sure as Pete don’t want to depend on someone like Buck Reynolds to save me. I need to learn how to save myself.”

“You already do save yourself.”

“Not all thetime.”

“Sometimes you’re the one doin’ the savin’. Mason. Joe. Have you forgotten aboutthat?”

“I almost got killed last night, Neely Kate. I need to be able to help myself everytime.”

She gave me a sad smile. “Then we’ll figure it out together. And Witt too. Let’s go check out and findhim.”

There were two people ahead of us in Jeanne’s checkout lane, both with a lot more things than we had, but Jeanne was so efficient, she had them checked out in notime.

“We don’t have enough stuff,” Isaid.

Neely Kate studied the cashier as she handed a receipt to the woman in front of us. “I don’t feel like buying a bunch of junk just to ask questions.” Her eyes lit up. “I have anidea.”

“The way you said that has me worried.”

Neely Kate grinned. “Oh, ye of little faith.” She grabbed the pocket knife and peeled off the sticker, then plopped the knife onto the conveyorbelt.

I squatted to grab one of the dumbbells while Neely Kate unloaded the rest. It was awkward bending over with a dog in my purse, and Muffy was getting more nervous. She wasn’t used to being cooped up in such tight confines. She started moving around in the bag, releasing little whines. I was rubbing her head comfortingly when Jeanne turned her attention tome.

Everything about Jeanne Putnam was thin and brittle—from her stringy, dull brown hair to her spindly arms and rail-thin body. She looked like she was in her thirties and had been livinghard.

She gave me a long, cold stare. “You ain’t supposed to have a dog inhere.”

This did not bode well. “I know,” I said, giving her a bright smile “But I haven’t let her out of the bag, and I’m checkin’ out, so we’ll be out of here in notime.”

---