Page 115 of For the Birds

By the time we hung up, Neely Kate and Miss Mildred had made it to the corner and were headed toward Mr. Whipple’s house. Squawker must have recognized it because he let out a squawk and started saying, “Daddy. Daddy.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Neely Kate gushed. “He missed his daddy.” She stopped and let Miss Mildred continue for a few feet before she asked, “Well?”

I frowned. “No luck. In fact, James says he has proof Buck took Scooter.”

“Where in the world did he getthat?”

“He wouldn’t say, and Jed doesn’t know either.” When her eyes widened, I lowered my voice. “Yeah, I called him. Don’t tellWitt.”

She nodded.

“Jed says he’s been cut out of the loop. Merv convinced James not to trusthim.”

“What?”

“Short of goin’ over there myself, I’m not sure what to do to stop him. And trust me, I’m willing to resort to that, but it would only be a temporary reprieve at best. In the meantime, we’ll keep lookin’ and hopin’ we find him first.”

She nodded, but there was a worried look in her eyes. “I think you should have a vision.”

“Ofwhat?”

“We’ve found out more things. Maybe it’s enough to make a difference. Why don’t you see if we findhim?”

“Okay.”

I grabbed her hand and closed my eyes, concentrating on whether we’d find Scooter.

The vision was slow to come, but it finally consumed my field of vision. It was dusk and my phone was ringing. I answered it and said in Neely Kate’s voice, “Rose. I was gettin’ worried.”

“I know where he is, Neely Kate,” Vision Rose said with tears in her voice. “I foundhim.”

The vision ended and I found myself staring into Neely Kate’s anxiousface.

“She found him,” Isaid.

“She?”

“Me,” I said, overcome with a wave of exhaustion. “I called you and told you that I foundhim.”

“So we are making a difference,” shesaid.

“Looks like it.” But why was I crying? Were they happy tears or sorrowfulones?

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