Page 121 of Boston
“Yeah, we’re meeting Cal over at the other house. I think you can get there once you’re on the property, but I’m not sure.”
“I’m sure you can,” Boston said. “What would be the point of having two houses if I have to go back on the highway and drive around?”
“Just with these roads,” Cash said. “I think we’d probably be safer if we went the other way.”
“No doubt about that.”
Boston’s phone buzzed, and he practically jumped back into it. “Yes,” he said, as he read Ernie’s text. “You want to go hiking with me in a couple of weeks?”
When Cash looked over to him. “I got that housing situation I’ve got to handle in a couple of weeks.”
“That’s like three weeks from now,” he said. “Maybe four.” He re-read the text. “Wait, this is then too.” His heart fell to thebottom of his stomach because he wanted to go eagle-watching at Ramsfire Ridgethisweek to escape any chance of running into Cora.
“Oh, it’s only two and a half weeks,” he said. “They gave me the sixteenth to the nineteenth. And, of course, I never work on Sundays, but I’ve got a breakfast with Beth that day, because then she’s going to Maryland on the twenty-first.”
“Oh, the twenty-first is when I can get into the house,” Cash said. “I can go hiking from the sixteenth to the twentieth.”
“Sixteenth to nineteenth,” Boston said absently as he texted Ernie back a great bigthank you!
Cash navigated them over to the other house, which also stood two stories tall, but in brick. It also had a wider base, bigger front porch, and seemed to be hulking into the ground. The bottom level then tapered into a smaller second level that probably only had a couple of bedrooms.
“This one feels older than the other one,” Boston said. “Like it was probably the original place.”
“Feels like it, doesn’t it?” Cash opened his door and got out of the truck. Boston tucked his phone in his back pocket as he did the same.
Cal turned out to be shaped like a penguin, with a small head that wore a big cowboy hat and narrow shoulders that widened into a bigger belly and then narrowed to just legs.
“Howdy,” Cash said, shaking his hand. “I’m Cash, and this is my cousin, Boston.”
“It’s great to meet you,” Cal said, and his deep voice did not match his tiny head. Boston smiled and shook his hand anyway, and the three of them faced the brick house.
“So you can probably tell that someone tried to paint this brick,” Cal said. Boston had not been able to tell until that moment, but now he could see that the white brick was only that color because of paint. “It’s actually a golden brown brick,” Calsaid. “And paint comes off real easy, and we can reseal the brick so that it’ll last a lifetime.” He held out a picture. “This is the original house from 2010, right before they painted it.”
“I thought you said it’s been vacant for fifteen years.” Boston looked at the picture, and the house definitely looked better without the paint.
“Yeah, they were sprucing it up to sell,” Cal said. “But they never put it on the market.”
“Why not?” Cash asked as they made their way toward the bottom of the steps.
“The husband passed away, and the wife couldn’t deal with the farm equipment and all of the acreage. The houses and barns are stuffed full.” They walked up the steps, and then Cal darted in front of them. “This is going to look bad, boys.”
“Oh, this isn’t good,” Boston said.
“Have an open mind,” Cash hissed at him.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Boston shot back.
Cash looked at him like he’d morphed into another creature, and Boston could admit that he sort of had. He hardly ever bickered with anyone and never in front of a stranger. He always just bit his tongue and went along.
Why didn’t you say something?
“The previous owners of this place,” Cal said. “The Wickers?—”
“Wait. Did you say Wicker?” Boston asked. “Like Wicker Trail Road?”
“Yeah,” Cal said. “Same family. They’ve owned this land for generations.”
“Wow,” Boston said. “I take people on that trail. I’m a guide at Silver Sage.”
