“Yes, it is,” he agreed, although his eyes were trained on her rather than the sky, and he was thinking about a different sort of beauty—quiet…soft…reserved…sweet...
It was a warm day and he had folded back the buggy’s leather canopy before they had set off on their trip. Mary turned and placed a hand on the large basket tied within the downed canopy frame behind their seat and let out a happy giggle. “Mercy me. I think Wanda Mae packed enough food to feed an army,” she tried to shake the basket, but could hardly get it to move.
He grinned at her playfulness, thinking how much he enjoyed hearing her laugh. Her smile was infectious, and he found he adored the twinkle in her sparkling sapphire eyes. “Yeah, maybe she figures, now that you’re not sick in the mornings anymore, that you need to start chowing down, eating for two and all.”
Her smile dimmed a little and he saw that her cheeks were turning a bit pink. “Yes, I suppose so,” she turned back around and stared off to the side.
Dwight felt like a heel. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her. He’d thought she would laugh and agree. Now, he didn’t know how to fix his faux pas. Idiot. Stupid idiot! Why’d you have to go and stick your foot in it, you big oaf…
They rode along in silence for a while as Dwight’s mind pored over ways to bring back the playfulness of earlier. Finally, Mary turned her head and he felt her watching his profile, but she only asked, “How much farther, do you think?”
He studied the landmarks David had given him. As they came around a bend in the road, they saw a lane leading to a farmhouse, with a weathered sign to one side that read, “Austin Farm.”
“Here’s the Swigert’s neighbor to the south. We’ll try them first.”
Mary said nothing as he turned the buggy into the wide dirt pathway. Soon, he pulled the reins to stop in front of an older, but fairly well-maintained farm house.
A man opened the door and stepped out onto the porch.
“Hello, Mr. Austin?” Dwight asked as he climbed out of the buggy and headed over to the door. The man answered with a cautious nod. Dwight reached him and stuck out a hand for the man to shake. It went ignored.
Clearing his throat in the awkward moment, Dwight offered, “Sir, my name is Dwight Christiansen and I work with Attorney David Mincer. I wonder if I might ask you a few questions.”
“Questions?” the man asked, leaning to see past Dwight to where Mary was waiting in the buggy.
“Yes, sir. First, have you heard about your neighbor, Mr. Swigert, having an accident yesterday morning?”
Mr. Austin looked concerned then and took a step closer. “No, I didn’t. Swigert all right? What happened?”
“Doc says he’s going to be fine, with plenty of rest,” Dwight answered, adding a few details of the man’s injuries.
“Dang shame, that. Do they know how it happened?”
“Well, that’s what I’m looking into,” Dwight explained. “It seems he fell out of the top of the barn, and his wife said she is sure she heard a horse gallop away just as she was running out to her husband. Tell me, did you see or hear anything unusual during that time? Anything at all?”
The man crossed his arms over his chest, one hand absently rubbing his chin as he thought about it. “Well…now that you ask…seems like I did. Saw a fella ridin’ he—” he paused and leaned to acknowledge Mary, “pardon, ma’am. Saw a fella ridin’ a horse flat out across that pasture there,” he gestured to the left. “Jus’ saw him for a second as he galloped by on a midnight black horse. I was comin’ in from the barn. Didn’t know him. Didn’t think nothin’ about it,” he added.
Dwight had pulled a small notebook from his jacket pocket and scribbled a note about the horse as he nodded. “Have you had anything happen lately, such as any vandalism, or theft? Anything missing at all?”
The man twisted his mouth to the side as he considered the questions. “Had a few eggs stole…and a chicken…and a good-sized hunk a’ meat outta the smokehouse, matter of fact.”
Dwight wrote it all down, thinking that a pattern was emerging, and if he didn’t miss his guess, he’d say it was the same man.
Only, at the Swigert farm, he was caught.
It had been a successful morning. Dwight had interviewed three families and had gained a few leads and missing pieces of the puzzle. Now, it was well past noon and Mary was feeling quite hungry.
Glancing over at her handsome escort, she asked, “Do you think we might stop and have that picnic now?”
Dwight flashed her that amazing, dimpled grin and inclined his head agreeably. “Sure thing. I’m famished.”
Just up ahead, around a long bend in the road was a large, flat-topped rock about twenty feet long and eight feet tall, set into the heavily wooded surround. Pine trees and other species grew so thickly there, one could not see around or past it.
“There’s that rock we passed earlier. It looks like a good place,” Dwight said as he pulled the buggy over.
He hopped out and tied the reins to a nearby tree before coming around to help her. The moment he placed his hands at her waist to lift her out, Mary felt those sizzling sparks again, even through the material of her dress. She placed her hands on his shoulders and allowed him
