‘Mrs Ethelred?’
She recognized Smiling Jack’s voice. The married name was the beginning of the confirmation code. ‘Yes, this is Mrs Ethelred. And Daniel.’
‘Where did we buy the diapers?’
‘Lincoln.’
‘Was I late getting back to you?’
‘Thirty-two months.’
‘That’s actually pretty quick for me. But I hope you can make it home a helluva lot faster than that. There’s a duck on the pond. Sorry to do you like this the first time out, but things got screwy somewhere else and we had to make a hot switch. Your friend may be there waiting, or already gone.’
Annalee had a vehicle now, an oil-guzzling ’50 Ford flatbed, and she immediately picked up Daniel from the sitter’s and drove back to the Four Deuces, jolting the last two miles to the cabin. The house was dark when they entered.
‘Why don’t you just stop right there and relax.’ The woman’s voice was soft, but carried the unmistakable authority of a person holding a gun.
Annalee and Daniel stopped.
‘Who we got?’ the voice asked. Annalee could make out the woman’s shape against the far wall. She was indeed holding a gun, some kind of short rifle.
‘Annalee Pearse, and my son, Daniel.’ She felt Daniel pressing against the back of her leg.
‘Good enough, gal,’ the woman said, some boom in her voice. ‘Didn’t mean to throw ya a shit-scare, but I’ve had a mean day and a hard night and for all I knew you might have been looters or the law. Light a lamp so we can look each other over.’
Annalee lit the two lamps on the mantel. As the light flared, the woman lowered the sawed-off shotgun. ‘My name’s Dolly Varden.’ The woman looked bloodlessly pale in the lamplight, but her clear blue eyes, her voice, and her short, sturdy body erased any sense of frailty. She was wearing a gray cotton chemise and grimy tennis shoes.
‘I was told you might be here, Dolly,’ Annalee said, ‘but I was still startled.’
‘Hardly blame ya,’ Dolly grunted. She looked down at Daniel, still pressed against his mother’s leg. ‘And your name’s Daniel, right?’
Daniel nodded once, quickly.
‘Did I scare you, too?’
Daniel answered with another nod, this one even quicker.
Dolly Varden squatted down in front of him and smiled. ‘I got to admit that when you two came driving up, scared me so bad I almost jumped plumb outa my skin and shimmied up the flue.’
Daniel buried his head behind Annalee, who reached down and lifted him into her arms.
Dolly stood up. ‘Well, now that we all had a good scare, I want you to get ready for another one.’ She turned around. The bottom half of her shift was soaked with blood. ‘You any good at first aid, honey?’ she said over her shoulder.
‘Not really,’ Annalee said, shuddering faintly at the sight.
Daniel felt the shudder, and twisted around in her arms to look at her face. ‘That’s blood,’ he said, as if reassuring her.
‘Well, don’t stand there gawking, you two. Boil water and tear petticoats. I don’t think it’s much, but I haven’t got a good look yet, seeing as how the bastard got me in the ass. Damn but my ass has taken a ton of punishment. Men, motorcycles, general kicking, and now buckshot. Fucking guards don’t use rock salt like the farmers did when I was just a freckle-faced filly raiding the pumpkin patch.’
Annalee set Daniel down and went in to start the stove. Dolly turned her back to Daniel and pulled the chemise over her head. Daniel stared. Dolly’s back and thighs were covered with tattoos, her panties torn and blood- soaked.
‘My mommy has one,’ Daniel said.
‘One what?’
‘Tattoo picture. A little one.’
Annalee, following the conversation from the stove, said, ‘I did it myself. It’s not very good.’
‘You must have been in deep to do it yourself.’
‘I was,’ Annalee said.
‘What is it? A lover’s name, a flower, an animal?’
‘A cross.’
‘Would’ve never guessed,’ Dolly said. She sounded faintly disappointed.
‘No, no – it’s not religious. It’s a twisted cross. They tried to humiliate me.’
‘Me too, honey,’ Dolly said with sympathy. ‘And now they shot me in the ass. How’s that water doing?’
‘Pretty soon.’
‘Does it hurt?’ Daniel said.
