“Squawk.”
“That’s Nolan, and his first word of the new day.” Laura had pulled off his cage cover.
Laura called out, “You can open his cage if you want to. All the windows are closed, he’ll be just fine. Also, if you could sprinkle some sunflower seeds for him. I’m making him some toast right now. Yes, Grubster, I hear you, the world hears you. I’m going to open some cat food for you. Don’t fret.”
I watched Sherlock open Nolan’s door, saw him stare at her a moment, then, a step at a time, venture outside his cage. He cocked his head at Sherlock. “Squawk.”
He jumped to the back of one of the love seats. He took a sunflower seed from Sherlock’s outstretched fingers, carefully dropped it on the sofa back, then hopped up on Sherlock’s shoulder and began chewing on her hair. Sherlock began to laugh.
“Squawk.”
“Eat your breakfast, Nolan,” Sherlock said, and set him on the sofa back.
Grubster was meowing his head off. Then, suddenly, there was silence from him. He’d doubtless buried his face in a bowl of cat food.
“Come sit down, Sherlock,” I said. “I don’t remember how you like your coffee.”
“Just a bit of fake sugar and a dollop of milk,” Sherlock said to Laura. “Oh, if you don’t have any of that stuff, black is just fine.”
“No, we’re in luck,” Laura said. “That’s the way I drink my coffee too. Mac?”
“Don’t pour me any yet, Laura,” I called from the cottage door. “I want to see what Savich is up to.”
“Put on some shoes before you head out,” Sherlock said, absorbed with putting another sunflower seed in Nolan’s mouth.
When I walked outside, I was surprised to see a beautiful clear morning, the sky as blue as Jilly’s eyes, with just a light breeze. I turned south to see Savich striding toward me. He saw me and waved.
Like his wife, when he reached me he studied me closely. “You okay?” Thank God he didn’t feel it necessary to feel me up.
“Yeah, nothing to worry about. Did you see anything? Sherlock’s already inside drinking coffee. Come on in. I’m surely pleased to see both of you.”
“I didn’t see any signs of anyone out here. The ground’s still soft from all the rain. There would have been footprints if anyone had come close. But you’ve already checked out here, haven’t you?”
“Not this morning.”
“Now you don’t have to. Sounds like you guys are in deep shit. I’m glad you called us. But it’s going to be sticky, Mac. We’re both really sorry about Jilly and any involvement she may have in all this. I want you to know, too, that we talked it over on the way here, and for Jilly’s sake, we’re with you for a day or two. I agree with you we should be safe enough for that long. Someone would have to be crazy to come after four federal agents when everyone knows why we’re here.
“I said as little as possible to Jimmy Maitland. For the moment, at least, since you’re on leave and have already talked to your boss, Carl Bardolino, he’s going to let us go with this. As I said, Sherlock and I discussed this situation thoroughly on the flight to Portland. We’ve got more questions. Then we can discuss strategy.” He paused a moment and gripped my shoulder. “I’m very sorry about Jilly, Mac. No word about where she is?”
“No. I’m sorry about your having to leave Scan.”
“He’ll do just fine. Sherlock says he’s too young to be ruined just yet, so it doesn’t matter how often my mom tickles his stomach and tells him he’s the prince of the world. I sure hope she’s right.”
It sounded so normal, so very unlike the past four days of my life. I sighed. “Come meet Laura Scott.”
Chapter Sixteen
After we’d each drunk a cup of coffee strong enough to cut through sludge, I said, “There’s a whole lot we need to do today. Since we don’t know how long we can count on staying here, we’ve got to make good use of every minute.”