Cover Of Night

Teague decided he was better off with Creed contained. That meant he’d have to take extra steps, bring in special equipment, to make certain Creed stayed contained.

Timing was everything. Everyone who belonged in Trail Stop had to be there and anyone who didn’t belong had to be gone when the trap was sprung. An outsider would have people who expected to hear from him, or that he’d return home at a certain time. A local would certainly ask uncomfortable questions if he couldn’t get to his home. Of course, said local could also meet with an accident, so that was more easily controlled than if the trap accidentally caught someone who didn’t belong.

First on his list of things to do, however, was reconnaissance.

Cate overslept and as a result had to rush the next morning to get the muffins baked and ready for the usual onslaught of customers. Of course, after the excitement of the day before, it seemed as if everyone in Trail Stop felt the need for a muffin, even Milly Earl, the best cook in town.

As soon as the twins got up, they started pestering Cate about visiting Mimi’s house, so it appeared Sheila had done a good job selling the idea to them. Cate pretended reluctance, to whet their appetite even more. The last thing she wanted was to have to physically manhandle the boys into her mother’s SUV? when they left. At the same time, neither did she want to act so reluctant that they would think she’d be unhappy if they went. Hoodwinking four-year-olds was a balancing act.

Sheila called the airline to see about changing her departure date, as well as purchasing tickets for the boys. The only flight she could get was at eleven am the next morning, which meant she and the boys would be leaving by six in the morning, at the latest. She had to drive to Boise, return her rental, and shepherd the twins and their belongings to the gate, as well as find time to feed them before they got on the plane. She also called Cate’s dad, letting him know she was coming home ahead of schedule and bringing the boys with her. "Brace yourself," Cate heard her mother say, laughing.

Investigator Marbury was due at eleven, so as soon as the morning crowd was gone, Cate rushed to get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up. The climbers had each grabbed a muffin and left early, eager for another day on the rocks. Cate could remember when she and Derek had been like that, with nothing more on their minds than testing their strength and skill on the rocks. These guests were leaving the next morning, so this was their last day to enjoy their sport.

At a quarter to eleven, she dashed up the stairs to change clothes, brush her hair, and swab on some lip gloss. Halfway up, she heard thuds and the boys shrieking with laughter in their room. Since experience told her they generally found things such as burst pillows and flying feathers hilarious, Cate was at a dead run by the time she hit the top of the stairs.

She skidded to a stop in the doorway, blinking at her children. They were both stark naked, jumping up and down, and laughing so hard they kept collapsing on the floor. Behind her, she heard Sheila running up the stairs, too, calling, "Are they okay?"

”What on ear lit… what are you two doing?" Cate asked, completely bewildered. She turned her head and said to Sheila, "They’re fine. They’ve pulled off all their clothes and they’re jumping up and down." She looked back at the boys. "Stop – boys, stop jumping! Tell me what you’re doing."

"We’re making our goobies shake," Tanner said, for once speaking before Tucker could, but mainly because Tucker was laughing too hard to talk.

"Your – " Cate tried to say, then burst out laughing. They looked so funny, jumping up and down and pointing at each other’s "goobies," and they were having such a good time all she could do was shake her head and laugh with them.

A flash went off beside her, and she jumped. It was Sheila, a digital camera in her hand.

"There," she said with satisfaction. "Something to blackmail them with when they’re sixteen."

"Mom! That’ll embarrass them!"

"You bet it will. I’d have given anything to have had something like this to hold over Patrick’s head. I’ll print out a couple of copies when I get home. Just wait; you’ll thank me someday."

The doorbell rang downstairs, and Cate looked at her watch.

If that was Marbury, he was early, and now she had no time to freshen up. Groaning, she said, "Will you get them back in their clothes while I answer the door? It’s probably the county investigator."

She ran back down the stairs and pulled open the front door. Calvin Harris stood there, a box from Earl’s Hardware Store in one hand and his toolbox in the other; beside him stood a stocky guy she didn’t recognize, but since he had a holstered pistol on his belt she was certain this was Marbury. He had medium brown hair, and he wore jeans and a polo shirt, with a dark blue wind-breaker. "Mrs. Nightingale?" Without waiting for her to answer he said, "I’m Seth Marbury, investigator with the sheriffs department."

"Yes, come in, please." As Cate stepped back, she cast a harried glance up the stairs, where childish peals of laughter were still unabated. She could hear her mother, though, sounding increasingly frustrated, as she told the boys to stop shaking their goobies and put their clothes back on, and evidently was being ignored. The thuds from their jumping echoed from the ceiling.

Both men looked upward.

Cate felt color heat her cheeks. "Um… I have twin boys," she explained to Marbury. "They’re four." And that should definitely have been all the explanation needed.

"Tannuh, look!" she heard Tucker say in his clear, piping voice. "I can make mine zigzag!

Zigzag?

Evidently losing patience with the unproductive cajoling, Sheila said in her sternest voice – which was drill-sergeant stern – "All right! I don’t want to see any more zigzagging goobies. I don’t want to see your goobies shake, dance, skip, yodel, or anything else you can make them do. I want to see those goobies inside your shorts. Got it? If you’re going home with me, we have to make plans, and I can’t do that if I can see your bare goobies."