Paddy Plays in Dead Mule Swamp (8 page)

“Let’s look at the pattern and not
waste any more time,” Star said.

She had wiped down the counter, and
she laid out the garment she had begun a year ago. It was to be a
simple straight skirt, paired with a lined vest. She had chosen an
African print in turquoise and yellows, overlaid with black
geometric designs. Fortunately the pattern was only pinned on the
fabric, not yet cut out, so we’d be able to make adjustments for
Sunny.

“This will be nice,” I agreed. “You
really don’t mind not choosing something new?” I asked the younger
girl.

“I like this material a lot, but could
I look in the pattern book for a different kind of
skirt?”

“Sure,” I answered. “Are we ready to
go? Let’s take this along.” I refolded the fabric and slid it into
the bag it had been stored in.

Len held out some folded clothing.
“Here are the shirts you loaned the girls.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Are we ready,
then?”

“I get to sit in back with Paddy,”
Sunny sang out. Clearly, when the dog was around, I had second
billing.

“Fine with me; I’ll take the front,”
said Star.

“Hold on,” I said, “We have to drop
Paddy off at the pet store before we shop. He’ll get some exercise
there, so we’ll be able to work a little bit when we get to my
house.”

Without too much fuss or delay we
delivered Paddy to Fur and Fins, and continued to the fabric shop.
Although both girls had been in a store full of bolts of material
before, it wasn’t something they had done very often, and they were
delighted to just walk around looking at pretty fabrics for more
than a few minutes. I learned that Sunny liked blues and Star was
partial to orange, which seemed odd to me, given her reserved
nature, but I knew it was an “in” color. Maybe she had hopes of
fitting into her social group more easily.

Star had her own money and she
gravitated almost immediately to an expensive, soft, salmon-colored
blend with a nice drape. She went in search of a pattern that would
work with the fabric. Since she seemed to have a pretty good idea
of what she wanted, I focused on Sunny who was flipping through the
big pattern book, clearly not knowing what to look for.

I showed her how to find the section
with girls’ clothes, and then suggested she look at the
extra-simple patterns. She pointed to a skirt that was fuller than
the one in Star’s former pattern, with a sash belt, and asked me if
that was OK. I told her, with some relief, that it would be a great
choice. I thought the style was more suitable for a pre-teen than
the shorter, straighter skirt. I pulled the fabric we had brought
along out of the bag, folded it and hand gathered one edge to mimic
the lines of the pattern. Sunny stood in front of a mirror and when
I held the “skirt” in front of her she squealed her
pleasure.

Meanwhile, Star asked me to come look
at a pattern. She had selected a tunic with slightly flared sleeves
that could be worn over pants, with or without a belt. It would be
beautiful in the salmon fabric, and wouldn’t be out of style in six
months. Star apparently had natural fashion sense. She wanted to
know if I thought the front opening would be too hard, and I
assured her that we could do the placket together.

Of course, we also had to select
thread, interfacing, and a zipper for the skirt.

We made our purchases, picked up the
dog, and arrived back at my house just in time to think about
lunch. I didn’t have hopes of getting much actual sewing done
today, but after we ate (salad again, by advance request, and
turkey sandwiches) we took the shopping bags upstairs and began to
figure out which pattern pieces we would need.

I remembered that Sunny had said she
liked puzzles, and as soon as I explained how the pieces were
labeled she instantly grasped how they went together. Star seemed
to struggle with the concepts a little more, but I pulled a caftan
out of my closet to show her, and she saw how the placket front
facing would work. We lightly pressed the paper patterns, and then
I sent them both outside to play with Paddy for a while. Frankly, I
needed a break.

Chapter 13

Star and Sunny were almost too good to
be true. Although I was tired, it was not because the girls were a
trial. They were polite, neat, and hard-working. I thought about
that as I stacked the smoothed pattern pieces, setting them aside
to await our next sewing session. The girls were probably on their
best behavior with me. Perhaps their grandfather had warned them to
be good, or maybe they were somewhat like newly-adopted
orphans—afraid they’d be sent back if they weren’t perfect. It made
me feel special, but it was also intimidating. I couldn’t live up
to such a high standard for the long haul. Well, maybe I could pull
it off one day a week. But I also knew that a perfect adult wasn’t
what they needed. And I didn’t want to be a mother
substitute.

My Chad was almost grown. I was fine
with that. My thoughts drifted to Chad’s summer pursuit,
researching moose on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. I hoped I’d hear
from him sometime soon, but they only had intermittent phone
service where he was, and I knew that I might not hear anything
until he arrived for a scheduled visit in late August. He hadn’t
yet seen my house in Dead Mule Swamp.

Thinking of mothers, I guessed that
Sunny didn’t remember much, if anything, about Angelica. But, I
wasn’t sure why Star had nothing at all to say. Surely she had
memories of her mother. She hadn’t said a word when Len was
pointing out the pictures that morning. Len implied that they still
saw their father occasionally. I wondered if I should try to get
them to talk about their parents. Then I wondered how to make that
happen. Should I just ask? I wasn’t sure I was up to the task of
helping children with serious trauma in their past.

I crossed through my bedroom and
looked out a window on the side of the house facing the swamp. I
couldn’t see the girls or the dog. They must have taken the trail.
I wished they had let me know that they were leaving the yard, but
I hadn’t told them they should, so I could hardly complain. And
hadn’t I just been grousing that they seemed too perfect? I glanced
at my watch and realized I’d been mulling over the situation for
nearly a half hour. What on earth had the girls found to
do?

I saw a movement in the trees to my
left, on the other corner of the yard from the trail, and Star
jogged into the mowed area. She looked a little breathless and
flustered. “Miss Ana,” she called.

I pushed open the window and answered,
“Up here, Star.”

“You need to help us get Paddy. He’s
found something and we can’t get him to come back to the house with
us. He’s acting really weird.”

“All right, I’ll be right
down.”

This seemed odd. The dog had stayed
close to the girls when he’d been out with them before. I hurried
down the stairs and out the kitchen door to meet Star. Just then,
Paddy and Sunny burst from the same direction as Star had come.
Paddy had a yellow circular object in his mouth. It didn’t look
right for one of his tennis balls, and in fact, the ball in current
use was practically at my feet. Sunny was once again chasing the
dog and yelling. It was pretty much the same scene as a week ago,
but with less wet mud. And a different prize.

“Come, Paddy,” I said in my sternest
dog-trainer voice. He actually obeyed and came to me, wagging his
tail. “Sit.” He sat. I could hardly believe my luck, but I pushed
it a little farther, “Give.” He dropped the object at my feet, and
I picked it up. He looked at me with his liquid brown eyes, and I
checked my pocket for treats. I did have one, and rewarded Paddy
for his exceptionally good performance.

The yellow thing was a rubbery band
about a half-inch wide, and maybe two-and-a-half inches in
diameter. It looked like one of those bracelets you could buy to
support cancer research or some other cause. It seemed to be
scratched or roughed up. I brushed some of the dirt off, and in the
process the band rolled so that the inside became the outside and I
realized there were words inscribed in the rubber.

I was rubbing my finger across them,
to make them readable when Star suddenly snatched the ring out of
my hands. “Sunny!” she exclaimed. Her voice was high and angry.
“You shouldn’t have worn this today. How could you?” I could hear
her voice crack, and a glance at her face showed pain as well as
anger. I couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Sunny’s face darkened and her eyes
flashed. “I didn’t! It’s not mine.”

Although Sunny was looking stormy, I
watched the color drain away from Star’s face. Her skin turned a
muddy gray-brown, and she began to sink to the ground. I grabbed
for her and managed to keep her from toppling over, but she ended
up on the grass in a tangle of knees and elbows, clutching the
bracelet. Tears were already running down her face.

“Star! What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
I asked. I looked to Sunny for assistance, but she wasn’t looking
very well either and came over to sit beside her sister.

“Let me see,” Sunny whispered, and
Star rubbed the dirty band against her cheek, and then handed it to
the younger girl who took it reverently.

Star lifted her tear-streaked face to
me, sniffed, and said, “It belongs to our mom. Both of ours are
home. Put away to keep them safe, you know.”

“Surely there are lots of rubber
bracelets,” I protested. But something in Star’s eyes made me
stop.

“Not like this one. Our mother special
ordered these. You can get custom ones for only a few dollars. Show
her what it says, Sunny.”

Sunny handed me the band. I turned it
and read the inscription: “Sunny and Star - Happy Birthdays – Mommy
Angel.”

Star explained, “We all have the same
birthday. It’s so weird. Sunny and I were both born on August 21,
but five years apart. And even stranger is that it was Mom’s
birthday, too. All of us girls were born on the same date. That’s
why she gave us the names we have. She said we were all heavenly.
The three of us always wore these bracelets after she bought them,
like a secret club or something. I suppose it was silly, but we
were little and it was fun.”

I sat down beside Star and put my arms
around her. She leaned against me. She wasn’t crying any longer,
but every so often a shudder ran through her body. Sunny crept
around to the other side of me, and I kept one arm around Star but
pulled Sunny close with the other. Paddy laid his chin across
Sunny’s knees. We sat there quietly for several minutes. Sunny
seemed sad and curious, but less broken up than her
sister.

“How did Mom’s bracelet get in the
swamp?” Sunny asked.

“That’s an important question,” I
said. “I think we are going to have to call the police.”

Chapter 14

“Why should we call the police?” asked
Sunny.

“You little dumbbell,” said Star,
giving her sister a withering look. “This means that Mom was here,
after that morning. It’s the first thing anybody’s ever found of
hers.”

“She wouldn’t go for a walk way over
here. That doesn’t make sense.”

“You just don’t get it!” Star shook
her head. “No, you’re too young. She was here with someone, or they
brought her here. Don’t you see? Mom’s dead, and Paddy just found
her body.”

Sunny said, “Oh,” in a flat voice and
shrank into a tight little ball beside me.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” I pulled
the girls to their feet. “We don’t know that for certain, but we
have to report what we do know.” However, I was pretty sure Star
was right.

Once we were in the house, Star asked
if I had any decaf tea and if she could fix some. I knew that
giving her something to do would be calming, so I told her where to
find my stash of herbal teas, and she and Sunny took over the
kitchen.

I decided to call the Sheriff first,
and Len second. It seemed important to get things moving. I wanted
to call Tracy Jarvi, the young female Chief of Police in Cherry
Hill. I got along well with Tracy, especially since she had helped
me, more than once. I wanted her support, but I couldn’t think of a
way that Paddy’s find could be part of her official duties since I
live outside the village limits, and I didn’t feel close enough to
just call her as a friend.

I dialed the Forest County Sheriff’s
Department and was transferred to a Detective Dennis Milford,
someone I did not know at all. He sounded bored. It took several
minutes to explain how the bracelet we had found would be of
interest to the police, but he finally agreed to send a squad car
out to my place.

Next I called Corliss Leonard. This
conversation was much more difficult for the opposite reason. Len
understood immediately how significant the events of the afternoon
were. I asked if he would like me to come get him, although I
wondered how I could do that, stay with the girls, and be here when
the police arrived, all at the same time. But he said he’d drive
himself to my place, if I didn’t mind. I assured him I’d be glad to
have him come, and told him the girls would need his support. A
guilty image of Len torturing himself into an upright position in
order to drive intruded on my sympathies, but I knew we all needed
him to be here. I told him we’d be watching for him.