Nobody Knows Your Secret

44

It just has to be tied up with drugs, Hadley thought, driving to Ruth's wildlife shelter. Beanie was weed-eating around the headstones at the cemetery today.

When she woke up that morning, Virgie Winthrop was on her mind. Kyle's murder and Claire's slow-suicide kept popping to the forefront of her thought like sizzling bacon grease. She knew that Claire's death was not called suicide, but to Hadley, it might as well have been. Accidental overdose, they said.

All those years of numbing the pain with prescription meds were tragic. And Hadley was certain it was just as much mental anguish that Claire was trying to numb as physical pain.

Incredibly sad and tragic, she brooded. A squandered life.

There was Skip passing her in his truck!

She waved. He drove right by her without noticing.

"That's funny," Hadley mumbled. "Not like that kid to give his favorite aunt the cold shoulder. Must be girl trouble."

Hadley turned into the access road near the amusement park. She pressed the box and was buzzed into the gate. Hadley walked into the building and dropped her oversize purse on a table in the little break room beside of the room Ruth used for an office.

"Hey, friend," Ruth said. "Where's your sidekick?"

"Maury's got a doctor's appointment," Hadley said.

"Hope it's nothing serious," said Ruth.

"Annual physical," Hadley said.

"Tell her all her friends, four-legged and two-legged, missed her sunny smile."

"Who have we here?" Hadley asked.

"A porcupine," said Ruth.

"If you'd have told me, I'd have worn my suit of armor," Hadley said.

"Don't need it," said Ruth. "These little creatures are quite gentle."

"Gentle," said Hadley. "But what if I make him mad. He'll launch those quills at me, and I'll look like a cactus."

"Not at all," said Ruth. "That's a misconception. A porcupine can have 30,000 quills."

"Yikes," Hadley said.

"He shakes the quills loose by banging their tail on the ground," Ruth said. "The quills become lodged into a predator only by the predator's actual contact with the porcupine."

"Really?" Hadley said. "So, I won't become a human dartboard."

"No," said Ruth.

"What's his name?" Hadley asked.

"Porgy," said Ruth.

"Hey, Porgy," Hadley said. "You are a cutie. You know that? Say, Ruth, I was expecting to see your handsome doctor friend around here somewhere."

"Declan had to go back to New York. He just flew in to buy another one of Hobie's acoustic guitars. Since Anna and Stanley reopened that airstrip, he plans to come down as often as he can. When he found out Hobie and his band were playing Sunday, he decided to stay over.

He's absolutely rabid about Hobie's music."

"We're lucky to have such talent a stone's throw away."

"And lucky that Hobie is so down to earth and willing to play for a good cause like animal rescue."

"Hobie Stricker could write his own ticket right out of here to any place on earth, yet he chooses to stay right here in these mountains."

"You gotta admit," Ruth said, "there's something magical about this place. The waterfalls, the mountains, the wildlife."

"Mmm," said Hadley, venturing to pet Porgy, "this area of the country is like no other place on earth. If home is where the heart is, my heart beats through these forests and slopes and valleys."

"Mine, too," said Ruth. "Now, here's what I need you to do today."

She recited a long list of tasks that needed completing.

"I think I'm going to be pretty busy," Hadley said. "Hey, Porgy. You got as many quills as I got chores."

Porgy just nibbled on some dandelions and clover, ignoring Hadley.