Where the Forest Meets the Stars(30)

“I don’t have to go.”
“You had two Sprites.”
Ursa scrunched down in her seat. “I’m going to sleep.”
Jo fueled the car and used the restroom. She also bought two Necco rolls, a candy she rarely saw in stores. That was the other, more important, reason she stopped at that particular gas station.
Jo thought Ursa was asleep when she returned to the locked car, but Ursa sat up a few miles down the highway. “Want a Necco?” Jo said.
“What is that?”
“A candy I like.” She handed the open roll back to Ursa.
“Can I have a purple one?”
“How far down is it?”
“Only three.”
“Go ahead, but purple isn’t grape if that’s what you’re expecting. It’s clove, and some people don’t like it.”
Ursa pried out the purple wafer and laid it on her tongue. “I like it!”
Half a Necco package later, Ursa said she had to go to the bathroom.
“Why didn’t you go in Effingham?”
“I didn’t have to go when we were there.”
Jo stopped in Salem and took her into a bathroom. They made it all the way to Turkey Creek Road without another bathroom break. After they turned onto the road, Ursa asked if they could see the kittens. Earlier that day, they’d stopped to tell Gabe they were going to Urbana, but when they saw a silver SUV parked in front of the cabin, Jo decided they shouldn’t disturb him and his mother when they had visitors.
As they approached the Nash property, Ursa begged her to stop. It was 7:10, early enough for a quick visit, and Jo wanted to make sure Gabe didn’t have the wrong idea about what had happened the other night. But the silver SUV was still parked at the end of the potholed drive. “Maybe we should leave,” Jo said.
“Gabe won’t care.” Ursa was out the door before Jo could stop her. A woman with a lightly grayed ponytail came through the front door of the cabin. She was in her midforties, her features broad and bullish, and the extra pounds she carried on her tall, powerful frame made her appear more intimidating than overweight. But it was probably the harsh blue of her eyes that made Ursa retreat down the stairs and reach for Jo’s hand. The woman seemed angry with them, and Jo couldn’t imagine why.
“We came by to see Gabe,” Jo said. “I’m Joanna Teale, and this is my friend Ursa. I’m renting the property next door.”
“I know who you are,” the woman said before Jo finished speaking.
“Where is Gabe?” Ursa asked.
“He’s not well,” the woman said.
“He’s sick?” Ursa asked.
The woman made an irritated face.
“Can I see him?” Ursa said.
“You may not.”
“Who are you?” Ursa asked.
Jo was thinking a similar question: Who the hell do you think you are?
“I’m Gabriel’s sister.”
Jo never would have guessed that. She looked nothing like him.
“Can I go see the kittens?” Ursa asked.
“I think it’s best if you leave,” the woman said.
“Is his illness serious?” Jo asked.
She was already walking into the cabin. “I’ll tell him you stopped by.” The door closed.
“She’s mean,” Ursa said when they got in the car.
Or what they’d interpreted as meanness was distress. Maybe Gabe’s sister was upset because he was seriously ill.
Jo took Ursa with her to do fieldwork the next day. The heat was brutal and most of the work was on roads, but Ursa never once complained. She found a new nest with two cardinal eggs. Jo told her she might have to pay her field assistant wages.
After they finished monitoring nests on Turkey Creek Road, Jo drove to the Nash property and parked next to the silver SUV. She and Ursa knocked on the front door, rapping louder when no one answered. Gabe’s mother slowly opened the wooden door, holding her four-legged cane.
“We came to see how Gabe is doing,” Jo said through the screened door.
“Lacey told me you stopped by last night.”
Gabe’s sister must be Lacey, a frilly name that didn’t suit her menacing appearance.
“How is he?” Jo asked.
“Not so well,” Katherine said.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Can we visit with him, maybe just for a few minutes?”
“He wouldn’t want that,” she said.
“Why don’t you ask him? We might cheer him up.”
“I don’t think you will,” Katherine said. “I’m sorry.”
Jo and Ursa watched her close the door with shaking hands. Lacey had come down the road that led to the outbuildings. She was dressed in dirty work clothes and rubber boots smeared with manure. Probably doing Gabe’s usual chores.
“Need something?” she asked.
“We’d hoped to see Gabe,” Jo said.
“Did my mother answer the door?”
“Yes, we talked to her.”
“Damn it,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry. If we’d known you were out back, we’d have—”
“Better if you didn’t. I have lots of crap to deal with, and I mean that literally.” She walked away toward the barns.
Jo was about to call something to her, but everything she wanted to say would sound too combative. She got in the car with Ursa.
“Why won’t they let us see Gabe?” Ursa said.
“I don’t know. Something weird is going on.” She drove to the Kinney house, unable to keep her creeping thoughts at bay. Maybe Gabe was having another breakdown. Even worse, Jo was afraid her awkward interaction with him the other night might have triggered it.