Heaven Preserve Us Read Online Free PDF Page B

When we decided to keep a few laying hens in the back
yard, we contacted them to see if they'd take on the job of building their quarters.
    I bolted my coffee and poured another cup to take downstairs
to my workroom with me.
    "Sophie Mae?"
     
    I paused mid-pour. Something in her voice. "Yeah?"
    "Did you see Kelly O'Connell when you were at Heaven House
this morning?"
    "Who?"
    She flapped her hand at me. "Never mind. Go. Work." The timer
dinged, and she began lifting steaming jars of jelly out of the canner.
    "Okay." I'd find out what that was about later. Right now I
wanted to call Barr and tell him what had happened. Was I completely off-base, thinking someone had intentionally slipped Philip
something lethal? Fear had shown from his eyes as he whispered
those words to me. Or was I projecting that onto him? I was quite
frightened myself at the time, I had to admit. Maybe Barr could
put things into perspective.
    Downstairs, I looked out at the back yard and alley from the
large windows that ran the entire length of my spacious workroom. I liked to have as much natural light as possible while I
mixed and packaged and labeled my various Winding Road bath
products. I watched a pair of stellars jays chowing down at the bird
feeder as I waited for Barr to answer his cell. No luck. I left a message. He'd get back to me when he had a chance.
    Outside, the sky was a smooth, even gray, dark enough to make
me wonder whether dawn had given up rather than bother trying
to break through the muck above. I opened the back door and
took a deep whiff of the winter air of the Pacific Northwest, a mix
of green moss, red cedar, and yellowed leaves. The combination
calmed me. The moisture in the air was palpable against my exposed face and the backs of my hands.
    Luke and Seth came around the edge of the house, each carrying a four-by-four post. Now I identified the scent of cedar as coming from the pile of posts stacked near the house and covered
with a bright blue tarp.
     
    "Hey, Sophie Mae," Luke said, nodding in my direction as he
walked past. With his dark hair, dark eyes, strong jaw and high
cheekbones, he walked with the cocky confidence of someone
who knows they're good looking. His brother Seth's eyes flashed
up to meet mine for a split second. His mouth turned up in a
quick, nervous smile, and then it was gone. Without a word he
took his post over and laid it by one of the holes they'd dug the
day before. The younger boy had received the toned-down version
of his brother's looks, and apparently a toned-down version of his
personality, too.
    "Hey," I said. "You're going to be setting those this morning?"
    He nodded.
    "What if it rains?"
    Luke answered. "Won't hurt anything. Mostly taking advantage
of the mild temperature. Can't do cement work like this in the
winter where we come from."
    "And where would that be?" I asked.
    "Kansas. Wichita."
    "What on earth brought you out to our little corner of the
universe?"
    "Dad transferred. Boeing."
    "Ah"
    I'd heard their mother was dead, and Mavis Gray said it had
happened recently. No doubt Mr. Chase was ready for a fresh start.
I was a little surprised the boys had come with him, as old as they
were. It was nice to think they'd remained intact as a family.
     
    Luke turned back to his post, a hint, no doubt, for me to let
him get on with his work. I took it and went back inside to face my
own to-do list.

    Three hours later I'd mixed the salts, soda, citric acid, green tea,
herbs and oils for four kinds of Saltea bags-rosemary, citrus, lavender, and spearmint-and made a bit of headway on filling orders from my website. Kyla and Cyan Waters would be arriving
any moment to put in a couple of hours of work, and Erin was due
home from school. I'd called Barr again and left another message,
but he hadn't called me back yet. I was a little surprised. It wasn't
like I made a habit of calling him when he was working.
    But a barrage of other phone calls