The Mill River Recluse Read Online Free PDF Page A

with him some, he could get used to you, an’ I could make sure everything goes well with him....”
    “Then we have a deal?” Patrick asked.
    “I’ll expect you here on Saturday mornings, about ten,” Mr. Hayes said, as they shook hands.
    Patrick’s father strolled up to them. He looked first at Patrick, then at the bay colt grazing beside him. “This the one?” he asked. “Nice color. When shall we send a truck for him?”
    “Oh, around the first of September or so,” Mr. Hayes said, smiling.
    “Come again?”
    “He’s the best of them, Pop, but he’s not fully broken yet,” Patrick explained. “So Mr. Hayes is going to keep him for the summer, work with him, and we’ll get him in a few months. And, I’m going to help with the training on the weekends.”
    “Oh.” Stephen’s mouth drooped and opened slightly, and his brow furrowed. “I suppose we won’t have our Saturday drives then.” His voice was whiny and pouting. “But Patrick, you were so excited to get a horse. Are you sure you want to wait all summer? The other two looked like fine specimens to me,” he said.
    “Of course they are,” Patrick said. “But a few more months for the right horse isn’t really long to wait. Besides, there’s something about this one. I have to have this one.” And , he thought to himself, I’ll have more from this farm than the bay colt .
    “Whatever you want, son,” Stephen said, forcing a smile. He pulled out his checkbook and a pen.
    Stephen gave Mr. Hayes a deposit for the bay colt, and he and Patrick walked back to the Lincoln. Father and son were quiet as they headed down the driveway of the farm, back toward the main road.
    “I must say, I still prefer good horsepower to a good horse,” Stephen finally said. “If you think that red horse was a real find, I trust you. It must be if you’d wait ‘til the end of the summer for it, being as horse-crazy as you are. But,” he added, stepping on the accelerator with a satisfied grin, “to each his own.”
    “A real find,” Patrick said, but he wasn’t speaking of the bay colt.

 
     
    Chapter 3
     
    As darkness crept past the town of Mill River, Father O’Brien struggled to come up with a sermon for the morning’s service. The various themes running through his mind lingered for only a few minutes before his thoughts drifted back to Mary. He would have stayed with her through the night, but she had insisted that he leave. Reluctantly, he had done so, but now he was beginning to think that he should have stayed regardless of what he had promised her.
    He looked at the large box of spoons sitting on his desk. It was a box of joy and guilt and sin. He had taped it shut and printed his return address in the upper left corner of the top surface. The address for the box’s destination was another matter. It didn’t have a destination yet, and he was too tired to worry about it now.
    Of far greater concern to him was Mary. He intended to go back up to her marble mansion at first light. Mass would not begin until ten-thirty, so he would have plenty of time.
    He had a dreadful feeling that he would need it.
    ~~~
    Officer Kyle Hansen was quiet as he opened the door of his apartment. He hung his coat on a hook by the door and went to check on Rowen.
    The nine-year-old was sound asleep in her bed, surrounded by a zoo of stuffed animals. I’ll surprise her with Mickey Mouse pancakes in the morning , Kyle thought as he watched her sleeping. He kissed her lightly on the cheek before heading to the bathroom to take a shower.
    Kyle relaxed as the torrents of hot water streamed over him. It was amazing how much Rowen was beginning to look like her mother. That thought saddened him, though, so he reminded himself of how far they had come since his wife, Allison, had lost her battle with cancer.
    He had met his wife in Boston. Kyle had been a detective with the Boston Police Department, and Allison had worked as a counselor with the city’s Department of