Twilight Is Not Good for Maidens Read Online Free PDF

people. “But it didn’t bother me,” she had insisted. “Being from the North, this isn’t what I would call wilderness.”
    Holly agreed. She’d been posted as a rookie constable to some remote places and missed the wide open spaces, but it was good to touch base with her father again, if only for a few years. Moving around was a fact of life for the RCMP. Less so recently, though, because it was hard to get officers to make that commitment when they could be on staff in a city police department and put down roots.
    Finally they reached the yurt. The small round enclosure with a ten-foot radius was empty except for two rough wood bunks for sleeping bags. The usage fee bought a roof over the head and a floor. “I found her lying just inside. The door was open,” Paul said.
    “Did you see anyone else? Or hear anything?” Holly asked. The light-coloured yurt would have been more visible.
    Paul gave a negative grunt. “Some footsteps in the brush, crunching leaves or twigs. My beam was in her eyes, and she looked like a scared animal. Whimpering and rubbing her throat. Bucky barked, the dumb old mutt, but I made him shut up. Had him on a long rope in case he had a mind to go after a bunny. All I could think of was to get her help. My night vision’s not what it used to be. Geez, Louise, if I could have chased him, don’t you think that …”
    “I understand. The point is that you came just in time. We don’t want anyone becoming a hero by endangering their lives. He might have had a weapon.” Holly didn’t want to continue probing. The man felt bad enough as it was. In addition to thick bushes, there were massive trees every twenty feet. Easy enough to duck behind one, then escape in the confusion. Trained though she was, her priority, like Paul’s, would have been to assure that the girl was breathing if not conscious. A question of triage.
    Holly nestled the light between her neck and shoulder and made another note. The headlamp by her bed at home for power outages would have been perfect. Then again, when would she be called out again like this?
    Paul was standing at the yurt door, flashing his beam into every corner. “Maybe there’s something he dropped.” He made as if to step forward.
    Holly took his arm firmly. “No, don’t go in. I’d like everything to stay the same.”
    He gave a light laugh, took off his cap and scratched his elfin ear. “Jesus, there’s probably a gazillion prints on the yurt. Everyone who’s stayed there throughout the whole summer. And last year and the year before that. They don’t exactly have maid service. I pick up some of the big chunks with a whisk broom. That’s all she wrote. Big problem is to leave no food around for these mother-sized Norway rats.”
    Holly gave it an appraisal. The yurt looked cold and unattractive, plastic and impersonal. “Who would want to stay in one of these?”
    The geodesic domes could be rented for twenty dollars a night. People brought their own linen, sleeping bags, and pads. “Old folk. Or younger ones who want more privacy, if you get my drift. Maybe they drove for hours to get here, and then it rains. They don’t want to head right back. To me it’s sort of pretend camping, but I’m old-fashioned.”
    Holly looked at him. “Was anyone staying in the yurts last night?”
    “Not that I saw. I was around earlier on afternoon rounds. Folks on my street feel protective about our park,” Paul said. “Sure, sometimes a few teenagers sneak in. We don’t keep them locked. Young lovers and all that, but it’s a dumb way to save a few bucks. You can get banned from the whole system if you don’t have your reservation slip on the post.”
    Holly wondered if the dawn would ever come. There was no way that in the dark anything was going to come to fruition. They’d been gone a bit long. Maddie might be feeling uncomfortable, even with the dog. A stiff wind was rising off the ocean, though they were sheltered by a greenbelt.