now a romance! What’s up with Uncle Ernest lately?”
“What horse?” I asked.
“Why, Shortcake! Haven’t you seen her? Strawberry roan and wild as a mountain lion. Won’t let anybody near her.
“Now, tell me about this Belinda,” Grady said. “Do you think she’ll show up for the reunion?”
But I didn’t have a chance to answer because we heard somebody moaning just then, and it seemed to be coming from a nearby ravine.
CHAPTER FIVE
The sounds were coming from a wooded area to our left. Dense with hardwoods and strewn with boulders, the terrain dropped in giant stair steps to the twisting stream below. Ferns and rhododendrons created a dark curtain of green. I couldn’t see a thing.
The noises were almost animal-like in their timbre. A wildcat could be waiting to pounce, or a protective mother bear. I could hear myself breathing, and whatever was out there probably could, too. “What is it?” I set the pail of berries beside the path and grabbed Grady’s arm. Bears like berries, so you’re welcome to them, I thought. Just leave us alone!
I felt him stiffen as the groaning came again, this time ending in a thin wail.
“Sounds like somebody’s hurt!” Grady said. “Must be down there somewhere. Wait here.”
“Oh, no you don’t! You’re not leaving me here for bear bait! I’m coming, too.” After a fleeting moment’s consideration, I decided to let my cousin take the lead, and padded along behind him while he battled the almost-impenetrable underbrush. Branches whacked me in the face, and vines grabbed at my ankles. Crouching sideways, I slid down a mossy bank, feeling stones roll under my feet. And since the tail of Grady’s shirt was handy, I snatched it for support.
With an arm out to signal silence, Grady stopped to listen. I glimpsed the river far below, but we were too high above it to hear the rush of water.
“Are you sure it’s a person?” I whispered, and he pointed to something I couldn’t see.
“Down there,” he said. “Thought I saw something move.”
Was he thinking, as I was, of that awful day almost twenty years before when he and Beverly and I had discovered the body of a murdered vagrant not far from where we now stood? It was all I could do to keep from turning and clawing my way back up the hill.
All I could see below was a network of vines in a jungle of rhododendrons. Poplar and sourwood, oak and hickory competed for the sun and shut out the light, briars tore at my hair. “You’d better know what you’re talking about,” I said.
Grady reached for my hand. “Watch your step, there’s kind of a drop-off here.”
Only when we inched our way down and could get a better look did I see what looked like a bundle of old clothes at the bottom of an overhang.
The bundle moved. It wore green plaid pants and a pink flowered blouse. Glasses, miraculously unbroken, hung from a chain around her neck. Ella!
“She’s still alive.” Crouching beside her, Grady held her fragile old wrist. “We’ve got to get help—now!”
Ella’s eyes were closed, and dirt and abrasions stood out against the pale background of her face. I touched her hair, whispered her name. She whimpered.
“I’ll go,” I said, scrambling to my knees. “The guesthouse is closer. I’ll get the caretaker to call.”
“No!” Grady put a hand on my shoulder. “Mom said Casey left this morning. Some kind of family emergency. It’ll be faster if I go, Kate. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He was already halfway up the hillside before I could answer.
I didn’t like staying behind, but Grady was right, I thought, as I knelt beside the injured woman. He could run faster, yell louder and Ella needed help sooner rather than later. She lay curled with one arm pinned beneath her, her leg at an unnatural angle. Small twigs and leaves were caught in her thinning gray hair. I dared not move her, but I attempted to make her as comfortable as possible. Gently I wiped her face with a tissue, then took off my blouse and folded it as a buffer between Ella’s face and the scratchy bush that probably stopped her fall. No time for modesty now. Surely, whoever answered Grady’s summons had seen a bra before.
“I’m right here,” I told her, covering her hand with my own. “Help is on the way, Ella. We’re going to get you out of here.” I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt.
Her eyes opened briefly,