Wild Country (The World of the Others #2)- Anne Bishop Page 0,88

adults to sort things out by themselves.

Virgil straightened and turned to stare at Jana.

She huffed and she puffed and finally forced out the words: “Thank you. That was kind of you to find her another toy.”

He continued to stare. “We’re going out to patrol. Tobias Walker says he’s going to teach you to rope things because it is a skill you will need. We will be back before it’s time for you to leave.”

“Okay.”

As he walked out the door, Virgil grumbled something about wolverines. Jana didn’t catch most of it, and she figured it was better for both of them if she didn’t ask him to repeat it.

* * *

* * *

When she didn’t get an answer the first time, Barb knocked a little harder on Abigail Burch’s screen door. Abby could be in the bathroom; it always seemed like someone who wasn’t expected knocked on the door just when you needed to bring a book or crossword puzzle into the bathroom.

She’d turned away from the door and picked up her boxes when she heard footsteps. She offered Abby a big smile that dimmed as she looked at the other woman.

“I guess this is a bad time. Sorry to have bothered you.”

“It’s all right,” Abby said. “Personal stuff.”

“Want to do something for a neighbor?” Barb felt bad about asking someone who already looked worn-out, but she was asking everyone who already lived on the street. Even John Wolfgard was coming over to help, and the Wolves hadn’t done anything about moving into their own place except pee on the house.

Abby stepped outside. “You need help?”

“The new neighbors do. Because of the kids, their house needs to be cleared out of everything but the furniture.”

Abby nodded. “I’ve got a job now as a cleaner. I told them I prefer doing office buildings to houses, but we’re all coming over to give that house a good scrubbing because of the girl.”

Because of the girl. Normally, Barb would have responded to the curiosity and the question under that statement by telling her friend about the girl. But Jana was sincerely spooked about people finding out about Maddie, and it did seem odd to single out one of the kids when they’d barely been seen, so Barb said, “I heard someone was going to do the cleaning, but the house needed to be cleared first. That’s why I’m asking the people on the street to go over and help. The faster it’s cleared out, the faster Kenneth and Evan and the kids can move in.”

When Abby didn’t respond, Barb wondered if the other woman had some objection to the new neighbors.

Abby said, “All right. I’ll go over with you and help for a while.”

“That’s great.” But it didn’t feel great.

Abby hesitated, then shrugged. “I guess I don’t have to lock it.”

“Do you want to leave a note for Kelley?”

“What for?”

Abby sounded so sad, Barb didn’t know what to say. She just headed for the house across the street and a few doors up from her own home.

“Don’t they want any of this stuff?” Abby asked when they entered the house and looked around.

“They might, especially some of the books and food and linens. For now, Zeke and Fagen are bringing two of the vans they’ve been given for their businesses and will drive all the goods over to the community center. Evan and Kenneth will look over everything and bring back the things that will be useful for their family.” Barb took a scrunchie out of her jeans pocket and pulled her hair back in a short ponytail. “The guys can pack up the living room and family room when they get here. Hannah and Sarah Gott said they would take care of the kitchen. John can pack up the books since he’s in charge of the bookstore. You and I should pack up the bedrooms and bathroom. That’s where the really personal stuff will be.”

“I’ll start in the bathroom.” Abby took one of the smaller boxes.

“Let’s see if there’s a shoebox in one of the bedrooms that you can use for any prescriptions we find. Those need to be boxed separately from everything else.”

They went into the master bedroom. Easy enough to find a shoebox. The woman who had lived there must have bought a couple of pairs of shoes just before … things went bad. Barb removed one pair of shoes and turned to hand the box to Abby—and wondered why Abby looked like the top of the dresser was filled with