The Silence of the Llamas (7 page)

Ellie shrugged. “We’ve rarely spoken to him. We only see him once in a while. We catch sight of him walking through the woods. Or if we’re in the meadow where the llamas graze, we sometimes see him on the other side of the fence, on his land.”

“I’ve had words with him,” Ben piped up. “He’s said some nasty things to me. Language I wouldn’t repeat to ladies. But Ellie has the gist. We’re the city slickers and he’s Nature Boy.” Ben laughed harshly. “I work harder in one day around here than he does on his place in a month. You tell me which one of us is carrying on the great farming tradition. Which one is preserving the pristine beauty of the environment?”

Lucy saw the conflict very starkly—the urbane Kruegers, with their fine wines and vegetable pâté, clashing with their country neighbors, born and bred in this community. One neighbor, in particular.

“I can understand why you don’t want to stir up trouble with your new neighbors. Or give the business bad publicity. But this attack on your livestock was more than a harmless joke.” Maggie spoke in a quiet but concerned tone. “Aside from the injuries to the llamas, you may not be able to use much of
the fiber on the llamas that were hit with that paint. Not until they’re sheared once or twice,” she added knowingly. “I have to confess, I don’t understand why you and Ben are so reluctant to call the police this time. Aren’t you afraid that if you don’t find the person who did this, it could happen again? Maybe something even worse?”

“And it is a crime to harm livestock,” Dana reminded them. “You might be putting yourself at some legal risk by not reporting it.”

Dana’s husband, Jack, was an attorney and had been part of local law enforcement for many years before going back to school to earn his law degree. Dana was savvy about legal matters and made a good point, Lucy thought. One she hadn’t even thought of.

Ellie and Ben shared a glance. Then Ellie turned to look at Maggie. “I guess I am a little worried now. Ben and I will have to talk this over more. Weigh the pros and cons. But you’re right, Maggie. This was the worst harassment so far. Whoever is behind it really raised the bar.”

Ben stood up and shook his head. “Whether we tell the police or not, we’re not leaving. We’re not playing into their hands, running off like scared rabbits. Ridley would love that. That’s just what he’s hoping for.”

Lucy glanced at Ben. She didn’t know what to say. He clearly thought of his neighbor as the opponent, even the enemy, and this was a conflict only one could win. Was that a masculine characteristic, to think in terms of a win-or-lose contest?

“What about security? Do you have any?” Dana asked.

“We put a system in a few weeks ago. There are alarms on
the corral gates and barn. And we even put up a few surveillance cameras. But with all the people here for the festival, we decided to shut the system off for the day,” Ben explained. “We usually only put it on at night anyway.”

“But now we’ll put it on in the daytime, too, I guess.” Ellie shook her head. “We moved out of the city to get away from all that. I had some starry-eyed fantasy that we wouldn’t even worry about locking doors anymore . . . poof! There goes that one.” She laughed, trying to make a joke of it, but Lucy sensed she was sincerely disappointed.

Lucy imagined that the Kruegers had arrived with quite a few fantasies about country living. And that many had gone up with the same “poof” by now.

Lucy liked the Kruegers and definitely felt sympathetic about their travails here. But from what she’d heard, they had no real proof that their neighbor Justin Ridley was behind the harassment. She didn’t approve of hunting and the thought of guns made her shiver, but just because he knew how to use a gun didn’t mean he’d shot the llamas. The court system still operated on an “innocent until proven guilty” theory, didn’t it?

She wondered what her friends thought and could hardly wait for the car ride home to exchange impressions.

Ben was yanking the cork out of another bottle of wine. “May I refill anyone’s glass? This is a terrific cabernet.”

“None for me, thanks. I’m driving.” Maggie smiled and gently moved her glass beyond his reach. Lucy could see that she’d only taken a sip or two of the first glass he’d poured for her.

When the others declined, as well, Ben filled his own glass again and sat down.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Ellie offered. “I’m sure I can toss something together.”

Lucy sensed that Ellie was still upset and appreciated their company. She didn’t have any need to get home but didn’t know about the others.

“Thank you, but I think we have to get going,” Maggie answered.

Dana nodded in agreement. “I’d love to stay and visit longer, Ellie. But I’m meeting Jack for dinner in town at seven. I’ll have just enough time to get there,” she noted, glancing at her watch. “Maybe the four of us can get together soon. I’ll call you, all right?”

“Yes, please do. That would be fun.” Ellie looked a bit disappointed but forced a smile.

“Oh, and don’t forget our meeting this week.” Maggie stood up and gathered her things. “We’ll be at the shop on Tuesday night this week. Suzanne has some sort of parents’ meeting at school on Thursday. She nearly had a fit when I hinted we might meet without her,” she added with a laugh.

“I’ll try to make it. It would be a nice break,” Ellie replied.

Everyone said good night to Ben, and Ellie walked them through the kitchen to the back door, which was closer to Maggie’s car—though not by much, Lucy soon realized.

The sun had just set and the air outside had grown cooler, a crisp reminder that fall was moving in. Ellie stood at the back door in a yellow patch of light, hugging a sweater around her shoulders with one hand and waving with the other.

“Thanks again for all your help. See you soon,” she called out.

Lucy and her friends waved back, their footsteps crunching
over the gravel path as they headed in the direction of the field where the cars had been parked during the fair.

“I should have brought the car around to the house, that was dumb of me,” Maggie scolded herself. “It’s still out in that field, where they had everyone park. Now we have a walk ahead of us.”

“Oh, it’s not that far.” Dana took the lead with a springy step. “I could use some fresh air. I only had a glass of wine, but it was on an empty stomach.”

Lucy felt the same, though she had enjoyed a few bites of apple and cheese.

“This cool air will clear your head,” Maggie said. “It’s a beautiful night. Very quiet out here. I can see why they like it so much.”

“It is very quiet. And the landscape is lovely, day or night,” Dana observed.

Lucy thought that was true. She understood the pull of this place. It really was beautiful and unspoiled.

As they walked along the dirt road that led across the property, she felt the darkness and quiet surround them. The night sky was velvety blue, dotted with tiny points of light—many more stars than were visible back in the village. The sky stretched in a wide, sheltering arc above the open farmland, the orchard and rutted fields, and clusters of trees on the other side of the meadow. Distracted by the view, Lucy stumbled and caught herself by clinging to Maggie’s sweater.

“Sorry, I tripped on a root or something.”

“That’s all right. It is dark out here. I wish we had a flashlight. I keep one in my knitting bag. I know that sounds odd,
but it comes in handy. Too bad I left it in my car,” Maggie murmured.

Lucy glanced at her. “At least the moon is out. That helps.”

“An autumn moon, too,” Dana added. “Though it’s not quite full.”

The moon was bright, though veiled by wispy clouds and not all that much help once they walked beyond the light of the outdoor lamps around the farmhouse. They continued on, a bit slower, careful of their footing on the rough dirt road. All Lucy could hear were their footsteps and the rustle of the tall treetops in the breeze.

Suddenly, a long, full-throated howl broke the silence.

Maggie stopped and turned her head toward the sound. “Good heavens, what was that? Sounds like a wolf . . . or at least a coyote.”

“It’s a hunting dog,” Lucy replied calmly.

“Even I knew that. And I’m a cat person,” Dana agreed.

They heard the sound again, this time a duet and even louder. “Whatever it is, it’s coming closer . . . and there are two of them.” Despite Lucy’s explanation, Maggie still sounded alarmed.

“Maybe it’s a two-headed dog, like the one in the Greek myth, that guards the gates of hell?” Dana was trying to make a joke, Lucy guessed, but the image, along with the howling, was unnerving.

And she was not entirely correct. “That dog has three heads, Dana. Not that I want to get picky or anything,” Lucy replied.

“Let’s hope it’s not a dog at all, then. Maybe it’s just that
neighbor from hell, out for his nocturnal stroll,” Maggie suggested softly.

“Sounds about right, from what we’ve heard so far,” Lucy countered.

Maggie turned her head. She was carrying a bag of yarn and clutched it to her chest. “Very funny, ladies. I hope we’re still laughing a few minutes from now. I think it’s almost here . . .”

The howling did sound very close now and suddenly broke into a frenzy of barking and even a few snarls. Then they heard the sound of something crashing through a nearby stand of trees and brush.

Maggie and Dana, who were in the lead, suddenly stopped in their tracks and Lucy bumped right into them.

They were far enough from the farmhouse so that their voices—even a loud shout—would not be heard. But not close enough to Maggie’s car to break out into a run.

In fact, they couldn’t even see the car, Lucy realized. They were now walking past a patch of woods. Lucy didn’t remember passing trees, but she had been distracted when they arrived and everything looked so different now.

Maggie’s car is back there somewhere, Lucy reminded herself. It has to be.

“Come on, ladies. What are we scared of?” Dana turned, looking at Maggie and Lucy. “We’re all acting so silly. They’re just dogs. Out for some air and exercise. Doesn’t everyone let their dogs out at night?”

Before Lucy could answer, she heard a sound and turned to see a figure emerge from the nearby stand of trees. All Lucy
could make out was a khaki-green barn coat and baseball cap. She stopped again and so did her friends.

“Who’s that?” Maggie asked.

But before anyone could hazard a guess, a beam from a flashlight signaled a greeting. The figure walked toward them, and Lucy shielded her eyes with her hand. She couldn’t see past the glaring light.

“Hey, ladies . . . where are you going?”

It was Dot. Lucy quickly recognized her voice and soon distinguished her outline. Lucy heard everyone release one huge, synchronized sigh of relief.

“We’re trying to find my car,” Maggie replied. “It’s somewhere behind these trees, right? In the field where everyone parked today?”

“Oh my, you’re way off. You got all turned around in the dark.” Dot sounded amused but in a good-natured way. “The cars were parked down in that direction, just through the gate over there . . .”

She flashed her light down the road, in the direction they had come. They’d somehow missed a turn and walked right past the path that led to the field that they were looking for.

“I had a feeling we’d walked too far,” Maggie said.

“Everything looks different in the dark,” Dot agreed. “I’ll walk you back. You need some light out here, even though the moon is fairly bright tonight,” she observed, looking up at the sky.

“Apparently, not bright enough. Not for us anyway,” Dana said with a laugh. “How are the llamas doing?”

“They’re just fine. Resting like babies. I just looked in on
them. I was taking a walk around the property, checking up on things, on my way down to the see Kruegers.”

Considering what Ellie and Ben had said about their neighbor Justin Ridley’s nocturnal activities, perhaps Dot was out patrolling, a one-woman security crew, in addition to her other duties. Or maybe she just took on this job out of her concern for the animals. She did seem attached to them.

With the aid of Dot’s flashlight, Lucy and her friends quickly found Maggie’s car and were soon on their way.

Lucy turned to see Dot standing in the empty field. She stood waving, illuminated by the silvery light.

Lucy waved back. “We were lucky Dot came along. We’d still be stumbling around out there,” she said to her friends.

“It was good of her to walk us all the way to the car,” Maggie said.

Dana agreed. “She certainly works hard.”

“Yes, she does,” Maggie agreed. “I wonder if she has any guess about who shot at the llamas today. I wonder if she agrees with the Kruegers about Justin Ridley.”

“There seemed to be no doubt for Ben,” Dana replied. “Though Ellie was trying to keep an open mind. You all know that I love Ellie—she and I go way back—but I do wonder if Ridley can be half as paranoid and obsessive as the picture they paint.”

“Half as nuts, you mean?” Lucy asked. She had understood Dana’s terms but just wanted to rattle her cage a bit.

Dana smiled. “Yes, to use more professional terms. Don’t get all shrinky on me, Lucy,” she teased. “What do you think Maggie?”

Maggie didn’t answer at first. She stared straight ahead, steering the Subaru on the dark country road. “I think they’ve been under a tremendous amount of stress—leaving all their friends and connections in the city, and starting a new business. One they know little about. That’s enough choppy water right there for any couple to navigate.”

“And they haven’t been married all that long,” Dana added. “About three years, I think. They met on some Internet dating site and it was love at first e-mail.”

“E-mates?” Lucy quipped.

“Something like that,” Dana replied. “And before you make fun, those sites can work out for some people.”

Maggie glanced at her for a moment, then looked back at the road. “And some meet a lot of insincere hucksters and even people who are married but represent themselves as single.”

Her strong response got Lucy thinking and curious.

“Not that you have ever signed up on any of those sites, right?” Lucy prodded.