The Wood Wife Terri Windling (best novels to read to improve english txt) đ
- Author: Terri Windling
Book online «The Wood Wife Terri Windling (best novels to read to improve english txt) đ». Author Terri Windling
Fox sat down at the kitchen table, looking completely exhausted. He shook his head at Maggieâs offer of a drink. She didnât know he never touched the stuff, not after watching Cooperâs slow self-destruction with whiskey and gin.
Maggie refilled her own empty glass, and Juanâs, and topped up Doraâs. Her expression was thoughtful. âI never imagined there would be creeks in dry land like this.â She paused, then added hesitantly, âIs that where they found Davis, then? His lawyer told me heâd been drowned. But I couldnât understand how heâd been drowned in the middle of the desert.â
Fox shook his head. âNo one understands it. He was a good mile from Tanque Verde Creek, or any other water. His body was left in an old wash bed, one thatâs been dried out for years. The police donât know where it was he drowned, but wherever it was, it wasnât where he was found. That means somebody put him there. Thatâs how they know it was murder.â
âBut who would possibly have done that?â she asked. Dora could hear a mix of confusion, anger and grief in the womanâs low voice. âHe didnât have any enemies, did he? Other than the usual literary kind. And those old feuds, with deMontillo and that critic ⊠whatâs his name ⊠St. Johns? Those are decades past. He doesnât seem to have owned much of value, if robbery was the motive.â
âThe land. And Annaâs paintings,â said Fox. âBut if anyone had a motive to kill him for that,â he added with an odd, small grin, âwell, I reckon it would have been you.â
Maggie shook her head. âI didnât even know I was in his will,â she told him.
âNo? Well, Iâll be damned,â Fox said, looking startled by this.
Dora looked around, suddenly realizing just what was missing from Cooperâs house. âWhere are all of Annaâs paintings now?â
Fox looked at Maggie and, at her blank response, he ventured, âCooperâs lawyer must have had them put somewhere for safekeeping. Theyâre fairly valuable now, you know. He was always getting letters from museums that wanted to buy them, or even just exhibit a few. But you know Cooper, heâd throw the letters out. The old man couldnât be bothered.â
âHeâd promised Anna the paintings wouldnât leave the mountain,â Dora corrected him. âAt least thatâs what he said to me. I had to promise Iâd never take the one he gave me away from here.â
âThe lawyer wouldnât take them away,â said Juan, âwithout informing Maggie. And the cops would have noticed if they were missing. They must be here somewhere.â
Maggie said, âI havenât seen any paintings. But thereâs one room here thatâs all locked up; my guess is that theyâd be in there.â She looked at Fox. âI meant to ask you for the key to it.â
âI havenât got a key,â Fox said. âThat door has been locked since I was a boy. The mystery room. My sisters and I always wondered what the hell was in there.â
âSurely someone opened up the room for the police investigation.â
âMaybe they did. I donât know.â Fox shrugged.
âHmmm.â Maggie smiled suddenly. âWell, hereâs your chance to find out whatâs inside. Letâs just break through the lock.â
âMaybe the cops still have the key,â said Fox. âMaybe you should give them a call before we break down Cooperâs door.â
âItâs Maggieâs door now,â Dora pointed out.
âIâm not protesting,â said Fox. âBelieve me, thereâs no one more curious than I am. I can bring my tool box over in the morning and work on the door after we see John.â He grinned suddenly at Maggie. âI admit, Iâve been sorely tempted to break in myself since Cooperâs death. If I were less honest, or maybe just less superstitious, I probably would have. Lord, how we used to scheme to get in when my sisters and I were growing up. But the windows were nailed, the lock couldnât be jimmied, and old man Cooper never budged. We couldnât even talk to him about itâheâd go all funny on us.â
Maggie gave him a thoughtful look. âItâs strange to hear you talk about him that way. I never pictured Davis with children around. He seemed so solitary.â
âHe was solitary. He was living all alone up here after Anna died, drunk as a skunk.â
âWhen did your mother come up here, then?â
âSometime in the early fifties, I think; several years before I was born. Cooper was living at the bottom of a bottle and he needed looking after. He said he put an ad in the paper and my mother answered it.â
âAnd your father?â
Fox met her gaze steadily. âTruth is, my mother never married. According to Cooper, our father was some local cowboy Mama went out with from time to time; he came and went, and finally went for good, leaving her with three kids to raise.â
âYou were born here, in the mountains? Then you must have known Cooper quite well,â Maggie said to him with interest.
âWell sure. I was raised in the house across the wash. The canyon was even more remote back then; we almost never went downtown. My sisters and I got âhome schooledâ by Cooperâwhich mostly meant we ran wild on the mountain ⊠and recited a lot of poetry.â
Dora listened to this, fascinated. Sheâd never heard Fox say more than two words about his past before.
Maggie said, âWould you and your
Comments (0)