Page 16 of Long Pig

“I’m all ears,” Willow told him as she swept the kitchen.

“Those deputies did a small grid search, but never looked around the area. I think you and I should go find that marker together and check out the surroundings outside the gully.”

Willow gazed around the house and placed the broom in the corner. “I planned to clean all day. You don’t need to ask twice. Let me get my boots on.”

They took the dogs.

“You would think those two were littermates,” Dale said as they watched the dogs stick close to each other as they ran out of sight, then back.

“Max had the saddest eyes when you took Daisy to town,” Willow volunteered.

“Max always has sad eyes.” He smiled and shifted his hat a bit. “It’s a Rottweiler trait.”

“You’re only saying that because you didn’t see his pouty face.”

Dale laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Using the GPS on her phone, they stopped at the location that should have the marker. After looking around for fifteen minutes, Dale suggested they grid the area.

“You look two feet to either side and ahead. I’ll walk next to you and do the same thing. If Joan put in her book that the marker was here last time she checked, it was here. That woman kept meticulous track of everything.”

“I’m up for the grid search. Maybe we’ll find something connected to the body.”

“Look for anything out of place,” Dale told her as he motioned her to the location he wanted to start. “Say stop if you see something you need to examine closer so we stay even.”

“Got it.”

They walked back and forth for an hour, adding several water breaks. The day was overcast, and the temperature wasn’t as hot as the day before.

“The monsoons will start soon,” Dale said during one of the breaks.

“We need the rain. I also like searching the wash after it floods.”

Willow had a nice collection of petrified wood. Dale planned to get her a rock tumbler for Christmas. They had agreed not to share gifts on birthdays, but Christmas was fair game. He’d been studying the machines on the internet to find a good one. They had relatively low wattage, and it shouldn’t affect the solar power too much. He was excited about getting her started. He worried that she needed friends her own age as much as she worried about him having male friends.

Dale stopped and looked around. He saw something flash in the distance.

“Look up there,” he said.

“Who is that?” she asked.

“No idea, but we should check it out. He’s seen us, and he’s on your land.”

Willow felt a small touch of apprehension, but they were both armed. Dale called the dogs in, and they obeyed him instantly. When the man noticed them heading toward him, he waved and walked closer.

Max gave a low growl, and Dale told him to hush.

“Howdy, neighbor,” the man said when he was close enough.

He appeared to be in his early fifties, wasn’t as dirty as many of the people who lived out here, and had all his teeth which were very white. His face was clean-shaven, which was something Willow rarely saw on the ranch. He wore a short-sleeved solid olive-green shirt that blended with the surroundings, along with jeans. He carried a shotgun similar to the one Willow carried, and had a large knife strapped in a sheath at his hip. Dale had his revolver in the holster at his waist.

The man’s blue eyes drew Willow’s attention, and she wasn’t sure why. He studied them as closely as Dale studied people. She wondered if the man had ever been in law enforcement.

“Don’t think I’ve had the pleasure,” Dale acknowledged when about eight feet separated them.

“Name’s Larry,” he said in a friendly manner. “My property is about a mile that way,” he volunteered. He looked at Willow. “You must be Joan’s daughter.”

That threw her for a moment. “Granddaughter, actually. Did you know my grandmother?”