Page 64

CHAPTER 64

T he next week was mostly cleanup and realignment. It’s funny how a threat from the outside can organize a community, and when that threat goes away, people kind of look around and straighten up and decide that changes should be made, now that they have room to breathe. It was easier for me because I hadn’t been in Rocky Start long enough to settle into a routine, but I could tell it was unsettling for Rose and Poppy.

Luke and I were not on board with Pike’s assumption that we’d be the new Pike and Oz. We talked about it and agreed that if things went sideways again, we’d step up, but somebody else could watch the town in the meanwhile. He had Darius coming back for Christmas in a couple of days after all—Darius had told Luke he couldn’t have Christmas without his dad—and furniture to make and a doctor to court, although that was pretty much a done deal, too. Luke was so happy, I almost didn’t recognize him. So he definitely wasn’t keen on being the marshal either.

But that didn’t mean we could just let law and order—or at least order—go. Which is why, when I was done talking to Luke that morning, I went to Oddities where Marley and Reggie were taking down the ugly old Oddities sign and putting up a really nice carved one that said “Odd Poppies.” When Marley climbed down off his ladder, I said, “Take a walk with me.”

He looked at me oddly, but the kid had had a lot of odd in his life, so he came along.

We started down the street to the right of the blue line, which meant we were in North Carolina. We passed Cover Stories and Hermione waved from the big window where she was putting up a display of Christmas books while Oxley stood beside her handing her mistletoe and looked pitiful.

Marley looked at Hermione waving at us, and then back at me and shook his head.

“Don’t get involved,” I said, and he nodded.

We walked past Merriweather’s Funeral Home, which now belonged to Betty, but the funeral home sign was down now, and Dmitri and Tanke were inside doing some kind of redecorating, probably with llamas. They’d ordered another one—Llama Mia—and I foresaw a lot of llama crafts. I was also betting there was some gold in the basement there since the bodies were all gone now, and I didn’t believe for a minute that Dmitri had sent all his treasure back home. Just enough to get his “entity” in Moscow to set him, and his friends in the Gulag, free.

We kept going, past Sneakers, the shoe store, and Dottie’s post office, and some vacant storefronts that were starting to look like something was happening inside. Frozen Assets, usually closed for Christmas, had decided to open for the holiday, the owner back from wherever he’d been hiding from Herc, and was selling mint and strawberry ice cream, green and red swirls. The Wok Inn was decked with holly and twinkling lights. Across the street, Bea’s Honey Pot shop had a sign that said “Grand Reopening in June,” which is when Bea was getting out of rehab. We kept walking, checking doors on the places on both sides of the street, making sure the ones that should be were locked, nodding to shopkeepers and citizens.

“What are we doing, Max?” Marley said.

“You do this every morning. Make sure people see you. Try the doors that should be locked, stop to talk to people about what’s going on, just be present so they know you’re there.”

“Max, I am not going to be the new you.”

“I remember when I said that about Oz. I figure in a couple of years, you’ll take one of these storefronts and open your own garage. That’ll make keeping an eye on the place even easier. Luke and I will be around if you need help, but it’ll be you and maybe Reggie. Deputies.” He started to protest and I said, “Rose and I are moving across the river to the cottage. The Oddities building and the town are all yours now. Your generation’s.”

“I don’t want it.”

I kept walking. “It’s good to have a clear purpose when you’re young.”

We were going down the opposite side of the street now, toward Oddities that was now Odd Poppies, and Poppy waved, and I could feel Marley relax beside me.

So that was good.

I went on. “And then in about ten, fifteen years, I’ll teach your kids to build a rope bridge where the old one was.”

“Whoa,” Marley said. “Wait?—”

“After that, maybe start them on shaped charges. The basics.” I looked at him. “I’m not going anywhere, Marley. Rose and I will be right across the river. Luke will be in his shop. Pike will be in Ecstasy. You’ll have backup if you need it.”

He looked relieved by that.

“And you and Poppy will be right here,” I finished, and he sighed and nodded and went toward her, Poppy’s dark curls ruffling in the breeze. She looked like Rose, determined and in charge and smiling at him.

“Hey, Marley,” I called, and when he turned around, I said, “In case anybody asks you why you’re trying shop doors.”

Then I tossed him a badge similar to the one Pike had given me weeks ago, and he caught it and looked at it and gave me a look that pretty much said, You bastard .

Yeah, I know how you feel, kid , I thought.

Look, I knew we weren’t in the clear. Given our population, we were never going to be in the clear, there would always be Outsiders and people who were just dumbasses—Oxley waved at me from the other side of the street looking like he wanted to talk—and probably some with evil intent. But the big threat was done, over, vanquished, ashes via Melissa’s crematorium, and if anything happened again, Marley wouldn’t be alone, Luke and I would step up. Rocky Start was back to what it had been when Oz had been alive and running things, mostly just a very small town in the Smokies with a great bakery and a lot of fine people.

That you shouldn’t mess with.