Winter Rose

XV. Too Shallow

Winter sat at the wooden table in the kitchen, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She stared blankly out of the frilly curtained window into the growing darkness outside.

"I can't believe this is real," she whispered to no one in particular. "I feel like I'm living a nightmare, and I can't wake up."

Next to her, Lance paced back and forth, treading over the worn, blue woven rug on the kitchen floor. 

"You should have seen those two bumbling idiots out there," he said. "I wouldn't trust my life with either one of them. If he doesn't call for some real back up, I'm going to do it myself."

Sheldon stood on the other end of the table, his hands resting on the back of a chair. His eyes were trained on Winter, studying her face.  

"It just doesn't make sense!" Lance said. " José's an asshole, but he isn't a complete psycho. Why is he doing this? God, his mom's worried to death about him right now. He loved his mom. He hasn't even seen her once since the night he disappeared."

"You mean the night he tried to attack Winter, and killed the dog." Sheldon cut in. "And his mom is probably lying. He tried to hurt Winter, why are you defending him?"

Lance stopped, shooting Sheldon a dark look. "I'm not defending him. I'm just trying to understand. Things don't add up. Why would he leave the letter and the bat that killed Barnabas in the same place, right under our noses? It's almost like he wants to be caught."

"The bat was hidden, " Winter said. " We wouldn't have found it without the dogs." She brought her knees to her chest, resting her head on them.

"Right. But it was the letter that started us looking again—why would he do that?"

"Because he's psychotic, and finds pleasure in terrorizing Winter," Sheldon said bluntly.

Lance grabbed a beer out of the refrigerator and slumped down in a chair next to Winter. He popped the top, focusing on the animal refuge outside the window. Turning to Winter he said, "have you noticed anything strange about those two pups lately? I mean, they're always together. They don't play with the other pups." He sipped the beer. "Yesterday they picked up Jose's scent without any training, and climbed a twenty foot ladder in the barn like it was nothing."

"Borders are smart," Winter said. "It isn't that unusual for one to climb a ladder, especially if they really want to get at something."

Lance  took a heavy swig of the beer, shaking his head. "That's not all," he said. "I saw the strangest thing today in the woods. At the time I thought I was going crazy—who knows maybe I am. Splinter had just been shot. I turned around and saw Pickle and Winnie standing there, watching. They must have followed us."

"Dog's do follow people," Sheldon said with a smile. His eyes rested on the beer in Lance's hand. "You got anymore of those?"

Lance sighed, and motioned towards the fridge. "When I looked at Winnie," he continued. "There was this little bird sitting on her back. Like it was tame. Not scared at all. Almost like the two were good friends or something."

"I can't explain that one," Winter said. "Maybe it was a guardian angel in disguise. Lord knows we could use one of those right now."

A knock at the door put an end to the conversation. The officer trudged in, looking like he had managed to pull himself, and his pride, back together.

"I'll be taking turns with Billy patrolling the premises until we find him." He placed his hands on his hips, his fingers on the gun in its holster. "Somebody will be here day and night watching over the place until we get this thing straightened out."