Page 31 of Christmas Cove

With gloves in hand, Leo followed the flashlight into the woods and found Edwin standing with an ax in his. “Pa? What is going on?”

“I’ll answer that!” a voice sounded from the far side of a tree.

“Carol? What are you doing out here at this hour?” Leo said.

“I was told the city is in need of a tree, and I found one,” Carol said and patted the side of a twenty-foot pine.

“Oh, no!” Leo threw his hands up. “Not this tree. Not here.”

“But it’s perfect.”

“And it’s not on our land. This road over here is the line between Christmas Cove and Elizabethtown. No. We aren’t stealing this tree. You’re telling me there’s not a single suitable tree in our own city limits?”

“Nope,” Edwin said as the ax head chopped into the tree’s trunk about hip high. “You got those gloves?”

“Pa, you know I can’t be a part of this.”

“Suit yourself, but I would have thought you’d enjoy it.” He took another whack at it, and Carol clapped her hands together.

“You better pull the flatbed over here,” she said. “If we position it just so, the tree will land right where we need it.”

Leo grunted and knew he was losing this battle. “Fine. Don’t let the thing fall yet or we’ll never get it into the flatbed.”

Leo jogged to the truck, where he hopped in and turned the key that Edwin left in the ignition. He took his time backing up the truck to meet the trailer and realized that the equipment didn’t get there by itself. Edwin and Carol must have been at this scheme for some time before Edwin retrieved Leo to help.

He got out, hooked the ball to the socket, and slipped the chain pin through the hole. Back in the truck, he maneuvered the flatbed in reverse to the spot where the tree, and his accomplices, waited. Leo could see Edwin in the rearview mirror directing him to the best spot. Edwin banged on the tailgate when his positioning was exactly right.

Edwin opened the driver-side door and thrust the ax into Leo’s hand. “You do it. It’ll take your mind off the lady.”

“What would you know about it?” Leo could have shot back more, but there was no point to it. Pa was correct. “Fine. You obviously know about it.”

“I knew when I saw the lights on in your house that you weren’t sleeping. And I know you normally have lights-out by ten. Ten-thirty at the latest.”

“You watch me?”

“Not exactly. You parked your house beside my barn, and I can see it from my bedroom window.”

Leo took a swing at the tree. “I’ve been living there for years and you’re just now telling me this?”

“Never came up before,” Edwin said with a shrug.

“I think it’s sweet,” Carol said. “Edwin’s just keeping an eye on you.”

Leo swung the axe again, and a chunk of wood flew out at the impact point. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Edwin smile at Carol and then look away. “Something going on with you two?”

“Nothing new.”

Leo recognized Edwin’s dodge and took another strong wallop at the tree. The wood crackled and snapped. He knew one or two more chops at the front side would topple the tree. If he did it right, it would fall gently to the flatbed, and they could get out of there. Since it was late, and they were in the midst of committing a crime, he took two deep breaths.

Aiming, he took a practice swing to check his spot on the trunk. “Light. I need some better light over here.”

Carol stood over his shoulder with the flashlight pointed at the tree. She was far too close and in the danger zone. For that matter, Leo was too close for comfort, but he knew he had a better chance at getting the job done. He took her by the shoulder and moved her back about fifteen feet but where she could still illuminate the side of the pine.

Another deep breath. Another practice swing. Leo lifted the ax and let its weight deliver a final blow to the trunk. “It’s gonna go!” Leo jogged to Carol’s side as the wood splintered and shuddered to the ends of its boughs.

CHAPTER18

“Hello?”America answered the phone, knowing that Leo was the one person who would be calling her there at the cabin.

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