Page 13 of Trick of Light
“I know he comes off a certain way sometimes, but he’s an exceptionally good person. Top tier.”
“Okay…I’ll take your word for it, though I usually like to make up my own mind about people. But what does it matter what I think?”
“He likes you.”
“Uh, no, he doesn’t.” Gabby had to correct that misinformation immediately. “We didn’t get off on the right foot, put it that way.”
“I know. That’s why I’m saying you should give him another chance.”
He turned down the southwest road, the one she’d traveled just the other day in search of Tamara Brown. In Luke’s company, it felt different. The woods didn’t seem to crowd the road so closely, and an afternoon patch of sun turned the roadside chicory flowers an especially cheerful blue.
Gabby decided to change the subject since talking about Barnaby made her oddly uncomfortable. “By the way, I went looking for Tamara once before and got lost in a blackberry thicket.”
“Did you take the wrong trail? It can be confusing.”
“I mean, I must have, but I don’t know where the right trail is. Have you been to her place?”
“No. But I know where it is.”
His confidence turned out to be correct. He spotted the trail as soon as he brought the truck to a halt.
“There,” he said, pointing to a narrow footpath winding into a lush grove of hemlock trees. She hopped out and stood exactly where she’d been the other day, when she’d only seen two trails. There it was, quite obvious now that he’d pointed it out.
“That is the strangest thing. I swear I looked this way and didn’t see any trail.”
Luke shrugged as he lifted a low-sweeping branch for her to pass under. “The wind can hide things. A trick of light can make you miss it. Why were you looking for Tamara, by the way?”
She winked at him. “That’s podcast business.”
“Hm. Well, just as long as we’re clear that anything she says to me during this visit stays off the pod, you’re welcome to come along.”
“I will respect those boundaries.” What choice did she have? “All I want is to set up a time to talk to her about her family lineage.”
“Fair enough.” He ducked under another branch. “I think this path is meant for shorter people.”
“I know what you mean.” After just a few steps along the mossy trail, she was already picking twigs and lichen out of her hair. These woods had a depth to them that made her shiver. They held secrets, the thought came to her. Whispered secrets from centuries past. In here, she couldn’t hear any of the usual distant engine sounds, the mowers, the chainsaws, the speedboat engines, even the airplanes. The thick growth of the forest muffled all of it.
Bird sounds, on the other hand, rang through clearly, each one distinct and full of personality. Gabby had never paid much attention to birdsongs before, but these were impossible to ignore. “It sounds like they’re talking about us,” she whispered to Luke.
“Hang on.” He paused, putting a finger to his lips. A new sound filtered through the woods. Human voices. The deep rumble of a man’s voice, just a bass note, really, little more than a male register vibration. Then came a woman’s voice, pitched higher and rising upwards.
“Sounds like something’s going down,” she whispered.
“Stay behind me.” Luke picked up the pace, loping down the path, dodging branches, sometimes unsuccessfully. He’d have some scratches from this. Gabby moved a little more carefully, since she’d recently spent a rough night in these woods and still had flashbacks from the experience.
As they burst into the clearing, Gabby nearly collided with Luke, who had stopped abruptly.
“What the hell?” he exclaimed loudly. “What are you doing here?”
Ignoring her instructions to stay behind Luke, Gabby brushed past him to see, of all people, Barnaby Carmichael facing off with a tiny elderly woman with a cloud of silvery hair and a weathered face that suggested either a lot of sun or a stray African ancestor or two. She wore emerald-green corduroy pants and a fringed shawl. A forest gnome, Gabby thought whimsically.
“Luke. Gabby. Hey there.” Barnaby nodded to them both, looking resigned. She didn’t notice any bits of lichen or twigs in the tangled mess of his black hair. Had he come here by some other route? She hadn’t noticed any other vehicles in the cul-de-sac. “This is Tamara Brown. Tamara, this my brother Luke and…a friend, Gabby Ramon.”
He didn’t say the word “friend” as if he meant it.
Tamara turned to sweep her gaze across Luke and Gabby. That was how it felt, as if a beam of attention had swept across them like a lighthouse. It was an odd feeling, like being x-rayed without warning.
“Why am I suddenly so popular?” Tamara’s voice sounded like it belonged to a much bigger person. Such a tiny form, but such a self-possessed presence. Gabby was already fascinated by her, no matter if she knew anything about her pirate ancestor or not.
