RAVEN'S HOLLOW by Jenna Ryan

obliged, Sadie led Eli through the corn maze. Hezekiah, minus envelope, put in an encore appearance. Eli noted the time of the call she’d received, asked her and Orley a thousand questions and was doing something on his iPhone when Brady emerged from the house.
    “Regular doctor should give Ben a once-over, but he’s a tough old guy. He was chloroformed. You’d have smelled it right off,” he said to Eli. “Orley didn’t, but then she was pretty freaked, and, bottom line, there’s no real reason for her or Sadie to have recognized it.”
    Pressing on the tension knots in her neck, Sadie wandered around the farmyard. “All I smelled was his sister-in-law’s sauerkraut.”
    “Why didn’t you call Eli from the house?” Brady asked her.
    “I tried, but Ben’s line is down.”
    “And the bog’s a notorious dead zone for cell phones.” Eli leaned against the Land Rover. “Two-ways work, but that’s it.”
    “Be glad anything works on the Hollow Road.” Shouldering his instrument bag, Brady glanced at Orley, who was marching toward them, grim faced and hugging her arms across her chest. “Hard to believe it’s only eleven o’clock. That being said, I have three pointy teeth to extract and a batch of anesthetic to pick up. Take care, Sadie. Watch for stray uppercuts, Eli.”
    “I am not doing favors for anyone ever again,” Orley muttered in passing. “Later, people.”
    Sadie willed the stabbing pain in her skull down to a manageable level before dropping her hands. “At the risk of sounding like a whiny child, Eli, why are we still here? Shouldn’t you and Ty be punching each other out or something?”
    He gave the screen of his iPhone a final tap and looked up. “I should have come here with you.”
    The beginnings of a smile touched her lips. “Did Ty say that?”
    “Yeah, but the thought had already occurred.”
    “In that case, Lieutenant, listen up and pass this on. I am not a maiden in distress, and I don’t want or need you or Ty or even Orley dogging me everywhere I go.”
    “Sadie, Laura—”
    “Didn’t realize her life was in danger. At best, she was probably thinking pest. Believe me, I’m thinking something very different.”
    Pushing off from the Land Rover, Eli advanced on her. “Did you tell that to the guy who called you in the maze?”
    “No, but I didn’t go, ‘Eek,’ and faint, either. I took a self-defense course while I was in D.C. Don’t,” she warned, and drilled a finger into his chest when his advance brought him to within a foot of where she stood. “I’m not in the mood to fend off all the sexual vibes that bombard me whenever I make the mistake of touching you. I have work to do at the Chronicle . Stuff to approve, printing presses to swear at....”
    “I get the picture, Sadie. I also still owe Rooney a canine favor.”
    His eyes glinted just enough to have hers narrowing in suspicion. “Why are you being so agreeable all of a sudden?”
    “Maybe I’m just giving you credit for being able to handle yourself in any situation.”
    And maybe Rooney would breeze through another full century of life, but Sadie doubted it.
    Keeping her finger on his chest, she nudged him back a step. “Let’s do it this way. You can follow me to the Hollow in your truck. We part company and maybe, maybe,” she emphasized, “meet up again at Rooney’s favorite dockside haunt around dinnertime.”
    “It’s one plan,” Eli acknowledged. “But if you’re up for it, I have an alternative.”
    “Does it involve you playing watchdog as part of some clever plot to circumvent me?”
    “No, it involves you and me making what will undoubtedly be a messy trip into the north woods.”
    Her laugh was mostly disbelief. “You want to visit my great-grandfather? Now? In the middle of hell week?”
    “I was thinking more along the lines of us having a chat with Cal Kilgore.”
    “Ah, right. Laura’s former boyfriend.” Her gaze traveled northward. “Directions to the cabin