Of course she knew. Likely they had something to do with a new case—whether she was ready or not.
Only she spoke too soon.
As she headed back, Thaddeus securely on her shoulder, she turned at the bridge to make sure Mugs and Goliath were following along. Mugs ran past her and jostled her gently. It had been a slight contact, but it was enough. Her foot hooked the edge of the weakened and weathered board, and down she went. Her leg slid inside the woodwork, even as she went over the edge into the rising creek. “Ack,” she cried out, arms flailing, as she fell halfway into the water, hanging over the side of her little bridge, her ankle and calf screaming in pain.
“Squawk,” Thaddeus cried out, as he tumbled off her shoulder to land on the wood beside her—only to add insult to injury by calling out, “Body in the river. Body in the river.”
Carefully righting herself, she gingerly unhooked her injured and bleeding ankle and sat on the edge of the bridge to catch her breath and to assess the damage. She splashed some creek water on her wound, and the bleeding was already contained. This will be swollen in the morning, she thought.
“Woof, woof,” Mugs barked beside her, staring up at her with his huge sad eyes.
“I’m okay, Mugs, honest. It was a stupid fall. I’ll be fine.”
“Woof,” he said, then shook his head, his great big floppy ears flying out on both sides.
She sighed and smiled at him. “It was just a light tumble. It’s not your fault.”
Goliath snorted—or was that a sneeze?—beside her. She reassured all three of them. “I’m fine. I’ll get up and show you.”
In a moment of bravado, she hopped to her feet and cried out in agony. Shuddering at what a moment of weight on her sore ankle had brought her in pain, she stood flamingo style on her good leg. Biting her lip, she attempted to take a small step with her injured leg, only to wince and to stop to breathe deeply for a long moment. The house was right there—but had never seemed so far away.
Yet her options were limited.
Mugs woofed at her again. She smiled down at him. “I’m fine. I’ll get there. But, if you could find a big stick, that would make my life much easier.”
He raced away at the word stick, and she watched as Mugs grabbed a small one, more for his size than for her, from the back garden. She groaned. “That’s not quite what I meant.”
Her phone rang.
Grateful it hadn’t ended up in the river with the rest of her, she tried to dry her hand quickly on her pants and then pulled it free of her pocket. It was Mack.
As soon as she answered, he snapped, “Where are you?”
Immediately her back bristled at his tone. “Why are you so suspicious?” she demanded.
“You didn’t answer immediately.”
Thaddeus flew up to her shoulder and leaned over her phone, shrieking, “Body in the river. Body in the river.”
Silence. “Please tell me that bird is joking,” he roared.
“He is, … well, sort of.” Darn. She still couldn’t tell a lie. Not convincingly.
“Sort of?” he asked in an ominous tone. “What’s going on, Doreen? What are you up to?”
She gasped in outrage. “Nothing is going on—” and accidentally put her weight on her bad foot. And immediately cried out in pain.
“Doreen, what the …”
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” she said, trying to breathe normally. “You just caught me at a bad time.”
“What do you mean, a bad time?”
“I might have just fallen through that little bridge across the creek.”
“Might have?” He took a long, slow breath. “What does might have mean?”
“Okay, so I did,” she said crossly, brushing her wet hair off her face. Standing on one leg was starting to hurt too. And she still had a long way to go to get home. “I don’t suppose you have any crutches, do you?”
“Crutches?” His tone turned immediately businesslike and asked, “Where exactly are you?”
“On the bridge,” she said in surprise. “Didn’t I just say that?” She shook her head. “You’re getting as bad as Nan now.”
He said something that made her straighten and glare into her phone. “That’s not required.”
He snorted. “With you, sweetheart, it sometimes is. Stay where you are. I’m almost there.”
“No—”
But he’d hung up on her—again.
Chapter 2
Monday Late Afternoon …
“I’m fine,” she snapped for the umpteenth time, as Mack walked around the house three days later. “Stop coddling me.”
He met her glare with a grin. “Who knew you’d be such a difficult patient?”
She sniffed. “I’m not a patient. I’m just resting.”
“Whatever makes you feel better.”
She should be grateful, but it was hard to when she was still in pain, but what she really missed was her independence. Nan and Mack had been taking turns watching over her, like a child. Yes, that was nice, but … she was grouchy. Even she had to admit it.
Mack had brought down her mattresses and had put them on the floor in the living room so she could avoid the stairs. Which was good since she didn’t have a couch down here anymore. He loaded her up with all the pillows in the house too so she could comfortably sit up.
“You’re the one who fell off the bridge,” he said, whistling.
“I did not fall,” she muttered, but, not willing to blame Mugs, she guessed she should admit it was her fault.
“Just a few more days. Then you can resume a normal life.” He gave her a slow smile. “You’ll be back to normal, ready to terrorize everyone, on Thursday. That’s not long to wait.”
Still he was right; a couple more days wasn’t too bad. Particularly as he’d been looking after her. Now that the pain had eased, she knew it wouldn’t be long before she could bear her full weight. She didn’t let him see, but she had managed to get to the bathroom more easily today. “Ha, you’re enjoying this. Hopefully you’re making good use of me being off work and catching up on yours,” she warned. “You know I’m just raring to go, right?”
“That’s good,” he said smoothly. “In the meantime, you’ve got a TV, books, and time to rest—like really rest right now. So take advantage of it,” he urged. “You’ve been attacked so many times in recent weeks, let your body catch up.”
She subsided on her bed. Her ankle felt better—especially when propped up on pillows—but, in some ways, Mack was right. She just didn’t want him to know that. “Fine. As instructed, I’ll give it until Thursday, but after that …”
He grinned. “After that you’ll be meddling in my affairs again. Got it.”
“Ftppp.” She made a face as he turned and walked back into the kitchen. But he hadn’t said anything that Nan hadn’t repeated time and time again these last few days. And the doctor. Sigh. He’d told her not to go back to work for a full week and to stay off her leg completely, if she wanted it to heal properly. At the time she’d wondered if Mack had coerced the doctor into saying that, but her research for sprains online had showed a similar time frame.