Chapter Seventeen

It was early evening before Tim returned to the cabin after dropping Mark off at the train station.  It was clear he’d been drinking.

“How are the roads?” Edwin asked as he quietly assessed his friend’s drunkenness.

“I have to give the road crews in this part of the country credit. They’re keeping them in pretty good shape,” Tim managed to say.

“Lucky you didn’t meet up with any cops.  You reek of whiskey,” Edwin said as he stoked the fire in the fireplace.  “I chopped some wood earlier. Are you up to helping me carry some in?”

“I can do it,” Agatha offered from the darkened corner of the room. 

She’d been so quiet that Tim actually forgot she was there.  He turned to her with a look of stunned surprise and said in a slightly slurred voice, “You’re still here.”

“Where would I go?” she asked.