Chapter 13

It hadn't taken too many smarts on Rom's part to suspect that the worse had come to the worst-at least as far as his young niece was concerned. His fears certainly weren't assuaged any by the revelation made by Marsha and Cary that Larry was up at the cabin "watching over some vagrant young kid who had decided to take up residence in the supposedly deserted cabin."

Rom had decided that there was no way he could admit to being MaryAnn's uncle. That just made for way too many seen and unforseen complications. Had he suspected all along that Larry, Cary, Marsha (or all three) would have gotten to MaryAnn before he arrived on the scene?

There were advantages to pretending MaryAnn was just what the others had come to assume she was. That way, there would be no need to act the vengeful uncle come to spout fire and brimstone at the molesters of his niece. And, Rom certainly didn't want to go through any conflict with his three "business associates" which would have gotten them even more nervous than they already were. This whole fucking deal had simply come out with too many problems. Not least of which were the complications made by his two nieces having chosen this particular time to come visiting.

Christ, but Rom couldn't even remember having offered the use of the cabin to Karla. Or if he did remember, it was such a vague memory as to be as good as nonexistent. But then, on those few occasions Rom and Karla had gotten together, they had somehow managed to get exceptionally soused in the process. Rom had always suspected that the two of them were trying to get drunk enough to hop into bed together. Not that Rom would have normally had to get drunk to hop into bed with any woman! Hell, he hadn't even been drunk when he'd taken his sister. But, Karla was his brother's daughter; and, Rom really hadn't been out to cause another confrontation with brother Bob. Bob, after all, had never really gotten over the fact that Rom and Matty had gone to bed together.

Oh, well, it seemed more than obvious that-for whatever his reasons-Rom had told Karla she could use the cabin. And, Karla had decided to use it. It was apparently just one of those quirks of providence that made everything come together at this particular time. The odds against something like this happening were really so remote that one could really find no other alternative than to suspect that somewhere there was a far mightier power than man working to screw up the works.

"We didn't hardly think she was your niece," Marsha said, the dead pine needles and gravel crunching under her feet as she walked between Rom and Cary en route to the cabin. The three had already gone over the reasons why Rom was late and-with a good deal of relief evidenced all of the way around that nothing serious had come up-the conversation had moved on to MaryAnn.

"It looks like there might have been a couple others sharing one of the other bedrooms," Cary said. "We found their clothes. Obviously some guy and girl shacking up together, by the looks of the stains on the sheets. However, we can't find hide nor hair of either one of them. The kid in the cabin said something about the guy having broken his arm; he and the girl having gone to a doctor. We've been keeping an eye open, though."

"Well, there's no one between here and Denning Creek," Rom said. "Take my word for it. If there had been, I would have been here hours ago."

"I'll still feel a hell of a lot safer when the stuff is off the plane, and I'm out of here," Cary said.

"Can you imagine what it's been like these past couple of hours, trying to survive with two paranoid men in the wings?" Marsha asked. She led the way up to the porch and nodded toward the broken door. "Sorry about that bit of damage; but, the little girl inside didn't seem any too anxious to let us come in."

"Cary, why don't you keep your eye outside here for awhile, while I go upstairs and see what I can get out of our little visitor. She's probably just some poor dumb tramp who doesn't know shit; but, I want to be doubly sure before I okay the unloading of the stuff."

Cary immediately disappeared off the porch and into the shadows. Marsha and Rom continued on into the house.

"First bedroom upstairs on the right," Marsha said, nodding her head in the general direction. "You want I should whip you up a little something to eat?"

"Yea, do that for me, will you please, Marsha? Meanwhile, I'd better look in on Larry and the girl."

"Oh, Rom," Marsha said, bringing Rom to a sudden stop on the bottom stair. "Cary and I gave instructions for Larry to lay off. You know? With the girl, I mean. But knowing Larry, I can't guarantee what you're going to find once you get up there."

"Oh, well, a little fucking never killed anyone, did it?" Rom asked, and smiled.

"Just a good thing the little bitch didn't turn out to be your niece, isn't it?" Marsha said. "We have enough problems the way it is, huh?"

"It's all going to work out fine," Rom said, sounding far more confident than he really was.

"I hope so," Marsha said, turning toward the kitchen. "Jesus, but this girl certainly does hope so."