“I’m sorry for coming around the side of the house,” she finally said. “I knocked, but I guess you didn’t hear me.” Her demeanor was friendly but professional. “I’m with the sheriff’s department.”
“Can I help you?”
Her eyes flickered to the grill, then back to me. “I hope I’m not interrupting your dinner.”
“Not at all.” I shook my head. “I just finished.”
“Oh, good. And again, I apologize for intruding, Mr.…”
“Benson,” I said. “Trevor Benson.”
“I just came by to ask whether you’re a legal resident of this property.”
I nodded, though I was a little surprised by the phrasing. “I guess so. It used to be my grandfather’s, but he passed away and left it to me.”
“You mean Carl?”
“You knew him?”
“A little. And I’m sorry for your loss. He was a good man.”
“Yes, he was. I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name.”
“Masterson,” she said. “Natalie Masterson.” She was quiet then, and I had a sense that she was studying me. “You said Carl was your grandfather?”
“On my mother’s side.”
“I think he mentioned you. You’re a surgeon, right? With the Navy?”
“I was, but not anymore.” I hesitated. “I’m sorry—I’m still not exactly sure why you’ve come by.”
“Oh.” She motioned toward the house. “I was finishing up my shift but I was out this way, and when I saw the lights on, I thought I’d check it out.”
“Am I not allowed to turn on lights?”
“No, it’s not that.” She smiled. “Obviously, everything is okay and I shouldn’t have bothered you. It’s just that a few months ago, after your grandfather had died, there were reports of lights in the windows. I knew the house was supposed to be empty, so I swung by to check it out. And though I couldn’t be certain, I had the impression that someone had been staying here. Not that there was any damage except for the back door, but combined with the lights being seen in the windows, I felt that I should keep an eye on the place. So I’ve made it a point to swing by every now and then, just to make sure there’s no one here that shouldn’t be. Vagrants or squatters, teens using the place to party, tweakers working a meth lab. Whatever.”
“Is there a lot of that around here?”
“No more than other places, I guess. But enough to keep us busy.”
“Just so you know, I don’t do drugs.”
She motioned toward the bottle I was holding. “Alcohol is a drug.”
“Even beer?”
When she smiled, I guessed she was a few years younger than me, with blond hair tacked up into a messy bun, and her eyes were so aqua colored that they could have been bottled and sold as mouthwash. That she was attractive went without saying, and better yet, she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.
“No comment,” she finally offered.
“Would you like to come in and check out the house?”
“No, that’s all right. I’m just glad I don’t have to worry anymore. I was fond of Carl. Whenever he was selling honey at the farmers’ market, we’d visit for a while.”
I remembered sitting with my grandfather at a roadside stand every Saturday during my visits, but I had no recollection of a farmers’ market. Then again, New Bern had a lot more of everything now than it had in the past—restaurants, stores, businesses—even if it still remained a small town at heart. Alexandria, which was just a suburb in the DC area and one of many, had five or six times the population. Even there, I suspect Natalie Masterson would have turned heads.
“What can you tell me about the possible squatter?” I asked.
I didn’t really care about the squatter, but somehow I was reluctant to see her go.
“Not much more than I already told you,” she said.
“Do you think you might come up here?” I pleaded, pointing to my ear. “So I can hear you better? I was caught up in a mortar attack in Afghanistan.”
I could hear her fine, by the way; the inner workings of my ear weren’t damaged in the blast, even if the outer part had been torn from my head. It’s just that I’m not above playing the sympathy card when I need to. I retreated to my rocker, hoping she hadn’t wondered why I seemed to be able to hear her without trouble only moments before. In the porch light, I saw her eyeing my scar before she finally started up the steps. When she reached the other rocker, she angled it toward me, while also sliding it back.