I heard a knock at the door, which had to be Dom. “Coming!”
Dom called through the screen, “Okay!”
Lucinda shot me a look. “What does he want?”
“He’s bringing dinner.” I kept my voice low so Dom couldn’t hear. “And don’t blame him for Milo. It’s not his fault. He’s not on that team.”
Lucinda’s eyes flashed. “Whose team are you on?”
I let it go, left the kitchen, and went to the door. “Hey, Dom.”
“Hey.” Dom handed me the pizza box hastily, and I knew he’d heard the exchange.
“Thanks.” I let the door close and went to the kitchen, setting the pizza box on the table. “Surprise!”
“How nice! Ethan, look, pizza.” Lucinda forced a smile, trying to rally.
I opened the box, revealing a glistening pizza topped with mushroom slices.
“Wow, smells great!”
Ethan looked at the pizza, stricken, which I didn’t understand.
“What’s the matter, buddy? Mushroom’s your favorite, isn’t it?”
“It’s not my turn, it’s Allison’s. She gets peppers.”
Lucinda jumped up. “Moonie, no!”
I turned around to find the dog pooping on the floor.
Chapter Eighteen
It was growing dark by the time we finished dinner, and I stood in the backyard, waiting for Moonie to go to the bathroom. Truth to tell, I needed some air. My pizza surprise had been a flop, and Ethan had eaten in teary silence. Even now, I could hear him in the kitchen with Lucinda, answering her only in monosyllables.
I inhaled heavy, brackish air off the marsh, which I was getting used to. The odor that had smelled moldy now seemed organic, and all around me stretched patches of water, cordgrass, and tall reeds. The sun dipped low in the sky, its waning rays bronzing the water. Jagged treetops pierced a sky washed with purple and pink streaks. Sounds filled the air, seagulls and owls, crickets and tree frogs, and random squawks I couldn’t identify. I had never been among so much water, and now it surrounded me. I felt oddly like an island, unto myself.
I startled at a sudden motion in the trees, and a shadowy silhouette emerged from the woods beyond our fence. Moonie ran barking to the back of the yard.
“Who’s there?” I froze, alarmed until I recognized the figure as Special Agent Hallman.
“Sorry, my bad!” Wiki called back. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Okay if I come in?”
“Sure.” I went to meet him, and Wiki entered the backyard. He finger-combed hair from a damp forehead and smoothed down his blue polo shirt, which clung to his bulky frame. His khaki pants were wet to the shins and his sneakers soaked. Moonie sniffed them, then took off.
“What were you doing back there?” I asked, then realized he was probably keeping us safe. “Do you patrol?”
“We don’t call it that, but yes.”
“Thank you.” It made me feel good, and bad. “How often do you do it?”
“A few times a night.”
“When, so I’ll know when to expect you?”
“We change it up, per procedure.”
“Oh, I see.” It made sense. “Thanks for doing that.”
“It’s our job, but I like it. It clears my head. I get sick of answering email.”
“I hear that,” I said, since I used to have the same complaint. I could imagine my inbox right now. All the lawyers wanting answers, all the depositions that had to be scheduled or postponed. I wasn’t sure if I missed it or I didn’t.
“How’re you doing?” Wiki pushed up his glasses.
“We’re hanging in.”
“How’s your boy?”
“Okay.” I realized yet another person knew about Ethan’s issues.
“I hear he likes videogames. If he ever wants to play, I’ll play with him.”
“Thanks, Wiki,” I said, touched.
“Which games does he play? I play Apex, Minecraft, Star Wars Battlefront, Call of Duty—”
“He likes Call of Duty.”
“Good. Tell him, anytime. We want this to be as easy as possible on your family. That’s why we picked this location. It’s mostly salt marsh, but there’s mud flats and wildlife. Here, you have everything. Plant life, the birds, geology. I think I told you I grew up in Lewes. I live in Dover. Went to U of D.”
“That must be difficult. So near but yet so far, all that.”
“Nah. It suits me. I’m divorced, no kids. I’m a loner, not like Dom. Everybody loves Dom. He can deal with anybody. He was even best man at the wedding of one of our applicants.” Wiki chuckled. “Your family is in great hands.”
“Thanks.”
“You should take your boy to the ghost forest. He would love it. Text me if you go, I’ll keep an eye on you. The tide will be in, but the walk is easy. On a full moon like tonight, it’ll be amazing.”
“What’s a ghost forest?”
* * *
—
“This way,” I said, taking Ethan’s hand, and I led him into the woods. Moonlight filtered through the trees, lighting a skinny trail that Wiki had described. My flashlight shone a jittery cone of light on the tree trunks and underbrush. Moonie tugged at the end of his leash, but Ethan began to lag.
“I don’t care about a ghost forest.”
“Wiki said it was cool.”
“I don’t want to go. Let’s go back.”
“It won’t take long. He’s keeping an eye on us. Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not. I think it’s dumb.”
“Give it a chance.” Moonie sniffed a bush, then urinated, which was a victory. I was hoping the dog would poop outside for a change.
“Ugh, my feet are wet. It’s a swamp.”
“It’s not a swamp, it’s a marsh. Do you want to know the difference?”
“No.”
I let it go. We tramped through the woods, following the flashlight. “Wiki says ghost forests are springing up all over the mid-Atlantic, and Delaware has quite a few. Unfortunately, it’s the result of climate change. The glaciers are melting, so the sea level rises and salt water flows into a forest and kills the trees.”
“Fascinating.”
I let that go, too. “Anyway, the salt water kills the trees but doesn’t knock them over, so what’s left is called a ghost forest.”
“Let’s go back.”
“No, keep going. I want to see it. We’re almost there.” I noticed the trees beginning to show less leaf and the foliage growing wetter. The footing, also, got wetter. “Wiki was telling me there’s all kinds of native plants like spartina, or cordgrass, and the birding is supposed to be incredible this time of year.”
“Birding?” Ethan snorted, which I ignored. My son was an indoor cat. Allison had been the one who’d lived outside, 24/7. She’d go running even when I wouldn’t.
Al, it’s raining.
Your hair gonna frizz, dude?
I shooed the memory away. I had to stop comparing Ethan to his sister.
“Ethan, you know, birding is a big deal here. There are Snowy Egrets and Clapper Rails. Also Great Blue Herons and not-so-great Blue Herons.”