The Piper by Lynn Hightower Page B

he’s trapped in that yard, where that house is for sale.’
    â€˜Which one, Teddy? There are a lot of houses for sale.’
    Teddy pointed. Past the trees to the privacy fence, the tangle of bamboo, honeysuckle and forsythia that shrouded them from the house next door.
    Olivia shook her head. ‘That house is empty, Teddy, nobody lives there.’
    â€˜But listen.’
    Olivia stepped out of the car. Teddy opened the door for Winston, who jumped out and headed straight for the woods that divided their yard from the one next door.
    â€˜I don’t hear it anymore, Teddy. The barking’s stopped,’ Olivia said.
    â€˜But what if the dog is in there, trapped in the backyard?’ Teddy pushed her glasses up on her nose and her eyes seemed to glint in the dark.
    Olivia had an image of the way her daughter had looked last night, so still and afraid in her room.
    â€˜People do that, you know. They move away and leave their animals, I heard it on the news. Please, Mommy. Can’t we just look? If they left him in the backyard, he’ll starve.’
    Olivia left her purse and briefcase on the front seat of the car. The truth was the barking
had
seemed to come from the fenced in backyard. ‘Okay. We’ll take a quick look.’
    Teddy went first, calling to Winston, who led the charge. Olivia lagged awkwardly in her heels. She trudged behind Teddy and Winston, past the koi pond that was now full of dead decaying fish, and the old brick barbecue grill gummed up with the dried, charred remains of cookouts past. Chris and Charlotte had left things in a bad way. Olivia knew she needed to clear things out, but she didn’t have the energy right now.
    But it reminded her of how things used to be, and she liked thinking about those days, the early ones in particular, when they were all there and safe, Emily, Chris, her mother and father and Hunter the dog. They played Monopoly every Saturday night, and cooked barbecued chicken outside on the grill, and sometimes on cold weekend days her daddy built a fire in the fireplace. The images were good ones, a timeless loop she liked to play in her head.
    The
For Sale
sign next door was crooked. It had been up a while. The windows of the house were dark, with the bereft glaze of vacancy, no shutters, curtains or blinds. The grass was high and weedy, wet and itchy on Olivia’s ankles. Slats of wood had fallen from the side of the house. Someone had heaped branches and grass clippings in a pile that was too close to the house for the garbage men to pick up.
    Olivia hesitated in the driveway. Teddy and Winston charged ahead.
    The wood gate that led into the backyard was not locked. It swung inward with ease. A security light on the utility pole in the back made spotlights and shadows. Olivia went in first, with Teddy at her back, and she took Teddy’s hand as Winston rushed past them. He covered every inch, running in a zigzag, following scents, nose to the ground, investigating every tree, every dip of ground. The yard was terraced, tangled with neglect, and lonely somehow. There was no dog to be seen.
    â€˜I know I heard him, Mommy,’ Teddy said.
    â€˜I heard him, too. He’s just a neighbor dog, honey. Maybe he lives over there,’ Olivia pointed. ‘Or even across the street.’
    â€˜The barking came from here.’
    Olivia didn’t argue.
    â€˜I can prove it. Let’s come back tomorrow, when it’s daylight, and look for poo.’
    â€˜Come on, Kidlet. You need a hot bath and I want to get out of these shoes. OK, Winston, here boy.’
    Olivia was careful to close the gate behind them. She noticed, as soon as they turned back for home, the light in the kitchen was on now, just the way she’d left it that morning.
    Olivia knew that she was tired. She knew that she was stressed. And she knew the house had been dark ten minutes ago when she and Teddy drove up.
    Olivia kept an eye on Winston. If someone