There wasn’t a breath of wind in the woods, the birds were quiet, and the only sound was the late summer hum of cicadas. Lucy trudged along the path getting sweatier and itchier with every step and considering whether she dared take a cooling plunge in the pond when she stumbled on a rock. Looking down, she realized it was part of a fire ring and she immediately squatted down to see if the ashes were still warm. Perhaps the homeless man had been camping there within the last few hours. The fire was cold, but she continued to squat, imagining herself in his place. The campsite was not in a clearing, in fact she would never have noticed it if she hadn’t stubbed her toe on the rock, but as she looked around she eventually made out a pile of brush. Upon closer investigation she realized it was a crude shelter for sleeping. Encouraged, she searched the site for a cache of food or other personal belongings but there was no sign of either. If this was indeed the homeless man’s campsite he had been very careful to make it as unobtrusive as possible. There was no sign of any empty cans or trash of any sort. Of course, she had no way of knowing if he would return or if he had moved on. She decided to leave the food and coffee, just in case. She’d come back tomorrow in hopes of catching him and she could pick up any litter then.

In the meantime, she decided the best course of action would be to question people in town. She knew he’d been spotted Dumpster-diving behind the IGA and some of the workers there might have noticed him. Or he might have been hanging around the harbor, hoping for a handout or just making conversation.

She was on her way back to the car when her cell phone rang; it was Sara.

“Mom! Where are you?”

Guilt-stricken, Lucy checked her watch. “Ohmi-gosh, I had no idea it was so late. I’m so sorry. I’ll be right there.”

“Can you hurry up? Sassie and I have been waiting for hours.”

“I’ll be as fast as I can,” she promised, hurrying through the woods.

She was quite surprised then when she arrived at the high school just in time to see the girls piling into Willie’s big Wagoneer with numerous animal stickers plastered on the rear bumper. “You didn’t need to come,” she said, pulling around and coming up beside the SUV. “I was working on a story and got distracted, but I came straight over as soon as Sara called.”

“This seems to happen quite a lot,” said Willie, waspishly. “I understand you have a busy schedule and it’s no trouble for me, really.”